Big......and finished !

OK, so I'm a slow builder, but I got there in the end...... After seemingly spending weeks building for an hour here and 30 minutes there (I was about a third of the way through when I last posted about it) Tower Bridge is complete, and stunning it is too !

Having got to the end of instruction booklet one, I set about booklet two where my next task was to complete the first tower up to level of the horizontal walkway (pic below; click all pics to enlarge).

Then came the dreaded "x 2" where I had to go back to the start of booklet one and do it all over again, building the second tower from scratch. I'm aware that people deal with repetitive builds differently, some like myself constructing the repeating parts of the build one after the other, while others build them in parallel. I don't think there's a right way - it can get a bit dull whichever way you do it.

Once I'd also completed the second tower up to the level of the horizontal walkway, I was able to put the two towers and the road bridge together, at which point the model really started to take shape (below).

The next task was to construct the horizontal walkway. This includes some interesting parts such as the white lattice fences and a couple of lovely printed shields. There's also some nice colours on view, particularly Medium Blue and a smattering of Pearl Gold. Once constructed, the walkway can be moved into place, joining the two towers together (below).

Once the walkway is in place, the tops of the towers can be completed, at which point the model is almost finished. All that's left to be done is to build and attach (using Technic pins) the approaches leading up to the bridge on either side, and finally construct the four 'chains' (I'm not quite sure what they're called) which run from high up on the towers to the approaches on either side. These are probably the weakest part of the build, looking a bit clunky and crude against the beautifully detailed splendour of the rest of the model.

Except we're not quite done yet. The final finishing touch is four scale vehicles - a red bus, a yellow truck, a black cab and a green convertible (below) to add some authenticity in the form of the notorious London traffic.....

Once the vehicles are built and placed on the bridge we're done, and I have to say it was worth the time and effort. Beautifully designed, interesting to build (apart from the unavoidable repetition), and it now has pride of place in my home in the hallway atop the piano. This in itself speaks volumes - the fact that my wife is happy for it to be prominently displayed in a communal area is testament to how beautiful the model is.....

One slightly disappointing post-script is some possible quality issues affecting the Tan bricks in the set. On a number of occasions I noticed that areas of the build involving Tan parts weren't 'flush' with each other. At first I thought it might just be a trick of the light as I was building under strong spotlights shining directly from above which I thought might have been casting shadows and fooling my eyes. I believe however that it's more than that.

Looking closely at the Tan brick below, I reckon that the plastic forming the sides of the brick denoted by the numbers 1 and 2 in the picture (click to enlarge) is thicker than the plastic forming the sides of the brick denoted by the numbers 3 and 4. I don't have a micrometer, but my distinctly amateurish attempts at measuring the thickness of the plastic would tend to bear out my suspicions. Furthermore, this seems to be the case for all the Tan bricks I examined, and would explain the appearance of ridges or overhangs when the Tan bricks are stacked on top of plates.

Has anyone else noticed this, either with this set or with Tan bricks in other sets ? Or am I imagining it ?! It thankfully doesn't detract from the finished model, but it's noticeable and I think a little unsightly close up. Let me know.

Anyway, the final verdict ? Notwithstanding the possible quality issues highlighted above, this is a magnificent model, and if you can afford it, buy it !

More POOP

Having moaned a few times now on this blog about my hatred of large, unnecessary pieces, also known as POOP, or Parts Out of Other Parts, my ranting went into overdrive a couple of weeks ago. If you've been paying attention, you may recall the subject of my ire on previous occasions - a huge one-piece wing section from the Indiana Jones-themed "Fight on the Flying Wing" set (pic below, courtesy of Bricklink).

Part Number 54093 Wing - not my favourite part....

