Posted by
Dan
at
10:58 PM
| Event Info Found At: http://www.nasuhai.co.jp/event/lego.html |
| Photos by: kelvin255 (Kelvin Lok) |
| Photos found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelvin255/sets/72157625566538544/ |
Details:  It's Christmastime in Japan's Nasu Highland Park. The LEGO pavilion there has a few seasonal displays up now, but apparently the Tokyo miniland layout (which features a bunch of landmarks, although some have been made a bit generic) is a semi-permanent exhibit. Another highlight is a large Clone Wars set-up, and there are also several large sculptures. This appears to be like a small LEGOLAND park - apparently there are LEGO-themed rides here for most of the year as well (although these photos focus on the models on display). |
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Posted by
Dan
at
1:09 AM
| Name of Model: LEGO Park Bench / LEGO Family on Bench |
| Created by: michelle6box (Michelle Allison) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53312390@N05/tags/miniland/ |
Details:  Miniland scale (the large scale used by LEGOLAND model builders for the miniland parts of the parks) can be a bit difficult to build in, due to the sheer size of buildings large enough to fit people. Not surprisingly, this leads miniland fans to focus on people, characters, vehicles, and other smaller objects. If a design is good, it doesn't matter what it depicts or how large the scene it's in is. Most of the parts in this bench have been available in Pick-A-Brick over the past few years, but that's still enough to support a classy reddish brown and dark red color scheme with trans-red accents. Even though the studs-not-on-top work is relatively straightforward, it fits perfectly and gives the bench a great look - all while stretching those dark red 1x4 tiles (to this day the most inexpensive way to cover a surface in dark red). Like this? The same builder also made a small family to sit on the bench (also visible from at the links above).
| | This is Friday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Dan
at
1:07 PM
| Name of Model: Miniland New York New Year's Eve | | Created by LEGOLAND California's master builders, photographed by chantastic | | Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chantastic/3154123232/ | Details:
 Yes, I know, I'm plugging the seasonal additions to the LEGOLAND parks too much. I absolutely love this miniland version of New York's famous New Year's Eve festivities. The crowds haven't shown up yet in this scene, but that's just because this is earlier in the week (although I have no idea if they plan to update the parks further as the day goes on).
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:09 PM
| I know it's "cheating" for me to not pick just one model here, but today I'm just linking to a nice flickr photoset of LEGOLAND California photos instead. I love seeing good pictures of the exhibits in the parks, and the master builders who work at the parks make a point to add new items seasonally and over the years to make each visit unique. This photo, for example, shows one of the famous scenes at the park partially decorated for Christmas. These photos are from December 12th, so I'd take it that the seasonal bits popping up are still there and likely will be for another week or two. They may be adding more each day - you never know. At LEGOLAND Windsor, they got into the habit of updating the Doctor Who miniland characters each time a new episode aired - so apparently weekly in-jokes are nothing out-of-the-orindary to the builders of the LEGOLAND parks. Did I miss anything surprising this time around? |
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Posted by
Dan
at
6:43 PM
| Name of Model: Halloween Hearse | | Created by: modelbuildingsecrets | | Found at: http://modelbuildingsecrets.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/halloween-hearse/ | Details:
 Here's an exciting new blog: Modelbuildingsecrets's Weblog features tips, ideas, and creations by a former LEGOLAND Parks master builder. This particular model is timely for Halloween - and visible in the Miniland New Orleans section of LEGOLAND California through the end of the month. I think both the car and the skeleton may be easy to try out in other themes, but I'm not sure if those jumper plates (also known as off-set plates - they're the 1x2 plates with only one stud on top) are actually available to the public in clear. Occasionally, you can spot parts in LEGOLAND parks that haven't actually ever been sold in a kit - sometimes when the professionals need a certain part that isn't available, they can request it (and then the company makes a large enough run of it that the builders for the parks will have it for quite some time after that). They make a great windshield there, though.
It's fairly common for LEGO to do Halloween-themed "easter eggs" in the parks and in video games. There are also "Brick Or Treat" promotions at LEGOLAND parks - you can probably find information about events at the parks at the official LEGOLAND parks website. | | This is Wednesday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
4:00 AM
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:19 PM
| Name of Model: Amusement parks and buildings | | Created by: kwycstix | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=240036 | Details:
 Amusement Park Rides present interesting building challenges. It can be very hard to build these large machines at minifig-scale. The few official models in this theme are all in microscale or done without rides. The parts demands are often too expensive for builders to finish a model - online searches turn up tons of plans for rides and buildings done in CAD software but never actually built. This particular set features a building and no less than four rides done in minifig scale - and as a bonus, one ride in microscale.
The first stunner in this set is a minifig-scale Ferris Wheel that looks like it really works. X-pods are used as the cars - simplifying the design issue of holding the weight of more complicated chair mechanisms. The colors are nice too - normally a simple color scheme makes more sense, but the bright colors are visually attractive and also hide the problem of getting enough of certain parts in certain colors. A sturdy platform and other necessary ground-level details are well fleshed out as well, making this model detailed enough to add to any town layout around too. 
A small roller coaster is another standout in this layout - and this one did clearly take a very large amount of time and special parts. The one-seater cars aren't able to move on their own, but they look detailed enough sitting on the track - which is made of pneumatic tubing. The pneumatic tubing is cut into very small sections (I do NOT recommend trying this at home) and then held parallel between pneumatic-T-tubing-connector pieces. Those pieces used to be obscure, but they're increasingly used for details in a variety of LEGO® models. Combined with well-placed Technic axles, 2x2 round bricks and a variety of special parts for details, this makes for a very convincing roller-coaster track effect. Of course, the extra car and queue kiosk round things out brilliantly as well.
There are two other exciting minifig-scale rides and a building (it looks to me like it houses a set of bumper cars) in the gallery above too.
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Since there is pitifully little written about today's model, I'm quoting the article I've found in its entirety:
