Bricks digi sampler issue2

THE E S SENTIAL GUIDE TO BUILDING , BUYING AND C OLLECTING LEGO® PRODUC TS

Jurassic World analysed | The five-storey house of LEGO | Inside Star Wars Celebration James Pegrum’s techniques | Building with Mindstorms | Making the 9ft Hulkbuster | Ant-Man Into space with Tim Goddard and Drew Hamilton | Masterclass builds | Dodo instructions LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group © 2015 The LEGO Group/ All Rights Reserved. Bricks magazine is not an official LEGO product or affiliated in any way

CONTENTS

6 MUST-HAVES

74 REVIEW: ANT-MAN

A round-up of some affordable yet vital LEGO releases to enrich your life

We take a look at the smallest superhero to be immortalised in LEGO

6 BRICKS SOLUTIONS

76 REVIEW: AVENGERS TOWER

Huw Millington takes us through his vast and impressive storage solutions

With a hefty Avengers line-up available, we examine one of the biggest

12 BEYOND THE BRICK

80 OUT OF THE BOX: BRICK BOUNTY

Frames, games, keyrings and books: give your LEGO lifestyle a boost

Sparklord boards a pirate ship for adventures on the high seas

14 BIG IDEAS

84 CUSTOM DINO BUILD

A look at some of the cool inventions currently sitting on LEGO Ideas

We challenged Tim Goddard to build us a dino. Well, he built two actually…

16 JURASSIC WORLD

88 BUILDING PANDURO

Mark, Huw and Chris debate the merits of the new dinosaur arrivals

A guide to making a microscale spaceport from Drew Hamilton and Tim Goddard

26 DINO HISTORY

96 BRICKS MASTERCLASS: TIM GODDARD

We go back through the archives to explore the rich LEGO dinosaur heritage

34 MIXING THE DNA Adam White gets his hands on the new Jurassic World game. Is it any good?

36 BRICKS TO LIFE As Dimensions approaches, we explore previous ventures into digital LEGO

38 YORKSHIRE BRICKSHOW Annual gathering of northern LEGO talent

40 BRICKS MASTERCLASS: CHRIS ADAMS

Space expert Tim Goddard walks us around his latest Goliath craft

102 FLICKR IN SPACE Jeremy Williams trawls through the virtual highway for his favourite creations

104 BUILDING TECHNIQUES James Pegrum dissects his Mammoth build to show us how it’s done

108 WALKING THE REX How does Mindstorms work? And how do you make walking dino? Find out here

Meet some genius Disney creations

112 BEHIND BRIGHT BRICKS

46 STAR WARS CELEBRATION

A quick peek behind the curtains to see what our professional builders have been up to this month

New announcements and an exclusive set: we go inside this year’s fan festival

50 UCS TIE FIGHTER Iconic fighter goes large. What’s it like?

56 FIVE FLOORS OF LEGO What does a five-storey house full of LEGO look like? Time to find out…

64 REVIEW: KWIK-E-MART It’s our favourite LEGO convenience store

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ISSUE 2

116 THE FIVE-MINUTE BUILD How to build yourself a dodo

118 SHIPWRECK SETS What single LEGO set would you save?

Chris Pearce reveals all

120 MINIFIGURE COLLECTOR Huw casts his expert eye over the minifigs from Dino Attack and Dino 2010

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BRICKS 5

BRICKS SOLUTIONS Housing the brick As your collection grows, storage and space quickly become a problem – and expanding on your LEGO collection will depend on how you solve this. Each issue we show you how the Bricks team cope and store – first up, it’s Huw Millington...

B

eing a LEGO fan and having storage problems go hand-inhand, so in the next few Brick Solutions columns we’re going to be looking at the how Bricks team members store their collections in the hope that you’ll pick up a few useful tips to help solve your own personal storage conundrums.

If you’re a new AFOL with just a few dozen sets, keeping them and their parts tidy is probably not much of an issue.

