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

Brickvention 2013 – 19th-20th Jan – Public Tickets available

I’ve been rather less active in promoting Brickvention (Australia’s premier LEGO convention) this year, entirely because I’m rather sad to not be going this time around. But I would be terribly remiss if I didn’t remind all our Melbourne readers that it’s coming soon (19th and 20th January 2013 to be precise) and you need to book your tickets ASAP. In my experience each year gets bigger and better and since the last one was super fun I’ve absolutely no doubt this one will be even more excellent.

Sadly exhibitor and convention tickets are sold out so if you’re not already booked in you must go as a visitor. And I cannot stress enough that you need to book your tickets in advance and that the event has entirely sold out each recent year.

Brickvention is Australia’s premier LEGO® fan convention

Brickvention is an Australian based convention for LEGO® fans. It is a two-day event that brings together LEGO fans of all ages from all over Australia to view original and unusual creations built by Australian modelers and collectors. So if you love LEGO, come along and view the amazing creations and models made out of LEGO.

The event features a huge collection of LEGO models including trains, castles, pirate ships, Star Wars™, space ships, planes, buildings, sculptures and many more. There will also be competitions, face painting and LEGO sets and merchandise for sale.

The next Brickvention will be held over the weekend of 19th and 20th January 2013 at The Royal Exhibition Building, Nicholson Street, Carlton, Victoria, where anyone can come along and view the amazing creations made out of LEGO.

LEGO fans of all ages are welcome on the Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am – 5:30pm.

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.

The Morris Museum in LEGO

It’s always hard to take (and for me to choose) shots of large LEGO buildings, especially shots that show them off in all their glory. With Jonathan Lopes’ (BKNY Bricks) latest model, I chose the angle that I though best demonstrated the fun parts (see below) and you’ll just have to follow the trail to see more. Here Jonathan has recreated the Morris Museum under commission to be displayed at the real useum.

On the topic of fun, Jonathan said “while the original building is 100 years old, there have been a few additions built onto it over the years. This meant for a very interesting design and build – with the varying architectural styles and all.”. And that sounds like fun to me.

LEGO cars on the move

Ralph Savelsberg (Mad_physicist) has built a lot of very nice cars through the years, both minifig sized, and at around 1:22. Today he presents a model of a Mercedes Actros car transporter to show a bunch of them off. I reckon this would look very nice on my display shelf.

The Big Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Book [Review]

Soon after the LEGO Adventure Book, I found out about The Big Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Book by Oliver Albrecht (*Olly*) and Joe Klang (-derjoe-). I guess it must be Christmas or something as that left me with two LEGO books I wanted. Sensing my desire, Joe Klang sent me a copy of the book which means I am now able to review it for you all.

The tl;dr version can be summed up simply: buy this book (or from Amazon.co.uk, or in its original German) if you like great LEGO town models, great models in general, mini/midi scale LEGO models, or nice books about LEGO.

The Big Unofficial LEGO Builder's Book - Examples

This book is a little more focussed than the LEGO Adventure Book, and arguably more tailored toward adults than children (although older children and teenagers who are still into LEGO would love it). It is mostly a collection of instructions for models at regular minifig scale (six-wide car scale for those who care), and at “midi scale” (see right) where cars are two bricks wide and everything else is scaled accordingly. In between the very, very many instruction sets, there are tips and tricks on building, mostly at a fairly advanced level.

This is a book for ‘serious’ modelling and the technical level is higher than LEGO sets. The models are of a very high quality, with a focus on looks rather than playability. Which I love but may not be for everyone. But Joe and Oliver are excellent builders so this is unsurprising.

One aspect of the book that I found very nice is that the instructions are usually presented in a very common colour (often red), and then examples are shown in alternate colour schemes. I think this is a great idea, allowing more people to build them straight out of the book, but offering more exciting variants. On the whole the instructions are very clear, and are made with LDraw, which in my opinion makes better printed instructions than even LEGO’s in house software. I found the steps pretty easy to follow too.

The English language book has some amusingly quirky translations from the original German. But it does not suffer from them (personally I like German-English) and is entirely readable. On the whole I really have to recommend this to people who are ‘serious’ about building LEGO towns, or just like to see what really good builders can do with a bunch of bricks. Be warned though, that if buying for a young child you will have to help them. Overall it’s an excellent book and I’m happy to have it in my collection and would guess that if you’re reading TBB, you would too.

You can buy it from Amazon.com and help support TBB.

Orange train in Orange, Texas

I’m always pleased when Tony Sava (sava_the_aggie) posts pictures of one of his trains in situ. He’s got a camera with a great depth of field, and a great skill at using it.

Very cool catch-up trains

I’ve got a little time this evening so figured I might as well post some old things from my bloglist.