OK, so let me explain. Set 7734 Cargo Plane was one of those sets which I didn't pay much attention to when it was available at retail - I was too busy spending my time and money trying to complete my LEGO Star Wars collection at that point. As is the way of such things, however, once the set was retired, I started seeing pictures of it and wishing I'd bought it when it was available. One thing lead to another, and before long I was watching auctions on eBay, dismayed at the realization that used examples were often selling for £50+ and MISB ones for even more. I struck lucky a little while back however when I found a copy of the set listed on eBay in used condition but boxed and complete for £30 as a Buy It Now auction. I predictably snapped it up, and it arrived soon afterwards.

Set 7734 Cargo Plane

It's certainly a handsome-looking aircraft and no mistake. Problem is, the compromises made to ensure that it's sleek and sexy had me shaking my head in dismay. Firstly, hated part number 54093 Wing rears its ugly head once again in this set, which was really not a good start to proceedings. And astonishingly, the set also contains 2 further pieces that managed to cause me even more consternation, impossible though that may seem. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my new least favourite big ugly unnecessary piece - the snappily-named Part Number 54701c02 Aircraft Fuselage Curved Aft Section with Dark Bluish Gray Base (pic below).

You've got to be joking, right ?

Where do I start with this ? Well, aside from its undoubted monstrous bulk, the thing which had me frothing at the mouth the most was the fact that the upper section and lower section are joined together by 3 small screws. Screws ! To join LEGO pieces together ! Not studs. Not technic pins. Screws. That's just blasphemy. What were LEGO thinking ? And if that's not enough, there's also a bulbous, rubbery cap stuck on the rear of the piece. It really is a horror show. 

Once I'd recovered my composure, I found another part which contained screws - Part Number 54092c01 Aircraft Fuselage Curved Forward 8x16x5 with Trans-Black Glass (pic below).

In this case, the Trans-Black glass is attached to the rest of the piece using 3 small screws. And if that wasn't enough, the aircraft's tail is not much better either - admittedly no screws, but absolutely enormous nonetheless.

My wife took one look and said it looked like a Playmobil plane, which got me wondering whether that was the intention all along. It's hard to know whether the use of pieces like this is driven by a desire to speed up the building process, or whether it's a cost-saving measure given the large number of individual pieces that large, prefabricated monstrosities like these are capable of replacing in one fell swoop.

Anyway, sensitive soul that I am, I don't think I can bear the thought of encountering too many more pieces like this. In order to avoid such stress, therefore, I'd appreciate suggestions from readers as to which other sets I ought to avoid in order to ensure I don't have a similarly traumatic experience.....

Grand Opening

One of the best things about being a member of the Brickish Association (BA) is that you get the chance to do cool stuff, and I've previously posted about a couple of model builds I've participated in, as well as last year's BA Christmas party at LEGOLAND Windsor.

BA, which describes itself as a "UK-based community of Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs)", is often the first port of call when organisations or individuals want access to adult LEGO enthusiasts in the UK, and when a request arrived from the LEGO organisation for BA members to help with the grand opening events for the UK's latest two LEGO brand stores, a number of us answered the call.

Both new stores, Cardiff and London Westfields, actually opened their doors late last year, but the official grand openings for the stores didn't take place until February of this year. The grand opening event for each store lasted for 3 days and featured giveaways plus an opportunity for anybody to come down to the stores, lay their hands on lots and lots of LEGO bricks, and show the world what they could build. BA members were asked to join in with the public building events and construct some large local landmarks, presumably to provide some building inspiration for the other attendees. So no pressure then ! An interesting twist was that only red 2x4 bricks were made available to builders, encouraging building on a larger scale.

I was able to get along for the last day of the London Westfield event, and it was immediately evident that people had been busy for the 2 previous days, judging by the number of completed creations already on display in the building area (click pics below to enlarge).

London cityscape at Westfield

Photographs of London landmarks were scattered around the building area to provide us with inspiration, and after a few moments deliberation I decided to take a crack at building Big Ben. Or, to be more precise, the iconic clock tower at the north end of the Houses of Parliament. Big Ben, for anyone that's interested, is actually the name of the great bell itself, rather than the clock tower which houses it. One of my BA brethren had already constructed their take on the Houses of Parliament (a clever diagonal build - nice one, Jason !) which was prominently on display (see below) so I figured I needed something bigger so as not to be completely upstaged.

