As 2016 comes to an end, we wanted to take a moment and look at some of the most popular news posts this year. What theme made the most appearances on our list? Who took the number one spot? Where does 10255 Assembly Square fall on our list? Read on to find out!
Click through to read the rest of our countdown!
There are only a few days left until Christmas, so anything that saves you time is a good thing. Thankfully, 14-year-old Sanjay Seshan and his 12-year-old brother Arvind built the Holiday Card Plott3r to help in all your Christmas card needs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGDPLqzy6EA
Built and powered by LEGO Mindstorms, the plotter can churn out cards decorated with trees, snowflakes and even Santa’s signature. The creation prints the designs using a dot-matrix and even includes a second contraption that slides out an envelope ready for your beautiful, new card.
Better yet, the project files are all online to be used or improved. That is really in the Christmas spirit! Now we just need a machine that licks and applies stamps and drops the cards off at the post office.
Sariel’s LEGO Workshop takes inspiration from the visually stunning movie Tron: Legacy with his LEGO model of the film’s light cycle. The model itself looks good, enhanced with custom non-LEGO lighting, but the fact that it can drive and steer using RC is rather impressive. Watch the light cycle ride around at night and take a closer look at the functions in this video.
The immediate action drill for suspecting a gas attack is to shout “Gas! Gas! Gas!” and then start putting on your respirator and protective clothing. nobu_tary has a build already prepared for such an occasion with his protective clothing, gas mark and a dark foreboding look. The build uses a clever mix of Technic, constraction and system parts to form this awesome looking character. As examples of this mix, the respirator uses a headlight tile from a Dino theme set, the thigh part belongs to Poe Dameron, and an old-school system modified brick is perfect as the toe of his boots.
The Swedish car company Koenigsegg may have an unpronounceable name, but they’re world-renowned for their incredible supercars. The Koenigsegg One:1 takes its name from the one-to-one power to weight ratio, and only six vehicles were built. VKTechnic has created this amazing vehicle in Technic, complete with aggressive red and black racing stripes.
The Technic Koenigsegg One:1 has a number of working features, including opening doors and engine cover. I’d love to see this LEGO car powered by Power Functions, attempting to get from 0 to 100 kph in just 2.8 seconds…
Japanese builder akiyuki applies the concept of strain wave gearing to Great Ball Contraptions, a popular LEGO fan convention theme in which hundreds of balls are passed through complex machinery. From both an engineering and a visual standpoint, the module is mesmerizing to watch. See the module in action in the following 2 minute video.
A fascinating read detailing the design process and engineering challenges faced by the builder can be found on akiyuki’s blog.
We got a look at 7 of 2017’s new LEGO Technic sets last week, but LEGO still has more surprises to come. Here are 2 more all-new Technic sets, including an awesome Air Race Jet that cops some design cues from the new F-35, such as a thrust-vectoring nozzle for VTOL capabilities. The other set is a more utilitarian vehicle; a Telehandler bucket loader. Both kits have alternate builds, and we’ve got lots of images showing their working functions.
Check out more brand new sets:
2017 LEGO Star Wars Rogue One sets
2017 LEGO Star Wars Rebels sets
2017 LEGO Disney sets
2017 LEGO Architecture sets
2017 LEGO Batman Movie sets
2017 LEGO City sets
2017 LEGO Creator sets, part 1
2017 LEGO Creator sets, part 2
2017 LEGO Elves sets
2017 LEGO Friends sets
2017 LEGO Nexo Knights sets
2017 LEGO Ninjago sets
2017 LEGO Technic sets
LEGO Technic BMW R 1200 GS set
Click to see the rest of the new sets!
Ingenious LEGO builders are always creating amazingly complex machines to do cool tasks — just check out this automated Christmas cookie decorating machine! Braiding rope is a fairly straightforward task for a human, but it’s complex for a machine because it requires strands to be passed underneath each other. It’s mesmerizing to watch Nico71‘s braiding machine pass three of the shuttles back and forth between the rotating spindles to interweave the 5 strands.
Manuel Nascimento built this incredible LEGO Technic Porsche 919 after watching the real-life car win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015. Not content to simply recreate the stunning shape out of LEGO, Manuel also decorated his car like the real one, saying, “I had too much fun decorating the car but at the same time I also had a lot of work because all stickers were hand made.” Check out more of this beautiful racecar below, including the working functions.
Australian builder Chade has created a vehicle from my childhood, the 1983 GMC Vandura from the 80s show The A-Team. The A-Team were military veterans, in hiding after being framed and court martialled for a crime they didn’t commit. They were ready to fight in the corner of the ‘little guy’ with huge explosions, lots of gun fire, but no serious injuries or death caused. They travelled in their black 1983 GMC Vandura with a red slash across the side. Chade’s LEGO Technic version is a little bit special as it’s a remote controlled vehicle with powered doors, working lights and enough power to allow a few high spins.
Take a look inside: seats for B.A. Baracus and Hannibal in the front with Murdock in the back, and all built with Technic parts. The sliding side door and rear doors are powered, but the front doors and the bonnet open and close via the power of a human hand. Check out this video showing all of the powered functions in action and offering a closer look inside.
If you want to build your own version of this powered LEGO A-Team van, Chade has kindly provided instructions for his creation.
This morning LEGO announced a brand new partnership with BMW Motorrad (BMW’s motorcycle brand) and revealed the first product of that partnership: the LEGO Technic 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure motorcycle. The Technic roadster will have 603 pieces, and stands 18 cm high, 33 cm long and 10 cm wide. The set will include a special commemorative Technic piece to celebrated LEGO Technic’s 40th anniversary in 2017, and will be available Jan. 01, 2017. We don’t have word on the price yet.
While this is the first licensed motorcycle, the news closely follows LEGO picking up the Caterham Seven license, and LEGO has a long history of other licensed vehicles, such as the Volkswagen Beetle and Ferrari F40. Read the full press release below.
What a line! Al Pacino delivers that famous line in the role of Tony Montana in the movie Scarface. Spanish builder Omar Ovalle has used the line as the title for his creation, preferring to use Technic figures and their bigger scale over the classic minifigure. Technic figures are capable of increased expression due to their articulations and pose-ability when compared to minifigures. This guy has plenty of attitude, holding his minigun (I’m guessing) and rounds. Is that a minigun? It’s pretty big with a few barrels? Do we have a weapons expert out there to help me?
Omar has also made other vignettes using Technic figures. We blogged his Star Wars Technic figures earlier this year, and I have to highlight my own particular favourite, ‘The Angry Groom’…
