It’s rare I get to use the ‘Technic’ category but when good technical design appears on a train even Technic-challenged me can appreciate it. Esben Kolind gives his commuter train a whole lot more fun with working doors and, as though that wasn’t impressive enough, a sliding step. And he does all this on a well detailed six-wide train. Incredible only begins to describe my feelings.
Thanks to Tim David for the link.
Andrew Summersgill (Doctor Sinister) presents a potential future for the Doctor Who series. The 83rd Doctor (from series 340-343 aired between 2336 and 2339) doesn’t have quite the same heroic qualities as the first 82 Doctors…
Click the pic to read Andrew’s hilarious description.
Adam (horseattack) built a printer out of only Lego bricks and some electronics. The most impressive part is the mechanism of the machinery that drives this thing. Check out the video:
This is no toy kids, this circular saw by Dave and John Xandegar may be built from Lego bricks, but the blade is real! For safety precautions, the blade tips have been removed and the device is programmed to stop if you touch it.
I know I tend to blog the same few train builders most of the time but there seems to be a contest on flickr to see who can make the most sophisticated models. Mike Pianta (scruffulous) ups the ante with this utterly amazing grain hopper. What’s more the bogies (the things that hold the wheels) have working suspension.
The Portuguese LEGO Users Group (PLUG) is organizing another LEGO Fan event in Portugal called TOMAR 2010. The event takes place in Tomar, a city that was founded as the headquarters of the Knights Templar in the 12th century. Details are below:
The event will take place at the municipal pavilion and will occupy an area of about 1,000 sqm (almost 11,000 sqf).
Dates and opening hours:
Jun 10 – 12 (Thu – Sat): 10:00 – 22:00
Jun 13 (Sun): 10:00 – 18:00This year the event will feature LEGO creations such as dioramas, models, a city layout with over 60 sqm (approx. 650 sqf), one large GBC setup and demonstrations with LEGO Technic and MINDSTORMS models.
We will have a also a large large scale Ferrari model from the Toy Museum in Sintra, and will have also a large private collection exhibition of LEGO wooden toys from the 30s – 40s.
Besides the exhibition there will be also several activities for the kids and for the LUG members as well. It includes build contests, build-your-self activities, etc.Event setup will happen on the weekend June 5-6.
I must say I agree with Chris Doyle: octopus (or in this case, squid), are very cool animals. And fittingly, Chris has shown once again they make excellent subjects for mosaics.
So Lord Dane put a suit in yo suit so you can stomp while you stomp.
(I realize that I have added nothing of value to this post. The suit is that many kinds of awesome.)
Though not the sort of achievement that makes me proud to be human, the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 “Drache” (Dragon) was the first helicopter to enter production, though Nazi Germany was only able to manufacture about 20 during World War II. I had no idea it even existed until Aleksander Stein built one from LEGO.
Here’s Aleksander’s Fa 223 in action over southern Bavaria:
From Madagascar to Rekohu and from Hawai’i to the South Island of Aotearoa, the people we know today as Austronesians have occupied more of the surface of our planet than nearly any other group of related human beings. This remarkable ocean-going culture expanded at an astonishing rate across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, resulting in hundreds of scenes like the one illustrated in LEGO microscale by Eldert (evhh):
The volcanic island dwarfs the tiny outrigger canoes, and for me symbolizes human ingenuity in the face of what might appear to be insurmountable odds. It’s achievements like this that make me proud to be human, and makes it easy to imagine tiny outrigger spaceships arriving on the shores of a distant island in the sky not too far in the future…
(Post title courtesy Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, And Steel
Jeremy Moody built the first Lego ship inside a bottle! To perform this stunt, the builder had to use pieces smaller than a 2X2 brick and improvised tools that ranged from bent coat hangars to chopsticks. Click on the picture below to read more about this amazing feat.