You either keep them constructed, take them apart and store them in their original boxes, or mix all the parts together and put them in a couple of plastic tubs or drawers so you have them all to hand when building MOCs. Perhaps it’s not apparent at this stage how storage will become a problem, but as you continue to accumulate sets and parts, it soon turns into an issue – even to the point where the size of your LEGO collection influences your next house move.

In an ideal world we’d all have huge basements or studio rooms with enough room to keep everything we own, and still have enough space for displaying and building. But in the UK at least that’s very much the exception, so the biggest influencing factor in how you store your collection is how much space you have available. However, there are other things that it’s useful to take into account, such as how you use your LEGO and what you plan to do with it in the future.

Deciding how you’re going to sort your LEGO will also determine how you store it. As your collection grows you’ll probably 8 BRICKS

try several methods. There have been some interesting and amusing articles published about the ‘evolution of LEGO sorting’, in particular one written in 2001

by Remy Evard on Lugnet (http://news. lugnet.com/storage/?n=707). I suspect you’ll be able to identify where you are on his list and maybe see where you’re heading. What this article illustrates is that you don’t decide on day one of becoming an AFOL how you’re going to sort and store; the method you use will be refined over time to meet your changing requirements and circumstances, and the size of your collection.

My own methods of sorting and storing have certainly changed a lot since I emerged from my Dark Age 20 years ago.

Since doing so I have accumulated some 3,000 sets and well over half a million parts, so what started out in a few small storage boxes has grown to take over two rooms of my house, the garage and, now that she’s left home, my eldest daughter’s wardrobe (please don’t tell my wife, she hasn’t noticed yet).

Nowadays I’d describe myself as 75 per cent collector and 25 per cent builder, so my storage system has developed to take this into account. As a collector, I have stacks of ‘Mint In Sealed Box’ sets that I might get round to building one day, and disassembled sets that have been bagged up and stored in large plastic boxes, ready for when I want to rebuild them in the future or, heaven forbid, sell them. Clearly I don’t need to access these on a daily basis so they are not kept in my LEGO room but anywhere I can find space, such

as the aforementioned wardrobe. There’s not much more that can be said about storing sets whole – I suspect everyone keeps them in much the same way as I do, so let’s move on to how I store and manage my loose parts, which you might find far more informative.

To be able to build efficiently I want to have all my parts to hand and readily available, but with some half a million of them that’s not really practical because there’s not enough space in my LEGO room – and also because I don’t have enough suitable storage containers (or room for them) to be able to do so.

I therefore use a tiered system, with each tier using a different storage method and location. My system has four tiers, which are as follows:

TIER ONE My tier one storage contains a small selection of every piece I’m likely to want to use. I keep these in plastic drawer units, each with nine drawers that can be subdivided into ten sections. The sections are not that large so it’s not possible to keep every black 1x1 brick I own in one of them, for example, but they will hold a couple of hundred, which is more than enough for everyday use. I have about 30 of the units, which were purchased from Maplin some 15 years ago. Unfortunately they are no longer stocked and I cannot find anything even remotely similar available elsewhere, which is a shame because they are pretty much ideal for small parts storage. I prefer them to units with individual drawers, which can become unmanageable when

Handy tips for the serious LEGO fan

Huw’s ‘tier one’ storage contains all the parts he needs easy access to

Each drawer can be divided into ten sub-sections for ultimate brick organisation The only gutting thing about these units? Maplin doesn’t sell them anymore!

‘In the last 20 years I’ve accumulated 3,000 sets and half a million parts’ BRICKS 9

BEYOND THE BRICK LEGO JURASSIC WORLD VIDEO GAME

Available from 12th June for PS4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, 3DS, PlayStation Vita and PC Following the epic storylines of Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, as well as the highly anticipated Jurassic World, LEGO Jurassic World is the first video game where players will be able to relive and experience all four Jurassic films in a single game. Each film is reimagined with a LEGO twist and told with TT Games’s signature humour. LEGO Jurassic World recreates unforgettable scenes and action sequences from the films, allowing players to experience key moments from across the Jurassic Park franchise and discover the expansive hub worlds of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna.