First up is Caleb Randolph’s Swedish Class B. As though packing in the details wasn’t enough, Caleb has gone where others fear tread and added sound. As for the model itself: I’m particularly impressed by the running gear (the bars that move hypnotically on the wheels) as it’s nice and thin.

Secondly there is Cale Leiphart’s “K4s”. This pair of beauties are SNOTtastic in their details, in particular using panels to obtain a nice thin board next to the boiler (the big round bit).

And last but not least is Peter Norman’s (swoofty) Hiawatha Beaver tail wagon. In case you’ve never noticed I do like me some streamline moderne design.

A house from Lille-Fives

I don’t often blog “modular houses” as I find them a little dime-a-dozen. However Richard “lafabrick” enticed me to break this habit as he has made such an impressive reproduction of a house in the Fives to Lille neighbourhood in France. This house is so cleverly made it’s probably the first (and likely the only) time I’ve ever allowed four examples of techniques from a single model into the LEGO Techniques group.

VV trident a,b

In contrast to the helicopter I just posted, Bartosz Kacprzyk (the oneman) has posted a Vic Viper for Novvember that’s so unusual it almost feels plausible. Those weird wings just have to be for something important.

Stealthy Chopper

I’m a big fan of fictional, yet plausible models. And this ‘Shadow Stealth’ helicopter by Simon T. James is a fine example. Usually compound curves look a little odd to me, but here they perfectly convey the choppy lines of real world stealth vehicles. I dig this.

[Review] LEGO Adventure Book

Not so long ago we previewed the LEGO Adventure Book by Megan Rothrock (megzter). Today we bring you a review. The tl;dr version can be summed up simply: buy this book (or from Amazon.co.uk). For reasons why scroll below the picture.

EDIT: I should mention that I received my review copy of this book from the publishers.

To judge a book by its cover, The LEGO Adventure Book: Cars, Castles, Dinosaurs and more! is a very nice book. A good shiny hardback, with glossy pictures (see above), and a surprising amount of heft. And the printing quality once you open the cover does not disappoint either. So let’s proceed to discussing the content.

The book warms us up with some technically simple (as far as the book goes), but very cute builds by Megan herself. I particularly like the way she shows off a number of small models buildable by just about any kid. To warn you right off, a lot of the builds in this book do require a grown-up’s collection. It may not be the best gift for an impatient kid who just likes to have models for his/her shelf, but I know that I would have loved this book as a child. Even if I couldn’t have built anything I would have spent hours copying ideas and techniques, like I used to with the LEGO World Show brochures.

Like its inspiration, the book follows the story of Meg and her adventures in the world’s of LEGO building. The narrative is cute, with conversation bubbles used to highlight broad ideas and other extra details. Meg travels from world to world (ie. builder to builder) showing off models and sharing ideas and instructions at each stop.

As I highlighted in my preview, the book contains models from a bunch of splendid builders, most of whom have been featured here on TBB. Even as someone who finds reverse engineering of LEGO models pretty easy I spotted a wide variety of techniques and ideas (not to mention the excellent models) that were new to me. For a novice builder it would be a great kickstart into the world of advanced techniques.

The instructions in the book are very clear on the whole, albeit not as step-by-step as LEGO’s (I personally prefer the steps in this book). I particularly liked the drawn addition of brick borders to photo instructions where the seams were not clearly visible. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that LEGO’s instruction makers could take some clarity tips from this book.

Really, there’s not a lot I can fault this book on, and a whole lot I can praise it for. As far as I’m concerned this is even better than the old Ideas Books. By taking it to the fans, Megan exposes us to a wider range of styles, techniques and builds than would ever be allowed in an ‘official’ book.

Which brings me back to the beginning: if you are an adult fan of LEGO, or have a kid who loves LEGO (and is patient, or has a patient parent) then you should buy this book. Preferably from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk right now. You can find more info online: at facebook or No Starch Press.

A fantastic castle

Please excuse the bad pun of a title but my goal is to get this out sooner rather than better. Patrick Bosman has posted a stunning fantasy castle Querceto Castle Island based on the architecture of Tuscany, and the Castello di Querceto in Pisa. And it’s truly a beauty with no solid grey walls to be seen.Stunning work and inspiring for castle and non-castle builders alike. And did I mention it has animated features?

Novvember 2012 is upon us – prepare for Vic Vipers!

Just a quick reminder that NoVVember 2012 is now upon is. Help celebrate the late nnenn’s love of the Gradius Vic Viper by building your own (or more!). Post your entries here and Pascal (pasukaru76) will perform his magic at the end of the month.

Keep an eye out for further updates once the East Coast of the US recovers a little.