Bill Ward's Brickpile » Space

Goodbye, nnenn

Bill — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:34:24 +0000

I was stunned to learn today of the passing of Nate “nnenn” Nielsen in an automobile accident. Keith of the Brothers Brick has posted an excellent eulogy which I encourage you to read along with the many comments from members of the online community included in the post.

It’s relatively rare that we learn of the death of a LEGO hobbyist, but whenever it happens I always wonder what would happen to my collection of bricks after I’m gone? Estate planning is always a touchy subject, but I would encourage everyone to give it some thought, as I will be doing.

And even if you’re not a space builder, consider building a Vic Viper for the Missing Man Fly-In at BrickWorld in Chicago in June or BrickCon in October. Keith is collecting contributions for a group display honoring nnenn’s work.

http://www.brothers-brick.com/2010/04/13/farewell-to-a-legend-mourning-the-passing-of-nate-nnenn-nielsen/

Advent Calendars, Day 14

Bill — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:52:20 +0000

Today the Castle theme gets a new figure – this time it’s a human warlock, casting a shadow bolt spell. She has apparently run out of Soul Shards and cannot summon her Voidwalker. Perhaps tomorrow’s set will provide a minion for her?

Meanwhile the diver from yesterday gets his fins along with a “diver down” flag buoy thingy and life vest. The fins are attached to the sprue from molding. Remember when 1×1 round plates came that way? Ah those were the days…. Anyway, I don’t see how he’s going to dive down very far to use his speargun with that life vest on!

Lego Diem — 1979 Commercial

Bill — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:57:43 +0000

Thanks to the Lego Diem blog for pointing out this 1979 Commercial for the best LEGO set ever sold…

Lunar School Bus

Bill — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:06:06 +0000

The other day I was thinking I’d build another hovercar, like my 2059 Cadillac or my remake of Justin’s red aircar. But as I was sifting through a bin of curved parts, the idea came to me to build a school bus when I saw some yellow Brick 2 x 4 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top (6081) parts.

I built it 7-wide (not counting the rocket engines), thanks to an idea I got from Flickr users Lego Monster and Mad physicist since it leaves room for an aisle; see their bus for the inspiration.

I also detailed the interior, with several students in varying degrees of good behavior and a driver inspired by the one from South Park. There are two thugs in the rear who are either conspiring or fighting, maybe both. There’s a boy facing backwards, harassing the girl in the seat behind him. And then in the front there are two reasonably well behaved kids whose hands are raised to report all this bad behavior to the driver. (Well really, their hands are raised because otherwise they wouldn’t fit in their seats)

The bus is a hovercar, using the same kind of smooth underside that I used on the Cadillac and red aircar with the ‘Wedge 4 x 4 x 2/3 Curved’ (45677) and/or ‘Wedge 4 x 6 x 2/3 Curved’ (52031) parts on the underside to represent antigravity units. I also added some 1950′s sci-fi style rocket engines for those longer hops between lunar settlements.

To see more, click the picture above or view the set on Flickr (or as a slideshow).

Justin’s Aircar Reimagined

Bill — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:30:55 +0000

At a recent BayLUG Space meeting, Justin brought a red aircar that he had built several years before. At the meeting, several of us were discussing how newer parts could be used to make it better. It started with the windscreen; several of us suggested replacing the one Justin used with the new curved windscreen seen in the Agents and Speed Racer sets. Then I started thinking about the various angled pieces Justin used, and how those could be replaced with curved pieces that are now available from LEGO, and asked Justin if he would mind if I made my own aircar based on his.

After that meeting, I built an exact copy of Justin’s design based on pictures I took there, and then started thinking about how to update it. I included a few features that I thought were essential to his:

Suicide doors built using 1x2x2 panels, with a corner plate to form a rear-view mirror. But I added a cheese slope to it for streamlining (and studlessness).
Front grill using a grill tile mounted on a 1×2 plate with 2 finger hinge
Minfig seats used as air scoops
Overall shape and color scheme, including ridges on the front “grill” which Justin made using 1×3 33 degree slopes, but on mine are 1×3 curved slopes.

I also redesigned the underside and rear, which I felt could use more detail. I built the underside studs-down and studless, similar to how I did the 2059 Cadillac aircar.

Click the thumbnail for more pictures or view a slideshow.

Classic Space NASCAR

Bill — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:25:53 +0000

Inspired by the NASCAR fad that’s been going around the Flickr LEGO community, I built this using the layout photo from mikepsiaki. However I thought I’d do one with the Classic Space esthetic….

