Tuesday, May 31, 2011

PriceWatch LEGO - 50%+ off LEGO clearance items at Target



Spotted at Target Camberwell (Victoria, Australia) last weekend on
massive clearance discounts of 50% and 60% off!
Quite a lot of stock there on Sunday:

a) (above) 8864 LEGO World Racers "Desert of Destruction" $79.87 (RRP $170).
                               925 parts, 8 minifigs.

close-up of the helicopter

The 6 minifigs in 8863 Blizzard Peak
b) 8863 LEGO World Racers "Blizzard Peak" for $39.87 (RRP $100.00). 476 parts, 6 minifigs. 

Friday, May 27, 2011

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Working machine gun model, made using just LEGO bricks!

Jack Streat has made a machine gun using just Lego bricks!  a Lego fan from an unofficial Lego creators website has done. The HK UMP 45 machine gun has a complex working mechanism and is able to shoot Lego brick bullets.


It features a cocking handle, folding stock, detachable reflex sight, backup iron sight and two massive 15 brick magazines. 


See the video at this CBS news website link


Lots of photos at the maker's web site: Jack Streat's mocpage
One commentator jokingly suggested LEGO bricks might be banned on planes in case a terrorist finds this link! 

Strider (Half-Life 2) MOC from thier5 (Martin Latta)


 Awesome recent MOC, recreation of the Strider from Half-Life 2 by Martin Latta (thire5).

Also there from Half-Life by thire5 is his LEGO Combine Transport (built last year)











Also in thiere5's Flickr photostream is the amazing

Terminator T-800 bust with LED eyes .






Click here to link to:  thire5's photostream





(via Kotaku via The Brothers Brick)

Monday, May 23, 2011

The official Cars 2 trailer - recreated entirely out of LEGO



The official Cars 2 trailer can be seen as a 1 min 27 sec video on Facebook from stop-motion video ace, Patrick Boivin (Uploaded by  to Facebook on May 18, 2011)

Worth watching! Lot's of LEGO in this one.

Link to the Facebook page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6PPvUhR4c

Imperial Shuttle with custom Death Star hanger from Jay Hoff


 ... 388 Star Wars minifigs!  (Lot's more than me)


Jay Hoff's latest creation, built in 2011 for Science Discovery Day at Berkeley Preparatory School Tampa. 30,000+ pieces!


Everything in the picture is made from LEGO, except for the starfield, which is hand-painted poster board. One may notice Hoff used some Clone Troopers instead of Storm Troopers (as they are so expensive). Jay's plea: "LEGO... PLEEEASE put out one more Storm Trooper Battle Pack kit!!!"


Lots more photos and details of this impressive diorama and how he built and photographed it at Jay's mocpage. 


Click on this link here: Jay Hoff at mocpages.com 



(via geekosystem via Bit Rebels)

Nathan Sawaya - Patience, Fortitude, (and LEGO bricks)

Patience and Fortitude are the 2 sculptures at the entrance to the New York Public Library. Nathan Sawaya has made them in LEGO bricks exactly half actual size. The LEGO ones are 5 feet 2 and a half inches long (=159 cm).

The library is celebrating it's centennial - it was opened 100 years ago, and the original marble lions have been guarding the entrance all that time


"Nathan Sawaya is the artist commissioned to make copies of the lions, which originally took their places 100 years ago. The anniversary of their dedication is today (Monday). The lions reduced Mr. Sawaya’s inventory by 60,000. The color is “just a standard gray,” he said."


(via Link: nytimes.com)






See my prior blog ( Link: "The Art of the Brick" (17 May 2011)) for details of the Nathan Sawaya exhibition at Fed Square Melbourne starting June 2.
    Link for exhibition ticket sales:  Art of the Brick - tickets and details
There was also a Herald-Sun article yesterday (May 22) on the Melbourne exhibition.
     "The professional Lego artist will put his constructions on display at Federation Square from June 2 as part of his exhibition, The Art of the Brick. Mr Sawaya said his art was originally a way to ease the stress of working as a corporate lawyer in Manhattan."
    Link to HeraldSun full article: heraldsun.com Da Vinci, eat your heart out. 
     Link to HeraldSun gallery of 14 pics of Nathan's creations: heraldsun.com photo-gallery
    

Thursday, May 19, 2011

LEGO in Space! (with baby squids and worms)


These are the first LEGO sets launched into space!


