Contest: Build and Fix inspiration from Kev Levell

We are running a LEGO® building contest going on at the moment using the new spaceship hull piece from LEGO 4+ sets as the seed part. Prizes are The LEGO® Movie 2 sets. Hopefully your experiments are well underway and we've received many entries already. We're not revealing any until after the contest ends (8 April 2019) however our friend Kev Levell has sent us something to inspire you. (He has decided not to enter the contest.)

Now, although Kev has built us a spaceship don't think that this is solely a spaceship-building contest. Indeed we are primarily looking for inventive uses of this new element, so while spaceships are of course welcome you may prefer to build something quite different. 

I was lucky enough to get The LEGO® Movie 2 set 70821 Emmet and Benny's ‘Build and Fix' Workshop before Christmas. I immediately loved the new hull part (Design ID 43979) and ordered a couple extra of them as soon as I could. Affectionately, I’ve been thinking of this piece as Big Ugly Space Hull (BUSH), which amused me. Sorry.

I had been tinkering with a spaceship design using 43979 when I saw New Elementary post the “Build and Fix” competition calling for models that used this new element as a seed part. This is a very quick, very simple model using three of them to show how cool the BUSH is (for Classic Space enthusiasts at least).

Bricks & Pieces: Jonas’ Highlights - February 2019

You may recall Jonas Kramm has decided to curate monthly lists of cool parts available from “Bricks & Pieces”, The LEGO Group’s service for individual new LEGO® elements, to save you checking the price and availability of the wanted pieces one by one. He's so nice! Here is his February update.

After receiving great feedback on my January list I have now added the highlights of Bricks & Pieces in February. As always you can find it on:

BnP.jonaskramm.com

2018 Parts Fest #2: Peter's Bloodborne beast and Vera Kamsha scene

In his second post, Russian builder Peter Guz showcases two more fantastic creations using the LEGO® elements we sent him for our parts festival.

When I saw candle parts, I imagined long and pale creepy fingers. I thought, who could have such fingers? I love the PlayStation game Bloodborne so much, and there are a lot of creepy creatures with cool designs in it. Vicar Amelia is one of the bosses, and the last high cleric of the Healing Church. She could not resist the curse of the old blood and became a beast.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Peter's Post Apocalyptic World and Flying Fortress

We are continuing with our ongoing LEGO® parts fest and welcome our penultimate guest builder, an extraordinarily talented young builder from Russia, Peter Guz. We are huge fans of Peter's work, but even we did not anticipate the creations Peter made in a short space of time with a parcel of elements we sent.  Peter is a builder of few words but his images speak for themselves. This is the first of two posts by Peter.

“Lanterns have to light” thought I at first. And then I found the mecha leg Elspeth made using a Lantern in the blog post Enlightening Elements. I realised that I must complete it and build a light-up Lantern mech using Black Lamp, No. 1 (Element ID 6227901 | Design ID 37776).

2018 Parts Fest #2: Devid VII's mecha, radiator and more

The next builder in our LEGO® parts festival is Devid VII, an Italian builder whose work I have admired for sometime, especially his mecha creations. Devid showcases a variety of ways to use our chosen parts festival elements, including this fantastic mecha just for us!

2018 Parts Fest #2: Hubtastic skyscrapers

As our parts festival nears its end, there are still a couple more LEGO® builders to come but two builders we have already featured sent me some further ideas using Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (Element ID 6227156 | Design ID 37195), an element only found in one set at present, 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5. So I thought both Sarah Beyer and Ralf Langer could share a hubtastic post, starting with Sarah.

When I first saw the hub cap my instant thought was "skyscraper". The silver colour and round shape remind me of modern cylindrical skyscrapers. The pattern adds an interesting aesthetic dimension and, seen from the side, makes excellent nanoscale windows. However I didn't have a clear idea about the surroundings and lay the concept to one side. Later on, when I was sorting loose parts, I came across the hub caps again.

