Bill Ward's Brickpile » Others’ Models

Le Père-Lego / A Lego Christmas Special

Bill — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:42:07 +0000

MonsieurCaron, of Québec, Canada, has made an awesome little Christmas LEGO video, partially using parts from the LEGO City advent calendar set.

He posted about it as a comment under yesterday’s Advent Calendar posting but this is so awesome I needed to share it even if you don’t read the comments…

LEGO Conference Table

Bill — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:53:02 +0000

Have you seen this? An Irish advertising agency called Boys and Girls has commissioned their conference table to be made entirely of LEGO bricks. They hired the architectural firm abcg Architects to design and build the table for the agency’s conference room at their Dublin headquarters.

Check out the article at The Resident Architect for more pictures and information. There’s a stop-motion video showing how it was built at the end of the article.

Reasonably Lazy

Bill — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:04:48 +0000

Readers of the “Brick House” comic at Reasonably Clever will have noticed that the characters are now wandering around the author’s home in Detroit. Does this mean Christopher Doyle finally got too lazy to build new sets? ;-)

Steve Barile on TV

Bill — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:50:52 +0000

Portland’s KATU Channel 2 recently featured Steve Barile (organizer of BrickFest) on a TV interview. Aside from the fact that they kept using the term “Legos” they did a really good job of showing the AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) hobby in a respectful, positive way. It’s nice and long, too, with plenty of great shots of Steve’s LEGO collection and models. Steve seemed very relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera, which is a great feat in itself. Go Steve!

You can watch the video on KATU’s Web site.

Desert Road Trip

Bill — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:49:36 +0000

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.

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!

New LEGO blog: Sariel’s LEGO Technic creations

Bill — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:27:46 +0000

One of the most well-documented LEGO builders out there is “Sariel,” a Polish LEGO builder specializing in Technic models: construction equipment, trucks, military equipment, etc. They feature a lot of moving parts, often with motorized and/or pneumatic power. He takes excellent quality photos and even has Youtube videos of his models.

Until now, I mostly saw his models on the Klocki blog (pron. “klosskey”) that started in Poland (and written in Polish) but has expanded to an international audience and is also available in English and Portuguese. Sariel was often featured on Klocki along with other great builders from LUGPol, the Polish LEGO user group, and Comunidade 0937, the Portuguese group (hint: look at “0937″ upside-down), as well as other great builders from around the globe.

But now, Sariel has his own blog Sariel.pl: Sariel’s LEGO Technic creations where he will feature his work in great detail. Even if you don’t build Technic, it’s still inspiring. And of course I trust that Klocki will continue to feature his work as well.

SavaTheAggie’s #2602 Angus 0-8-8-0 Locomotive

Bill — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:06:11 +0000

I rarely blog about other people’s models, but I wanted to talk a little about the latest work by Anthony Sava (“SavaTheAggie”). It’s the Erie Railroad’s #2602 L-1 Camelback Angus class 0-8-8-0 Steam Locomotive.

This has got to be one of the ugliest pieces of machinery ever built in real life, but the LEGO model is so well done it’s almost beautiful. Well, almost. :-)

But what I wanted to highlight is the way he posted works in progress as a part of the project. People posted comments about the early versions, and he incorporated some of that feedback into the final design, making it feel much more interactive than most LEGO models that are posted online. I think Flickr is particularly good for this, since we can not only post comments on each photo, we can even draw a box on a particular area of a photo and write a comment (a “note”) for that area.

Personally I’ve never posted works in progress (WIP) pictures online. I think partly it makes me feel more pressure to complete the model. There are a lot of LEGO projects that I start but never carry to completion; if they were posted online I wouldn’t feel like I had the luxury of abandoning it if I hit a dead end or lost interest in it. I have worked on a few models collaboratively with others in person but never online. Who knows, maybe I’ll try it. If posting WIP pictures is at all responsible for the quality of this final model, then it’s probably worth a shot.

Oh, and happy new year everybody!

Amazing Great Ball Contraption video

Bill — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:03:01 +0000

This is really a work of art – not just for the clever LEGO creations, but maybe even more so for the filmmaking. The modern classical music accompanies the images very well. By taking a series of close-up video shots of various parts of the contraption, each one well composed and from an interesting angle, our interest is maintained throughout. Exceedingly well-done!

Via TechnicBRICKs blog.

Emiko Oye LEGO “My First Royal Jewels” exhibit

Bill — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:49:01 +0000

Local artist Emiko Oye has been building jewelry out of LEGO and other recycled materials for a while now. I met her at Maker Faire last spring. She brings a really interesting perspective to LEGO, treating it as a fine art medium rather than as a hobby the way most adult LEGO fans do.

Her latest accomplishment is a solo exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design featuring works inspired by Cartier and Boucheron, early 20th century jewelry, built in LEGO. I haven’t been to see the exhibit yet, but I’m hoping to soon. In the meantime here’s the info:

My First Royal Jewels
Interactive LEGO art exhibition by emiko oye
San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design
550 Sutter St, SF CA 94102
Through Jan 4, 2009

You can see images of the show on her Flickr account, or learn more about her at rewarestyle.com.

Tilted Twister – Mindstorms NXT Robot Solves Rubik’s Cube

Bill — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:36:48 +0000

I just came across Tilted Twister while reading Mike Walsh’s LEGO Blog. It’s a Mindstorms NXT robot that can solve the Rubik’s Cube!

