Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Belated Merry Christmas
I'm sorry I haven't been blogging regularly; it's been a very hectic month. I'm posting this a little late for the holiday, but Legorski has an excellent nativity scene.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Vestas display
A while ago LEGO produced an exclusive set, the Vestas Wind Turbine. These were not sold to the general public, so they became highly coveted and prices on e-bay or Bricklink are pretty outrageous. Now LEGO has a big display in collaboration with Vestas in the Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden. There are several different cases showing Vestas turbines under construction and installed at fig scale, and there is also a large house built at miniland scale. I'm assuming that the description on this case is noting all of the benefits of using wind energy. Mike Walsh has some more details on his blog and melonkernal has a number of photos. So, if you happen to be flying into Sweden, be sure to check this out.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Belated Veterans Day
I'm a couple of days late on this, but in honor of Veterans Day, Legoland California unveiled the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the Washington DC section of Miniland. Via Model Building Secrets. Photo credit goes to Legoland.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Cool Cars and Trucks
Sean Kenney has a new book, Cool Cars and Trucks. I was flipping through this the other day in the book store and took a couple of pictures. It's full of beautiful photography of models designed by Sean. There are instructions for several vehicles at minifig scale and suggestions on how to modify those instructions to come up with your own. Relevant to this blog, there are also some pictures of models at miniland scale. My impression of the book is that it is perfect for its intended audience, probably 8-12 year old boys. As an AFOL, there is the coolness factor of having a book by a prominent member of our community, and it's good to support our own, but it doesn't have enough content for me - I'd rather take the same dollars and get BrickJournal, or maybe one of Brendan's Brick Testament books.
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Friday, November 6, 2009
LEGO Book
DK Publishers recently released a boxed set: The LEGO Book, all about the hobby and another about minifigs (celebrating their 30th anniversary). Focusing on Miniland building, there are a lot of pictures of the Legoland parks and information about the Master Builders who make the models you see there. The coolest part of the book, though, is the inclusion of fan models, including these miniland models by Nick Foo and Lino Martins, both previously blogged here.
I apologize for the quality of the photos. I took these with my phone.
I apologize for the quality of the photos. I took these with my phone.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Creations for Charity
Creations for Charity is a great effort headed up by Nannan, of the Brothers Brick. Top builders from around the community have donated MOCs to be sold via a Bricklink store. All of the proceeds will go to Toys for Tots. One submission is the Paleman's nutcracker and toy soldier.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Ho Tom Bomadil, Tom Bombadillo!
I was looking around for Tolkien creations yesterday and realized I never posted Cyin's Tom Bombadil and Goldberry to this blog.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Another possible new Legoland
I recently blogged a report of a possible Legoland development deal in Florida. It seems from this report that they are also in negotiations over a possible park in Illinois. There's no hint whether this would be in addition to a potential Legoland park in Florida, or if Merlin Entertainment (owners and operators of the parks) is looking at these as competing alternatives. IMO Florida makes more sense - it's more of a destination for tourists and can operate outdoor amusements year-round; previous rumors of a potential park in Kansas never went anywhere. On the other hand, Legoland is smaller than something like Disneyland and may be more dependent on the local population than it is on destination tourists - this location would be close enough to both Saint Louis and Chicago for day trips. For comparison, I've got a two-year-old and we've visited Sesame Place, a small theme park in Philadelphia based on Sesame Street. I can't imagine that place gets people traveling to Philly to visit it, but probably all parents of young children in the area have been there.
For the record, Sesame Place was certainly fun enough to visit again, probably in the summer since there were several water slides and a raft ride that were closed for the winter. My daughter was a little freaked out when we first came up to the gate and there was a giant Grover walking around, but by the time we'd been in the park a bit she warmed up to the idea of getting her picture taken with the characters. Elmo was, of course, the biggest hit.
For the record, Sesame Place was certainly fun enough to visit again, probably in the summer since there were several water slides and a raft ride that were closed for the winter. My daughter was a little freaked out when we first came up to the gate and there was a giant Grover walking around, but by the time we'd been in the park a bit she warmed up to the idea of getting her picture taken with the characters. Elmo was, of course, the biggest hit.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween
K-hatch has a number of great minilanders from horror movies, some of which I've previously blogged. This year, Shawn of the Dead, the Fly and the Phantom of the Opera have been added to the cast of characters.
Friday, October 30, 2009
eeeee!
