LEGO Cockpit Box

Instructions for a simple cockpit module you could build a little spaceship around.

Posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012.

Last Year’s Starfighters Are Today’s News

Here are a pair of LEGO starfighters I made last year.

These are both Vic Vipers, a popular design loosely based on the player ship from a classic video game. Vic Vipers are characterized by two forward prongs, two rear wings, and a single vertical tail fin. I’m not quite sure why they’re so popular in the LEGO-verse, but I think part of the reason is that the template provides a creative constraint, like painting with a limited palette or engineering on a budget.

Another creative constraint I like to employ when building models is to use pieces from only one or two sets. It helps you learn to see each piece as an elemental shape instead of a specific type of part with a fixed function. Draw what you see, not just a symbol for what you think you see.

Also, strive to rationalize your most indulgent hobby as a valuable exercise in mental elasticity.

Anyway, both ships were built in time for the annual “NoVVember” challenge. The second ship was built as a subtle but specific tribute to nnenn (Nate Nielson), a prolific and respected builder who died unexpectedly last year. The ship incorporates two instances of the funny quasi-part Nate used as his recognizable icon.

So what sort of creative constraints do you work with, intentionally or otherwise? Can a cage become a scaffolding?

Posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2011.

LEGO Remix

I’ve started a Flickr group called LEGO Remix. It is dedicated to the fine art of the alternate model – something original created with the pieces from an official LEGO set. You have to be frugal and creative with your parts usage to make a good alternate model. It’s my favorite building challenge. The LEGO Remix group is intended to encourage this aspect of the hobby.

(The icon is supposed to be a DJ. He’s… remixing some beats.)

Posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010.

Translucent Parts Lists in LPub

Inspired by a preview instruction image posted by GreenLead, here is a guide to creating parts lists with translucent backgrounds in LPub.

Start by opening a model in LPub. I’m using this one.

Go to LPub’s Configuration menu and select Page Setup. Choose Picture as the Background type and select a file (thanks to Hubble for the nebula image in this example).

Now the page background is in place. Don’t forget that some images make better backgrounds than others. This example is a bit dark, making it hard to see the assembly details in some places.

Next, return to the Configuration menu and select Parts List Setup. Select Picture as the parts list Background type and choose your background image (here is the simple transparent white image I’m using).

In this case, it doesn’t matter whether you choose Stretch or Fill, but if your parts list background has some texture or text you may prefer one over another. However, I think there is a currently a bug in LPub that causes the parts list border to be stretched or cropped along with the background, so for now you’ll probably want to select Borderless as the Border type.

Now the page background is partly visible through the tinted parts list backgrounds. No post-export image editing necessary! Note that you can also modify individual parts lists backgrounds one at a time by right-clicking them.

I hope this gives you some ideas for new things to try with your custom instructions.

Posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010.