LEGO KEYCHAINS – THE HULK, COMMANDER GREE, GINGERBREAD MAN & 2X4 BRICKS

Available from LEGO Brand Stores and shop@home Priced at £2.99 each Carry a piece of LEGO with you wherever you go with one of the many LEGO keychains available from LEGO Brand Stores or from Shop@Home. The great thing about LEGO keychains is that they often feature characters that are hard to find or only available in large sets. The Hulk minifigure, for example, was only available as a polybag giveaway in 2012. Although the minifigures can’t be removed from their keychains, they still make the perfect addition to any LEGO fan’s set of keys, bag or luggage – at a steal of a price.

PIXEL ART LEGO ART FRAMES

Available from The Brick Ladd: www. thebrickladd.com/collections/lego-frames We first stumbled upon these at the Brickish Weekend in Leicester and they instantly caught our eye. These fantastic LEGO Art Frames are a simple concept, a standard 23cm x 23cm frame which houses a variety of LEGO-created, Pixel art-style pictures. Of the frames on show we saw designs featuring a host of Nintendo, Star Wars and Super Heroes characters. Each frame is handmade so The Brick Ladd will try to accommodate most of your requests, as long as they are brick-built and fit in a frame.

They make a unique, quirky and fun gift idea that’s perfect for birthdays, weddings and home decoration.

12 BRICKS

A collection of our favourite LEGO-themed accessories and merchandise, all there to enhance your brick-loving lifestyle

KNOT MINIFIGS – BRACELETS AND KEYCHAINS

Available from Knot Minifigs (knotminifigs@gmail.com) Prices start from £19.99 The use of LEGO elements in art and craft projects has become quite popular in recent times, with people always seemingly trying to find fun ways to share their love of LEGO in new and unusual manners. Knot Minifigs are funky fashion accessories, made from the highest quality 550 Paracord and with a LEGO minifigure or custom minifigure acting as the clasp. Almost any minifigure can be used to create a handmade bracelet or band and you can choose which character you want, along with the colours for the bracelet or band. There’s also a bangle version, which features a number different LEGO minifigure heads set between acrylic beads or paracord knots. They are both a fun and unique way to show your love of LEGO to the world.

LEGO SUPER HEROES DC COMICS: JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. BIZARRO LEAGUE ORIGINAL MOVIE

Available from Asda Stores: DVD £5, Blu-ray £8 LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs Bizarro League is a brand new and original animated movie from Warner Bros Animation. After Superman takes his strange clone Bizarro to live somewhere far away from Metropolis, Bizarro does the complete opposite and returns to earth where he then accidentally creates the Bizarro League. Despite being complete opposites in every regard, the Justice League must join forces with their haphazard counterparts in the Bizarro League to defeat Darkseid and save the universe. The movie has been available for some time in North America but it’s now available in the UK from Asda stores. Selected versions of the Blu-ray also include an exclusive Bizarro minifigure, which is worth keeping an eye out for.

LEGO STAR WARS CHARACTER ENCYCLOPEDIA, UPDATED AND EXPANDED

DK Books - £14.99 Back in 2011 DK Books released their first LEGO Star Wars-themed character encyclopedia. Four years on and a new updated edition has been published to coincide with May the 4th, also known as Star Wars Day. The new Updated and Expanded edition contains 72 additional pages of new minifigures, and now includes some new faces from the Star Wars universe – including many of those from the Rebels animated TV show.

Each copy of the book also includes a White Boba Fett minifigure, which is based on Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept for the famed bounty hunter.

BRICKS 13

JURASSIC WORLD

Six LEGO Jurassic World sets, three Bricks experts and plenty of opinion.

Which set is best? Which, if any, is disappointing?

It’s time to find out…

Words: Hans Seeberg Photography: Andy Tipping

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16 BRICKS

BRICKS 17

ONCE MASTERCLASS

Hi Chris. So how long you’ve been making custom MOCs? I built my first MOC on Christmas Day 2011. I designed it in LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), ordered the parts online and waited until Christmas to build it, as a little treat to myself. It was a little 20x20 stud vignette to showcase my favourite minifigure at the time, Hazmat Suit Guy. Tell us a little about yourself and your LEGO pedigree?

Growing up in the 1980s had a huge impact on me, and the toys, films and cartoons of that decade still hold a very 40 BRICKS

special place in my heart 30 years on. In many ways, I am still the same person I was back then; Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kurt Russell are still my heroes, films I saw for the first time as a child are still my favourites (Ghostbusters, Back To The Future) and I still cry when Optimus Prime dies in the animated Transformers movie from 1986. Nowadays, I spend most of my time and money on items related to those ‘childish things’ that I could never quite put behind me – the main thing, of course, being LEGO. Ironically, unlike most of my AFOL peers, I was not a massive fan of the brick as a child. Sure, I remember

playing with it and spending hours building things, but I have no fond memories of specific themes or individual sets. I have vague memories of the Space theme and some Technic builds, but nothing solid.

I have always been a keen gamer and it was through this medium that I emerged from my Dark Age and came back to LEGO in 2011. I was playing one of the LEGO Star Wars games on the Xbox and was getting a huge kick out of building virtual versions of the starships that I was so familiar with from the films. After a few hours of gameplay, I was desperate to build some of them for myself and after a

UPON A BRICK Inspired by his wife’s passion for all things Disney, minifig fan Chris Adams decided to step out of his comfort zone and create some remarkable characters we all love

Words: Mark Guest Photography: Andrew Tipping

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hasty trip to my local purveyor of LEGO, I returned laden down with sets and have not looked back since. I put those first few bricks together as an adult, I was hooked.

What’s your usual preference of build or theme?

Previously, I favoured builds that showcased the wonderful and varied minifigures produced by LEGO, particularly the Collectable Minifigures series (CMFs). I would build MOCs to display and enhance whole CMF series, such as those from The LEGO Movie, Team GB and of course, series 1-13 from

the main CMF theme. But recently, I’ve moved away from minifigures and now focus on combining two of my passions, film and LEGO, by recreating famous movie posters in 3-D. The idea is to take a classic, 2-D image of a famous movie poster and add depth to it.

What has been your favourite creation to date?

I would have to say that my version of the ‘Jaws’ movie poster holds a very special place in my heart. Not only was it my very first attempt at recreating a famous poster using LEGO, but the movie is my all-time

favourite. The hugely iconic image of the giant great white shark lurking underneath an unsuspecting swimmer has captivated and frightened movie-goers for decades.

Translating this image into LEGO was a huge challenge, particularly handling the water. I was (and still am) very pleased with the results, and it has inspired me to make more movie posters.

What is it about Disney that inspired you to build these characters here?

My wife is obsessed with all things Disney and some of that has naturally rubbed off on me. When you are immersed in BRICKS 41

FEATURE TITLE

50 BRICKS

UCS TIE FIGHTER

A big contender for the title of ‘coolest Star Wars vehicle’, the TIE Fighter is now immortalised in 47cm-high, UCS form. But is it good enough to justify the hefty price tag?

