2019 Skærbæk Workshop: lots of bits!

In September 2019 we ran a workshop at the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in Denmark. 60 AFOLs were given two hours to make interesting stuff using some of the newest LEGO® parts, and a supply of mostly random brick stock. Of the hundreds of models and tablescraps created, we are presenting some of the most interesting to inspire your own creations. My thanks to the SFW organisers, the New Elementary team on the day and our cheery photographer, Andrew Tipping.

Rather than highlighting particular elements, today's creations use various seed parts from the array in ingenious ways.

Erik Smit “Deer”

2019 Skærbæk Workshop: the round grey bits

In September 2019 we ran a workshop at the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in Denmark. 60 AFOLs were given two hours to make interesting stuff using some of the newest LEGO® parts, and a supply of mostly random brick stock. Of the hundreds of models and tablescraps created, we are presenting some of the most interesting to inspire your own creations. My thanks to the SFW organisers, the New Elementary team on the day and our cheery photographer, Andrew Tipping.

Today's selection of creations feature interesting uses of the various circular Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray pieces we included in the seed parts: Sphere 3X3X11/3, W/ Knob (49308 | 6263183), Plate 4X4, Circle, W/ 2 Knobs (32627 | 6250188) and finally Motorcycle Rim Ø 75 Solid (46334 | 6268590). Of course the builders used other seed parts too, but hey I've got to string these posts together somehow.

Patrick Koningh “Mad Scientist with Death Ray”

2019 Skærbæk Workshop: the crook bit

In September 2019 we ran a workshop at the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in Denmark. 60 AFOLs were given two hours to make interesting stuff using some of the newest LEGO® parts, and a supply of mostly random brick stock. Of the hundreds of models and tablescraps created, we are presenting some of the most interesting to inspire your own creations. My thanks to the SFW organisers, the New Elementary team on the day and our cheery photographer, Andrew Tipping.

We were surprised how popular the shepherd's staff, or crook (Tool, No. 10 in Medium Azure – 49492 | 6256157) proved at the workshop, so what better way to start this Parts Festival than to look at the creative ideas people came up with. Sadly the curved section is thinner than 3.18mm and so clips cannot connect to it, but that didn't stop them.

Axel Meyer “Curtain”

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's star-stuff

Yes, our completed LEGO® Parts Festival came back again! But it definitely finishes today, and what better way than with a creation by Duncan Lindbo who has really pushed the boat out with this festival. 

Everything is made of star-stuff, to paraphrase the late, great Carl Sagan. In the case of this MOC, that’s not just true in an abstract cosmic sense, it’s true in a more literal “I used a bunch of the new star pieces”.

I was casting around for ideas when it dawned on me that because the stars (Design Plate, 4X4X2/3, No. 1 in Bright Yellow/ Yellow – 6248804|39611) are two plates high, with a one plate high base and one plate high points, two columns of stars would mesh together easily. Throw a few meshed columns together, and they looked like the teeth of a gigantic shredder.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Ben Tritschler's Bone Fish

There's been a surprise rebirth of the LEGO® Parts Festival we ran in August and September! Two more models have just surfaced so we will bring them to you today and tomorrow, in advance of the next Parts Festival which kicks off very soon. Ben Tritschler (modestolus on Instagram and Flickr) was unfortunately unable to participate but has recently had time to create something. Ben is a member of the German online community RogueBricks and likes building all themes but recently has preferred Castle.

The first time I saw the shoulder pad, I knew I had to build a fish. The result is a a little scene in a museum and it shows the exhibit of the New Elementary Bone Fish – or to give it its Latin name: Nova Elementum Ossa Piscis.

Old Elementary: Insectoids legs

Duncan Lindbo returns today with another look at a weird LEGO® part from history and how it might be used in your creations today.

Today, we’re going to venture back into the dark days of the 1990s once again and take a look at some more parts from the Insectoids theme. Last time, we looked at some of the properties of the Insectoid wings; this time we’re looking at the legs. Bug legs! Weird biomechanical big legs!