Bricks & Pieces: Jonas’ Highlights - January 2019

We love highlighting new elements here at New Elementary and one of our regular contributors, Jonas Kramm, has recently started doing a really useful thing for LEGO® fans that we wanted you to know about: curating lists of the best new and recoloured parts he finds on on Bricks & Pieces. We asked him to introduce it to you.

The LEGO Group’s own service “Bricks & Pieces” is one of the sources to get your hands on individual new LEGO elements. It’s very up to date, not limited in quantities and has reasonable prices. But the main hindrance is that checking the price and availability of the wanted pieces one by one takes forever.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Ralf's Compass, Medieval cart and microscale menagerie

The next builder in our parts fest is Ralf Langer from Germany.  He previously wrote about integrating LEGO® Modulex bricks in two posts for New Elementary last year.  Ralf has a real knack for innovative parts use, sometimes illegally, but always with the potential for stunning results.  If you haven't seen his builds before then you are in for a treat.

I started off with Reddish Brown Mini Brush (Element ID 6046576 | Design ID 15232), quite a versatile part. It is not as versatile as it could be as it doesn't fit in a recessed stud because of its tapered ends.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Sarah's Furniture and Robot

Our next builder is Sarah Beyer from Sweden. We have been admiring her creations for some time as she builds beautiful homes with LEGO® bricks, complete with detailed interiors. We sent Sarah a parcel containing new parts to see what should would build.

My first reaction when I saw the parts sent to me, was that they would constitute great furniture material. I mostly build modern furniture for my MOCs, but these elements fit in both retro and contemporary surroundings.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Simon's naughty dog and a touch of Japanese Architecture

The next builder in our LEGO® parts festival is Simon NH, a talented guy from Austria who is best known for his clever use of parts, especially novel ways to create textures and patterns.

Let’s start off with a fun little build featuring the four new elements shown: Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] Hub Cap dia. 24 NO. 1 (6227156|37195) , White Tile 1X3 Inverted W/ 3.2 Hole (6223491|35459),White Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)  and Reddish Brown Mini Brush (6046576|15232).

2018 Parts Fest #2: Marcel V's Helmet, Kitchen and More

Our second guest builder taking part in our second 2018 Parts Fest is Marcel V, an excellent LEGO® builder from Germany with an eye for detail whose work is full of creative parts use. We posted him a selection of new LEGO parts last month and waited to see what would happen.

Yay, new elements to discover! Can’t wait to dive into it…

2018 Parts Fest #2: Grantmasters' elephant, church and more

We sent some of the most interesting new LEGO® parts from 2018 to fan builders to see how they would use them. Grantmasters received his elements in two parcels due to a slight logistics issue and so his first post took a look at the 1x1 brackets, and now the remaining elements are explored in this second post. Over to Grantmasters...

So, round 2 began after receiving a load more parts from New Elementary. Whilst this image isn't all of the parts sent, it is all of the parts I included in this lot of builds.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Grantmasters' 1x1 brackets

As well as running workshops at fan events like Skaerbaek or Paredes de Coura, we also like to post a bunch of new LEGO® elements to some of our favourite builders from across the world. We will be publishing the techniques and creations they came up with in the coming weeks, and then show you what builders at the Skaerbaek workshop did with them. First up we have Grantmasters, a talented builder from New Zealand. The first of his two posts takes a look at the 1x1 brackets: Medium Stone Grey [TLG]/Light Bluish Grey [BL] Plate 1X1, W/ 1.5 Plate 1X1, Downwards (Element ID 6248078|Design ID 36841) and Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/ Dark Bluish Gray [BL] 1X1, W/ 1.5 Plate 1X1, Upwards (6225494|36840).

Initially, I was a bit stumped by the brackets as they aren't really what I would usually consider a "decorative" seed part. Over the years I have regularly wanted one of these brackets for various builds.  I tried to arrange the brackets with different orientations and with other offset types of connections to see where that took me first.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Introducing the Elements

Clearly we love new elements here at New Elementary, and what better way to explore the potential connections and uses than to send a pile of new parts to some innovative and inspirational LEGO® builders.

