The book From an Idea to LEGO by Lowey Bundy Sichol is a part of a series of books providing a history of well-known companies, such as Google, Disney, and Nike, for children. But since this is a LEGO blog, we’ll just focus on this one.
Bill Ward
Fan community reacts to LEGO buying BrickLink
The LEGO Group announced this week they will be acquiring BrickLink, the online marketplace for LEGO parts. This has sent shockwaves throughout the entire LEGO fan community.
East Bay Mini Maker Faire 2019
Last Sunday, as we do every year, BayLUG had a display at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in Oakland, CA. Several of us brought Micropolis modules and we had a pretty extensive city set up, plus a variety of other models. See the photos below for more details – click on any photo to go to the Flickr photo album.
BayLUG October 2019 Meeting
This past weekend I attended the annual BayLUG anniversary meeting in San Leandro, CA. It is the club’s 21st year, but we had a big celebration last year for the 20th and this year it was more like a regular meeting. We had a Halloween themed contest and lots of people brought models to show. My photos from the meeting can be seen here or on Flickr (click any photo to go to the album).
Book Review: Build a LEGO Mustang
I’ve been an admirer for some time of Polish LEGO fan PaweÅ‚ “Sariel” Kmieć from Warsaw, Poland. He builds some of the most brilliant LEGO scale model vehicles I’ve ever seen and is a wizard with TECHNIC mechanisms. One of his models, the Shelby GT 350-H, has been made into a book, Build a LEGO Mustang. As of this writing, Amazon offers it for US$13.99, discounted from the cover price of US$19.95. Here are the front and back covers:
Book Review: LEGO Holiday Ideas
This Christmas, you might consider picking up a copy of the new book from DK, LEGO Holiday Ideas. The list price is US$14.99 or CA$18.99 but you can get it for less and support my blog by using the Amazon link provided:
Caltrain Gallery Cars
This isn’t a new model, but it is one that has never been featured on my blog before, even though it was first built almost a decade ago. It’s the Gallery Car used by Caltrain commuter rail service on the San Francisco peninsula, to go with my Caltrain F40PH locomotive.
LEGO Masters Casting Call
There is a new LEGO-related competition reality show coming to FOX TV in the US, based on the LEGO MASTERS show that has been a big success in the UK and Australia. They’re looking for contestants. If you’re interested, read on.
Bricks by the Bay 2019
This year’s edition of Bricks by the Bay, the annual LEGO convention in the San Francisco Bay Area, happened last weekend. It seemed like I wasn’t going to be able to go due to illness, but thanks to the miracle of antibiotics, I was able to go! Here are some of my models (Teddy, Kermit, Owl and California Flag) on display:
Micropolis Canal
I’ve built some new Micropolis modules, running a canal through the city. It’s not an original idea, but rather one that I borrowed from photos I saw online, and decided to make my own versions of.
Follow me on Social Media / Micropolis Houses
I’ve recently been trying to up my social media game, and want to post an update and reminder. I’ve started being a bit more active on Instagram and Twitter, and I’ve been posting on my Facebook page for a while now, but if you’re not following those then now’s a good time to start.
BayLUG June 2019 Meeting
Yesterday, June 9th, we had a meeting of BayLUG at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto. Click any of the photos below to see the larger version from Flickr, or click this one to see the whole album on Flickr:
RIP Art Gugick
I learned this week of the tragic death in a car accident of Arthur Gugick, beloved LEGO artist from Beachwood, Ohio.
Advent 2018
In 2018, unlike the last two, we don’t have a 24-in-1 set (“Christmas build-up”) to play with, unfortunately, so we’re back to just the basic Advent calendars in City, Friends, and Star Wars. As usual, each post was originally a separate blog entry, starting with Day 1, and continuing with a daily post about that day’s advent models. However, to clean up the site, I’ve condensed all those daily posts to a single post per year. Here’s the 2018 edition.
Amusement Park Train
I made this cute little train earlier this year. It’s meant to represent a cheesy fake train that you might find at an amusement park to ferry passengers between the parking lot and the rides. It features three cars and an 0-4-0 locomotive, built on the 9V train motor base. The cars use the smaller diameter wheels so that they can be low to the ground.
Bricks by the Bay 2018
This past weekend was the 9th edition of Bricks by the Bay, the bay area’s local LEGO convention. I was a co-founder and President from 2010 through 2015, until I resigned and skipped the 2016 event. I returned last year to repair my relationship with the local LEGO community and am feeling very happy to have been accepted and welcomed back into the fold.
Short C-23 Sherpa
This Short C-23 Sherpa is an Army surplus cargo plane that has been converted for use by the US Forest Service as a “smokejumper” plane – firefighters jump out of a perfectly good airplane into a burning forest! I built this model as a commissioned kit for one of the USFS pilots, including instructions.
Talks at Bricks by the Bay 2018
For the first time in a few years I gave my Brick Geometry and Studs On All Sides talks at the Bricks by the Bay LEGO convention in Santa Clara, CA. I updated both presentations for this event by adding a few new pages in each one.
Maker Faire 2018
This past weekend my local LEGO club, BayLUG, participated in the Maker Faire Bay Area, which they’ve done every year since the Faire started in 2006. I participated in every one from 2006 to 2013, and this is my first time back since then.
Bricks Cascade 2018
Last March I went up to Portland, Oregon and attended Bricks Cascade, their annual LEGO convention. While I was there I got some bad personal news, and it’s taken me a while to get around to posting my photos of the event–sorry about that. But better late than never, right?
