I must confess I’m not a huge fan of the flex as windows technique so I almost didn’t blog this one. But the design of the iconic ‘face’ of this Volkswagen Type 2 is just too good not to blog. Karwik has definitely exceeded himself on that.
Thanks to misterzumbi for prodding me about this.
For his local (Cologne) LEGO brand store recently, Joe Klang (-derjoe-) built a scene from Gran Torino. What I find particularly attractive about this scene is how inorganic it feels, while reflecting the movie so well. It almost feels like a platform game version of the film with the straight lines, diagonal grid and textural elements. And the neat suburban lawn feels even more sterile than in real life.
Thanks to Alex Jones for the heads up
It’s no secret that Alex Jones né Schranz (Orion Pax) is a big sneaker fan. So his Sneaker Freaker van came as no surprise. These new mini vans are even more adorable than the big one.
Karwik is no stranger to two-wheel creations but I think these latest scooters are some of his cutest. The use of the hollow 1×2 slope brick is the cleverness that makes these work.
Just a reminder that there’s only a fortnight to go in the 7777 Redux contest. Enter and you could become the proud new owner of a 10219 Maersk train, 7937 Train Station or 7936 Level Crossing.
All entries must be in by midnight 30th November on the east side of the date line. If your clock says Nov 30th you’ll be fine.
While some purposes may require a bigger boat, de-marco delivers one of the best LEGO boats I’ve seen in quite a while, replete with rigging, radar, and rubber tires. This presentation on the rippled, reflective surface is also lovely.
Via twee affect.
This post was brought to you by the letter R.
Nuno C creates this classic amusement park attraction featuring bumper cars that actually move. The mechanism is described as a system of gears underneath the floor that moves magnets that pull the cars. This technique has been used in at least two instances but none as complex as this. See the video on Flickr.
Here’s the video:
This smart-looking piece of equipment was made by Marek Markiewicz (aka M_longer), and is actually in minifig scale. The real Caterpillar 24M stretches over 46 feet long, and has a 24 foot wide blade! Marek’s Lego version is equally impressive, though, featuring a pneumatically operated blade and rear ripper, and functioning steering and articulation. Marek has even made a cool video to showcase the moving parts in action.
In an odd but awesome twist, LEGO City leaves the, well, city and heads for the hills in 2012. All of the law enforcement and emergency services that form the core of each year’s LEGO City sets are represented by wildland firefighters and park rangers instead.
Looks like there are some interesting new brick…bricks.
Oh yes, there are bears. I am so building a moonshine still out back of this hillbilly cabin.
In the same vein, the firefighters battle forest fires with their bulky wildland equipment.
I wonder if wunztwice will approve of the chainsaws…
Via Eurobricks.
You might be able to guess I’m going through my recent additions to my blog list. These two steam train pictures look so nice together I’m going to save myself some typing and blog them together. Both are excellent models and showcase the advantages of building trains at 8-wide. Which needs to be showcased since it is a dirty size[1].
First we have Cale Leiphart‘s USRA Light Mikado from World War I as operated by the Baltimore and Ohio railway.
Followed by this excellent diorama by Tony Sava (SaveTheAggie) from his series “The Texas Brick Railroad”.
[1] That’s a train-head joke. There’s joking banter between 6/7w builders and 8w builders that dates back many years.
The VW Camper Van isn’t the only German vehicle released in LEGO form this year. Long-time readers of the blog will recall that I’m obsessed with the Mercedes Unimog, and I’ve featured several — starting with Adam Grabowski’s Unimog back in 2006. Adam now works for LEGO as a designer. I don’t think Adam works on Technic sets, but it’s nice to see an official LEGO version of this awesome vehicle.
It’s been out for a few months, but I suspect it might be news for a couple of you out there. TechnicBricks has the full review.
The purpose of this post is two-fold: 1) to show off Dave Stannard’s (Brickhead) excellent models and 2) to serve as inspiration and a reminder for the 7777 Redux contest.
Dave has been working on his LBB layout for quite a long time and, to me, it exemplifies what LEGO Ideas Books are all about, and that KISS can apply to LEGO models too. Dave’s models aren’t full of weird and tricky connections but they still look really great. Not they’re free of SNOT or studless but on the whole he keeps his techniques close to that of official sets. If you’re thinking of entering the 7777 Redux contest you could do worse than to check out his photostream.