Name of Model: Power Functions Backhoe |
Created by: Coney |
Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=426651 |
Details: |
Fans of LEGO® and models made of LEGO® showcase one model each day.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Technic Power Functions Backhoe
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Space Police Escort (Microscale SP1 Spaceship)
Name of Model: Space Police Escort |
Created by: legoloverman |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38509565@N00/4560481720/in/set-72157622621432130/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/38509565@N00/4560481474/in/set-72157622621432130/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/38509565@N00/4559851321/in/set-72157622621432130/ |
Details: |
Minifig-scale LEGO Brand Retail Store
Name of Model: LEGO Store, Chandler Fashion Center 2010 |
Created by: Kevinhink |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinhink/sets/72157623787901063/ |
Details: |
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Robotics Monday: Tetris-Bot (TI DSP + Lego NXT robot)
Name of Model: Tetris-Bot (TI DSP + Lego NXT robot) |
Created by: BranislavKisacanin |
Found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY83EaE7svA&feature=player_embedded |
Details: Here's an interesting idea - using the NXT tethered to another small computer to play a game on a PC. Apparently the builder had some custom embedded computer vision (CV) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in use. From his description:Tetris-Bot is a Tetris-playing robot. Jay Leno would say "How lazy are we getting? Now robots play games for us!" Well, not exactly, but I agree, we are getting lazy. I made it in order to engage my kids in a fun and educational project. Tetris-Bot consists of a camera, a TI DM6437 DSP board (running my embedded vision and artificial intelligence algorithms), and a three-finger NXT robotic hand (that presses the keys on the computer keyboard). I was inspired by the NXT Rubik and Sudoku solvers and the Segway-like NXT robots. Unlike them, Tetris-Bot is not an NXT-only system, because the Brick has a limited input bandwidth. That's why I use a TI DM6437 DSP board to analyze the images coming from the camera, recognize the new shape, and find the best place and orientation for it. The instructions are communicated to the NXT robotic hand via LEDs on the board. HOPE YOU LIKE IT !!! |
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Vintage Advertisements
Ad scans by: combomphotos |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/combomphotos/4542928832/in/pool-44124304756@N01 and http://www.flickr.com/photos/combomphotos/4382425888/ |
Details: |
Friday, April 23, 2010
Scripps Encinitas Critical Care Center in Minifig Scale
Name of Model: Scripps Encinitas Critical Care Center |
Created by: Mariann Asanuma |
Found at: http://modelbuildingsecrets.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/the-big-secret-revealed/ |
Details: |
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Events this Weekend
Just a head's up - we've been a bit late updating the BrickJournal Shared Calendars lately, but there are two newly-added events coming up this weekend. One's in Tarrytown, New York, USA, and the other is in Durham, North Carolina, USA. We'll be at Maker Faire NC, displaying our own models for once. Expect a full report next week. We're hoping to finish scheduling the next few days' worth of posts in advance, but bear with us if a few posts end up coming up late. |
Size Matters
Name of Model: Size matters |
Created by: crises_crs |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33774513@N08/4538367269/in/pool-44124304756@N01 |
Details: |
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Medieval Market Village Diorama
Name of Model: Medieval Market Village Diorama |
Created by: PigletCiamek (Piglet on Brickshelf) |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/sets/72157623766166583/ and http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=428577 |
Details: |
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Mont St. Michel in Microscale
Name of Model: Mont St. Michel |
Created by: Arthur Gugick "torgugick" |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10321180@N08/tags/france/ |
Details: |
Monday, April 19, 2010
Robotics Monday: NXT Moonbots Challenge
Name of Model: |
Created by: various sponsors and partners |
Found at: http://moonbots.org/ |
Details: |
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Bricks By the Bay Round-Up
Name of Event: Bricks By the Bay |
Run by: Bill Ward |
Found at: http://www.bricksbythebay.com/ (photos at other links below) |
Details: The first Bricks By the Bay LEGO convention happened last weekend (no word yet on when or where the second such event will be). If you've been following this blog for a while, you know what that means - it's post-convention round-up time! Bricks By The Bay Flickr group (with any luck all of the BBTB photos will find their way here eventually) Recap on Bill Ward's blog Recap on Mariann Asanuma's blog (part 2) Flickr photos from Model Gal (Mariann Asanuma) MOCPages wrapup by Alex Eylar Adrian Egli's flickr photos CNET Slideshow (with audio) SuperBagel's flickr set karlongchan's flickr set Gravit8's flicker set In the interest of not duplicating photos, I've tried to skip mentioning flickr sets of photos that are accounted for in the Bricks By the Bay Flickr pool. Feel free to send any links I've missed in to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com |
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Single Kit Pneumatic Walker
Name of Model: Pneumatic Walker From Only LEGO Set 8049 |
Created by: Dan (yours truly) |
