Details: This lantern has quite a few clever parts uses. The outer "glass" is made from 24 1x4x6 3-pane windows. The loop at the top is actually a tire that fits a 3-wide Technic pulley wheel. The candle in the center is actually a stack of large white radar dishes. Even the flame is out of the ordinary - it's made out of several small trans-orange pieces instead of the usual flame element LEGO makes. The whole thing looks so sleek that you could be forgiven for not recognizing it as being made out of LEGO elements at all.
Details: Have you ever played the game Connect Four? You can't really play this one, but it definitely has the look of the classic game down. The technique here is very simple but tends to be overlooked frequently: you can connect the studs on top of other LEGO pieces to the holes in the sides of Technic bricks and beams. Here, we see that done with round 1x1 plates. The big feat is balancing a round plate just so, like was done for the piece on the top that looks like it's about to go in to the game board.
One of the frustrating things about this hobby is that no matter how many great uses of simple techniques like this we see, we always hear from loud, obnoxious people who don't know what they're talking about that these things aren't possible. You know the sort - the ignorant parents in the toy store who can stare right at the LEGO logo on a box and still insist that Technic elements aren't "real LEGO". They're usually the same people who try to refer to bricks as "legos" and insist that kids can't ever come up with original ideas if they start with kits. If only we could show those people more models like this - simple enough to be easy to build, but still able to show off a great technique in an interesting way - we might be able to get the idea out there that you really can build clever things using the parts that can be found in stores.
Details: There are actually a few other links relevant to this stunning model. Since Mike Doyle is something of a rising star in the LEGO community, he's attracting plenty of attention and having much written about his work already. It's great to see a relatively new builder creating such amazing models and getting recognized for it, but it makes it difficult for those of us who focus on writing something original about models we feature. Fortunately, I can also aggregate links fairly well - here's a round-up of sorts:
The original blog post is the definitive page for this model (same link featured above)
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I'm still pretty exhausted after a long, strenuous weekend at LEGOPalooza. I stepped up to coordinate the town & train layout, and pretty much everything that could go wrong did - the final result came out well, but I was surprised we managed to pull it off at all. Since I already wrote up a proper round-up on the NCLUG (North Carolina LEGO Users Group) website and would rather not have to keep track of this in two places, I'm going to direct you there for photos and coverage of the event.
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Here's a new feature I'd like to get started on right away (mostly because I just found out about this great website): a spotlight on useful resources within the LEGO community. BRICKITGOOD is the work of Mr. Corey Sanders, a schoolteacher from Nevada who runs (and personally funds) an after-school LEGO program for elementary-school aged students. The site features a wide variety of models, with plenty of photos for each one. Most of the models also include instructions - some of which are in LEGO Digital Designer format so you can easily buy the parts needed to build them. An advantage (for teachers especially) of creating building instructions is that you can save designs while taking the models apart - which is particularly important when you need to make the parts available again for other students. In addition to creating instructions for his own designs, he has also created instructions for a number of popular models that haven't been available to the public (such as promotional items that were only given away as glued models). These models are a great starting place for your original creations - or you could try rebuilding some of the designs as shown. The events section covers student creations, regional events, and the 2004 Master Model Builder search (yes, when you build lifelike sculptures this well, LEGO takes notice).
The photos below show examples of the variety of material available on the BRICKITGOOD website, and each one is a link that takes you to the appropriate section of the site.
Details: Since it's a given that we write about LEGO models here, the effect of this piece is somewhat ruined. Put that aside if you can, and show it to a family member who doesn't know what it is - preferably from a distance, or with the little thumbnail we used here. The effect is that of high speed photography - it looks like this was an explosion captured in a photograph. A close inspection reveals surprisingly little, since the construction is as simple as the model is fragile. At some level, the implied patience is part of why this is such a striking model.
Details: The details seem a bit hazy (I'm still not sure when this event ends - I've seen conflicting dates but nothing official), but it appears that there is are two large, long-term LEGO displays going on in Sydney, Australia - one at the Sydney Aquarium and another at Sydney Wildlife World. I'm not sure how this snuck in under our radar, but apparently these models have been "on the loose" since December 22nd, 2010. Long story short: there's a need to round-up photos of great sculptures: Stobbsc (Christopher Sobbs)'s flickr photos Wanderer and Wonderer's flickr photos News.com.au article Eeks! A mouse . . . blog post (includes some photos)
Details: No detail was spared here in using studs-not-on-top mosaic techniques to make this red and white clown fish look perfect. In many places, you can see headlight bricks used to turn small sections sideways - this makes it possible to have distances be as small as 1/6th of a stud. The effect is particularly noticeable on the fish's nose and tail. The fins are even hinged to move! What more could you want in a fish?
29 copies of this set have been made available in the builder's BrickLink store. As of this writing, 17 remain.
Details: Recently, LEGO set designer and frequentlyfeaturedbuilder Marcos Bessa has made available for free download the LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) files (useful as building instructions) for five of his models. Two of these models have previously been featured here as a model of the day, and all of them were built before he was brought into the LEGO company. Several of these models can be found in the portfolio used when he applied to join the company. Here are the links to the page for information for each model (each page includes information on the model, a link to photos on flickr, and a link to download the LDD file - along with a brief note regarding reuse of these designs):
Details: We would have posted these earlier if we were more on top of things, but I was only informed at the last minute that there was a merry-making holiday coming up (and then got caught up in some merry-making of my own). First up is this pair of toy-making elves, which I believe to be actual size. The toys being made on the table are figures in various scales - you may recognize the miniland-scale Bender from Futurama as one of the characters, in the elf's hand at the moment is an R2-D2 minifigure). These have been part of a River Park "Photos with Santa" booth next to a Macy's in Fresno, California, USA since Black Friday (No word on how long this will remain open to the public, but I understand there are other models in the display as well).
