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The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages! Issue 12 • October 2010

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in the US

BACK to SCHOOL! School Sculptures by Nathan Sawaya Angus MacLane’s CubeDudesTM Building Standards AND MORE!

You Can Build It: School Bus 1

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THE MAGAZINE FOR LEGO ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES!

DIEDGITIIOTANSL

BRICKJOURNAL magazine (edited by Joe Meno) spotlights all aspects of the LEGO® Community, showcasing events, people, and models every issue, with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Available in both print ($8.95) and digital form ($3.95). Print subscribers get the digital version FREE!

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MICRO BUILDING, builder spotlights, LEGO HISTORY, and more!

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Special EVENT ISSUE with reports from BRICKMAGIC (the newest US LEGO fan festival, organized by BrickJournal), BRICKWORLD (one of the oldest US LEGO fan events), and others! Plus: STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS, spotlights on builders and minifigure customization, a look at 3-D PHOTOGRAPHY with LEGO models, & more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 Ships December 2010

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The ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages, showcasing events, people, and models! FULL-COLOR #1 features an interview with set designer and LEGO Certified Professional NATHAN SAWAYA, plus step-by-step building instructions and techniques for all skill levels, new set reviews, on-the-scene reports from LEGO community events, and other surprises!

This FULL-COLOR issue spotlights blockbuster summer movies, LEGO style! Go behind the scenes for new sets for BATMAN and INDIANA JONES, and see new models, including an SR-71 SPYPLANE and a LEGO CITY, plus how to CUSTOMIZE MINIFIGURES, BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS, a tour of the ONLINE LEGO FACTORY, and more!

Event Reports from BRICKWORLD, FIRST LEGO LEAGUE WORLD FESTIVAL and PIECE OF PEACE (Japan), spotlight on our cover model builder BRYCE McGLONE, and interviews with ARTHUR GUGICK and STEVEN CANVIN of LEGO MINDSTORMS to see where LEGO ROBOTICS is going! There’s also STEP-BY-STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS, TECHNIQUES, and more!

Interviews with LEGO BUILDERS including ARTHUR GUGICK, Event Reports from BRICKFAIR and BRICKCON, plus reports on new MINDSTORMS PROJECTS, STEP-BYSTEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS and TECHNIQUES for all skill levels, NEW SET REVIEWS, and an extensive report on constructing the Chinese Olympic Village in LEGO!

Features event reports from around the world, and the MINDSTORMS 10TH ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS! Plus a glimpse at the LEGO Group’s past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO’S IDEA HOUSE, event reports, a look at how LEGO toys ended up on NBC’S 30 ROCK television show, instructions and spotlights on builders, and more!

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Spotlight on CLASSIC SPACE SETS and a look at new ones with LEGO SET DESIGNERS, BRANDON GRIFFITH shows his STAR TREK MODELS, plus take a tour of the DUTCH MOONBASE with MIKE VAN LEEUWEN and MARCO BAAS. There’s also coverage of BRICKFEST 2009 and FIRST LEGO LEAGUE’S WORLD FESTIVAL and photos from TOY FAIR NEW YORK!

Focuses on LEGO ARCHITECTURE, with a look at the new sets designed by ADAM REED TUCKER! There’s also interviews with other architectural builders, including SPENCER REZHALLA. Plus a look at a LEGO BATTLESHIP that’s over 20 feet long, reports from LEGO events worldwide! PLUS: Our usual indispensable building tips and instructions, and more!

We go to the Middle Ages, with a look at the LEGO Group’s CASTLE LINE, featuring an interview with the designer behind the first LEGO castle set, the YELLOW CASTLE. Also: we spotlight builders that have created their own large-scale version of the castle, and interview other castle builders, plus a report on BRICKWORLD in Chicago, ands still more instructions and building tips!

BrickJournal looks at LEGO® DISNEY SETS, with features on the Disney LEGO sets of the past (MICKEY and MINNIE) and present (TOY STORY and PRINCE OF PERSIA)! We also present models built by LEGO fans, and a look at the newest Master Build model at WALT DISNEY WORLD, plus articles and instructions on building and customization, and more!

BrickJournal goes undersea with looks at the creation of LEGO’s new 2010 ATLANTIS SETS, plus a spotlight on a fan-created underwater theme, THE SEA MONKEYS, with builder FELIX GRECO! Also, a report on the LEGO WORLD convention in the Netherlands, BUILDER SPOTLIGHTS, INSTRUCTIONS and ways to CUSTOMIZE MINIFIGURES, LEGO HISTORY, and more!

