On Sunday, May 28, we (Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group) installed our first-ever display at the LEGO Store in the Valley Fair Mall, Santa Clara, CA.
Bill Ward
BayLUG Meeting, May 27 2006
This past Saturday, we had a Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group meeting at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto.
Lombard Street, San Francisco
Along with the TransAmerica Pyramid, this was built for the display that my LEGO club, the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group, had at the LEGO store in Pleasanton, CA.
Mindstorms NXT Presentation
Today we had a special Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group meeting featuring a presentation by Mark Edelman, founder of Playing at Learning, the Northern California FIRST LEGO League affiliate and a member of the Mindstorms Developer Program.
Mindstorms NXT Firmware to be Open Source
LEGO has announced that the new version of Mindstorms will have open source firmware! This is very exciting news for anyone who likes to hack on robotics. While people reverse-engineered the original Mindstorms to come up with an alternative firmware called LegOS (which was renamed to BrickOS at the request of LEGO’s legal department), this time around LEGO is supporting software hacking from the get-go.
Maker Faire 2006
Maker Faire sure was a lot of fun! We (Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group) had a great time showing off our LEGO train layout to the public and other Makers at the event.
Halfway through Maker Faire
Wow, this has been a great show! It’s quite different from the train shows we (BayLTC) usually do. The Maker Faire crowd is a very diverse group of artists, geeks, and craftspeople. Plus, a lot of families with kids which is just like what we’re used to. One of my favorite things about the LEGO hobby is when little kids are staring through the “sneeze guards” at our layout with their eyes and mouths open, and just about the only thing they can say is “wooooaaahhh.” That’s fun.
Fish
These two fish were built as part of a display that my LEGO club, the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group, maintains at the Stoneridge Mall LEGO store in Pleasanton, CA.
Getting Ready for Maker Faire
Next weekend (April 22-23) is Maker Faire, an event featuring “the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors,” put on by the publishers of MAKE Magazine. This event is kind of like a giant science fair for grownups, mixed with an art show and all kinds of stuff. I don’t really know what to expect but we’re planning to treat it pretty much the same way we do the train shows.
TransAmerica Pyramid
The TransAmerica Pyramid is one of the most distinctive structures in the city of San Francisco.
Old-fashioned Fire Truck
This old-fashioned fire truck was built in July, 2004 for the display that my LEGO club, Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group & Train Club put on at a museum in Pleasanton, CA.
TCA Show – Sunday
I spent most of the day today at the 2006 Cal-Stewart Spring Meet of the Train Collectors Association (TCA) at the Santa Clara Convention Center. My LEGO club, Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group & Train Club, had a big train layout on display all weekend (see my previous entry with pictures of the setup on Friday).
BayLTC at TCA 2006 Show Setup
Friday evening, March 10, I was at the Santa Clara Convention Center helping set up(*) the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group & Train Club layout for the 2006 Cal-Stewart Spring Meet of the Train Collectors Association.
Great LEGO Video – 1985
Stephen and Austin Nolen have produced an amazing video for the song “1985” by Bowling For Soup.
Scissor Lift in Technic?
Have you ever tried building a scissor lift in LEGO? I’m working on a project that calls for that kind of mechanism to lift it up, like those food service trucks at the airport. It is based on an “X” shaped arrangement, which, like the two parts of a scissors pivot at the middle. By bringing together the two bottom (or top) ends, the top is lifted into the air.
Aquarium display at LEGO store
With other members of the Bay Area LEGO Users Group, I helped install a new aquarium-themed display at the Stoneridge Mall LEGO store in Pleasanton, CA on Feb 20, 2006. My contributions to this display were two fish and some seaweed.
Coastline
This is another model that I built 3 years ago but only recently posted the pictures online. This, along with the recently posted Road Bridge, was built for the BayLTC train layout in 2003.
Any LEGO Fans from South Carolina?
My wife and I will be traveling to South Carolina (visiting Hilton Head and Charleston) next month.
Road Bridge
In 2003 (or maybe 2002) I built a bridge for the BayLTC train layout. But it wasn’t a train bridge, it was a road bridge (for cars and trucks). The road pieces came from LEGO’s 6600 Highway Construction set, and the bridge’s structural elements were built of Technic bricks.
LEGO is Not a Crime!
Except in Germany, that is. It seems that a LEGO fan was recently arrested for playing with LEGO Mindstorms on a train. Thanks to my wife Holly for pointing this out.
Treasure Reef
Today’s entry features a creation by a Czech LEGO fan named Jindrich Kubec.
Bay Area LEGO Train Club at Pleasanton Train Show in Nov. 2005
Last November, BayLTC participated in the Pleasanton, CA, Great Western & Atlantic Train Show at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The event was held on the weekend following Thanksgiving.
