Details: You may have already seen this elsewhere (I apologize if you have), but since this is really the biggest thing to happen in the Technic/Mindstorms world this past week, I'd be remiss not to feature it. This Power Functions-powered vehicle can deploy a bridge and fold it back up. You have to watch the video to believe it. I'm still not entirely sure how this armoured vehicle-launched bridge works - it looks like both linear actuators in the bridge itself are actually powered by the gearing inside of the bridge. The transmission of power through the bridge (which plugs into the vehicle) is an interesting feat in itself, but combining it with the rest of this turns it into an applied thing of beauty - which is probably why this is all any of us Technic fans can talk about now.
Details: The Pennybacker "360" Bridge in Austin, Texas, was re-created in LEGO form for this year's SXSW festival (more coverage of that coming Sunday - we're highlighting this one model separately today). A few minor modifications were made to the original design to make it fit a minifig-scale town layout better - the roadway was flattened, train track was added, and the asymmetric parts of the bridge were made symmetrical. This actually features a complete Technic support frame - a few thousand Technic half-pins were used to attach the dark red plates on top of the structure. The link above has all the information you need on this model, including photos of the model's construction and of the life-size bridge in Austin that this is based on. Here are some basic stats (for those of you not yet convinced):
Model Specs and Facts:
Start date: 31-January-2010
Date of completion: 13-March-2010
Nearly 14,000 pieces used
35-40 pounds in weight (estimated)
Total bridge length = 384 studs (aprox. 120 7/8 inches = 3.1 m)
Details: I'm not really sure of all the details behind the theme of this one (the title says something about space ninjas?) - but this is clearly an awesome creation. The details are great, and I am very jealous of that supply of orange bricks for the lava below. Look closely at those rocks, too - those aren't the large single-piece hills that LEGO® makes, they are actually built with a large amount of individual bricks.
Details: This LEGO reproduction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built to celebrate the bridge's 75th anniversary. The assembly was part of the lead-in to the Museum of Sydney's Australia Day event. Someone at the museum somehow heard that Ross Crawford had made such a model in the past and made arrangements with LEGO Australia to have parts provided for a new model (the first attempt at the bridge had since been dismantled). The bridge is made primarily out of large LEGO Technic pieces, but a bit of complex angle work was done to make the long and straight beams look like the curved bridge. The use of such large beams and difficult construction techniques also makes the bridge extremely sturdy. This model's impressive size and use of somewhat hard-to-find parts set it apart. You can see this model in person at the Museum of Sydney's "Bridging Sydney" exhibition through 29th April 2007. Additional photos are available at this model's Brickshelf page and the Brickshelf directory documenting the building process further.