T

Words: Chris Pearce Photography: Andrew Tipping

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This shot of the fighter in flight looks great, alongside a smaller image of the vehicle he Star Wars universe is filled on its display stand. The golden UCS with iconic vehicles, but few badge remains following its introduction are as beloved as the TIE/LN Starfighter. The unique silhouette last year, which will hopefully resolve the longstanding debate of what constitutes and piercing screech of its an Ultimate Collector Series set. engines have earned the TIE Fighter The back of the box shows several a special place in film history, as well of the model’s most impressive details, as in the memory of many Star Wars fans. including the cockpit windscreen and One might therefore be justifiably opening access hatch on top. It also surprised that such an icon was not shows off the instruction manual, which recreated as an official UCS (Ultimate includes discussion of how the model was Collector Series) set long ago, but at last designed and the TIE Fighter as it appears 75095 TIE Fighter has filled the gap in in the Star Wars universe. I am pleased to our fleet of large-scale Star Wars models. report that the growing tradition of single, We have seen UCS versions of the TIE enormous instruction books continues Advanced x1 and the TIE Interceptor in here and that the sticker sheet is packed years past, so this set should accompany those nicely on display. With an impressive with it to ensure that it arrives undamaged.

Having tipped out the 1,685 pieces (and a price contents you are met with no point to match), I am expecting 75095 TIE fewer than 18 bags, numbered the definitive version of this FIGHTER from one to 12. As one might legendary Imperial vessel.

Set number: 75095 expect, the majority of these Set name: TIE Fighter bags are filled with grey and BOX AND CONTENTS Piece count: 1,685 black parts, but two bags in The box for this set is unusually Price: £169.99, $199.99 particular contain plenty of tan small, but still has plenty of Dimensions: 47cm high and reddish brown, so let’s see room to show off the TIE x 30.6cm long x 31cm wide Set Designer: Olav how all this comes together to Fighter flying through the Krøigaard create the TIE Fighter...

Death Star’s equatorial trench.

BRICKS 51

LEGO COLLECTING

FIVE-FLOOR PARADISE With a five-storey house crammed with a seriously vast amount of LEGO, David Key is on a mission to rebuild his childhood collection. It looks like he might’ve succeeded – and then some…

Words: Hans Seeberg Photography: Andrew Tipping

56 BRICKS

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“I

don’t see LEGO as an obsession – more a passion,” says David Key, glancing around like a proud dad at the completed sets he has on display in his impressive Yorkshire house. Some people might argue that this is where the line between obsession and passion is blurred: of the five storeys in David’s home, the top three are stuffed full of a dizzying myriad of sealed sets and previously built ones. Even on the first two floors where David lives most of the time, LEGO is omnipresent (oh, and when his phone goes off, the ringtone is obviously Everything is Awesome). There probably isn’t a single place you could stand in this house where you could not see a LEGO brick.

If it is an obsession then it’s certainly a rather lovely one, with a heart-warming, innocent story behind it.

When David was younger, his mum threw away his LEGO collection not once but twice, and over the BRICKS 57

REVIEWS

A detailed look at the sets we’ve been building

Kwik-E-Mart

Words by: Chris Pearce SET NUMBER: 71016 NAME: Kwik-E-Mart PIECE COUNT: 2,179 PRICE: £169.99, $199.99 DIMENSIONS: 38cm wide x 27cm deep x 14cm high DESIGNER: Marcos Bessa The Kwik-E-Mart and its unscrupulous proprietor, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, have been appearing in episodes of The Simpsons since 1990 and only the eighth episode of the long-running show.

It has since become one of the most recognisable locations in Springfield, and it is therefore no surprise that it was selected as the second Simpsons building to be released as a LEGO set.

Last year’s Simpsons House received almost exclusively positive reviews, so the Kwik-E-Mart has a great deal to live up to. While the Simpson family home has a definitive layout, the Kwik-E-Mart varies from one episode to another depending on the requirements of the plot. It must therefore have been very difficult to create an accurate model when the source material is constantly evolving!

However, with Marcos Bessa as the set designer I certainly had high expectations, so let’s see how 71016 Kwik-E-Mart fared...

BOX AND CONTENTS The box for the set is a little smaller than that of last year’s Simpsons House, but is equally attractive. Bright colours appear all over it, with a vivid yellow border displaying the logo and the titular family complementing the orange of the Kwik-EMart’s roof and the blue sky behind it.

Somewhat unusually there are images of the various mini-builds included across the top of the packaging along with the minifigures included, while on the back we see the model opened up to reveal 64 BRICKS

Yellow is a perfect choice for the colour of the walls

the interior.