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Issue 12 • October 2010

Contents

From the Editor.........................................................................................2 Cover Gallery: The Brick as Art.......................................................3

People

Marcos Bessa: Builder of Large and Small............................5 Cindy English and Aaron Westbrook: A Family of Builders.........................................................................11 Angus MacLane: CubeDudeTM Creator...............................15 Jordan Schwartz: Building a Nepali Diorama.................20

Building

Your Universe Awaits!.......................................................................24 Building Group Displays.................................................................25 Train and Town ....................................................................................26 PennLUG Town/Train Standard..............................................28 Moonbase...............................................................................................30 Classic Castle..........................................................................................31 Great Ball Contraption....................................................................32 Microscale...............................................................................................33 Miniland....................................................................................................36 CubeDudeTM..........................................................................................37 From Power Miners to Atlantis: How a Model Jumped Themes..............................................38 You Can Build It: Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy.......41 Minifigure Customization 101: Expressions!..................46 You Can Build It: Schoolbus.........................................................48

Community

Family Fun Day......................................................................................54 Event Report: LEGO World Zwolle 2009.............................56 Mastering FLL: The Basics of Batteries..................................61 Building Castles in the Sand.........................................................64 Building Castle Instructions..........................................................67 The LEGO System: Endless Possibilities...............................68 From the Designers Desk..............................................................77 Community Ads...................................................................................78 Last Word...................................................................................................79 AFOLs...........................................................................................................80 Right: Marco Bessa’s Villa Maison.

From the Editor: Back to school. There’s not much at all about schools per se in this issue, except for the school bus and maybe the Family Fun Day (but that is a bit of a stretch, admittedly). This issue changed direction midway through gathering articles.

October 2010 Issue 12

Editor in Chief Joe Meno Photography Editor Geoff Gray Business Manager and Proofreader Carin Proctor Proofreader Eric Nolen-Weathington European and LEGO Group Bureau Editor Megan Rothrock Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Todd Kubo Ashley Glennon

Contributors:

Inge Aaen, Mariann Asanuma, Marcos Bessa, Jared Burks, Comunidade0937. Christopher Deck, Joshua Delahunty, Cindy English, Geoff Gray, Kate Hancock, Cale Leiphart, Joe Meno, Angus MacLane, Randy Miller, Tatiana Znayenko-Miller, Amar Nanda, Megan Rothrock, Jordan Schwartz, Hadley Scrowston, Mark Stafford, and Greg Hyland. Many thanks to the websites who have served as mirrors for BrickJournal: www.LUGNET.com, www.Brickshelf.com, www.peeron.com, www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com

About the Cover: Nathan Sawaya’s sculptures! Read about them on the next two pages!

What originally started as a back to school issue became a back to building school for anyone interested in being part of a group layout. Many of the builders of displays at conventions and events build layouts that have to be moved and have to fit together. This issue has many of the standards and guidelines that are used by builders in many different themes. These standards are in different places online, so Geoff Gray (the writer of the standards article) placed the source links to all the guidelines he found. There’s a lot that had to be sorted out, and he did an outstanding job researching. However, there are still more standards out there. One standard for microbuilding (the TWINLUG Micropolis Standard) was not used because both I and Geoff use different scales in micro. As a result, the Micro page became a guideline page. What this really means is that standards are not necessarily fixed. And if we didn’t include the standard your club uses, I apologize. We’ll no doubt be revisiting and updating standards in future issues. I do know that I learned a lot with that article. But there’s a LOT more in this issue!

Joe Meno Editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at admin@brickjournal.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply. P.P.S....... Yes, BrickJournal has a website—www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too—http://twitter.com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup—http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf

Glossary

AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) NLSO (Non-LEGO Significant Other) MOC (My Own Creation) TLG (The LEGO Group) BURP (Big Ugly Rock Piece) LURP (Little Ugly Rock Piece)

POOP (Pieces—that can be or should be made—Of Other Pieces) SNOT (Studs Not on Top) LUG (LEGO Users Group) LTC (LEGO Train Club)

LEGO®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. All articles, photos, and art are copyright BrickJournal Media, LLC 2008, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Subscriptions are $57USD Media Mail, $75 Canada, $86 International Surface, $128 International Airmail and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com or payment sent to: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. The editorial/advertising office address for BrickJournal is: BrickJournal Editor, 5600 Oak Meadow Lane #1108, Raleigh, NC 27612 USA or admin@brickjournal.com. First Printing. Printed in Canada. ISSN 1941-2347. BrickJournal and its staff would like to thank the LDraw community for the software it makes available to the community, which we use for making all of the instructions and renderings in this magazine. We would especially like to thank Kevin Clague for his continued upgrades of the LPub tool that is a part of the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.

