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Tag Archives: LEGO

Video: Massively Epic Lego Machine Just Amazes

By David Ponce on 01/04/12 • 1 Comment

By David Ponce

I really felt like making that headline sound even more hysterical, but then you might think I put something in my Cool-aid. So I kept it relatively level headed, knowing you’d appreciate my composed approach. See, not much is known about the video above aside from what you can see in it: the most awesome Lego creation on the planet! No, really… you have to watch it to believe it. It’s this Rube Goldberg-like device that shuttles oodles of little plastic soccer balls around this incredibly complex track in a seemingly endless sequence of mind bending Lego engineering. It’s just too beautiful to dare put any more words than this to it.

So just watch and come back here and tell me to my face that you even noticed 8 minutes go by.

VIA [ Geek.com ]

Quickly Sort Your LEGOs With BOX4BLOX

By Chris Scott Barr on 10/27/11 • 1 Comment

By Chris Scott Barr

When anyone asks what my favorite childhood toys were, I almost always refer to my LEGOs. It’s a pretty obvious choice, as I easily spent more time with them than anything else, and I still keep some in my office to this very day. I don’t really build my own creations anymore, as I don’t have time to sift through hundreds and hundreds of plastic pieces looking for that special brick. Then again, with this BOX4BLOX I might not have to.

Using a series of boxes with incrementally-sized grids in the bottoms, this contraption will actually help you sort your LEGOs in short order. Now it won’t organize them in to specific brick piles, but it will sort them into four different sizes. Just start piling some bricks into the top box, then shift them around until the smaller ones fall through. Keep shaking it until you’re satisfied that the majority of the smaller pieces have fallen to the appropriate level. Rinse and repeat until you’re finished. This $40 sifter will hold roughly 1500-1700 of your favorite bricks.

[ BOX4BLOX ]

Mike Doyle’s Got A Thing For Dilapidated LEGO Homes

By Andrew Liszewski on 10/03/11 • Leave a comment!

Victorian LEGO House (Image courtesy Mike Doyle)
By Andrew Liszewski

Mike Doyle is a master LEGO builder. But instead of spaceships, sports cars or life-size reproductions of celebrities, he uses his bricks to construct detailed models of dilapidated victorian-era homes. In a study of life’s fragility, our focus on the material world, and how man’s creations are no match for the unrelenting approach of nature. His latest creation, Victorian on Mud, is built from 110 to 130,000 LEGO bricks and represents about 600 hours of labor. And is easily one of the most detailed LEGO creations I’ve ever seen.

Victorian LEGO House (Image courtesy Mike Doyle)

Besides the fact that Mike uses mostly monochromatic pieces to create a very spooky black and white photo effect. It’s the architectural accents, like ornate railings, window treatments and even damaged wood siding that particularly blow my mind. I mean check out the hundreds of little robot arms used to create the dead foliage on one of Mike’s previous run-down creations. It’s certainly a far cry from the multi-colored eyesores I built as a kid, that I’m sure brought property values way down in my LEGO cities.

[ Mike Doyle - Making of Victoria on Mud ] VIA [ MAKE ]

LEGO Life Of George

By Andrew Liszewski on 09/29/11 • Leave a comment!

LEGO Life Of George (Images courtesy LEGO)
By Andrew Liszewski

There’s no shortage of LEGO apps and games available for iOS. But the company’s latest offering, Life Of George, is the first to really take advantage of the iPhone’s unique capabilities. The game actually brings together both the physical and digital worlds, as players compete to recreate what they see on screen in each level, using only the collection of bricks that come in the box. Once they’re satisfied they’ve built it correctly, they place their LEGO model on an included grid map and take a photo of it with their iPhone.

Using “patent-pending brick recognition software” created by a company called EyeCue, the game then scores the creation based on how accurately it matches the image, and how quickly it was built. The character of George seems very similar to the Flat Stanley Project, since the objects you’re challenged to build all come from his travels around the world. So I guess on some level it’s also educational. And if you’re a rebel like yours truly, the game also includes a ‘My Life’ mode which lets you build and photograph your own creations, which are converted into virtual LEGO models and stored in a scrapbook. The game will be available come October 1st for $29.99, while the accompanying iOS app will of course be free.

[ The Gadgeteer - LEGO Life of George – Virtual meets physical ]

This Ridiculously Detailed LEGO Porsche 911 Makes Me Ashamed Of The Crap I Used To Build

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/13/11 • 1 Comment

LEGO Porsche 911 (Images courtesy Sheepo)
By Andrew Liszewski

As much as I enjoy watching videos of truly impressive and astounding LEGO creations, it also makes me feel pretty embarrassed about the things I used to build. And none moreso than Sheepo’s LEGO Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet which is built from almost 3,500 parts, weighs just over 8lbs. and is powered by 8 electric motors.