LEGO Hubble telescope
You might recognize some of them from classroom LEGO DACTA sets. I am told, "the windmill, sail car, fishing pole, hammer, balance, and measuring device are from the Dacta 9686 set".The first person to build Lego models in space would be astronaut Cady Coleman, a former United States Air Force officer and current NASA astronaut now living in the International Space Station as part of Expedition 27.(via brothers-brick.com via gizmodo.com)

For photos of each set, & more details, click this link: gizmodo.com first-lego-sets-in-space

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Art of the Brick - Nathan Sawaya's LEGO art in Melbourne


FEDERATION SQUARE
MELBOURNE FROM 2 JUNE
LIMITED TIME ONLY

OPEN DAILY 10AM – 5PM, FRIDAY 10AM – 9PM.
BOOK NOW. TICKETS WILL SELL OUT!



The exhibition of this iconic artist in LEGO bricks (he is one of my favourites!) will be in Melbourne at Fed Square from June 2.

"Nathan Sawaya is a New York based artist who creates awe-inspiring works out of some of the most unlikely things. His museum tours feature large-scale sculptures using only toy building bricks – LEGO bricks to be exact.
Sawaya's art tour, titled The Art of the Brick, has been touring North America for several years, breaking attendance records at every stop. It's the first exhibition ever to focus exclusively on LEGO bricks as an art medium. His creations, constructed from literally millions of pieces, have been built using standard LEGO bricks beginning since 2000."

For further details go to this link: artofthebrick tickets


LEGO Soccer - custom soccer field from Andreas in Glen Iris


A big thank you tonight to Andreas and his family, who come to the Camberwell Sunday Market and often visit my LEGO stall there. I was invited to see Andreas' school project - his custom LEGO soccer field, complete with stands for the spectators, lighting towers and even satellite dishes to broadcast the game.
Also a thank you to his Dad (Chris) for sending photos through to me

Andreas - good luck tomorrow when you take it to school. I am sure your teacher and class mates will be impressed with the creative ideas and excellent design and LEGO work.

Monday, May 16, 2011

LEGO PriceWatch - Catch of the Day (save 50%, or more!)

Thank you for emailing this to me, Gavin!

(over 50% off the RRP & LEGO Shop At Home (S@H) = $169.99!)
Catch of the Day is usually a short opportunity (usually less than 24 hours if stocks last - often sold out quickly) - more details by clicking on the link here: catch of the day

$7.95 (almost gone)
Hero Factory

$7.95 (almost gone)
 Hero Factory


$9.95 8045 Mini Telehandler
almost all gone
(RRP & LEGO S@H = $19.99)
$19.95  Lotsa's Dump Truck
from Toy Story 3
(LEGO S@H = $39.99)
$39.95 World Racers Gator Swamp
(RRP & LEGO S@H = $69.99)





Sunday, May 15, 2011

Moonbots 2.0 Challenge - "perfect for .. 9-17 year olds"

The X PRIZE Foundation and the LEGO Group today announced MoonBots 2.0: A Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Challenge. This second annual contest will challenge teams of youth to design, program, and construct robots that perform simulated lunar missions similar to those required to win the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, a private race to the Moon designed to enable commercial exploration of space while engaging the global public. To further this purpose, the X PRIZE Foundation and the LEGO Group have partnered with WIRED magazine and FIRST robotics to offer a competition that will excite students and their families about the Moon, robotics, and team building.