Old Elementary: The 1x2 plate with the arm that moved

Today's look back into LEGO® part history comes from Felix Stiessen, an avid LEGO enthusiast from Austria who is always interested in discovering new and interesting techniques to exploit the unique geometry of certain LEGO bricks.

Making its first appearance in 1984’s LEGO Castle range, the basic design of the LEGO® 1x2 plate with a vertical bar attachment has now been around for 35 years. However, in 2008 LEGO introduced a subtle design change that might have gone unnoticed by many.

This article will explore the difference between Design ID 4623 - Plate W. Hook 1X2, and Design ID 88072 - Plate 1X2 W. Vertical Schaft (sic).

How the LEGO® element team designed the new gear wheels

We’ve really enjoyed this latest Parts Festival, which now draws to a close, and we are so grateful to the talented artists who gave us their time and creative talents for everyone’s pleasure; in no particular order – Jessica Farrell, Inthert, Jaap Bijl, Duncan Lindbo, Samuel Pister, Sarah Beyer and Jaroslaw Walter.

To complete the festival we will take another look at what are arguably the most noticeable parts in the selection; the new gear wheel plates that we affectionately named ‘splat gears’. You may recall back in March, Elspeth wrote a fantastic post listing the different kinds of LEGO gears through history, including an examination of the new splat gear family.

It seems LEGO enjoyed her post too! – we later received this fascinating email from Marinus Jasperse on behalf of the Element Design Platform Team at the LEGO Group about the development of the new gear family...

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's Schwebeadler

It's the final day of creations in our Parts Festival today and we hope you've been inspired by the incredible LEGO® models and techniques our global team of fan builders have come up with. (If you're looking for a building challenge yourself, check out our latest competition, Recycle my Bicycle!) To round things off, Duncan Lindbo creates a cool ship.

With Ma.Ktober approaching, I decided to get in on the action with this build for the parts fest. So, here’s the Schwebeadler, a two-person hovercraft used primarily for scouting and light anti-infantry duties.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Inthert and the pauldon

Our Parts Festival has almost ended but those of you with a good memory may recall there is an element that hasn't yet been shown in any of the LEGO® creations yet; Reinhardt's pauldron. We didn't have lots of this element and a couple of unfortunate complications meant that in the end, only one builder was able to use them. That builder is Inthert, and we're excited to present his ideas to you today!

As an AFOL who almost exclusively builds spaceships (more specifically, grey spaceships) there was one part amongst the selection I received that I took particular interest in: Design Element 5x5x3 in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (6254171|49523).

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo bugs out

After a break let's get back the last few contributions to our Parts Festival, where LEGO® builders use some of the newest parts to create inspiring ideas. Duncan Lindbo is back today, finding a place for the first creation he made for us.

Today we get to see where the TRT13 dropship was in such a rush to get to…

(Click image to enlarge)

The colony on planet LG-624 had gone silent, so a platoon of marines was dispatched to investigate. They start their search at the colony’s power plant complex. The massive reactor tower appears intact, but the shattered windows and flickering fires in the admin towers suggest some kind of struggle. More ominous still, the entire complex seems deserted: no sign of the colonists anywhere.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Samuel Pister's clown and soldier

Time for the second half of Samuel Pister's creations for our Parts Festival today, where LEGO® builders from around the world try out new pieces. If you missed his first bunch, they're here.

For this clown creation, I integrated many of the parts from the selection:

• Vibrant Coral Gear Wheel 6x6, Z14 (6258385| 35446)
• Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple Gear Wheel 2X2, Z6 (6238330 | 35442)
• Bright Purple/ Dark Pink Plate 3X3, Heart, No. 1 (6254513|39613)
• Bright Yellow/ Yellow Design Plate, 4X4X2/3, No. 1 (6248804|39611)
• Bright Orange/ Orange Tile 1X1, Heart, No. 1 (6258993|39739)

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jarekwally's chair and speeder

Following his earlier creations for our Parts Festival, LEGO® builder Jaroslaw Walter (jarekwally) focuses on some of the stranger elements among our seed parts.

