2019 Kockice Convention workshop: part 1

It's time for another parts festival at New Elementary, where we put LEGO® elements from 2019 in front of LEGO fans and see what techniques, tablescraps and MOCs they come up with.

To kick things off we have the results of our workshop in Croatia earlier this year which was a part of the Kockice Convention in Zagreb. Over 100 AFOLs from 13 countries attended and you can read a report by The LEGO Group about the event here.

21318 Treehouse: designer interview with César Soares

This week, the LEGO® Ideas set 21318 Treehouse was officially revealed. It has 3036 pieces and is coming out on 1 August for £179.99/ US$199.99/ €199.99, but LEGO VIPs can already order it now. Our review is coming soon but here is an exclusive interview we had with the set's designer César Soares, with Monica Pedersen from Marketing also present.

Wow! You kept it at a good size then.

César: Yes, this is actually very close to the fan submission size [by Kevin Feeser – Ed.]. I think his is a bit taller.

Was it the intention to stick as closely as possible to what had been voted for?

César: Yes, absolutely. We always try to stay as close as possible. We have to change some things. In this case, the base for instance. He had a square grey base and the whole thing is very organic so a square base would look a little bit odd. So we thought, why not make it more organic, make it green also to mimic the grass or plants, and a little stream. Another thing is the cabins; in the original submission they were all brown. And actually the first sketch model was all brown but then Sam [Johnson, the creative lead of LEGO Ideas] wrote me and said, “hey, they don’t pop out as much as we would like, so make them another colour.” That’s why they are medium dark flesh instead of brown, and the same thing with the roofs. They were dark tan and brown as well, so again we felt a little bit of colour might add something.

LEGO® Overwatch: Bastion alternate model

Yesterday, Victor Pruvost gave us his detailed review of the build of LEGO® Overwatch set 75974 Bastion, but he wasn't done with just that! Given that Bastion comes with an alternate mode, how about an alternate model? Victor pulled the robot apart and pondered what to create using the same parts.

My friend Martin suggested I do a dragon and I quickly realised it was a brilliant idea considering Bastion’s inventory: the wings could be built out of Tan plates, there were plenty of parts to articulate the beast, and the light brick was a perfect way to represent the fire-breathing action!

Bricks & Pieces: Jonas’ Highlights - May 2019

My newest list of Bricks & Pieces highlights has been online now for two weeks but I never got around to writing something about it. But the list is worth it for sure, so take a look here:

BnP.jonaskramm.com

Many new sets launched recently so we get a long list with a wide variety of bricks that are now available. Worth pointing out are LEGO® Stranger Things 75810 The Upside Down – with a small selection of plates, windows and minifigure parts, and Disney Minifigure Series – with some elements like the black plant and flower.

2018 Bricks in Florence workshop: clockwork creations and moustachioed animals

Last November we attended Bricks in Florence Festival (BiFF), hosted by ToscanaBricks in Italy. We ran workshops with fan builders using new LEGO® parts from 2018 – the same seed parts we used at Skærbæk Fan weekend a few weeks prior. 

Robert Gigli "Mechanical Mechanic"

2018 Bricks in Florence workshop: new part connections

Last November we attended Bricks in Florence Festival (BiFF), hosted by ToscanaBricks in Italy. We ran workshops with fan builders using new LEGO® parts from 2018 – the same seed parts we used at Skærbæk Fan weekend a few weeks prior. Today we're sharing some of the interesting connections our builders noted about the new elements on offer.

Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (37195)

Cristiano Grassi noted the ball at the tip of levers and walkie talkies sits neatly in the wheel 'spokes'.

2018 Bricks in Florence workshop: the pantograph, candle and puppy ear

Last November we attended Bricks in Florence Festival (BiFF), hosted by ToscanaBricks in Italy. We ran workshops with fan builders using new LEGO® parts from 2018 – the same seed parts we used at Skærbæk Fan weekend a few weeks prior. 

Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)

Here are a couple of microscale ideas using the candle introduced in Harry Potter sets.

Cristiano Grassi 'Future City'

2018 workshops

This last week we've been showing you creations from the New Elementary workshop at Skærbæk Fan Weekend, and next we'll move on to the one we ran at Bricks in Florence Festival which used the same seed parts. We thought this would be an opportune moment to share some pictures of both the workshops.

