Dave Shaddix lets the viewer control the action with Peace is Bad for Business. But we all know that squiddie controls the action.
Posts by Gambort
Fanwelt summary by Holger Matthes
As was pointed out by some readers we did not manage to cover anything much from the recent and enormous LEGO Fanwelt exhibition in Cologne. This wasn’t by choice but simply that TBB doesn’t have anyone in Europe. Luckily Holger Matthes (HoMa) was in attendence and happy to write us a summary as a guest author. Many thanks to Holger for his help.
LEGO Fanwelt in Cologne (Nov. 18-21st 2010)
The biggest LEGO event in 2010 in Germany was held recently in Cologne – to be more precise in the 12,500 m² large hall 5.1 of the Cologne Expo. Besides LEGO visitors could expore classic model railroading like Märklin and others and another hall was dedicated to handicarft. This concept went well and did not only attract grey-haired modelrailroaders but tons of families. Overall this combined expo hat about 60,000 visitors!
But let’s focus on the bricks: Besides lots of known and unknown individual MOCs by more then 250 exhibitors the Carnival Parade has drawn the most attention amoung the visitors. Cologne is one of the most important cities for Carnival in Germany though the oranisation commitee from the MBFR club organised a fan project where everyone was invited to bring Café Corner style houses (158), walking participants (63) and funny, colourful motive cars (56). The 64,5 m long parade was seen by many many real life LEGO fans and visitors and more then 17,000 minifigures!
Fans and visitors were called to vote for the best motive car. After all the 1875 votes were count, the winning car by Jürgen Bramigk was announced online
Not only the brick related figures were enormous: The exhibitors and organising team ended up in eating more then 100 litres of chilli con carne, 30 kg of french fries, 260 sausages, 35 kg of pasta, 150 schnitzel, gallons of coffee and more … all prepared by Jürgen and his kitchen team.
Special thanks to the MBFR-team around Tretty and all the exhibitors who realised a great expo!
LEGO and science: robot cat for scaredy rats
LEGO Mindstorms (and indeed regular technic) are a not unusual sight in science laboratories. Unfortunately I’m not lucky enough to need ‘work LEGO’ but I have looked jealously into labs that do. Typically it’s used to automate simple procedures or make quick reconfigurable rigs.
The Kim Laboratory of the University of Washington use LEGO in a novel way: to test fear in rats using the aptly named Robogator. This is certainly the first time I’ve seen LEGO used in neuroscience and I have to admit the idea of testing fear using a bright colourful toy robot is pretty clever and amusing. They have a few videos too.
Physorg have more details and I, in an astounding reversal of the usual, found the link on Boing Boing.
It’s all in the scales
This image by Fred (Shamisenfred) reminds me of those collectible fantasy cards that were big in the 90s. Although Anutrich himself is very nice I have to confess that the scales he’s holding are what really drew my attention to it.
Brickvention 2011: Jan 14-16 Melbourne [News]
Once again it is Summer and that means it’s time for Brickvention. As Australia Day falls on a Wednesday this year Brickvention breaks from its usual tradition of falling on the long weekend and will be held from the 14th to the 16th of January instead which hopefully means cheaper flights and accomodation.
Registration is now open so if you haven’t already started planning your trip now is a good time. One other notable change is that this year it’s in the all new venue of Melbourne Town Hall due to the enormous crowds at last years event.
In a nutshell:
- What is Brickvention?
Brickvention is the premier convention event for the Australian LEGO® Community.
Brickvention is a 2 day event for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) Like other conventions, it offers workshops, presentations, special events and challenges.
The event celebrates the coming together of the fan community that has evolved as a result of the Internet and exploring and developing the LEGO® hobby.
Brickvention occurs annually on or near the Australia Day weekend in January.
- When is Brickvention?
Brickvention 2011 will be held on Saturday the 15th and Sunday 16th January 2011. The Saturday is for registered attendees and is aimed at Adult fans of LEGO®. Sunday is the Public Day where everyone is welcome.
- Where will Brickvention be held?
Brickvention 2011 will be located at: Melbourne Town Hall, corner of Swanston St and Collins St, Melbourne :
- Who can come?
Saturday the 15th includes sessions intended for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) 18 years of age or older. Younger convention attendees are welcome to come with a registered adult, but keep in mind many of the activities outside of the Public Expo are targeted toward adults.
Sunday the 16th is the Public Expo, allowing the general public of all ages to watch LEGO® builders at work and view LEGO® creations and displays. – registration is not required for the Public Expo.
- How much does it cost to attend?
Convention: Saturday the 15th includes sessions intended for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) to get together and discuss LEGO®, building techniques, models etc. and includes a number of events such as presentations and competitions. – Please register for these competions prior to Brickvention.
$50 for Full registration (over 15)
$25 for under 15 registration. Children under 15 attending the 2-day convention must be accompanied by an adultPublic Expo: Sunday the 16th from 10am – 5pm is the Public Expo, allowing the general public of all ages to watch LEGO® builders at work and view LEGO® creations and displays. Registration is not required for the Public Expo.
Adults – $6
Children – $3
Family – $15 (2 adults and 2 children)
If you’re in the neighbourhood I highly recommend attending. It’s by far the biggest AFOL convention in Australasia. I’m already fully booked.
LEGO 3D scanner used to generate 3D LDraw parts
Did you know you can make a 3D laser scanner out of LEGO bricks and a few custom parts? No? Nor did I until today. Did you know you can then use your LEGO model to scan LEGO parts and turn them into 3D CAD LDraw parts to make virtual LEGO models out of? Amazing hey?
Phillipe Hurbaine (philo) is well known for his clever software, hardware, LEGOware and general LEGO-mechanical skill but I have to say his latest work just takes the cake. And as if making a 3D scanner wasn’t enough he has actually used it to model some LDraw parts. I think this is probably the best working LEGO thing I have ever seen.
Two for the track
A Nutherwun
It’s no secret that Rodney Bistline’s (Buster®) “swoosher”s are some of my favourite spaceships. So loving the Nutherwun Strike Craft was a natural fit.
Gumball chaser
Rather well known blog Boing Boing follows their negative stories with a Unicorn Chaser. I’m going for a gumball chaser with this excellent model by Alex Schranz (Orion Pax).
Honda RA272
According to Ricardo Grates (biczzz) the Honda RA272 was the first Japanese car to win a Grand Prix. And it sure looks great in LEGO.
Dissecting a frog
I can say with near certainty that this is the first time realistic dissection has been rendered in LEGO. I can almost smell the well-exposed guts of Dave Kaleta’s celebration of biology classes. Now what tags do I use for this one?
Built for the MOCPages MOC Olympics.
The scales of Bugatti
And while my interest in vehicles waxes and wanes, Peter Blackert (lego911) brings us an extremely steady supply of cars. But I don’t think I’ve seen him make the same car at four scales before. My own bias shows through in my love for his tiniest Bugatti Veyron 16.4.