Showing posts with label Parts Festivals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parts Festivals. Show all posts

27 September 2018

2018 Parts Fest #1: Steve Guinness in space

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We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts to some fan builders to explore techniques and models. This time we have the talented Steve Guinness: one half of the team who won Series 1 of Channel 4's LEGO Masters who now undertake commissions as The Brick Guys.

Clockwork Robots 

When I saw the 1x3 jumper plate (Design ID 34103) I liked the unusual pattern on the underside, as it has no anti-studs or pegs. The tiny triangles reminded me of teeth so I came up with these Clockwork Robots.


19 September 2018

2018 Parts Fest #1: Tim Goddard's Engaging Elements

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In addition to our Portugal workshop we also sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts from 2018 to some fan builders, and in an occasional ‘parts festival’ series over the next month or two we’ll be showing you the techniques and models they came up with. First up, our good friend Tim Goddard, co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future.

At Bricktastic in Manchester this year Tim J mentioned he had a selection of new parts and would I like to explore them for New E. Being the parts monkey that I am, I of course said yes, and what an interesting selection of parts I got!


Let's start small... possibly the smallest LEGO element to date (I am saying this knowing that New E readers will correct me if I am wrong) are the Infinity Stones, which I was supplied with in Transparent Yellow (Element ID 6223002 | Design ID 36451).

02 June 2017

NEXOGON: The Nexacore Building

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Luc Byard surprised me with another creation for our parts festival today! LEGO® part 27255 is critical but nearly invisible in his bold piece of architecture.

One of the first things I thought about doing with Nexogons was using them for the core of some kind of structure, and here's where that led me.

To do so, I knew I would first need a better solution than I used in the Starglider to give the Nexogon a truly six-sided application.

23 May 2017

NEXOGON: The Nexo-mixer

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Take a ride with Gary Davis (Bricks for Brains) as he presents another creation for our parts festival using the LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ Combo Power shield (Design ID 27255). 

This simple mixer ride came to mind when I was thinking about using the Nexogons to create fractal patterns. Fractal patterns occur throughout the natural world whereby one simple shape is repeated multiple times to create complicated patterns.





I needed a base for the mixer and it suddenly came to me that a giant Nexogon would be a neat solution.

20 May 2017

NEXOGON: Wearable LEGO® creation

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When selecting builders for our parts festival, one thing I was looking for was the unusual. So I couldn't pass up on Blair Archer's wild idea to add Nexogons to the outfit he was developing for his local LEGO® convention in Portland, Oregon! He shares the ups and downs of this inspiring project with us today. (Oh - and if you haven't yet seen Blair's 1979 ALIEN Xenomorph on his Flickr page, you totally need to check that out too.)


For some time now, I had a ‘wearable LEGO creation’ concept rolling around in my mind and various sketches in my notebooks. I'd been wanting to build a cyberpunk-style Samurai suit of armor/battledress, but was struggling with the fashion design element since LEGO connections don't lend themselves to creating curves or complex polygons very easily (at least not ones that can withstand motion, without being overly rigid/heavy/uncomfortable to wear). I jumped at the chance last year to load up on Mixels joints in bulk, thinking these would be ideal for creating a LEGO wearable piece that could conform to the shape of a human body, and withstand some bending and movement.

15 May 2017

NEXOGON: Dragon’s head and scaling technique

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Our next post from Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah on Flickr) for our parts festival describes the results when he tried using LEGO® Rotor, W/ 4.85 Hole (Design ID 27255) to create the effect of scales.


One of the first things I thought of when I received the Nexogon parts in bulk was the potential to arrange them in a scale-like pattern. I started off with a ‘spine’ of a single column of parts, and used them to create a dragon-like creature.

11 May 2017

NEXOGON: Sanctum of the Clockwork King

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Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw) is back again today with his Nexogons (the new hexagonal LEGO® piece 27255), taking things a step up...

Phew! This build used up all the Nexogons Tim sent me, and then some!


09 May 2017

NEXOGON: Shanghai Tower

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Following our run of spaceships utilising the new hexagonal LEGO® part 27255, today Li Li from MOC Recipes returns with a towering example of modern architecture! 

One of the buildings that I’ve always wanted to build is the Shanghai Tower, the world’s second-tallest building after Burj Khalifa. It has a very intriguing twisted shape. I didn’t have a good solution for it — until I saw the Nexogon. It’s perfect for building triangles with concentric centers.


04 May 2017

NEXOGON: The Millennium Falcogon

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May the Fourth be with you... and for once, we actually have something Star Wars-related to share with you, courtesy of Kevin Levell and his penchant for nexogonal LEGO® spacecraft.

Whilst building the flying saucergon I noticed some familiar shapes, at least to my eyes: there was a passing resemblance to the “circular” main body of the Millennium Falcon...

Millennium Falcon LEGO model by Kevin Levell

30 April 2017

NEXOGON: Starglider

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We welcome Luc Byard back today with another exciting creation using LEGO® part 27255, giving us insight into how he came up with this sleek starglider.


It began with a Nexogon on its edge. The idea was to use it as the central piece and build a cockpit forwards from it and a tri-cluster of engines and wings back from it using the Nexogon to influence the overall shape.

26 April 2017

NEXOGON: The Inexorable

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Tim Goddard (Rogue Bantha on Flickr) is certainly no stranger to Neo-Classic Space creations but our parts festival using the new hexagonal LEGO® part 27255 is pushing him to greater heights. His latest ship, The Inexorable, now takes off...