The car is identical to Mike’s design, with a couple of changes:

To get the Classic Space logo on the sides, I had to replace the 1×2 panels with 1×2 bricks. That meant the 1×1 brick with studs on two sides would no longer fit, so I substituted 1×1 Technic bricks with half-pins instead.
Mike didn’t have anything between the rear wheels and the car body above. You could see clear through the car above the rear tires, and the car was very fragile. But the space was perfect for a 2×4 brick! Perhaps Mike uses that in his real model but just didn’t show it in the instructions layout image?
Since this is Classic Space, I used the old style 1×1 plate with clip :)
There’s a red Classic Space minifig inside!

Of course, I really wanted a big Classic Space logo on the hood. I have a few of the 3×6 slopes that would have fit but it would’ve ruined the lines of the car, so I elected to stick with the original parts and just put Classic Space printed bricks wherever I could fit them. I used a dark blue windscreen; I don’t think they were ever made in yellow, so this is more like the 6890 Atomic Cruiser set than the 497 Galaxy Explorer esthetic that people tend to associate with Classic Space. But that Atomic Cruiser was probably as big of an influence on me as a kid as the Galaxy Explorer anyway.

Check out the LAML Radio interview with Mike Psiaki to learn more about the NASCAR fad, or just to find out how to pronounce his last name… :)

Miniland Classic Spaceman

Bill — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:47:03 +0000

My version of a spaceman from the Classic Space of the early 80′s. Built to "miniland scale" like the models in Miniland in the Legoland theme parks.

Built for the LEGO Creativity Challenge #6. I just wish LEGO had produced the 1×2 brick with classic space logo in red! I thought about building a white one, but my white classic space bricks are too faded — although I think they were pretty pale when I first got them almost 30 years ago. Plus, I don’t have all the parts in white I’d need…

Still, I’m hoping that even in blue, it’ll still tug the heartstrings enough to help win the contest!

Click the picture for the Flickr gallery, or view a slideshow.

August 2008 BayLUG Space Meeting

Bill — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:40:35 +0000

We had a meeting for the space-heads of the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group at the local Round Table Pizza in Mountain View, CA on Sunday, 8/18.

Click the image for more pictures or view the slideshow. Justin, a 19-year-old member who’s about to go back to MIT this fall, brought the biggest collection of ships to display. Charles and Adrienne brought a good assortment as well. Bruce, who almost never misses a BayLUG event but isn’t as actively into space, brought some trains and a LEGO wind turbine model which he’s been working on, and a clone brand Transformers-like set he had recently bought. We also had two kids, Aleks and Nikolas, and their mom Karen, who brought some Star Wars stuff and contest entries. I brought my Caddy as well as a new Classic Space truck.

Bruce’s wind turbine is an interesting item; it was produced by LEGO as a limited edition set made available only for employees of the Danish wind turbine company Vestas. Bruce got a copy of the instructions online and built his own out of parts in his collection. Many LEGO fans have been clamoring for LEGO to offer it to consumers at large, but so far no luck.

Justin and I had a little aircar rally; he brought an older aircar he had built years ago, and parked it next to my Cadillac. We had a group discussion about what changes we might make, given some of the cool new curved pieces available from LEGO.

2059 Cadillac El Dorado

Bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:21:19 +0000

Last night I was surfing around the Legoverse trying to find some inspiration to build something space-related, and I came across the Building The Future That Never Was Contest on classic-space.com. I got to thinking about the whole retro-future thing, and thought of doing a Jetsons-style aircar, which of course means using the clear dome, and then I thought of capturing the Cadillac fins of the late 1950′s and early 1960′s. After much experimentation, this is what I came up with:

I’m especially happy with the studlessness of it… the only studs showing are the headlamps (which don’t count, in my opinion) and a few studs half-visible on the rear part of the hood. The underside is also smooth, using SNOT (Studs Not On Top) construction to mount parts upside-down.

See the rest of the pics in my photoset: 2059 Cadillac El Dorado, or view a slideshow.

Spaceman/Nanoscale Display at Valley Fair Mall

Bill — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:14:34 +0000

Last Saturday, we changed out the display at the LEGO store in Santa Clara.

The Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group installed a new display at the Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, CA featuring a large spaceman model and various nanoscale spaceships by Charles and Adrienne, and a rocket-powered knight by Bruce. This replaces my Blackburn Hotel that had been on display since May 31.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or you can view a slideshow of the photos.

Interview: Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer

Bill — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:57:45 +0000

There’s a very interesting Interview on BoingBoing with Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer.

I grew up on some of these sets! I started collecting Space LEGO sets in the late 1970′s when I was a little kid, and spent most of my spare time building and rebuilding classic LEGO spaceships and bases.

June 21, 2002: Tundra Explorer

Bill — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:45:00 +0000

This was built for the Ice Planet 2002 Contest on Lugnet. I didn’t win, but I thought it captured the essence of the LEGO Ice Planet 2002 theme.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

February 24, 2002: Passenger Transport

Bill — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:30:10 +0000

This hybrid rocket/jet aircraft takes off and lands like a plane, and the engines switch to rocket mode to reach orbit, where it docks with a space station or the Lunar Tour Vehicle for their next destination.