We even find two images taken as though they were from the security cameras in the store!

Inside are almost 20 bags of various sizes numbered from one to eight. The bright colours of the parts included certainly make a nice change from the predominantly grey Star Wars sets I am more accustomed to building.

I always prefer a single, large instruction manual over several smaller ones, so was delighted to find that this set includes one enormous booklet. Two sticker sheets and 63 stickers are included which will disappoint some people out there, although luckily these are packed with the instruction manual so at least they should arrive flat.

BRICKS 65

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Speed Champions cars go head-to-head | Exclusive: lost Jetbike instructions | Behind the scenes at Bricks in Motion | The influence of Friends | Avengers helicarrier | The creative genius of Carl Greatrix | Masterclass builds | The ten-minute LEGO egg LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group © 2015 The LEGO Group/ All Rights Reserved. Bricks magazine is not an official LEGO product or affiliated in any way

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Inside the CEE | LEGO art with Andy Morris | The science of building | Steam Punk and Iron building with Guy Himber | Custom Storage

Bricks Culture is a lavish new brand examining and celebrating the rich and complex ways that people now build LEGO into their art, their businesses and their lifestyles.

Bricksculture invites you to reappraise LEGO from a new perspective

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BUILDING PANDURO

BUILDING PANDURO

Tim Goddard and Drew Hamilton are two of the finest space builders in the UK. It was no surprise that when they decided to build a giant developing space city in micro-scale, it was one of 2014’s showpiece highlights...

I

Words: Mark Guest Photography: Andrew Tipping

t was back in 2011 that a group of some of the finest UK LEGO space enthusiasts and builders (Peter Reid, Tim Goddard, Drew Hamilton and Stuart Crawshaw) set about their biggest mission yet. Inspired by the LEGO Futuron and Blacktron sets of the late 1980s and early ’90s, they came together to build a planet into which the Futuron pioneers of Valor Squadron could be introduced. The planet was to be called Panduro – named after legendary LEGO designer Bjarne Panduro Tveskov, who was responsible for designing some of the most iconic Futuron and Blacktron sets.

As their collaborative vision grew so did the remote planet Panduro, and the pioneers of Valor Squadron arrived ready to colonise it. The plan was to simply display the final MOC at the Great Western LEGO show in October 2011 but upon completion of the moonscape, crater faces, white/blue themed space vehicles and bases it has been used as the backdrop for a number of related creations and builds. Most notably, Panduro and the endeavours of Valor Squadron are featured in the book LEGO Space: Building the Future.

Against this backdrop, Tim and Drew decided to build a giant creation that imagined what would have happened to 88 BRICKS

the settlement on Panduro as the Futuron Pioneers began to colonise it. How would Panduro have developed and what would it now look like? They imagined a rapidly developing city that uses a monorail transit system to transport cargo containers around this new frontier world. With development and growth at the forefront of their vision they designed the build to look like a city still in development, which was to be achieved by including areas

of industry, sites of construction and plenty of spaceships!

With a plan in place and the build’s concepts increasingly growing in size, this new city was always going to be magnificent – but with only just over five months to the next deadline of the 2014 Great Western Brick Show these

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BRICKS 89

MASTERCLASS

GOLIATH Space builder supreme, Tim Goddard takes us through the latest addition to his Space Police range. Prepare to be impressed

Words: Mark Guest Photography: Andrew Tipping

Tim, you’re well known for your amazing space creations. How did it all start?

Well, it started when I was little and never really stopped. Even when I was a kid I would create my own designs of spaceships and bases, which spread across every available surface in my bedroom. Like so many others, Star Wars LEGO gave me a boost when it first came out and was a key part in my building development... before I turned back from the dark side and embraced classic space themes from the 1980s and ’90s.

Would you say space is your preferred theme or are there other genres you like to dabble in?

