Details: This large gothic cathedral - built entirely in the rare shade of light grey discontinued in 2003 - is simply stunning. The imposing size of the whole thing (it's quite large even though it's built to roughly "minifig scale") is impressive, but the architectural details are just as spectacular. The techniques here aren't generally too difficult to grasp, but if you're interested in a good look at how this was done, you can look at some of the other folders Romas has uploaded to Brickshelf - he uploaded many work-in-progress photos during the 3 years it took to build this. A brief interview (in Portuguese) with the builder recently found its way online - here is an English translation (courtesy of Google).
Details: The Colosseum is one of the most recognizable landmarks from ancient Rome. It's also one of the most famous round buildings in the world, making it a bit of a challenge to build in LEGO form (which is why you don't see as many Colosseum models as you do, say, Parthenon models). A large collection of plate hinges does the trick here - the angles used are a bit small so the building maintains a fairly solid appearance from a distance. This model captures the present-day ruins of the Colosseum fairly well, using colors and lighting to majestic effect.
EDIT 12/31: In spite of actually linking to accurate information about the original, I still managed to get the location wrong here. Serves me right for rushing this post up and not preparing it further in advance. It's now been corrected, thanks to eagle-eyed readers who notified me right away.
Details: Ralph "Mad physicist" Savelsberg is still building fantastic miniland-scale vehicles. This time around, he expanded his set of Dutch Emergency Vehicles (I've linked to the full collection above) with a Fire Engine. A neat mix of studs-not-on-top (SNOT) trickery and mosaic-style siding, it ends up being immediately recognizable. Of course, that's not enough for a detail expert like Savelsberg - he's also made working doors, including rolling doors, so that every hatch on the vehicle operates realistically (and of course, every one actually contains miniature equipment for the miniland firemen to use). Don't miss the clever tricks used for the front wheel-well, which boths looks great and actually splits so that the tilt cab can be raised for maintenance. More details (and information you'd probably be interested in that I'd rather not blatantly cut-and-paste here) can be found in the gallery above - each photo's flickr page has more information about the model and/or the source material.
Details: Color sorters aren't exactly new, but I think we all knew that the newer version of the NXT kit (the 2.0 kits include a color sensor) would lead to more designs, some of which would inevitably improve on what we've seen before. This one, with it's zany (but somehow perfect) angles and fast linkages, may be the fastest NXT-based color sorter possible. There are some clever mechanisms here for splitting the stationary set of balls into a stream of individual balls and for changing the ways that the balls fall. The video here is pretty exceptional at really capturing the details (I'm sure we've all had enough of Technic-related videos that don't show you enough to see all of what's going on). Building instructions and code (both NXC and NXT-G) are available from the link above.
Details: I felt a need to share these older photos taken by the late great Eric Brok. These photos showcase some older LEGO window displays and the way some parts of LEGOLAND Billund looked at the time. He's already highlighted some details for you - I'll keep this post short since there are so many photos to see there.
Details: Bionicle might not be the most natural looking thing to most people, but this lobster looks surprisingly realistic. When building animals like this, there's always a certain trade-off between realistically adding movable limbs and trying to squeeze in the most accurate appearance possible. This lobster looks like a good balance to me.
Details: Modulex bricks are really little bricks LEGO manufactured for architects. They're now something of a rare collectors item - LEGO long ago outsourced their production, and has since given up on the Modulex brand entirely. They also come in strange colors that don't match normal LEGO colors. Another interesting feature is that they're reasonably scaled to be bricks that minifigures can build with. Oh, and did I mention that they make nice Christmas trees? The same builder has also built a larger tree and provided instructions on how to make this simple tree design.
Details: While the sleigh isn't visible in this model (based on the title, I think we're supposed to assume it has been stolen), this is an interesting new twist on the traditional "Santa's workshop" theme. The "elves" here are a fairly clever mix of parts - those torsos are from 1980's Forestman sets, the legs have only started showing up in sets these past few years, and the little hats are from the 2009 Venice Canal Chase kit (which, by the way, appears to be on a promotional offer at Amazon at the moment - that set has a generous amount of parts for $40, so at $34 it's a pretty great deal). While the elves and gifts make the scene, the interior lighting is what makes this piece a winner - check out the photos of this workshop in the dark. Another detail with looking out for is the door behind the elves - notice how it has been built out of bricks. That rounded section at the top is actually made from this curved arch brick, which has some space underneath. The space was filled with plates and tiles to get this effect - which is a tight enough fit to hold the other plates and tiles in straight.
