I made a series of construction themed LEGO Great Ball Contraption (GBC) modules.

• Dozer Linkage - NonsenseWars
• Wheel of Fortune - Nathan Loll
• Slow Scissor Stepper - John Tooker
• Catch and Release - Dunes
• Solaire - Great Ball Pit

Music: Welcome To The Fire

Musician: Willyecho (from Audiio)

“Ah, Pre Historica craftsmanship. Fired in the kilns of Barqa, no doubt. Note the cobalt flourish—an artisan’s flourish, not a court commission.”

Still a bard of Historica, Myndros learned his lore on the road, trading songs for secrets in guild halls and market squares. Summoned by nobles and fine merchants alike, all those in the room yearn to learn from the knowledge of the Relic Ruminator.

I created this scene for the Guilds of Historica’s Book IV Prelude Challenge: “Those who can… Teach”.

The bookshelf design is by unknown.

I built this concert for the Guilds of Historica’s Book IV Prelude Challenge: “Hometown Advantage”. Here the bard is a minotaur, which was inspired by the second part of the challenge, I figured a ‘bull in a china shop’ would be a fun take on “Antique Roadshow” - and a musical minotaur also sounded intriguing.

Background photograph by Joshua Mayer.

Another website with LEGO GBC information and links.

Getting Started

You’ll need power function motors and a power supply. The can be purchased from https://shop.lego.com. I’d recommend starting by copying someone else’s design; several modules are listed below.

And you’ll need LEGO soccer balls, which are about $1 a piece. As an alternative, 9/16” Delrin plastic ball bearings work well and only cost $0.11 each (if you get 100).

To vary the speed of your modules (which helps with synchronization), you will need a Motor Speed Regulator. Use LEGO 9V train controllers can be purchased or you can make your own. You can also use the LEGO IR receiver 8884 and IR Speed Controller 8879.

I would also recommend creating these Tools.

Modules Instructions

Below are links to reliable module instructions. Many of these are workshop modules from various LEGO conventions. For a list of parts, download the instructions and view the last page.

Slow Scissor Stepper

A large stair run by a scissor lift slowly lifts balls up and over. This is the first module I’ve fully designed and tested, it is reliable and the motor can be run in either direction. Designed by John Tooker.
📓 Instructions (21MB pdf)
🎥 Video (Music by AlexGuz and Sergii Pavkin)

Brickworld 2022 module

A simple wheel takes balls up and drops them on a ramp. This module is very reliable and can be run in either direction. Designed by Nathan Loll and Bryan Bonahoom.
📓 Instructions (10MB pdf)
🎥 Video by Brick Engineering (youtube)

Brickworld 2019 module

This single-lane sawtooth lift picks up balls one at a time and dumps them. The lift mechanism also drives the agitator in the input bin. Designed by John Brost.
📓 Instructions (18MB pdf)
🎥 Video by Great Ball Pit (youtube)

Brickworld 2018 module

A simple and reliable ball pump. Its height can be extended to over two feet tall. Note that you have to fill the tower will balls before the first one will come out. Designed by Brian Alano.
📓 Instructions (3MB pdf)
🎥 Video by Great Ball Pit (youtube)

Brickworld 2017 module

This ramp module is very reliable and its motor can be driven in either direction. Designed by Bryan Bonahoom.
📓 Instructions (3MB pdf)
🎥 Beyond the Brick Video from BrickFair Virginia (youtube)

10x10 Mini Module

This is a very simple module and works well to fill gaps in a layout. Designed by Maico Arts, who has many other nice module instructions on his page.
📓 Instructions (17MB pdf)

12x12 Wheel Lift

Another easy to run, reliable module. Created by Brian Alano.
📓 Instructions (3MB pdf)
🎥 Video (youtube)

Brickfair 2018 module

A simple stepper module with three stairs reliably brings balls up and out one at a time. Its motor can be switched out easily from the bottom. Designed by Stuart Roll.
📓 Instructions (32MB pdf)
🎥 Video by Beyond the Brick (youtube)

Brickworld 2015 module

This module is stackable onto a 2x2 grid and may be stacked many modules high. It uses a simple wheel mechanic to lift and agitate balls. Designed by Bryan Bonahoom.
📓 Instructions (4MB pdf)
🎥 Video by Chris Wilmott (youtube)

Brickworld 2014 module

Conveyor ramp modules, such as this, are easy to create and reliably get balls from left to right. These work best when the top gear drives. Designed by Rafe Donahue.
📓 Instructions (2MB pdf)
🎥 Video by Beyond the Brick (youtube)

Resources

The following pages are great GBC resources

• http://www.planet-gbc.com
• http://greatballcontraption.com
• https://www.greatballpit.com
• https://lawriege.com/resources/instructions/ has a curated list of instructions as well
• LOLUG specific GBC info

Tools

I would recommend having these tools available when designing modules, but especially when running them at a show:

• 10x10x10 ball catching box: useful as a replacement for when you need to remove a module from the pipeline. When designing modules, it is a handy guide for measuring the input box requirement.
• Poker sick (with grabbing end): for when balls get suck in place your fingers cannot reach: https://youtu.be/MLTEb4wO8wc?t=2593 by Rasika Amarasiri of MUGs

TODO: get nice images for each of these, and links to instructions

Mechanisms

• Single direction output regardless of input direction: by Jozef S391 on youtube

Inspiration

• Beyond the Brick’s 10 hours GBC compilation video
• Akiyuki is a GBC designer who has produced many intricate and mesmerizing modules, he also has a youtube channel

This GBC module consists of a large stair run by a scissor lift that slowly lifts balls up and over. This is the first module I’ve fully designed and tested; it is reliable and the motor can be run in either direction.

📄 Instructions (21MB .pdf)

A crew of pioneers make a settlement on the Ice Planet. After landing their home base and garage, they built a helipad and set up communication stations. They launch rockets with satellites around the planet.

Music: “Frozen Nature” by SergePavkinMusic

Here is the paper I used to map our the layout of the base and surrounding area:

I created this vignette for the Classic Castle’s April seed piece challenge. The seed piece was Thor’s hammer. I used it as the masonry bricks in the floor and around the fireplace.

I created this scene for LOLUG’s monthly competition. This month’s theme was ‘Autumn’.

Scene 3: Betrayal

On the day of unveiling, Lord Balric refused to honor his agreement, knowing the guild’s debt would ruin them. Devastated and enraged, John, Martin and other guild members shattered their masterpiece in defiance.

Geneva D, Eyrezer, Sam and I collaborated on this story for the Summer Joust’s Guild Evolution category. Our narrative follows a glass blowing guild that builds itself up a reputation only to be cheated by a wealthy patron.

• Scene 1: Humble Beginnings by Geneva D
• Scene 2: Burgeoning Success by Eyrezer
• Scene 3: Betrayal by myself
• Scene 4: Humble Endings by Sam

A special thanks to Katie Walker and all her mosaics! The rose window patterns were heavily based off her designs.

Behind the Scenes

As a group, we wanted to have a 16:9 ratio image. To help plan this, I made a 16 x 9 stud frame out of LEGOs to see both the shape of what would be in view and to also use as a viewfinder.

Here are the light setup - including the bright on in back. I put paper over it so it wasn’t so bright. I did try to get the stained glass pattern to appear on the floor in the MOC, but was unable to get a clear image.

Bespin harbors a wealth of Tibanna gas, pivotal for powering hyperdrives and enhancing energy weapons. Refined Tibanna is stored in large gas tanks on floating platforms, streamlining its transport and underscoring its vital role in the galactic economy.

I created this model for LOULG’s May meeting Iron Builder challenge. The seed piece was the minifigure air tanks. Size was limited to 16x16 studs.

Background image by Jesse Jordon

Neddi was an elf who loved the sunlight and the soil. She tended to her garden with care and joy, using her knowledge of herbs and plants to create potions and remedies. But lately, her plants had been wilting and dying, afflicted by a mysterious blight. The only cure, she learned, was a rare ingredient: the luminaria fungus, a glowing organism that thrived in the darkest depths of the Nyx caves.

Reluctantly, she agreed to venture into the underground realm, accompanied by her two acquaintances: Rhalyf, a curious wanderer from the south, and Folgaen, a clever and daring warrior. They made their way through the winding tunnels, facing dangers and wonders along the way.

They reached a large cavern, where a small lake shimmered under the light of crystals. A water wheel turned slowly, powering a broken chain of gears. A wooden bridge spanned the lake, leading to a door on the other side.

Folgaen was the first to cross the bridge, confident and curious. He stepped lightly on the planks, humming a tune. But halfway across, he heard a loud crack. He looked down and saw one of the boards break under his feet.

As Folgaen falls towards the water, you hear him scream and see him grab the rope. You also see something else: a pair of yellow eyes emerging from the depths. Roll for initiative.

I created this delve for a LOLUG collaboration based on SquatchLUG’s Dungeon Delve, a Dungeons and Dragons themed modular build. This is a double-wide module.

I’ve included two figures worth mentioning. The first is Neddi the Elf Gardener, making her first reappearance since I created her for Hired Hands of Historica. The second is my Guilds of Historica sigfig, Rhalyf the Wanderer.

Music in the video is Ripper Riddles by TimKulig and used under CC4 license.

Located in the northwest of Kaliphlin, outside of Batuhan, is a bustling trading post. Positioned at the crossroads between Eastgate to the west, Barqa to the south, and Avalonia to the north, it is the ideal location for Kaliphlinians to acquire rare essential commodities, such as lumber.

Today, the post is overrun with livestock, and the stable is full. Additional guards from Batuhan have been dispatched to ensure that all trade is legal and properly taxed.

I created this trading post for the Guilds of Historica’s Challenge 11. It has been great developing the looks of this scrubland between Kaliphlin and Avalonia.

Here are instructions for the trees in the background. They are Douglas Fir trees growing in an arid environment. The base pieces are not too important - you can make it as tall or as secure to the ground as you want.

Cedrica is a melting pot for all of Historica’s guilds. Life is busy on this warm day in the Kaliphlin district. Ladies enjoy drinks at the café while merchants haggle on the streets. Kaliphlin soldiers patrol these canals to make sure the right sort of justice is enforced.

I created this 32x32 module for the Guilds of Historica final 10th Anniversary Challenge: “Life in Cedrica” category. This was a great way to bring a Kaliphlinian look to another setting while building out a bit Cedrica’s lore outside the palace.

I created this for LOLUG’s January competition: build a parade float. I chose a Midwest patriotic theme with veterans on a hay rack pulled by horses.

I reimagined Majisto’s Tower #1906 for the CCC’s Return of the GOAT contest. Dragon Masters has always been my favorite LEGO theme (and favorite castle faction). Initially, I planned to re-do Majisto’s Magical Workshop #6048, after building a micro version. But others have created their renditions of it and Majisto’s Tower seemed more fitting for a castle contest.

Released in 1994, Majisto’s Tower, set #1906, was sold only in (North?) America. It came with many terrific parts (190 pieces total) for the price ($20), including:

• Printed wall panel and 8-wide arch pieces
• Dragon Masters Flag & Shield
• Spiral Staircase
• Tower roof
• Two BURPs
• Several castle wall/corner panels
• Horse
• 3 figs
• Castle-printed box with play features

That last one, the custom printed box, has some awesome castle designs, which I incorporated into my build. The color scheme of the paved ground came from this depiction while the foliage covered ground came from the green baseplate of the original set. Sadly, I do not have the box anymore (or cannot find it).

My recreation is approximately twice the size of the original in each dimension. The building portion is about 60% bigger; I expanded the ground and landscaping to fill up the rest. I kept the prominent features: the two towers and gateway as they were in the original and the rocks are in approximately the same place as the BURPs.

I imagined this tower being built at the top of a hill with a cliff drop-off to the left and behind. For this reason, I built the rockwork along the whole back side without a proper wall, true to the original.

A key element from the set is the spiral staircase up to Majisto’s tower. I built mine in the reverse direction as exiting the stairs off the model seemed strange. But to make it fit, I added a balcony off the back of the tower.

I added some potions, candles and a bookshelf to the expanded tower. Like the official set, I kept this room open. This makes it both easy to see the magical equipment and keep the play features from the original set.

As a kid, my eye was quickly drawn to the printed dragons over the entry arch and tower window. Rather than reuse the printed pieces, I brick-built them.

Another change I made was to add some space for a stable under the tower for the horse - complete with a manger.

And speaking of the horse, I scaled down the chariot while still keeping its flamboyant wings. The chariot design was inspired by GJC15344.

Besides the chariot, there are two other movable pieces in the original set: the front doors and the secret passage. While the front doors do open and close, they are a bit stiff and fragile.

The secret exit of the set opened with a horizontal hinge. I used a vertical one (using a Mixel joint). This allowed me to blend in the hidden door fairly well.

Another change I made was to the front guard tower. I decided to enclose it. There are three non-functional doors: one at the base of the tower, one leading out to the parapet over the gate and a trap door to the top of the tower.

I had planned to build the tower with the corner wall panels, but I didn’t have enough pieces for a 1x4 panel technique and the large corner panel this achieved the look I wanted while staying true to the original set.

I hope you enjoyed my reimagined Majisto’s Tower creation!

October 2022 marks LOLUG’s 10th anniversary. To celebrate, that was the theme of September’s Monthly meeting.

My creations features LOLUG members displaying their creations at Brick Days - with tables arranges in a ‘10’.

LOLUG is doing a minifigure habitat collaboration. I built three for the October meeting:

• Rhalyf in the Deserts of Kaliphlin
• Forestman Archer
• Scarecrow

In medieval times, salt was a necessity for preserving foods. Its importance was so great, it was often used as currency and traded for gold[1]. It was a chief export of western Africa[2] where salt deposits could be easily found and mined. Once mined, it was carried across the Sahara by camel caravan.

[1] When Salt Was Traded for Gold: The Salt Trade of West Africa that Built Kingdoms and Spread Culture by Wu Mingren

[2] The Salt Trade of Ancient West Africa by Mark Cartwright

I created this build for the “African Setting” category of the Summer Joust.

‘What would you like to hear?’ I asked as we sat down near the hearth.

‘Tell us about Hassan and Mehdi, papa!’ Abbas said.

‘You’ll have nightmares,’ I responded.

‘Pleeaase’ my children said in unison.

‘We know how it ends,’ Aida protested.

