Another of the upcoming June Releases, 40647 Lotus Flowers looks like it offers a simple but effective floral arrangement in a relatively inexpensive package.
With 220 Pieces and is priced at $AUD19.99/USD12.99/€12.99/£10.99/CAD16.99. It belongs to the company’s ‘Iconic’ theme, and will be a LEGO-branded retail exclusive.
Continue reading
Recently, the Rambling Brick held a contest to win The Ant-Man and the Wasp set, Quantum Realm Explorers.
The Brief was to build a MOC that would exploit AntMan’s ability to shrink or grow – so either build a microscale model, where a Minifigure could look like a giant, or one where the minifigure represented a shrunken AntMan. There is a prize of 76109 Quantum Realm Explorers for the winners in each category. Entrants were required to use a minifigure, but it was not necessary to use an actual AntMan Minifigure in entries.
Entries were open for roughly six weeks, and were accepted from around the world. A panel of judges was assembled from my network – a mixture of builders and community supporters. They were asked to nominate their three favourite MOCs in each category. (Three points for 1st; One point for 3rd). The builders of the MOCs were not identified to the judges at the time of judging.
Without further ado – here are the entries. Continue reading
I am working on a display for Brickvention, our local LEGO Fan Convention- It is now less 2 weeks away, and I feel as though I am more on track than I have been any time in the last 10 years. Admittedly, I have previously done a lot of landscaping with trees flowers and rivers. These last few months I have found myself drawn towards Classic Space. It seems odd to me that it has taken so long. Minifigures were first released in Town and Castle in 1978, and Space reached Australia in 1979- I was about nine or ten years old at the time. I remember the ’78 catalog showing some images of space (coming soon), but perhaps my childhood memory and facts are in slight disagreement. Star Wars (back in those days there was only one) was very much inspiring my imagination at this time
Our family collection of space was limited to the Space Scooter 885, Space Buggy 886, Radar Truck 889 and the 1981 Moonbuggy 6801 – although I seem to remember that last one as all gray.
So, since picking up a used 918 Space Transporter from eBay, a few things have come together. I was given a bulk lot by a friend: A mixture of Classic Town and Space. I have identified parts for all of sets I once had in this collection.
I gave all the parts a wash in warm soapy water in the summer sun, and set about reconstructing what I found, knew and once had. Continue reading
There is no doubt that adding lighting to a LEGO model will enhance it’s appearance – it adds a degree of life to it, enhancing lines, lightening shadows and highlighting features which may otherwise be a little obscure. LEGO have offered lighting for at least 50 years, originally in the form of a light brick, with the options of a filter, and more recently with power functions, providing a pair of LED lights. We now also see self-contained light bricks in recent sets.
While earlier LEGO® sets used standard filament bulbs, more recently builders have been able to look to Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) to provide versatile lighting solutions. Recently, LEGO builders have been incorporating lighting into their builds more often than ever before.
The systems used vary from simple ‘bulb and battery’ solutions, through to custom solutions for individual LEGO Sets. There are also sophisticated, microprocessor controlled solutions available, providing preprogrammed sequential lighting patterns. Miniaturisation of LEDs means that they are now able to be incorporated in LEGO builds, with minimal rebuilding required for wiring.
Today, I would like to present a couple of simple options for cheap and easy lighting solutions, that can enhance your models. In the future, I will present some examples of other, more sophisticated lighting solutions. Continue reading
Regular readers of this blog will be getting a little tired of its self referential nature. Sorry about that. New readers may find this to be a useful place to start (or not…)
The Story so Far:
I Like the Elves Dragons set, especially the Fire Dragon’s Lava Cave Set, but I am not a fan of the dedicated Dragon’s head mould, except for the obvious reason: great colors, printing, fits lot of detail into a small space. I looked at the Red Creatures Creator set, which was never really found in Australian Shops, as it gave me some ideas on how to approach a Dragon Head. In order to get a good supply of FYOBLO curves, bows and small arches, I picked up a copy of the McClaren P1 Speed Champions set. I found my self working through 5 drafts of dragons head, before being properly satisfied. Except that left me with some Light Stone Grey on view in the dragon’s snout. So I go a copy of Super Soarers (31042) because it had some FYOBLO brackets in it.
Now read on.
So I got myself some Flame Yellowish Orange/Bright Light Orange (FYO/BLO) brackets. They are inverted compared to the ones that I got in the McLaren set. So I needed to rebuild the dragon’s snout a little in order to accommodate the changed directions of brackets: this moved the cheeks back, and revealed a coloured plate holding on the 2x2x2/3 bow that makes up the forehead: so I replaced it with some small plates.
I also substituted two 1×1 tiles on the cheeks with 2x1x2/3 baby bows, just in from of the eyes, enhancing the curved structure of the head.
Here is the main hidden structure of the snout of the dragon, just in case you feel possessed by a desire to try recreating the effect. Other color palettes may allow different solutions, and I think that would be fantastic. Please share them here or on the Rambling Brick Facebook page.
The Final Result:
I’ll let the images speak for themselves.
Play Well
The Rambling Brick 
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