LEGO recently announced set 21062 Trevi Fountain, revisiting the same subject that was previously featured in set 21020 in 2014. Revisiting subjects of sets by LEGO is more common than you may realise. It is done in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons. 21020 Trevi Fountain from 2014 21062 Trevi Fountain from 2025 You’ll be amazed how often some subjects have appeared as sets. (I was, while I was researching this article!) But before diving into those stories, let’s talk, somewhat paradoxically, about what we’re not talking about. Set Re-Releases Space Shuttle set 10231 from 2011. Image via Brickset LEGO sometimes re-releases sets. By “re-release,” I mean the LEGO offering the exact same model, or with minor changes, for sale again. For example, between 2001 and 2004, LEGO tapped into the nostalgia of a new group of customers known as AFOLs with the “Legends” line. The re-release...

Can you feel it? Something long dormant is awakening. A contest of heroes and villains… of lightsabers and blasters. In the vast shadowy depths of the galaxy, a challenge stirs—a call to arms that will summon the fiercest builders and creators. But who will rise to answer the call? Who will reign triumphant with the spoils of the star wars? The details remain a mystery, yet one thing is undeniable—Imperial March is coming. On March 1st, everything will be revealed. Prepare yourselves because an epic battle is about to begin! Will you answer the call? Let us know in the comments below. Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, Megan Lum, Andy Price, Lukas Kurth from StoneWars, Wayne Tyler, Dan Church, and Roxanne...

A smooth-moving camera slider can add a professional touch to your videos and brickfilms, creating dynamic shots with ease. In this article, I’ll show you how I built a fully functional camera slider for a smartphone only using LEGO. It’s a simple yet effective solution for adding cinematic movement to your footage. So as we wrap up Engineers’ Week, I’ll even provide some guidance on how to build it yourself. Better a Good Copy Than a Bad Original Before starting a project, I always like to research how other engineers have tackled similar challenges, especially when working with LEGO. With experience on film sets, I’ve seen a wide range of camera sliders in action. For this project, I specifically looked into three-axis motion-controlled sliders to understand their design and functionality. Lynx motion control slider ($2,000) Professional three-axis camera sliders are designed to perform three out of six fundamental camera movements. Every...

A MOC genre that has popped up in recent years the “Slice of Life.” Pioneered by Jackson / jermaxmikufan (Flickr/Instagram) in early 2021, it depicts primarily a lived-in Japanese-inspired setting, devoid of minifigures, and “just part of the sprawl of towns and cities.” Its loving take on the mundane quickly garnered a following, with many builders wanting to attempt their own take on the concept, and as a result a collaboration project sprung up.  One of the resulting creations was Bartu Elci-Ozsoy’s “Slice of Life: Townhouse,” a delightful study in bright light orange and light salmon, overgrown and lived-in, and with more details than one can count. The Modulex on display is no accident – Bartu goes by the moniker of “LegoModulexFan” (Flickr) – and his love for the obscure and retired is apparent with each and every brick—light violet fences form a balcony while medium orange is used to weather the...

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...