‘Alright,’ I said, ‘the story begins many years ago, when your grandfather was still alive…’

“I’m beginning to have second thoughts about this undertaking,” Hassan said after two hours walking in silence with the desert on the horizon.

“Aye,” Mehdi responded, “fame and glory isn’t as alluring once that task is at hand. But we volunteered and could not show our heads around the Wither Woods if we retreated now. And think of the poor Modiri family."

“Yeah, they had no warning. It must have gotten their dog first. Most times people run away and just lose some livestock,” Hassan said as they walked on. “How far into the desert do you think it makes its home?"

“Can’t be too deep. But no one has ever ventured this far,” Mehdi answered. “The trail is clear and I think even the sand won’t cover these tracks too quick."

‘They followed the tracks into the desert as night fell and the air cooled,’ I said continuing the story. ‘They walked on past midnight, carrying their long weapons.’

“What do I see in the distance?” Mehdi asked as a crescent moon shown overhead and lit the otherwise flat landscape with a faint light.

“Must be a large rock formation the Westersands haven’t worn away,” Hassan replied. “Do you hear that noise?"

‘A reticent but hash sound fell on our heroes’ ears as they stopped and looked at each other with hesitant glances.’

“I think we’ve found the beast’s haunt,” Mehdi suggested. After a pause, “We can use those rocks to our advantage.”

“But it’ll surely see, or smell, us coming - there is no other cover around."

“Not if one of us cycles around and approaches from the back side. He could sneak up those rocks and get the jump while-"

“While the other is bait?!” Hassan protested.

“Well, if the timing were right, the danger would be low - and less than both of us facing it head on,” Mehdi explained.

“Are you offering to be the bait?"

“Draw straws?"

‘So Mehdi grabbed two straws and Hassan picked.’

“I’ll wait here until the sunrise,” Hassan said with the short straw in hand.

“And I’ll walk around a mile and start climbing just before,” Mehdi said before departing into the desert night.

‘At the first sign of daylight, Hassan stood up and prepared himself for a fight. Just before sunrise, he saw the beast behemoth awake - something had caught its attention behind the rock it was laying against. Just as it was standing up, Hassan rushed forward and shouted, “HEY!”

‘Upon heading the sound the creature turned around right as the sun broke over the horizon. Standing in front of Hassan was the huge ogre that was responsible for so much loss of life and livestock. In its hand a humongous, spiked club. Just as Hassan was preparing to defend himself against a fatal blow, Mehdi leapt from the rock bringing his halberd down hard on the back of the ogre’s head.

“You were early,” Mehdi said.

“You were just in time,” Hassan replied.

‘And now it is time for bed,’ I said.

About the Build

I created this MOC for the Summer Joust’s Going Big category. I chose miniland as the scale. Building the ogre definitely took me out of my comfort zone, as I do not have much experience with ‘constraction’ builds, and using sand green added to the challenge piece-wise.

I also used the MOC in LOLUG’s June meeting competition, which featured the white fang/horn (88513) as the seed piece.

Background Image

The background is Green Grasses on Sahara Desert by Greg Gulik used under the CC license.

Source of Inspiration

I had the general desert rock concept in my head but after seeing Grant Davis’s Desert the idea was solidified.

I was unable to come up with a helmet design I liked, so I borrowed one from Letranger Absurde.

I found these other brick-built ogres interesting:

• https://flickr.com/photos/janskrzetuski/51909253156/
• https://flickr.com/photos/142720019@N08/51824166828/
• https://flickr.com/photos/152897799@N04/27591231837/
• https://flickr.com/photos/147565277@N03/50256722011/

Set #6048 Majisto’s Magical Workshop was one of my favorite sets as a kid. So when LEGO announced their 90th Anniversary Micro-Scale contest, this set was at the top of my list. Click here for the link to my entry.

I included as many features of the original set as I could at this scale. The building opens on a hinge. Both figures, Majisto and a Dragon Knight, are present. There is a table (unpictured), treasure chest, skillet on the fire and a ladder upstairs. I used the original 53° 3x1x3 1/3 slope to get the angle right on the roof.

I also submitted this to the Summer Joust’s 12x12 Vignette category.

If you enjoyed this creation, check out TomSkippy’s Dragon Masters Micro layout featuring all the Dragon Master sets in micro scale.

Dragon Masters Background

I created a simplified version of the Dragon Masters background to use for this. You are free to use them in your creations too.

• .png 5200 x 3250 (6MB)
• .svg source

Zahra’s Hookah Lounge in old Petraea is as exquisite as it is exclusive. The finest flavored hashish is smoked in a luxurious rooms with impeccable service.

I created this vignette for LOLUG’s May competition. The challenge was to use the welder’s torch piece in a novel way and be no larger than 16x16. I used 9 torch pieces in the MOC: as part of the hookah, wall sconces and chandelier.

I also noticed there were not too many interior MOCs in Kaliphlin and this seemed like a good excuse to build one.

I created this knight with a mace and chain for CCC’s Seed Part Challenge and LOLUG’s March challenge. The seed piece of the CCC challenge was the handcuffs; I used 6 of that piece. The LOLUG challenge was to build a Brickheadz.

A second brick building in decay for the back end of Nebraska Brick Railyard town. This one features a boarded up window and a person who is homeless.

In the morning merchants take their laden carts to the castle. The king and queen spend lavishly for their court.

The remains are taken down to market for the citizenry to pick over.

The contrast between the rich and the poor has never been greater.

My part of the “Rich and Poor” collaboration for Brickscalibur. My partner, LegoMocFan created Part 1: The Poor.

The Duke of Glannalt is brought to the Folviken. Abductees are always brought to the lake fortress for safe keeping until a ransom is paid. High profile persons, such as the duke, are always high stakes; sometimes our work just plays into the hands of an opportunistic usurper. But the rewards for the Wolfpack are too good to pass up.

I created this MOC for the Over water! category of the CCC XIX. I had been planning such a MOC for a while, especially after seeing Jonas Kramm’s Wolfholm. The submission was also very fitting for the Brickscalibur Rogues and Outlaws.

I had planned to use more wood and less stone, but enjoyed creating the rough stone wall textures. The whole process took longer than expected, but I’m satisfied with the result.

I had originally planned on a cheese slope roof, but could not work in the ‘wolf’ accents without very large roof rakes. So I went with a standard tile roof (with tiles half pushed down).

The lantern design is care of @ranghaal.

Even in the cold of winter, there is life in the forest of this snowy mountain.

I created the mountain part of the MOC for LOLUG’s Christmas Village display for HobbyTown. I am also submitting it for CCC XIX’s Landscaping category.

Photos of the display

LOLUG members Denise, Lauren, Nate, Brian and I put together this Christmas village:

Denise lead the project and built this ski lift. It ran without issue the whole month!

Queens rule and warriors battle, but workers propel Historica forward. These are the hired hands of Historica.

I created these minifigures for the Guilds of Historica 2nd count down challenge. There are members from all five guilds as well as Cedrica.

Kaliphlin

Jaffar the Monkey Trainer

The aristocracy of Kaliphlin likes their monkeys trained, might as well collect extra profit while I’m at it

Pouri the Attendant

Fanning the king is exhausting

Sesur-hat the Scribe

Drawing one map is fun, a dozen copies is not

Varlyrio

Drad the Deck Hand

After two months at sea, I long for the harsh Wastelands

Sofia the Back Stabber

If the poisoned apple doesn’t work, the direct approach will

Elias the Net Maker

Mending nets is better on my back than reeling them in full of fish

Mitgardia

Thodil the Ice Cutter

I don’t know why humans don’t get their own ice, mining it is much easier than mining rock

Aðalgeir the Furrier

Harsh winters create the best business

Gjertrud the Snow Shoveler

I’d give half my wage for a sunny day

Avalonia

Ailmer the Lumberjack

𝅘𝅥𝅮 I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok…

Fanes the Farrier

My work is all the separates you from the ground

Neddi the Gardener

If you step on my flowers once, you won’t do it again

Nocturnus

Mudgul the Miner

At least there is no ghastly sunlight down here

Ruak the Bone Craftsman

I’m the best in the over and underworld

Koglodzar the Slave Driver

I can’t believe I get paid to do this!

Cedrica

Esther the Chambermaid

You wouldn’t believe what the Queen did last night!

The Lighthouse at Ashkharin is one of the Ancient Wonders of Historia. Located on the isle of Gorr near what is now known as Stone Town, this lighthouse alerted ships of northern point of the island.

Though much of Gorr’s ancient history disappeared with its inhabitants around the time Kaligem was destroyed, this lighthouse lives on in memory due to its enormous size and importance. It stretched 430 feet (130m) over the ocean waves and its fires could be seen for miles away over sea and land. Before its destruction, it was the tallest building in all of Historica.

I created this build for the Guilds of Historica’s Anniversary Countdown Challenge. I used the tower of my Nebraska State Capitol and built the rocks around it as well as inserting the light chamber on top.

A pasture I built for LOLUG’s train layout. Right now it 4x3 baseplates in size (128 studs by 96 studs). The windmill is motorized.

The pasture is home to brick-built cows. Build them yourself with these instructions.

Sometimes folks from the city come out and attempt silly tasks with the cows.

History

While farmers south of the Wither Woods have always scraped by, recent improvements to the climate accompanied by an increase in trade through this region have given rise to a proper town at the crossroads of the Woodbrow Road and the Wester Road. This town is called Batuhan. It is located 40 miles west of Eastgate and 50 miles north of Barqa.

Ahesh, who fought in the Battle of the Wither Woods, lead the town to prosperity after the battle claimed many of its citizens’ lives.

Over the years after the battle, the influence and protection of Eastgate diminished. Batuhan was left to defend itself and the trade route itself. Ahesh took on this challenge and created the Guard of Batuhan. A dragon was chosen to adorned the shields in honor of the dragon that changed Ahesh’s fortune. Aarash grew into a young man and a capable captain before taking over as the Emir of Batuhan for his late father.

Geography

Rough, but plowable terrain surrounds Batuhan with many farms to the immediate south and a few to the north. Principally, the Woodbrow Road cuts through the smoother parts of the terrain.

The Wither Woods to the North border the town and the main trade road. They are quite unhospitable to civilized folk.

The Barlas river feeds into a small lake with the same name. This creates a natural eastern barrier to the town, along with the rising terrain from which the river flows.

Further away, the port city of Eastgate lies to the west. The Westersands exist past the farmland, further to south and east. Even further south is the city of Barqa.

Military

Ignored by the Desert King in Petraea, Batuhan has had to form its own guard to protect its citizens and merchants passing through. Since the Battle of Historica, the only constant threat has been from bandits and other evil creatures in the Wither Woods.

The Great Wall of Batuhan was raised to aid in this defense using the newly created Buğra Quarry. This guard and military wall have not escaped notice from Petraea, but in this time of peace, the Desert King has been content with Batuhan’s guard. It directly increases the trade that is so valuable to Kaliphlin and the wall would serve as a convenient defense against Avalonia, should the need ever arise.

Economy

Trade has been largely responsible for the grown of this settlement. It has attracted immigrants, which are the primary source of population growth. With the protection Batuhan provides to merchants, a tax is received.

Farms to the south, also under the protection of the Batuhan Guard, provide food and textiles for the town’s inhabitants.

The wall and many of the fortified buildings are only possible due to the Buğra Quarry located through the Wither Woods along the Wester Road.

The fortune of prosperity has given rise to Batuhan, but the wise know this is only fleeting. Merchants will not be so willing to hand over their gold if they become threatened on the road as they were before. Townsfolk may become rebellious if the farms fail to produce enough food. Farmers may be less tolerant of the new cultures if their livelihood is threatened. And those in power will find well-supported competition should any trouble arise.

Inhabitants

The inhabitants of Batuhan are mainly immigrants. The time of peace and trade has brought many peoples to settle down here. Being so close to the sea and on a major trade route to Avalonia, many people have come from Varlyrio.

Dwarves have come from as far as Nocturnus to work in the quarry and craft stone in town.

Many of the Kaliphlinian farmers have accepted the cultural shifts, or at least tolerate them in town in exchange for their business.

Lizardfolk and other outlaws occupy the Wither Woods and are a constant threat to peace.

MOCs

Aarash the Ardent

Aarash is the Emir of Batuhan and its surrounding area in the north of Kaliphlin. Aarash’s father, Ahesh, was a veteran of the Battle of the Wither Woods. During the battle, Ahesh was saved from the Luck Dragon by a fellow combatant.

Great Wall of Batuhan

The great wall of Batuhan protects the village from the evils of the Wither Woods.

Shield Shop

The shield shop of Batuhan supplies defensive equipment needed for those traveling the dangerous parts of Historica.

A Lumbering Process

Lumber from Wither Woods is gathered and brought to the saw mill before it makes its way to the shieldsmiths of Batuhan.

The Undoing of Shriza the Spider

Aarash leads the Batuhan guard into the Wither Woods to slay the beast that has been terrorizing the area around Batuhan.

Buğra Quarry

Buğra Quarry, located 60 miles upstream, provides the stone used to erect the walls that secure Batuhan.

Pizza to Go

Noè sells pizza, a specialty from Varlyrio, to travelers and locals alike.

Stables

Stables at a farm near Batuhan.

Ahesh at the Battle of the Wither Woods

Before helping Batuhan grow into the bustling town it has become, Ahesh fought and survived the Battle of the Wither Woods.

Batuhan Trading Post

A bustling trading post for Kaliphlinians to acquire rare essential commodities, such as lumber.

External Links

• TODO: Link to GoH post?
• GoH Historican Settlement Post
• GoH Wiki TODO

The great wall of Batuhan protects the village from the evils of the Wither Woods.

I have been working on this medieval LEGO creation for several years and plan to expand it in the future. I’ve enjoyed focusing on the landscaping aspect of this build as well as many little details.

I hope you enjoy viewing the pictures and descriptions below. I first present an overview followed by each part generally going from east to west.

Overview

Construction was commanded and overseen by Aarash the Ardent using stone from Buğra Quarry. Skilled stoneworkers from Kaliphlin and beyond worked for seven years to complete the wall. There are several barracks, gates and towers along its length.

It runs north of town eastward to the Barlas river and the Wester Road, which runs through he Wither Woods to Avalonia. Aside from the protection it gives, it is also headquarters the Guard of Batuhan.

