Thursday, April 28, 2011

Royal minifigs close-up


We can see what minifigs of the Royal Family look like, with this pic of the MOSI LEGO Royal Wedding model.

I wonder if the queen is saying, "We are not amused" at being a minifig now.

Link to source: dailymirror.lk

More Royal Wedding LEGO creations

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding is coming this Friday, and I have already highlighted  a couple of major LEGO creations inspired by the wedding. Go see the bigger pics of these "LEGO Wiills and Kate" models by Justin Ramsden were built for UK TV’s ITV 1 ‘This Morning’ Programme to celebrate the Royal Wedding.
Links: 1) the royal wedding couple by Justin Ramsden
2) Justin Ramsden's Flickr photostream

LEGOLAND Malaysia to open in 2012 - progress pics


Legoland Malaysia will feature miniature Asian landmarks, including a 42,500-brick Taj Mahal and a replica of Malaysia's twin Petronas Towers -- which will become the tallest Lego model in the world -- when the theme park opens in late 2012.


Los Angeles Times Link: Photos: Behind-the-scenes look at planned Legoland Malaysia


The Los Angeles Times reported:



"Geared toward children ages 12 and under, the 76-acre Legoland Malaysia will include 40 rides, shows and attractions set amid six themed lands: Adventure, Imagination, Castle, Town, Xtreme and the signature Miniland. An additional 43 acres will be set aside for future expansion, including a water park.
Perdana Putra - aerial view inside
Perdana Putra

The $240-million kiddie park, the sixth Legoland in the world, will be anchored to a Lego-themed hotel and a shopping district similar to Universal's CityWalk or Downtown Disney.

Over the last two years, a team of 32 Lego artists has been busy building 15,000 models for the new park.

The centerpiece Malaysian Miniland, which will employ 20 million Lego bricks, will offer miniature replicas of the Southeast Asian country's best-known landmarks and locales, including:
* Dataran Bandaraya, the main square in Johor Bahru, the capital of the southern Malaysian state of Johor.
* Jalan Wong Ah Fook, one of the busiest roads in Johor Bahru.
* Sultan Ibrahim building, the former state secretariat building in Johor Bahru.
* Sultanah Aminah Hospital, the biggest such facility in Johor Bahru.
* Datuk Jaafar Muhammad building, named after the first chief minister of Johor.
* Istana Besar, the royal palace of the sultanate of Johor.
* Perdana Putra, the Malaysian prime minister's office in Putrajaya, a city south of Kuala Lumpur that serves as the federal seat of government. Link: More photos at brickstar
* Putrajaya mosque, a Lego model that took 4,600 hours to complete and weighs 440 pounds.
* Sultan Abu Bakar state mosque, which took Lego model builders more than six weeks to build.
* Kuala Lumpur International Airport, one of Southeast Asia's largest airports.

Link: latimes.com LEGOLAND Malaysia story

LEGO Audio Comic and classic LEGO helmet

How cool is this? A full-size, wearable LEGO helmet!
And, it reads LEGO comics to the wearer, with speakers inside.

A life-size LEGO Space Helmet plays downloadable audio tracks for comics.
The concept designed by Jonathan Robson is based on a LEGO helmet with a gold space visor. The helmet acts as a headset for listening to the audio for LEGO comics as well as a role-playing toy. Once subscribed to Audio Comic, you’ll receive the LEGO comic through the post with your activation code to download the audio onto a USB brick. Simply slot the brick into the back of the helmet, put it on and enjoy the exciting LEGO Audio comic experience!
Two buttons on the side of the helmet allow to skip through pages in the audio tracks.
As a child, designer Jonathan Robson subscribed to the LEGO Club and received the LEGO magazine through his door containing puzzles, competitions and comics. He explains: ‘When I was young I played with LEGO a lot and all I used to read was the comics in LEGO magazines, I’d like to give something back to them as they helped me learn to read.’
 Link to the designer's web site: jonathanrobson.co.uk/design/audio-comic


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

MOSI Royal Wedding diorama in LEGO - images and video


This replica of Friday's upcoming ceremony at London's Westminster Abbey includes more than 180,000 Lego bricks and 400 Lego figurines. The model took eight weeks to construct.

Go to this link to see a short video with more images:
Royal Wedding at abclocal


A LEGO model of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, second right, at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, inside a scale model of London's Westminster Abbey on display at The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester, England, Tuesday April 26, 2011. The entire 1 x 2.5 meter model took four builders, all members of the Brickish Assocation, eight weeks to construct. It weighs in at over 60kg , and features 200 different LEGO elements, including nearly 1,000 arches.
Pics via these links:
dailytimespakistan.com
bangkokpost.com
windsorstar.com










First Royal Wedding photos? from LEGOLAND Windsor



 


More photos at this link: LEGOLAND Windsor - royal wedding


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Life-size LEGO Batman

Recently snapped in Tysons Corner Center, McLean, Virginia USA is this life-sized Batman made of LEGO with a leather cape. For more info and photo, click on this link to the original LEGO Batman article seen at BitRebels.com

Friday, April 22, 2011

Schfio St Basil's Cathedral at Cityplaza LEGO show Hong Kong

Schfio Factory (Schneider Cheung) & his St Basil's
Photo of the real St Basil's Cathedral


















See more of Schneider's recent LEGO works (30+ pics alone of St Basil's and the Charles Bridge of Prague) at mocpages.com at this link: mocpages com Schfio





LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean - 4193 The London Escape - review on Eurobricks

There is a review by gatorzip02 of the new Pirates of the Caribbean set # 4193 - The London Escape at this link: eurobricks.com Pirates forum

Over 20 photos, and closeup shots with lots of detail.

