Beyond the hobby

LEGO is very popular all over the net: if you would like to build, you will find a lot of help: you can get bricks from Bricklink, older sets from Ebay, instructions and inspiration from one of the many community sites.

But for most of us, this is a hobby to spend our time and money. Well-known builders sometimes create instructions for their creations but frequently they don't. This is no surprise: many of the models gathering fame are complicated, fragile or contain special pieces.

An interesting exception is Daniel Siskind, the man behind Brickmania. He built his own business to create and sell sets without any official ties to the LEGO Company. Wars that happened for real are a taboo for LEGO's own designers (for understandable reasons) and this is the gap Brickmania tries to fill: the website offers more than 50, mostly military themed sets starting from World War II until armies in recent history.

The models are built from real LEGO bricks. Since these models are much more special than the ones you can buy in LEGO stores, they are noticeably pricier. For example this Jeep at $35 is one of the cheapest models. It is part of the 'Durabuilder' series, which in my interpretation means that it will not immediately fall apart if kids take it into their hands.

For this the buyer gets an individually packaged set in similar quality, but much more rare, including minifigs and other extras depending on the set.

Tanks form the bulk of the selection: there are German, American and Soviet vehicles as well, for example the T-34 below. This set is a lot more complex than the Jeep: it includes a fully rotating turret, a driver and the tracking mechanism. It contains 724 bricks and at $345 is noticeably pricier.

Besides tanks there are other types of vehicles. The CCKW truck below was widely used by US armed forces during WWII. This is a medium set at $100.

There are a few aircraft too, like this P-51 Mustang. Similarly to the Jeep it is also a part of the Durabuilder line. The number of pieces and price at $100 are similar to the CCKW.

There are probably quite a few of readers at this point who think these sets are way too expensive. On one hand this is understandable since LEGO is not the cheapest toy and these models are clearly above the price level of the official ones.

On the other hand it is also clear that the founder has invested a lot of his time and energy into Brickmania. These models were be designed, instructions printed and individually packaged. They are likely sold in much smaller quantities than official LEGO sets. The most difficult problem is probably to acquire the required bricks in sufficient quantities at a good price. For comparison, buying all bricks for my somewhat smaller sized MiG-15 already cost more than $80 and quite a bit of time.

Overall, I think that if you are into military LEGO sets but would not like to spend time designing and buying parts for your own model, Brickmania is a good alternative.

(bricksngears.com is not affiliated with Brickmania in any way.)

Scania Dump Truck

Sariel has created something excellent as usual:



Detailed description with technical gems on his blog.

8258 Crane Truck video

TechnicBRICKs has published the first video about the 8258 Crane Truck:

Lego 8258 Crane Truck commercial

This ad appeared on YouTube:

(TechnicBRICKs.)

Kenworth Mammoet

It looks like Sariel has found a proper place for the new new Lego rechagreable battery in this Kenworth Mammoet truck:


An incomplete list:

• Suspension on all wheels
  
• 4 piston engine
  
• Remote control to adjust speed, steering, lights and even a lockable catch
• Automatic rear lights
  
• ... and an unusually long trailer

Update: more details available on Sariel's site.

Details about new Technic sets

The second half of the year is upon us so more and more details are available about the forthcoming Technic sets.
The 8263 Snow Groomer has 590 parts and sports treads and shovels in the front and back, both adjustable.
We have already covered the 8265 Front Loader. Now it is clear that it consists of 1091 parts and has a V6 engine with gearbox and most likely an all wheel drive with multiple differentials. The linear actuators move the bucket in the front.
The new flagship is the 8258 Crane Truck. This set has 1877 parts and will probably contain a hostload of working features. We expect a V8 engine and gearbox, but it will certainly have adjustable supports and a fully functional crane as well.

TechnicBRICKs has more details.

History of the big Technic cars, Part III.

In the final part (Part I, II) we take a look at models after 2004. This period was heavily influenced by Ferrari and the emphasis on the looks of the models got even stronger, especially with the ones running as part of the "Racers" series.
The era of Racers was started by model no. 8653 "Enzo Ferrari 1:10" in 2005. The car is a replica of a real Ferrari Enzo. Just like the 8435 introduced in the previous part it consists entirely of studless bricks. A first in the history of Technic cars, it sports a V12 engine but this brings us almost to the end of the list. Unlike the previous models there is no gearbox or suspension. Steering, upwards opening doors and the differential represent all the features. This list is too short for many Technic enthusiasts especially considering that the set contains 1360 parts.


The next set is also a Racer, the 8674 "Ferrari F1 Racer 1:8" appeared in 2006. Its features are very similar to the earlier Silver Champion (8458) and Williams F1 Racer (8461) but the car was completely redesigned. Like on the previous Ferrari we do not find any studded elements here either. The engine is V8 because of F1 rule changes, the rest is the same: suspension on all four wheels, differential, steering and the engine hood opened with a damped spring of course.

The last Ferrari is the 8145 "Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano 1:10". This is the first set in the series that can be found in the shops today - of course others may appear occassionally from earlier stocks. The 8145 is the successor of Enzo with the same working features (and the same missing) and of course with the doors opened upwards.


Now let us see what has happened in the Technic line. The models still try to pack many features, but there are no supercars at the top of the range any more. Instead, we can find a crane (8421 from 2005), a powered bulldozer (8275 from 2007) and a harvester (8274, also 2007). While the 8285 "Tow Truck" is not exactly a supercar either, this is the most car-shaped of all of the above. The set contains a V6 engine, steering and differential, plus there are many ways to control the towing part, including pneumatics and various control wheels.

With this we have arrived to the last set in our series, the 8297 "Off Roader". It arrived in stores late 2008. It is similar to its off terrain predecessor 8466: suspensions on all wheels, rear wheel drive and a differential provide the foundations. It introduces many new concepts as well: as the first set in our history series it includes power functions by default and this can be used to adjust the height of the suspension. For more details, take a look at our post about 8297.

The selection has changed a lot since the introduction of the first supercars. The cars can do more and more and contain more special parts as well. But the most important change is the massive increase in choice: instead of the old cars sitting on the throne alone one get real variety today. The 8297 is a worthy contender here with many interesting solutions. We can only hope that there remain new things for the future as well.