Eastern Tower

The Eastern Tower overlooks the crossroads of the Wester Road leading north through the Wither Woods to Kaliphlin, Woodbrow Road leading into Batuhan itself and the road leading south to Barqa.

Road To Barqa

The road leading south of the tower leads to Barqa. It is always busy with travelers and merchants on their way to Avalonia. A stone bridge provides a safe crossing of the Barlas River.

Eastern Gate

Set near the Easter Tower, the East Gate guards the road that leads north to the Wither Woods.

Forest and Lake Barlas

East of Batuhan lies a small forest near Lake Barlas. The path north of the forest runs along the great wall.

I created this brick building a couple years ago as filler for LOLUG’s train layout (Nebraska Brick Railyard). It isn’t too fancy, but I do like the garage door technique using the white window panes.

I made the following Castle MOC Building Presentation at Brick Days 2021:

Download: Castle MOC Building (6MB PDF)

I chose a new portion of my larger Batuhan Wall MOC for the “Creating an Atmosphere” category of the Summer Joust 2021 competition. I’ll post the rest of the MOC in August.

I built this MOC for the 12x12 Vignette category of the Summer Joust contest. An optical illusion is included, see if you can figure it out. Hint: element 6103793.

Ahesh leaned back, looking into the fire for a moment and then gestured to his son and said, “Hop up here. It all started when Eastgate was under siege many years ago…"

…Petera had been held up in Eastgate by his own brother, Dugal. As Eastgate was far enough away from Batuhan, this fighting rarely involved our village. We were too small to be of any importance. But we were drug into the conflict when a battle was to be fought at Trigan’s Mill, close to our farm.

Dugal had command over these lands at the time and sent messengers to every village and town recruiting fighters. Your grandfather has already passed and I was in charge of our farm. The messenger made it clear that choosing not to fight was not in my best interest. I was given a week to report to camp. I found an old, but sturdy shield, what mail could be found as well as my helmet and sword, packed up, said good by to my mother and left.

I arrived at camp with several of our neighbors and found a busy sight. Many mercenaries and lords were already there. People from distant lands looking for excitement, payment or who were loyal to Dugal and his cause. That night, my neighbor, Bagher, said to me, “Given the experience and equipment of these mercenaries, I feel we shall come out as ground meat when the battle begins.”

I nodded silently, feeling the same way and then said, “Stick with me, Bagher,” as I clasped his shoulder, “and we’ll watch each others’ backs.”

The next morning was warm with a clear blue sky. As we lined up for battle, a gentle breeze blew across our faces. It would have been quite pleasant if it were not for the task ahead. I looked at Bagher, lined up next to me, as we mentally prepared for what was to come.

Bagher, the rest of our neighbors and I were positioned as part of the left flank near the river. Our company was lead by Jakon “the Invincible” who brought experienced soldiers: veterans of the Battle of Khordeem, and mercenaries calling themselves the Black Lions. Mark - a yeti - and the Blue guard were also near by. Darrin Longshot and his archers took a position on a small rock formation near the river.

While waiting that morning for the battle to start, minutes felt like hours. No one spoke as time drug on. When it was clear the battle would begin soon, Jakon stepped out in front and spoke, “We have gathered here to fight for a Historica free from tyranny. Failure today is not an option. Keep formation and do not allow the enemy to break ranks. For Dugal and Historica!”

While his speech was inspiring, I still had my doubts. I figured we were only there to absorb first onslaught in the attack. But as the battle began, Jakon and his Black Lions lead the way. They marched toward the enemy with poise and purpose. We brought up the rear and I prepared myself for my first battle.

The enemy’s line melted before Jakon and his warriors aided by the archer support from above. I got in a few blows and managed to miss the few that were directed my way. Bagher and I stayed close as we fought forward. Being in the back gave me time to learn to battle on-my-feet, so to speak. Jakon continued to fight at the front and advance our position, proving his “Immortal” nickname. The Yeti, Mark, with his magic ice blade was also making headway as I continued to hold my own, defending myself and my comrades from any enemy that got through the mercenaries in front of me.

The fighting around us began to settle - we were winning! But just as I thought the battle was over, a great noise came from behind us. Petera had opened a magical portal and out streamed the Blackguard of Eastgate, a company of Snake Dwarves and a monstrous lizard: a luck dragon.

As I turned around, I learned what battle is really like. Without the experienced mercenaries between myself and the enemy, I found myself truly fighting for my life. Petera’s troops were on top of us in an instant. A snake drawf’s spear found Bagher and he collapsed at my side as I saw my other neighbors and friend cut down. I struggled to shield myself from blow after blow after blow.

I finally received some reprieve when a large explosion went off several yards in front of me killing many of the Snake Dwarves and wounding some of the Blackguard. The luck dragon reared itself and then was upon me.

The first swipe of its claw grazed my chainmail, slicing through it and dragging me to the ground, but leaving me unhurt. I swung my sword at its head, which recoiled and then came back to bite with is enormous mouth and daggerlike fangs.

Just as my life was to be over, the beast’s head was pulled away by the chain around its neck. Jakon had seized control of the beast and pulled it away. The dragon obeyed its new master as I saw him lead it away as the battle had finally come to an end…

"… and that was Battle of the Wither Woods, at least for my part. After the battle, I returned home with Bagher’s body and a modest payment for my service. I was gifted the land of my fallen neighbors and tasked with taking care of their families."

By this point the rain had settled down and little Aarash was anxious to play outside. “Managing a village that has suffered heavy loses in battle,” Ahesh said, “is much less exciting than fighting dragons, but much more important. I’ll tell you more of the story another day."

I created this MOC for both LowLUG’s MMMM contest and the GOH Anniversary, 1st count down challenge.

It revisits the Battle of the Wither Woods from the perspective of a local farmer, Ahesh and explains the events that push he and later his son, Aaresh, to prominence in the town of Batuhan.

A woman looks longingly out to sea for the return of her beau.

I created this 8x8 MOC for LowLUG’s Mega Medieval MOC Mania (MMMM) contest.

I tried a new technique for the water. I initially wanted to avoid using the large clear panes and use a ‘pile’ of random transparent parts, but I was unable to stack or connect them at odd angles. So I went with just dumping various blues and clear pieces, but this almost completely obstructs the underwater vegetation and creatures.

A MOC compiled from other MOCs (old and in progress) to create an entry for LOLUG’s April member’s meeting competition: “Nighttime”.

I started this model in 2016 and finally got the parts to finish it in 2021. I’m not overly happy with it - the car feels a bit too scrunched front-to-back and a bit too tall. But the front shape is pretty accurate as are the back and sides.

It is to minifigure scale, 6 studs wide.

This is the car I currently drive.

Instructions to build a mini-figure scaled, brick-build cow. It is based off floriangraderbeck’s donkey. I created several for my pasture in LOLUG’s railroad display.

The 33rd LEGO Ideas set has been released, the LEGO® Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith. I was available on February 1, 2021 for $149.99 in the US and sold out the first day. In this review, I’ll be comparing the official set with Clemens Fiedler’s proposal as well as Daniel Siskind’s Blacksmith Shop 3739 released in 2002. This will be an AFOL targeted review focused on features, parts and techniques; my opinions will be italicized.

Overview

This modular-sized medieval building clocks in at 2164 pieces. It has been marketed to adults, both with the “18+” age rating as well as with the “Adults Welcome” tagline.

The approved product idea (AKA proposal) was designed by Clemens Fiedler “Namirob” and the final set was designed by LEGO Model Designer Wes Talbott and LEGO Graphic Designer by Austin Carlson

The set comes with four minifigures: a red-bearded blacksmith, female archer and two knights. The knights heraldry features the classic Black Falcons crest but with more detail, both on the minifig torsos and shields. Three animals are provided: a tan horse, husky dog and frog. Sadly, LEGO did not bring back the goat.

The building itself sits on an irregular plate-built base. A fully decorated interior is accessible by removing each story and one side of the roof. The first floor is a place of work. The forge is available both inside and outside the building. The second floor consists of a kitchen and the third has the bedroom.

The building walls are stone for the first floor and half timber (Tudor style) for the second and third floors. Slate is the material of choice for the roof. The techniques used for each of these areas are quite detailed. In 21325 Medieval Blacksmith, LEGO sells an AFOL-quality castle MOC as a set. Much of the original detail in the proposal has been retained in the official set with a few critical changes; read on for a deeper dive into these differences as well as the building techniques used to create this incredibly detailed set.

Detailed Look

I’ll first cover the build as a whole and then move to the base and work my way up, carefully covering the techniques used for each part. I’ll compare them to the proposed model, as well as the 2002 blacksmith and interject my comments as I go. I’ll also refer to the Old Fishing Store 21310 as it also a detailed Ideas building at the $150, ~2,000 piece mark and Pirates of Barracuda Bay 21322 as it is a recent ‘historic’ Ideas set.

In my mind, there were three major changes between the proposed MOC and the final set:

1. Color palette
2. Size/scope
3. Roof design

But I’m getting ahead of myself; looking at the whole set…

Color Palette

We can see a very bright scene, which is in contrast to the muted colors in Clemens’ original proposal.

Looking at the official art when compared to the proposal rendering, the color palette is much brighter. This comes from two key changes. The first is the use of brighter blues and sand green on the roof. The second from the use of reddish-brown for the wood compared to the dark brown off the submission.

Sitting on my piano, the built set does not look quite as bright as the marketing photo/render for the official set, but is still much brighter than the initial submission. The original submission render is fairly dark, you can see the light bley stone looks darker than the official set, my picture or this other MOC I created.

The use of lime green foliage also adds to the brightness of the official set both on the tree and on the ground around the building.

On the whole, I’m ok with the brighter color. I’d also be happier with a more muted palette, but I don’t think the set would sell as well. The first thing my daughter noticed about the set was how bright it was - she certainly enjoys the official color palette. I’ll get into my theories on each color later in the review.

Huw over at BrickSet removed the moss. It is an OK look, I would have experimented with the blue vs. dark blue patterns and would have favored the dark blue more. I can imagine if the roof was just dark blue shield tiles, it would look quite repetitive.

Size

The building in the final model is close to the same size as the proposal, but its environment has undergone a drastic change. I’ve tried to scale the buildings appropriately in the image below, though the different perspectives make this comparison imperfect.

The table below compares the various building sizes:

s is studs (wide), b is bricks (tall)

As you can see the official building is only slightly smaller than in the proposed MOC. On display, it is a bit smaller than an average modular building. Against official LEGO castle sets, it is quite imposing, but compared to modern LEGO MOCs, it is just the right size, if not on the big end. The base itself is considerably smaller, but I’ll go into that in the next two sections.

When the set was first announced (leaked), I heard many people complaining how small it was. I’ve come to the conclusion they are wrong both compared to the proposal and considering the set on its own. Perhaps the base being smaller made them assume the building was smaller too.

The roof on the proposal is bigger, especially the overhang on either end. This effect would not work as well with the different roof design of the official set.

I’ve also heard others say the official set is too big, at least when compared to other LEGO castle sets, especially the castles themselves. While I agree with the direct comparison, I feel this official set is the right size. It is large and imposing. It is bigger than my other castle town MOCs, but is also three stories tall, while my others are only two.

Scope

Presumably, this blacksmith’s shop exists in a rural setting. When design a MOC (or official set), you cannot fit the whole farm in and must make the cut somewhere. The official set made the cut closer to the building both in terms of the physical base, but also by reducing the number of animals and ground foliage.

The official set counters those cuts by adding a cart and two soldiers. I’d argue these fit better with the idea of a blacksmith. Having a separate medieval farm set with animals would be terrific, (like 7189: Mill Village Raid), but trying to squeeze all this out of one set would be quite ambitious.

Having a larger base helps set the environment and the feel of the proposal. These changes put a larger focus on the building itself and less on its environment. I liked the larger base myself, but am happy with the official set. As I said above, you have to ‘cut’ the environment somewhere and I cannot fault LEGO for their choice as having more ground would have increased the price of the set.

If the proposal was accepted as presented, I imagine it would be a $200 set. Comparing it to the Barracuda Bay set, it just doesn’t look as immediately impressive. That is partially due to the mast and sails bulking up the looks without a high piece count. LEGO did what I expected, which was to scale everything down slightly and give us an ‘Old Fishing Store’ type set. I think another option would have been to drastically scale the set down and sell it for $100. Of these three imagined options, I believe LEGO made the right choice.

Base

The base of the set is a single layer of plates. Round corner plates are used for the corners, similar to the proposal. But we see a difference between the proposal and the official set: the official set’s base is much smaller (closer to the building) and is not on the rounded slope bricks, like the official Barracuda Bay.

Having the building on top of slopes, as in the proposal, would make it harder to integrate into a larger scene, especially if you wanted a road to lead up to the building. I would have liked a slightly larger base, but still keeping the 1 and 2 plate height at the $150 price point.

Traditional baseplates were used in the 2002 blacksmith set and the building took up almost the entire base - leaving just 1 row of studs on all sides (except the back, allowing it to open up). The official set gives you a whooping 2 to 4 studs down from the 6-12 off the proposal (depending on how you count the slope).

First Floor Floorplan

The layout of the first floor is largely the same between the proposal and the official set. A stone stairway on the left side takes you to the living quarters, while the forge sits on the front of the building, though the door into the workshop has been moved to between the stairs and the forge. The under-the-stairs door into the workshop has been replaced by a place to store firewood. Moving the workshop door to the front is an improvement; not only does it liven up the front view, it make more sense to give the blacksmith easy access to his shop from the outdoor forge.

The arches supporting the second story on the right side remain. A 2x6 extension on the back side has been removed in the official set. The larger window remains on the rear side remains while the smaller one has been replaced by a stone arch.

Stonework

Next up, literally, is the first floor walls, made of stone both in the proposal and the official set, as well as Daniel’s. Here we see a pretty faithful application of Clemens’ techniques in the official set. Most of the stone is light bley with dark bley accent bricks. The official set does start to add some color by using olive and sand green bricks. This seems like a natural choice to me and is undoubtedly an improvement to the original design, especially given how tattered the original design’s roof is, having worn stone is natural).

Aside from the color change, the stones are laid more squarely in the official set and utilize fewer tile-on-SNOT. This creates a smoother and simpler design, but takes away some important details in the original proposal. I would have preferred a few more SNOT+tiles used in the middle of the walls as well as some plates to give a more weathered and imperfect look. Even with the simplicity, you can see the difference 17 years can make when you look at the flat-gray-brick used in Daniel’s 2002 set.

