Nnenn’s latest microscale fleets are as expansive as ever:
…but the standout is definitely the Jway ECM cruiser:
(Speaking of MicroBricks…)
Yearly Archives: 2008
Bruce launches MinilandBricks [News]
Bruce of VignetteBricks and MicroBricks mentioned in our recent Claim to Fame roundup that someone should start a blog about Miniland LEGO creations.
Given that Miniland is the scale Master Builders use for the amazing cities and monuments at LEGOLAND theme parks, it only seems natural that this building scale should have its own blog.
And that’s just what Bruce has created, with MinilandBricks. Bruce says, “I’ll highlight MOCs and also great photography of the official park models.”
Incidentally, Bruce is also recruiting. If you’re interested in contributing to MicroBricks, drop him a line.
Best of luck, Bruce!
New 2008 BrickArms weapons [Review]
At BrickCon in October, I learned about the Halo-inspired weapons and the M1 Garand rifle that Will Chapman of BrickArms was working on at the time (see First look at new BrickArms weapons).
Last week, I received my shipment of new 2008 BrickArms weapons, and I’ve been eagerly building and waiting for a break in the snow (!) to take pictures.
Aside from much improved polish, the BA-M5 rifles and BA-M6 pistols aren’t substantially different from the prototypes I highlighted in October, as seen here with a trio of UNSC Marines from Halo:
In addition to the BA-M5 and BA-M6, the latest batch of BrickArms weapons includes two more weapons inspired by science fiction. The PKD2019 Replicant Blaster takes its inspiration from Blade Runner, so I whipped up a custom Rick Deckard to “retire” my minifig androids:
The final M1 Garand rifle is slightly larger than the prototype. Regardless, a minifig can hold the rifle at several points, as demonstrated below by a custom WW2 US Army Sergeant minifig you can also buy from BrickArms:
My favorite new BrickArms weapon is the Mk48 Machine Gun. Bundled with a bipod and monopod, the Mk48 resembles the M240 and M249 families of modern machine guns (at least at minifig scale). Other additions to the contemporary arsenal are the MP7 PDW and M84 Stun Grenade (aka “flashbang”):
The Bipod from the Mk48 can attach wherever a minifig hand can attach, including other BrickArms weapons, such as the PSG1 Sniper Rifle (with S.W.A.T. sniper below). A Monopod can convert your M1 Garand into an M14 (with Marine, circa 1965):
The other sci-fi-inspired weapon is the Auto-9, from RoboCop (below):
The priciest thing I picked up this time from BrickArms was the Medkit ($8). The Medkit includes a syringe, scalpel, and bag. Although BrickArms sold a limited run of 30 World War II medic minifigs a while back, I missed them when they were $25, and the final minifig went for $162.50 (!) on eBay.
So I made my own (mostly), using the new Medkit, an Indiana Jones bag, and bits of the Sergeant:
As I said last February in my first BrickArms review, BrickArms weapons compare well to official LEGO elements on both price (on the secondary market) and quality. This certainly holds true for the 2008 weapons, which continue to extend the building possibilities provided by our favorite little plastic bricks.
For more photos of the new weapons and accessories, see my BrickArms photoset on Flickr.
Also check out our previous coverage of BrickArms here on The Brothers Brick:
RAMM Leopard IV Hoverstreitkräfte by Andrew Lee
Tim Zarki’s robot wants to help you!
Remember Tim Zarki‘s previous robot? I argued that it stood several hundred feet tall and could walk over tall buildings.
Well, if this latest robot is that tall, we’re in serious trouble:
Just floatin’
Brickshelf user graviton recreated a Dan Piraro comic of LEGO gangsters. “It ain’t workin’, Boss. He’s just floatin’.”
Treading all terrains in the Sandpiper
Brian Kescenovitz (mondayn00dle) is one of the few builders who usually doesn’t put much color into their models, sometimes conveying the iron/steel utility. Unlike his bulkier mechs, Brian’s latest work is a spindly scout walker called the Sandpiper, constructed with focus to fine detailing mechanisms rather than heavy armor.
Even Mecha howl at the Moon
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull LEGO sets reviewed
Eurobricks member Alex54 has posted an early photo review of the three smaller LEGO sets from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
7624 Jungle Duel:
7625 River Chase:
7626 Jungle Cutter:
Check out the Soviet soldiers:
See more of Alex54’s photos in his Indiana Jones gallery on Brickshelf.
