Today’s guest article comes from BrickNerd patron Wayne Tyler. We’ve featured Wayne’s architectural work many times, and today he takes a look at the LEGO Architecture 21061 Notre-Dame de Paris. Half and Half There are two things that really set me off when talking about LEGO architecture sets. First, I complain bitterly when an architecture set only gives you half the model. Can you say 21030 U.S. Capitol Building or 21058 Great Pyramid of Giza? View fullsize View fullsize In both cases, I bought a second set so that I could have one complete model. Second, though I own them all, the Skyline series of architecture sets strays from what attracted me to the architecture line of LEGO sets in the first place: stand-alone builds of iconic structures. Think 21005 Fallingwater or 21045 Trafalgar Square. View fullsize View fullsize An architecture set doesn’t even have to be intricate or complicated. My favorite set, which is...

With the arrival of 10341 NASA Artemis Space Launch System, let’s look at the history of LEGO launch pads, analyze their scale, see what fans have built, and then see how the new set stacks up in comparison. It’s a LEGO space race starting in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Space is Big and Fuel is Heavy As Douglas Adams says in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” Adams is not wrong; in fact, he’s understating things quite a bit. A rocket, especially one going to space, is a complicated balancing act. A rocket’s payload is essentially weight, and the more weight, the more fuel you need to get it into space. But more fuel means...

A special expedition awaits your LEGO characters! Today, all the Arctic researchers, fishers, hikers, and tourists of the LEGO world will become the real Aurora Hunters because we are going to visit different corners of the Earth and paint the night sky with the colors of the Northern Lights! The Aurora Borealis, better known as the Northern Lights, is an optical phenomenon when the charged particles from the sun hit the upper atmosphere of our planet, causing a luminous display! If we “translate” it from physical attributes to artistic ones, it’s a breathtaking natural show full of pulsating shapes and colors. Image credit here. Today, we’re going to study its different forms, recreating them with simple lighting equipment. Let’s get started with our new light painting project under the stars! Ribbons of Light Formed in periods of high solar activity, these bright stripes appear in many colors depending on different elements...

A new month is upon us which means more competitive building! Are you ready? Here’s the latest bunch of LEGO contests and challenges from all around the AFOL community for May 2024 to help you find some inspiration and motivation to build! There’s nothing quite like a theme or a prompt to take you out of your comfort zone and give you something new to try. Besides, contests are the perfect place to interact with other contestants and judges and get to know your fellow builders. And if you’re like me, a deadline helps make sure you actually finish! We’ve listed them in order of deadline so you can plan your building time to the best advantage. Make sure to check the LEGO activity calendar for local challenges and events near you. Here at BrickNerd, some of our fondest memories, greatest building achievements, coolest trophies, and best friendships came from LEGO...

LEGO Shows Qatar 2024 has come and gone, and what a show it was! Being the largest and longest LEGO Shows event, it proved to be quite different from LEGO Shows Kuwait six months ago. Overhead view of the entire event Entrance into the convention hall If you’ve never heard of LEGO Shows before, it’s a large-scale interactive convention organized by ATW/Events aimed at showing everyone who attends what LEGO is and what it has to offer. This year had 26 different zones spread out across the hall for both kids and parents to explore. Some of these zones were very similar or the same as in Kuwait so I’ll focus more on the new zones and talk about some of the social aspects of attending a 16-day event. Fan Zone The AFOL presence at this event included six builders total, two from Brazil (Ildefonzo Zanette and Guilherme Constantino), two from...