Houses of Parliament by Jason Railton (thanks to David Tabner for the pic)

I have to admit that these days I tend to solve building challenges by delving into the huge catalogue of available LEGO parts and finding a specialized brick to do the job. I therefore initially found it very restricting to build with just 2x4 bricks, particularly bricks in just one colour. In some ways, the large variety of specialized pieces that are available these days, together with the fact that I now have some cash to be able to buy what I need, has taken some of the challenge away from building my own creations - when I was a child I just had to make do with what I had, which forced me to be more creative. Anyway, after a while spent grappling with the limitations, the lack of a parts palette started to become quite liberating and the rules became clearer - think big, accept the limitations of what can reasonably be achieved with 2x4 bricks, and just build....

Building proceeded quickly - one of the advantages of just building with 2x4 bricks - and other than a few headaches when trying to figure out how best to reproduce the 4 clock faces at the top of the tower it was pretty straightforward. I finally completed the build after about 3 and a half hours, and you can see the finished result below.

Finished !

Once Big Ben was built, I took some time to look around. There were, it must be said, some pretty excellent creations on display. These including David Tabner's Tube Train and Gary Davis' London Bus (pics of both below), the latter of which nicely complemented the exclusive model produced in honour of the opening of the London Westfield store and which was given away to the first 300 visitors to the store on the Sunday who spent £20 or more.

Big Ben alongside a superb Tube Train built by David Tabner

London Bus by Gary Davis

I have to say it was fascinating watching the kids and their parents building. In general, the parents initially just watched and encouraged their kids, but before long many of the adults were up to their elbows in bricks and producing some pretty respectable creations themselves. A few asked enviously if I built LEGO models for a living and I had to confess that I was just an enthusiastic amateur. :-(

So an excellent event, then, and a great way to launch a new LEGO store. I'm just glad I didn't have to clear up all the LEGO afterwards....

That's more like it !

After having been somewhat underwhelmed by the first wave of 2011 LEGO offerings, I've now been able to take a closer look at what's coming later this year, and things are definitely looking up. New York Toy Fair 2011 has come and gone, and finally we have high quality pictures of the Summer 2011 wave of sets. As a result, I'm pleased to report that my levels of enthusiasm have gone from "Meh" to "Get in there !" almost overnight.....

Reasons to be cheerful ? Well, a solid City and Creator line up for starters. Then there's a couple of licensed properties - Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean - which I freely admit to not initially thinking I'd be interested in but have had to revise my opinion of after seeing pictures of the sets. Plus there's a brand new theme - Alien Conquest (pics below - thanks FBTB !) - which looks very promising, harking back to some of the LEGO Space sets from past eras but with some interesting new twists.

Alien Mothership from the Alien Conquest theme

Earth Defense (sic) HQ from the Alien Conquest theme

But first things first - what of the Summer 2011 LEGO Star Wars sets ? Well, I have to admit that the first wave of 2011 Star Wars sets left me a bit cold. When it comes to Star Wars I'm a traditional kinda guy, worshipping the Original Trilogy, liking Episodes I-III more than most, but with only a passing interest in the Clone Wars and next to no interest in the Expanded Universe. Consequently, I didn't recognise the ships making up the bigger sets so far this year - the Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship and the T-6 Jedi Shuttle - and therefore found it hard to get too excited about them. The Summer 2011 Star Wars sets are largely back to basics, however. Most of them are remakes of older sets from Star Wars Episodes I to VI, which is great for newer collectors but perhaps not so good for me who already has multiple versions of some of the sets. We're getting a new System Scale Millennium Falcon, for instance. This will be the third System Scale Millennium Falcon that LEGO have produced, following in the footsteps of Set 7190 (from 2000) and Set 4504 (from 2004), and the sixth LEGO Millenium Falcon that I own when you include Mini, Midi and Ultimate Collector Series versions. In fact, when you add the Millennium Falcon Bag Charm to the list that's seven overall....!

