Red arrow

Valentine's day is just over, so let us take a look at something red. Not so long ago I was lucky enough to build a 9394 Technic airplane. This model has appeared in the Technic line last year. It is quite special in the lineup: it is only the second largish Technic plane ever, the previous one being the 8855 that hit the sleves 25 years ago. If that would not be enough, this plane is the first jet ever. Let us have a mini-review.

I started the build with high expectations. The first surprise is the sheer size: it does not have so many bricks (around 500) but the final plane is pretty big: it is longer and wider than any of my Technic cars.

I have been looking forward to all the functions. Let us take a look:

• The plane has a variable-sweep wing that can be adjusted by turning the jet exhaust. The whole mechanism occupies the aft part of the fuselage, but that is ok as there is no room needed for a real het engine.
• The landing gear is retractable. When extended it has to support the entire weight of the aircraft so it has to be very robust. It has Technic knob wheels that bear the load and a worm gears prevents the wheels from retracting by themselves. Real variable-sweep aircraft do tend to have different support mechanisms but this is not a serious problem.
• The controls also work albeit in only one dimension. This is cool even if it is not as sophisticated as the controls of the 8855 or my training plane which both can be moved in two dimensions.
• The cockpit can also be opened or closed by turning a knob. This looks great as it opens a thick frame around the actual cockpit as well.

All in all I think it is a cool set especially considering its price. At $49.90 it is not too expensive but pretty big (in Europe it's around EUR 40). It contains lots of red panels. I did not try to build anything else from it yet but others have managed pretty good things like this helicopter.

More photos in the Picasaweb album.

Cool things

A few cool things from the last few days.

We now have official information about the new large X-Wing. It will be built from no fewer than 1558 bricks and will hit the stores in the second half of the year. If I would live in the states and would like to invest my savings into LEGO sets, I am sure I would stack up a few. I predict there will be demand in years.

I think this Soyuz spacecraft is way cool. Even if it does not have any bricks. Creation of pasukaru76.

Dieter89 has built this superb P-51 Mustang. I envy him now. It is a pity that he just missed the great competition (on which I finished in the runner up category with my MiGs).

Our mandatory weekly cool microscale build is this. Created by True Dimensions:

I promise I will get back with my own creations. Sooner or later. See you next week!

Silver MiG reloaded

As I started building new aifcraft recently I wanted to choose a scale that fits an entire fleet, not just a single model. Finally I have settled with 1:48 which is smaller than most other similar planes, but still lets me add a considerable amount of detail.

When the Messerschmidt was ready, it was a no-brainer to start rebuilding my existing MiG-15 in a similar scale. This is how far I got.

It is quite similar to the original one. The underlying concept is the same: the fuselage is symmetric and the wing joins at a Pythagorean triangle. But this is a total rebuild from the ground up which is visible in some details.

I liked the previous variant quite a bit, but I like this one even more. Even though it is smaller in size, I managed to keep almost all characteristic features of the original. As it contains only about 200 bricks it is significantly lighter than its predecessor that contained over 600. The lighter weight means a considerably lighter load on the landing gears and the whole structure bends a lot less and sits more proudly on the runway.

You can find more photos on Flickr and in the Picasaweb album as well.

Build like a pro

Rebrickable helps you do something that I consider the essence of playing with LEGO: how can I build new things from my bricks? Not everyone is born as a talented builder and not everyone has enough inspiration to build cool new things. The idea behind Rebrickable is simple: LEGO builders share blueprints and building instructions. Quite good ones.

Recently the 500th MOC has been uploaded to the site: this beautiful Mercedes-Benz 540K roadster from Sariel. Since this is a remote-controllable car you need two motors as well. The full building instructions can be downloaded from Rebrickable.

There are many other great creations, even some Technic ones like this Sunbeam Corvette supercar with pistons, suspension, gearbox as one would expect. The instructions for Jurgen Krooshoop's model can be downloaded from here:

There are planes too. This Pilatus PC-21 has been covered on TechnicBRICK as well, built by Ismaël (Khan) Juhoor (download link).

These models are all very professional, but building them at home will need serious preparations. The part list is usually available, but it is quite likely that you will not have all the parts and have to buy new ones.

If you would like to simply play, Peter Sprogis has uploaded many models that can be built from a single LEGO Creator set, like the 4939, 5867, 6743or 6913. For example this pickup truck:

It is worth going through the list.

I think Rebrickable is one of the best things that have happened to LEGO during the recent years. The site itself is not blazingly fast and could be more helpful in discovering new models, but to see the instructions for many cool creations makes it one of the most interesting LEGO sites over the Internet.

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.

Best of MOC

We have seen many excellent builds on the web during the past few weeks, let us take a look at some of them.

_lichtblau_ has been covered on the blog earlier. His latest creations are a black Pontiac with a Plymouth highway patrol, they both have an incredible seventies feel. Although both are minifig scale they both have very car-like proportions. The most interesting detail is the front and back of the police car - the fenders built from bricks laying sideways fit this vehicle very well.

henningb's steam train is at least as professional. My favorite detail is the tracks. Now that I see it it seems very straightforward! The smoke built of ice cream is also quite cool.

