About Gambort

I'm a builder with a short attention span and a lot of virtual bricks. I'm probably most known as a train builder and was involved in the creation of LEGO set 10183 but I do a lot of other stuff too. I'm also a member of the LDraw SteerCo and a webmaster for the site.

Posts by Gambort

I like robots

Just a quick post to show some retro-styled robots by Soren Roberts and Peter Reid.

But was it just an excuse to post this link to Dark Roasted Blend?

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Train challenge examples

Both Peter Norman and I have now done example designs for the previously mentioned train building challenge. Remember it closes at the end of February so if you’re planning to enter you better get cracking.

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Russian love

Chuck Citrin has made an amazing mini hard-suit and posted a breakdown for us to build our own. The sensor is my favourite touch but it’s full of goodness.

Title stolen straight from Chuck.

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Oh Canada

Talented builder Danden gives us his beautifully photographed and excellent rendition of an EMD SD90MAC in Canadian Pacific livery. Check out his other work too. It’s all excellent.

Thanks to Matt Hamann for the link.

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Betty Crocker takes to the sea

Leigh Holcombes boat

Leigh Holcombe (worker201) continues his privatisation-gone-mad theme with the SS Betty Crocker. She’s a mean boat who definitely packs a punch. Comes complete with interior for added fun.

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Bye bye BV 2009

BV badge

Shannon Sproule (Ocean) has posted the first set of pictures from Brickvention 2009 in Melbourne. They’re big pics but you can see we had fun. My camera is awful outside of macro mode and my skills are similar so I’m considering Shannon the official TBB photographer. I’ll try to add some more links from other people here as I see them but I’m still on holidays for a while so… time will tell.

On a personal note I’d like to thanks everyone for making it so much fun and say a big hi to all the people I finally met in real life. Top notch bunch of blokes and sheilas.

More pics

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Tim’s blogging standards

Hi all,

As Andrew’s TOS post makes clear there have been some recent comments on TBB that have made editing it a little less pleasant than it otherwise would be. This does not mean that the content in some of those posts wasn’t somewhat valid, particularly one issue which I do somewhat agree with. So, without further ado:

How can I improve my model coverage on TBB? I’m going to leave the question open but will point out a couple of things which are relavent.

1) We (as a site) like to use a lot of links here. This makes writing a post more difficult and writing a post about someone new even more difficult while we track down their online details.

2) Photography standards are important here. When I show my AFOL friends links I will post poorly photographed but good MOCs. I would not usually post them here.

Unfortunately I’m going to be gone to Brickvention for a few days so any response will be patchy but I’m more interested in hearing your thoughts on this anyway.

And please note this is coming from me and me alone. It is not a broad editorial issue and should not be treated as such. I’d like to know how I can improve my coverage (without taking more time).

Cheers,

Tim

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Wooden barrels and toy trains

I realise that this new model by Carl Greatrix is a work-in-progress but I loved the look of it on the wooden table-top and decided to blog it anyway. The details are excellent and it reminds me so much of a lovely old-fashioned toy.

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.

A train contest no less

Baldwin contest banner

I started a little building challenge for trainheads (and those that might want to have a go) and Peter Norman donated a prize so it became a contest. An interesting aspect of train building in LEGO is that it’s one of the few areas where a number of people work from the same or similar prototypes. For these challenges I decided to take this one step further and get everyone to work from exactly the same source material.

The rules are in the flickr trains group but I’ve copied them here for those who don’t use flickr.

This time we can all build a US diesel switcher: a Baldwin AS-616 as it comes in a variety of liveries. I found a nice side-view projection and there’s a flickr group dedicated to Baldwin’s.

Peter Norman has graciously donated a prize to the first challenge so there will be judging. The winner will receive a very valuable Lego train related item. Peter, I and possibly a third judge will decide the winner based on no fixed criteria. There will not be a rankings system.

* The deadline for entries is February 28, 2009. Deisgns must not have appeared in public before the 1st January 2009.

* To enter the contest provide a small link to the image in the flickr thread using the [FLICKR-URL] technique (copy the URL for the model’s flickr page and surround it by square brackets). If you are not a flickr member email a direct link to a 240px wide version of your entry to me and a link to more pics and I will enter for you.

* The Challenge is open to 6, 7, or 8 wide, powered or not. All entries must be able to at least navigate Lego train track.

* Entries may be in CAD format but the file must be available for inspection and must be deemed to be buildable by me to be eligible for the contest. Similarly non-LEGO components may be used but it is best to be aware of the judges’ prejudices.

If you have any questions just post them here but read through all the text first.

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.

Perhaps I’m easily amused

LEGO Dingbats Font

But this minifig-based dingbats font is hilarious. Our younger readers may want to avoid looking at X.

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.

Power Miners of the Eastern Bloc

Misterzumbi's Soviet/Power Miners hybrid

Adam Grabowski (Mister Zumbi) breaks out the bricks and dusts off his photoshop skills to show how AFOLs could do Power Miners if they gave it a go. He presents both the Ursus 1410 (pictured above) and the Belarus Beta (below) as some Soviet inspired (a minor fetish of mine) Power Miners. Aside from the excellent design on these models I have to wholeheartedly endorse his message of “if you don’t like the way it’s done, do it yourself better” (to paraphrase).


Misterzumbi's Soviet/Power Miners hybrid

Credit to Klocki for finding this one.

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.

Brickvention 2009 Reminder

Brickvention

Just a 16 day reminder about Australia’s own convention. And remember it’s on the Australia Day long weekend so if you’re planning to visit Melbourne for it book your hotels about now.

Australia’s LEGO convention, Brickvention, is just a few weeks away and it is now time to make that all important decision about attending the event.

The weekend of LEGO-filled fun happens over the Australia Day Long Weekend (January 23rd – 25th) in Melbourne (Australia). This is the third such event in Melbourne and looks like being just as exciting as the previous years.

Details of the event can be found at the website: http://www.brickventures.com

Even if you can’t make it to the whole weekend, the display area is open to the public on Sunday and we’d love to see everyone there!

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.