Set 7965 Millennium Falcon : come in Number Seven - your time is near....

I've moaned a bit in the past about all the remakes in the LEGO Star Wars range, but I have to say that LEGO can't really win. Since 1999 they've produced LEGO versions of pretty much all the recognisable vehicles from the Star Wars films, which means that either they have to remake sets they've produced before, in which case long-time collectors like me complain, or else produce sets based on obscure stuff or ships from the expanded universe, in which case traditionalists like me complain.....! So like I said, they can't win, although the millions upon millions of dollars that LEGO earn from this most lucrative of licenses probably softens the blow. To be fair, one of the Summer 2011 Star Wars sets significantly improves upon what's come before - Set 7962 Anakin's and Sebulba's Podracers looks great, and far better IMHO than any previous podracer set. Hands down the highlight of the Star Wars Summer 2011 releases for me. I also think that the new Sith Infiltrator set (Set 7961) somewhat improves upon what's come before (particularly the ghastly 1999 version), even if it is the third System Scale version, and 4th version overall, of a ship which only appeared briefly in the movies.....

Set 7962 Anakin's and Sebulba's Podracers

Set 7961 Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator

So what of the pleasant surprises awaiting us later this year ? Well, I'd largely written off the Cars theme as kid's stuff, but now I've seen some decent pics I'm not so sure. OK, so they certainly are aimed squarely at the younger market, but I can't help finding them quite neat... On the basis of first impressions, my favourites so far are probably Set 8487 Flo's V8 Cafe and Set 8677 Ultimate Build Mater (pics below, with thanks as ever to the wonderful Brickset), although there are really quite a few cool sets. I can certainly see myself buying a few of them, although not perhaps all 14 sets which are apparently on their way.... Merchandising tie-ins - don't you just love 'em ?

Set 8487 Flo's V8 Cafe

Set 8677 Ultimate Build Mater

Set 8486 Mack's Team Truck

And then there's Pirates of the Caribbean, another theme which I didn't think I'd be that fussed about. Except that some of the minifigures, such as the multiple versions of Captain Jack Sparrow, look superb, and a few of the sets such as 4195 Queen Anne's Revenge (pic below) look decidedly interesting....

Set 4195 Queen Anne's Revenge

So, an expensive 2011 awaits, I fear - in addition to the sets above there are some other potential gems on the horizon such as Set 5770 Lighthouse Island and a LEGO Star Wars advent calendar, not to mention new Harry Potter stuff and the new set I'm waiting for with the most excitement of all - Set 10219 Maersk Train which will be with us on 1st April 2011!

Set 10219 Maersk Train - now officially announced and on it's way....

He's at it again.....

OK, so you may recall me waxing lyrical a while back about an amazing LEGO model of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid lovingly constructed by Ed Diment (Lego Monster). It's probably the most impressive LEGO creation I've ever seen, to be honest. Well, as evidenced by his Flickr stream, the guy is absolutely prodigious, pumping out amazing creation after amazing creation on a regular basis. His latest MOC particularly caught my eye :

Amazing ! Having spent much of my childhood building Airfix kits of Spitfires (and tearing my hair out trying to paint them neatly), this LEGO creation really brought the memories flooding back. I love it, and I want one. Really badly. I even contacted Ed to ask about possibly reproducing his model, at which point reality took hold when he told me that it was an "insanely complex build" containing about 3,500 pieces. I'm not generally one to shirk a challenge, but if even Ed reckons it's insanely complex then I reckon I'd better just save myself a world of pain and pass this one time. :-)

While I'm on the subject of amazing MOCs, another recent creation caught my eye - "Three Story Victorian with Tree" by Mike Doyle (!snap! on Flickr) :

Absolutely jaw-dropping. I showed the pic to a few non-LEGO-loving friends, and nobody could quite believe that the model was built from LEGO. The attention to detail is unbelievable, and it's truly a marvel to behold. Mike estimates that his creation contains between 50,000 and 60,000 pieces and took him around 450 hours to complete. I can well believe it - stunning !