Laurel & Hardy Theatre by silgio is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The build is based on the British-American comedy team and it features the stage with interchangeable scenes as well as their car. The project joins Spirited Away, Appa the Sky Bison, from Avatar the Last Airbender, Venus Flytrap, Minerals Display, Dreamworks’ Shrek’s Swamp 2, Hello Kitty and Friends – 50 Years, Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch, Medieval Tournament, Among Us: The Skeld, Cherry Blossom Ikebana, Roman Forum, The Wizard of Oz 85th Film Anniversary, Interstellar, Working Suspension Railway, Metallica M72 World Tour, Suitcase Express!, Outer Wilds, Medieval Inn by the Gatehouse, Clockwork Solar System, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, My Neighbor Totoro, Tower Chess, Medieval Bee Farm, LEGO Gundam, Dancing House, Prague, The Wizard Peaks, Rocky Reef Restoration, Finding Nemo – First Day of School, Coraline – The Pink Palace, Vintage Record Player, The Highland Cow, Scooby-Doo! and...

The fan vote for the LEGO Ideas Build the Gift of Purchase Set of Your Dreams is now live and you can choose a future GWP set. There are 15 submissions to choose from and the winner will be announced on May 16. Coffee House – hechoentw Fries Kiosk by piso_brick89 White Stork (Airlines) by SKABRAM Mountain Pass Transit – Nick.wood5 Hawaiian Floral Display by NicePartsUsage Vintage Microphone by Brick_olo The LEGO Brick Theatre by CommanderDedicatedPencil101 Propeller Plane Desk by TMunz The Giant Manta Ray by Econombricks Mini Stadium by Arnaud92162 Holy Guacamole by yourbrickdesign The Autumn Snails by Jagamax Northern Cardinal by OriB Fishing Game by piso_brick89 Attack of the Kraken by Jugles The post LEGO Ideas Build the Gift of Purchase Set of Your Dreams Fan Vote Live appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

LEGO Ideas has relaunched the fan vote for the If We Can Turn Back Time due to an error last week in choosing the finalists. If you didn’t see, one of the creators had two projects in the fan vote which violated the terms of service so LEGO had to remove one of them. Replacing that project is the LEGO brick scene from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Your votes should have been reset and you can now rechoose your pick. The winner of this fan vote will be announced on June 14 and there will be a second fan vote which should start soon after and that winner will be announced on September 1. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – ‘Fly Across the Moon’ – Diorama by Brickester Gremlins by Bulldoozer The Goonies (1985) – Delusion Brick Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice! by Brick Built Labs Honey, I Shrunk the Kids by ModularManiac The...

April comes to an end and while the birds are busy chirping outside, it’s time for your monthly treat that is our monthly LEGO community round-up! So sit back and enjoy this month’s collection of insightful articles, deep drives and interesting features from all across the LEGO community! We are lucky to have this many outlets and channels that keep creating incredible content, and these are the best of the month. Here at BrickNerd, we visited Bendigo Bricks in Australia and to Bricks Cascade in Portland, Oregon, took a trip down LEGO butterfly memory lane, and asked kids about LEGO part names. We learned how to build small and different wall textures, used Duplo for some wild NPU, and looked at standards for collaborative builds. And we built a shipping container, highlighted LEGO garages and igloos, and found hidden words in MOCs. We even looked at LEGO’s IP partnerships and their...

LEGO has kicked off the LEGO Star Wars May the 4th celebration a little early as they have kicked off some Insider point deals on a few sets. You can now earn extra Insider points for various Star Wars sets. Of course, you don’t get any of the May the 4th promos which actually start tomorrow night so I suggest holding off until then to maximize your purchase. 4x Insider Points • AT-AT (75313) – $849.99/22,100 points• Mos Eisley Cantina (75290) – $399.99/10,400 points• X-Wing Starfighter (75355) – $239.99/6,240 points• Coruscant Guard Gunship (75354) – $139.99/3,640 points• New Republic E-Wing vs. Shin Hati’s Starfighter (75364) – $109.99/2,860 points There’s also some coupons you can redeem in the Rewards Center for some discounts on a few sets as well. • Save $30 on Ghost & Phantom II (75357)• Save $35 on Chewbacca (75371)• Save $15 on Emperor’s Throne Room Diorama (75352) The...