To add back some detail, official set adds decorative stones above the 6-wide arches, not present in the original MOC. It can be seen over two doorways and the forge. This design works well with the corners, which use dark bley tiles on SNOT bricks and take advantage of the fact that 1x2 tiles can ‘slide’ on a single stud, allowing the corner tiles on each side of the wall line up perfectly.*

Forge and First Floor Interior

The forge in the official set is accessible from inside and outside the building, which is more apparent in the official set than in the proposal. Coal, iron ingots and bars are available in plenty inside. Tools include two anvils (inside and out), hammers a shovel and a broom as well as a grinding wheel, which is a nice touch. My favorite part is the bellows. Bellows are critically important for a forge and often missing from blacksmith MOCs, including the proposal and the 2002 set. Pressing the bellows turns on a LEGO light brick, which illuminates the hot coals of the forge.

Now comes my first real complaint about the set; the first floor (as well as the others) is bare studs, whereas they were tiled in Clemens’ approved submission. While this makes minifigure positioning easier, this lack of detail is disappointing. A stone and dirt floor for the first level would have been terrific.

The sign appearing above the forge is a printed 2x4 tile. It is affixed to the overhanging roof on the second story and is high enough it does not hit the ground when you remove the second story and set it down.

Half Timber, Wattle and Daub

The woodwork and wattle-and-daub techniques is where this set really shines. This amount of detail is unparalleled in any other official LEGO set, especially that of Daniel’s 2002 blacksmith and even 10193 Medieval Market Village.

Starting on the back of the first floor, we can see the wooden arches brace the larger second floor. I particularly like how the wood sits on the stone foundation using dark bley cheese slopes and how the brown ingot pieces fit just right.

Other than the chimney, the second floor is devoid of all stone, unlike the accepted proposal, which kept the stone for half of the walls. This change is a slight improvement as the wattle and daub technique is done so well, having it on show no matter what side of the building you are on is fantastic.

Like real buildings, most of the wood beams are set at 90° from each other. Variety is provided via arch shapes, both support arches themselves (a set on the side over the pumpkin patch and another set over the first floor stairs) as well as the 4x4 macaroni tiles. While the macaroni tiles do add needed wood shape variety missing from the original proposal, I was hoping LEGO would have found are more clever method of angled wooden beams, which are common on many read half-timbered buildings, but rare in LEGO buildings, except for a 1x6 tile ‘on top’ of all the 90° tiles/bricks.

My other pet peeve of using tiles for a half-timbered/wattle and daub is the corners. In a real building, there would be a thick corner post, but this technique gives a plus (+) shaped corner when viewed from above. Here too, I hoped LEGO might find a better technique us MOC builders could use. Lest you think me too critical, I have used this technique myself as it does a decent job.

The timber wall tiles are flush with the top of the second floor, leaving an almost seamless transition to the third floor’s timber. I say almost, because the 16x16 dark tan plates are visible from the outside of the building. Though these are hardly noticeable, and sort of blend in with the yellowing (tan) parts of the wattle and daub parts of the wall, these sorts of details are generally hidden carefully in MOCs, as well as Clemens’ proposal.

While all the wood technique is great (despite my minor gripes above), it is largely in reddish brown, rather than the dark brown of the proposal. Ignoring the brightness of the overall set, I know many people were hoping for dark brown in this set. This certainly would have required existing pieces be printed in dark brown for the first time. The frequent use of wood grain printed tiles in the proposal is also missing from the final product. I’m guessing between dark brown being more brittle than even reddish brown and the cost of printing dark brown pieces for the first time, using reddish brown was an easy decision for LEGO. But I too was hoping for a bounty of dark brown pieces.

Doors

The doors of the final set are both 4-wide, SNOT tiles on plates and are functional. They fully sit behind the wall, so when closed, the protrude on the interior, but look good from the outside. Here, printed wood grain nougat tiles are used to good effect.

In the proposed set, two different doors are used. On the first floor, a run-down brick-built (well, plate built) door can be seen. The second floor door was a bit taller and appears to be a pre-fab door, like the one used in many classic castle buildings, including Daniel’s blacksmith.

Second Floor Interior

The second floor consists of kitchen/dining area. The oven and stove feature many pots to cook the gourds grown outside as well as what game the archer (the blacksmith’s wife) might bag - a turkey leg appears to have been the most recent quarry.

A table and two chairs occupy the center of the room. While the table is plain enough, the 3x3 chairs are quite unique and feature quilted seat pads. Black axes make up the chair backs. I do like the look of these chairs; I can imagine them being made by the blacksmith, but if so, they would be impossibly heavy. The 3-wide size is quite large, it fits ok.

A barrel of ale sits nicely under the stairs, which do take up about one sixth of the room. Two candles, on simple sconces, adorn the back wall window. A butter churn is tucked away next to the stove.

Like the first floor, this one is bare studs as well. Brown tiles would have made a great wood floor, as in the original proposal.

In Clemens’ proposal, this floor also housed a large bed, night stand and small dresser. The bed has been moved to the third floor in the official set.

Third Floor Exterior

Ignoring the roof and choice of reddish brown, from the outside, the proposed model and final set are structured the same way, including the dormer window (moved due to the chimney placement) and box bay window.

The dormer window technique is fairly simple, using a hinge brick/plate to hold the roof tiles on, but looks terrific. The gaps around the window and its roof are minimal, but discernible. While the roof under the window stands out a bit due to the square shingles, the gaps are nonexistent. The decoration at the peak is simple but effective.

The box bay window under the eves is less impressive. The gaps around the window, particularly on the roof, are large. The decoration at the peak is the best part, the use of the triangle piece is terrific.

Next to the box bay window, two stacked brown 1x2 rail plates make a great substitute for 1x2 tiles.

While the chimney size remained similar in the final set, the top decoration was changed significantly. The large, ornate stone steeple has been replaced by ceramic tubes with iron hats. I have no idea which design is historically accurate. While I like both designs, the original is more ornate. The final version does seem to use pieces (the hats) a blacksmith might produce.

Third Floor Interior

The third floor interior houses the bedroom for the blacksmith and the archer. While the original proposal had a third floor, it did not appear to have an interior. Daniel’s 2002 set had a tiny attic. The final model allows access by removing the back roof piece. Like the other floors, the ground is bare studs, except for a bear skin rug.

Adding a third floor was a great alteration to the original proposal. It came at the cost of adding a stair way to the kitchen/dining area, but it was worth it. While the ceiling is low, there is much more space for the two inhabitance to move around - everything feels spacious and comfortable at the same time.

My biggest gripe is the use of arches to support the peak of the roof. This certainly would have been accomplished in real life with a large wood beam spanning the room. If that was not sufficient, support under a vertical support beam would have been needed in the second and first floors. From a MOC point of view, it does make the room crowded and hard to access the back of the room.

One one side of the room, there is a writing desk with a simple stool, side table and oil lamp. A fireplace is also attached to the chimney.

The desk and table are nice touches. The oil lamp is necessary to cast light in this dark corner, as the window is on the other side of the slanted desk.

The other side of the bedroom features the bed and bear skin rug as well as a chest with compass and backpack.

The bed is terrific. It gives the look of carefully carved wood and would surely be a piece of furniture passed down generations. The quilt on the bed makes these plastic bricks look more comfortable than any other MOC I’ve seen. All the bed is missing is a night stand or two, and there is room for this if the trunk were moved out from under the dormer window.

Also missing from the proposal is a wardrobe, or dresser substitute. While the (treasure) chest fits the low ceilings well, I do wonder where they keep their clothes.

The bear skin rug is an excellent addition to the set. Not only does it break up the ugly studs-only floor, but adds some back story to the archer’s conquests.

My last complaint about the third floor interior is the visible pins that hold the outer roof rakes. The whole technique looks great from the outside (see more in the next section), but leaves ugly bley bushings protruding from the interior walls.

Roof

The roof of this medieval house is the most technical, parts intensive roof of any official set made by LEGO, except for 10234 Sydney Opera House. It features a unique slate shingle pattern made of Nexo Knights Shield Tiles. Wooden rakes adorn either side and decorative wooden beams top it.

The roof this the third major change in between the proposal and the final set. While still in the blue family of colors (as was the 2002 blacksmith set), its technique is vastly different than Clemens’ design. His technique, while it did use a few pentagon tiles, relied on stacks of dark blue jumpers and tiles, often placed at odd angles. This leaves the proposal’s roof looking much more worn than the rest of the proposal’s building, which shows no sign of wear. Dark tan tiles as well as limb elements and nougat stars add to the technique (I’m not sure what those stars are supposed to be).

The curve of the proposal’s roof was made using several rows of clips and bars, all mostly hidden by the disheveled tiles. While this curve is somewhat subtle, there is a pronounced angle near the top, above the dormer window (and chimney), which is preserved well in the final set. The angle is achieved using Mixel/ball joints. The seam in the roof is not generally noticeable, especially if the roof is on the building, in which case, the interior is dark blends in with the dark roof tiles. The roof above the box window and over the outdoor forge is also present. So while the technique and texture of the of the roof changed greatly, the overall shape remains true.

The roof in Clemens’ proposal looks like it was affixed to the building and immovable. This prevents access to the attic of the building, which plays a key role in the official set. I’m sure a design challenge for the official set was to make a removeable roof that would not break apart when removed and replaced during play. The final version of the roof is quite sturdy allowing it (at least the back side) to come off and on over and over again. The front roof technically just sits on the building as well, but the dormer window and chimney keep it in place.

New to the official set are wooden rakes that adorn either side. These are missing from the proposal, which has a rougher edge protruding slightly more toward the peak. The rakes’ decoration matches that of the top/peak. They are ornate without being overly done, though not quite as fancy or heavy as in the original design. The use of the 30259 triangle piece to cover where the two sides join is just a terrific technique.

The top of the roof is supported by a line of round bricks. This allows the thick roof pieces on the sides to tuck under a bit for a cleaner seam. Some brown (wood) is visible, but this seems reasonable since the roof peak is a long wooden beam. I used a similar technique on my Medieval Cottage MOC.

One small nitpick about the roofs is you can see the brown underside (plate) on the underside of the main roof pieces and over the dormer and box bay window. While not critically important, having these be dark blue would have made them less noticeable and would have added just a bit more refinement to the set.

To get a better understanding of the color differences, I increased the saturation and brightness of the official proposal picture to match the official art. Even with this adjustment, we can see the official roof is much brighter. This is due, of course, to using many regular blue and sand green tiles absent from the proposal.

Many people have argued about the accuracy of the moss (or other similar growth) as well as the wear pattern that should have the lighter color on the lower parts of the roof, though roofs in this video from Arlington Row in England looks similar to this set. I cannot speak to those, but the gradient from sand green to blue to dark blue to black is pleasing to me. It brightens the building quite a bit livens the who scene in a way that says LEGO doesn’t take itself too seriously. I certainly understand the opinion of those who did not like this direction and wanted the original, darker, less saturated roof.

Around the Building

The gourd patch on the right side of the model is one of the few hints to what setting this shop belongs. It features a single pumpkin, one squash-like gourd and flowers and leaves that give the hint of vines. It is simple, but a nice touch. The bone, presumably, belongs to the dog.

Both the proposal and the final set include a tree, but that is where the similarities end. Originally, the tree was a more traditional brick-built tree with limb elements. In this case, using fall colors. The final set features a gnarled apple tree using a variety of piece types, techniques and connections featuring the new bright 32607 leaf pieces and, of course, apples.

The tree exchange was a bit of a wash for me. I personally preferred the autumn colors in Fiedler’s proposal, but the trunk was proportionally too thick for the size of the tree and number of leaves. It looked too clunky.

The techniques used in the official set are quite fun to put together. The trunk makes use of SNOT connections at different angles to make it (the trunk) very sturdy. I do like the dark brown, but the black, especially the root that sticks out, is too dark for me.

The leaves and upper branches are constructed less sturdily, but still well enough for kids to play with. I feel the leaves are a bit sparse - I would have liked about twice as many, but the tree is already parts intensive (it was the only part of the build that seemed tedious - requiring you to make 4 branches).

My biggest complaint about the set (as I can see no good reason for it, unlike some of the other compromises) is the back base of the tree. It seems to be some sort of wall or stone. It does connect to the building, but visually it is hard to tell and I think that is for structural integrity of the build rather than representing a garden wall. My complaint is how flat and ugly it looks to no purpose. Thankfully it is on the back.

Other than a few leaves and green flowers, that is the extent of the vegetation on the official MOC, whereas the proposal had actual flowers, some grass and bushes. But it makes sense to cut those given the reduction in scope discussed above.

Lastly, we get to the well, which was not present on the proposal. It is simple, but effective - another nice addition. From the front, the roof looks nice, but the back is left unfinished.

Minifigures, Animals and Accessories

A minifigure-focused review this is not. As stated in the overview, the set comes with four minifigures:

• a red-bearded blacksmith
• female archer
• female knight (younger)
• male knight (older)

The archer and blacksmith heads feature two facial patterns while the knights have only one.

The blacksmith’s clothes are terrific, a great addition to your medieval citizenry. My only gripe is that half my medieval citizens torsos are blacksmiths! But what else would you expect for this set. To add to the duplication, his beard is red - like the many beard pieces featured in King Halbert of the Nexo Knights line.

The archer’s clothes feature a delightful green tunic, also present on in the Pirates of Barracuda Bay 21322, and bi-color (booted?) legs.

The Black Falcons torsos received a modern makeover with additional detail that extends to the printed leg pieces. I’m not a huge fan of the shoulder pieces, they are removed at the moment on my shelf, but it gives something else for the blacksmith to have made and are easily removed. I like the older male face and hair, they will give a nice variety to a castle scene. I do not like how modern the female knight’s hair piece or face with bandana is; medieval female minifigures are few and far between, and having one more would have been nice.

While the soldiers were not present in the proposed design, they are a great addition to this set. Having customers for the blacksmith makes perfect sense, and having castle heraldry these takes is a boon for castle MOCers. All four included minifigures fit well into the scene.

Having said that, for $150, I would have liked at least one more minifigure, if not two. A child would have been a fairly easy addition; presumably a small bed would need to have been included, but there was room in the attic, especially for a small one near the the top of the stairs. Having an non-soldier customer would have been great too, since many items made by blacksmiths were for civilian use.