I never cease to be amazed by the levels of creativity, ingenuity and artistic ability in the LEGO community. And in case you're wondering, the word "artistic" was deliberately chosen - some of the many fan-built creations out there are as much "art" as any fine oil painting or stone sculpture. Interestingly, the world outside the LEGO fan community is starting to cotton on to this, as evidenced by the amount of publicity that LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya has been getting of late. Nathan is a full time freelance artist who creates sculptures out of LEGO, and you can check out some of his work here.

"Bedroom" by Nathan Sawaya

Even a cursory search on the internet will reveal a multitude of superb LEGO fan creations, and it's hard to keep track of what's new. To that end, I'm indebted to a number of websites which sift through many of the creations out there and bring some of the best to our attention. One site which I've increasingly been visiting of late is the excellent The Brothers Brick, which highlights great new MOCs on a regular basis. I've added the site to my list of recommended links in recognition of my increasingly frequent visits, and in the highly unlikely event that the webmasters are reading this, thanks for the great site guys, and keep up the good work !

Ouch

My right thumb hurts, and so does my index finger. I've spent a couple of hours continuing to build Tower Bridge, obsessively aligning 1x1 plates and various types of 1x1 bricks to make the build as neat as possible, and now the pads of my thumb and index finger are sore. It even hurts to type this. It got me thinking about other occasions when my beloved LEGO had caused me pain, and whether others had suffered similar fates.

My most serious LEGO-related injury can't really be blamed on the LEGO itself, to be fair. It was when I was a small boy, maybe 8 or 9 years old. The family was going on holiday in the UK, and I was in fine spirits having been permitted to load up the car with a huge amount of LEGO, presumably to keep me quiet during the long evenings. Over the course of the holiday I painstakingly constructed a huge ship - a supertanker which was six or more 16x32 baseplates in length. So when the holiday was over we gingerly manoeuvred my behemoth into place on the back shelf of the car so that it would survive the journey home in one piece. Big mistake. On the drive back we crashed into the back of another car, and my angular masterpiece launched itself forward like a guided missile and smacked into my head, injuring me and showering the other occupants of the vehicle with hundreds of bricks. One can only wonder what onlookers made of the aftermath - an upset, dazed boy with a LEGO-induced head injury standing by the side of a major motorway surrounded by bits of LEGO strewn around the tarmac.... The trauma was such that it would be 30 years before I would contemplate building another ship - Set 10152 Maersk Sealand Container Ship.

Set 10152 Maersk Sealand - therapy

Other than that incident it's just been sore fingers and painful feet really. While there's little to compare with the exquisite pain of treading on LEGO bricks in your bare feet (and haven't we all done it at least once ?), it could hardly be described as life-threatening.... Help is at least at hand for the fingers, however - the risk of LEGO-induced finger injury plummeted with the advent of the Brick Separator in 1990. Up until then, LEGO builders had to rely on a combination of brute force, fingernails and teeth to separate stubborn pieces, with the predictable painful accidents that come with such activities.

All hail the LEGO Brick Separator....

So what of other people ? Well, a quick Google search reveals that I'm not the only one to have been injured by my favourite product. I found numerous reports of cuts, choking, trips leading to injuries and scarring, fingernails being pulled off, broken toes, head injuries caused by models falling off shelves, grazes and various puncture injuries. Thankfully for the LEGO company, almost all of these incidents seem to fall into the category of 'human error', crass stupidity or just plain bad luck, with no responsibility falling on the product itself.

