Planes, as small as they can be

I hope by now everyone has built his LEGO sets from Christmas. To make January more exciting, Mainman has organized his own microscale build competition for plane builders. The deadline was last week, it is a good time to look at the best nominees.

tbone_tbl was the most productive one, he has built no less than seven planes. My personal favorite is this AV-8 Harrier. All details are in place: the wing is excellent, but I also like the canopy and its surroundings, not to mention the tail section.

The most grandiose plane was built by John Lamarck: this B-17 is definitely the biggest in the field - if this makes sense for a microscale aircraft:

It also has two P-51 Mustangs as escorts:

You are probably not surprised to hear that I have built something too. These two projects have been half done for a long time and the competition has finally gave me the final push to finish them. I already built a MiG-15 at a different scale, but I wanted to build a smaller one too. This is the end result:

All in all, I am not 100% happy with it. The overall shape is ok, but I think the final impression is a bit blocky. I am like this MiG-21 a bit more:

This plane is the most produced supersonic aircraft in the world. Compared to this it has hardly any versions built from bricks. I like how this turned out at this scale.

The field is strong, I am already happy just to be able to participate. It is worth looking at the others too, there are really good ones.

And if you would like to have more LEGO reading for the week, I recommend the newest issue of BrickJournal - the downloadable version is available for $3.95.

Lego Technic Challenge, round one

Round one of the Technic Challenge is now closed, you are free to vote on the flying machines!

From the perspective of the Lego company it is understandable but for others it was a small surprise that the ten finalists are exclusively from kids. According to the official statement the jury was surprised that they received so many submissions from AFOLs (Adult Fan Of Lego). In any case the copany has reacted quickly and announced that there will be separate voting for the best AFOL creations in September. On the Designer Blog they also show the best creations from adults.

The rules are a bit refined based on experience from the first round (see TechnicBRICKS):

• Submissions with URLs are being moderated out before the judges even see the models
  
• Submissions with e-mail and other contact information in the description are being moderated out before the judges even see the models
  
• The format the judges will be judging from is still photo; ie. no videos will be taken into consideration, and the judges will not see them
  
• Visuals that look like 3D renderings will not be taken into consideration as this is a building competition

Finally a video that was not mentioned on the official pages but is definitely worth attention:

Lego Technic Challenge now wide open

In Lego User Groups it is an everyday thing to have competitions in various themes. But now for the first time Lego organizes an official challenge for Technic builders:

The competition is very simple:
1. Build a model out of primarily LEGO Technic elements.
2. Take a picture of the model
3. Press the button below to Enter the competition
4. Enter your contact information
5. Upload your image


What to build?
This month (February) the competition is all about flight and functions - build a model with cool functions in the form of something that flies (plane, helicopter etc.) and make sure that the image shows the part of the model that has a function - as well as describing it!
It does not need to actually be able to fly, but it must be an aerial vehicle.
The Model does not need to be motorized, functions can also be manual.


How does it work?
Right now you can submit models - On the 15th of February - a panel of judges consisting of designers, marketing managers, building instruction artists and more will pick out (of all submissions) 10 finalists that will then be put up for voting here on the site.


The winner will receive a prize and also continue to the Big Finale in October.


Well, that is more than just a challenge. Gentlemen (and women of course), start your engines!