As far as animals go, the horse is the only one worth discussing. This is a new color (tan) and print for the neo-classic horse. It is delightful to have equestrian variety. There isn’t much more to say about it, what you see is what you get.

The only other animals are a husky dog and a green frog. While the dog it nice, I really would have preferred at least one more animal; I think a blue-bird would have fit best without costing too much. I understand them leaving out field animals (the rabbit) and livestock, though a chicken would have been ok. Between the husky dog and the slope of the roof, it is safe to say this is a northern blacksmith.

Everyone was hoping the goat would return. For that to happen, a new mold would have to be recreated, as it was not available for the Jurassic Park set according to Mark Stafford. Again, it is understandable, but everyone, myself included, was hoping for it. I’m crossing my fingers for a farm-based companions set with a goat (and other animal), but not holding my breath, especially after reading this interview

The last addition to the set, not present in the proposal, is a horse drawn cart for the soldiers. This is a terrific idea - having wheel parts and harness for the horse is great, but the design of the cart itself is lackluster. This also gives some depth, and playability, to the set without having to enlarge the building.

Parts

If nothing else, $150 will get you a glut of useful parts for your castle MOCing. There are 2,164 pieces, plus extras. Here are some of the highlights:

• 3 black falcon shields
• 4 metallic swords
• 48 bley and 23 tan profile bricks
• 46 and 45 dark and regular blue pentagonal shield tiles
• 53 plant leaves in lime, bright and regular green
• 92 dark and light bley tiles
• 117 tiles in browns, nougats and dark tans - great for wood/timber
• Many SNOT bricks
• 3 16x16 dark tan plates
• a few dozen medium sized plates in browns and grays

New Elementary has a great view of some of the more novel pieces included in the set. Check them out if you are interested in a discussion of parts.

Miscellaneous

There are no stickers in this set and only a few printed pieces (mostly the minifigures).

While the box art is on a black background, thankfully the instructions are on a lighter color. Previously adult-themed instructions used a black background, which made it hard to differentiate dark colored pieces and positions, especially since all pieces (other than black ones) are outlined in black.

The three stories each come apart nicely, but also fit snuggly together. If you have put the modular sets together, you will be familiar with this technique. I was pleased at how well each story visually fit with the others when placed together.

2-set Update

I’m planning to buy a second copy of this set for the fabulous parts, but I’m considering using some of those parts to fix some of my gripes. If I do that, I’ll make another post and link it here; until then, these are my ideas:

• Tile the first floor interior with stone (gray tiles)
• Tile the second and third floor with brown (wooden floorboards)
• Create a single, long beam across the top of the third floor (removing the center arch & pillar)
• Retile the roof removing the sand green (use brown tiles at the peak - if there are enough)
• Add a nightstand to the bed room, between the bed and the wall (move the bear over 1 stud)
• Possibly add a dresser if there is room

Conclusion

The highest praise I can give this set is to say it looks like a MOC and AFOL would build. It was a day one purchase for me and I recommend anyone who likes LEGO castle to pick up a copy.

I created this little MOC for LOLUG’s March meeting challenge, which required a MOC relating to water.

I’d been meaning to build a Micropolis Scale Nebraska State Capitol and finally got around to it for LOLUG’s February competition, which was to design a module for the Micropolis micro city standard.

The biggest challenge was to get the odd-stud-wide building on the even-studs wide module. The building sits on a slight hill, so most of odd-length area is simply sitting on jumpers and tiles. But the areas where the walkways (or drive ways) meet the sidewalk were tricky. For those areas, I used either upside down 1x2 plates with slide (32028) or a 1x1 brick and tile on a headlight brick (4070); both can be seen in the image above.

The streets around the capitol are always full of parked cars and it was fun to place them at an angle on the south side and parallel on the other sides. Busy ‘K’ street can be seen on the north side.

Getting the Lincoln Monument on the west side was especially important to me, but finding a way to represent a statue at such a small scale took a bit of time. When looking through pieces, I came across a Harry Potter wand and found an excellent way to bury most of it and expose just a bit of the handle while also forming the wall behind the statue.

The trees are made from two 6-stem plants (19119), one placed upside down on the other. Then 1x1 green flowers were placed on green leaves and attached to each of the 12 stems. Another green flower connects the base of the stem to the ground. I’m pretty sure I saw this technique, but cannot find the source.

Centuries before his more famous descendant, Abram Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, stalked the mountains of Transylvania looking for, Neferata, the vampire who killed his younger brother. Weeks of traveling and following rumors have brought him to this small castle in the mountains. Perhaps he will have is revenge tonight.

This is the first actual castle I’ve built in quite some time. While not colossal, it is my entry into the Vampire Castle Category of the 2020 Colossal Castle Contest (CCC XVIII).

Window Technique

The hardest part of makin this MOC was getting the stained glass windows to line up. I needed to use some 3185 Fence 1 x 4 x 2 and some 3633 Fence 1 x 4 x 1 pieces as I didn’t have enough of either.

Due to the size restrictions, the windows were 2 studs wide and spaced every two studs. The following images explain how I centered the ‘open’ part of the fense in the gaps.

The horizontal transparent pieces are required to hold the center sections together.

The shield shop in Batuhan crafts and sells the best shields west of Petraea. Besides crafting shields for the Batuhan Guard, shields are made to order or repaired when needed.

This MOC is my entry into the Medieval Shop Category of the 2020 Colossal Castle Contest (CCC XVIII). An interior to the workshop (second floor) can be seen in my Shieldsmiths MOC.

Aarash is the Emir of Batuhan and its surrounding area in the north of Kaliphlin.

Aarash’s father, Ahesh, was a veteran of the Battle of the Wither Woods. During the battle, Ahesh was saved from the Luck Dragon by a fellow combatant. After the battle was over, Ahesh used his soldier’s payment to invest in his land, spending much of it locally, rather than to the constant stream of merchants that traveled from Eastgate.

Over the years, Batuhan grew prosperous. Ahesh married Maleeha and had a son, Aarash. Ahesh became the Emir of Batuhan and used its position on the trade route to expand and develop the settlement.

Over those same years, the influence and protection of Eastgate diminished. Batuhan was left to defend itself and the trade route itself. Ahesh took on this challenge and created the Guard of Batuhan. A dragon was chosen to adorned the shields in honor of the dragon that changed Ahesh’s fortune. Aarash grew into a young man and a capable captain.

Aarash superseded Ahesh after a skirmish in the Wither Woods left him mortally wounded. His first act as Emir was to establish a quarry in the Sakhib Foothills and began building a fortified wall north of the city, between it and the Wither Woods.

Batuhan continues to grow in population and strength under the rule of Aarash. This success has not gone unnoticed by the Desert King, but for the moment their interests align and Aarash has governed unimpeded.

Tax Collecting

November, 2021

Aarash and his ‘crew’ must periodically take-up the unpleasant, and often times rough, job of collecting taxes. While some of the citizenry enjoy the organized protection of the Batuhan guard, others need convincing.

I put together these figures for the CCCXIX’s “Your Crew” category.

When she returned to the oven, she opened the door and to her surprise, the gingerbread man leapt off the pan and ran to the door shouting, “Run, Run! As fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!"

This MOC is my entry into the Fairy Tale Category of the 2020 Colossal Castle Contest (CCC XVIII).

The gingerbread man is at the normal minifigure scale, while the grandmother and oven are at miniland scale. I used a red light brick for the glow of the fire in the oven.

In this MOC, a trio of scenes showcases the process of transforming trees into shields in medieval times. These workers are from the town of Batuhan, in northern Kaliphlin. This MOC is my entry into the Ye Olde Woodes category of the 2020 Colossal Castle Contest (CCC XVIII).

Loggers

The first vignette shows loggers at work. Two are using their axes to chop down a linden tree. Linden wood (or basswood) is light and easy to work with making it a great for shieldsmithing. A third man guides a horse pull along a felled tree.

Sawmiller

Logged trees make their way to the sawmill shown in the second scene. The water wheel powers the saw blades reducing the amount of manual effort needed to create lumber from logs. A sawmiller pushed the tree through the machine. At the other end, lumber falls into a cart (not shown) to be taken to the lumberyard or carpenters.

Shieldsmiths

Shieldsmiths take the linden lumber planks and cut them to the right shape and then plane them. The carpenter (center) uses a cabinet scraper to further smooth the wood surface. The blacksmith (right) hammers out an iron band to reinforce the shield. A painter (left) applies heraldry to a fully constructed shield.

Such events led Aarash and the Batuhanian Guard deep into the forest to kill the terror which had plagued the farmsteads to the north. It was only a matter of time when it wouldn’t be a goat or calf that was taken, but a child.

Rumors described an eight-legged menace, a shadow that hunted silently in the dark hours of the night. Aarash clung to those rumors as he traversed the ever-darkening woods. Soon webs, the size of a man, could be seen amongst the trees. Torn and ragged they looked, but menacing. As the ground declined beneath their steps the forest became quiet. Only feet treading through the undergrowth made any sound. That is when snap was heard; not of twig, but of a branch up ahead.

“Shriza, the Spider!” one soldier cried, pointing directly ahead. They had found themselves at the end a slight ravine, with a monster of a spider ahead.

“Hold!” Aarash cried out as Shriza approached, and then “Attack!".

Thankfully, Aarash’s archers were flanking on the right and they had many spears at their disposal. But it would not be enough. Her hide was tough and she was nimble. Our blows were either deflected or missed entirely.

Just when the situation was looking grim, A group of centaurs rode in from the west.

Their arrows shot true and pierced the vulnerable parts of the spider menace. Once on the ground, the stabbing spears finished the job. Aarash turned to thank the centaurs, but they had already fled back into the forest. Despite the darkness of the forest, the return journey was merry knowing their people could sleep soundly tonight.

My entry into the Medieval Monster Menace category of the 2020 Colossal Castle Contest (CCC XVIII).

As I marched north of Qarkyr, Rhalyf wrote after the ordeal was over, the wind obstructed my path. The beginnings of a sand storm hit with no warning. Before I could find shelter, the road was obstructed from me. Within a matter of minutes, I was off my path and into the Parched Lands, Rhalyf continued.

Just as unexpectedly as it started, the storm subsided, leaving me bewildered but well. I made my way north, intending on finding the road without delay, but the hills and the sand guided me ever so westward. I was obliged to this direction.

I soon saw I was not ambling aimlessly, but rather a stone dais lay before me. I knew avoiding this henge in the desert would be in vain, so I approached it, prepared as one can, for what might be.

“Lay down your staff!” a voice said from the stone platform as I ascended.

I sized up the sorcerer I saw before me. So, this was the reason for my divergent course. I kept quiet, waiting my time.

“I will not ask again, Rhalyf,” the wizard said.

Still, I watched. Unconcerned he knew me, though I not him. Without additional warning, he cast a binding spell.

I met the spell and withstood it, but still he persisted. “Cease your assault!” I commanded. My words went unheeded.

As I gathered my strength to throw off this spell, the very stone beneath us tremored and glowed, the same evil as this sorcerer’s spell.

“Enough!” I cried as I pressed back. I heard a crack and saw the dark figure fall. At the same time, the sand storm returned enveloping the stone henge, soon blocking everything from sight.

When the storm subsided again, I was alone in the desert again. No trace of the stone platform or the sorcerer.

This is my “Wizards Duel” entry into the Colossal Castle Contest 2020 (CCC XVIII) as well as LOLUG’s December competition.

The challenge prompt did not provide a setting, leaving it wide open. The first concrete idea I had was a magical henge. Lighting seemed like the best way to convey a sense of magic to the environment and I went with trans-neon green. I am happy with the way the pillars came out, but was hoping the lighting in the floor would have been brighter and more uniform.

The round edge of the stone platform uses the standard 1x3 brick and 1x1 round brick technique. The center/floor is made up of various slope pieces, tiles and plates, many not connected, but just laying there. For the sand, I borrowed Blake Foster’s technique from his amazing M:Tron Magnet Factory.

Baker’s Dozen in my Great Ball Contraption (GBC) module for the Great Ball Pit’s 2020 Challenge. You can watch a video of it running below. Continue reading for an explanation of all its parts.

I ran this module at the Virtual Brickworld Halloween, which can be seen in this video.

Challenge Rules

• Only output balls in batches of 13
• Batch must exit in under 3 seconds
• Meet the GBC Standard

Components

The module is made up of four mechanisms:

• Conveyor
• Binary split path
• Stuck ball mechanism
• Output Hopper

Conveyor

The conveyor is straight forward. It picks up balls from the input bin so gravity can do the rest of the work. A cam on the conveyor’s drive axle agitates the floor of the input bin to keep balls from jamming.

The conveyor runs quicker than one ball per second for two reasons: the conveyor frequently misses balls when the input bin is full and 3 of every 16 balls are recirculated. Running at full speed gives you just over 1 ball per second on average (13 balls every 12.9 seconds or so).

Binary split path

The balls then fall down a series of gates which send every other ball in a different direction. There are four levels, which leads to 16 different paths the balls could take, if each level was ‘full’ of gates (the last level would have eight gates). This design was created by Walt White.

This is how I can count out 13 balls. Of the 16 in each cycle, 13 go into the output hopper. 3 are recirculated, one of those triggers the gate to open.

I’ve combined several paths by removing potential gates. For example, all balls going into the right side of the first gate go directly into the output hopper; this is 8 balls per cycle (or half, since this is the first gate). A quarter of the balls go into the output hopper on the next level; 4 more brings it to 12. An 8th of the balls (2 per cycle) are recirculated directly on the third level. The last level splits the last two balls: one goes into the output hopper as the 13th ball of the cycle while the other goes into the stuck ball mechanism to open the gate before getting recirculated. The hole in which each ball falls is diagrammed below.

Three holes lead to the output hopper and they are outlined in yellow. The two outlined in red go straight back to the input bin while the last one, in orange, leads to the stuck ball mechanism. The holes are highlighted in white.

Stuck Ball Mechanism

This mechanism controls when the gate of the output hopper is opened. The motor drives a differential that connects a piston and the output gate. Since moving the piston requires less work than raising the output gate, the piston moves and the gate does not in normal operation.

