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Lego Model of the Day
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10:37 PM
Two very different events this Saturday, both being featured here on frighteningly short notice. I'll be following both projects to see how they turn out - both present unique engineering challenges.
In the US, in Washington DC, we have From Spark to Click: Celebrating National Inventors' Month hosted by the American History Museum. From the blurb above (which has all the details except for how long this model will remain built and accessible to the public), it sounds like this is being co-sponsored by the company and will be similar to the build events occasionally held to promote LEGO stores. The light bulb being built at this event is a very unusual choice for such an event because of the balance issues involved.
In the UK, in Dorking, Surrey, England, Top Gear presenter James May is attempting to build a 1:1 scale model of a house - and then live in it for a few days afterwards. This has been something of a media frenzy in some areas over the past few days, but it appears to me that the BBC has the definitive article on the event. The engineering tasks here are obvious: plumbing is not something LEGO is made for (trust me, no matter how hard it may seem to separate a pair of bricks, it's still not waterproof).
...I have a feeling it will take more than one day to build a full-scale house, but I guess we'll have to see how many volunteers pitch in (and how well said volunteers can build!)
EDIT 8/3/2009: Surprisingly, neither of these models is currently visitable. The light bulb was taken down shortly after completion, and James May's house has had its LEGO chunks set aside so that a concrete foundation can be poured (I don't think I need to explain that concrete is not made by LEGO and thus is technically a form of cheating). From what I gather, both events were quite busy. You can send in your first-hand accounts from these or any other events to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com to be shared on this blog.
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Posted by
Dan
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4:00 AM
| Various shows | | Created by Brickish Association Members (and other LEGO fans) | | Found at: http://www.brickish.org/events.aspx | Details:
The Brickish Association Events page features links to videos, photos, and other recap material from members of the Brick Association. It's a well-organized way to round-up events they've already had - and hey, they have a list of upcoming events on there too (I'm in the process of adding these to the BrickJournal Calendar). Many of the models shown in these photos have been featured here before, but there's something special about seeing many excellent models in the same layout (and of course, there are plenty of great models out there that don't get individually featured here). Warning: there are enough pictures here to make sure you don't get anything else done all day. |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
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11:35 AM
| Name of Model: Chip Shop (from High Street) | | Created by: Mad physicist | | Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/sets/72157604106424747/ | Details:
 One of the difficulties of maintaining an "of-the-day" blog is that I wind up holding off on many great models for the sake of trying to keep a good variety on the front page. This is actually the second time this week that I've picked out a model that really is best looked at as a sequel to an older model that I just haven't had a chance to blog about yet. If you want a look at the older model (a curry house) first, you can see it in the same gallery. Together, these two excellent buildings are called High Street. It's anyone's guess if/when I'll get to featuring the curry house here, but I'm told that there are plans for more buildings in this style...
This style is actually a unique mix of popular English architecture with the Café Corner format of town models. As with the previous building in this series, there's an excellent sign with lettering, but this one goes a bit further by also having fish and sandwich signs. The bottom two floors of this one also have interiors. I'm particularly jealous of the bay window though - those 1x4x2 windows are rare parts and they work very well here.
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We don't like writing this anymore than you like reading it, but it's time for the obligatory royal wedding post. I'm pretty sure we're legally required to have one. First up, we have a life-size sculpture of the happy couple. Built by LEGOLAND Windsor's youngest model maker for a TV spot, this pair of busts and classy stand shows the royal couple as well as any official LEGOLAND model - and oh yes, that tie is purple. Don't miss the technique used on the prince's hair.
Speaking of LEGOLAND Windsor, they've also added a dash of the royal wedding into miniland. To round out the weekend, here's our attempt at rounding up coverage of that event (as always, we'll update this post instead of adding more posts as more links of note come to my attention - you can e-mail us at legomodeloftheday@gmail.com with your tips):