Let's see something different. George G has build Middle Earth, more precisely Helm's Deep. It is fantastic how the different pieces form a the details together: the Technic bricks, the ones with brick pattern and the rest. I suspect in a factory set we would never see them together like this, yet here they fit together perfectly.

Like this blog, thirdwigg has high stakes in planes as well as the world of Technic. When you put the two worlds together you get this huge Spitfire fighter from the Battle of Britain:

It is worth watching the video until the end. It has all the features of a real plane except for flying: variable-pitch propellers, 12 pistons, retractable landing gear. Of course it includes full controls as well. It cannot be seen on the video but it has adjustable flaps too. And if that would not be enough it is fully covered and looks like a real plane and not like a skeleton like a typical Technic set.

If you have your eyes wide open you have probably realized that next week we will cover microscale planes... see you then!

News sets and parts for 2013

We rarely cover news on the blog but there are so many recent developments that it is worth covering the most important ones.

The biggest LEGO news of the week is the announcement of the new Mindstorms that is called EV3. It brings many-many new features starting with Android and iOS integration and also including 3D building instructions on an iPad. The biggest news however is simplification: the new EV3 brick can be programmed without connecting a computer. The goal of LEGO is that anyone should be able to build a working robot in 20 minutes after opening the box. You will be able to get it from stores in the second half of 2013 around $349.

First half 2013 sets are in stores already but we already have bits and pieces about the second half. You can see the full Technic range here but there are also many interesting new sets in the Creator line as well. Our favorites are the 42000 Grand Prix Racer and the 31004 Firece Flyer. By the way: starting from 2013 all sets have a five-digit number.

As a builder I am also interested in new parts. These have been discovered by my colleagues at the LEGO Military Group:

      

I like the second one quite a bit: an inverted tile that can be attached to the bottom of bricks. I hope an inverted slope is also on the works. I could also make use more colors - I probably have more wishes than I can afford. In any case, we look forward towards an exciting 2013.

Messerschmitt uncovered

I am happy to start the New Year with something fresh and take a look at why I have bothered with various Messerschmitts so much.

Several years ago I have already tried to build one. The 2009 model was a heavy compromise: it was built in Lego Digital Designer and the bricks were chosen from the limited selection of DesignByMe that still existed. As a result most of the plane was black because this color had the largest selection of bricks.

It was already time to try again and build a fresh plane for the Puma squadron.

This is a Messerschmitt Bf-109 G6 "Gustav" of the Royal Hungarian Air Force from 1944, using the black and white roundel from WWII. The legendary "Puma" have accomplished many missions against American and Soviet planes.

As I plan to build other planes at the same scale it was important to pick a size in which the others will look good as well. I am a big fan of "micro" aircraft, but that would not allow me to build a lot of details. So I have chosen a different scale, 1:48. This is still somewhat smaller than other Messerschmitts, only Legohaulic's fighter coming close. My plan was to add as many shape and color details as possible. Hence, there are no other features: the landing gear is not retractable (although it is easy to remove) and there is not enough room for a minifig pilot either (although at this scale it would be still doable with some compromises). 

Another important point is the wing. I like building wings as thin as possible, I am not a big fan of thick and blocky wings. The current wing is built of two layers of plates, I think it would have been impossible to make it any thinner. The shape is just a bit blocky, but overall I am quite happy with the shape of the wings and the tail.

I am pretty happy with the outcome. At this scale the plane has pretty recongnisable shape and colors as well.

Please take a look at the Flickr album for more photos. As usual they can be found on Picasa as well.

2012

We still have a few days left of 2012, it is the perfect chance to look at what we got this year.

In 2012 had only 21 new posts, fewer than what I would have liked. But as some of you may have noticed, I try to post a fresh post every week. I hope to keep the momentum going into 2013 as well.

But instead of spending too much time on what has or has not happened here, let me look at another important event from my own perspective: kockagyar.blog.hu used to be the most popular LEGO blog in Hungary but it has closed its doors in May 2012. Since I have co-authored the blog, I have written about 60 blog posts.

I am most proud of the interviews - I managed to get in touch with two well respected LEGO builders. Mad Physicist is one of the most influential car and aircraft builders, you can clearly notice his influence on this blog as well. You can read part one and part two of the interview here.

Legomonster was interviewed by Lehi in person. I think this is interview is probably the peak of my blogger journalist career. Thanks kockagyar and thanks Lehi, we could not have done this without you!

These would probably have never been created without kockagyar.blog.hu and its single-person engine, tutuka.

Without kockagyar I will probably have to keep a lower profile. But bricksngears will continue well into 2013 with the weekly posts. Also, we have new builds ready to be shown, stay tuned!

Happy and LEGO-rich 2013 to all our readers!

Congratulations!

You have survived the Advent calendar season. Three more days and it's over! But now there is time to build something for your Christmas tree. You only need a few bricks, hopefully you have some in your drawer. Instructions here.

If you don't have enough red bricks, that's not a problem either, you can built something else: Santa, a blue sphere, or a snowman. Credits go to mpw for the great instructions:

If you are afraid that the sphere will pull down your tree, you can build a smaller one using instructions from Legohaulic too.

Merry Christmas to everyone and a lot of LEGO under the tree!