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This was an absolutely fantastic event this year - as always - and I'm going to probably write much more about it over the next few months. I'm still recovering from what was an amazing and exhausting 7 days (yes, 7) at BrickFair Virginia. It could take weeks for me to process everything that happened there, and I could write pages of thank yous to everyone involved who helped to make it a magical experience.
I recently finished uploading my photos to Flickr. There are fewer than 4,000 this year, which we should all consider a scandalous disappointment. Personally, I love this event too much - between the giant exact-map Mini Con layout and the 4 games/seminars I was in charge of, I spent most of the event running around setting things up. I didn't have time to photograph everything, and I actually never properly worked out where I needed to add an additional magnet to my badge (I ended up not wearing it much because I needed to make sure it didn't fall off).
The photo to the left is from Joe "Unhalfbricking" Miserendino of this year's Micropolis collaboration, after the invasion of some Exo-Suit sets. Micropolis is always a large fixture at BrickFair Virginia, but the decreasing popularity of the micropolisstandard at other events means that BrickFair Virginia now represents the largest ongoing Micropolis display at a convention.
As always, if you have or know of photos or other coverage of BrickFair Virginia 2014 that I don't have here (I'm sure there's something I'm missing - I'm starting with fewer links than usual in the interest of not putting this off any longer), feel free to mention it in the comments or send an e-mail to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com so that we can add it here.
We also rounded up coverage of BrickFair Virginia in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. I'm not sure why 2012 was skipped - I still intend to catch up on BrickFair 2013.
Details: As I hinted at earlier, there's a big project I've been involved with for a while now that I am really excited to share with everyone. That project is Mini LEGO Con - in short, a miniland scale model of a LEGO convention. This is a massive group layout that you can expect to see at many LEGO conventions (and other conventions, too!) in the years to come.
Mini LEGO Con was first displayed at BrickCon 2012 by Steve Oakes (BrickCon Microscale coordinator) and Mariann Asanuma (former LEGOLAND Master Model Builder). Mariann brought Mini Con to other events throughout 2013 (BricksCascade, Emerald City Comic Con, BrickWorld, BrickFair VA, Bricks by the Bay, BrickCon). After BrickFair VA, BrickFair coordinator Todd Webb decided to make Mini Con a part of BrickFair going forward, and purchased the parts required to assemble the layout at future conventions. Most notably, Todd decided to change the layout from being a caricature of a convention to being an exact match - at BrickFair, the baseplates and tables are set up in the same layout as the convention itself.
Back at BrickFair Alabama 2014, I (Dan) assembled the miniland-scale (roughly 1:20) tables, chairs, and stanchions for use at BrickFair events, the next of which will be in Manchester, New Hampshire, this upcoming weekend (public hours are May 10th & May 11th, 2014, 11:00am - 4:00pm, we'd love to see you there!). If you've registered to participate, you should make sure to bring a miniland-scale version of yourself and microscale versions of the models you're bringing (BrickFair provides the bare bones of the layout, so you shouldn't need to pack your own mini tables and mini stanchions). If you're attending as public, you're in for a real treat, as this enormous layout will completely match the map of the convention (and should be filled in even more than the layout in Alabama earlier this year).
Can't make it to New Hampshire next weekend? BrickFair will also be in Virginia (July 30th-August 3rd) and New Jersey (October 30th-November 2nd), and similar, smaller layouts (without BrickFair's backing) should be appearing at BrickWorld Chicago (June 11th-15th) and BrickCon (October 2nd-5th). We're hoping this catches on more generally as a theme and a building standard for group layouts at LEGO events (like moonbase or the Cafe Corner standard).
I've started a Flickr group to make it easier to find ideas, inspiration, and displays related to this theme. For blogging purposes here, we're mostly talking about LEGO conventions, but these displays are also a hit at Comic and Sci-Fi conventions (think: minilanders in costume as their favorite characters) and I intend to expand to Maker Faires this year as well. The Flickr group discussions include an attempt at a list of all Mini Con events.
Found at: http://www.brickfair.com/ (note: link goes to upcoming event, click on "Other Events" on the top right to find information on BrickFair 2011 and other events.
Details: If you've really waded through all of the thousands of photos from this past year's Brickfair, you've seen this beauty before. Had any part of this model been registered on its own instead of as part of the PennLUG town/train layout, it would have won one of the convention's awards. There's too much here to do an in-depth look at the details fairly, and it's connected to the rest of the layout in a way that makes it difficult to tell where various people's contributions start and end. A few striking things should not be missed: the large amounts of shipping containers, the enormous dark blue boat, the trans-green water (built with tiles in something of a mosaic style), the docks, the cranes. This was so much of a show-stopper that you could be forgiven for not knowing that the PennLUG is generally more well known for trains!
Details: This one apparently slipped under our radar while we were LEGO'd out at BrickFair earlier this year. It caught some attention there, though, bringing home the Best Large Space Craft trophy. Most obviously, there's a great balancing act here - most of the weight is on the small part that is supported, and it stays up because the center of gravity is in the right spot. As if that were too simple, most of the visible rocky section is actually built upside down - those are BURPs (big ugly rock pieces) almost the whole way around! That's before we get into the vehicles, the landscaping, and the building itself - while we've seen all the techniques before, they're masterfully applied here. Make sure to check out all the close-up shots.
While the NXT may be the reigning champion of the LEGO robotics world, there's actually another hobby platform that's caught in on the broader maker/robotics/hacker community. That's the arduino board. Although the arduino is completely open (and open source), different "shields" can be added to quickly add new features to the base microcontroller. In this case, a wave shield was used to allow this TARDIS to play the Doctor Who theme at regular intervals. The TARDIS (which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) is the Doctor's famous vehicle that is bigger on the inside (and has a few other interesting features - the Wikipedia article on the topic is terrifyingly large). This was a huge hit at this year's BrickFair, where Jon also led a seminar to fill us in on the possibilities of using the arduino platform in LEGO models.
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I'm sorry about the sporadic posts lately - we've done as much filling in as we're going to and will be daily again starting now. As mentioned earlier this week by Matthew (Brickapolis), the LMOTD team was at BrickFair last weekend, and we're still recovering from that whirlwind of LEGO action. I personally took nearly a thousand photos in an attempt to exhaustively cover every creation on display and as much of the action as possible. It was exhaustive, alright - I'm still tired from a few late-night photo runs. In addition to photo-taking and running performances of the NXT Robot Band, I also hosted a "Blogger's Roundtable" event, nominated two trophy categories, and got involved with several of the games. A word to the wise: getting truly involved with a LEGO convention can be work that may require a second vacation afterwards.
In addition to my own photos and the links below, we're also expecting more coverage to appear in the coming weeks - my "NXT Robot Band" (prepped for this year's music theme) was videotaped a few times by someone from CBS, and I'd expect their report to show up sometime in September. I'll try to update this page with additional links when I can. As always, you can send in your tips to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com - I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more come in, thanks to the ~1,000 registrants and nearly 20,000 public visitors.
In the meantime, check out my photos and the photos/videos of these people who didn't win the competition to take the most photos:
Some amateur-ish video from goobers who can't handle using terminology correctly, but think you should watch ads for the privilege of seeing their goofy clips (and yes, that's the least snide I can be while describing these): Fox 5 DC clips CNN clip
This past weekend hundreds of LEGO fans of all ages gathered in the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA. This was no small gathering either! With over 700 attendees and just under 20,000 public visitors, BrickFair is America's largest LEGO convention. LEGO conventions like this one are a great way to meet fellow builders, talk shop (and smack), buy some LEGO, and for the first time this year; sell LEGO during a sanctioned "yard sale" time.
Build London’s famous Tower Bridge!
Stretching over the River Thames since 1894, the famous Tower Bridge of London, England is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. Now you can add this timeless classic to your LEGO world buildings collection! Designed with advanced building techniques and rare colors and elements, the Tower Bridge is complete with its iconic paired towers and a drawbridge that really opens. Fun to build and display, it locks together solidly but can be taken apart in sections for easy transport. Includes 4 miniature vehicles; a black London taxi, a traditional red double-decker bus, a yellow truck and a green automobile. Completed model measures 40″ (102 cm) long, 17″ (45 cm) high and 10″ (26 cm) wide.
• Includes 4 miniature vehicles: a black London taxi, a yellow truck, green automobile and even a traditional red double-decker bus!
• Features the iconic paired towers and a drawbridge that really opens and closes!
• Includes unique printed shield!
• Features hundreds of 1×1 slopes in tan!
• Many useful arches, angular bricks in tan!
• Includes 4 blue base plates and over 80 windows!
• Tower Bridge is ideal for building and display – it can be taken apart in sections for easy transport!
• Add this amazing landmark to your LEGO world buildings collection!