Skærbæk Fan Weekend workshop

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: the lantern and the puppy ear

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. At Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark last year, 70 builders explored some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

Lamp, No. 1 (Element ID 6227901 | Design ID 37776)
Design Plate 1X1, No. 1 (6231382 | 35463) 

Another two seed parts for you today. Lamp, No. 1 first appeared in Harry Potter sets in 2018 in Titanium Metallic [TLG] / Pearl Dark Gray [BL], but the Black version comes in other themes like Disney and Elves as well as the LEGO Xtra polybag 40312 Streetlamps.

As for the other, it's called Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Tooth / Ear Vertical, Triangular on BrickLink but here at New E we prefer the nickname 'floppy puppy ear'. It is still only found in one set, the dalmatian Prince Puppycorn blind bag from 41775 Unikitty! Collectibles Series 1. Each bag has only one black ear, as the other is white. We gave our builders hundreds to build with.

Bailey Fullerton “Lantern Speeder"

"Every part is a spaceship part", be it thrusters...

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: wheel hub

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. We’ve fallen a little behind at presenting the results to you so it’s time to play catchup! Just wind your clocks back to last September at Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark where 70 builders spent a good couple of hours exploring some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (Element ID 6227156 | Design ID 37195)

The Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] hubcap is still only found in one set at present, 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5. Especially interesting are the illegal connections some people found.

Anne Jeppesen “Drone”

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: the candle and the inverted tile

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. We’ve fallen a little behind at presenting the results to you so it’s time to play catchup! Just wind your clocks back to last September at Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark where 70 builders spent a good couple of hours exploring some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)
Tile 1X3, Inverted, W/ 3.2 Hole (6223491 | 35459)

Two elements to focus on today. White Candle No.1 only comes in White so far and appears in three sets in the Wizarding World theme as well as BrickHeadz 40348 Birthday Clown and 10264 Corner Garage. The candle is made up of two sections; a 3.18mm diameter bar that is 3mm long and a wider 5.8mm hollow portion that accepts 3.18mm bar connections in its base.

White Tile 1X3, Inverted, W/ 3.2 Hole (Element ID 6223491 | Design ID 35459) was first introduced within the Unikitty theme last year but can be found within many sets now including 21043 San Francisco and 21150 Minecraft Skeleton BigFig with Magma Cube.

Rafal Piasek “Line Jumper"

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: the pantograph shoe

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. We’ve fallen a little behind at presenting the results to you so it’s time to play catchup! Just wind your clocks back to last September at Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark where 70 builders spent a good couple of hours exploring some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

3.2 Shaft Element, No. 1 (Element ID 6226706 | Design ID 37494) 

Called Hinge Train Pantograph Shoe on BrickLink, this is a relatively rare part as it only appears in two train sets and only in Black at the moment. You will find one in 60197 Passenger Train and two in 60198 Cargo Train. It's used as the pantograph to conduct electricity from overhead lines but we thought the plentiful 3.18mm connections and unusual angles would make it ideal for a parts festival.

Paul Lee "Micro post apocalyptic rover with steering and roll bars"

Bricks & Pieces: Jonas’ Highlights - April 2019

With a new month comes new pieces on “Bricks & Pieces”, The LEGO Group’s service for purchasing individual new LEGO® elements. My highlights for April are here and while the list is short I still made some interesting findings. As always you can find my list here:

BnP.jonaskramm.com

Most new parts come from the LEGO 4+ theme this month and therefore are quite big such as the new 1x8x3 Slope (Design ID 49618) and the new POOP: 1x4x3 Brick (49311). The latter is pretty useless for the AFOL community but the former will definitely find some use. Its angle is 25° in TLG's nomenclature or 33° if you prefer BrickLink's. It is only found in Toy Story 4 10767 Duke Caboom's Stunt Show at present.

AFOL Designer Program: The LEGO® Story

It has been a couple of months since the 16 finalists in the AFOL Designer Program, hosted by BrickLink and supported by The LEGO Group, were revealed. We know two of the finalists well and asked them both to tell us a little about their winning designs. Last time Jonas Kramm described his Wild West Saloon, and today we have another Jonas K! – namely Jónás Kovács, a Hungarian university student living in Serbia, known online as BrickJonas.