Building

It is an honor to have my art featured on the cover of the premier AFOL magazine. These three particular sculptures are fun pieces that I created for a variety of reasons over the past few years. It just so happens this is not the first time the sculpture, Computer, has graced the cover of a magazine. The piece was originally commissioned by the editors of PC Magazine for the cover of their issue on building your own computer. I built it largely based on my own desktop computer at the time and modified the colors to make it more fun. By far, the toughest part was making the keyboard accurate. I needed to figure out the size of the keys, which I eventually settled on 2 x 2 plates. Once that was determined, it set the scale for the rest of the sculpture. The static computer was not enough though, so I added the arm reaching out of the screen to pose a question about technology controlling our lives. Or something like that.

Nathan Sawaya’s Sculptures:

The Brick as Art Nathan Sawaya’s works have been seen worldwide on displays and media. This issue’s cover has three of his works, so BrickJournal asked him about the models. Here’s a better look at them, along with his thoughts. Article and Photography by Nathan Sawaya 3

People

It’s a Family Thing! Article by Joe Meno Photography by Cindy English and Joe Meno Every once in a while, something different shows up at a LEGO fan convention. At Brickfair 2010 (a fan event in Washington, DC), the event theme was music, and a group of tables were centrally located on the convention floor. As setup began, models of concert stages and singing minifigures were placed at the tables. However, something new appeared in a metal cradle. A life-size viola took its place at the display. It quickly distinguished itself from almost every other model not only for its scale, but also its craft. The curves of the instrument were replicated with only LEGO elements, and matched a real viola.

Brickfair 2010 took place in a new venue in the Washington DC area, and both Cindy and Aaron had some great models to show. Aaron displayed several planes, including a V-22 Osprey, a Predator robot drone, and a P-38 Lightning fighter.

Cindy’s viola won two awards: Best Music Model and Most Inspirational Model. For her, it still hasn’t sunk in that her and her son’s creations were honored by the attendees of Brickfair. So what’s next? Cindy and Aaron have another person to get back into the hobby...Cindy’s brother. He’s already amazed by the larger variety of parts and colors since he last built. It’s just a matter of getting him to an event, and with BrickMagic, the LEGO fan event in North Carolina, being halfway between us and him, it’s not much of a stretch to expand their expo horizons. And it’ll still be a family thing. Aaron’s best work was his clock. It ran during the convention and impressed the Brickfair attendees 14 enough, it won the Best Technic Model award.

You can see more both Aarons’s and Cindy’s models at Aaron’s MOCpages gallery: http://www.mocpages.com/home.php/17353

Building

Angus MacLane:

Creator!

Angus MacLane has been previously interviewed in BrickJournal for his building (Volume 2, Issue 5). While he is known by many as one of the gifted storytellers at Pixar Animation Studios, he is known by the LEGO community for his models and for creating a building standard called the CubeDudeTM. This year, he created CubeDudes as exclusive models sold at San Diego Comic-Con and Celebration V. He was happy to talk to us again about the CubeDudes and working with the LEGO Group. Let’s talk about the CubeDude concept. You have built so many already, what’s the motivation? And what are your thoughts on other fan’s CubeDudes?

One of the main things keeping me going is the desire to make CubeDudes of all of the characters that have had some sort of inspirational impact at some point in my life. There’s something that means something to me about each and every one of them. Some are based on stuff that’s of low quality or dubious artistic merit, but sometimes that makes it more hilarious. You know, most pop culture can be considered disposable, so I take that stuff and kind of, not reinvent it necessarily, but reintroduce it into the lexicon, like “Oh yeah, remember this TV show?” It doesn’t mean anything to some people – but there’s people of a certain age that will look at these designs and they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, I remember that! That’s x or that’s y or is that the robot from...it kinda tickles this distant memory...