EDIT 9:17 PM: Word from the builder is that the door technique was borrowed from a similar door built by Noddy.
Details: Landmark builder Arthur Gugick decided to take on the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia some time ago. Like most of his landmarks, they stand as a masterpiece. When this model's inspiration was originally constructed in Malaysia, the Petronas Towers were the tallest skyscraper in the world. They've since been overtaken by Taipei 101, which longtime readers will recall has also been rendered in LEGO form. While I doubt that these LEGO towers are breaking any records, I'd say that the look of the 88-stories-tall Petronas Towers was captured well here. Even without many of the clever techniques we've seen in other buildings (particular in this small scale), this is still instantly recognizable.
Details: Eric Harshbarger hasn't been building too much lately (although he was the first to make a living entirely doing LEGO sculptures and mosaics on commission, he decided to leave the field a few years ago) - but he did make these mosaics of popular board games. He's posted four game boards here (the two visible in this post are for Scrabble and Monopoly, the other two on his website are for Clue and Chess or Checkers), and all of them perfectly capture the essence of the original game board's design.
We here at LMOTD would like to apologize for the slightly off-kilter ad-heaviness of this post. Amazon and Blogger unveiled a new feature together recently with the goal of making links much easier for bloggers like ourselves, and we're trying to experiment with it without adding off-topic posts to the blog (I do genuinely love the game board mosaics featured above and mean no offense by discussing them in this manner - I just wish there was more to be said about how perfect they are).
Details: When I wrote about LEGOWORLD 2009 previously, I briefly mentioned the large NXT-based recreation of the machines in the LEGO company's warehouse. After nearly two months of waiting, we finally have found video of this phenomenal Mindstorms NXT set-up. While we still can't see quite everything, we can see a substantial amount of the layout in action, and we even get a decent close-up of a few sections of layout (specifically the carrier robots on the road).
Details: I've previously mentioned my feelings about the changing Space Police saga, and many longtime LEGO fans have similar complaints about the lack of Blacktron in the current line. Longtime-fan-turned-company-set-designer Mark Stafford has been occasionally sharing with the public some of his designs recast to fit better with more traditional (and in some cases, more realistic) designs and themes that are less kid-oriented. Not that there's anything wrong with LEGO making kits that are aimed towards kids, but it always helps a set to look attractive if it has great parts and a clever design in addition to play value. Personally, I was thrilled to see that the set designers behind the current Space Police line incorporated graffiti in a way that brought continuity with other LEGO lines (Look closely at some of the ships for stickers that say "Blacktron!" and "I love Insectoids"). This particular model takes the vehicle driven by the "Skull twins" in the current series and replaces them with a Blacktron operative (and enhances the colors and look of the ship appropriately).
Some of my complaints about Blacktron being swapped out for aliens have been rectified in the 2010 line - one new set that's finding its way into stores now features an alien with a torso that cleverly combines classic Blacktron torso designs in the sort of print quality we've gotten used to seeing in kits in recent years (double-sided torsos and slightly heavier printing than when I was little).
Mark Stafford was interviewed not too long ago on The Brothers Brick.
Details: The Russell House is an unusual house in Suffolk, England. What makes it so unusual is that it is a sliding house - a large exterior roof with walls literally slides along the house, allowing for parts of the house to be "open" or "closed", and for a large chunk of the house to appear to be made almost entirely of windows. I'm not sure how the real house was dreamed up or brought into reality, but the LEGO version makes much more sense - I mean, who hasn't tried to build a transforming house before? Right? Or maybe it's just me...
For those of you unfamiliar with this LEGO builder (I don't believe I've blogged about her before), she's actually fairly well-known in the LEGO fan community for her clever parts use "studies", which have led to very exciting furniture, staircases, and other extremely realistic interior details. As you might expect, that high level of quality is also shown on the interior of the LEGO version of this house.
Details: If you've been reading for a while, then you know I'm a huge fan of large sculptures of minifigs (increasingly, the term "maxifig" is being used to describe these). Here's one that should appeal to the Star Wars fans out there - an Episode 3 "Shock Trooper" (this is in comparison to the last "maxifig" I blogged, which was decidedly for fans of classic Space themes instead). Sure, it was already an impressive feat that the helmet was rendered here in perfect detail - but in order to be truly spectacular, other surprise features had to be added - glowing lights in the eyes, a removable chest panel (unlocked by a clever lock mechanism), and a hatch which dispenses stormtrooper minifigures (starting the dispenser feature requires sticking the "key" into a spot on the side of the maxifig, conveniently hidden by an arm most of the time).
