One of the things I’ll always remember Mike Crowley for was his ability to put LEGO elements together in new and interesting ways. One of Mike’s ideas was the BrickFA, or Brick Figure Articulation (sort of a LEGO version of Stikfas).
As with all of his other innovations, Mike shared his techniques without expectation of reward or even recognition — true open source LEGO.
One of Mike‘s talents included making anything he wanted at all from anything LEGO produced. He’d find the most fabulous ways to integrated some of the strangest pieces and produce something wonderful.
Shottle was one of those things, finding a way to integrate the lid from packaging and create something fantastic!
I don’t think he ever found a piece he couldn’t use. Yes, even Galidor.
One of the last major models Mike Crowley posted online was a new type of brick-built figure, the “BigFig.” BigFigs are built from bricks, but look like large minifigs. Mike showed off his new idea with a recreation of the classic LEGO Pirates captain minifig:
In March 2009, Mike wrote:
Basic features include:
– head can rotate
– face / hairpiece can be customized
– arms are connected with Technic axles to prevent “drooping” when holding objects
– hands can rotate
– torso and hip-piece fronts and backs can be customized
– legs are connected using Technic rotating / ratcheting click hinges, allowing for some rotation backward and full 90 degree rotation forward (into the seated position)
– head, arms, hands, hips and legs all separate in the same places that a regular-sized minifig’s do
– the rear and bottoms of the legs have “holes” built into them to resemble those on the legs of a regular-sized minifig and are spaced so as to fit onto “studs” built 2×2 and spaced 2 studs apart from one another.
In case you’d like to try your own hand at building a BigFig, Mike even posted a breakdown:
Here is a review of 10197 Arkham Asylum Breakout where I talk about the parts and the model while highlighting some interesting building techniques. In summary, while there are only a few new pieces in this set, it is well-designed and features noteworthy techniques such as the stained glass window, sliding jail doors and more.
Sean and Steph Mayo are ever so innovative in their builds. They created a mosaic of Cortana from Halo featuring spinning columns of 1×1 transparent round plates. You have to see the video for the incredible effect. You can read more about this building technique on MosaicBricks.
Here is a video review of 76004 Spider-Man: Spider-Cycle Chase
Jameson Gagnepain clearly has a surplus of those ever-so-useful LEGO game dice. He’s put them to good use for his entry into the Like a Boss contest, resulting in this fabulous display of impossible Tetris:
For an added touch, he’s done a stop-motion version complete with the frustrating anticipation of not getting the particular shape that you need:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameson42/8255394561/
Well, she is at it again. Katie Walker has been incredibly busy this year but now she is back to doing what she does best…blowing my mind. This mosaic is merely a “study”, by which she probably means that she is going to do something even more incredible with this later on. Awesome!
Pascal (pasukaru76) calls this little cottage a shack, but I call it adorable.
Demonstrating that repetition of a part can yield some interesting results, Pascal uses yellow arch/fender pieces to build a gorgeous thatched roof for his stone cottage. The little tree-shaped hole where the arches meet is also a fortuitous touch.
No Starch Press recently sent us a review copy of their latest Technic offering, The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide
I found the book to be full of very useful information. I am not an expert Technic builder by any means and when I first thumbed through the book I was overwhelmed by the amount of detail that the book offers. However, when I actually started reading the book, I found that the way Paweł presents the information made everything very clear. He starts with basic concepts and then builds upon them throughout the book in a very clear and concise fashion. I think any adult LEGO fan will be able to follow this book and incorporate the techniques into their own creations. But this book is not for young builders. Many, if not most, of the techniques are quite advanced and would lead to frustration for younger builders.
The book consists of 333 pages divided up into five parts: Basics, Mechanics, Motors, Advanced Mechanics and Models. The first three sections give you the groundwork needed to understand the Technic system and how the majority of the parts work. I found this to be very helpful. I have used many Technic pieces over the years but wasn’t clear on the functions of each and every part. These first three sections are a great reference of Technic pieces and their functions, as well as being vital in introducing the terminology used throughout the rest of the book. I highly recommend reading these sections in depth and not skipping ahead.
The fourth section, Advanced Mechanics, teaches you how to design and build transmissions, steering systems, suspensions for wheeled and tracked vehicles along with other concepts and ideas.
The fifth and final section instructs the reader in designing and planning their own models.
Overall, I would recommend this book for any adult builder who is interested in becoming more familiar with Technic and using Technic in their own creations. The book is well-laid out and the information is presented clearly. It is definitely an asset that deserves a place on the shelf.
Visit No Starch Press for this and other LEGO-related books.
This Lego westie by ccy_8086 is one of the most adorable creations I’ve seen. The multitude of slopes worked out really well as opposed to a traditional bricks and plates approach.
You might think that stop-motion animation is just a matter of taking lots of sequential photos, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Kevin Ulrich shares his experience creating the popular Hobbit and Lord of the Rings shorts we’ve featured here over the past few months.
Like all movies and TV, I would argue myself that what actually makes the BrotherhoodWorkshop shorts so great is excellent writing. Can’t wait to see what they post next!
