Happy Engineers’ Week! To celebrate this year, we’re going to dive into beam theory! Last summer, Oscar wrote an excellent article about building LEGO SHIPs where he dived into the strength of brick-built beams to support large space-faring MOCs. This has percolated in my brain for the last several months; and with some theory, experimentation, and math, we’ll learn what happens when you… abuse well-established engineering principles. Beam Me Up! Beams are long structural members that support loads perpendicular to their long axis. Think bridges, floor and ceiling joists, airplane wings, diving boards, and shelves to name a few common beams that may be in your everyday life. We are going to be exploring basic beam theory, which has some very specific assumptions and lots of math (that I will try to keep relatively simple and avoid the “Here be Calculus” parts of the map). Beam Problem form Engineering Mechanics Statics...

Today’s BrickNerd article comes from guest contributor Brickproject, a builder in France who specializes in architectural buildings and microscale creations. The French Café As a French LEGO fan-builder, I had the opportunity on behalf of BrickNerd to look at set 10362 French Café, a beautiful homage to our “café en terrasse” culture, featuring 1,101 crafted pieces. The purpose of this article is, of course, to take a quick look at the set, but more importantly, to add my personal touch to the model and explore ways to reimagine the set. So please enjoy the review, expansion and reimagining of LEGO’s French Café. Lunch in France Getting right into it, the designer of the set chose to depict the ground floor of a cute traditional French corner café, taking inspiration from different regions of France. The abundant ivy, greenery, and pastel-toned facade immediately remind me of a small “Provençal” village / South...

How I Met Your Mother by Dreamnbricks is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The 1,400 piece build features the apartment setting for a majority of the show and includes minifigures of Ted, Barney, Lily, Marshall, Robin, the Mom, Penny, and Luke. The project joins Civil Engineering: Types of Bridges – Revisited, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Go Go Power Rangers! LEGO Megazord, Booknook: Story Laboratory, Medieval Knight, Coraline – The Pink Palace, Taylor Swift Lover House, Jellyfish Collection, Nolinor Boeing 737-200, Portal 2: Core Replacement Station, Ancient Roman Temple, The Holiday – Rosehill Cottage, Gilmore Girls: Stars Hollow, Appa the Sky Bison, Grand Central Station, “Love Enlighten Me” The Bench of the Lampposts in Love, Bob Ross – The Joy of Building, Peter Rabbit and the Garden, Disney’s Phineas and Ferb Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, Muppets – Statler & Waldorf’s Balcony Key Rack, and Junkyard with Working Magnet...

Junkyard with Working Magnet Crane by LEGOParadise is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The build features a junkyard layout with a bunch of rusted vehicles as well as a functional electromagnet-style crane that uses real magnets to pick up the cars. The project joins Civil Engineering: Types of Bridges – Revisited, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Go Go Power Rangers! LEGO Megazord, Booknook: Story Laboratory, Medieval Knight, Coraline – The Pink Palace, Taylor Swift Lover House, Jellyfish Collection, Nolinor Boeing 737-200, Portal 2: Core Replacement Station, Ancient Roman Temple, The Holiday – Rosehill Cottage, Gilmore Girls: Stars Hollow, Appa the Sky Bison, Grand Central Station, “Love Enlighten Me” The Bench of the Lampposts in Love, Bob Ross – The Joy of Building, Peter Rabbit and the Garden, Disney’s Phineas and Ferb Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, and Muppets – Statler & Waldorf’s Balcony Key Rack as the ones to...

If you’re heading to the LEGO House at the end of the month, there will be a exclusive retail product launch held there and tickets are now available. Every year around this time, the LEGO House releases a new set that you can only get there at retail price. For this year’s event, it’ll be held on February 28 or March 1 for a price of 995 DKK. The event is four hours long and it also includes a light dinner followed by the reveal presentation with the product designers and a LEGO corporate historian. In addition, you will be able to get a copy of the set signed by the designers. The event package also includes a one day ticket to the experience zones during the event day. The post LEGO House Exclusive Retail Product Launch Tickets Now Available appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous"...

The promotion for the LEGO Tropical Rainforest Diorama (40782) GWP is now available. From now until February 12, you can get it with purchases of $150 or more, while supplies last. In addition, you can now also earn double Insiders points as well. Now is the perfect time to get your orders in for some of the newer releases like the LEGO Ideas Twilight The Cullen House (21354) or the LEGO Icons Tudor Corner (10350). Note that the Rainforest Diorama will not work on pre-orders as they changed that rule a while back. Also if you want to get the LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Badnik Crabmeat (40781), it is now available in the Rewards Center for 2,000 Insiders Points. As a Rakuten/Linkshare Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO Tropical Rainforest Diorama (40782) GWP Now Available appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

About a week ago, LEGO revealed a new LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog set called the Badnik Crabmeat (40781). At first, we didn’t know how it would be distributed whether it being a regular set that we could buy or it would be a gift with purchase set considering the set number. We can now confirm that it will be available in the LEGO Insiders Rewards Center very soon. It is listed to be available starting today but nothing has been loaded up yet. When it does go live, you can get the 181 piece set for 2,000 points. The post LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Badnik Crabmeat (40781) Confirmed as Insiders Reward appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

It has been announced that LEGO will be doing a Double Insiders shopping event starting tomorrow. From February 8-12, you can earn double points in stores and on the LEGO Shop for all your purchases. In addition, the promotion for the LEGO Tropical Rainforest Diorama (40782) gift with purchase set will go live. It will also run during the same timeframe with purchases of $150 or more, while supplies last. The post LEGO Double Insider Points and Tropical Rainforest Diorama (40782) GWP Confirmed for February 8-12 appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

In the world of LEGO fan shows and AFOL collaborations, New Hashima is turning heads in a big way. The New Hashima Down Under collab was recently exhibited at Brickvention 2025 in Melbourne, Australia and consistently drew a crowd over the weekend. New hashima down under BrickNerd chatted to one of the coordinators, Joshua Morris, about his inspiration and challenges. Sue Ann: Hi there! What inspired you to build in the New Hashima standard? Joshua: Seeing the insane eighty+ person New Hashima collaboration from Brickworld Chicago 2023 certainly lit a spark within me. Attempting New Hashima was going to be a big task! We needed to assemble a crack team of Aussie AFOLs to tackle a massive collaboration of this size. I reached out to people that I know and admire to see who was keen. From there, New Hashima Down Under (NHDU) was born. With the wealth of resources and...

Muppets – Statler & Waldorf’s Balcony Key Rack by Howdy Ashley Here is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The 219 piece build features the iconic balcony from The Muppets that has enough structural integrity to be used as a real key rack. The project joins Civil Engineering: Types of Bridges – Revisited, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Go Go Power Rangers! LEGO Megazord, Booknook: Story Laboratory, Medieval Knight, Coraline – The Pink Palace, Taylor Swift Lover House, Jellyfish Collection, Nolinor Boeing 737-200, Portal 2: Core Replacement Station, Ancient Roman Temple, The Holiday – Rosehill Cottage, Gilmore Girls: Stars Hollow, Appa the Sky Bison, Grand Central Station, “Love Enlighten Me” The Bench of the Lampposts in Love, Bob Ross – The Joy of Building, Peter Rabbit and the Garden, and Disney’s Phineas and Ferb Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated as the ones to reach the First 2025 Review Stage. The...