Lego - Set 918 rebuilt in Chrome

Lego set 918 is my all time favourite set. It was released in 1978 as part of the brand new Space Lego line and is compact, cool and very swooshable*. I have rebuilt it in chrome, using custom parts from a few different sellers on Bricklink.

Interesting notes: Lego does make chrome parts (the wing pieces for instance came from a Naboo Fighter from The Phantom Menace).  The other parts I used are chrome plated by the sellers. That means that the pieces are slightly heavier than regular Lego parts (they even 'clink'). They are also a tiny bit thicker than regular Lego, which means that they are slightly harder to click together. That shows how fine Lego's manufacturing tolerances are.

For those who like to buy Lego on Bricklink: these are the main stores selling custom chromed parts:
ChromeBricks
Bricks4All (who also did the custom engraved CR918 bricks)
ChromeBlockCity
TheChromeShop

*Swooshability is the most important characteristic of a good Space Lego set.

Lego: Bookends

Lego make a lot of merch, apart from their regular sets. For example, these dandy bookends.

Of course they are made of Lego bricks (glued together in the factory), so other Lego can be added to them. So, I made a Discworld bookend and a James Bond bookend, for their respective sections of our bookshelves.

The guns are from Brickarms - they are a Spy Pistol (clearly a Walther PPK) and a gold Spy Pistol with Silencer (to represent Scaramanga's Golden Gun.) Brickarms distributor in Australia is Minifig World, and they throw freebies in with their orders, which is how I got the gold pistol. They also do a pack of spy weapons which includes a model of the Golden Gun, which is cute.

Francisco Scaramanga: A duel between titans... my golden gun against your Walther PPK.
James Bond: One bullet against my six? 
Francisco Scaramanga: I only need one, Mr. Bond. 










"I often don't know where my Luggage is; that's what being a tourist is all about". Twoflower, in The Light Fantastic.

The Discworld scene is not from any particular book; it's just some generic wizards reconsidering their options, in view of the approaching Luggage.

Lego - Super Troopers!

Here are the Lego Super Troopers:

The .45 Auto is from Brickarms, as are the smoke grenades. The Glock 17 and torches are made by STC. The utility belts and nightstick are from BrickForge as are the Ranger Hats. The figures and the yellow head are the original Lego Collectable Minifigures Series 2 Highway Patrol figures, as is the speeding ticket. The handcuffs are a Lego part. I like BrickForge because they sell via PayPal, but I generally buy Lego weapons from Minifig World, the Australian distributor for Brickarms, STC and BrickForge.



The minifigure heads have cool sunglasses, but don't have moustaches. (Rabbit has been growing his for a month.) Also, I appear to have bought the Ranger Hats in Dark Tan, rather than Reddish Brown. It looks like BrickForge have some more cool items for sale, so I can easily fix that!

Speeding ticket from the Lego Collectable Minifigures Series 2 Highway Patrol figure.

Lego: Collectable Minifig conversion idea

The second series of Lego Collectable Minifigures have been released in Australia. I bought a few and ended up with three of the 'Traffic Cop' figure. Then I was browsing the Brick Forge website and I had an idea:

Collectable Minifig Traffic Cop
+ The Brickforge 'Ranger Hat'
= Super Troopers Lego!

;

I wonder what pieces I need to build Farva?

Lego - Sorting and Storage

As might be evident from a minority of posts, I don't just play with Warhammer 40,000 models - I also collect and build Lego. "Collect and build"? OK - I play with Lego.

My collection has been built up from what a lot of AFOLs (Adult Fans Of Lego) call my "Dark Ages". That is, the time after childhood, when you put your Lego away, until adulthood, when you pick it up again. So, I have been buying Lego for over ten years - since about 1998 when Star Wars Lego first came out.

In that time I have collected about 70,000 pieces of Lego, and that is a lot of bricks to pick from when building. There are lots of ways to store Lego. I use tray boxes - the sort that can be used to store stationery. I also use Fischer compartment trays (which I also use to store WH40K figures.)

The tray boxes are stacked in rough categories: from left to right they are Technic, transport (wheels, engines, wings), flats, the all-encompassing 'misc', bricks, slopes and creatures.