Sappy moose tree is now the spider lady. Here is a pic from this year's Halloween decor at Legoland California.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Edulyoung and Sun-wan Kim have made an awesome diorama using a different technique. They've mixed the old Homemaker heads with Miniland-style building. I've got one of those old big round heads in my collection from my very first set back in the mid-70's - I'm going to have to dig that out and give this a try. Via Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Jordan's Disneyland - MinilandBricks edition
It looks like Jordan Schwartz is writing an article for an upcoming issue of BrickJournal focused on Disneyland.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sandlug
Some Sandlug member (or members) brought these three minilanders to a recent meeting. Would the real builder please stand up?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hometown heroes
Last month Legoland California honored Park View Little League baseball team from Chula Vista California (about 45 miles from Legoland), who had recently won the Little League World Series. The team got a banner made of LEGO and LEGO baseballs for each of the kids, but perhaps the coolest bit was that the team members got included into the Miniland display in the park. So park visitors can see four-inch baseball players celebrating their victory. More details can be found in articles here and here. The photo is by John Koster, staff photographer for the North County Times.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Archie
Nathan Proudlove presents Archie and his gang. We get Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and everyone's favorite Jughead. What, no Mr. Weatherbee?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Comic shop
A while back, Mariann posted her comic book shop on her blog, Model Building Secrets. This was one of the things she built when she was applying for a job at Legoland. I think you can see why she was hired.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
NYSE
Sean Kenney was commissioned by the New York Stock Exchange, and came up with this 3-foot tall facade. Pay close attention to the statues near the top. Via Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Miniland Florida?
According to this article, Merlin Entertainment, who operate the Legoland parks around the world, are negotiating with the owners of Cypress Gardens. Cypress Gardens is (was) a recently-closed theme park near Disneyworld. So the implication is that there may be plans underway to open the next Legoland after Dubai and Malaysia in Florida. Makes a lot more sense than Kansas.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Stephen Colbert
Okay, this has been in all the blogs already, but I would be remiss if I didn't post Tommy Williamson's amazing Colbert Report diorama. The figure is great, but also check out all of the detail work that went into the studio (btw, great microscale ship model on the shelf).
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Heavy Bob and the Magical Blue, Brick-built Fairy
I really laughed at Moose Greebles' description of Heavy Bob and the Magical Blue, Brick-built Fairy:
Heavy Bob was the loneliest
тransformaтank in the Flickr group pool. All the other тransformaтanks made fun of his ridiculously large mechanical housing. They told him that he would never be able to transform like them. One day a magical blue, brick-built fairy came to him while he was crushing an old man inside his car. The fairy was touched by Heavy Bob's sad situation and after an excruciatingly long winded motivational speech convinced him that he too had the courage and pistons needed to transform.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Here's a small Capoeira scene I made a few years ago. The girl doing the cartwheel is me (Model Gal) and the guy is my Capoeira Mestre Elias Fonseca.
Elias is holding a berimbau and there is an atabaque (drum) in front.
If you don't know what Capoeira is, its a combination of martial arts, gymnastics, and dance from Brazil. I've been doing it for many years.
You can read more about it at Model Building Secrets' Blog.
Elias is holding a berimbau and there is an atabaque (drum) in front.
If you don't know what Capoeira is, its a combination of martial arts, gymnastics, and dance from Brazil. I've been doing it for many years.
You can read more about it at Model Building Secrets' Blog.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Mixing scales
You don't see miniland mixed with fig scale very often, but Cuahchic uses miniland technique well in this statue of Robert the Bruce.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Hinckley's Miniland Gallery
Mark Larson (aka Hinckley, of eurobricks fame) recently began a job as a model builder for Legoland parks. He's got a flickr gallery showing off some of his latest work, much of it miniland. Be sure to check out the rest of the gallery, but here is a small sample:
Thursday, August 6, 2009
World's leaders meet at Legoland
I just ran across this. Last March, when the G20 leaders were meeting in London, they also met in Legoland Windsor.
I'm too lazy to go through and figure out which leader each fig represents (okay, the blond woman is Germany's Chancellor Merkel), but here are Gordon Brown and Barack Obama.
And what world summit is complete without a protest, here as the leaders are assembling outside of 10 Downing Place.
Gotta love those British Master Builders. It seems like they do more of these little changing Easter eggs than some of the other parks (e.g. I know they regularly sprinkle in different Dr. Who characters, and I've seen pics from Windsor of Star Wars and Spider-Man characters making appearances). Of course, California did that huge display of the Obama inauguration. BTW, all photo credits to China A2Z News.
I'm too lazy to go through and figure out which leader each fig represents (okay, the blond woman is Germany's Chancellor Merkel), but here are Gordon Brown and Barack Obama.
And what world summit is complete without a protest, here as the leaders are assembling outside of 10 Downing Place.
Gotta love those British Master Builders. It seems like they do more of these little changing Easter eggs than some of the other parks (e.g. I know they regularly sprinkle in different Dr. Who characters, and I've seen pics from Windsor of Star Wars and Spider-Man characters making appearances). Of course, California did that huge display of the Obama inauguration. BTW, all photo credits to China A2Z News.
Monday, August 3, 2009
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