Built by: Models built by eclipsegrafx, Tim (Tim's son Spencer built a model as well), notenoughbricks and my wife and parents even helped build the boat models!, model designs by the LEGO company
Details: I've previously written a bit about the LEGO store ribbon models, and since new stores are continuing to open, more are being built. The links above point to a gallery with 29 photos of ribbon models just after they were built. It's usually easier to get a good look at the models before they've been installed in the LEGO store, since the windows at the stores don't give you a particularly broad view.
This weekend, there will be a Grand Opening and a Master Builder Event at the new store in Elmhurst, New York (that's what today's models were built for). Last weekend's events at Rockefeller Center were fairly epic, and I'm still updating the blog post about them with additional links to photos and other coverage of the weekend. Next week, LEGO will expand their newfound retail store empire further by opening their first brand retail store in Canada.
Here's the full list of upcoming store openings from the official website (not sure why they haven't given more details or dates on these yet):
-Houston Galleria, Houston, TX
-Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City, NY
-Queens Center, Elmhurst, NY
-Rockefeller Center, New York City, NY
-Aventura Mall, Miami, FL
-Wiesbaden, Germany
-Chinook Centre, Calgary, AB, Canada
Most new stores have a soft opening between when the ribbon models are assembled and when the grand opening actually takes place. If you're in town a week or two before a "grand opening", chances are you can go to the store and browse anyway.
Details: We interrupt your regular model-specific blogging for this delicious serving of miniland goodness. Miniland is the name for the special scale and style used for the miniature scenes at LEGOLAND parks. The larger, more consistent scale makes it possible to build people as carefully posed characters with a wide variety of motions instead of just the ones that minifigures can achieve. Buildings become more parts-intensive (a non-issue for the LEGO employees who build these models), but can be far more detailed than buildings recreated at minifig scale. These 45 photos from LEGOLAND California are mostly detail shots (which we apparently cannot zoom in on) of some of the interesting scenes in miniland.
Details: Now that the LEGOLAND parks are open again for the season, we're beginning to see a wave of new photo galleries from inside the parks. There are some pretty great photos out there, but as per our "daily dose" style we're not going to be blogging these too quickly. This particular flickr set is actually of photos taken in June 2009, and it also includes some interesting photos from LEGO's world headquarters in Billund, Denmark. Highlights include a LEGO logo mosaic made of minifigs, LEGO chandeliers, and a floppy skeleton sculpture. There are 51 photos here overall.
Details:
Your Belville/Scala/Technic characters don't have enough nice furniture. The sad fact of the matter is that it's impractical for most of us (although it is possible) to build a proper house with walls and furniture at that scale. Even rarer than nice furniture this size is functional furniture this size. This recliner is an interesting start, and it looks like it works fairly well. You can see more of how it works by looking at the photos at the link above.
Take this as a challenge, too: this recliner really reclines, but the foot rest is always in the up position. Can you build a recliner that has a moving foot rest as well as a reclining back?
Details: A bit of background: at LEGO stores (the ones owned by the company - you'll occasionally hear these referred to as "LEGO Brand Retail"), there are a number of semi-permanent displays. One of the more popular bits actually has nothing to do with kits available to be bought, but is displayed at kids' eye level in little round windows designed to look like LEGO studs. Those displays, which go around the entire length of the store (most LEGO stores in the US have standard fixtures and displays) feature a number of fun and goofy models at a number of scales. All of these displays are designed by the company, but since LEGO knows that there are plenty of LEGO fans around who would be happy for the privilege to build a fairly permanent store display, the LEGO company generally doesn't assemble the models. I, personally, have been able to attend two "build parties" where the display models were assembled for LEGO stores that hadn't opened yet. The recent remodeling of brand retail stores in the US (which also meant the end of the Window Into The Community displays where LEGO stores would showcase the work of local builders) brought in additional ribbon models in many stores. While these models are frequently photographed and used for inspiration, few people who have built these models have had the foresight to take photographs of the models before they were returned to the company and put behind the store fixtures. Today, I'm featuring this set of 8 of the models - there's only one photo of each, but you can see why these are such interesting and exciting designs.
