NEXOGON: Stacking

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.

NEXOGON: In the arms of droids

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.

NEXOGON: The Technic connection

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.

NEXOGON: Flying Saucergon

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.

NEXOGON: The Exalted Order

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?

NEXOGON: Guardian of the Golden Pearl

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.)

NEXOGON: The Hunter’s Camp

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.)

NEXOGON: Hive

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.

NEXOGON: White Rhino

Today, for our parts festival celebrating the LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™Combo Power shield part 27255, we welcome back Christian Benito (a.k.a. Little Brick Root) with a wholly different creation to the building he gave us last time.

With my first model for the festival built and sent off, I had that intimidating tablescrap on my plate. I still wasn’t ready to use it, so I went back to the well and recreated an arcing shell from my Nexogons. It quickly became a shield in my mind’s eye. A really big shield. The kind of shield that a mecha would carry. So I built a mecha.

NEXOGON: Mecha with drone detail

Today we introduce Li Li; another of our featured builders in our parts festival using the new hexagonal LEGO® piece, 27255. Many of you will know Li from his website full of excellent building techniques, MOC Recipes, and if you don't - well, bookmark it now! Li has already sent a bunch of cool stuff and we kick off today with one of his models.

One of the first things that I wanted to build with the Nexogon was a mecha. This inverted triangular piece seemed like the perfect way to build a buff torso. So here’s my attempt.

NEXOGON: Coronae Softworks

Another of the 14 featured builders in our parts festival using LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ piece 'Rotor w/ 4.85 hole' makes his premiere today: Christian Benito (a.k.a. Little Brick Root). He lives in Portland, Oregon, as do two other builders I chose... by sheer coincidence!

When my Nexogons arrived, I was in the midst of a pre-convention building frenzy and I barely had time to do a bit of fiddling. With the con behind me, I had a particularly interesting tablescrap that I just didn’t know how to use. It uses Nexogons to make a really interesting shape, but nothing has come of it yet. Then in one of Tim’s articles I saw six Nexogons arranged in a star. A building came together in my head and Coronae Softworks was born.

NEXOGON: Classic Space scene

We left you on a bit of a cliffhanger when we showed you Kevin Levell's initial creations for our parts festival using the LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™Combo Power shield. Wait no more: let's blast off into Classic Space!

When I was building spheres for my NEXO Globeships, I heard the news that The LEGO Movie Sequel would be set in space. Surely this would mean 'Benny's space': Classic Space, the 'space' of my childhood? Suddenly my sphere needed to be a dome, a habitat or space lab for spacemen! (It’s probably pertinent to mention that I had just seen The Martian too.)

I’ll admit, I got a bit carried away after I had the ‘Hab/Dome’ built.

NEXOGON: The Enforcer

We welcome another new builder to the parts festival today: Luc Byard (on Facebook and Flickr) who is an active builder in the UK and in the Eurobricks ‘role building game’ Andromeda’s Gates. Today, he approaches LEGO® part 27255 in a wholly different way.

No civilian disturbances in sector 12

NEXOGON: Swamp Shrine

For his fourth instalment in our parts festival using the new hexagonal LEGO® piece 27255, Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw) abandons space in favour of... a swamp!

For my next build, I decided to do something a bit different from my standard fare, and went with a fantasy build rather than something sci-fi. The result is this abandoned shrine/temple, hidden away deep in a swamp. Just what is that glowing macguffin inside? The Fountain of Youth? A magic energy crystal? I don't know, but it looked cool.

NEXOGON: Patterns with pentagons

Our next builder in the NEXOGON parts festival, our celebration of LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ Combo Power shields, is Tom Klatt (thirteenthmonkey on Flickr) who hails from the state of Minnesota, USA. Tom's initial investigations paired the Nexogon with another brand-new LEGO piece we investigated recently...

This first build came together as I had the parts to LEGO Minecraft 21130 Nether Railway and one of the Nexo Knights battle suits lying near each other on my table. When I put the new Minecraft piece, Reddish Brown 'Plate 2x2, w/ design' (Element ID 6163991|Design ID 27928), where the NEXO power shield would normally go, I saw the potential for a face.

NEXOGON: More tips using part 27255

Let's take another breather from the amazing builds using LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ Combo NEXO Power shields and explore the geometry of this new piece further, this time with regular contributor Gary Davis (Bricks for Brains). 

The Nexogon joins a small family of LEGO® elements with attachment points at a rotation separation of 60° (and 30° in some cases).

NEXOGON: Hangar & launch tube

Duncan Lindbo returns today with this third set of creations in our parts festival using the LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™ piece Rotor w/ 4.85 hole, a.k.a. the Nexogon.

This build was inspired by a shape Tim built in his original post on the Nexogon's geometry. My original thought was that that would serve as a good base for a micro-scale train yard turntable, but trains aren't really my jam, so instead I built a spaceship hangar with a launch tube, inspired by the likes of Battlestar Galactica and EVE: Valkyrie.

NEXOGON: Globeships

One of my intentions when selecting builders for the NEXOGON parts festival using LEGO® part 27255 was to risk including people I'd never heard of. Kevin Levell used to build but that was eight or so years ago. However his renewed enthusiasm and ideas were so infectious, I just had to put him on the list! I'm already glad I did: here's his first bunch of creations for your enjoyment.

The Nexo Big Thing

An alien flies his old globeship...

 ...to his local ship dealer for a trade-in...

NEXOGON: Space Marine Drop-Pod

A new build for our parts festival from Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw on Flickr) today, using LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™Combo Power Shields (Design ID 27255) to fill an awkward gap.

Is it a meteor? A comet? No, it's a space marine drop-pod!

NEXOGON: Mini-Reactor One

Jeremy Williams (Bricking It on Flickr) has written for New Elementary many times and also took part in a previous parts festival. He's more excited about the Combo Power Shield than any other recent LEGO® part, and so he returns for our NEXOGON parts festival.

You may remember seeing my Reactor One model on Flickr last year, or 'in the brick' at Skaerbaek Fan Weekend or The Great Western Brick Show at STEAM. Well, I decided to use two Nexogons to create a miniature version of Reactor One!