32952, the new LEGO® SNOT piece

I've been discussing this on Twitter, but figured it was worth sharing with everyone. Many new set inventories for Summer 2017 have been uploaded onto the LEGO® Group's online parts database this week, so we get our first glimpse of new parts that we will soon be able to buy. A couple of people including occasional New E contributor Chris McVeigh pointed out one in particular.

NEXOGON: The Nexacore Building

Luc Byard surprised me with another creation for our parts festival today! LEGO® part 27255 is critical but nearly invisible in his bold piece of architecture.

One of the first things I thought about doing with Nexogons was using them for the core of some kind of structure, and here's where that led me.

To do so, I knew I would first need a better solution than I used in the Starglider to give the Nexogon a truly six-sided application.

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: Dragon’s head and scaling technique

Our next post from Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah on Flickr) for our parts festival describes the results when he tried using LEGO® Rotor, W/ 4.85 Hole (Design ID 27255) to create the effect of scales.

One of the first things I thought of when I received the Nexogon parts in bulk was the potential to arrange them in a scale-like pattern. I started off with a ‘spine’ of a single column of parts, and used them to create a dragon-like creature.

NEXOGON: Sanctum of the Clockwork King

Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw) is back again today with his Nexogons (the new hexagonal LEGO® piece 27255), taking things a step up...

Phew! This build used up all the Nexogons Tim sent me, and then some!

NEXOGON: Shanghai Tower

Following our run of spaceships utilising the new hexagonal LEGO® part 27255, today Li Li from MOC Recipes returns with a towering example of modern architecture! 

One of the buildings that I’ve always wanted to build is the Shanghai Tower, the world’s second-tallest building after Burj Khalifa. It has a very intriguing twisted shape. I didn’t have a good solution for it — until I saw the Nexogon. It’s perfect for building triangles with concentric centers.

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.

Minecraft 2017: Steampunk Spider

Jonas Kramm has sort of been running a mini-parts festival here on New Elementary recently using a piece from the new LEGO® Minecraft sets, and today he brings it to our other parts festival...

For this build I combined the 'birdhouse' plate (Design ID 27928) with another part that is being reviewed on New Elementary currently, the Nexogon (Design ID 27255). The result is a three-legged Steampunk spider creature.

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.

Minecraft 2017: More building ideas

Recently we've been lucky enough to have Jonas Kramm (who has literally just won another Iron Builder title!) investigating the pieces that come in the latest wave of LEGO® Minecraft sets for us and one in particular has intrigued him. Today he shows some more of the clever builds he's created using the new piece called “Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Pentagonal with Center Stud and 1 x 1/2 Raised Tab on Top” by BrickLink and “Plate 2X2, W/ Design” by TLG (Element ID 6163991|Design ID 27928).

Welcome back to more ideas using the new LEGO Minecraft mould. Having shown you two fence designs, amongst others, here are a few more uses of that element, starting with the first idea I built and the one that I like the most of all. In the comments on New Elementary someone already called this new modified wedge plate a “birdhouse plate” and that actually fits pretty well, as the part is just perfect for building birdhouses.

LEGO Birdhouse

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.)

Minecraft 2017: Techniques using LEGO® part 27928

Taking another small break from our parts festival, today sees the return not only of the interesting new Minecraft piece (which BrickLink have named 'Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Pentagonal with Center Stud and 1 x 1/2 Raised Tab on Top') but also of Jonas Kramm and his apparent predilection for street furniture!

In my previous article I showed you a long list of highlights from the new LEGO® Minecraft sets. Today I will present you the first ideas I came up with using the new mould, the modified 2x2 wedge plate in Reddish Brown (Element ID 6163991|Design ID 27928). Luckily we get a great number of this part — 24! — in the set 21130 The Nether Railway [available from Amazon US and Amazon UK], so I could play around with some ideas that use it repetitive ways. The generated structures immediately inspired me to build two fence designs.

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: 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.