LEGO® Creator Expert review: 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander

Revealed today, the spectacular LEGO® Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander comes with 1087 pieces, and will be available June 1st 2019 for 89.99€/ US$99.99. Sven Franic took this modular module for a spin, and had a blast!

The LEGO Group (TLG) has a longstanding relationship with NASA which has ensured minifigures are no strangers to space travel. They once sent three minfigures as far as Jupiter, just for fun. If the number of NASA-themed LEGO Ideas proposals are anything to go by, there seems to be a recent increase in popularity of non-fictional space sets. The LEGO Ideas 21309 Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket is great for demonstrating the different rocket stages and modules, but despite its impressive size, the most iconic landing module which touched the surface of the moon was tiny compared to the entire vessel.

LEGO® Braille bricks

2023 Update! LEGO® Braille bricks will be available 1 September and available to pre-order now!
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New Elementary are spending three days gathering news stories and interviews at the Recognised LEGO® Fan Media Days in Billund, Denmark (thanks in part to the help of our 40 magnificent patrons on Patreon). On Day 1, Stine Storm of The LEGO Foundation showed us a prototype of their new product: LEGO® Braille bricks.

The LEGO Foundation own 25% of The LEGO Group (TLG), and that means that when TLG are doing well, The LEGO Foundation have money for exciting projects like LEGO® Braille bricks, announced earlier this year. The sets will be given to blind and visually impaired children for free, with the first round of markets launching in late 2020. The LEGO Foundation will work with a blindness association in each country to administrate this. Therefore the sets will be owned by individuals rather than schools or organisations. The Foundation hope the sets will be passed from child to child as each progresses from the bricks to regular Braille.

2018 Bricks in Florence workshop: clockwork creations and moustachioed animals

Last November we attended Bricks in Florence Festival (BiFF), hosted by ToscanaBricks in Italy. We ran workshops with fan builders using new LEGO® parts from 2018 – the same seed parts we used at Skærbæk Fan weekend a few weeks prior. 

Robert Gigli "Mechanical Mechanic"

2018 Bricks in Florence workshop: new part connections

Last November we attended Bricks in Florence Festival (BiFF), hosted by ToscanaBricks in Italy. We ran workshops with fan builders using new LEGO® parts from 2018 – the same seed parts we used at Skærbæk Fan weekend a few weeks prior. Today we're sharing some of the interesting connections our builders noted about the new elements on offer.

Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (37195)

Cristiano Grassi noted the ball at the tip of levers and walkie talkies sits neatly in the wheel 'spokes'.

2018 Bricks in Florence workshop: the pantograph, candle and puppy ear

Last November we attended Bricks in Florence Festival (BiFF), hosted by ToscanaBricks in Italy. We ran workshops with fan builders using new LEGO® parts from 2018 – the same seed parts we used at Skærbæk Fan weekend a few weeks prior. 

Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)

Here are a couple of microscale ideas using the candle introduced in Harry Potter sets.

Cristiano Grassi 'Future City'

2018 workshops

This last week we've been showing you creations from the New Elementary workshop at Skærbæk Fan Weekend, and next we'll move on to the one we ran at Bricks in Florence Festival which used the same seed parts. We thought this would be an opportune moment to share some pictures of both the workshops.

Skærbæk Fan Weekend workshop

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: the lantern and the puppy ear

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. At Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark last year, 70 builders explored some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

Lamp, No. 1 (Element ID 6227901 | Design ID 37776)
Design Plate 1X1, No. 1 (6231382 | 35463) 

Another two seed parts for you today. Lamp, No. 1 first appeared in Harry Potter sets in 2018 in Titanium Metallic [TLG] / Pearl Dark Gray [BL], but the Black version comes in other themes like Disney and Elves as well as the LEGO Xtra polybag 40312 Streetlamps.

As for the other, it's called Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Tooth / Ear Vertical, Triangular on BrickLink but here at New E we prefer the nickname 'floppy puppy ear'. It is still only found in one set, the dalmatian Prince Puppycorn blind bag from 41775 Unikitty! Collectibles Series 1. Each bag has only one black ear, as the other is white. We gave our builders hundreds to build with.

Bailey Fullerton “Lantern Speeder"

"Every part is a spaceship part", be it thrusters...

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: wheel hub

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. We’ve fallen a little behind at presenting the results to you so it’s time to play catchup! Just wind your clocks back to last September at Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark where 70 builders spent a good couple of hours exploring some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (Element ID 6227156 | Design ID 37195)

The Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] hubcap is still only found in one set at present, 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5. Especially interesting are the illegal connections some people found.

Anne Jeppesen “Drone”

LEGO® Stranger Things parts review: 75810 The Upside Down

The LEGO Group has announced its first ever product collaboration with Netflix, LEGO® Stranger Things: 75810 The Upside Down. The set was revealed today in launch events in New York and London with special midnight opening. It has 2287 pieces and RRP is US$199.99 /CA$269.99 / DE€199.99/UK £179.99. It is available now for LEGO VIP members, with a full release coming June 1.

2018 Skærbæk Workshop: the candle and the inverted tile

Two or three times a year, New Elementary run building workshops at AFOL conventions. Attendees use new LEGO® parts with general brick stock to come up with quick, interesting ideas. We’ve fallen a little behind at presenting the results to you so it’s time to play catchup! Just wind your clocks back to last September at Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark where 70 builders spent a good couple of hours exploring some elements released in summer 2018. Here are some of our favourite creations and interesting techniques they came up with.

Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)
Tile 1X3, Inverted, W/ 3.2 Hole (6223491 | 35459)

Two elements to focus on today. White Candle No.1 only comes in White so far and appears in three sets in the Wizarding World theme as well as BrickHeadz 40348 Birthday Clown and 10264 Corner Garage. The candle is made up of two sections; a 3.18mm diameter bar that is 3mm long and a wider 5.8mm hollow portion that accepts 3.18mm bar connections in its base.

White Tile 1X3, Inverted, W/ 3.2 Hole (Element ID 6223491 | Design ID 35459) was first introduced within the Unikitty theme last year but can be found within many sets now including 21043 San Francisco and 21150 Minecraft Skeleton BigFig with Magma Cube.

Rafal Piasek “Line Jumper"