Join BrickNerd as we take a look at the amazing models by Jack (aka BigPlanes), and see just where his big planes have taken him! All Photos Via Jack Carleson This Is Your Captain Speaking… John: Hello and thank you for talking with BrickNerd. Please tell us a little about yourself. Jack: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed by BrickNerd! My name is Jack Carleson, also known as “BigPlanes” on my social media channels. I’m 20 years old, and currently attend Arizona State University as an architecture major.  John: You are certainly well known for your impressive plane models (Flickr and Instagram). How did you end up making this your specialty? Jack: For most of my life I’ve had an interest in aviation, and a fascination with planes. The engineering and design behind a large aircraft like a 747 getting off the ground is something that has...

Many times in the LEGO community, you see alternate builds of huge sets that abandon the official instructions to create something else amazing with the same parts. The large sizes provide a lot of opportunities for getting creative. Instructions even used to suggest alternate builds. Further, you can do even more when you add your own additional pieces like our mods to the A-Frame Cabin and Little Mermaid Clamshell. But what if you are limited to only what came in the set? And what if that set is small? Two BrickNerd contributors volunteered to find out. LEGO provided 40647 Lotus Flowers and 40643 Jade Rabbit for them to play around with and these are the results. Are small sets able to have alternate builds? I’ll turn it over to Sam and Sean to answer that question. Lotus Flowers - Samuel Pister (aka Pistash) When the BrickNerd team was challenged to do...

TaleSpin Seaduck Meeting Seagull by Delusion Brick is the latest project to achieve 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. The 2,975 piece build is based on the animated TV series back in the 90s and includes minifigures of Baloo von Bruinwald XIII,Kit Cloudkicker, Rebecca Cunningham, and Wildcat. The project joins “Big Boy” Locomotive, Retro Arcade, Spartan Helmet of Leonidas, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, The Muppet Show, Red Bull Racing F1 Team RB18 1:12, Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, Western River Steamboat, Dreamwork’s Shrek Swamp, Asterix & Obelix, Venice, Stilt House, Red Bull RB18, Trojan Horse, and Red Dwarf: Sleeping Quarters as the ones to reach the Second 2023 Review Stage. The post LEGO Ideas TaleSpin Seaduck Meeting Seagull Achieves 10,000 Supporters appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

LEGO has been testing the waters with up-scaled minifigures in recent years like with the LEGO Wooden Minifigure (853967), Harry Potter & Hermione Granger (76393), and more recently, the LEGO House A Minifigure Tribute (40504). The latest addition to the lineup is the Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure (40649). It has 654 pieces and retails for $49.99. Minifigure There is a generic minifigure that has a red torso and blue legs which is what the up-scaled version of it is based on. Build The build is very straight-forward with the number of bags corresponding to the area of the minifigure. The first part is for the torso. Like with Redbeard, there’s an interesting section here for the arms to put them at an angle. The rest of the parts are for the start of the legs. The legs are pretty plain and the interior of them has spots to connect the Technic axles...

Something big is coming! In honor of BrickNerd’s 10th Anniversary, we are building something gigantic to celebrate our brick-built mascot Nerdly and bringing it to Brickworld Chicago this week. That’s right, Nerdly is getting an upgrade! We’re building a Nerdly that is ten times the size as normal to celebrate each of the past ten years! (Well, actually it is 12x bigger to make the math a little easier in studs, but who’s counting?) Here’s a teaser of what is coming… and you can join in the fun too! In addition to the gigantic Nerdly, we are going to create the largest nerd herd ever assembled! If you are going to Brickworld Chicago, bring a Nerdly along to join the brigade! (Here are the instructions.) We’ll also have pieces on hand if you want to help us build a small army of red Nerdlies during the show to go along with...

In my other review of of the spring wave of LEGO Creator sets, we take a look at the Beach Camper Van (31138). It has 556 pieces and retails for $49.99. Minifigures There are two minifigures in the set, a male and female. The male has a white tank top with a sailboat in the front. His double-sided head shows him with a smile on one side and a scared expression on the other. The female has on what appears to be a fruit design top. Her double-sided head shows her with a smirk on onne side and wearing sunglasses on the other. Build The main build for this set is the beach camper van itself. It is an eight-wide van that has a very spacious interior. The front has room for two seat while the back has a decent sized kitchen as well as a sleeping area. On the removable...

What math is hidden in your favorite LEGO sets, how can you recognize it, and how does it magically make LEGO geometry work so perfectly? Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published June 10, 2022. To help answer those questions, we are pleased to feature a guest article from Deep Shen discussing the hidden math in LEGO. Deep’s amazing portfolio of work can be found at Towering Brick Creations, on his Flickr page and on Instagram. Hidden Math I am sure I speak for all AFOLs when I say that building official LEGO sets can be quite an enjoyable experience. It is always exciting to crack open the box, find all the numbered bags, and start putting the model together based on the instructions. But every so often there is a technique we come across that confounds us and leaves us wondering, “How does that even work?” It is a safe...

Amazon currently has a sale for the LEGO Marvel Nano Gauntlet (76223) for 30% off. It drops the price of the set down to $48.99 and is the lowest it has been since last November. It has 675 pieces and recreates Iron Man’s gauntlet from Avengers: Endgame. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO Marvel Nano Gauntlet (76223) Amazon Sale – June 2023 appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

In addition to LEGO Double VIP Points starting again this weekend, LEGO is also offering the LEGO Fleece Blanket (5007622) from now until June 18. You can get it with purchases of $200 or more. The blanket was originally a promotion from last year during the holiday season where it was available in late November and throughout the month of December. The UK and other parts of Europe still has the LEGO Pirate Ship Playground (40589) promotion going until June 18. As a Rakuten/Linkshare Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The post LEGO Fleece Blanket (5007622) Promotion Returns appeared first on The Brick Fan. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

As you are well aware by now, LEGO has released their latest Icons set that pays tribute to another pioneer of the video game era; Pac-Man. As I am sure you are also aware, in the early 1980s, Pac-Man was a mega craze in video game arcades all around the world. In the United States alone, it was estimated to have 30 million active players in 1982… and I could be counted among them. As a young kid, I remember a bunch of us excitedly piling into the car of someone’s older brother to go to a local department store where the game had been spotted - and piling quarters into the coin slots. I also remember being just tall enough not to need a step stool to reach the control stick. Ah, nostalgia. A few weekends ago, I went to a local game bar with tons of retro arcade games...