Alt Star Wars: Kev Levell's mothership and fighter

We set Kevin Levell an epic task: to come up with his own original build using only the parts found in the latest wave of LEGO® Star Wars sets. That's seven sets with over 3000 parts at his disposal! Kevin shows us today what he's come up with and describes the creative process.

The challenge was to build something from the newest wave of LEGO® Star Wars sets but throughout the building process, one of the biggest temptations for me has been to sneakily/subtly add to the available selection of parts from my collection. I have remained disciplined, using only the parts contained within sets 75206, 75207, 75208, 75209, 75210, 75211 and 75212.

I had a number of ideas I wanted to explore, and I experimented extensively with various building techniques along the way in order to try to realise some of them. What I have finished up with for my main build is a long way from where I started out.

Sand Green Pete Machines: New turtles, robots and more

Who would have thought that not one but two of this year's LEGO® Architecture sets would provide the necessary 3x3 dishes for Peter Reid to create entire new fleets of his iconic robot turtles? Having analysed all the exciting new parts in 21042 Statue of Liberty, I simply had to send the Sand Green elements off to him to see what would happen.

Receiving the parts from New Elementary (along with some gentle bullying by Brickset) meant it was time for another robot turtle. It only seems like a week or two since we got Magenta ones. What a time to be alive.

Tim asked me to make a single Sand Green turtle, but one thing led to another and I ended up developing some additional models, which nobody asked for.

Mk II Liberty Launcher

LEGO® Star Wars 2018: the parts

With the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, it's a timely moment to see what excitements the most recent batch of LEGO® Star Wars range has brought us in terms of new parts. We've challenged Kevin Levell to free-build using only parts from sets 75206 - 75212 inclusive and you'll see the results in the coming weeks; but before he built anything, we asked that he review the new parts from every set for you.

Seven sets. 3062 parts. 29 minifigures. 56 new parts.

For many, the main attraction of new LEGO® Star Wars sets are the minifigures, and across these sets there are a total of 29. This includes three weird looking dog things, Corellian Hounds I'm informed, and three droids.

Shanghai Pete: New turtles, weapons and ships

Regular readers will know that Peter Reid loves fresh turtle. He's been building them since 2004 and his LEGO® Ideas Exo Suit set also included an official – and legal – version of the MkIII M364 Turtle. It’s one of this Neo-Classic Space fan’s most popular designs and as the years pass by, the key parts to build the turtle become available in new colours. Peter always seizes on these opportunities to add to his turtle army, so when the 2018 LEGO Architecture set 21039 Shanghai introduced the 3x3 radar dish in Bright Reddish Violet [TLG]/Magenta [BL] (Element ID 6217587|Design ID 43898), we knew we just had to get Peter a copy to see what he’d make this time. Click/tap images to view larger.

“The Shanghai set is great. It's got five magenta 3x3 dishes, which means I can finally make magenta robot turtles. As per tradition I've experimented with a couple of heavy weapons: the Twin Heavy Blaster and Armoured Quad Cannon.”

The History of the Space Turtle

The best-known LEGO® model by British AFOL Peter Reid is his Exo Suit, but everyone who bought the official LEGO Ideas version, 21109 Exo Suit, knows his Space Turtle just as well. The turtle has been around much longer, having appeared in the bestselling book he co-created with Tim Goddard – LEGO Space: Building the Future, as well as thrilling thousands of children at LEGO fan shows as a part of his extraordinary Turtle Factory display piece.

We are going to reveal a new turtle exclusive for you here at New Elementary but for context, let’s first look back at the history of the space turtle and ask Peter to take us inside his universe where the robot turtles are hard-working, loyal mechanoids, created by the manufacturing giant Anodyne Systems. The M364 turtle has been deployed on numerous Federation outposts where they perform a wide range of duties, and upgraded M450 units are widely used throughout the corporate security sector.

LEGO® Ideas 21314 TRON: Legacy

The latest LEGO® Ideas set 21314 TRON: Legacy is available from March 31, 2018 priced £29.99/ US$34.99/ 34.99€. It depicts the iconic race between two light cycles and is based on the 2010 film which is a sequel to the technically ambitious 1982 original.

The original submission, by fans BrickBrosUK from Devon, proposed one light cycle and minifigure. Even though this has been expanded to include another light cycle and two further minifigures, it's still a small set at just 230 pieces. And of course, you are building the same vehicle twice. Thankfully it's an ingenious build; clever in its compactness and some interesting connections. But as ever, we are here to discuss the parts!

PdC Parts Festival: More from Peter Reid

Today brings the final post in our current parts festival giving you inspiration for using new LEGO® pieces. Last time, Peter Reid and friends gave us Neo-Classic Space micro spaceships but today Peter's creations are more more eclectic. On that note, where better to start than with a...  

Krablaxian Death Snail

A heavily armoured, bio augmented cybernetic warrior snail, with blip pilot.

Parts used: 2 x 30925

PdC Parts Festival: Classic Space micro ships

Our latest parts festival is nearing its end but fear not, we have some models from Peter Reid and his pals, using the parts he took home after attending our final session. Although he rarely makes instructions of his work, Peter has listed which of the new parts he used in each model, so you can get hold of the ones you're less likely to have.

LL611

This first model, a Neo-Classic Space (NCS) micro ship, was made during the New Elementary workshop in Portugal. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make anything decent in an unfamiliar building environment, but it turned out fine; after one or two false starts I had this little beauty in hand. I managed to safely bring it home and put the ship in a safe place, ready for photography. I immediately lost it, and had to recreate it from pictures taken by the lovely Miguel.

Parts used: 2 x 29120, 2 x 29119, 1 x 25892

PdC Parts Festival: "Oops, Wrong Portal"

At the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal we ran a live 'parts festival' workshop and afterwards, some participants took the new LEGO® parts home to continue experimenting. Alexandre Campos (the Ambassador for PLUG, the Portuguese LEGO User Group) is usually a LEGO Technic builder, so it's a good thing that our parts festivals are all about challenging people! Alexandre sent us this build using the parts and explains how the parts inspired him.

"Guys, I think we got the wrong address. Could you open the portal back home? Uh, guys? Guys?..."

Bricktastic 2017: Event videos

I shot a couple of quick videos on my phone at Bricktastic, the LEGO® show in aid of Fairy Bricks.

It was an awesome event! As you can see, plenty of people, but also plenty of space to move around. This was a deliberate move by the organisers to ensure people didn't get stressed by the crowds or feel they couldn't stop and stare at something for ages... like these amazing models....

LEGO® Ideas 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V

Blast off with Elspeth De Montes as she reviews the latest LEGO® Ideas set. Elspeth examines all the new interesting and printed pieces that come in this enormous set, and then describes cool techniques used in the build process.

LEGO Ideas set No.17, 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V has finally landed after a fairly lengthy wait in production orbit. The original fan designers Felix Stiessen (saabfan) and Valérie Roche (whatsuptoday) submitted their version of the Apollo 11 Mission Model to the LEGO Ideas platform back in August 2014 and achieved the required 10,000 supporters by November 2015. After passing review in June 2016, the final set is due in stores on 1 June 2017, with 1969 parts (a perfectly calculated number to reflect the year of man’s first steps on the moon) and a price tag of US$119.99/£109.99/119.99€. This is the largest set to be released within the Ideas theme to date, both in terms of part count and the model’s impressive 100cm final height... or length.

NEXOGON: The Millennium Falcogon

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...

NEXOGON: Starglider

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.

NEXOGON: The Inexorable

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.

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: 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: 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.