Angus’ Buzz Lightyear CubeDude.

http://www.railbricks.com -- http://news.lugnet.com/trains/

Basic Grid Layout:

• 48 x 48 baseplate (gray)

Connectors:

• The outer rain tracks are placed 4 studs in from the edge of the baseplate and the inner tracks are placed 8 studs in from the outer tracks.

Layout Sizes:

• The most common layout is 5 feet wise by some multiple of 5 feet long. This is made by either 4 large gray baseplates or 6 smaller (32 x 32) baseplates

Track Clearances:

• The clearance for tracks is designed to let most typical rolling stock run around the layout unimpeded. The diagram to the right shows an opening that is sufficiently large to let any official LEGO train, and most fan based trains through. • clearance above the tracks should be 12 bricks high on the outside of the track. • clearance above the tracks should be 14 bricks high on the inside of the track. • clearance on the tracks should be 3 plates high on the outside of the track (including the one plate of the track itself). • clearance above the tracks should be 2 plates high on the inside of the track (including the one plate of the track itself)

Setup:

• Most layouts are setup on folding tables with the surface 30 inches above the floor. There are several places where you can buy 5’ long by 2.5’ wide tables. These are perfect for putting layouts together.

Inside the layout:

• Using the inside area, you can build anything that comes to mind, including any of the other modular standards listed here. Often, you may want to talk with other people who will by on the same layout to coordinate the edges of your “town”, but that is totally up to you. The only requirement is to maintain the proper track clearance for your outside two tracks throughout the layout.

To the left is a close-up of a module that was part of the 2005 NMRA LEGO Train layout. You can see the track positions and clearances, as well as the use of lots of town elements behind the tracks. Below is an overview of the full layout. The circle denotes the placement of this module in the layout. The layout was part of the 2005 NMRA Model Train Show in Cincinnati Ohio. It was created by 14 different LEGO clubs from all over North America. It boasted 30 moving trains, several monorails, over 2.7 million bricks, and was the single largest layout at the entire show.

One of the largest LEGO Train layouts ever made. 13 ILTCO clubs combined to make a layout that was 50’ by 70’ and had over 2.7 million bricks (NMRA Model Railroad Show, Cincinnati Ohio, 2005

The LEGO Group

From Power Miners to Atlantis: How a Model Jumped Themes! Not all models are designed perfectly the first time. Here, we get a look at a design that began in one theme, but was produced in another! Article by Hadley Scrowton Photography by Mark Stafford This page: The first sketch model for set 8080, which was a non-transforming version of the mecha.

Hello again Mark, hope you’re doing well? Yeah, all good thanks. Enjoying the projects I’m working on. How did you end up designing set 8080, the Atlantis Undersea Explorer? We thought you were working in LEGO Space! I was! I still am in fact. However the Space Police, Power Miners and Atlantis teams were all working together last year, so as well as designing several of the Power Miners and Space Police sets I also had the opportunity to chip in some work on the exciting new Atlantis project. Just this set though? In the retail range yes, but I also designed the LEGO Club BrickMaster exclusive set (20013) and the Brick Master Atlantis book. But you told us this actually started as a Power Miners set? Kind of. When I was asked to do this set I first built an underwater Mecha vs. a mutant eel, I really liked it, and used a lot of my experience from Exo-Force in it. The model was stable and cool and I even nailed it on price with the first attempt. However we got feedback that they wanted a vehicle rather than a ‘robot’. But they got a mecha anyway, how did that happen? That’s were the Power Miners connection comes in. As I often tell people 90% of the models you build as a LEGO Designer never come to full fruition as a LEGO set, but if an idea is cool enough you keep hold of it and hope its time comes. (Like the Mars Mission motorcycle that ended up in Agents set as I revealed in issue 2 of Brick Journal) Back in 2008, during the early Power Miners development I built a transforming truck that stood up as a mecha, we decided at the time that although it was cool is was not a function that worked with the heavy machinery of Power Miners, so I set it aside and worked on other ideas. This page: The first version of the transforming mecha.

