About Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Andrew Becraft is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Brothers Brick. He's been building with LEGO for more than 40 years, and writing about LEGO here on TBB since 2005. He's also the co-author, together with TBB Senior Editor Chris Malloy, of the DK book Ultimate LEGO Star Wars. Andrew is an active member of the online LEGO community, as well as his local LEGO users group, SEALUG. Andrew is also a regular attendee of BrickCon, where he organizes a collaborative display for readers of The Brothes Brick nearly every year. You can check out Andrew's own LEGO creations on Flickr. Read Andrew's non-LEGO writing on his personal blog, Andrew-Becraft.com. Andrew lives in Seattle with his wife and dogs, and by day leads software design and planning teams.

Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Hogsmeade Station by Matn

With LEGO Harry Potter sets making a return this year, it’s nice to see people building various Harry Potter creations again.

Matn has posted a gorgeous Hogsmeade Station that would look just as great in a regular Town/Train layout:

Not content to build something only for the camera (as many of us do — who among us hasn’t “cheated” by leaving off parts on the far side?), Matn built a complete platform and pedestrian overpass:

With lovely half-timber construction, texturing on the chimney, and excellent stonework on the first-floor corners, this creation is truly magical.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Atomium – landmark of a bygone era

With our own piece of futuristic architecture left over from the 1962 World’s Fair spiking the Seattle skyline, I’m always interested to learn about other examples of strange buildings that reflects the failed hopes of decades past.

Much cooler than our Space Needle, Atomium was built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. The aptly nicknamed Polegon has posted a microscale version of this Belgian landmark (via MicroBricks):

Which reminds me of the larger version posted some time back by Fragty (Klocki):

BrickCon 2010 so far

For those of you wondering what we’ve been up to at BrickCon…

Fradel takes a nap while I survive on caffeine and adrenaline.

Photos are showing up in the BrickCon group. Check ’em out.

BrickCon 2010: Last-minute logistics

BrickCon 2010 starts this Thursday (with the public exhibition on Saturday and Sunday). If you’re not ready yet — I know I’m not — you don’t have a whole lot of time left!

First, today and tomorrow are your last chance to register your MOC cards. Remember, only registered LEGO creations are eligible to win prizes.

At this point, your main concerns should probably be packing and traveling. (See our BrickCon 2009 logistics post for links to suggestions on how to pack your LEGO so it travels safely.)

As for getting to the convention location for less than five bucks, Mark Sandlin has updated his Infothingy™ to reflect the fact that our light rail now goes all the way from Sea-Tac Airport to Westlake Center. Throw in a bonus monorail ride to take you the rest of the way, and it’s not only inexpensive but down right awesome:

With nearly 400 registered attendees, BrickCon 2010 is shaping up to be the biggest yet. See you all there later this week!

High noon on the streets of Armadillo

Speaking of well-posed minifigs, 74louloute included lots of great details in this diorama inspired by the video game Red Dead Redemption.

From the cow’s skull on the base to the miscreant kneeling on the roof, there’s a lot to love in this western scene.

Collaborative displays at BrickCon 2010 – info, planning, & discussion

In addition to the large-scale, theme-specific collaborate displays that BrickCon has become known for throughout the LEGO fan community — from sweeping Castle landscapes to Great Ball Contraptions that would make Rube Goldberg envious — BrickCon 2010 will also feature several new and returning favorites.

If you’re still thinking about attending, you only have a few days left to register and guarantee custom-engraved bricks in your registration packet. If you have registered, don’t forget to also register your LEGO creations by filling out MOC cards. MOC cards help theme organizers plan for the necessary space, and more importantly make your creations eligible to win convention prizes.

Each of BrickCon’s group builds is designed to be accessible to every registered attendee (sorry, no contributions during Public Hours), regardless of how big or small your LEGO collection is, and whether or not you’ve even started building yet!

Big in Japan

Zombies are so last year (and the year before)… The Brothers Brick’s official collaborative display this year takes its inspiration from the history, mythology, and pop culture of Japan. In keeping with the organic way we’ve put together layouts in years past, we’re not asking you to follow any particular standard, timeline, or even scale. We’ll have life-size ninja weapons, a minifig-scale rendition of the village from Seven Samurai, Ochre Jelly’s wonderfully unique homage to Hayao Miyazaki, the return of Mecha Godzilla, and whatever else inspires you to build something that’s … Big in Japan.

If you’re trying to think of an easy way to contribute something, consider building small for Big in Japan.

A Micropolis module isn’t parts or time intensive, and it’ll bring me one step closer to my dream of a microscale LEGO map of the entire Japanese archipelago. (I’ve built seven more modules after posting Micro Tokyo there on the right.)

