Would brick roses smell as sweet?

Recently I created some small flower bouquets. It may be a little early for Valentine’s Day, but even so, its better to be early rather than late.

The yellow rosebuds are the same as the roses I created for Max Harris last year only in a different color.

I was asked to create a smaller bouquet, but then I was asked if I could make open roses. This was the result:

I’m still not sure if I’m 100% happy with these, but they are the closest I’ve come so far. They are a little small at only two inches wide so now the challenge is if I can build a slightly larger rose with the same feel.

The Challenger Seven

Like many school children on January 28th, 1986 I was sitting in a classroom watching the Challenger Shuttle as it started its journey into space. Sadly it was not to be a happy ending. Even now, twenty-five years later I can remember that moment like it was yesterday.

Dave & John Xandegar, that father and son model building team, have created a tribute to the seven astronauts that lost their lives that day.

Great job Dave and John for sharing this with us.

James May’s Lego House (microscale)

In 2009 I wrote about James May’s LEGO house. Well the real creation was truly amazing in the shear size of it, this microscale version by JETfri is just plain cute!

It may be simple in design, but so was the actual house. Just seeing this made me smile today, so I thought I’d share it with all of you.

The LEGO Mega Mystery Mural in Australia

Photo Credit: Charles Brewer

Recently at the Sydney Aquarium the world’s largest publicly created LEGO mosaic was built with the aid of Master Model Builder Steve Gerling. Here you can see a section of the 17,280 6×6 knob spaces waiting to be filled.

Photo Credit: Charles Brewer

And here’s Steve himself working on the mosaic. You can really get an idea of size with him standing next to it.

Photo Credit: Charles Brewer

As a sort of “build-by-number” guide each 6×6 plate has the colors printed on them and the back of the plate tells Steve where that particular plate goes on the overall mosaic.

Photo Credit: Charles Brewer
Photo Credit: Charles Brewer

It takes 622,080 1×1 bricks in various colors to build the entire picture!

So, what did the final mosaic look like? Well unfortunately I couldn’t find a picture of the actual mosaic, but I did find a picture of the image:

If you find yourself in Sydney this year, stop by and see the finished mosaic. It will be on display through 2011.

If you love Maersk you’ll love this

For those in the know Maersk is a worldwide shipping company based out of Denmark. But for LEGO fans Maersk has an entirely different meaning.

Maersk is a rather rare and hard to get color, made in only a small amount of parts in half a dozen or so sets based off the actual Maersk shipping trucks and container ships. It was also made in a larger selection of bricks for the Model Shops, an exception to the “you can get all these parts yourself” rule that is always claimed.

The shipping container seen above has been released twice, once in 2004 and then again last year with only a few minor changes other than packaging and the sticker sheet. It is currently available at LEGO Shop at Home. Up until now it was the only Maersk set that has been commercially available to most LEGO consumers, all previous sets were only available through promotional release. That however, is about to change . . .

Introducing the 10219 Maersk Container Train!
Update: Apparently LEGO took the image off its website.

Although very little is known at this time about the set, it does have a five digit set number and the image itself is directly from lego.com leading me to suspect this will also be available to the general public. Looking closely at the image there are a lot of very cool elements new to the color and I know all the Maersk lovers out there will be drooling over this set.

Thanks to Brickset.com for tipping me off to this.

The Picture is the thing

Sometimes even if you don’t build anything taking a clever picture is just as worthwhile. Stephen O’ Mahony has an excellent set of minifigure pictures that do just that.

If you would like to see the full set you can see it on Stephen’s photostream.

Star Wars Miniland models arrive at LEGOLAND CA

In this video you can see Master Model Builders Ryan Ziegelbauer and Gary McIntire transferring the first of the Star Wars Miniland models into the Model Shop.

The more I see of the models, the more interested I’m seeing more.

Inside the Spraycan 2.2

Cole Blaq is known for his organic building style and this is another great example. At first I didn’t quite get what it was (I hadn’t seen the title), but once I realized it was crystal clear. Well as much as an exploding spraycan frozen in mid explosion can make sense.

Brickvention 2011 Video

Check out this cool video from BrickVention 2011.

And this Love Boat created by my friend and LEGO’s newest Certified Professional Ryan Mcnaught that was unveiled at BrickVention.

Ryan is known for his NXT powered Airbus A380 that he created last year and had on display at BrickWorld 2010. He said that he plans to bring his Love Boat to BrickWorld this year, so those of you heading to the Chicago LEGO convention will be able to see it in person.

Brick Fiesta coming in July

LEGO Cons seem to be cropping up every where! The newest will be in Texas!

Mark your calendars and get ready to attend the most unique LEGO fan event in the central United States. The first Brick Fiesta is being held in Austin, Texas from June 30th to July 3rd, 2011. So save the date and come back to visit real soon, ya’ll. We’ll be looking forward to your attendance.

I’m certainly excited about this one, of course who knows if I’ll be going yet. There’s quite a few LEGO Conventions this year — at least 7 in the US alone! It certainly a sign that LEGO as a hobby is growing by leaps and bounds! Registration is now open so sign up now!

On a related note, there are two LEGO conventions happening on the other side of the world from me:

Which is being held in Melbourne, Australia this weekend Jan 15th -16th.

Bricks Adventure 2011

Date: 12th – 22nd January 2011
Time: 10:30 am – 8:30 pm
Location: Multi-Purpose-Room A&B, 4/f, Amenities Building, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

What a great year for LEGO AFOLs!!!!!!