LEGO® Gothic script alphabet

A quick note to mention that Li Li, a winner in our recent contest, expanded his efforts and created a full set of capital letters in Gothic script (also known as Blackletter) using LEGO® pieces!

This image is just a taster - visit Li's blog, MOC Recipes, to see the full alphabet with a couple of building tips.

It's worth scrolling back in time to look at some of his earlier posts too; MOC Recipes is a great resource for techniques.

READ MORE: See other entries in our LEGO DNA competition

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol.7)

Here are the final entries received for our LEGO® lettering contest. Looks like you guys have been enjoying them as much as I have! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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Okay Yaramanoglu

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol.6)

We are down to the penultimate bunch of entries into our LEGO® lettering contest. Yes, nearly there! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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Li Li

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol.5)

Some more great entries to our LEGO® lettering contest are ready for you to enjoy! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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Eduardo Moreira

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol. 4)

Here are fifteen more entries submitted to our LEGO® lettering contest. Some 'out of the box' ideas today! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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Didier Dambrin

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol. 3)

Hey - it's our birthday! New Elementary began four years ago today, and what better way to celebrate than with more wonderful ideas submitted to our LEGO® lettering contest! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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Eduardo Moreira

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol.2)

It seems the range of imaginative ideas in our LEGO® lettering contest is blowing you guys away too - and here is the second bunch of entries for your delectation! Click any image to view larger.

View the original post announcing the contest

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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Steven Throm

"I designed the letters to have a keystone that is located as far to the upper left as possible. It is with a 45 degree angle or a quarter round. Each letter fits into a 4 stub by 5 stud rectangle."

Lettering contest: Entries (Vol. 1)

Well I did promise to message our competition winners yesterday but life has a habit of getting in the way! However us judges are indeed working to whittle down all the entries we received (more than 100!) to a mere three - it's not easy I can tell you. You guys are awesome! I'm absolutely blown away with the variety and ingenuity of the entries.

View the original post announcing the contest

In the meantime, we can now share all these great entries with you. With so many, they will be split over several posts. Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

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William Ramsey

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