"Our mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. It is the youth of today that will form the future society, solving the big issues of today and face the challenges ahead of us. We want to prepare them by encouraging them to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math and combine their imagination and creativity with hard skills to, for example, work on space exploration challenges for the common good of us all," said Steven Canvin of the LEGO Group. "This is where the MoonBots 2.0 Challenge is perfect for getting the 9-17 year olds thinking about the problems associated with lunar exploration, by emulating landing on the Moon by building LEGO MINDSTORMS robots."
Free registration and Phase One of the contest will be open from May 9ththrough June 13. Phase Two of the contest begins June 27ththrough August 15th.
To learn more about the MoonBots 2.0 Challenge and to find out how to register a team visit http://www.moonbots.org
The Grand Prize will be a paid round trip (economy airfare) for each Team member to the new LEGOLAND park in Florida (opens in October 2011 – opening date to be determined).  Lodging will be provided for each Team member for 3 days and two nights. The Grand Prize will also include guided VIP tours.
For more information about the Google Lunar X PRIZE and the teams currently registered in the competition, please visit http://www.googlelunarxprize.org
(via Marketwire, link: marketwire.com)





Wednesday, May 11, 2011

PriceWatch LEGO - 20% off LEGO at Target


New Target catalogue sale from today (May 11). Link: target-catalogue1May11-page29

20% off LEGO generally, and some special prices on Pirates of the Caribbean LEGO:


The large ship, Queen Anne's Revenge (4195) for $50 off at $149 (RRP $199.99).


25% off Isla de la Muerta (4181) at $29 (RRP $39.99)


Also 4191 Captain’s Cabin – $19.00 (RRP $24.99), and 4193 The London Escape $79.00 (RRP $99.99)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Halo Master Chief outfit is complete!

Remember this?
 Ben Caulkins or Benny Brickster showed us his Halo Master Chief helmet made from LEGO bricks late last year and we featured it in a blog at the time. Well he is back now with the completed full outfit.
For lots more pics with close ups and detail go to his Flickr page by clicking this link: Halo Master Chief Armor from Benny Brickster on Flickr


"Ben says that the helmet was the part that took the most planning, he also notes that the vents on the cheeks were one of the harder parts to build. After the helmet, he started with the torso armor, and it was one of the most time-consuming parts of the design he says. He notes that no amount of strengthening would keep the bricks from falling apart so he resorted to glue."


[via technabob.com via Brothers Brick via Kotaku]

Thursday, May 5, 2011

LEGO Humvee with building instructions free, from Legohaulic








Neat little model from Legohaulic, and the best bit is that he has put free building instructions up on Flickr.

Go to this link: Humvee instructions by Legohaulic on Flickr

District 9 ARC gun (District 9...because blue people are just weird)

District 9 ARC gun by Legohaulic

It is said that when childcare centres banned toy guns, the boys made guns out of LEGO and started again with the Bang! Bangs! I never saw anything like this in my kids' kinder LEGO pit!

more pics: www.flickr.com legohaulic lightbox

Great Wall of LEGO with 270,000 bricks


Lene Rønsholt Wille, a Denmark-based designer, made this  Great Wall of Lego. It took her six weeks to build, using 270,000 pieces!
She actually calls the wall ‘Metaphorical Horizons’ and says it can be used as a bench, desk, wall and space. It’s located in the central hall of the World Trade centre in Amsterdam.

More details and pics here: Metaphorical Horizons, 75 photos


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

PriceWatch LEGO - Big W online - free delivery, extra $5 off coupon


Click on this link for more details: bigw.com.au/toys/construction


Free delivery when you buy online. Ends May 10.

Receive $5 off when you spend $25 or more at bigw.com.au until June 30th using coupon BDAY5

Lego Power Miners Lavatraz Set

Lego Power Miners Lavatraz Set

Online only special. Price in store may differ.
Everyday Save
Now
$47.18
Save $31.48







Only available online






Lego Atlantis Set

Lego Atlantis Set

Online only special. Price in store may differ.
Everyday Save
Now
$32.28
Save $21.54

More Cityplaza (Hong Kong) LEGO images - world iconic buildings

More images from the LEGO exhibition at Cityplaza Hong Kong. There are some extraordinary designs.
For more pics go to this link: Arzlan's Sydney Opera House and other Cityplaza pics on Brickshelf







Sydney Opera House - Australia
Sydney Opera House - Australia
The Sphinx and Pyramid - Egypt