LEGO Technic Tora no Maki

Yoshihito Isogawa, author of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT The Orange Book, has just released a new PDF book jam-packed with pictures illustrating a lot of Technic tips and techniques. It’s called LEGO Technic Tora no Maki and although the author and title are Japanese, the book itself consists almost entirely of pictures, so there’s no language or literacy barrier to use. The book is a free PDF download, but the author requests a $10 payment if you use it. I think that’s entirely reasonable, especially with the dollar as weak as it is these days!

I haven’t looked through the whole thing yet, but I glanced at a few pages and think it will be very instructive. I’ve always been pretty weak on Technic skills, so I think I can benefit a lot from this. Check it out!

LEGO Technic Tora no Maki[tags]lego,technic,pdf,book,japanese[/tags]

RIP 9V Trains

Well, LEGO has finally made up their mind on the future of trains. Steve Witt has announced that the 9V system will be discontinued, to be replaced by IR-controlled, battery-powered trains.

The only silver lining is that the new system will be based on the new Technic Power Functions system rather than the much-maligned IR trains currently being sold. LEGO is working with AFOLs to design the new system, and I am really hoping they find a way to come up with a battery-powered system that has enough power for the needs of LEGO train clubs.

In the meantime, stocking up on 9V train parts might not be a bad idea….[tags]lego,trains,9v[/tags]

BayLUG at Chabot Space & Science Center, August 25, 2007

On Saturday, August 25, 2007, members of the Bay Area LEGO Users Group converged at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, CA.

Charles 2The meeting was primarily supposed to be about LEGO Space, and most of the members brought space-related models to show. Charles and Adrienne stole the show with a huge arrangement of microscale spaceships and a dramatic centerpiece: a giant red and white Bellville/space/castle mashup, which converted at the touch of a hand from a dramatic castle to a viciously armed spaceship! Other models featured were Jim’s version of the pneum-ADD-ic machine (design by Kevin Clague) from the book LEGO Mindstorms Masterpieces, Jeremy’s Mindstorms and Technic models, Kevin’s Star Wars base (on the ice planet Hoth, from The Empire Strikes Back), John’s medieval half-church, a desert train diorama by CJ, and a miniature downtown by yours truly.

We have talked about having more meetings there, perhaps with a bit more promotion, either later this year or early next year. Stay tuned!

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

Yoda Build Event at Hillsdale Shopping Center

LEGO has been doing these “Yoda build events” all around the country as promotions for their retail stores. We finally got a chance to participate in one! 20070721-6481

Members of BayLUG spent most of the weekend of July 20 and 21 helping out with this project. A Master Builder from LEGO, Stephen Gerling, was on hand to construct the giant LEGO sculpture of Yoda from Star Wars. It was based on a smaller model built almost entirely out of 2×4 bricks in brown, tan, and sand green colors.

To build the giant sculpture, kids were invited to come and construct giant LEGO bricks. Each brick was 8x16x4, or exactly 4x in each dimension the size of a standard 2×4 brick. Lots of 2×4 and 2×8 bricks in each of the three colors were on hand, and laminated instruction cards were set out for the kids to follow. We ended up with many many bins full of the giant bricks, which were used to construct the Yoda sculpture. In fact we had plenty of bricks left over, so at the end we took the instructions away and just let the kids build whatever they wanted.

The event was a lot of fun. We didn’t get paid, but we got some very special deals on bricks from the store to compensate for our time :-)

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

Recent BayLUG Store Displays

My LEGO club, BayLUG, has been honored to be able to display some of our work at the local LEGO stores.

Save 9V TrainsUnderwaterMicroscale Town

We are doubly fortunate in that we are the only LEGO user group in the neighborhood of not one, but two LEGO stores: Hillsdale Shopping Center and Valley Fair Mall. It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes coming up with two different displays, so sometimes we will cycle them from one store to the other. The last few times we’ve put in a display I have taken pictures using my cell phone camera, but never got around to blogging about them. So instead of having one post for each installation, I’m posting just one entry to cover all of them. There are several dioramas represented here:

  1. A “Save 9V Trains” display, featuring several train models on shelves to show what is possible using our favorite train technology. Installed 1/13/2007 at Valley Fair.
  2. Undersea diorama by Mathew, with various club members adding boats and other small models to complete the display. Installed 5/30/2007 at Valley Fair.
  3. A microscale town, featuring Russell’s COIT tower and several small buildings and vehicles by Loren. Installed 6/2/2007 at Hillsdale.

We’ll be installing new displays in both stores soon, so watch this space. I’ll try to be more reliable about blogging them…

This blog entry corresponds to two photosets on Flickr, so click each of the big pictures to go to the corresponding set page on Flickr, or view the Save 9V Trains slideshow (just 2 pictures), the Underwater slideshow, or the Microscale Town slideshow.

Vintage Vehicles and Family Festival 2007

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BayLUG took part once again in the Museum of American Heritage‘s annual Vintage Vehicles and Family Festival in El Camino Park in Palo Alto, CA. We had a small booth with several models on display and lots of LEGO for sale.

The festival featured lots of classic cars on display and live music performances all day long. It was a lot of fun! The pictures featured here are of our LEGO club booth, but I also went around and took pictures of all the cars.

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.

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[tags]lego,baylug,vvff,vvff2007,moah,paloalto[/tags]

February 24, 2002: Teddy Bear

This is another repost, from the days when I was thinking about making a business out of LEGO Sculpture, like Eric Harshbarger. I later decided that would take too much fun out of it.

February 24, 2002: Teddy Bear

This is my first non-Pokémon sculpture. I have decided to switch to more original designs to avoid possible copyright/trademark infringement, and to make it possible to sell copies of my sculpture. If you are interested in buying a copy of the Teddy Bear (in your choice of colors) or commissioning an original work, please send me e-mail.

I brought this model to the BricksWest 2002 international LEGO conference at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, CA in February 2002.

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.

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