Details: Although there are a few decent tram models in the Brickshelf gallery linked above, I'd like to call your attention to the one that is roughly miniland scale ("miniland scale" is the scale used by LEGOLAND Master Builders for the various "Miniland" displays at LEGOLAND parks). The sculpted curves are brilliant, and the brick-built windows are also spot-on.
Details: The Bay Area LEGO Users Group in San Francisco, California, USA opened their annual LEGO show this past weekend. The exhibit, entitled "Living LEGO-cy", is at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, California, USA every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (except holidays) through January 17, 2010. More photos and information about the event can be found at the links above.
Details: 6 Power Functions motors (controlled through IR by an NXT) control 6 of the Linear Actuator element. Properly connected, they can work this "magic" - a sturdy platform that can be easily tilted or rotated from underneath. This is a clever bit of engineering, and visiting the website listed above will bring you to videos of both Shep's LEGO version and a non-LEGO version.
Details: Seeing that we covered a rendition of the Metroliner set in monorail form, we would be remiss if we did not mention a similar rendition of the Emerald Night. There are few real flagships in the Trains series, with the high raw costs of the sets (if you think in terms of price-per-part and factor in comparable other trains, they're usually inexpensive, but that's not immediately apparent) frequently scaring off even most people who are impressed by the designs, but both the Metroliner and the Emerald Night stand out as important classics. The Metroliner was in the first round of 9V system kits, and looked snazzy with its Amtrak color scheme (slightly more European stylings elsewhere made it a tough sell to some serious train fans, but it was decidedly more realistic than other 1990's LEGO train kits). The Emerald Night is the first train kit to feature the new steam locomotive wheels, and the options for motorizing it introduce the new Power Functions system.
Which is why the both warrant microscale tributes, but doesn't say too much about this little version (I'd like to see you try writing this many words about other people's LEGO creations every day and not getting a little off-topic). This is a simple and elegant build that mimics the features of the original set fairly closely.
Details: I like to focus on some pretty clever techniques here, but sometimes you can build a very detailed and pleasing little model without getting too fancy. This one still features some nice tricks ("headlight" bricks to use tiles as a realistic brick texture, pairs of round 1x1 plates stuck with string in the middle to make lights, rows of parts used to get architectural details, wheel well elements as window arches, etc.) but is largely built with standard bricks, standing up straight in a simple and elegant pattern. The scale is perfect, too - the house is the right dimensions to fit with "modular buildings" like Cafe Corner and Green Grocer, but the dark red section only goes up to a more classic town height of 7 bricks tall. The remaining three bricks' height before the roofline is done with various architectural details.
Details: It's very difficult to make humanoid Bionicle creations that don't come off as childish, spindly, or action-figurish. This anthropomorphized sun works surprisingly well, considering how many Bionicle joints, bizarre Throwbot and Bionicle elements, and unusual angles are used. A full 17 photos are up for this one, showing some interesting details and poses - and, of course (this still being related to a world filled with comic books) a storyline.
Details: Here's another seasonal gift of building instructions - a gingerbread house (presented by BrickJournal magazine). Designed by former LEGOLAND Master Builder Mariann Asanuma, this is another masterpiece - and (assuming you can locate the parts in your own collection - a challenge, but in this case it is actually possible that a fairly small collection could contain all the right parts) you can even build your own! Alternatively, you could build your own similar house (a worthwhile challenge that has already been attempted by at least one builder).
Since I live in the US and we have insane consumer protection laws, I'm pretty sure I'm required by law to remind you not to eat any LEGO parts used for building gingerbread houses (please tell me you already knew not to eat plastic parts before the goofy law went into place to remind you about that...please!)
This is Friday's model of the day - and yes, we intend to catch up for Wednesday and Thursday yet...
Details: At first glance, this looks like your standard armored truck. More specifically, it is a unimog and is built 6 studs wide with a 5-stud wide cab. Perhaps some of the details caught your eye as well. What you probably didn't catch, though, was just how precise the details were - check out this partially-built image for a variety of interesting techniques, including using tools with pins for exhaust, building the wheelbase upside-down to improve ground clearance, and using clips with 1x1 tiles to make custom mudguards. The texture on the sides of the truck are achieved in a surprisingly complicated way (sideways) as well.
