I always knew those crazy chickens in the backyard were up to something. Thanks to the clever mind of Angus Maclane, now I know and knowing is half the battle.
Posts by Josh
[Enter gratuitous sheep joke here]
I looked at it, so now you have to. Guy Himber has done it again and I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or run away. I do know one thing. It’s disturbing on a deeper level because someone just saw this over my shoulder and swore at my screen. So it must be good, right?
(Before anyone asks, all the pieces are connected…except for the eyebrows and nostril bits)
Pillaging the mind of a builder: Gerard Joosten
Gerard Joosten (aka Elephant Knight) just posted his latest in a line of large, detailed sailing ships. Christened The Lynx, it is a beautiful example of a minifig scale Clipper Schooner.
Gerard agreed to sit down with me and answer some questions about the ship and how he builds.
TBB: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Gerard. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself. How long have you been into Lego and what themes do you build in?
GJ: I have been into Lego since just before my fourth birthday, when I got 1464 Pirate Lookout. I have never been into a dark age, and my older brother said I’m the biggest AFOL in my family of 7 kids. I mostly build in Pirates and Space, with Castle a bit behind those. Though I dabble in almost anything, except for Steampunk.
TBB: You have two older brothers who are adult Lego fans. Do you feel that their influence and your early exposure to the online Lego fan community has had an impact on your builds?
GJ: They certainly had an influence. Dan built a ship in 2008, a bit before the pirates line came out, that really opened up my love for Pirates. Dan has also pushed me into doing more realistic stuff.
TBB: So why no Steampunk?
GJ: I am just not a fan of steampunk. I think the idea of spaceships and mechs powered by steam to be silly.
TBB: Fair enough. You said you’ve been into Lego since you were four. So how many years have you been into Lego now?
GJ: 15 years and it doesn’t look like I am going to slow down at all.
TBB: So is Pirate your favourite theme?
GJ: Pirates and Space are always competing for first, but I think Pirates has a bit of an edge, simply because I build better sailing ships then spaceships.
TBB: You are becoming well-known for your large, detailed ships. How is this one different from your previous builds?
GJ: Well, this is my second time using reference material, and my first time basing it on a real ship. Also, this is the first time I have built a ship in minifig scale, and used proper cloth (As opposed to paper) for the sails.
TBB: Did using reference material make this build more difficult?
GJ: Somewhat. Using reference material meant I couldn’t be as loose as I normally would be. The hull especially took a lot longer since I had to match it up with something.
TBB: Is this your biggest ship so far?
GJ: It isn’t my longest, but I think it might be the tallest. The HMS Brunswick was 124 studs long, but a bit heftier. But the Lynx is wider and that has to count for something. I would have to say this isn’t quite my biggest, but it is close.
TBB: What was the most difficult part of this build?
GJ: I dunno. I think making the sails, since my scissors sucked. Can’t really say if any part of the actual build was harder then the rest.
TBB: What part of this ship turned out exactly how you envisioned it?
GJ: The angle of the masts. I got the idea how to do it, and it worked perfectly.
TBB: They do look really good. One thing that stands out on your ships is the custom sails and rigging. What do you use to make them? How much string went into the rigging on the Lynx?
GJ: In this case, I used cloth that I bought at Walmart. I usually use paper, but since the sails on this were larger then your regular sheet of paper, and since I wanted to raise the bar for myself a bit higher, I went with cloth. As for how much string, I don’t know at this point. By the time I dismantle this, I’ll know.
TBB: Are you going to start using cloth on all of your future ships?
GJ: I already converted one of my old ships to cloth sails, so I think it looks like it could happen, though paper is cheaper, and I am a bit of a mizer.
TBB: Where do you get inspiration for your ships?
GJ: Generally I just feel like building a ship, and I build one. In the Lynx’s case, Caylin challenged me to build a minifig scale tall ship, so that’s what I did.
TBB: As far as I can tell, your rigging is very accurate. How important is historical accuracy to you?
GJ: It is important whenever I feel like being historically accurate, which is happening more and more often these days. And since this ship was based on an actual ship, it was pretty obvious that I would have to make the rigging accurate.
TBB: Is there anything you want to mention that I haven’t asked about?
GJ: Whenever I build a sailing ship, I like to compare it to my first sailing ship I got, 6250 Cross Bone Clipper. In this case, there isn’t even a comparison.
TBB: I have to agree! Thanks for taking the time with us.
GJ: No problem!
LEGO answers some questions about Quality
Recently the Ambassador program was given a new line of communication for dealing directly with the Quality department. A number of questions were submitted and here are the answers.
QUALITY ISSUES & COMPLAINTS FROM LEGO FANS
1. Instruction booklets come loose in the boxes. They sometimes get damaged during transit. If they were tightly packed in polybags, it could prevent such damages. Stickers also get wrinkled, they could be packed with instructions.A. Yes we know and we have started to package building instructions, labels and textiles in all sets with more than 1000 pieces in a poly bag. The current solution is a quick and dirty one. Version 2 will be ready with-in the first 3 month of 2011.