Details: Here's one last Olympic model for this year's games. While I had previously blogged the mascot/logo of the games in LEGO form, I haven't even mentioned the athletes. Apparently this whole juncture is some sort of athletic competition. This model, based on Polish skier Justyna Kowalczyk is a simply a fantastic miniland-scale figure. The Technic-scale skis (which also appeared in the 1993 "Ice Planet 2002" line) work beautifully here, as do the antennae as ski poles. The real coup, though, is how well the click hinges allow the figure to be posed. She actually looks like she's skiing downhill! While click-hinges are often dismissed as "juniorization" (something to make LEGO kits easier for very young children to assemble that doesn't add value to the creative building process) by long-time LEGO hobbyists (these hinges were new roughly 10 years ago), their ability to lock in place makes them perfect for creating sturdy angles. In this case, we see the click-hinges used for the legs and the older "finger" hinges used for the feet. The effect works perfectly here. It's a shame that we won't be seeing "finger" hinges manufactured again in the future - Steve Witt confirmed at BrickFair 2009 that they are permanently discontinued, and he cited quality control as the reason for change to the newer hinges. That is completely understandable - most of us who grew up in the 90's (when "finger" hinges were easy to come by) have seen a few break over the years. It's increasingly becoming clear now that adult resentment at their "juniorization" was misplaced - LEGO wasn't trying to make the part easier for children to use, and as we've seen with today's model, there are new things coming out of the adult LEGO fan community that couldn't have been built with the older hinges.
Details: Some LEGO elements are seemingly overly specialized, but actually are still able to be used at a variety of scales. For example, the fish element that came out last year in a variety of kits is a large fish when used with minifigures, but next to Belville, Scala, or Miniland people, it suddenly appears to be more proportionally correct or even small. The technique that really makes this model also will work at any of those scales - a very small piece of flex tubing has LEGO string tied around it (Oddly enough, regardless of context, I generally use fishing line instead of proper LEGO string most of the time anyway - it's much sturdier and harder to accidentally break) to make it look like the fish has been hooked at the end of the fishing rod. Another technique worth noting here is the use of 1x1 round bricks in tan with brown light saber blades (LEGO can call it a "Bar, 4L" all they want, we all know what it really is) to build typha (also known as "cat tails"). The plant life helps to make the model look more realistic (not that any of former LEGOLAND Master Builder Mariann Asanuma's work needed the help in that department...)
Details: Front-loading washing machines sound easy enough to build until you realize how difficult it is to build the round front at a decent scale. A simple studs-not-on-top technique handles it here - if you look closely, you'll notice that the bottom of this model is assembled with the studs on top of the LEGO bricks facing downwards. A 3x3 dish element on a pole fits nicely with the arches to complete the front-loading mechanism. The result is a bit too large for minifigs, but is at a decent scale for Miniland, Scala, or Belville people. For those of you trying to build this at home (you know your dollhouse needs one!), take a close look at the photo I've featured here and make sure you have enough of the 'Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 4' element on hand.
Details: This turtle is easily the best use I've seen of the brown 2x4 piece with slopes on three sides. The shell is a bit large (this probably weighs in at just above miniland scale), but it's very effective. The legs are minifig legs - you can attach them to minifig hands, which in turn will fit on most parts. Then there's the head - the mouth is created with a technique that you rarely see done intentionally. By leaving one 1x1 plate only partially attached into the piece above it, the illusion of a mouth is created. Very clever.
Details: Today's "model of the day" is the Police car seen to the left here, built by lego911. It was built for a contest on flickr hosted by the Lugnuts group, which is for builders of detailed LEGO cars in a variety of scales. This being one of our larger "Sunday edition" posts, I'm actually featuring the whole Lugnuts 1966 Ford Galaxie competition roundup. Personally, I feel that this particular car is the most handsome design in the bunch, and the cop car approach works well for giving the vehicle personality even though this contest requires that everyone participating builds the exact same make, model, and year of automobile. Some of the other interesting designs included detailing made with Bionicle elements, a yellow convertible, a black beauty with an angled front, and even a decent looking 5-wide tiny turbo.