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT ZOO! by Fay Rhodes [Review]
I recently received a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT set for my birthday (my wife is awesome!) so naturally I was excited to get the chance to review the newest Mindstorms book from No Starch Press. The author, Fay Rhodes co-authored the The Lego Mindstorms NXT Idea Book, is a member of MCP (Mindstorms Community Partners), and a contributor on the blog The NXT STEP.
The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT ZOO! is a departure from previous books on LEGO’s robotics system. According to the book’s preface, the author intended this book for people who were not familiar with the NXT system, namely children, parents, teachers, and others new to NXT.
Her intent was to write a book that would be a simple and fun introduction to the system, while at the same time enabling the builder to construct some truly unusual robots.
First of all, I was impressed with the simplicity of the book. I own a couple of other NXT books and they start with complex chapters on programming. Fay Rhodes takes a different approach. She starts off with a very brief introduction into the programming language (6 pages versus 30+ in other books) and then she dives into actually constructing the robots. I think this is a great change, as people who are new to NXT want to start building robots immediately.
The instructions are easy to follow and each one starts off with a pictorial parts list. I did have one problem with the instructions. It is difficult to tell the difference between friction pins and regular ones. This could cause potential problems, but I was able to figure it out without too much trouble. Also, it would have been nice if the instructions were in color, but I’m sure that would have driven the cost up too much.
Regarding the robots themselves, they are quite unusual. As the name of the book implies, all the bots are animals. There are a total of nine — a frog, rabbit, camel, spider, alligator, dinosaur, elephant, skunk, and a peacock. Of these nine robots, only two (the skunk and peacock) travel on wheels. The remaining seven robots either hop or walk and the skunk has a surprise projectile weapon system! But my personal favorite is the spider. Who can’t love a robot that walks on eight legs?
NXT Spider from Rick Rhodes on Vimeo.
The techniques for walking and hopping are surprisingly simple and aren’t horribly parts intensive. I don’t have a huge collection of Technic pieces and I was able to build most of these with fairly minor parts substitutions. The peacock and ‘gator suffered the most, as I was rather low on important pieces, but I built the other robots quite easily.
A number of the robots do require non-LEGO pieces, which may annoy LEGO purists, but I understand that many NXT builders do this. Most of the uses I understood (fishing line and such), but one of the non-LEGO pieces in the two hopping robots confused me, because there was a LEGO solution readily available. Rhodes suggests using “rubber fingertips” from an office supply store as ends on the legs. These keep the robot from sliding as it prepares to hop. But there are rubber Technic pieces that can be attached to the leg, which have the same effect. Oddly enough, these pieces come in the NXT set. I used them and they worked fine.
After the instructions for each robot, Rhodes includes several pages of programming instructions. These mostly consist of screenshots, which are quite helpful. This way, you can see exactly how the configuration screens should look at each step. All you should have to do is follow the instructions, and the robots function as intended. These screen shots really take the intimidation factor out of learning a new programming language.
I did find a couple of typos in the programming sections, which could have messed up functionality. They were easily fixed, but you should be aware that the programs might not be perfect. These included a sensor that was plugged into the wrong port (instructions said port 4, but the program used port 2) and a motor that ran the opposite direction. These didn’t stop the robots from operating; some just didn’t work as intended. So, by following the programming steps exactly, you will still get a robot that runs.
Overall, I would recommend LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT ZOO! for any NXT builder. I didn’t expect that it would be written “down” enough for a beginner. But the robots are simple to build, the instructions are easy to follow, the programs are quick to write and they work.
So, if you’re just getting into NXT this would a good book to get you started. But if you have been involved in NXT for while, don’t be put off by the simplicity of this book. It has some rather unconventional techniques that end up building some really intriguing bots. Anyone can learn from this book.
Mike Crowley tenderizes some meat
Mike “Count Blockula” Crowley (Flickr) gives Rocky the old one-two vignette treatment:
The beef on the hooks is fantastic.
Battle in the streets of future Britain!
In the future envisioned by Shadow Viking, New British forces fight a street battle with the Coalition of Loyalist Britons:
From the thrashed bus stop to the enormous crater being used as a mortar emplacement, this diorama is chock full of cool details. Check out the New Britain/ Coalition of Loyalist Britons street battle photoset on Flickr.
(Thanks Scotty!)