Since Peer Kreuger (mahjqa) first went CUUSSO I’ve been waiting for the right time to blog about it, and I think that time is now! Sure we already blogged the model but, with 3000 votes already down, I feel it’s time to call the readers of TBB to support it on LEGO CUUSSOO.
For fans of LEGO in Sydney and around Australia, the inaugaral Sydney Brick Show will happen in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum on June 2-3.
Sydney Brick Show, 2-3 June 2012
Registrations are now open to display and attend the Sydney Brick Show as an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO®)
SydBricks (A group of Sydney LEGO fans from SydLUG) and the Powerhouse Museum are proud to announce that the first Sydney Brick Show will be held at the museum on the weekend of 2-3 June 2012.
Adult fans are invited to register to display their creations and attend the show. For younger fans wishing to take part the Sydney Brick Show are running a competition where they can submit their creations to win one of 10 family passes and the opportunity to display the winning creation at the show. There will also be a number of interactive activities at the show for younger fans, so keep watch on sydneybrickshow.com.au.
As the show is situated in the Powerhouse Museum, AFOL’s are invited to recreate Museum exhibits in brick alongside the usual MOC creations. Information on exhibits from the museum can be found here. Be in quick to register as some exhibits have already been selected!
Registration to attend the Sydney Brick Show as an AFOL includes entry to the Powerhouse Museum for the duration of the show, Sydney Brick Show badge, show bag and discounted entry to the evening reception event hosted by SydBricks in support of Westmead Children’s Hospital, Sydney.
General tickets for the evening event are on sale now. The evening event will include exclusive entry to see the show without the crowds, a catered cocktail reception, guided talks of the displays, trade tables, charity auction in aid of Westmead Children’s Hospital, a talk from Australian LCP Ryan McNaught and a special presentation from LEGO’s Jim Foulds all the way from the USA.
For up-to-date information or for registration, visit sydneybrickshow.com.au.
It would appear that Mobile Frame Zero has been inspiring LEGO mecha models published outside the usual channels. Heliodelic pointed me to MittenNinja’s gallery and his excellent micro mecha designed for the game. There’s some great designs there.
Alex Jones (“Orion Pax”) usually builds stuff inspired by the 80s, but this time he’s gone back further in time to 1964 to bring The Munsters‘ mansion. This is all very excellent but don’t forget to check out the ‘rods.
The best trick to make a mecha model look really great, is to ensure it’s got as close to ‘human’ movement as is possible. Nate Descatro has achieved this in a very compact and very stylish design. It looks highly adaptable too.
While I usually don’t blog LDraw part updates, I’m making an exception for the latest one since, as far as I can tell, it’s the biggest yet, with 601 new parts on offer. In addition to an increase in the number of new parts available, the library of 12V train system parts is almost complete. Many thanks must go out to all parts authors and reviewers, especially those who’ve recently started, and to Chris Dee (the Parts Library Administrator), Phillipe Hurbain and Steffen for the huge work they’ve put in to this latest release.
And to those who’ve never heard of LDraw, or are interested in checking it out, please visit the forums.
LDraw.org is proud to announce that we are teaming up with The LEGO Group to bring you a better LEGO Digital Designer product with full access to the LDraw parts.
LEGO Group Acquisition of LDraw.org Parts Library Announced
LDraw.org and LEGO System A/S jointly announced today that LDraw.org has agreed to sell its rights in the development of the LDraw Parts Library to the LEGO Group, the publisher of the virtual building software LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), for $5.35 million. The LDraw.org Steering Committee members have been offered employment by the LEGO Group, who will continue software development and operations from the former LEGO Universe studio in Louisville, Colorado.
“We’re excited about the integration of the LDraw Parts Library to fill the gaps of old virtual LEGO parts currently missing in LDD, but re-engineered by the fans and are happy to have the core of the community officially join the LEGO team,” said Søren Askildson, Senior Executive Vice President at the LEGO Software Engineering; Development Department. “This acquisition demonstrates our commitment both to the ongoing success of LEGO Digital Designer and to an overall strategy to expand our brand online.”
“LDraw.org’s focus is developing a solid easy-to-use library on an open document file format, and publishing the next generation of virtual building CAD systems,” said Willy Tschager, Member of the LDraw.org Steering Committee . “We’re proud of the library our community built, and are certain that it has a bright future. The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group enables us to focus completely on internally-published, free-to-play software businesses.”
LEGO System A/S entered into a free-data-for-advisory relationship with LDraw.org as to build LEGO Universe in 2006. The acquisition of the rights to the library and the ability to transition members of the team to continue work on the library follows the fulfillment of the LEGO Universe development contract.
LDD as a virtual building experience attracts several million people each year to build a huge range of amazing creations. The LDraw System of Tools is a popular system of free software tools for modeling LEGO creations in 3D on a computer. The parts library that is central to the programs is under continuous maintenance and extension by the LDraw community since 1997.
While I like George Panteleon’s (ZetoVince) car models, I especially like his presentation. Check out the dunes!
Jason Allemann (True Dimensions) is an alumni of the University of Waterloo. And apparently his time there was spent peering at the Mathematics and Computer Science building (in which he had only one class) as he has recreated it beautifully in LEGO. It’s microscale, but it’s a very big building.
Check out the trees.
Back in 1985 you needed $4000 to buy the DynaTAC 8000X phone. Bruce Lowell’s (bruceywan) ABS version is a bit cheaper.
Built for Iron Builder
It was very hard choosing a shot of this beautiful Merlin HC3 chopper by Simon T. James. Every picture shows off something new and lovely about this angled masterpiece. And it’s constructed in dark green too making the shaping challenge that little bit harder.
Thanks to TR for the tip.
The latest edition of RAILBRICKS has just been released and, as usual, it’s chock full of good articles for LEGO train fans and AFOLs in general. You can get a low resolution copy here or follow the picture below for more options.