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: 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.
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: 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.
Details: Mariann Asanuma brings news that LEGOLAND California has updated Miniland Washington DC to feature a miniature version of the Vietnam War Memorial. It appears that this will be a permanent part of miniland from here on out, but it was brought in yesterday to celebrate Veteran's Day / Armistice Day. The "technique" here is surprisingly simple - the "names" on this version of the wall are an optical illusion caused by light hitting stacks of black plates - it's a bit more parts-intensive than most of us would try, but it works surprisingly well.
Details: Snooker is a game similar to pool. It requires a table like this one, which happens to be perfectly scaled for miniland-sized people. The details come out well here thanks to the wise decision to construct the walls and buffers sideways.
Besides the obvious "needs players!" critique, that's really all there is to say.
South Korea known throughout for its technological advancement and general "modernity". Through a westerner's eyes like mine, the country does not appear to have a large presence of AFOLs. Asian population centres like Hong Kong and Japan have achieved far more publicity in the west for their accomplishments. These include building the worlds tallest LEGO tower and building a minifig scale model of the Beijing Olympic Village.
Having said all of that, I was taken aback by the display I found photographs of while browsing through Brickshelf today. If it was anywhere in the world it would be impressive, and my bias makes this wonderful display even more impressive. Lego ambassador Sung-wan Kim (of BrickInside) was involved in this display's construction, no doubt making the overall product even more superlative.
Overall, just a wonderful piece of work, and a testament to creativity. I barely described the display at all, I'll let you 'describe' it for yourself. So check out the Brickshelf gallery and prepare to be awed!
Details: Back in the 1980's, a travelling show in the US (yes, kids, there really was a time when LEGO operated travelling shows in the United States) featured various elements of Americana shown in LEGO form. One of these was a large (roughly miniland-scaled) model of Mark Twain's house in Hartford, Connecticut. Mark Twain's house is now a museum open year round (not to mention a National Historic Landmark since 1963), and you can learn about the restoration and architecture of the house on the museum's website and at the museum. The LEGO model of the house is now on display inside of the life-size house on "long-term loan", but based on what I've heard about LEGO downsizing its model storage in Enfield, Connecticut, I think it's safe to assume that this model will be there next time you have a chance to visit the Mark Twain house (which we're all doing next time we're near Hartford, CT, right?)
This past week, a life-size sculpture of Mark Twain was unveiled at the museum. The sculpture is itself an impressive collection (note the use of dark orange for the vest) and features radar dishes for the buttons on Twain's clothing. The face is made without too many special techniques, but clearly captures his likeness in tan bricks and plates. You can pose with this glued sculpture at the museum.
As a final entertaining sidenote: those of us who have read the classic and out-of-print book "The World of LEGO Toys" will recognize this model of the Twain house as the unexplained "New England Victorian house" shown in the book. When I first saw that in the book, I remarked that it didn't look much like your average Victorian home in New England, and I wondered why they went with such a large and unusual design - now, the mystery of what inspired this brilliant model has been solved, and we can appreciate the model for it's likeness to the house it is based on.
Details: It's hard not to get my attention when you're mixing scales in a clever way. The Technic figures (which originally came out in the late 1980's, surfaced occasionally in LEGO sets over the years, and then were widely available in the late 1990's, until they started with the Bionicle characters...) work great here, but their unusual scale - pretty close to Belville, just a little smaller than Miniland 0 makes them hard to work into models most of the time. The temptation would be to use Belville or miniland characters as children, but the minifigs work surprisingly well here. The best part? The minifigs are details to match the Technic figs as much as possible, using sunglass-clad heads and even a Dr Inferno arm for the cyborg kid. This is apparently just one module for a collaborative display at BrickWorld (which ended over a week ago...) so we may see more of these soon.
I've previously written a bit about the LEGO store ribbon models, and since new stores are continuing to open, more are being built. The links above point to a gallery with 29 photos of ribbon models just after they were built. It's usually easier to get a good look at the models before they've been installed in the LEGO store, since the windows at the stores don't give you a particularly broad view. 
.jpg){kind=link}