The stacks rest on a few kitchen cupboards, which are used to store other toys and games. Lego instructions and catalogues are in a filing cabinet. This is all starting to sound more than a little retentive - but without some sort of storage system, it would be chaos!

Minifigures and things minifigures use like tools and weapons are in the Fischer trays.

I use Keji storage boxes, which come in 5 drawer, 4 drawer and 3 drawer versions. Most of these were bought from Officeworks at about AUD 15 each. I also have a few slightly larger ones bought from KMart.

Because some of the drawers are getting full, I try to keep pieces of the same colour attached. (Sorting by piece type first is easier than sorting by colour.) This makes them easier to find in the drawer, and reduces the chance of an accident sending some crucial Lego part into the unknown recesses of the room.
There are also two much larger seven-drawer boxes, also bought from Officeworks. They can be seen on the lower right in the big pictures, in line with the cupboards. They are used for bulky parts like Lego train tracks, or parts for which I have accumulated a very large number like the classic 2 x 4 Lego brick.

Sorry about the blur.

Keji 5 Drawer storage box.

Lego - Commotion On The Pitch

I've been building a lot of my old Lego sets recently, including town buildings, cars and trucks, and the like. In 2000 Lego released some Football themed sets, and with the World Cup in mind, I added a small stadium, stands, and other accessories. (Check out http://www.brickset.com/search/?theme=Sports&year=2000 for a view of the range of Football sets for that year.)

Unfortunately, World Cup Fever seems to have overtaken one of the spectators, and a streaker has run onto the pitch!

Lego set 3409 Championship Challenge, released in 2000

Lego - Digital Designer creations

I bought Lego set 10200 Custom Car Garage which came with Lego Digital Designer software. This is also downloadable from the Lego Factory website (about 100 Mb).

The software is simple and fun to use. You can build from a limited palette of bricks (still hundreds to choose from) and actually order the set you build from Lego. Not cheap but amazing to get your very own Lego design in the post! You can also upload your design to the website so others can buy (or copy, or even improve) it.

Removing 'filters' in the brick collection allows you to use even more pieces and colours - but not upload the design. I guess there is a limit to the number and type of pieces that Lego has alloted for Factory models. You can still save the design, building instructions and pictures of your creations. Beware - homemade designs come out a bit more expensive than the shop bought equivalents, especially when you use intricate combinations of unusual pieces.

Here are a few I have made:

A copy of the rare set 20004 - Indiana Jones Jeep (given away with Brickmaster magazine in the United States) :

A poor substitute for 886 - Space Buggy - released in 1979. (note the limited palette of colours for some of these pieces:

And my first elaborate construction: a Toyota Landcruiser type vehicle for the State Emergency Service:

Lego - 8396 Soldier's Arsenal - Built in the bag!

Like Lego? Bored? Stuck in a confined space but with lots of time on your hands? Why not build your next Lego set entirely in its bag? This one is 8396 Soldier's Arsenal, from the Pirates range, released in 2009.

Obviously this only works if the Lego set comes in a single bag, but a lot of them do - particularly the Racers, the small Creator sets and the single minifig sets. (Impulse sets!)

There is no particular point to this; it's just a way of exercising the mind and fingertips.

Lego - Bride and Groom

I made a Lego bride and groom (and wedding cake). Photograph by Kate Nutt.

Lego - 8285 Tow Truck for a song

I found a bargain in the Boxing Day sales: a Technic Lego Tow Truck (set number 8265, from 2006) for AUD $20 at Kmart! It's a big set, and I haven't decided whether to build it or sell it. The box is a bit ratty but it looks like all the parts, instructions and stickers are intact.

Lego - Brickarms and Brickforge

I bought some custom moulded Lego weapons from Brickarms and a few helmets from Brickforge. Here are a SWAT team, some city cops and their plain clothes friends. They are here to deal with a group of miscreants who have some clearly terrorised civilians at gunpoint.

I also committed an act of sacrilege and PAINTED A PIECE OF LEGO!

Ok, it was a hat from one of my two Indiana Jones Lego sets. I have a spare one, since I only need one Indy.

Why would I do this? Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows...

Links to posts on Brickshelf for the cops and the Shadow.