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13 November 2016

The New Black: Venice 1486

Posted by Admin
Having already designed many small models that highlight new LEGO® parts for The New Black parts festival, Jonas Kramm returns today with a fully-fledged MOC, which he built with another Jonas!

The parts festivals here on New Elementary are all about sharing ideas with the community as top how new parts can be used, and it is always great to see builders with unique building styles and ideas use the given parts in different ways.

So I was glad when I got visited by the talented Jonas (Brick Vader) one weekend in August to talk about the LEGO hobby and to inspire each other. We started building a small scene from the game “Assassin's Creed 2” that takes place in Venice in 1486 and it turned out to fit perfectly some of the details I already built with the new moulds. In addition we added further details that also feature these new parts.


Since I already had built enough standalone ideas for The New Black, we put the focus of this build not on the integration of a high quantity of new parts but rather on the use of the elements as smaller details. That gave us the chance to add a lot of colour to this otherwise dark series.


New is the use of the tassel (Element ID 6156679 | Design ID 25375) as a door knocker, above left. The balcony is made out of a couple of Black pony tails (6129476 | 22411), above right.


Both the flasks and the lamp seen above were mentioned in previous articles here on New Elementary but fit perfectly in this scene.

Venice is well known for the famous gondolas that cruise down the canals, so we built one. It is built completely upside down and makes use of both of the Black curved slopes included in The New Black: the 2x3 curved slope (6147790 | 24309) and the 1x2 inverted curved slope (6147050 | 24201). While the new inverted slope is a really useful part and a great addition to the curved slope family, the 2x3 curved slope is not that special. In this case and most others, you could probably use two 1x3 curved slopes instead.

Not really visible in the main picture, right behind the middle column, is a bench built by Brick Vader.


It is a very nifty design that makes perfect use of the paint roller (6099599 | 12885) and the helmet decoration (6155122 | 11437), but uses some very fragile techniques.

Other details


Aside from the new moulds there are other part uses and techniques that could be worth a mention.


From left to right above:
  • Upside down Unikitty tails in Brick Yellow [TLG]/Tan [BL] (6109586 | 15429) allow for small facade details.
  • The brick arches are built with several hinge plates (Design ID 19954), and a tooth plate (49668) is the refractory arch stone.
  • Top of the chimney is an upside-down grey basket (4523), originally intended for minifigure backs.


    From left to right above:
    • Aside from the strange foam elements I mentioned previously, one more reason to care about LEGO Scala are the flowers (the piece is so special, it does not even has a part number), which can be used perfectly for small ornaments like on this bridge.
    • And of course the two parts that make this vase, an umbrella stand (6995) and a flower pot (33008), are from the Scala theme too. Both pieces came in the exquisite colour Medium Red [TLG]/ Salmon [BL]. Only 83 moulds were ever made in that colour.
    • Building lifelike trees is always a challenge. To make the trunk of this one as organic as possible, we played with flex tubes as the holding structure which get covered with whips (61975) and other flexible elements in brown (16877 and 30191).



    Magnificent work, Jonas and Jonas, thank you! Let's enjoy their completed scene once again, only larger this time... and you can click here to see it in full resolution on Jonas Kramm's Flickr page.






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    12 comments:

    1. Where did that 2 x 2 round tile in trans-clear come from?

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      Replies
      1. It's a Q-element and never appeared as a part in an official LEGO set. The part-colour combination was probably made as a prototype or for one of the LEGOLAND parks. Amongst others it's available at Bricklink.

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      2. Do you find these rare parts randomly? Or are you seeking them out? Is there a way to search Bricklink specifically for prototype/unreleased parts? I tried searching for "Q-elements" but I didn't get results.
        You've got some great ideas in that build, thanks for the inspiration.

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      3. Unfortunately there is no way to do so. But some sellers add HTF (hard to find) or RARE as a comment to the part. I know many fellow builders who are also collecting q-elements, so we trade them or show each other new finds.

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      4. "Q-element" is an internal LEGO term. Q stands for some Danish word that basically means it's a non-production part. There is no specific flag for Q-elements on Bricklink, and trying to add one would be problematic as Q status is always in flux, and their definition conflicts with our own. To us, any element that was released in the past is a production element (however rare), and will remain so for eternity. To them, as soon as it goes out of production, it reverts to Q status. Beyond that, any Q-element could pop up in a set and suddenly become very easy to obtain.

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      5. Great reply Anonymous, thanks! I never even wondered if the Q stood for something.

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    2. Thanks you for this post! Please make articles like this a regular features.

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    3. Wow! This is amazing! I like the inclusion of the Assassin ;)

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    5. Love the plague mask! Love the build and the use of orange/caramel and tan on the property.

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    6. This build is absolutely amazing. The attention to detail and inventively creative approach to form-making is inspirational. Wonderful to see featured here. Thank you!

      ReplyDelete
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