2. Fans are having hard time choosing colors from instruction booklets. Black and dark grey are especially very hard to distinguish.
A: It is not only fans that have the issue. All of us have. The last 4 years we have tried to optimize this 2 or 3 times by adjusting the printing technique with no luck. For 2012 second half products we will introduce an out-line for black elements – cross fingers that it will help.
3. Injection marks on transparent parts are ugly, fans don’t find them suitable for building. Especially window/glass pieces require more attention about molding.
A: There have been made some changes but give us an overview of the elements and we can verify/show if they have been corrected
4. Slopes come with different surface textures. Some are completely smooth while others have grain on them. It would be better if they were standardized.
A: 2 – 3 years ago we ensured that all roof tails’ have the same surface. By an unknown reason back in 2003 the surface of roof tails was changed from rough to smooth. All set manufactured the last 2 years should have uniform roof tails
5. Studs on certain parts are sometimes solid and sometimes hollow. This should be standardized too.
A: Sorry no. A hollow stud are there either because we need that building function (a tool for the minifigure fits on to the hole) or because we for technical reasons cannot make the stud hollow from the back. Look at the studs from the back on a plate. The studs is hollow otherwise we cannot control the dimensions.
6. Small tires are covered with some greasy material. Dust sticks on them and it’s hard to clean it.
A: We need the grease in order to remove the part from the mould. Yes it tend to be sticky and we are constantly trying to improve the materials used for tiers as they give other technically challenges.
7. There is a major tone difference in same colors. Dark red, red and yellow are the most troublesome colors about this issue. Also, some pieces are translucent, especially red ones. They look too bright next to other parts in same color.
A: We are constantly improving our colors and many improvements have been made the last 3 – 4 years. Please judge the current quality based on set packaged the last 6 months and feedback on that as we want the right quality.
9. Figure heads or torsos are problematic. Some heads don’t fit on some torsos, they stay too loose.
a. We need some examples, and please do so in order for us to correct the moulds.
If you have any questions or quality issues that you would like me to forward on to LEGO, feel free to do so in the comments. If you have quality concerns, try to be very specific. Links to a picture help a lot. If you have an issue with a particular part, make sure you include the mold and cavity numbers from the element. They generally look something like “3-1”. This signifies the mold and cavity from which your part came. It is a lot harder for the Quality department to look for problem if they don’t know which mold or cavity is causing the issue.
Download the NinjaGo theme song – “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold [MP3]
The NinjaGo theme song has been generating a lot of talk recently and I, for one, like it.
The NinjaGo website has been up for a while now on LEGO.com, playing “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold (thanks to Paul Lee for identifying the artist and song name).
For those of you who think the song is as awesome as we do, LEGO has kindly shared the song for everyone to download.
Download “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold (3 MB MP3)
We’ll host the MP3 right here on The Brothers Brick for now, so download away!
“Underneath, it’s a hyperalloy combat chassis.”
This bust of the classic Terminator frame is incredibly detailed and wonderfully menacing. Martin Latta has done a most excellent job. While the actual Terminator is awesome, that base just makes it that much better and complements the build perfectly. This is one of those that I would like to own.
Many thanks to Tom Williamson for the heads up!
And the winner is....
….Iain Heath’s “Tastes like Zebra”! The contest was grueling and the entries were hysterical. The judges were judgmental and the winner loathes minifigs. All in all, it was a great contest!
Congratulations to Iain and many thanks to all who entered. It really was a lot fun to watch and it was the easiest contest I’ve ran in many years. Mime On!
2011 LEGO Ambassadors Announced [News]
The list of LEGO Ambassadors for 2011 has just been made public. If you belong to any of the following communities and you have issues that you want to bring to the attention of LEGO, you should contact your Ambassador. Tim Gould was our Ambassador last year and Andrew Becraft was prior to that. Both did an excellent job. This year I will be filling the role and I hope to live up to the standards that they set.