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).
Details: This past weekend had that most unusual of events: a LEGO store Grand Re-opening. Many things about this are unusual: the location at the Mall of America has been a flagship store since 1992. It's been known as one of only two "Imagination Centers" (the other being the Downtown Disney location), and it hadn't seen a major renovation since 1998. Further, LEGO has decided NOT to have grand openings for other recently opened brand retail outlets - two stores in the UK have opened recently, but won't have any special events to celebrate their "Grand Opening" until after the holiday rush is over.
Details: Making something that is not a simple action figure out of Bionicle parts: check. Rare colors? How about dark blue AND bright light orange? Clever techniques? How about using rows of sockets to create a pose-able neck? Yes, this fully qualifies as LMOTD bait. The spiky spine on the back of the neck makes fantastic use of the Visorak foor element in quantity. I'm really surprised by how well some of the clunkier parts seem to blend in here - the head makes use of a few parts I'd be tempted to call useless, and that's before we get into the wings or the tail fin.
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This may be the most unique mosaic we've seen in quite some time. Coming in at around 3 studs thick, this is full of details and unusual techniques. Red clip plates hold flex-tube casings (which have been used as thin rigid hoses in a variety of sets more recently) which form the letter K as connected by minifig hands here. Using a variety of small parts, more hoses, and a generous amount of hinge plates makes the body look particularly impressive. I particularly like the way arch pieces are attached on an angle to make the blade of the King's weapons. This piece has since been sold to LEGO's Community Operations Manager, Jan Beyer, who decided he wanted it for his office after he saw it at Kockice Expo 2010.
We're going to go ahead and call this Saturday AND Sunday's model of the day. It's about time we stopped falling behind, and the Kockice 2010 photos are certainly worth counting as a second day (even though there are "only" a few hundred of them)
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Long before LEGO announced the official Tower Bridge kit, they'd actually already designed a LEGO version of the tower bridge that could be built by anyone. Featured in an idea book in 1964, this actually pre-dates the LEGOLAND parks (which feature landmarks in a "miniland" scale, compared to the microscale of this design or the current kit). Sure, the color palette wasn't as broad in 1964, but the old design is larger and is surprisingly convincing considering that it only uses basic parts.
Details: Although it's easy to fall into thinking that LEGO parts can only be connected in something of a rectangular grid, it's actually quite easy to attach them at angles to create more unusual shapes. Here, we see small white and blue pieces (primarily blue 1x3 plates) used to create 6-sides snowflakes. Most of these are about as "high" as one brick, but are meant to be displayed sideways. These are actually sturdier than you'd expect, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt that these were glued to be used as seasonal ornaments.
Details: Halloween at LEGOLAND means time for Brick-or-Treat and Halloween-themed displays. Since we're running late, we'll keep this small - here's 38 photos (and one video) from the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
Details: This almost double-size sculpture of a cassette tape isn't entirely purist, but it is pretty clever. Technic half-pins with a stud on the end flip the direction of the studs upside-down so that the same curved elements can be used for the top and the bottom. The clear section in the middle is another interesting trick - since LEGO actually uses a mold without a center tube for translucent and transparent parts, you can use two of them (one upside-down) to create a small compartment of sorts. Inside that area, black paper is used to create the look of the actual magnetic tape. A few stickers complete the model. Surprisingly, only 100 parts were used.
Details: A dutch family with three generations of LEGO enthusiasts recently built this set of animals. A brilliant mix of NXT robotics and more traditional LEGO sculpture techniques, these life-size animals act out the action in the video above. It seems like there are never enough animations that use this technique instead of stop-motion. Here, we see the animals run around in a fairly realistic manner, down to the mother duck laying an "egg" (a ball from the NXT 2.0 kit, previously known as a Bionicle Zamor sphere) and the rat taking it to eat. A surprising amount of detail went into the robots here - check out the MOCpages links above to read more about them and see photos of the source material. Also of note (but I'm not aware of more of a close-up than in the video) is some of the background scenery - the life-size squirrel sculpture and duck's nest look great too.
Some tape (vinyl) was used to cover some of the NXT parts and make the NXT colors blend in well with the rest of the models. Further "cheating" was used to make the smaller ducks work with power functions motors and a battery set-up small enough to fit inside them (they're controllable through IR - which presumably is controlled by a third party NXT IR adapter). There's another video that explains how the ducks are made.
This lantern has quite a few clever parts uses. The outer "glass" is made from 24 1x4x6 3-pane windows. The loop at the top is actually a tire that fits a 3-wide Technic pulley wheel. The candle in the center is actually a stack of large white radar dishes. Even the flame is out of the ordinary - it's made out of several small trans-orange pieces instead of the usual flame element LEGO makes. The whole thing looks so sleek that you could be forgiven for not recognizing it as being made out of LEGO elements at all. 
? You can't really play this one, but it definitely has the look of the classic game down. The technique here is very simple but tends to be overlooked frequently: you can connect the studs on top of other LEGO pieces to the holes in the sides of Technic bricks and beams. Here, we see that done with round 1x1 plates. The big feat is balancing a round plate just so, like was done for the piece on the top that looks like it's about to go in to the game board.
from 
as one of the characters, in the elf's hand at the moment is an 
). These have been part of a River Park "Photos with Santa" booth next to a Macy's in Fresno, California, USA since Black Friday (No word on how long this will remain open to the public, but I understand there are other models in the display as well). 