Details: Every once in a while, you hear me mention that something has become a "fad" of sorts among LEGO fans. About a decade or so back, a rash of pneumatic walkers flooded LUGNET (the LEGO Users Group network) and RTL (Rec.Toys.LEGO, a USENET newsgroup from back when "USENET" and "newsgroup" were things people actually used) as Technic and Mindstorms fans tried to push the limits of what could be done mechanically without having to use expensive motors and sensors to automate creations. Pneumatic walkers are an incredibly fun application of pneumatic logic gates. Simple logic gates (of the same sort used in electronics) have long been considered a "classic project" for LEGO pneumatic elements, but the relative scarcity of those parts generally prevents people from experimenting with the field too much. The basic idea of pneumatic walkers is to have all motion control handled purely by pneumatics - no motors, gears, or sensors are needed on the machine itself. The only source of power is a pneumatic tube supplying air pressure. Each piston-forced movement is mechanically attached to another pneumatic valve, which in turn will force another pneumatic piston to trigger its linkages. Since LEGO pneumatic parts aren't quite instantaneous, they can be used in a variety of synchronized machines, including walkers. Today's featured model is a recent creation that claims to be the smallest pneumatic walker. The machine has a small footprint and only uses the smallest size of pneumatic piston. The newer studless valves are used here to great effect - I can't imagine trying to build a similar structure while needing to brace the older valve elements with bricks. Don't miss the video on Brickshelf alongside the photos.
Details: Although no one informed me far enough in advance to announce it here or add info about it to the BrickJournal Shared Calendars (the main webpage for them appears to be down currently), there was a new show called LEGO Kidsfest two weeks ago. How an official show run by the company can go under the radar, I don't know, but we have photos from the event now.
Recently, the LEGO company posted instructions for a series of holiday models on their website. There's a good variety of models - life-size sculptures, minifig-scale characters, and even a few minifig-scale ideas. You can find those instructions (PDF format only, sorry) at http://shop.lego.com/HolidayShop/festivefun.aspx
Details: The whole "Pillage the Village" concept (which has been the basis for a few contests now) is to force Pirate builders back onto land to show us how the non-seafarers of the time lived - and what the Pirates could do to them. This village is a delightful mix of soldiers' fortifications and more civilian buildings, and also features plenty of Pirate action. Don't miss the rounded towers or the rocky landscaping. The pirate leaping into the water shows an interesting technique for the newer style of "fiber optic" cables LEGO has been using to allow the smaller lights to light up a larger area.
Details: It's a giant art-deco layout, completely in minifig-scale, put on by a group in Britain. Since there are more photos here than there usually are (and we're desperately trying to get back up to speed here at LMOTD), I'll just leave it at that.
Details: It can be difficult to achieve just the right shape using only Bionicle parts. It's even harder if you start off with a very limited palette of Bionicle elements. Yes, I know I should nitpick the lack of a third horn (even though there's clearly space for it) on this model, but when you consider that this was built in 2 hours by someone on vacation - without access to most of their collection - it's an impressive little model. If you don't consider those limitations, it's actually still not a bad little dinosaur - it's certainly more realistic texture-wise in some spots than most brick-built ones are.
Details: I've previously blogged about one of MisaQa's famous annual LEGO-based Advent Calendars, but I believe this one warrants fresh attention (and for once, I'm actually mentioning it early enough for people unfamiliar with her creations to follow along each day until Christmas). Last time we discussed her calendars at LMOTD, she was building a microscale town - this year, she's building a microscale city. Last year, we didn't blog her fantastic fantasy creatures calendar; in 2006, I was impressed by her miniland-scale "Dolls dressed up" calendar; in 2005 she delivered a series of delicately poised birds. MisaQa's Advent Calendars never disappoint and often expose a deep well of engaging new ideas and techniques.
This large gothic cathedral - built entirely in the rare shade of light grey discontinued in 2003 - is simply stunning. The imposing size of the whole thing (it's quite large even though it's built to roughly "minifig scale") is impressive, but the architectural details are just as spectacular. The techniques here aren't generally too difficult to grasp, but if you're interested in a good look at how this was done, you can look at some of the other folders Romas has uploaded to Brickshelf - he uploaded many work-in-progress photos during the 3 years it took to build this. A brief interview (in Portuguese) with the builder recently found its way online - here is an English translation (courtesy of Google).
at the moment - that set has a generous amount of parts for $40, so at $34 it's a pretty great deal). While the elves and gifts make the scene, the interior lighting is what makes this piece a winner - check out the photos of this workshop in the dark. Another detail with looking out for is the 
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), and all of them perfectly capture the essence of the original game board's design. 