• Completed model measures an impressive 40″ (102 cm) long, 17″ (45 cm) high and 10″ (26 cm) wide.
Also check out this video for behind-the-scenes goodies (video won’t be live until 8PM EST): Tower Bridge Video
Details: Somewhere along the way, the BZPower Bionicle community decided to have a crab crawl-in at BrickFair 2010. While I'm sure they'll look pretty intimidating together as a group, I was planning on not featuring them individually, in spite of the cool techniques that inevitably show up when such small parts are being used. Fortunately, The Un-Sung Brick rounded up a few that are already online. I will be personally making sure we have photos of all of them at the convention - and if they're all as good as what we've seen so far, it's bound to be a great display.
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Combining Bionicle, System, and Technic parts in creation sounds like a bad idea in theory. However (as was shown in Tuesday's post) with a bit of imagination and creativity the difficulty of mixing different parts types can well be worth it. While Cameron G's rendition of a rooster is not a terribly accurate rendition of the real thing, the curves of any animal are difficult or near impossible to render with System elements alone. As shown with this creation, a little creativity and out of the [parts] box thinking can make anything come to life. Being "terribly accurate" doesn't count for terribly much, what does count is being creative with what you do.
To all of our readers who exclusively build with System elements: dump all of the Technic, Bionicle and other odd parts you don't know what to do with or how to use on a table and see what you come up with. You might be surprised!
As a side-note, this creation is planning to make an appearance with a group display at Brickfair 2010 (a LEGO convention outside of Washington DC open to the public on August 7th and 8th 2010).
Finally, there is a flickr pool for photographs from BrickFair - we've already covered most of this year's here, but the pool is used from one year to the next as a central place for gathering photos on flickr.
Personally, I had a great time and it was a thrill to meet so many other LEGO fans there - including many I had previously only been aware of via the Internet. We still have some extra tiles to give away (they may turn up at smaller shows later on). There were some issues on my end where uploading photos was concerned - I'm sorry about the delay and also sorry that I didn't get many photos where the builders' credits were visible (we had been focused on set-up photos and crowd shots and my camera was out-of-commission by the time I could get up close to most of the displays).
We're hoping to do this again next year, and be bigger and crazier! The downside of planning to show up as bloggers relatively close to the event was that we didn't have a chance to offer a roundtable, panel or meet-up of any kind - we will be planning far enough in advance next year to be properly prepared.
I'm going to go ahead and post this now - keep checking back, though, we will be adding more links.
Photo credit for the image of the banner goes to Sarah-Mitt
Details: LEFT: WAMALTC setup on Thursday evening at BrickFair.
Brickapolis and I (Dan) are both at BrickFair for the weekend. Public hours have started for today, so we'll be a bit slow in getting photos of original creations online. Photos of the line this morning, and some of the insanity of the first two days are online at Brickapolis' flickr photostream. Highlights include set-up images, pictures of the lines at the LEGO Store and to get in to the public expo this morning, and images from Arthur Gugick's LEGO Architecture seminar on Thursday afternoon. At least, we hope they do - the 'net connection at the hotel seems a little on the slow side, so even though we're trying to upload all of the 400+ photos I took, only about 100 of them are live so far.
We both have bags of tiles to give away (about 100 remain as of this writing) - we're thrilled to finally have something to give back to the LEGO fan community thanks to the ads we run on this blog. To claim your LMOTD 2x2 tile, just find me (Dan) or Brickapolis and ask for one. We're handing these out like business cards, and as far as I know it's the only free LEGO parts available during the public days. Brickapolis' nametag has his flickr avatar on it to make it easier to find. My nametag just says "Dan" (without a last name) and I'm also one of several people walking around wearing one of the LEGO Model of the Day 2x2 tiles.
I'm sure you can understand why model coverage here is a bit off-kilter this weekend, but we're hoping that the enormous amount of photos of the convention will make up for it.
Found at: (not fully documented online, see videos below)
Details: One of the highlights of BrickFair and LEGOPalooza last year (and again this year - this will be on display at this year's BrickFair as well) is this large Great Ball Contraption. Instead of using the traditional soccer balls, this one uses the balls from DUPLO sets. A variety of other fantastic elements come into play - this one just has to be seen to be believed. Video from LEGOPalooza 2009:
theme at regular intervals. The
(which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) is the Doctor's famous vehicle that is bigger on the inside (and has a few other interesting features - the 
Continuing 
