This smart-looking piece of equipment was made by Marek Markiewicz (aka M_longer), and is actually in minifig scale. The real Caterpillar 24M stretches over 46 feet long, and has a 24 foot wide blade! Marek’s Lego version is equally impressive, though, featuring a pneumatically operated blade and rear ripper, and functioning steering and articulation. Marek has even made a cool video to showcase the moving parts in action.
There’s a special place in my heart for Sanrio-themed LEGO models. This series of Hello Kitty figures in Halloween garb by schfio gives me a warm glow.
My favorite is Dracula Kitty:
Check out bigger photos of all the cats in schfio’s photoset on Flickr
Thanks for the tip, Bruce & Tommy!
RAILBRICKS issue 10 is just out. Chock full of the usual trainy goodness with a focus on recent events. And it’s happy editor birthday to Elroy Davis who marks one year in charge of RAILBRICKS.
RAILBRICKS Issue 10 is now available for download. The new issue features stories covering some fan events from the past summer, as well as tips and building instructions.
One of the things I love about BrickForge is that they seem to be just ahead of what LEGO ends up producing — from cows, pigs, and crowbars a few years ago to 1×1 round tiles and park ranger hats in the upcoming 2012 LEGO City sets. Does The LEGO Group have a spy in BrickForge world headquarters?!
Anyway, I always like to learn more about the LEGO vendors and custom accessory makes who populate the brick “ecosystem,” so it was great to run across an interview with Kyle Peterson on one of my favorite non-LEGO blogs, MAKE.
I hear some 3rd party manufacturers of Lego accessories recycle old bricks in their ABS, grinding them up and adding them to the molten plastic. Can you talk a little about this?
Obviously the ABS has to come from somewhere. BrickForge deals with very large production runs – thus we use specifically dyed ABS pellets during the self-contained, automated injection process. Other vendors may use a smaller, lightweight injection press for smaller production runs. This requires a manual feed of plastic into the hopper. Either the artisan has to purchase pre-mixed pellets (that match the LEGO color palette) or simply grind up and smelt existing LEGO brick. The first option is expensive, the second option is time consuming (not to mention having to deal with toxic fumes).
Read the complete interview on the MAKE Blog.
The end, that is, of October and Jamie‘s fabulous advent calendar. I want to present this week’s batch, with my top two favorites: The Broken and Take your Cthulhu to Work Day.
The other figures from this week are below:
October 19
October 17
October 16
October 15
Marcos Bessa (aka Marcosbessa) may have invented the Alvis TA-28 solely to express its stylishness in Lego form, but you’d never know it. This classy car perfectly embodies the panache of the roadsters from the first half of the twentieth century. I love the smooth curves Marcos has achieved on the hood and fenders, and he could not have chosen a more fitting color-scheme.
In an odd but awesome twist, LEGO City leaves the, well, city and heads for the hills in 2012. All of the law enforcement and emergency services that form the core of each year’s LEGO City sets are represented by wildland firefighters and park rangers instead.
Looks like there are some interesting new brick…bricks.
Oh yes, there are bears. I am so building a moonshine still out back of this hillbilly cabin.
In the same vein, the firefighters battle forest fires with their bulky wildland equipment.
I wonder if wunztwice will approve of the chainsaws…
Via Eurobricks.
When I haven’t been working, sleeping, building, or blogging, most of my waking hours over the past month have been spent playing Gears of War 3.
It’s hard to miss Marcus’ Hammer of Dawn taking out the Corpser, but watch for some cool details like aiming the frag grenade and a Retro Lancer execution.
The making-of film itself has some excellent stop-motion sequences:
Over the last few weeks, Sean and Steph Mayo (aka Siercon and Coral) have been creating a strikingly skillful set of microscale dioramas for the Microscale Castle Contest at Classic-Castle, with each vignette depicting a scene from an epic struggle for a fantasy world. All eight of the individual scenes fit together, adjoining to create a complete panorama of the battle.
There are too many imaginative and implausibly tiny details to highlight them all, so be sure to check out the photographs carefully. A few of my favorites include the mounted knight, the war elephants, the stairs to the dark castle, and of course, the microscale angelic warrior (below). This is microscale building at its finest.
And, as if all this wasn’t enough, Sean and Steph have teamed up with Blake Baer (aka Blake’s Baericks), who is creating the second part of this saga. Although Blake has so far only shown the first vignette of a planned five, his work looks like it will be right on par with the first segment, so keep an eye on his photostream to see the rest.
A bit belated news for some, I realize — I’ve been sick — but 4184 Black Pearl is out now from multiple sources (text link goes to LEGO Shop; image link below goes to Amazon).
The highlight in this set for me is definitely the minifigs, with Davy Jones and the shark-headed Maccus. It goes for $100 (less at some big box stores at the moment) and includes 804 pieces.
Free shipping has been extended again from the LEGO Shop, with double VIP points through the end of October.
Finally, every purchase over $99 includes the first of a two-part Christmas vignette for free:
Here’s the second part, due out in November:
Is it possible to be late posting something that’s Futuron? Of course not; so take a look at this spectacular collaborative diorama built for The Great Western Lego Show a few weeks ago. Constructed by five members of the Brickish LUG, it features everything a burgeoning space colony could want; from communications arrays and defense systems to mining vehicles and even a monorail.
One thing I particularly love about this display is that it reminds me so much of the classic dioramas in the Lego catalogs of the 80’s and early 90’s, except that here even the scenery is actual Lego.
This little treat was posted for Classic-Castle‘s Microscale Castle Contest by Toltomeja.
The presentation on this is quite lovely. All of the focus is on the castle, foregoing the need for landscaping. It just works for this build!