For this build I started with a tablescrap (a small build, normally of no particular purpose, a bit like a doodle) and that turned into an engine. More detail on that in a moment, but first let's look at the main body of the craft.

24 April 2017

Minecraft 2017: Steampunk Spider

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Jonas Kramm has sort of been running a mini-parts festival here on New Elementary recently using a piece from the new LEGO® Minecraft sets, and today he brings it to our other parts festival...

For this build I combined the 'birdhouse' plate (Design ID 27928) with another part that is being reviewed on New Elementary currently, the Nexogon (Design ID 27255). The result is a three-legged Steampunk spider creature.

23 April 2017

NEXOGON: Stacking

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For his next investigation of the LEGO® Plate, Modified 6 x 6 Hexagonal with Pin Hole (Design ID 27255), Brian D'Agostine (Dag) went back to basics to discover what happens when Nexogons are stacked.

For my third exploration I was curious about stacking pieces. Gary Davis had suggested the idea and shown a few neat stacking ideas but didn't take them further. My thought was to stack the 2x2 portions on top of each other to create a tighter pattern than some of Tim's initial offerings.

The idea first came from trying to get a sense of the geometry. In my first post I had used a 2x4 Technic plate to judge where the central hole was in relation to the sets of 2x2 studs. Doing this required a 2x2 plate to lift the Technic piece above the ridges and relief on the surface. The Technic plate later came off but I snapped another Nexogon on top of that 2x2. And then another. And another. Soon I had a tight little pyramid of sorts, all stacked up.


22 April 2017

NEXOGON: In the arms of droids

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Brian D'Agostine (Dag) returns today with his second exploration of the LEGO® Plate, Modified 6 x 6 Hexagonal with Pin Hole (Design ID 27255). 

With the 2D geometry explored, I turned my attention to some 3D exploration. Tim initially showed some variants of icosahedra and after parts were issued to builders, a tighter truncated icosahedron had quickly been built by Gary Davis. There were two main explorations I wanted to do.

The first was to see how tightly I could put the Nexogons together in 3D space. This would require a bit of Technic wizardry, something I lack. Nonetheless I pulled out my case of Technic bits and started away. I knew I wanted to match corners together in rotational symmetry and that they should all be connected. Starting with the Technic axle connector hub with 3 axles (Design ID 57585) I experimented to find the proper angle connector. The 112.5° connector #5 (Design ID 32015) got about as close as I could wish for.


21 April 2017

NEXOGON: The Technic connection

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This week we return to the geometric properties of the new LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ piece, Rotor w/ 4.85 hole (Design ID 27255). Brian D'Agostine of Portland, Oregon is no stranger to writing about LEGO pieces and techniques - his blog, Dag's Bricks, has been running longer than New Elementary for a start!

When I asked to be accepted into this parts festival my first inclination was to explore the geometry of the shape and figure out the dimensions in detail. I was also, by extension, interested in the geometric patterns that could be created in 2D and 3D space.

With a convention coming and my workload increasing weekly I was relegated to watching others post their discoveries and hoping I could finally get around to my write-up. Others had posted some exploration of the piece but there were still a few more aspects that I had wanted to explore.

17 April 2017

NEXOGON: Flying Saucergon

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Kevin Levell is back with another new creation using the LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™Combo Power shield, part 27255. Also, he's back on Flickr, so you can keep up with him after this parts festival is over!

As my previous builds had been, for the most part, geodesic, I wanted to start off at least by using the Nexogons as a flat building platform (of sorts). I had intended to do something other than another spaceship, but the Nexogon is just such a sci-fi looking object! Despite trying various explorations of the part, I kept being led back to all things sci-fi, in my failure to avoid another spacecraft I have built a flying saucer.

13 April 2017

NEXOGON: The Exalted Order

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Rounding off our run of the first creations by Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah on Flickr) using LEGO® Rotor, W/ 4.85 Hole (Design ID 27255) we have something altogether different once again!

So, I’m not that good at Space creations, but Nexogons seem made for them, so I thought I’d use the challenge to give the genre a go. I started off making a bulkhead doorway of some kind, but somewhere along the line it kind of morphed into a very large medal. A space medal… the Exalted Order of the Nexogon perhaps?


12 April 2017

NEXOGON: Guardian of the Golden Pearl

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Following his hunter's tent, today Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah on Flickr) has a vastly different build using the same technique with the Plate, Modified 6 x 6 Hexagonal with Pin Hole (Design ID 27255) from LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™.

My second pentagon-based build is a weed-encrusted giant clam, hiding a golden pearl in its centre. (Click to enlarge.)


11 April 2017

NEXOGON: The Hunter’s Camp

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We're back for the second wave of our parts festival, NEXOGON, where selected builders from around the world use the new LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ Combo Power shield (Design ID 27255) to create inspiring models. Today sees our first build from Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah on Flickr) from Melbourne, Australia. (Although that's my hometown, sadly I've never met him!)

This simple, small tent belongs to a hunter in the desert. I imagined the grey material of the roof would be the hardened hide of some beast, decorated with fur trimming, woollen cloth sides and sigils for good luck. (Click to enlarge.)




27 March 2017

NEXOGON: Hive

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Today, Li Li from MOC Recipes returns with another creation and beautiful geometric ideas using the new hexagonal LEGO® piece 27255 (Plate, Modified 6 x 6 Hexagonal with Pin Hole).

The Nexogon really reminds me of some sort of sci-fi beehive, so I created a large sci-fi colony.