Category: My Models

LEGO Models that I have created

Little Australian Houses?

One of my pictures has been used by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on their Web site to illustrate a radio story about the relative merits of buying versus renting a home. You can see it on the ABC News homepage as a small thumbnail on the right hand side, and if you click the “Best of abc.net.au” link it takes you to a “best of” page where that story is featured with a larger version of the image at the top of the page. Here’s the photo they used (from their Web server):
Little houses via abc.net.au

My photos are published with a Creative Commons attribution license, so I’m not mad that they used the photo, but they (as far as I can tell) failed to credit the photo which I think is in pretty poor taste. (If you like the models, I have posted the LDraw instructions online.) Here’s the original photo, linked to its page on Flickr:
Little Houses on Flickr

You can really see the blurriness created when they cropped it and re-saved the JPEG (probably with a high level of compression). Thanks to Stephen Calder, aka aussiechef67 for pointing it out via a comment on Flickr.

LEGO Luxury Motor Yacht

A few months back I was sorting through bins of LEGO and came across an item that has bugged me since I first bought set 7994, LEGO City Harbor.

The cargo ship hull in that set is just a little too big for any container I own, so it’s been sort of bouncing around my LEGO shelves on its own ever since I took that set apart and sorted the parts into my collection.

So as I was holding this darn hull in my hands yet again trying to figure out where to store it, I was inspired to instead try to build something out of it. As a cargo ship, it’s really way too small for minifig scale. But since it’s about 72 studs long it’s just about perfect for a motor yacht!

I did a quick Google search on 72 foot motor yachts and found the Adagio 72 as a PDF file, complete with floorplans. The hull shape wasn’t quite right, and I couldn’t do anything with the forepeak (the triangular area inside the bow) but I figured I could do a pretty good approximation of the floorplan based on the available space in the LEGO hull and set to work…. the result is my Luxury Motor Yacht (slideshow). Hope you enjoy it.

If you want to see it in person, I plan to bring it to BrickFest in Portland later this month, and will also be showing it at Maker Faire at the end of May as a part of BayLUG‘s exhibit there. Stop by and say hi!

LEGO, Robert Indiana Style

Inspired by my LEGO version of Robert Indiana’s "LOVE" sculpture, I made another one that spells "LEGO," incorporating different colors for the interior of each letter.

LEGO, Robert Indiana Style

The only hard part design-wise was coming up with a “G” design that matched the other letters, since “LOVE” already provided me with a design for “L,” “E,” and “O.” But structurally, I found it to be much more of a challenge to build the “LEGO” sculpture, largely because the round letters on the bottom didn’t provide nearly as good support for the top letters as the “VE” in “LOVE” did. However, thanks to some very long bricks (1×16 and 2×10) I was able to make it work.

My wife and I discussed the color scheme extensively before we finally decided on the one you see here. I wanted to keep blue and green apart from each other, and I wanted to keep red on the right hand side in case it is displayed next to the “LOVE” sculpture. (Sadly, I don’t have any good photographs of the two together – I didn’t have any place big enough that didn’t have a horrible background – but hopefully I can update later to add one.)

Robert Indiana “LOVE” Sculpture

A LEGO version of Robert Indiana’s iconic "LOVE" sculpture from 1970. Best known for its regular appearance on postage stamps, the original sculpture is on permanent display in Philadelphia and copies are in many cities around the world. Built for the BayLUG "All You Build Is Love" challenge from the February 2009 meeting (which, not to brag, it won).

Robert Indiana LOVE Sculpture

See slideshow or just view the photoset page on Flickr.

The original, for reference:
Love Park in Philadelpha
LOVE Park in Philadelphia, PA in winter. Photo is looking down the Ben Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Desert Road Trip

Flickr user jedimasterwagner has made a great little desert diorama, featuring my Shasta Teardrop travel trailer, a Jeep by Mike Psiaki, and a cactus based on an idea that Flickr user brickpoor brought back from BrickWorld.

Desert Road Trip

Found via Lego Diem. Looks like the diorama was created using LDraw and rendered in 3D. I think it came out quite good – and great work on the mosaic billboard!

Fleetwood Revolution LE 42K Motorhome

This high-end luxury motorhome allows you to travel in class! Features three slide-outs, including one that is almost the entire left side, a powerful diesel engine in back, two bathrooms, plentiful storage underneath, a well-appointed kitchen, and much more.

Fleetwood Revolution LE 42K Motorhome

It is based on the Fleetwood Revolution LE 42K Motorhome but I should admit I took a lot of artistic license, especially with the artwork on the sides.

This is pretty much the diametric opposite from my last RV model, the Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer that I made a couple of weeks ago. While that one was small and minimalistic (with only the most basic interior, and no removable roof) with classic styling from the 60’s, this one is modern and contains all the amenities you could wish for. However, neither model has 4 wheels, so both are eligible for the All But Four challenge on LUGNuts. It’s also eligible for a new Flickr group I created, LEGO RVing.

Hope you enjoy it, and please post comments here or on Flickr. If you want to see it in person, come to the BayLUG exhibit at MoAH in Palo Alto, CA – I’ll be bringing it there tomorrow and it will be there through January 11, 2009.

Click the photo above for the photoset on Flickr, or view it as a slideshow.

Shasta Teardrop Trailer featured on LAMLradio Podcast

I just wanted to say thanks to Jonathan Bender for selecting my Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer as his “MOC of the Week” when he was interviewed on LAMLradio Episode 69. (If you just want to hear what they had to say about my trailer, skip to 39:02)

Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer

Of course, thanks to The Brothers Brick for featuring the trailer a week ago, as that’s where Jonathan saw it…

If you don’t listen to LAMLradio, I highly recommend it. Hosts James Wadsworth and Aaron Andrews (“DARKspawn”) feature interviews with movers and shakers of the LEGO scene, talk about LEGO news, and discuss a few key “MOCs of the week” in each episode, which come out about once a week.

Lately James has also been putting out video podcasts, called appropriately enough LAMLtv. I’ve done two of those as guest episodes, featuring footage and interviews from BrickCon in Seattle last October, and have plans to do a few more. I’ll post those here too, of course.

(In case you were wondering, “LAML” stands for “LEGO and more LEGO”)