Let's introduce the  elements released in the second half of 2018 that our guest builders will be taking a closer look at in the coming weeks.

PdC Parts Fest 2018: shield, mudguard and arch

I've been super-slow at showing you the rest of what was created in our workshop in Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal way back in June 2018... so here's a few more to inspire your building ideas. 25 builders were given 11 of the new LEGO® parts released in 2018 to create as many ideas, tablescraps, techniques and small MOCs as they could. Huge thanks go to Andrew Tipping for taking the photographs.

"Minifigure, Shield Rectangular with 4 Studs" [BL]/ "Plate 2X3 W/ Hor. 3,2 Shaft" [TLG] (Design ID 30166)

December roundup... and thanks for 2018

You'd be forgiven for missing some of our posts this month – we've been especially prolific! So as we depart 2018, we thought we'd round up December's posts for you.

New year... new elements

If you have been following @PrinceGalidor aka LEGO® designer Nick Vas on Twitter recently, you will have noticed a series of cryptic tweets that included images of some beautifully organised LEGO parts and some code-like strings of letters. We have been trying to decrypt his tweets and need your help!

Nick Vas' series of tweets all began in a rather innocuous fashion on 25th November. He tweeted a trippy image with three lines of text:

How curious, whatever could it mean?

2018 Parts Fest #1: Tim Goddard's BrickHeadz (and spaceships)

We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts from 2018 to some fan builders to build at home, and Tim Goddard (co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future, plug plug) not only built at home but also down the boozer. Following on from his main builds that we posted two months ago, here are some fun extras.

On the second Monday of every month, London AFOLs hold a gathering in a pub near Euston station. Prosaically, the meeting after I was given this parts selection, London AFOLs had a meetup and that month it was a BrickHeadz-themed evening.

I went prepared, taking this sub-build which uses the interesting hooped minifigure accessory (Element ID 6207840|Design ID 35485) which is only found in LEGO Super Heroes 76100 Royal Talon Fighter Attack and 76103 Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack.

Using the healthy stock of parts provided at the pub I ended the evening with this post-apocalyptic version of myself...

PdC Parts Fest 2018: Half-cone roof tower

At Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal in June 2018, New Elementary ran a workshop where 25 builders were given 11 of the new LEGO® parts released in 2018 to experiment with. With the clock running, they used these in combination with general part stock (provided from the magnificent collection of Comunidade 0937) to create as many ideas, tablescraps, techniques and small MOCs as they could and we’re sharing the most interesting and useful ones with you.

Today it's the turn of the new textured half-cone called Roof 2x4x4 by TLG, and Tower Roof 2 x 4 x 4 Half Cone Shaped with Roof Tiles by BrickLink. Its Design ID is 35563 and we had it in Earth Blue [TLG]/Dark Blue [BL] (Element ID 6209807) which you will find capping off two LEGO Disney Princess castles this year: 41152 Sleeping Beauty's Fairytale Castle and 41154 Cinderella's Dream Castle. It also comes in Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/Dark Bluish Gray [BL] (6230280) in two LEGO Harry Potter Wizarding World sets: 75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow and 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall. You'll also find it in Dark Red (6223601) in LEGO Juniors 10762 Belle's Story Time.

The roof tiles on it are really quite beautiful I think. Petal-like and somewhat oversized, they do suggest other applications for the part – but what will our fan builders come up with?

PdC Parts Fest 2018: Triangle tile

At Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal in June 2018, New Elementary ran a workshop where 25 builders were given 11 of the new LEGO® parts released in 2018 to experiment with. With the clock running, they used these in combination with general part stock (provided from the magnificent collection of Comunidade 0937) to create as many ideas, tablescraps, techniques and small MOCs as they could and we’re sharing the most interesting and useful ones with you.

The triangle tile (Design ID 35787, aka Tile 2X2, W/ Deg. 45 Cut or Tile, Modified 2 x 2 Triangular) was introduced early in 2018 within the Speed Champions theme and is already a firm favourite with fans. Let's see what our fan builders came up with.

Some builders used the tile to represent things... beautiful things!