Details: The reigning champion of cutesy Easter models is back to one-up last year's impressive model. I do wish we could see a different angle of this bunny's face - the minifig helmets used for eyes look pretty good from this photo, but I'd love to see how it looks from the side. The egg cart is priceless, continuing the studs-out approach and even including wheels built out of plates instead of using regular wheel and tire parts. The best detail may be the necktie, though, making use of two red plates with clips attached sideways to get the double-sided plate effect - it's not a difficult technique, but most people wouldn't think to have made the middle of the bowtie sideways facing outward so that could work.
Details: Somewhere along the way, I started collecting Nerf Mavericks when I could find them on the cheap - used, I could find them for very little at some of the same places I was buying used LEGO. A coworker had started bringing some into the office, and I felt a need to have at least one of my own so I could shoot the dart back. The Maverick seems like the ideal model in my mind - it's a simple 6-shooter, fast enough for goofing off but not so fast that you're likely to end up with a giant pile of darts on the floor afterwards (admittedly, this is my own idealism, and another coworker has since proven just how quickly a mess can be made with a Maverick and a few hundred darts.
There are apparently quite a few people who have gotten into both LEGO and Nerf. Obviously, we've covered a NXT/Nerf robotic tank before, and there's at least one famous photo of a Nerf gun fight kick-off at a LEGO convention. It seems to go deeper than that - it's very common to see people asking on flickr what they should buy first - a Nerf gun or a particular LEGO set (spoiler: the correct answer is always the LEGO set).
Here, though, we see the logical conclusion of this convergence of crazes, the coupling of these commonly collected cool curios - a photorealistic LEGO version of the Nerf Maverick. The slide and barrel move just like the real thing, although it wasn't possible to have this much realism and make the internal mechanisms work at the same time (not that you'd get the correct effect from an official LEGO spring anyway). A few stickers had to be used, but it's hard to argue with that when this look is this exact. The size, complexity, and accuracy of this model sets a new standard for hyper-realistic life-size replicas of ordinary objects.
Details: For the 2012 MocAthalon's "Will it Blend?" (read: theme mash up) category, this model combines Castle and Friends. That's right, it's a celebration put on by Princess Mia. The gorgeous landscaping and intricately patterned flooring steal the show, but there are a number of great details in the scene as well. Dishes of food appear in front of each of the Friends characters. Even the stairs are built sideways to allow for more detail (note the small medium blue lines). All of the girls' pets have meals. Even between the flooring and the columns, there are more carefully placed plants.
Details: Building artificial bones is a very time-consuming, tedious process. As explained in the video here, it requires dipping a sample into a mix of calcium and protein, rinsing it, and then dipping it into a mix of phosphate and protein. This process has to be done over and over again. Needing a quick way to automate the process, they turned to the education edition of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit. In something of a rare occurrence, the comments at the YouTube link above are actually helpful and explain more about how these robots were made. Most surprisingly, they were able to get the correct amount of precision out of the robots using the graphical language (NXT-G) that LEGO ships with the kit. Also explained in the comments: why there are three motors on robots that only have two degrees of motion (arm back/forth and winch up/down). Most impressively, one of the builders mentions that it was their first time using Mindstorms!
Details: Shown here: a Titanic model built for LEGO Mexico to tie in with the movie of the same name. This is one of many models built by William Webb, who recently has been documenting some of his work for the LEGO company (which dates from 1997 to 2005). To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's voyage, he's offering to sell simplified versions of this particular model. His other work is well worth checking out, and covers the full range of LEGOLAND models.
You'll want to look at all three of the links above, as each one of them has some photos that the others don't.
Details: I love it when people use Lego to solve real-world problems, and this is a brilliant example. It works and didn't cost True Dimensions a penny. The mechanics and clever use of magnets to keep the door closed make it that much cooler.
Details: Ever feel like it takes up too much space to store and transport your large town buildings? There's now a solution for that - collapsible buildings. This model looks great on it's own, but it's also a nice proof-of-concept for bigger and more complicated things. Now that hinge bricks (in white) are a common Pick-A-Brick part, it's pretty affordable to handle modularity this way. There's nothing stopping us from dropping floors into a design like this - and those floors could be taken out at shows without dismantling the whole building. For the first time, I think we have a real challenger to the Cafe Corner standard for town creations - and there's nothing stopping anyone from making a building like this also conform to the CC standard.
Details: Many LEGO AT-ATs have been made, including an official LEGO set, but this takes the cake. As I understand, this is an incredibly detailed minifig-scale model. Although I'm not a Star Wars fan (and actually have yet to see the movies) I can still appreciate the skill needed to pull off such a large and accurate model. By adding a snowy base and the Luke minifig, 2x4 adds some extra realism and scale to the presentation.
Details: There's really only one thing to talk about today in LEGO news: Toy Fair 2012. This is the first time we've gotten a clear look at many upcoming sets.
FBTB's coverage is still fairly raw at this point (it's not yet organized to the point of me being able to link to all of it at once, and it looks to me like they may still be uploading photos as I write this). You can watch their flickr photostream for photos as they come in. They also have some video clips from the event.
Details: Sara DeFehr is one of the many great builders who is sorely under-represented online because she passed away before the Adult Fan Of LEGO (AFOL) community really took off. For a number of reasons, it was a very different time - LEGO wasn't marketed towards adults as much as it is today, and the selection of available parts and colors was much smaller.
Specializing in scale models of Canadian Parliamentary buildings, she earned some notoriety and was filmed for the clip above. The models featured in the clip are the Manitoba Legislature Building, New Brunswick Legislature Building, Winnipeg Old City Hall, and a version of Gruenfeld, Ukraine.
Info on her work is scarce, but what's survived of her creations has found its way to the Toy and Plastic Brick Museum, where several 0f her models have been (or are in the process of being) dusted off, repaired, and put on display.
The reigning champion of cutesy Easter models is back to one-up last year's impressive model. I do wish we could see a different angle of this bunny's face - the minifig helmets used for eyes look pretty good from this photo, but I'd love to see how it looks from the side. The egg cart is priceless, continuing the studs-out approach and even including wheels built out of plates instead of using regular wheel and tire parts. The best detail may be the necktie, though, making use of two red plates with clips attached sideways to get the double-sided plate effect - it's not a difficult technique, but most people wouldn't think to have made the middle of the bowtie sideways facing outward so that could work.