I especially like the new hairpieces for the minifigs (see photo 2 below).














Thursday, April 21, 2011

Great Ball Contraption (GBC) - 20 linked modules - from akiyuky


eurobricks recently featured a 7:56 video of a 20 module GBC posted recently on youtube.
The designer - akiyuky - says: "4 modules (screw, sweeper, shovel, pump) based on Philo's. The module at 5:24 based on Isogawa's. The pneumatic module at 7:00 using Linmix's image. Some other modules being inspired by GBC fan's."


I am a big fan of GBCs and I really enjoyed all 8 minutes of this one! Have a look for yourself at this link: akiyuky 20 module GBC on youtube

Monday, April 18, 2011

Huge LEGO exhibition in Hong Kong (at Cityplaza)

Currently exhibiting in Hong Kong's Cityplaza is a huge LEGO display, by a talented group of local LEGO fans. The exhibit is showing from April 15 to May 2. There are 3 sections.


Nannan at The Brothers Brick writes, "The first features a panel of storyboards detailing development of the LEGO Company. The second is a display of 2,000 figures and large figure sculptures spanning over 30 years of minifig history.
The third and most exciting section is a display of 17 famous world landmarks and icons such Grand Palace in Thailand by Vincent Cheung, a pyramid from Egypt by ArzLan, the Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Russia by Schneider Cheung, and Tiananmen in China by Andy Hung." These photos are of the Tiananmen.

The full article by Nannan can be seen at The Brothers Brick LEGO blog at this link: www.brothers-brick.com/2011/04/16/

More photos of Andy Hung's Tiananmen (lots of amazing LEGO techniques) can be seen at this link: http://www.minifigs.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=36954

Joey Kwok's photos (lots) of the overall exhibition (about 6 amazing pages of Flickr photos!)  can be seen by clicking on this lonk: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spideyjoey/





Sunday, April 17, 2011

LEGO Grand Piano - Instructions to build

 I just saw these pics today, and while they are very impressive, what I was happiest to see was step-by-step video instructions for how to build the black grand piano shown here.

The video can be seen at this YouTube link: MasaoHidaka's LEGO Grand Piano instructions


Monday, April 11, 2011

LEGO Collectible Minifigures (CMF) series 4 - lots at Target Camberwell for $3.92 (20%off LEGO)

Plenty of fresh boxes full of orange packs have landed at Target Camberwell.
Series 4 are currently $3.92 a pack from Target!
(20% off all LEGO at present there - a lot less than the normal RRP of $4.90).

Find the cheat sheet in Useful LEGO links to the right of this page, print it off, and head off to Target. You might go blind, trying to read dimples on the bottom packet edge. Try turning the packet over and find the dimples from the other side (front) first then match the sheet from the back of the packet. I have been finding the "feel" method quite good (see prior blog a few days ago). Kimono girl was easiest for me to pick from the big slope brick (2x2x2) of her skirt.

I am still not totally happy with the cheat sheets for CMF4 so far (they are ok, but...), and will try and publish my own cheat sheet here from the packs I have bought.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Julia Morley's LEGO Ship in a bottle - with time-lapse photography



The SS LEGO by Julia Morley has been blogged by Brothers Brick, Gizmodo, Wired.com and Ripley's Believe it or Not.


Her story (in her own words) can be read at her mocpages web site, at this link: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/260956


Also at that link is a three and a half minute time-lapse video showing the build, which she says actually took 3 days (and a lot of expletives)!

Black Eyed Peas - Fergie's LEGO outfit at Kids' Choice Awards


Fergie continues the LEGO block theme of their album cover with her recent outfit. For more details and photos click on this link: http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-headlines-in-national/fergie-wears-lego-fashion-on-nickelodeon-kids-choice-awards-on-stage-photos-picture 

Monday, April 4, 2011

Toyworld National LEGO Building Competition 2011

Entry is open to all residents of Australia.  Entries are restricted to one (1) per person.
This competition is a Game of Skill. Chance plays no part in determining the winner. .... build a LEGO® model "of their dreams" and take a photo of their creation.

To enter, entrants must then visit a participating TOYWORLD store, obtain the official entry form and complete it in full including their full name, address, suburb, state, postcode, phone number, age, and the TOYWORLD store in which they are submitting their entry. Entrants must then attach their photo to their completed entry form and place it in the entry box available at the participating TOYWORLD store. All entries must be received by end of trading on 30 April 2011. All entries must be submitted to a participating TOYWORLD store within the same geographic region as the entrant resides.

Prizes:

Store finalist: LEGO prizes to the value of RRP $50.

State finalist: LEGO prizes of their choice up to the value of RRP $100

2011 National Winner will win the major prize valued at up to AUD$16,500 depending on date and point of departure. The major prize is a trip for 2 adults and 2 children (12 years or under) to Los Angeles. Prize includes: return economy airfares from winner's nearest capital city to Los Angeles; five (5) nights' accommodation at the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel located next to LEGOLAND® California with return airport transfers to the hotel, admission for (4) four to LEGOLAND® California for (4) four days and AUD$1500 spending money.

Total maximum prize pool is up to the value of RRP AUD$27,300 (including GST)

Info/entry form: http://www.toyworld.com.au/legocompetition/index.html
T&C: http://www.toyworld.com.au/legocompetition/termsandcontitions.pdf

Collectible Minifigs series 4 (orange packs) - released in Australia!


The new Series 4 (orange packs) have been seen in good supply in Forest Hill Chase Toyworld on Saturday. I will check out other stores and outlets, and report more ASAP.