Please sound off in the comments with what you’re planning to bring for Big in Japan, just so we don’t end up with three Mount Fujis.

Bricks of Character

Debuted at Bricks by the Bay earlier this year, Bricks of Character is “a Lego building theme featuring brick-built models of well known characters from film, television, literature, history, politics, or even just your imagination. Anything so long as it has personality, and isn’t just posed mini-figs” (*ahem* not that there’s anything wrong with posing minifigs).

Read more about Bricks of Character in the official announcement post on The Living Brick.

Nnenn Memorial Vic Viper Fly-in

Nnenn brick BrickCon 2010 is sure to be a lot of fun, but it’s also going to be bittersweet for many of us.

Following fly-ins at BrickWorld and BrickFair, the Vic Viper Fly-in at BrickCon will be the last fly-in to memorialize the influence and legacy of Nate Nielson, who died in a car accident earlier this year.

Though Nate lived here in the Pacific Northwest, nobody in the LEGO fan community had ever met him in person (or even knew his real name), but we all said that this was the year we were going to convince him to attend BrickCon. That can’t happen now, but members of Nate’s family will be in attendance, taking in our tribute to this legendary builder.

I’ll be coordinating the fly-in, but Keith Goldman — who was so instrumental in organizing the earlier tributes to Nate — will also be attending BrickCon, and I’m sure I’ll be leaning heavily on his experience.

Operation Bricklord: Europe at War

I’ve personally invested a great deal of my own building energies lately in preparing an invasion force for Operation Bricklord: Europe at War.

“The setting is a battle-torn town with a canal running through it – much like the fictional town of Ramelle at the end of Saving Private Ryan, for those of you who are familiar with that film – in mid-late 1944, almost immediately post D-Day. Therefore, little details like planes with invasion stripes and such would be extra accurate!”

What’s next?

Register for BrickCon, if you haven’t already.
Register your LEGO creations too, by filling out MOC cards.
Sound off in the comments if you’re bringing something for Big in Japan, and ask any questions here about the Vic Viper Fly-in.
Stop reading and go build some more!

10212 Imperial Shuttle out, LEGO Harry Potter pre-order + free shipping [News]

The large-scale LEGO Star Wars set 10212 Imperial Shuttle unveiled at BrickWorld in June is now available from the LEGO Shop.

The set includes 5 minifigs and 2503 pieces, and costs 260 USD.

The Harry Potter book series may have come to a conclusion, but the movies continue, with the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows due out later this year. LEGO still has the Harry Potter license, and will be releasing a full line of sets on October 1st (the night of the LEGO Store event at BrickCon, by the way). For those of you not joining us in person, you can pre-order the LEGO Harry Potter sets today.

The fourth LEGO incarnation of Hogwarts Castle (4842) includes 10 minifigs and appears to be modular like the previous versions.

I’m personally most excited by the six new minifigs in 4840 The Burrow:

Again, the full line of six sets is available for pre-order now, and will ship on October 1. (The video games and board game are all available now.)

Finally, LEGO has free shipping on $75 or more from now through September 19th.

The Battle of Cherbourg in LEGO

Immediately after the start of the Normandy invasion on D-Day, Allied forces began a battle for the strategic port city of Cherbourg that lasted more than three weeks. My diorama highlights the aftermath of the battle, when townspeople begin emerging from the rubble, while Free French partisans hoist the Tricolour above their safe house.

The diorama features an updated version of my M4 Sherman tank:

For more photos, check out the photoset on Flickr, and you’ll be able to see this in person in just over a month as part of the Operation Bricklord collaborative display at BrickCon 2010.

The roles of research, critique, and community in improving LEGO models

Like many LEGO builders, I spent the first decades of my life building in isolation, lucky to get suggestions or critique from a sibling or rare friend who also played with LEGO. But in the last 10 years — particularly the last 5 — the LEGO fan community has grown to include a critical mass of people who build in just about every possible genre.

People with shared interests who spend time together online will inevitably run out of solely positive things to say, and as a result, a culture of constructive criticism has emerged among LEGO fans. Balanced against this impetus to critique everything are the planning and research that individual builders put into what they create. In contrast to the solo building those of us in our 30s did 20 years ago, builders today have a wealth of sources right at our fingertips.

What effects do research, critique, and discussion among community members ultimately have on the quality of the LEGO creations we build and share? Since I’ve been on a bit of a building spree lately (amazing what you can do when your LEGO collection is sorted), I thought I’d step back and share my experience.