A ball can block the piston’s path. When this happens, the gate will open. Then the ball needs to be kicked out so the gate does not continuously open and close. The timing is such that the gate opens twice in a row while the ball is stuck; I did not have (or make) room to rotate the gate mechanism at half speed to just open it once.

A regulator gate assures the incoming ball drops at the right time - when the piston is out of the way. The same mechanism kicks the ball out allowing the piston to move again.

Since only one of the 16 balls enters the stuck ball mechanism, the gate is lifted once per cycle.

Output Hopper

The balls collect in the output hopper. It consists of a sloped floor and a gate. When the gate opens, the balls fall out quickly into the next module.

Reliability

This module is fairly reliable. The conveyor mechanism is fairly standard, and while balls occasionally drop off, most get to the top.

Rarely a ball gets through the regulator gate and through the stuck ball mechanism without getting stuck. Then another cycle must complete to dump the 26 balls that build up.

The most unreliable part of the module is that it does not always get 13 balls. Because of the delay into the stuck ball mechanism, the next ball up the conveyor often sneaks through the gate. If there is constantly a next ball, there is no problem, but if a ball is slow up the conveyor, 12 or 14 balls will be dumped.

Be sure to vote on November 3rd, 2020.

I redesigned the LEGO logo in an Art Deco theme for LOLUG’s October Competition.

I built this MOC for LOLUG’s September member’s meeting competition.

This is a council of Elrond insert for the 21315 Pop-Up Book from the book Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I created it for LOLUG’s August member’s competition where the theme was a scene from your favorite book.

View the pop-up book in action:

A gang of thieves chases Nikou upon discovering her theft of an emerald gem.

She leads them into a busy market square where she finds herself trapped between the gang on one side and the town guard on the other. Scaling a statue at the center of the square gives her brief reprieve from her would-be captors.

As the walls close in around her, Nikou makes an acrobatic leap over the head of one of the guards leaving the gang and the guards to sort themselves out.

This was going to be the second of three scenes for the Just Another “Normal” Day category of the Summer Joust competition, but my partner was unable to complete their portions.

This micro MOC is my fourth entry into the Summer Joust contest in the “Puristic Parts” category. It uses only basic bricks and plates.

Mining in Buğra Quarry has been busy since filling the collapsed tunnel. The dwarves are behind in filling quotas for the villages and settlements to the south, especially the wall at Batuhan. The pay is incomparable and has brought workers from across the continent.

The Buğra Quarry is my third entry into the Summer Joust 2020 contest as well as LOLUG’s July contest. The theme for both was “tri-color”.

The MOC came out a bit larger than I had anticipated. It has at between 8,000 and 10,000 pieces. It felt a bit like I was just spraying down parts at some points while trying to keep the rockwork varied and interesting.

I had been planning a quarry MOC for a few months as a source for all the stone used in an ongoing MOC. You can see a preview of it here and here; I am working on expanding it and will post pictures on my website when I get it done.

After spending the better part of the season up north in Mitgardia, Rhalyf heads south looking forward to warmer Kaliphlinian temperatures. The beauty of the frozen lake and snow covered trees unnoticed as the cold wind whirls past.

This MOC is my entry into the Frozen North category of the Summer Joust 2020 competition.

Short, Snow Covered Tree Instructions

The trees are based off Katie Walker’s Design as shown in this Brickbuilt Tutorial. To get the dark green pine look, I put ‘micro tree’ inside the white woven limb elements.

Hungry upon entering Batuhan, Rhaylf began looking for a tavern and a warm meal. Before he could get to the center of town, his nose lead him off the main road.

“Traveler! Try some pizza.” Noè the proprietor shouted from a counter window.

“Pizza?” Rhalyf replied, “I have not heard of such pastry, but its smell is agreeable."

“Ay, it is recipe from my homeland, Varlyrio,” Noè explained. “My wife, Melitina, makes the dough and bakes it in the oven, fresh. My son, Federico, even makes deliveries - mostly to the on-duty guards who cannot leave their post over the noon hour. We have made a good life in the three years since we left Illaryian; as Batuhan as grown, so has our business."

Rhalyf laid down some coin and enjoyed some pizza before heading on his way.

I built this MOC for the Summer Joust 2020’s Every Set Could be a Castle Set category. It is based off of set 6350 Pizza To Go. A comparison can be seen below.

Other Recreations

I found two other MOCs where the Pizza To Go set was restyled in a medieval theme:

• Ye Olde Pizzaria by Casey McCoy in 2010
• The Pizza Queen by koffiemoc in 2015 - see this set in other style too

Construction

The following images are from the construction of this MOC.

I first played around with the size of the building. It is a bit larger than the original so that I could use the Tudor style wood frames without making the walls feel too small or cramped.

The original set used a light gray plate as the base. I used Jonas Kramm’s cobblestone technique to give it a bit of flair without being too distracting from the build or minifigures. I found Issac’s tutorial very helpful.

The Tudor walls were the bigger challenge. My goal was to have studs up walls half a stud offset from the wooden pillars. I liked the studs up look better than tiles-out for larger walls since the spacing between tiles is much more pronounced than between bricks and plates.

The difficulty came with the came with the corners, especially on the tower, as half-stud offsets collide in the corners. I used sideways panel pieces to get around this, as you can see in the image above. I am pleased with the results.

I wanted a slightly sloped roof, but did not want to use normal corner slope pieces as in the original set. I used 45° wedges both to get around the chimney and for the outer edge. The roof pieces are barely attached using 1x1 round plates.

I created the donkey based on floriangraderbeck’s design. That one is too large for a minifigure scale MOC (middle donkey in the image above) so I reduced the size of body and length of the legs. I kept the head design - it looks terrific. Overall the donkey is still a bit large, but turned out well.

Classic Castle Background

For the box art comparison picture above, I wanted a background similar to the LEGOLAND Castle sets from the 80s. Click on a link below to use them in your creations.

• .png 5200x3250 (10MB)
• .svg source

I fear if I fall asleep, I may never wake, but I have not slept since we were attacked on that first night; I can fight it back no longer. We’ve situated camp on this crag over a stream; we will be safe on two sides, at least. Hirbod has the first watch. May his eyes, and ears, not fail us tonight.

-Sicuro

After weeks of no word from Sicuro or the contingent of men he led to Avalonia, rumor made its way to the Rego of Varlyrio. This whisper was enough to convince his minster of War and himself that isolation from the continent was prudent. Varlyrio would not send troops to the Battle of Historica.

This is my entry into the Guilds of Historica Book III Challenge V: Category A (which takes place in Book II). This lost diary entry explains what happened to the contingent of troops sent by the Rego of Varlyrio. Their disappearance solidifies his view that Varlyrio should stay out of the distant war.

A bonus images of the MOC can be seen below. Both feature full lighting and and different points of view.

I’m also submitting this MOC for review in the University of Petraeas Doctorate of Historica Program under the following two categories:

• Landscape Design → trees #1
• Geography → forests

The coniferous trees follow Katie Walker’s design while the odd-angled branched ones are based on Legopard’s Design. I found both by following this Brickbuilt Tutorial.

Rhalyf is my sig-fig in Guilds of Historica, an online LEGO castle community. I have joined the Kaliphlin Guild.

I have enrolled in the The University of Petraea’s Doctorate of Historica Program and this is my progress.

Three member of LOLUG, including myself, contributed module. The loop has 16 modules and spans about 14 feet (4m). The loop features my castle themed modules, of which there are eight.

This 1940s style truck was created for LOLUG’s train layout. I submitted it to the Museum of American Speed’s Back to the Bricks competition.

I created this MOC for LOLUG’s April theme competition.

A farmer and his son put the livestock into the stables for the night.

Another MOC for LOLUG’s Medieval Village Castle Collaboration and the Classic Castle March Contest

I designed the hay bales myself after not seeing much inspiration on the internet. They make use of the brick 1x1 with studs on two sides.

A simple cottage sits on the road outside a medieval village.

I created this MOC for LOLUG’s Medieval Village Castle Collaboration and the Classic Castle March Contest

I created this for LOLUG’s February “game” themed build competition.

It’s peanut butter jelly time

The Pixie-Dragon Barrage of the Barracks at Wolchester.

The knights defend against a barrage by the pixie dragons as they attack their stronghold. Several young dragons, and even eggs, have been apprehended at great peril to be used as leverage in the ongoing war. It will all be for naught if the barracks cannot be held.

I built this MOC for the Colossal Castle Contest XVII’s “Dragon Attack” category. The tower uses Luke Watkins Hutchinson’s round tower technique. The dragons are based off of the mindcraft ones as well as Grantmasters’.

Fire Mario uses his fire balls to fight Magikoopa (Kamek) on his way to face Bowser.

These are my first LEGO scupture MOCs. Mario stands about 18 inches tall and is made of ~2600 bricks. Magikoopa was created using ~1300 bricks.

My first attempt at SHIPtember (build a 100+ stud spaceship within the month of September). I started September 1st with a clean workspace and completed it on September 29th.

The Deep Freeze Discoverer is a high speed reconnaissance ship capable of both atmospheric and lower orbit flight. Built to monitor the uncharted and uninhabited continents of Ice Planet 2002. It supports an array of dispersible communication droids and twin intercontinental rockets. Skis allow it to land on any snowfield or icy lake its single pilot may encounter. The Deep Freeze Discoverer is a true asset for the Ice Planet star fleet.

Scroll for more pictures and see my Flickr Album, which includes work in progress (WIP) pictures. The images crated for the Ice Planet backgrounds are in the Backgrounds Section below.

Backgrounds

These are the backgrounds I used. The LEGO logo is copyrighted by TLG.

• 4912x3318 png
• svg source

• 4912x3318 png
• svg source

Merchants set up camp on a dune near an oasis on their trade route across the desert.

I created this MOC for the Middle Eastern Setting category of the Summer Joust 2019 competition.

Making the MOC

Below are some progress pictures as I created this MOC.

I started with a layer of light teal plates with clear tiles for the water. I overlaid dark tan plates to create the shore. I intended for the water to be fairly large, but by the time I was done with the MOC, it was not quite as big as I wanted.

I decided to go with a rough edge, rather than a boarder. To give weight, I decided on an irregular SNOT base, like the tutorial on Brickbuilt.

I planned for the merchants to camp on a dune near (and above) the oasis. Because of the hight difference, I wanted the radius of the camp’s dune to be a bit larger than that of the oasis.

I slowly built up the dark and regular tan around the oasis. I wanted to convey traffic to the oasis on the dune side, so I have the dark tan go up a bit higher on the left side.

The trees and foliage for heavily influenced (or downright copied) from LittleJohn’s Desert Oasis MOC.

I continued to work up the dune until it was complete.

I then added the camp tent and minifigure merchants. The tent is made from a sail from 79008: Pirate Ship Ambush. I used a flashlight on the campfire to create the night scene.

Upcoming Shows

• Brickdays Omaha 2021

Prior Shows

• Brickdays Lincoln 2019 Video
• Brickdays Omaha 2019 Video

Standard

We follow the standard.

Castle Theme

While any standards-conforming module is welcome, LOLUG members are encouraged to create castle themed modules. Use light bley for the walls. Top those walls off with a battlement made from 1x2 brick merlons and 1 stud embrasures (separations); these effectively keep the balls in. A bit of landscaping and flags are encouraged.

TODO: picture here

This page will cover how to control the speed of your great ball contraption (GBC) modules. First the traditional 9V train controller will be covered followed by instructions on creating a cheaper, custom controller like the one above for about $10 each.

Traditional/Pure Approach

When chaining /gbc modules, it is important to synchronize their speeds so that one slow module does not pool all the balls. This is typically done with an old 9V train speed regulator, Figure 1. Since these have not been in production for a while, they are about $50 used.

In order to connect a power functions (PF) motor, you will need an extension cable, either 8” 8886 or 20” 8871.

Custom Speed Regulator

Due to the increased price and scarcity of the train regulator, one may be built from after market parts. This page will instruct you on creating a custom speed regulator - no soldering required!. Built in pairs, the total cost is $20 or $10 per plug. A quick reference card with the schematic diagram is shown below, followed by complete a tutorial on constructing a pair of regulators.

Tools

• Small flat-head screwdriver
• Wire stripper
• Multimeter (optional)

Components

• 9v power adapter - $8
• 1803BK 1803B DC Motor Speed Controller (2 pack) - $8
• LEGO PF Extension Cable - $4

Total time

15 minutes

Comparison

The two biggest downsides of the custom regulators are that they are not ‘pure’ (produced by LEGO) and that they are not bidirectional. You can gain bidirectional control by adding either a power functions switch (8869) or a 9V 2x4 (or 2x8) electric plate with an additional PF extension cable.

Component (Details)

9V Power Adapter

You will first need to acquire a 9V power adapter. Used ones can be found for free if you keep your eyes open. Pay attention to the two numbers on the “OUTPUT” section of the label: “9V” and “x mA” for voltage and current respectively.

9V is most important. Anything lower will not drive the motor at full speed and anything greater exceeds the rating of the LEGO motors.

The current listed (mA or A) is the maximum amount. You want something that is at least 600mA to drive two M-Motors and 1A (1000mA) to drive two XL-Motors. A higher number is fine.

Also, be sure it is an AC to DC (referred to as AC/DC or DC output) adapter.

DC PWM Motor Speed Controller

This component takes in the 9V power source and outputs a stronger or weaker signal based on the turning the dial. The 1803BK 1803B controllers linked above use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) rather than controlling the output voltage directly (like the train control does). There are some advantages to this, mainly that the motor has more torque at lower speeds.

The controllers linked above may be hooked up without soldering, making this a doable project even for those without experience with custom electronics.

At the time of writing this tutorial, you could buys these in packs of 1, 2 or 3 from several different sellers on Amazon.

Power Functions Extension Cable

The PF extension cables have four terminals and four corresponding wires. The outer two are always ground and power (0 and 9V) and are not connected inside the motors (but are used for the IR receivers). The inner wires are C1 and C2 (control) and are used to drive the motors. Figure 3 illustrates these connections.

The bottom of the light bley plug connects to the old 9V system using the C1 and C2 connectors only. This is why you cannot drive an IR receiver with the old train controllers.

The voltage difference between the C1 and C2 lines controls the speed of the connected motors. The train controller does this directly, by delivering 0-9 Volts as the dial is turned. A PWM signal may also be used; this is what is delivered by the off-brand speed controllers described above.