Here is the release from LEGO’s Jim Foulds:
This round for the Ambassador program, we changed things up a bit. We reduced the requirements to allow for a larger representation of the community. The only requirements that we kept were as follows:
· the group should be at least a year old
· the group should have at least 10 members
· the group should be able to demonstrate some form of activity
By doing so we grew the group from 44 members to 70 members. The following list gives the name of the Ambassador, what group(s) they represent, and what country/website they represent.LUG – Location – Representative
Brickset – Brickset.com – Ian Greig
LEGOBLOG – lego.blog.hu – Tamas Lassanyi
Classic Pirates – classic-pirates.com – Tom Jacobs
PLUG – Portugal – Paulo Jorge Pinheiro Castanho
Brikkelauget – Norway – Cecilie Fritzvold
NILTC – Illinois, USA – Matthew DeLanoy
Byggepladen – Denmark – Svend Erik Saksun
SweBrick – Sweden – Rickard Rasmusson
TWLUG – Taiwan – Josephine Shih
1st State LUG – Delaware, USA – Robert Fries
BrickInside – South Korea – Sung-Wan, Kim
HUNLTC – Hungary – Donat Raab
LUGOLA – Los Angeles, Ca, USA – Paul Lee
TurkLUG – Turkey – Cagri YUZ
LEAHI – Hawaii, USA – Nelson Yrizarry
Classic Castle – classic-castle.com – Sebastiaan Arts
GTWLUG – Saint Louis, Missouri, USA – Benjamin Ellermann
TVLTC – Huntsville, AL, USA – Kristina Schwarz
PennLUG – Pennsylvania, USA – Michael Tighe
Cactus Brick – Phoenix, Arizona – Clark Edwards
VicLUG – Victoria, Canada – John Langrish
Forbidden Cove – forbiddencove.com – Rebecca Deak
Communidade 0937 – Portugal – Americo Verde
Brickish Association – UK – Andrew John Summersgill
Palikkatakomo – Finland – Tuomas Kukkamaa
Pockyland LUG – Taiwan – Yen-chih Haung
Eurobricks – eurobricks.com – Mikael Sjöstedt
Lebgo – Bulgaria – Borislav Mihaylov
FBTB – fbtb.net – Ace Kim
RoLUG – Romania – Alexandru Armin Roșu
LUGPol – Poland – Maciej Karwowski
ParLUGment – Ontario, Canada – Jude Beaudin
LUG Brasil – Brazil – Wagner Cavalli Rodrigues
1000steine – Germany – Christian Krützfeldt
TexLUG – Texas, USA – Anthony Sava
AFOL of Japan – Japan – YOSHIKAZU SAITO
QueLUG – Quebec, Canada – Patrick Bégin
T-LUG – Thailand – Pijarn Charoensri
The Brothers Brick – brothers-brick.com – Josh Wedin
TechnicBRICKs – technicbricks.blogspot.com – Jetro de Château
LGOe – Austria – Verena Schaden
Double Brick – Russia – Alexander Horoshilov
MaLUG – Hungary – Peter Katulin
Builders Lounge – builderslounge.proboards.com – Chris Malloy
RailBricks – railbricks.com – Benjamin Coifman
Kocke Club – Slovenia – Vedran Šubic
Thai Brick Club – Thailand – Pitsanu Boonyarit
ItLUG – Italy – Luca Rusconi
Brickenburg – Romania – Sever-Mihai Alicu
HispaLUG – Spain – Vicente Lis
SwissLUG – Switzerland – Stephan Matter
LowLUG – the Netherlands – Harald Roossien
FreeLUG – France – Daniela Drost
MBFR – Germany – Stefan Klomberg
NeLUG – New England, USA – Bill Bourn
HKLUG – Hong Kong – Andy Hung
BeLUG – Belgium – Ludo Soete
NCLUG – North Carolina, USA – Rick Gratton
SALug – Alberta, Canada – Trevor Van Aalst
CoLTC – Ohio, USA – Ken Cefaratti
TwinLUG – Minnesota, USA – Stacy Sterling
BZPower – bzpower.com – Andrew Bulthaupt
Bricklink – bricklink.com – Troy Cefaratti
WHaCKOLuG – Ontario, Canada – Jeff Van Winden
rtl – Toronto Ontario, Canada – Iain Green
TonLUG – Ontario, Canada – Jenn Wagner
Brick.ie – Ireland – James Shields
Phantoms.su – Moscow, Russian Federation – Igor MakarovPlease join us in congratulating this round of ambassadors. We look forward to working with them.
Sincerely,
The LEGO Community team
If you have questions about the LEGO Ambassador program, you can ask them in the comments section or click on the Ambassador logo. The page at LEGO.com has not been updated for the next cycle but it contains basic information that may answer your questions.
Collectible Minifigs, Series 4, have been announced! [News]
I just got news that these are the official pictures from LEGO. They look pretty darn good!
LEGO Magnet sets to be glued [News]
With the release of the new Pharoah’s Quest sets, many people bought the magnets, as they are an easy way to get the more desirable minifigs. However, the magnet figs were glued to their bases.
When asked for an explanation, LEGO said that all magnet figs will be glued from now on. There was a contractual issue with the magnets in the licensed themes and they had to be glued. In order to make things more efficient in production, the decision was made to glue all magnet figs rather than run two seperate magnet lines (glued and unglued). This has caused a lot of consternation in the community.
What I would like to know is how you feel about it and why. Does this bother you or do you feel that it is a non-issue? Let us know in the comments and the information will be forwarded on to LEGO.
A couple of gifts
Some time ago I heard that there were a few creations left on Nate Nielson’s computer that had never been posted online. Nathan’s wife was gracious enough to post two of the creations earlier this week and my thanks go out to her. I still miss seeing “Nnenn’s” work in my Contact List. His wife says that there is one more left and she is saving it for a special occasion. Enjoy!
V&A rolls out a couple of beauties.
Guy Himber has been teasing us with Work-In-Progress shots of these two for some time now. Now that they are finally finished, he is showing them off with his standard flair. Check out the Riverside Fire Chief and the Supercar!