Community

Event Report:

LEGO WORLD 2009: Bringing Bricks of Fun to Holland! Article and Photography by Megan Rothrock and Amar Nanda

Above: So many bricks, so little time. Opposite: A skyline dominates the airport layout. With 72,000 visitors, LEGO World in the Netherlands remains the largest LEGO event in the world. This six-day LEGO event took place from October 22-27, 2009 in De IJsselhallen (events hall) in Zwolle in Holland. It is a good opportunity to meet fellow LEGO fans and share ideas and above all – have fun. There are lots of activities organized for the AFOLs including dinner and a program in the evening, creating a fabulous atmosphere ensuring everyone has a good time. In the first hall many members of the Dutch LEGO club, De Bouwsteen, showed their models. One of the interesting displays was the “Incidenten LEGO city” (City of Accidents) which contained several disasters that occurred in the Netherlands. Very clearly a LEGO airplane of Turkish airlines crashed near the runaway, with fire fighters trying to rescue all passengers. There was also a rendition of the Dutch Royal Family car crash near the monument of Apeldoorn, among other catastrophes. Another town display was much smaller but had even more hidden items to look for: an underground train station. It had an illuminated hall with ticket machines, minifigures reading a newspaper and, of course, trains stopping at it. It was interesting to see a traditional marketplace combined with a modern town layout. An orchestra was situated in the streets with each minifigure holding an instrument. It was good to see the streets aligned with pots with flowers and houses with a small garden in the front. The Belgian LEGO club Belug was also present this year with a detailed scenario of pirates, including islands and a battlefield. All of the ships were carefully placed on many (after some time, I stopped counting, since there were so many) 32x32 blue

The LEGO Group

Above: The LEGO System is announced as“A new and interesting hobby for the entire family” in the launch brochure for the Scale Model line.

Ever wonder why the LEGO Group took the step from bricks to plates? You might not be aware that long before the release of the 16 + LEGO Shop at Home Sets came on the scene, the LEGO Group had older builders (hobbyists) in mind.

The LEGO® System: Endless Possibilities Article Written by Inge Aaen Article Concept by Megan Rothrock Images Provided by the LEGO Idea House

Concentrating on the LEGO System In 1955, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen (GKC), owner of the LEGO Company, had invited Danish toy retailers to “take on board the idea of the LEGO System and help to give play another dimension”. This was followed by a gradual buildup of the company’s international sales organization. The buildup started during the 1950s in many European countries, including the 1959 licensing agreement with a British partner (to include the Commonwealth countries). This was followed with a licensing agreement in 1961 with the luggage manufacturer Samsonite in the USA and Canada and setting up of agencies in several other overseas countries. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen demanded the best of his developers and designers in 1960 after it was finally decided to concentrate all efforts on the continued development and marketing of the LEGO System. He stated, “We must be so good at this that nobody can do it better!”

The idea took hold, and through intensive marketing, the LEGO System became a household concept throughout most of the Western world.

Important Basic Principles: Less is more. Create as much as possible with as few components as possible.

Below: Examples of “The Modernist House” —a completely new and untraditional type of house, began appearing in Denmark at this time. Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe was designing houses with completely flat roofs, less defined transit zones between rooms, large windows from floor to ceiling and new, open layouts, and was becoming a significant influence on Danish architects.

The spotlight was on product identity. GKC was determined to concentrate on the main concept of the system – and to prevent it from being developed arbitrarily and too hastily. His approach was not to add too many new products before the concept of the basic system had penetrated a market: “The LEGO System has more combination possibilities with fewer components.” The aim was to develop creativity using a given and limited number of bricks, and for the consumer to discover “the amazing potential of simplicity”.

Product Policy and New Products in 1962 GKC wanted to “systematize play”, and drew up a list of 10 features he wanted for the product : 1. Unlimited play possibilities

The New LEGO Line Speaks to Several New Consumer Groups New Line:

New Line:

Children over 12 years: Increasing the opportunities for complex building

A new adult building scale line

The Current LEGO Line: Children 4 - 12 years

2. For girls, for boys

3. Enthusiasm to all ages

Above: Translation of a Danish graphic explaining the new LEGO line, and how they could incorporate new consumer groups with the new LEGO System.

4. Play all year round

5. Healthy and quiet play 6. Endless hours of play

7. Imagination, creativity, development

8. More LEGO - multiplied play value 9. Always topical

10. Safety and quality The year – 1962 – was unusual in its launch of new products. A unique LEGO wheel was presented at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair in Germany – importantly adding a turning component to the LEGO System.

At the same time, the “Scale Model line” was presented as a sensation that would open up new, wider‑ranging perspectives for modern model building. This launch was aimed at a different group of consumers: older children and adults interested in building.

After almost 10 years the LEGO System had thoroughly penetrated the original group of LEGO countries; the product was well-established but market surveys showed that older children were becoming less interested. To counter this development it made sense to launch the Scale Model line.

BrickJournal #12