Steps

Before beginning, make sure the power adapter is unplugged. While 9V should not be enough to hurt, do not take any chances.

1. Strip the power adapter wires

Cut the power adapter cable near the plug. Then cut another 6” of cable off. Use the wire stripper to strip off the jacket/covering of the two wires on each of the three ends, about ¼”. Figure 4 shows all the stripped wires.

2. Strip the power function extension cable

Cut the power function extension cable in half. Use the wire strippers or scissors to split the four wires apart, about ¾ from the ends. Then cut the last half inch off the middle two wires. Now strip all the wires, leaving about ¼” of wire exposed.

Your wires should appear as those in Figure 4.

3. Connect the wires to the first controller

On the bottom of the motor controllers, there are four labels, one for each connector:

• Power -
• Power +
• Motor +
• Motor -

Unscrew each connector a bit (from the top) and insert the two center power function extension cable wires from one of the cables into the Motor + and Motor - terminals (from the side). The order you put them in determines which direction the motor will spin. For the sake of example, position the cable so that you can see the studs facing up and insert the two center wires accordingly. Screw the two motor screws down tight. Leave the two outer wires unconnected for now.

Now find and insert the positive and negative wires from the power adapter cable into the Power + and Power - ports. The positive wire should have a white stripe or line printed on it. Alternatively, you can plug the power adapter in and measure the voltage using the multimeter. Hook the black cable to the wire you believe is negative and the red cable to the other wire. If the voltage is positive, you have properly identified the wires. Note: the voltage may read high (e.g. 11.25V) when no motor is running. Unplug the adapter before continuing.

Take the 6” cable you cut and insert one end into the Power + and Power - ports as well.

Now take the outer wires of the PF extension cable and insert them into the Power + and Power -. The negative cable is the one on the right, if the plug is facing studs up; see Figure 3 above. These two wires are not required for powering the motors, but will allow you to power an IR receiver (independent of any connected motors).

Now screw down the two power port screws tight. Figure 5 shows a single motor controller complete - without the 6” wire. Click the image to zoom in and see the routing of each wire. You can narrowly see the white stripe on the positive power adapter cable.

4. Connect the wires to the second controller

Repeat step 3 with the second board, but skip the power adapter cable part. There should only be two wires going into each power port: the 6” wire and the PF extension cable’s outer wires.

You may want to flip the inner PF extension cable wires. If you do this, the motors will spin in opposite directions. I have done this in Figure 6.

5. Test

If you have a multimeter, you can use it to test for voltages and shorts. Note that the motor output is a PWM signal, which the multimeter may not measure well.

Plug in the power adapter and make sure nothing gets hot or smokes.

Turn one dial on, then off. An LED light should turn on when the dial is turned on. Repeat with the other. If an LED light does not turn on, remove power, make sure all cables are connected securely and your positive and negative wires are proper.

Now attach motors to the PF extension cable ends and turn the dials on. The motors should spin faster as you turn the dial up.

If you have an IR receiver, connect it to the PF extension cable as well. Connect a motor to the IR receiver and use a remote to turn it on and off. NOTE: this can be done as long as the power power adapter is plugged in and is independent of the dial position.

If anything does not turn on, verify all wires go to the proper place. If your motors turn in the wrong direction, flip the two center wires on the corresponding PF extension cable.

6. Enclosure

You can optionally build a LEGO enclosure. The boards may fit in a 4x4 stud area. Some of the ones I ordered fit fine while others were cut a bit too big.

I recreated the classic LEGOLAND (Yellow) castle in tan and put in on a rocky outcrop for the Classic Castle Contest XVI’s Classic Castle Category.

I kept the main castle features, including the three towers, gatehouse, drawbridge and buttresses. The largest change I made (other than the color) was to enclose the back tower. I also added paths to the inside of the castle.

Making Of Pictures

A few pictures I took when making it:

Where the Mountains Meet the Sea

The castle town of Alnor sits at the base of a mountain range giving it access to the sea for trade routes. Perched on the mountain’s foothills, the town is fortified by a wall on three side; the mountains provide cover from the fourth side. A watchtower at the foot of the mountains provides a view of both the sea and the land.

In this prosperous time, the village has expanded from the castle walls to the valley between the sea and the forest.

I built this MOC both for the Classic Castle Context XVI’s Micro Medieval Mountain category and for LOLUG’s November Iron Builder competition where the seed piece was the red cheese slope.

More pictures below, including some making-of at the bottom.

This MOC features the sextant and is my entry to LOLUG’s Brickdays Fall 2018 Iron Builder competition.

A mechanical secret passage is accessible through the back of the fireplace. Sliding the lever on the front turns the fireplace revealing a secret staircase.

This 14 story building is located in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was designed by Bertram Goodhue and built between 1922 and 1932.

At 1:140 scale, the model is 36” tall, 38” wide. It contains 25,783 LEGO Bricks. It took six years to complete.

Additional images can be viewed below or on my flickr page. Clicking on any image will open a higher quality version.

Progress pictures can be seen at the bottom of this page.

Gallery

Micro Version

While waiting for pieces to come in, I created a micro version of the capitol. It contains 129 pieces.

Building Debut

On February 8, 2015, the complete building was shown for the first time at the LOLUG show at the Lauritzen Gardens.

Tower Debut

I first displayed the tower at the 2014 Nebraska Robotics Expo. I spent four hours the previous night creating a box so that could safely carry it; this has paid off nicely as the tower has not fallen apart yet!

In the News

Zach Pluhacek wrote an article about me and my capitol for the Lincoln Journal Star on the April 12, 2016.

My capitol has been featured in a Brothers Brick article.

KWBE has a picture from LOLUG’s show at Homestead National Monument’s 80th Birthday.

The Lincoln Journal Star has a good image of the tower in their May 17th, 2014 article.

The tower was then mentioned in the February 10, 2014 the Omaha World Herald article after the 2014 Nebraska Robotics Expo.

Building Progress

Sorting

I used this project as a test-bed for my new sorting scheme. Please see the full discussion on my Sorting Page.

Progress Gallery

This MOC is my entry into LOLUG’s October Iron Builder competition. This antenna is the seed piece.

Something has gone wrong!

A large Majisto Minifigure Sculpture, built based on set 3723. While the legs, torso, head, hands and arms are just re-colored from the instructions, the hat, beard and cap are custom.

Majisto was the wizard from the Dragon Masters castle faction. Dragon Masters sets were produced from 1993-1995 and was a theme I enjoyed heavily as a child.

Minifigure for scale (on his left foot):

Dan Brown also has some Dragon Masters LEGO scuptures, seen in this video (0:11 mark).

Other castle themed “Maxifigs” can be found at this classic-castle page

I built this MOC for LOLUG’s July Iron Builder competition. It was inspired by a floating water faucet I saw as a kid. The seed part was the hot dog.

The seed piece for LOLUG’s April Iron Builder competition was the dynamite; which are featured as the cooling rods of some exotic energy plant. More images below.

Check out BrickNerd, who blogged this MOC.

I built this waiter MOC for LOLUG’s February Iron Builder competition. The seed piece is the push broom.

I made this MOC made for LOLUG’s January Iron Builder competition. The seed piece is the black 1x2 plate with 2 shafts.

Mario Odyssey inspired me to build a white, tapering tower with a red roof. Initially I had only planned the tower and a ‘normal’ LEGO tree (limb elements) - but could not get the look I desired.

After thinking about using spheres as the tree elements, the MOC looked more cartooney than I had intended. This made the addition of the Goomba, Spiney and warp pipe fairly natural. Now it is truly a Mario MOC of the Mushroom Kingdom.

The Goomba design belongs to Matt De Lanoy.

Coincidentally, Colossal Castle Context XV had a “Video Game” category - which also encouraged me to add the hallmark Mario props.

I intentionally left out the main characters of the video game - mostly as I did not like any minifigure renditions. I also like how the ‘natural’ state of the scene allows your imagination to fill in what may be going on.

Making Of Pictures

Below are some ‘making of’ pictures including how I create each section of the round tower.

A music notes MOC made for LOLUG’s September Iron Builder competition. The seed piece is the dark bley 1x2 plate with Technic pin hole.

Barbican

This Barbican was built for the Brickworld 2017 collaborative. I did not get a picture of it, but Peter Guenther did.

This is model of Isengard as it was in the Second Age of Middle Earth. The tower of Orthanc sits in the middle of a lush plain. The MOC was done in nano-scale (smaller than micro-scale).

The hexagon base is Lego Otaku’s design.

I built it for LOLUG’s May Iron Builder competition. The seed part was the black lightsaber hilt.

A look at the underside of the hexigon:

A farmer harvests limes from his grove.

I built this for LOLUG’s April Iron Builder Competition. The seed part is the lime green round 1x1 plate.

I built this MOC for LOLUG’s March Iron Builder competition. The see part was the dark green roof piece (1x2, 45°).

I build this dragon sculpture based on the Dragon Masters dragon. It is accompanied by a miniland-scale wizard, Majisto.

I built this for the February LOLUG Iron Builder contest. The seed part was the green 2x4

Inspired by the dark brown baby-bow, I built this donut with chocolate icing for the January LOLUG Iron Builder contest.

An unwelcome visitor has approached the kingdom’s boarder.

This MOC was created for the “Ice Castle” category of the Colossal Castle Contest XIV (CCCXIV).

An elite, nimble starfighter, the Delta II is capable of holding its own against any adversary. The docking ring provides interstellar travel outside of combat.

Another LOLUG Iron Builder MOC. The seed piece is the black 1x2 plate with bar (4140588). Additional photos can be found below.

Christian churches were created in Viking settlements starting in the 12th century. The Anglo-Saxon missionaries worked with native builders to create the distinctive style replicated in this MOC. The large stones at the foundation of the church were key to surviving the freeze/thaw cycle of Scandinavian winters[1].

This was also my entry into LOLUG’s September Iron Builder contest. The seed part was the dark, bley, round 2x2 tile that I used for the roof as well as the steeple’s cross. This was the winning entry.

I borrowed the stonework from Isaac S of InnovaLUG.

[1] Moffett, M., Fazio, M. W., & Wodehouse, L. (2004). Buildings across time: An introduction to world architecture. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Construction Pictures

Another LOLUG Iron Builder MOC. The seed part is the bug’s abdomen.

This MOC is what I finally settle on for LOLUG’s July Iron Builder competition. The seed part is the Trans-Red 1x2 Plate.

A Miniland scale kid dressed up as a Classic Space Police officer plays with a nano-scale spaceship.

Initially, I had this more serious Classic Space Police MOC in mind. I thought a kid dressed up in a space suit, playing with a toy spaceship was best.

Be sure to check out some of the micro (or nano) scale spaceships I made while experimenting for this MOC.

The Trans-Red 1x2 Plate seed part of LOLUG’s July Iron Builder competition inspired me to build a Miniland scale Classic Space Police figure. The figured seemed too lonely all by itself, so I spent some time trying to find the best micro (or nano) scale spaceship to fit in the background.

The MOC above is what I initially came up with: a space policeman running down a lead alone on a desert planet. I ended up creating a variant on this MOC where the spaceman is child dressed up in a spacesuit swooshing a spaceship in the sandbox. I named it “In Space No One Can Hear You Swoosh”.

I created several micro spaceships to try to find one I liked, the rest of this post covers them.

2016-06-29 Spaceships

The first four reasonable MOCs are below. I’m still not completely happy with any of them, but decided to document what I have so far - especially if I need to recreate one.

The leftmost one in the images above seems closest to the style of the actual sets.

2016-07-02 Spaceships

I have completed four more micro spaceships that can be seen below.

I am partial to the top spaceship, but may tweak it before considering it for the final MOC.

This post is from a presentation I did for my LUG. It covers the basics of taking quality photos of your MOCs so others can appreciate your creations. Tyler Clites also has a nice tutorial.

Equipment

• Camera
• Tripod
• Lights
  • Daylight LEDs
• Light Diffuser
  • Tent
  • Umbrella
  • Copy paper
• Backdrop
  • Use one that contrasts with the MOC

A quick and cheap way to get a good setup is to order a lights and a tent from Amazon. I recommend this $40 kit that comes with two lights, a tent and several backdrops.

Lighting

• Lots of light
• More light
• Temperature of 6,500 K is best
• Diffuse light
  • LEGO is too shiny
• Wight background tip: try to light it separately (hard)
• Mind the reflections

Camera Setup

All of these tips are for static (non-moving) MOCs. As far as photography goes, these are pretty easy. The hardest part is limiting the reflections off the LEGO bricks (but this is a lighting issue, not a camera issue).

• Tripod + Delay/Remove
  • Stability is key
  • Even pressing the shutter button will move the camera
• White Balance
  • Especially if lights are not daylight
• Manual Focus
• ISO
  • Lower is better (I use 100)
• Aperture
  • Technically this is the amount of light allowed
  • Practically, this controls depth of field
• Shutter Speed
  • I adjust this last
  • I often need over two seconds
• I rarely use the flash on the camera (use a diffuser if you do)

For your first photo shoot, I would recommend allowing two hours, especially if you have not used the manual settings of your camera. After the first one, they go quicker with practice. I can set everything up and take photos in 15 minutes now.

Photo Editing

Photo editing is worthy of its own article; I will just cover some basics.

In general, the better your photos are, the less you have to edit. At the least, cropping photos is almost always necessary. Always zoom out a bit more than you need when taking photos.

I recommend the following programs:

• Gimp (a free photoshop replacement)
  • Cropping
  • “Healing” tool to remove dust
  • Watermark
• Nik Collection (free)
  • Especially Viveza for ‘removing’ backgrounds and adjusting lighting
• Adobe Lightroom

Photo editing can easily take much longer than the photography itself. Again, give your self at least two hours the first time.

Summary

Having good lighting and using a tripod are key to taking good pictures of your MOCs. Nice pictures are key to showcasing your creations to others and getting noticed by the online LEGO community.

As I was sorting my ‘dump bin’, I began to wonder if there was a quicker way. Like most of you, having your LEGO sorted is nice, if not necessary, but every minute you spend sorting is not spent building. While there are many articles focused on how to organize your LEGO, there are very few spent on performing the sort itself.

In this post, a method to sort faster is presented. An overview of the problem as well as some Background information is covered first. Followed by some sorting algorithm Theory (feel free to skip this part) and lastly a method on How to Sort Faster is presented.

