Here are all my pictures from the Brickworld LEGO convention in Chicago:
Bill Ward
Brickworld 2011: Lake Michigan Ballroom Pictures
I’ve taken photos of all the LEGO creations on display at Brickworld 2011 in the Lake Michigan Ballroom.
Brickworld 2011 Part 2
Here’s the second installment of my trip report to the Brickworld LEGO convention in Chicago, for Day 2 (Friday, June 17). I went to a bunch of presentations and events:
Brickworld 2011: Event Pictures
I attended a bunch of events on Thursday and Friday at Brickworld 2011 in Chicago.
Brickworld 2011 part 1
I flew to Chicago yesterday (Wednesday, June 15) for the Brickworld LEGO convention. I used my Frontier air miles to travel from San Francisco to Chicago Midway by way of Denver. It was a long trip – I left SFO at 9am and got to Chicago at 6pm local time – but it was very pleasant and had no problems. I shared a cab from the airport to the hotel with two other guys, who had flown in from Florida.
Double Trailer Truck
A double semi-trailer truck made out of LEGO, featuring tractor, two trailers, and a dolly to connect the trailers together.
Fifth Wheel RV
I built this many years ago (2003 or so?) but never posted it online before. It’s been on many BayLUG and BayLTC displays, though. I’m still fairly happy with it, though it could surely be improved in a number of ways.
Log Cabin 3X
I really like the relatively new LEGO Log Cabin set #5766 with its three different models of log cabins. I bought three of this set, and built each of the versions, and for a while had them setting on a table in my living room together. But as I was looking at them it seemed to me that they were just a bit too small, and that the parts from these sets could be combined to make a much bigger, nicer cabin. So I took them all apart and used the parts to make this:
Jumping the Shark
A couple of years ago I created this scene depicting the famous “Jumping the Shark” scene from the TV show “Happy Days.” Here, Richie Cunningham drives the boat pulling the Fonz on water skis as he leaps over a shark to prove his bravery. This is the origin of the phrase often used to describe the point where a TV series becomes lame.
Maker Faire 2011
My local LEGO club, the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group, has been displaying at Maker Faire every year since it started in 2005. Maker Faire is an amazing event, full of all kinds of creativity, from knitting to robots to welding to music. A lot of the art cars and artistic displays that Burning Man is famous for can be seen at Maker Faire in a much more pleasant climate. Regardless of your hobby, it’s a hobbyist’s paradise. And if you’re ever looking for a new hobby, it’s the perfect place to find one.
City Park
At train shows, we (the Bay Area LEGO Train Club) have developed a standard city block system, where our downtown area is divided up into blocks that are 2 by 3 32 x 32 baseplates in size (i.e., 96 x 64 studs). For some time now I’ve shown my Blackburn Hotel and its accompanying city block (but I have never done a proper photo shoot of those buildings either, I just realized) at various shows and conventions and you have probably seen that featured here a few times.
BayLUG April 2011 Meeting
We had our April meeting of the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group (BayLUG) at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto on April 16, 2011.
Bulkhead Flatcar
This Railroad flatcar with bulkheads was inspired by the NMRA 2011 official HO gauge car for this July’s convention in Sacramento.
Interview with yours truly about Bricks by the Bay
A new interview I gave about Bricks by the Bay has been published on the KA-GO site.
LEGO Conference Table
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.
Bricks by the Bay 2011 Registration now Open!
I’m happy to report that the registration form for the Bricks by the Bay 2011 LEGO convention is now available for general registration. I’ve been working hard with a team of volunteers (we can always use more help if you are interested) to get the convention organized and planned.
Pink Fractal Tree
This is my first abstract LEGO sculpture. I was inspired by someone (sorry I don’t remember who it is right now) who brought several abstract art pieces to Bricks by the Bay last year made out of the dark pink 1×2 slopes, which were available at the LEGO store Pick-A-Brick wall. I always wanted to do the same and finally I got around to it, producing a series of small fractal models and eventually coming up with this monster.