Read on, and share your own thoughts in the comments…

Before I set out to create a Dodge WC54 ambulance from World War II, I spent a couple hours finding the best pictures and determining where and when they were actually used during the war. Given that many World War II photos were taken by service personnel and are therefore in the public domain, Wikimedia Commons is a great place to find historical photos.

Historical re-enactors and scale modelers also run dozens of sites that pull together vast amounts of careful research. For both my ambulance and later battalion aid station diorama, I turned frequently to the WW2 US Medical Research Centre.

Originally planning to broaden my D-Day beachhead diorama, I confirmed that WC54s were used at Normandy, and even found a photo of WC54s sitting on Omaha Beach. Good enough to start building.

Targeting 1/35 scale, I translating the real vehicle’s length, height, and width into studs and bricks. Remembering what I’d learned from my wildland fire engine, I built from the top down. I struggled with the front, since I had to combine half-stud offset for the three/five-wide hood with SNOT for the grill and bumper, plus tiles (with no studs to sturdy connections on top) for the fenders.

I figured it out, though, and pleased with my results posted pictures to Flickr:

Checking back a while later, I saw a stream of notes from our very own Tim, whose windscreen I’d reverse-engineered for the original ambulance. I gritted my teeth and clicked through. (Honestly, I hate taking criticism, especially when it’s wrong. I’d vented a week earlier that too many of the suggestions to “improve” my M4 Sherman tank took it in more interesting but less historically accurate directions. That’s just plain annoying.)

Tim had seen the mini-rant I’d posted in a Flickr group we both frequent, and his critique was spot on. He made specific suggestions based on the source material I’d used myself, providing solutions where I hadn’t thought the model could be improved. The result is the version I included in my diorama, posted separately below:

The story arc (if you will) started with research, moved through community discussion and critique of the creation itself, and ended with a substantially improved LEGO model. This same story plays out every day in the LEGO fan community today — something that would have been nearly impossible 20 years ago and highly unlikely 10 years ago.

Side note: Looking to future World War II vehicles I might build, I’ll be relying on a copy of World War II AFV Plans: American Armored Fighting Vehicles by George Bradford. I was pleased to discover that I ended up almost 100% to scale (1/35) for my M3 Half-track, even without the book.

Nearly all of the book’s schematics are printed at 1/35 scale, which avoids eyestrain from the WIP-held-against-computer-screen method I’d been using before the book arrived in the mail.

So, what’s your experience with the balance between research or sources of inspiration and constructive criticism?

Battalion Aid Station, Normandy, June 1944

After I built my US Army Dodge WC54 ambulance, it deserved a proper historical context — a Battalion Aid Station in a ruined farmhouse courtyard.

In the US Army, Battalion Aid Stations are the first line of medical treatment after battlefield first aid by medics or fellow soldiers. Wars of the 20th-century saw many conscientious objectors serving as non-combatants in the American armed forces, often as medics. Army medics served heroically, charging into battle alongside their armed comrades. Eleven received the Congressional Medal of Honor as a result of their actions in World War II.

My Battalion Aid Station is based on historical photographs from the Western Front in 1944 and 1945, after the Normandy Invasion on D-Day. Naturally, I had to convert a couple of the more immersive shots into black and white:

Though the muddy lane with the M3 half-track and hedgerow was an afterthought — one that nearly emptied my bin of plant pieces — I’m quite pleased with the result:

Because the subject matter fascinates me so much, I built a great deal of detail into this that you can’t see in a single photo. Check out the photoset on Flickr for more.

(I’ll be discussing some of the build process for my improved ambulance separately, because I think the role of constructive criticism in improving one’s models is something that deserves its own post.)

Brickmania World War II Battle Pack out now [News]

Dan Siskind of Brickmania has just released a three-pack of WW2 vehicles, with custom minifigs and accessories. The set includes a German SdKfz 124 Wespe self-propelled artillery, American M8 Greyhound armored car, and British Universal Carrier (better known as the “Bren gun carrier”).

At $300, the set of three vehicles certainly isn’t cheap, but spending the time — and bricks — to get it right as Dan does for his custom sets isn’t something you can do for only a few bucks. (I built most of my recent American World War II military vehicles from outside my existing collection, so I know it can get expensive just to assemble the necessary parts from half a dozen BrickLink orders.)

I bought a couple of sets last year to see whether they were worth recommending to readers of The Brothers Brick, and I can say unequivocally that they are.

This post brought to you by the color Dark Red

Dave Sterling shows dark red some modular love with this lovely city corner building, which illustrates the kinds of realistic, repeated patterns you can achieve by using many of the same parts.

Click through to MOCPages to see this beauty light up the night.