Hopefully most of you have already seen The LEGO® Story, which is a limited edition set designed by me and packed and delivered by BrickLink. I sent this LEGO set idea to the AFOL Designer Program and was one of the 16 builders who entered the final, pre-order phase in the program. Today, I would like to talk a little bit about my submission, and show you some interesting details in it.

AFOL Designer Program: Wild West Saloon

Recently there's been a lot of interest in the AFOL Designer Program, where a handful of fan builders have had their designs turned into crowdfunded sets for sale. Given that a couple of the builders are good friends of New Elementary, we thought we'd ask them for an insider's view on their designs and the program itself. First up, Jonas Kramm reveals how he used this opportunity to make a Wild West Saloon that is also an exciting parts pack. 

The AFOL Designer Program is a first-of-its-kind cooperation between The LEGO Group and BrickLink. Both companies collaborate on making a small selection of fan designs into sets for sale. That may sound like a second LEGO® Ideas to you but I will take a look at the differences, and they are essential!

Build & Fix contest: the winners

At last the time has come to reveal the most innovative uses of  'Ship Front 12X12X1 1/3' (Design ID 43979), as created by our readers. Our judges Sven Franic and Jonas Kramm had tough decisions to make, so without further ado let's see who their favourites were.

The five equal winners

In no particular order... the five builders each winning 70828 Pop-Up Party Bus and 70841 Benny's Space Squad are...

The Cheese Slicer, by Bas van Houwelingen

Build & Fix contest entries: Part 4

We chose a difficult, controversial seed part for our latest LEGO® contest: 'Ship Front 12X12X1 1/3' (Design ID 43979). The idea was to BUILD using the seed part in an inventive way to FIX those negative opinions that this is merely a Big Ugly Ship Hull.

Once again, New Elementary readers blew us away with their superb ideas. Our judges, Sven Franic and Jonas Kramm, have made the tough decisions but before we reveal the five winners tomorrow, we are showing you all 53 entries received – here is the final bunch. Missed part 1? Start here.

Electric rock guitar

By
Csaba Toth

Build & Fix contest entries: Part 3

We chose a difficult, controversial seed part for our latest LEGO® contest: 'Ship Front 12X12X1 1/3' (Design ID 43979). The idea was to BUILD using the seed part in an inventive way to FIX those negative opinions that this is merely a Big Ugly Ship Hull (BUSH).

Once again, New Elementary readers blew us away with their superb ideas. Our judges, Sven Franic and Jonas Kramm, have made the tough decisions but before we reveal the five winners, we will show you all 53 entries received over the course of the next few days. Missed part 1? Start here.

Honored Adventurer

By
Big Stannis

Build & Fix contest entries: Part 2

We chose a difficult, controversial seed part for our latest LEGO® contest: 'Ship Front 12X12X1 1/3' (Design ID 43979). The idea was to BUILD using the seed part in an inventive way to FIX those negative opinions that this is merely a Big Ugly Ship Hull.

Once again, New Elementary readers blew us away with their superb ideas. Our judges, Sven Franic and Jonas Kramm, have made the tough decisions but before we reveal the five winners, we will show you all 53 entries received over the course of the next few days. Missed part 1? Start here.

Hera Customs Official

By
Oscar Cederwall (o0ger)

I ordered six 43979 and started combining them in different ways. I liked the shape I got from combining two of the parts stud-to-stud. I started attaching bricks on the outside of the parts and this is the result. There are two engines with two 43979 each, and there are also two 43979 in the front of the fuselage.

Build & Fix contest entries: Part 1

We chose a difficult, controversial seed part for our latest LEGO® contest: 'Ship Front 12X12X1 1/3' (Design ID 43979). The idea was to BUILD using the seed part in an inventive way to FIX those negative opinions that this is merely a Big Ugly Ship Hull.

Once again, New Elementary readers blew us away with their superb ideas. Our judges, Sven Franic and Jonas Kramm, have made the tough decisions but before we reveal the five winners, we will show you all 53 entries received over the course of the next few days.

Anatomical Mouth Model

By
Quoting

A model of the mouth and teeth like you would find at the dentist.