Thursday, November 30, 2006

Mmmmm.... Yummy

Lovely Red ABS... just before it gets melted and molded into my favourite toy.
Business Week Online. Click it, you know you wanna... wink!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Awesome....

Although maybe just a bit too much American pride for some...



Another cool vid...

Awww...

Well loved characters....


Im just a little old rain cloud....
Too cute! Winnie the Pooh... posted by "junlego"



Snoopy and Wallace & Grommit... posted by "MisaQa"


Its like no cheese I ever tasted...



Poor Bugs!
Witch Hazel posted by "tremor"




And this "Hey Arnold" set posted by "cre8ivejuan"


As well, as "Count Blockula's" Sesame Street

Click hinges...




Most AFOLs were never pleased with the TLC's move from finger hinges to click hinges...




But I must say...
this builder sure make an awesome use of a unliked part...

Check out the "side mirrors" on "srezkall" Mustang.



Also some other great parts on that Mustang, such as the new car roof as a hood, the sleek new curve on the trunk and the great little one by one slope on the side doors. Over all a great use of new parts used in interesting ways.

If you click "up" on his folder link, you will see a bunch of other great vehicles.

Cool Finds...

Thought this was cute... (its very short, but made me giggle)
by "BobBongo"



and this one too...
by "FlipGrashuepfer"

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Amusement...

I am in the process of rebuilding my Lego Fair from over two years ago. Thankfully my brick building knowledge, selection of parts and technical skills have improved a fair (no pun intended) bit since then. The whole goal of this project is to have fairly reliable display of typical working rides, in a very small (relative) footprint at a realistic fig scale (or as close as possible) that wouldnt overwhelm a train display in its size.

So far, work has been slow, but many of the rides are being over hauled, the Carousel has been rebuilt and was displayed last weekend (although is still being tweaked).

Here is a short clip of it at our last layout. As you maybe can see, the new version has 12 horses riding up and down and 4 stationary rides, for the little figs to young or old to manage a big scary horse.




Here is the historical overview of the original...





The "Lego 5 cent Fair" originally was built in a few weeks rush, for the childrens area for a Railfair layout in Ottawa with my Parluggers.

Here is my Brickshelf folder that has some stills of it.
Here is the Lugnet post that describes the fun I had with that layout.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Train Show

Trains, trains, trains, and more trains!

Hmm, did I mention trains???
On Nov.18 and 19th (my birthday) at the International Centre in Toronto, rtlToronto & OBB impressed the crowds with their most recent train layout. The participants, Dave K, Cameron, John G, Calum T, Jeff VW, Derek R, Jeremy T, and I set up our Lego train display at the annual train show. Sadly, I forgot to get a group shot, although I did take a few pictures of the layouts, link to follow shortly (my USB on my laptop does not work, so I have to wait until I return home.)

As always, it's a total pleasure to see Dave (our organiser) as well as his part of the layout. Dave's layout is a work in progress, as he is developing a mix of old and new. Meaning, that his layout section in many ways, seems to have the most traditional "Lego from our childhood" feel as he drives traditional looking trains of his own design thru tunnels and open track, but also has many new features that make it interesting such as his automated train version of the GBC and an awesome cantilevered bridge.

My layout attached to Dave's via two sections of rail. This year, I presented my version of a quasi 1950's look, featuring my Silver Brick diner, Drive In theatre, parks, working carousel, and a Covered Kissing bridge. Of course, in light of my recent enthusiasm for the growing wind turbines we are seeing popping up all over Ontario, I placed 3 of them on my layout as well.

At the end of my layout, we created a "dogbone" of track, so Dave's trains could ride the rails throughout both of our layouts. Cameron filled this area with his custom cars, and train station.

Originally we had planned on joining up to the other builders via this amazing suspension bridge that John built, but sadly, the height difference in our layouts made this impossible. On a personal note, I would like to thank John for the technical feedback and help he gave to me, on working on a solution for improving my carousel.

Calum, Jeff, Derek, and Jeremy have a multi-layered work in progress design being developed that has nooks and crannies filled with interesting frames of structure and details instead of the more traditional extensive landscaping their last display had. When its completed it should be an amazing display.

I have no clue what Calum's area will contain but currently Jeff's area is beginning to be filled with detailed buildings that draw the viewers eye deep into the middle of the display of the various levels. There is plenty of great detailing and eye candy to be engaged with.

Derek's area currently has this intricate maze of grey pillars and supports, that are artistically done as a place holder until he returns from his sabbatical. He plans to add various, almost "escher-esque" looking buildings as well, Derek added a very cool working Ferris Wheel displayed, and even though I teased him it was too oversized, it was certainly more impressive than my carousel.

Jeremy's module ends out their display, and this is the one I am waiting for to be finished. So far the progress is amazing, he has this complex shaped building that cantilevers off the edge of the table and eventually will be worked into this organic design, I don't want to share any more details, because I believe, once finished minus that annoying tooth piece, this will be a sight to behold.

By far, this section by these four guys is a way more ambitious project than I am ready for, and I look forward to seeing their layout progress.

Special notes, we had a few friendly faces drop in and join us for some time over the weekend. As always, it's a total pleasure to see those AFOLS that we know from our share interest. Also, thanks to Liam, for being so much fun to be with.

Thank you Dave for organising it, and thanks guys!
Its always a pleasure to display my offerings with the stellar contributions of this fine group of builders.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

OBB

The OBB (Ontario Brick Builders) goes "Official"...

http://news.lugnet.com/admin/suggestions/?n=1451

Next steps...
LOGO - calling all participants, we are in need of a LOGO for the OBB.
Anyone have any ideas???

Jobs to do over the next month...
Documenting the history of this group.
Collecting picture links.
Website. FAQ.
Organising side bar at Lugnet.

Planning for the future of the group...
May show?? NMRA???

Hobby Show 2007
- tables, skirting, banner...

Will update with links when we get a bit more down on "paper".

Cheers

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Folders not to be missed...

Posted by "cbolego", the walking dead stroll here... http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=171418



Posted by "Moko" some awesome micro here...
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=120709



Posted by " Jonathanlopes" very detailed streetscapes here
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=164943




and...
Posted by my friend Dave (aka "sparky"), a vid of his beyond cool pneumatic compressor train at Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1gQWdWjTmc

Another cool link...

Check this out, (from my fellow ParLUGgers)...

Incredible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpINF5o1JDs


and the blog behind the vid...

http://www.outside-hollywood.com/

Hobby Show

Wow, another November well under way and another Hobby Show by the OBB(Ontario Brick Builders) under our belts.

This year makes our 4th year in participating, and what an awesome show it was!


Allan Beford photo credit.

See the announcement here... http://news.lugnet.com/loc/ca/?n=2191
See the recap here... http://news.lugnet.com/loc/ca/?n=2209

Allan's pics here ... http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=214415
Dave's vids here ...

My own pic links to follow.

Cute!


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