It has everything from real locking doors, an emergency hand brake, a retractable hard-top roof and spoiler and a 7-speed gearbox complete with reverse. The photos of his creation on his blog are impressive, but if you consider yourself a true AFoL you’ll want to spend the 7+ minutes needed to watch this video walkthrough of all its features being demonstrated.

And if you think you’ve seen something like this before, you probably have. A few years ago there was a video floating around of one of Sheepo’s previous creations, an incredibly detailed LEGO Bugatti Veyron. But I think this certainly one-ups it.

[ Sheep's Garage - Porsche 911 (997) Turbo Cabriolet PDK + Video ] VIA [ Jalopnik ]

Concrete LEGO Blocks Will Ensure Your Childhood Memories Last Forever

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/12/11 • Leave a comment!

Concrete Building Blocks (Images courtesy Etsy seller studio1015)
By Andrew Liszewski

Did you ever spend hours as a kid assembling a LEGO masterpiece only to have one of your siblings come along and destroy it? Well that never would have happened if you had constructed it from these concrete building blocks which resemble, but are in no way officially licensed by, LEGO. In fact, while they might look exactly like your standard 2×4 LEGO building block, they actually appear to be just slightly larger. And I doubt they feature the cutout on the bottom allowing the pieces to stack and connect. So you’ll also need a small trowel and a cup of mortar to keep your creations together.

A set of 6 Concrete Building Blocks is available from Etsy seller studio1015, aka Tara Ketchum, an architecture grad student who fell in love with concrete, for just $8.50.

[ Etsy - Concrete Building Blocks ] VIA [ Freshome ]

Groovy! – LEGO Getting In On The Volkswagen Camper Van Appreciation Too

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/11/11 • Leave a comment!

LEGO Volkswagen T1 Camper Van (Image courtesy Captain Eugene)
By Andrew Liszewski

As far as I know it’s not an official anniversary or anything. But recently there’s been a rash of retro Volkswagen Camper Van products. A few months ago you might remember this groovy VW Camper Van tent we brought you. And now it’s apparently LEGO’s turn. In the latest edition of their Collector Guide, Flickr user ‘Captain Eugene’ spotted and scanned this upcoming VW T1 Camper Van set, #10220 for those who keep track. Pricing and availability are currently unknown, and hopefully there’ll be some better, less halftoney pics of it popping up in the near future.

[ Flickr - Captain Eugene - LEGO Volkswagen T1 Camper Van ] VIA [ Hidden Garments ]

Autodesk Shows Off 3D Interactive LEGO Building Instructions With Its Inventor Publisher Software

By Andrew Liszewski on 06/06/11 • 1 Comment

Autodesk 3D Interactive LEGO Building Instructions (Image property OhGizmo!)
By Andrew Liszewski

It’s not officially sanctioned by LEGO, at least yet, but in order to show off the latest version of their Inventor Publisher software, Autodesk has created a 3D interactive instruction manual for the LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle set. The software is used to produce documentation as traditional 2D manuals, or 3D interactive experiences, and while LEGO building instructions have always been brilliantly easy to follow, being able to see the model in 3D on an iPhone or iPad, and spin it around or zoom in on certain areas manages to make things even easier.

If you want to give it a go yourself you’ll need to first download the free Autodesk Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, and then go get the actual manual files from the company’s Ellipsis blog.

[ Ellipsis - 3D Autodesk Instructions - LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle ] VIA [ NewScientist ]

LEGO Star Wars Sandcrawler = 10,000 Pieces + 9 Months Work… Utinni!

By Andrew Liszewski on 06/02/11 • 1 Comment

LEGO Star Wars Sandcrawler (Images courtesy Marshal Banana)
By Andrew Liszewski

We certainly love us some over-the-top LEGO creations, and even though the Jawa Sandcrawler certainly isn’t the most exciting vehicle in the Star Wars universe, the attention to detail Marshal Banana has put into his LEGO model has us lusting over his creation. Built from 10,000+ pieces over 9 months, Marshal’s Sandcrawler could almost pass as a movie model, since it comes complete with a working crane, a fully completed interior with a moving conveyor belt and working treads allowing it to be driven remotely. Check out his Flickr gallery for some equally impressive photos of his creation. And weep when you look over at the rainbow colored monstrosity of a house your meager LEGO skills let you construct.

[ Flickr - Marshal Banana - LEGO Sandcrawler ] VIA [ The Brothers Brick ]

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