Details: Apparently last year's "LEGO Experience Tour" was successful, because they're bringing it back this year. Once again, there are actually two groups (East and West) of this truck show-lite travelling the United States visiting State Fair style venues. You can check their calendar to see if they'll be coming near you during the next few months.
Details: A contest is underway now in Hong Kong that has attracted some interesting entries. Most of them appear to be in the microscale town genre, but a few of them also feature excellent mosaics of Chinese characters. The photo links above are for the ninth entry in the contest. You can vote for your favorite of the 12 finalists (and see a little of each of the other entries) at http://www.easttouch.com.hk/events/lego/
Details: In a surprising move, the LEGOLAND Discovery Centres in Germany appears to have opened an official flickr account. Included are some event photos, sculpture photos, promo shots, and photos of the "miniland" displays at the Discovery Centres in Germany. One of the stranger things about the Discovery centers is that their "miniland" displays are actually at minifig scale (instead of the proper miniland scale used at the LEGOLAND parks). The displays at the Discovery Centers are also much more focused on local landmarks than on general world landmarks.
There are currently 4 LEGOLAND Discovery Centers - these two in Germany (Berlin and Duisburg); one in Chicago, Illinois, USA; and one in Manchester, England. A fifth one will be opening soon in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas.
Details: Last year, we covered a brickfilm that was assembled as a music video for the song 8-bit Trip by rymdreglage. Now we can see a little bit behind the scenes thanks to these new photos on their website.
Details: I've blogged afewsupercar inspired models before, but I think this is the first time I've seen someone actually build an alternate model for set 8880. As fantastic a kit as it is, it's not exactly easy to find now - trolling eBay to see if a good deal turns up is the only reasonable way to find a copy now. However, LEGO simply hasn't released another kit with as great a selection of specialized parts for cars. They've released newer parts, sure, but none that have 8 nice big springs, plenty of transmission parts, the special wheel/steering/suspension parts in this set - they have never truly matched this kit. Sure, 8448 Super Street Sensation tried, but in spite of introducing the (then new) studless style of building, it didn't introduce any new mechanisms or features.
The builder of today's model, though, took that classic kit - and only parts from the kit - and made it into a 1932 Ford Model B. The likeness is surprisingly strong, and the technical features (at least the ones we're used to seeing in super car based models and should go in a Model B) are accurate as well.
Details: There's a good chance that the addictive game "Minesweeper" is on your computer somewhere. It's alright - most of us will admit to having lost an afternoon to it at one point. This poor guy, though, may actually be playing as though his life depends on it. There's also a second photo:
Congratulations on finding the best use yet for both little green army men and the limited selection of yellow printed number tiles.
Details: Over the years, LEGO has had several licensing deals (and sets based on them) with the Shell oil company. Inevitably, though, even when they did experiment with minifig-scale gas stations, nothing really met the level of complexity that we like to see in our custom built town layouts. Perhaps that's intentional - after all, once they give you the special elements, stickers, and printed parts specific to the Shell brand, nothing's stopping you from adding other parts from your own collection to expand the kit. Since this is LEGO we're talking about (and some of these kits were sold cheaply at gas stations as promotional items), that may have been their plan all along.
This model is a good combination of official Shell parts, a great gas station design, and custom decal work. The rare parts don't end with the Shell-specific elements, though. The refueling truck here makes use of the chrome elements from a 4 Juniors Tanker Truck set (which isn't exactly a set most people are interested in keeping around, thanks to the "juniorized" nature of the larger parts in it).
Details: The name of the photo set may say that this is a WIP (Work-In-Progress), but the photos sure look like they show finished models. The furniture looks excellent and the rooms are surprisingly detailed. In the kitchen shot (above), you can see channel bricks used to create texture on the walls (which also make use of tan 1x6x5 panels - an excellent piece that has shown up in Pick-A-Brick recently). For the stove's burners, 2x2 turntable bases were used. The chair is a neat design too - the studs face the front of the chair, but are covered in tiles. The result looks very un-LEGO but still only uses very basic parts. The kitchen also features great techniques for a table, blinds, an opening microwave, refrigerator, and dishwasher, and even a cornice. The next room shows us how to do a lamp, shelves, dresser, and aquarium at this scale (the "dollhouse" scale this builder uses is very close to Scala scale and the scale used in Miniland). Then there's the desk, desk lamp, and chair further into that room. Next to the bed (which shows off a cheese-slope technique for pillows, as well as dark tan paneling on the foot board), we see a roll top desk (how the heck?!?).
All of that was great. There's also a garage, though. The workbench features a peg board, tools, a saw, and a birdhouse. Under the bench, we can see paint cans and a chain saw (these little details really sell these as realistic scenes - did you catch that sponge in the kitchen?). The other side has a washer, dryer, and toolbox.
Details: I've previouslybloggedafew great Transformers models, but there is a need to up the ante now. See, LEGO has been making it easier to build Transformers-inspired models by introducing a variety of new hinge elements over the past decade or so (gosh, it's really been 12 years since I tried this when I was little, before the invention of click hinges? I guess I am gettting old). Now, people of my generation who feel like it was just yesterday when we tried and failed to build transformers regularly see young kids effortlessly handle the task of creating vehicles and other random objects that turn into mecha "robots". So now it is time to increase the challenge, preferably in a way that will require us to learn some new techniques instead of just needing to buy newer parts. It is time to try our hands at building machines that can transform on their own, and perhaps have other motorized functions as well. Today's model, shown above, serves as a proof of concept - it is possible to build vehicles that can transform using only one motor.
Send in your attempts to create motorized (or at least crank-powered...) transformers to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com - if we get enough of them, we'll turn this into a proper contest.
Details: We are once again recapping great LEGO events this summer from around the world. This time, it's Arte em Peças (in English: Art in Parts), a Portuguese event hosted by the LEGO Users Group that calls itself 0937 (which, if you type it into a calculator and flip it over, spells "LEGO"). I know this recap looks a bit short compared to some of the larger round-ups I've posted, but the photo links above actually point to the official 0937 flickr account, which has over 1000 pictures of this event. The one account includes photos taken by several members of the group. Here are those links again along with all other Arte em Peças links that popped up on my radar:
Apparently last year's "LEGO Experience Tour" was successful, because they're bringing it back this year. Once again, there are actually two groups (East and West) of this truck show-lite travelling the United States visiting State Fair style venues. You can check their calendar to see if they'll be coming near you during the next few months. 
-inspired models by introducing a variety of new hinge elements over the past decade or so (gosh, it's really been 12 years since I tried this when I was little, before the invention of click hinges? I guess I am gettting old). Now, people of my generation who feel like it was just yesterday when we tried and failed to build transformers regularly see young kids effortlessly handle the task of creating vehicles and other random objects that turn into mecha "robots". So now it is time to increase the challenge, preferably in a way that will require us to learn some new techniques instead of just needing to buy newer parts. It is time to try our hands at building machines that can transform on their own, and perhaps have other motorized functions as well. Today's model, shown above, serves as a proof of concept - it is possible to build vehicles that can transform using only one motor. 