This uses the Docking System I devised for spacecraft.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

February 24, 2002: Lunar Tour Vehicle

Bill — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:28:49 +0000

Part bus, part spacecraft, this vessell meets up with the Passenger Transport in Earth orbit and ferries them to the moon, where they can spend a week visiting the Apollo landing zones and other historical and natural wonders.

Its rockets pivot aft for flight, and downward for takeoff and landing. Inside are all the luxuries a traveler could want, plus facilities for the crew. A generous galley and head are included.

This uses the Docking System I devised for spacecraft.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

December 31, 2001: HoverThing Contest Entries

Bill — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:13:37 +0000

On my old site, these were four separate entries, but in reposting them I have combined them into one.

In August 2001, Paul Hartzog announced he was sponsoring a “HoverThing” contest. The Contest announcement and rules were posted on LUGNET and many people submitted entries, including myself. I didn’t win, but here are the models I built for the contest. The official contest website shows all the entries, including the winning one.

Pocket Rocket

Shown in both blue and black versions.

Hover Patrol

A simple police cruiser

Astro-Pumpkin

A very silly entry for the contest. The main point was to employ an unusual color scheme and to find a use for the angled part in the nose.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

December 29, 2001: Avenger

Bill — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:55:47 +0000

Another repost.

" />

A fighter spacecraft.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

December 29, 2001: SC-01 Prospector

Bill — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:45:58 +0000

Here’s another old post from my old site.

" />

This scout craft visits asteroids and takes samples for analysis, so that if it should prove suitable, mining craft can come and extract minerals from them.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

October 9, 2001: Micro Mechs

Bill — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:55:27 +0000

More reposting of old entries from bill.wards.net:

These little guys are miniature robots or mecha, made as an experiment in getting new uses from some rather specialized parts.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

Lunar Mobile Lounge

Bill — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:26:37 +0000

My newest Space creation is the Lunar Mobile Lounge which has actually been at several BayLUG meetings, even though I never posted about it here.

The concept is based on the “mobile lounges” at Dulles (Washington, D.C.) International Airport, which ferry passengers from one terminal to another. However in this case, they ferry people to their waiting spacecraft which landed nearby. Since most spacecraft that people build out of LEGO don’t have wheels, it would be hard for them to dock to the moonbase – it would require some very high-precision flying to land right at a moonbase connector! Therefore I felt there was a need to be able to carry people to and from spacecraft.

Since the spacecraft might have doors that vary in height, I used a scissor lift mechanism to allow this vehicle to raise and lower the passenger compartment – something the Dulles lounges also can do – to match whatever height is needed. You might remember I asked back in March about ways to do this – I ended up using a worm gear to drive, through a short geartrain, a spool that would wind up a string that was attached to the moving leg of the scissor lift.

The vehicle is equipped with an airlock which includes the moonbase connector. The airlock has two doors to the outside – the moonbase connector and a door with stairs leading to the ground (when the vehicle is lowered all the way, that is). There is one interior door, a sliding door which connects the passenger area with the airlock. On the roof you can see the plumbing for the airlock mechanism – hoses and compressors and a big tank for air which are used to alternately drain and fill the air in the airlock and passenger areas. On the underside of the roof are the vents for taking air in and out of these areas.

Click the photo above to see more, or click to look on Flickr (slideshow) or on Brickshelf (pending moderation).

Technorati Tags: lego, space, moonbase

Micro Moonbase Monorail

Bill — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 09:14:42 +0000

At long last, here is the blog entry about my micro moonbase monorail. Last January, I got together with other members of BayLUG to install a “microscale space” display at the Valley Fair Mall LEGO store. I posted pictures and a description of that on my blog back then, but I always meant to post details about my model that was featured in the display. So here they are, eight months later – sorry!

Here we see two buildings connected by a monorail. At the right is a sort of office building which has an opening for the monorail to enter the building, inspired by the way they do at Disneyland (or is it WDW) where the monorail goes into the hotel (or at least, I think it did when I was a kid – does it still?). At the other end is a standalone station with a micro moonbase connection. In both cases, the monorail fits into the building closely enough that you can imagine it is an airtight connection (something that matters a lot on an airless moon…).

For the track I am using the straight 16-stud long track of the type originally produced for the 4.5V and 12V trains from long ago, but which has lately been available at the LEGO store Pick-A-Brick (in New Grey, natch). I designed a monorail car that fits nicely on the track. The only problem with the design is it would never be able to take any turns, so it’s a good thing I only have straight track of that type! :-)

Click the photo above to see more, or click to look on Flickr (slideshow) or on Brickshelf (pending moderation).