Found at: http://projectsbydan.blogspot.com/2010/04/pneumatic-walker-from-only-lego-set.html and http://www.flickr.com/photos/dp3/sets/72157623662754193/ |
Details: |
Friday, April 16, 2010
LEGOLAND Windsor on Google Street View
Name of Model: LEGOLAND Windsor (official site) |
Created by LEGO master builders |
Found at: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=legoland+windsor&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=legoland+windsor&hnear=&ll=51.464002,-0.651981&spn=0,0.002401&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.463973,-0.651837&panoid=XRJqwFcq_2nztA5zCm0jWA&cbp=12,18.2,,0,0.04 |
Details: View Larger Map Remember last year when Google made LEGOLAND California available on Google Street View? As of this week, they've now done the same for LEGOLAND Windsor. I'm not sure what's different, but I seem to be having an easier time getting around this park and finding interesting things - perhaps they've worked out some kinks since they first started trying to do park tours on their street view trike. As usual for these Google maps based jaunts, various photos from other sources of the park can be seen alongside the photos taken by Google. Those of you not running flash are seeing a standard map embedded here - you'll want to open the link above in a web browser with flash to take this tour of LEGOLAND Windsor. Spotted through Google Sightseeing, who also mentioned additional non-LEGO easter eggs found at the park. |
Lit Realistic Underground Station
Name of Model: Underground station based on the Stortinget station in Oslo |
Created by: matija |
Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=427352 |
Details: |
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Nnenn's Vic Vipers
Name of Model: Vic Vipers |
Created by: nnenn |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnenn/4192324139/ |
Details: The LEGO fan community was recently shocked to learn of the passing of Nnenn. Nnenn was primarily a space builder, and his influence is seen in the Vic Viper craze (which he started singlehandedly). For today's model, I'm featuring this set of Vic Vipers he made in NoVVember 2009. We've featured Nnenn's work several times over the past few years. While he didn't build in that many genres, he was very prolific, and his spaceship designs have been surprisingly influential. The high quality of his photographs made him stand out to the fledgling LEGO blog community, and once he became more established he was featured frequently on a variety of blogs, allowing him to influence a broader set of LEGO fans than most of us do. He will be missed, although it appears (looking over some of those other blogs today) that we will be re-naming the rubber band holder piece after him. Previously featured models by Nnenn: Tiny Batman and Robin Microscale Star Wars Fleet NeoClassicSpace.com Celebrates 30 Years of LEGO Space with 30 Models in 30 Days Cockpit Box EDIT 4/15: An even more definitive wrap-up of the community's thoughts can be found at http://swooshable.com/nnenn/ |
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Futuristic Unmanned Robotic Transport
Name of Model: FLEA |
Created by: teikjoon |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teikjoon/sets/72157623664478762/ |
Details: |
Monday, April 12, 2010
Robotics Monday: Sorting Balls by Color
Name of Model: Robin Newman’s Lego© Mindstorms© Page A beginner’s journey |
Created by: Robin Newman |
Found at: http://r.newman.ch/lego/index.html |
Details: I know we're already running late, but in celebration of National Robotics Week in the US, we will be featuring additional robot-themed models this week. |
Sunday, April 11, 2010
LEGO World Show Programs
Name of Model: LEGO World Shows 1-8 |
Created by: LEGO-employed master builders, including Kirsten Kristensen |
Found at: http://www.brickset.com/miscellaneous/LEGOWorldShows/?folder=LEGO%20World%20Show%201%20(1981) |
Details: Recently, Brickset announced that they are hosting LEGO World Show programmes from the 1980s. Photos and English-language descriptions are included for a variety of models from LEGO World Show tours in 1980's. So far all of these are from Australia. These cover a variety of themes, but most of the models are large sculptures. The sculptures themselves are to the usual standard of quality we've come to expect from LEGO's models shops, but the colors are much simpler than what you'd see at today's LEGOLAND parks - the color palette is limited to what was actually available in the 1980's. This means that the trees use large bricks intended as baseplates (green LEGO bricks weren't available until the mid-90's, and even many now familiar leaves and plants weren't available yet), brown creatures are built in bright red, people are yellow (tan wouldn't be available for another decade, never mind the flesh colored bricks that the model shops have exclusively today), and in many places details look chunkier than you'd expect because more specialized parts hadn't been manufactured yet. In a weird way, it plays up the nostalgia element of how some people think of LEGO - all bright colors and blocky creations. The photos aren't too easy to link to, but all of the (many! - this is a "Sunday edition", after all) photos are worth a look. |
Saturday, April 10, 2010
LEGOLAND Billund and Headquarters Photos
Name of Photo Set: Legoland |
Photos by: ford302_91 (models by LEGO employees) |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvetting/sets/72157621340096749/ |
Details: |
Friday, April 9, 2010
Minifig-scale "Elm castle"
Name of Model: Elm castle |
Created by: gearcs |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45079829@N07/sets/72157623754281048/ |