The really amazing part is that it’s built using only the parts in the stock NXT kit. Instructions are provided – I’m tempted to make one myself. (Note however that you either need to buy a special color sensor, or modify the colors of your Rubik’s Cube so that white and yellow can be distinguished by the stock light sensor.

Santa’s Sleigh with Rudolph and the Reindeer by Vincent Pace

Bill — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:14:23 +0000

Every year LEGO comes out with an Advent calendar (or two) and most years they include some form of Santa Claus and his sleigh. But usually the sleigh is barely big enough to fit a minifig, much less a load of toys and goodies, and the “reindeer” is actually a single minifig-scale dog with no antlers or anything.

Now Vincent Pace saves the day. He’s come up with a great MOC of Santa, his sleigh, and a whole complement of reindeer – including Rudolph with a trans-red 1×1 round plate for a nose. He’s used white droid arms for antlers, and they’re all harnessed together to an excellent red and green sleigh complete with toys.

And best of all, it can be yours! He’s selling it on eBay with a starting price of about $60 (which is about what it costs to get the parts on Bricklink). There is a link to the auction on his site – use the above link or click the photo.

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama

Bill — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:33:46 +0000

Some LEGO creators have been posting images recently in honor of Obama’s victory:

Thanks to the Brothers Brick for finding these.

Sorry about the political content, since this isn’t a political blog, but I feel this is a historic moment in American history that deserves to be commemorated, whatever your political views may be.

What Google Engineers do for Fun: Computerized LEGO Art Project

Bill — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:09:44 +0000

A coworker sent me this link:

What Google Engineers do for Fun: Computerized LEGO Art Project

LEGO mosaics are cool and impressive, but this seems to me more of a software feat than a LEGO one. I do like the way it looks on the guy’s wall though.

LEGO Color Chart

Bill — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:16:29 +0000

Seen at BrickFair 2008, this LEGO “suitcase” shows just about all the colors you’ll ever see in LEGO. Model by Todd Webb, BrickFair’s organizer.

Another 2006 Garden Gnome by another Bill posted by another Ward

Bill — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:28:49 +0000

In Ted Ward’s pictures from Northwest BrickCon 2006 I came across a picture a while ago of a garden gnome, created by Bill Volbrecht, former LEGO Master Builder.

As far as I know, Ted Ward is no relation to me, and neither is Bill Volbrecht.

As to why this is interesting, I built my own garden gnome in 2006 as well – while I was in Fairfax VA for the Brickfest convention (it wasn’t at the convention; I built it from parts I bought there, in my hotel room afterward). I posted it here shortly after I built it in September 2006. Here’s mine for comparison:

As for comparing the two, well I think that he did a better job on the mouth and eyes, but then I was limiting myself (as I’ve done for almost all of my sculptures) to only basic bricks, not plates or slopes or round parts. However if I may be so bold, I like my hat better: it is asymmetrical. I also think the details on the belt are better on mine. But the clincher is that his is functional: I believe that the hands are designed to hold business cards. Mine are hidden behind his back because hands are too hard to model :)

LEGO Braiding Machine

Bill — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:44:33 +0000

Thomas Johnson has done it again. The creator of the LEGO knitting machine has a new masterpiece, a braiding machine built using LEGO Technic pieces which creates a three-stranded braid. You can see photos and a really cool video (nice music, too) of the machine in action.

I’d show you a thumbnail, but the Web site doesn’t seem to make that possible. Anyway, watch the video. It’s mesmerizing.

Technorati Tags: lego, braider, braiding, machine, technic

Nelson Yrizarry’s Snowflakes

Bill — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:32:18 +0000

Another amazing creation from “Big Daddy” Nelson Yrizarry. He’s taken the 5×7 LEGO foliage pieces in white, and turned them into snowflake patterns! Happy holidays!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while… I’ve been either sick or busy almost constantly since early September. I have some big stuff to post soon though!

Daniel Rojas’ Cable Car

Bill — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:09:11 +0000

One of the more impressive LEGO robots I’ve seen lately is Daniel Rojas’s Cable Car. He came to one of the BayLUG meetings recently and met some of us, and told us about the project, and when he finally posted his finished product he was kind enough to email us about it.

It’s a great model of a cable car, and a very clever robot too. Like the real deal, it has a grab-arm which goes below the track to hold on to a cable which pulls it. And it’s controlled by an RCX (Mindstorms). It even has a working emergency brake! Daniel even made a great YouTube video so we can see it in action:

If you liked that, check the rest of the pics on Daniel’s site.

Furniture

Bill — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 21:50:22 +0000

I know it was posted a while ago but I wanted to blog about this mainly so I could find it easily to copy some of these ideas shamelessly… Last August Janey “Red Brick” blogged about these amazing minifig-scaled furniture ideas which is really just a bunch of Brickshelf links to some amazing stuff.

Speaking of furniture, that’s part of the problem why I haven’t built anything in a while. The room where my LEGO collection is kept is unusable because it’s been co-opted as storage for all the clutter around the house. I need to do a purge and/or run to the storage locker so I can dig my LEGO out and get building again….

Technorati Tags: lego, blog, janey, redbrick, furniture, brickshelf

MicroBricks Blog

Bill — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:52:59 +0000

Bruce, aka “Bricktales,” writer of one of my favorite LEGO blogs, VignetteBricks, has a new blog. It’s called MicroBricks and features all the latest and greatest microscale LEGO creations being made today. Here are some examples of the models featured there:

Check it out today!

(via Brothers Brick).

Technorati Tags: lego, blogs, blogging, microscale