Space is definitely my preferred theme; being able to create my own fantasy worlds and develop them has a big appeal for me. I like building different scales as well – last year was all about microscale but this year I’m on a minifig-scale kick.

I do enjoy building in lots of other genres though, especially animals both large and small. I think building different types of models can help develop different skills and given fresh perspectives. The flowing lines of a spaceship can have a lot in 96 BRICKS

common with the organic forms of sea creatures, for example.

We have seen some of your work in Beautiful LEGO

by Mike Doyle. How did you get noticed and published?

Was it a result of being spotted?

Mike contacted me directly for the first book. He’d seen my work on Flickr and asked if he could use some. I must say that Mike has some amazing editing skills – he has taken some of my average old photos and made them look amazing.

You clearly have a thing for sci-fi and space. What is it about this genre that inspires you to build?

I think it has a lot to do with freedom and escape from the everyday; it is a fantastical genre but also has some rules

BRICKS 97

BRICKS TECHNIQUE

PUTTING TOGETHER THE PAST

Ever wondered how the pros build? Well every issue we challenge experienced builder James Pegrum to make us a creation of our choice, while he explains how he did it and what techniques he employed

M

Words and Photography: James Pegrum

aking models from LEGO can be as simple or complicated as the builder wants. The beauty of the brick is that there are so many ways to make connections – for example there are 915 million ways to combine six 2x4 bricks. It’s little wonder that the brick has captivated so many of us with all those varying combinations. The other beauty is that there are no rules other than those the builder imposes on him or herself.

As a community, ideas often flow from one builder to another, so here at Bricks we are going to look at techniques together with you, the reader. We’ve invited James Pegrum, best known for his British History-themed builds, to take up a monthly challenge and talk through the techniques he explores in attempting to build the challenge. At the same time you will be able to join in the discussions and share your techniques on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. Take it away, James...

“Building with LEGO is something we can all do, so why have a technique guide? And more importantly, what do I know that’s so unique?! Well in answering the second question first, I don’t claim to be a master of techniques – nearly all the ideas I use in models I have been shown

104 BRICKS

to me or I have found from others.

As for having a technique guide, I hope to be able to share with others those ideas I’ve learnt over the years as well as learn from you through our discussions.

“My challenge for this first ‘guide’ was to rebuild and look at my ‘Fast Food’ model where I looked at Mammoths – an extinct animal and one that used to roam Britain.

I’m largely going to share the way I built this model through photos – after all, a picture says a thousand words! I’ve used Bricklink codes for parts, as this seems to me to be the most common reference in the community. We’ll be looking at: Rocking with the ancients – small, irregular and crazy angles. Rocks hold a fascination for me, and trying to make

something so irregular from LEGO remains a constant challenge for me.

Reeds – underneath the foliage is a basic principle I keep using.

A mammoth task – building animals is not a subject I’d tackled before and I wanted to capture the flexibility and stay at minifig scale at the same time.

Placing the trap – second to the mammoth the trap was a key part of the scene. I wanted to capture the sense of drama.

ROCKS The biggest challenge with piecing together the rocks was to represent the natural jagged feel in a small space, a theme that is repeated in this build. A key part was the wedge plate (43723/43722 and 41770/41769), which gave an angle and tampering to the rock. The most important part, though, was the dalek (4733), or 1x1 brick with studs on all four sides. This useful piece allows the face/stud of the connecting bricks to face in different directions, and for the rocks I used it so that I had a panel at the front and the back.

Another use of the dalek is that it has an open stud (in other words, there is a hole) – this allows for offsets and in the case of small rocks allowed me to keep things compact. I also allowed for the angle of the wedge plate to be utilised by rotating the dalek inside the ‘rock’ and by doing this was able to use a tile on the side.

With the rocks built I wanted to add to the natural feel by placing them at angles. A method I used was to have a clip and bar to create a mount for the rock, connecting the mount by one stud. This allowed me to rotate the mount/rock.

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20/03/15 12.45