Office chair

For the base of my retro furniture I used three of the seed parts: Black Turntable 2X2X1 w/ Function (6252373| 40145), Dark Stone Grey Turntable Holder W/ Cross Axle (6252372|40144) and Black Pneumatic Connecting Piece, No. 1 (6249327|41817).

2019 Parts Fest #1: Sarah Beyer's microscale

Following her experiments with new LEGO® Technic parts, Sarah Beyer presents some microscale creations for our Parts Festival.

Last time I used Brick, Modified 1 x 1 x 2/3 No Studs, Curved Top (Design ID 49307) to create arm rests for a sofa. I believe that this "D brick" will fulfil many different purposes in coming sets and MOCs. Below, I've used it as the roof of a microscale train.

LEGO® Hidden Side review: 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack

Hidden Side is a new LEGO® theme for 2019 featuring brick-built sets that combine with augmented reality (AR) to give a physical and digital aspect to each set. The Hidden Side range features eight building sets and interaction is via a smartphone app which reveals a hidden world of interactive mysteries and challenges to solve, using AR.

We are taking a look at a few Hidden Side sets and following 70425 Newbury Haunted High School, our second set up for review is 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack. This set has 579 pieces, one sticker sheet with 16 stickers, five minifigures and retails at £44.99 / US$49.99 / 49.99€.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo sings C is for Cookie

A little Sunday treat for you from Duncan Lindbo, as he continues his LEGO® Parts Festival explorations for us.

So there I was, staring at a pile of Vibrant Coral gears (Gear Wheel 6x6, Z14 – 6258385| 35446), trying to think of a MOC to make with them, when it struck me that they kind of look like a big splat (I’m not the first one to make this observation, I know). Then I tried to think of things with big pink splats on them, and the first thing that came to mind was a particular variety of cheap, disgusting, and totally delicious sugar cookie that pretty much every grocery store and supermarket around here has a generic variety of…

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jaap Bijl - week 2

Time for another update of what's been going through Jaap Bijl's (jaapxaap, found on Flickr and Instagram) head as he is faced with the various LEGO® parts in our Parts Festival.

There was one piece in the parts selection that was just weird to me. It's a white piece with some strange holes and details that didn't feel like LEGO to me. I was wondering why it even existed and why they would make such a part. But hey, if I think a piece doesn't deserve the name LEGO, I feel like that's enough reason to use it.

While looking at the piece, it suddenly came to me that it looked exactly like a security camera. So I took some bricks together and made a little scene to prove that even this piece is useful.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Inhert's Splat Gear Experiments

Back to the Parts Festival fun today as our LEGO® fan builders find uses for 2019 parts. Following his discoveries with the big yellow star, Inthert returns today with fascinating analysis of the gear wheels.

Perhaps it was their bright colours or unusual shape but the three sizes of the affectionately dubbed ‘splat gears’ immediately caught my eye as I emptied all the parts onto my build table.

• Vibrant Coral Gear Wheel 6X6, Z14 (Element ID 6258385 | Design ID 35446)
• Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/ Dark Bluish Gray [BL] Gear Wheel 4X4, Z10 (6252371|35443)
• Medium Lilac [TLG]/ Dark Purple [BL] Gear Wheel 2X2, Z6 (6238330|35442)

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's Castle Maze Puzzle

After his initial creation using the new LEGO® stud shooter, Duncan Lindbo returns with a wholly different idea, this time using the new gear wheel, as part of our ongoing Parts Festival.

When I got my shipment of Gear Wheel 4x4, Z10 (Design ID 35443) from New Elementary, it didn’t take me long to come up with an idea for a MOC that used them. With a diameter of six studs including the teeth, and four studs without, they’re big enough to have some space to work on without requiring a tremendous investment in parts. Also, the ones I got were Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray (Element ID 6252371), which works well for a variety of uses (they also come in Medium Azure, 6238331).

So I built a slide puzzle. Not just any slide puzzle, but one in which the pieces also rotate!

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jarekwally's Space Base, candle and summer break

Following his first creation for our Parts Festival, LEGO® builder Jaroslaw Walter (jarekwally on Flickr, Facebook & Instagram) returns today with three more varied builds all using our seed parts.

Base in Space