But what of LEGO's restorative properties ? Well, while I wouldn't necessarily advocate the use of medical supplies made from LEGO (such as Sean Ragan's excellent LEGO syringe below), LEGO has surprisingly been credited with almost miraculous healing powers. Consider for instance TV presenter Richard Hammond, who was nearly killed when the jet car he was driving crashed at almost 300 mph. He sustained a number of serious injuries but has thankfully made a good recovery, and said in subsequent interviews that LEGO saved his life, helping him to regain brain function during his rehabilitation.

This won't hurt a bit....... 

And with healing properties like that, I'm sure my sore fingers will recover in no time.....

Top Secret

Another day, another brief flurry of excitement as an image of an upcoming LEGO set transiently appears on various websites, only to disappear shortly afterwards as LEGO ask for it to be removed. This time the image was of the utterly delicious Set 10219 Maersk Train Set; on previous occasions it's been preliminary images of collectible minifigs, or future Star Wars sets, or something else.

You can generally tell when images are not for our consumption - they usually have a huge watermark with "CONFIDENTIAL' stamped across them. The spat over Set 10219 was different however, as the 'offending' image wasn't marked as confidential and was in fact hosted on LEGO's own server in a publicly accessible area. An enterprising fan discovered the image and alerted Brickset, who quite understandably published the picture. Shortly afterwards, Brickset were asked by LEGO to remove the image, which they did. Other websites and individuals were not so accommodating, however - the image is still freely available elsewhere, including bizarrely on LEGO's own server in exactly the same place as it was when it was first discovered......!

LEGO have on a number of occasions shared their reasons for wanting such images to remain confidential until such time as they feel ready to go public with them. Indeed, an open letter from LEGO CEO Jorgen Vig Knupstorp was recently posted online explaining the reasons. In a nutshell, they're concerned about competitors copying 'novelty products', their future products being misrepresented because products may be modified prior to launch, and the confidentiality of licensed partners being compromised. LEGO also say they want to "give customers a 100% experience of our products and campaigns", although I don't really know what that means.

I have to confess to being somewhat conflicted on this issue. On the one hand, I can sympathise with at least some of the reasons above. I have no doubt, for instance, that the manufacturers of other brands of construction toys (you know who they are) look enviously at the success that LEGO enjoy and would just love to get an early warning of what their competition will be doing. I can also well believe that some of LEGO's licensed partners insist on being 100% in control of the release of every single image and snippet of information that emerges.

The problem I have is two-fold, however. Firstly, when I see the explosion of excitement and anticipation that invariably accompanies the leakage of these images, it seems to me that contrary to concerns about the business being harmed, the leaks are instead acting as spectacular pre-marketing. Just look at the comments on Brickset following the posting of the Set 10219 image if you have any doubts. This also provides LEGO with valuable feedback which is almost certainly more honest and candid than that provided by the kind of focus groups that companies pay handsomely for. On balance, therefore, it could be argued that such leaks are actually beneficial rather than detrimental.

Secondly, it appears to be LEGO's own practices that fuel the leakage of confidential images. Aside from the appearance of the picture of Set 10219 which was a special case (i.e. someone made a mistake, basically), it seems to me that the majority of leaked images originate from the catalogues that LEGO give to retailers to help them to decide what new LEGO products they're going to want to stock in the future. While this practice might have been low-risk prior to the advent of the Internet, it seems incredible to me that LEGO still apparently believe that they can hand out catalogues filled with confidential images, and that these images won't be posted on the Net and spread like wildfire within minutes...... I mean, if secrecy is really so important, it surely can't be beyond the wit of the company to find more secure ways of sharing information about upcoming sets with retailers, be it via a secure website which prevents screen grabs, or something else. In the final analysis, while LEGO persist in handing out catalogues containing images of upcoming sets to retailers, the power of the Internet means that they will never be able to keep those images under wraps, and they must surely know this.

Still, when all's said and done, from a personal perspective it's really no great hardship to respect LEGO's wishes - they'll release official images sooner or later anyway - and hence the lack of images of Set 10219 in this blog post. And who knows - despite my doubts, maybe they're actually right about the negative effects on the business.....?