Details: On that last drawbridge shot, another interesting technique you can see is the use of a panel where the chains go into the wall - the result is a smaller and smoother spot for the chain to pass through. |
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in 1:40 scale
Name of Model: Fallingwater |
Created by: Matija Grguric |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matijagrguric/sets/72157623778661188/ |
Details: In the interest of being thorough and giving you all of the display and construction details, I'm stealing the description of this model that appears with most of the photos: Building info:Check it out at the links above and/or at the museum in Zagreb in the coming months - this is an excellent model. |
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tomakon starfighter
Name of Model: Tomakon starfighter |
Created by: thire5 |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thire5/4390479608/ , http://www.flickr.com/photos/thire5/4390479660/in/photostream/ , and http://www.flickr.com/photos/thire5/4390479726/in/photostream/ |
Details: |
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Brick-City Waterfront 3.0
Name of Model: Brick-City Waterfront 3.0 |
Created by: Tim M. |
Found at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/156687 |
Details: |
Monday, April 5, 2010
NXT/RCX Snakes and Ladders Game
Name of Model: NXT to RCX LEGO Snakes And Ladders Robot |
Created by: Mike Dobson / RoboticSolutions |
Found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-duo_Zgv0AU&feature=channel |
Details: This robot plays the game of Snakes and Ladders |
Sunday, April 4, 2010
LEGOPalooza 2010
Name of Show: LEGOPalooza2010 |
Created by: NCLUG |
Found at: http://www.nclug.us/index.php/2010/03/more-legopalooza-photos/ and http://www.nclug.us/index.php/2010/03/legopalooza-2010-coverage-round-1/ |
Details: The North Carolina LEGO Users Group (NCLUG) recently put on their annual show at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, NC. For the first time since this annual tradition's first year, this show actually featured a few FIRST robotics teams and the Richmond area LEGO Users Group (RichLUG) as well. While there were fewer displays than in previous years, the show was a hit and over 3,000 people attended. Full coverage (including photo round-ups) at the links above. Those of you who are in North Carolina can still see NCLUG represented at two other shows in the near future - Maker Faire NC (featuring yours truly bringing the LEGO fun) is coming up April 25th, and convention/festival BrickMagic is coming up Mother's Day weekend. While there won't be Palooza-style group layouts at Maker Faire NC, there may be some at BrickMagic and the sheer size of BrickMagic is drawing in LEGO hobbyists and professionals from around the world (in addition to our friends at NCLUG). Photo above from Dan Larson. |
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Radio Sculpture
Name of Model: Gilligan - The Radio |
Created by: Dave Shaddix |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaddix/sets/72157616544807371/ |
Details: |
Friday, April 2, 2010
MC Daly Building
Name of Model: MC Daly Building |
Created by: Bisonfuehrer |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bisonfuehrer/4401683924/ |
Details: |
April Fool's Roundup
Many LEGO fan sites decided to get in on April Fool's day antics this year. I even got in on the act by announcing an official "LMOTD Store". That was just a gag (I make a point to keep this blog separate from that store), but if you placed an order in that store on April first, you will in fact be receiving free LMOTD printed LEGO tiles with your order. NXTStep got into the act by leaking NXT 3.0 info that is almost certainly false (although many of those ideas would be welcome in a future NXT release). http://www.classic-castle.com/ - a popular website and forum for fans of classic LEGO Castle themes - decided to rename itself Classic Cattle. This is probably the most subtly brilliant April Fool's gag I've seen. The fact that it's completely believable and well-researched is a testament to how much effort went into it. I'm hoping they archive this somewhere so we can mention it as an example of "how it's done" in years to come. YouTube had added a new feature called TEXTp which rendered videos in the form of ASCII art. At least one of the videos available this was was a BrickFilm. As of this writing, this prank seems to have been completely removed. If you know a way to cause this effect again, let me know. EDIT April 5th, 2010: Forgot about the various EuroBricks jokes (a few readers called me on this) - the LEGO Tron theme gag, the Bionicle Visual Dictionary gag, and finally the Mandalorian Pride gag. On the more "adult" (read: dimwitted and salacious - these posts are not recommended) side of things, The Brothers Brick claimed to have lost a member to drug use, granted a rare and scandalous interview, tried to convince us that a knock-off Hello Kitty line was legitimate, and claimed to be taking over the Star Wars / LEGO fan site From Bricks to Bothans. Do you know of any other LEGO-related gags? Send 'em in to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com |
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Announcing the LMOTD Store!
Since we never did make that much money off of the ads on the site, we're now opening a BrickLink store! You can buy individual LEGO parts on BrickLink, and if you shop at the LMOTD store, you'll receive a free printed LMOTD 2x2 tile with your order. |
Working Belville Scale Recliner
Name of Model: Fully Funtional Recliner Chair |
Created by: J0n4th4n D3rk53n |
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/j0n4th4n_d3rk53n/tags/chair/ |
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? |