Background

Sorting LEGO can be a pain and often feels like a waste of time, until it comes time to build, then all that work pays off. Ideally, there would be a sorting machine you could get for your home, but for now, by hand is the best way, though tiered sorters can help.

Before starting this article, I looked around the internet for people covering this exact problem. Tom Alphin’s post gives a nice overview of the problem and a general approach to performing a sort. I was not able to find any other detailed discussion on this problem specific to LEGO. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything.

I will refer to ‘bins’ as the place where sorted LEGO pieces live, though they could be drawers or bags; the container type is unimportant. The number of bins and organization scheme has little impact on the time it takes to sort.

A few methods to perform a sort are covered below. The general trade offs are time and space. We will see later there is a better method than all of these in both time and space.

Single Pass

One way to sort would be to pick up a single piece from the pile and put it in its final location immediately, then repeat for each part until the pile is gone. The good news is that you waste no time digging or searching for a part. You also do not need any extra space to do this. The bad news is that it generally takes a while to find a bin, open it up, drop the part and return the bin.

This method works OK if you store your LEGOs in a chest of drawers where each drawer is in arms reach during the sort process.

Bin-by-Bin

Another way to sort is to find all the pieces that go into a single bin before moving on to another bin. This, of course, minimizes the time you spend shuffling bins around. It also does not require any additional space. The bad news is you spend a great amount of time digging through the pile to find pieces for each bin (and you will always miss some).

This method works best if your bins are very general, such as if you sort exclusively by color.

Two Pass

One improvement you can make is to make two passes through your pile of unsorted bricks, as outlined by Tom. This is a compromise between a single pass sort and the Bin-by-Bin sort method. The “bin management” time of the Single Pass method is minimized while the digging/searching time of the Bin-by-Bin method is also kept low. The downside of this method is it requires many square feet of space to store the pieces between the first and second pass.

Theory

While there is not much discussion on how to sort LEGO the quickest, there is a plethora of research on how to sort generic elements.

When it comes to sorting, two things slow you down:

1. How long it takes to move an element
2. How many times an element must be observed

Reasonable sorting algorithms fall into three complexity classes, from fastest to slowest:

1. Linear: O(n)
2. Logarithmic: O(n•log(n))
3. Quadratic: O(n²)

For general purpose sorting, a logarithmic method is the best you can do, but if there are a limited number of bins for the elements, sorting can be done in linear time.

At first, Counting Sort (a linear) sort sounds like it applies. You have a limited number of LEGO bins and at most you would observe and move each part once. But as discussed above, the time it takes to place a piece into a bin generally outweighs the complexity advantage.

Bucket Sort closely resembles the Two Pass algorithm, but requires more space. The second pass also devolves into either the One Pass or Bin-by-Bin sort.

The Bin-by-Bin sort reminds me of Bubble Sort, it is very easy to understand and perform, it just takes too long: O(n²).

It seems clear that a logarithmic sorting algorithm is needed. Quicksort applies quite nicely. To get a LEGO related overview, watch this German video.

Quicksort minimizes the time it takes to move an element as we will just be moving pieces from one pile to the next while also limiting the space needed to sort - especially since partitioned piles can be moved into ‘sealed’ bins and be stored out-of-the-way. The number of times an element must be observed is also limited (to log(n)).

A discussion about sorting would not be complete without mentioning my favorite sorting algorithm, Gnome Sort. Sadly, I cannot find a way to relate Gnome Sort to LEGO sorting, so we will just have to settle for this MOC I created:

How to Sort Faster

Use the divide-and-conquer steps below to sort your pile of organized LEGO quickly.

Steps

1. Partition (roughly) in half by category
2. Put half aside
3. Repeat on other half
4. Stop when you get a pile belonging to a single bin, repeat on put-aside piles

If you’d prefer, check out this video by Brick Scavenger, it explains the same process.

Explanation

Partitioning is where all the work is done. For each round of partitioning, your goal is to roughly divide the pieces into two equal sized piles where all the pieces for a given sorted bins are in one pile or the other. Categories will be different for each round - see the Example below for ideas.

Put one half aside, you will not need it till you are done with the other half. This is one of the best parts of this method: the unsorted pile is ignored and out of the way until the rest is put away.

With the half in front of you, pick another category and partition these pieces. Again, put one half aside and repeat.

Eventually you will be left with a pile where every piece goes into a bin. Put those pieces away, get out one of the ‘put aside’ piles and repeat. Do not worry too much about getting the halves equal, one third or one fourth still gives you a quick sort.

Optimizations

It often pays to remove the big pieces first as they slow everything down.

If you have a bit more space, you can speed things up a bit by partitioning the parts into more than two categories at a time. This especially applies when you get to small enough piles, you can afford to partition everything out into their final-bin categories. You should do this whenever you get down to having enough table space.

Example

I will use Michael Gale’s categories for this example. For illustrative purposes, I will only use red LEGO.

The goal is to sort a pile of LEGO into these six categories.

For the first category, I will sort all plates into one pile and the rest into another.

I will put ‘the rest’ aside and partition the big plates and tiles next, since they would get in the way.

Now I will put the big plates into a their final bin and partition the other plates and tiles.

At this point, I will put these two piles into their own bins. If your sorting scheme requires you to split plates and tiles, you would not stop with these piles, but continue partitioning. It is now time to bring out non-plate half I put aside earlier.

Since the remaining half is somewhat small, I will partition them into three piles, the way they are stored in their bins.

Evidence

Ideally I would take a pile of LEGO and repeatedly sort it in each method listed in this post and give times to illustrate the proposed method of sorting is fastest. I have not done this, but would welcome anyone to try this and report back.

Using back-of-the-envelope calculations, we can see how much faster it would be to sort 1,000 pieces into 100 bins. Let us say it takes 20 seconds to scoop a pile of parts into a bin. The fastest we could perform a sort would be 20 seconds * 100 bins = 2,000 seconds or 30 minutes.

For the Single Pass method, it would take 20 seconds • 1,000 pieces = 20,000 seconds or 5.5 hours.

For the Bin-by-Bin method, assuming it takes 10 seconds to find a piece for a given bin, it would take 10 seconds • 1,000 pieces + 30 minutes = 11,800 seconds or 3.3 hours

For the Two Pass method, let us say we can create 10 groups in the first pass. Assume it takes 1 second to group a piece, the first round would take 1,000 seconds. Using the Bin-by-Bin method for the second pass, we will say we can find pieces for a bin faster then the 10 seconds we assumed earlier (because of smaller, most concentrated piles) - say 5 seconds / piece. The second pass would take 5 seconds / piece • 1,000 pieces = 5000 seconds. The total time would take 1,000 seconds + 5,000 seconds + 30 minutes = 7800 seconds or 2.2 hours and a large table.

Using the suggested partition method above, each piece is partitioned log₂(100) = 6 times. Assuming you could partition 2 pieces/second it would take 6 • 0.5 seconds / piece • 1,000 pieces + 30 minutes = 4,800 seconds or just 1.3 hours and 5 extra bins.

We can see that the partition method is faster than the other methods and does not use much extra space.

For April’s LUG Iron Builder competition I built this sea monster. The seed part is the green flower stem.

As a bonus to this post, I’ve included a nano-scale classic spaceship on an alien planet. It is constructed using only the pieces from set #10695 (an alternate build).

I built this MOC for my LUG’s Iron Builder competition.

The seed part is the light bley headlight brick.

Don’t you just hate when your glasses get rain drops on them?!

I built this MOC for the February 2016 LOLUG Iron Builder challenge. The seed part is the trans-clear 1x1 round plate.

My first inspiration was to use them on glasses, but needed a scene to be viewed through them. I made the stormy beach scene as a the backdrop (though this is what is in focus).

I used the small cabin to set the scale.

A knight travels through the night to come back to his manor and to someone waiting for him.

It is my second entry to the Colossal Castle Contest XIII.

Behind the Scenes

A build for LOLUG’s Iron Builder competition. The ‘seed’ part is the Technic Friction Pin. I used as the recycled-tires for the ground of the play area.

High Quality Images

• Close Up
• From the Corner
• From the Front

Water Park

The LUG’s next Iron Builder seed part was the trans-clear 1x1 round plate, so I jokingly transformed they playground into a water park.

Playground of the Damned

Continuing the parts-dumping joke, I modified the playground or LOLUG’s third Iron Builder competition where the seed part is the light bley headlight brick.

High Quality Images

• Front
• Back

My first attempt at a castle themed scene in a while.

I entered it into the Colossal Castle Contest XIII.

This is a guide to create professional quality LEGO instructions. While I will go through all the steps, getting fast at creating these instructions will take time.

Introduction

I have wanted to create professional looking instructions for some of my LEGO creations, but have always been frustrated with the rendering quality of programs like LDraw and LDD.

The core problem is those LEGO modelling programs give ‘raster’ images and not ‘vector’ images. Raster images are bitmap images and if you zoom in or print at standard quality you can see the individual pixels (or worse, jpeg artifacts). See Figure 1 for what I am talking about.

This guide will show you how to create professional, vector instructions using a program called Inkscape and output them to .pdf.

I will be creating instructions for my nano-sized Nebraska State Capitol.

What You’ll Need

• A LEGO model
• Computer
  • I would recommend a full keyboard and mouse
• Internet
• Inkscape available for free for Windows, Linux and Mac
• LEGO color palette
• Time

Application Setup

The first task is to set up Inkscape to work the way we need.

1. Download and install Inkscape, but do not open it yet
   • I am using version 0.91 on Windows
2. Copy/save the .gpl palette file to C:\Program Files\Inkscape\share\palettes
   • Note this path will differ on other operating systems
3. Open Inkscape
4. Select the LEGO palette
   1. Click the little black triangle in the lower-right of the window
   2. Click on “LEGO” in the list, Figure 2
   3. If LEGO is not in the list, see step 2

Document Setup

Now it is time to set up your instruction document. The steps here will make creating pieces in Inkscape fairly easy later.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + D or File -> Document Properties
2. Verify the “Document Properties” dialog is showing
3. Click the Grids tab at the top of the dialog
4. Change Rectangular Grid to Axonometric Grid
5. Click New to see grid settings appear in the dialog
6. Set “Grid units” to px
7. Set “Spacing Y” to 10.00000
8. Set “Angle X” to 15
9. Set “Angle Z” to 15
10. Set “Major grid line every” to 3

Figure 3 shows what you should expect.

When we go to draw lines, we will want them to all line up. We also want the bricks to ‘snap’ into position when we move them. The easiest way to do this is to toggle the snapping tools appropriately.

1. Locate the snapping tool bar (on the right side of your window by default)
2. Disable all of the box snapping
3. Enable the first two and the fourth path snapping

Everything should look like Figure 4. If you need to turn off snapping temporally, click the topmost ‘master’ button or press the percent key: % (or Shift + 5).

I have found that if you snap to path intersections or to smooth nodes, your CPU has to work very hard (because of all of the round studs we will be creating).

First Piece

Now it is finally time to start doing something that looks like a LEGO! We will start by creating a 1x1 brick (regardless of whether your model needs one).

First Shape

1. Zoom in until the grid lines stop dividing and you can see a few ‘major diamonds’ grid-lines
2. Click on the Draw Bezier curves and straight lines (Shift + F6) button

Figure 5 shows the zoom level and tool bar button

Draw the right face of a 1x1 brick using the Bezier tool by clicking 4 points:

1. Click on the bottom of a major grid-line
   • Note you only have to get close to the grid-line intersection because of snapping
2. Click next up and to the right at the next grid-line intersection
3. Make your third click 3 minor (1 major) grid line up
4. The fourth point should be three minor points above your first point
5. Finally click the original point to close the shape

Figure 6 shows what you shape should look like right before closing it (after step 1.4) and Figure 7 shows what it may look like when it is done. If Figure 7 does not match completely, do not worry; we will fix that soon.

If you have not saved, please do so now (as an .svg file). Save often!

Object Setup

1. Click on the Select and transform object (F1) tool button
   • I simply call it the “Object” button
2. Click on your object to select it
3. Press Ctrl + Shift + F or select Object -> Fill and Stroke… from the menu
4. Select the Stroke Paint tab
   1. If Flat Color button (looks like a solid blue square) is not selected, press it
   2. Click the Wheel button
      • You may use whichever color selector scheme you prefer
   3. Select black color (RGBA: 000000ff)
   4. Make sure alpha (A:) as at 100%
   5. Make sure Blur is at 0%
5. Select the Stroke style tab
   1. Set the Width to 1.000 px
   2. Set the join to the middle/smooth one
   3. Set the cap to the middle/round one

Your object should now look like the one in Figure 8

Tool Setup

1. Double click on the Bezier path tool button
2. See the preferences dialog appear on Tools -> Pen page
3. Check Last used style radio button (Figure 9)
4. Close the preferences dialog

1. Select the object button
2. Select your only object (if needed)
3. Click on the “Bright Blue” color on the palette
4. Observe your brick is now blue with a black border

Draw the Other Sides

Now it is time to draw the other three (visible) sides of this 1x1 brick.

1. Select the draw bezier tool
2. Draw the left size as you did the right size
   1. Click on the lower left corner of your existing shape to start
   2. Then draw the next three points
   3. Remember to click the first point again to close the shape
   4. Note that solid lines overlap
3. Draw the top of the brick
   1. Click on each to the ‘top’ three points that bound your existing shapes
   2. Then click on the minor grid-line above
   3. And click the first point again to cap it off

You should now have the three shapes that form a 1x1 brick (without the stud) as seen in Figure 10.

Stud

Now it is time for our first stud. This part is the trickiest. I have found what looks good (or accurate) zoomed in does not look when you look at the model as a whole.

1. Disable snapping by clicking the first/master snap tool button
2. Select the circle tool (F5)
3. Draw an oval/ellipse over the top of your brick
   • Do not worry about getting it just right yet
4. Select the object tool and select your oval/ellipse
5. Use the resize handles (diagonal arrows at the corners) to make the the oval make the oval smaller than the center of the top of your brick
   • If you click the object twice, these will turn into rotate handles
   • If that happens, simply click the center of the object again
   • You can use the alignment tools to center your shape
     1. Ctrl + Shift + A or choose Object -> Align and Distribute from the menu
     2. Set “Relative to:” to First Selected
     3. Click the top shape of your brick
     4. Shift click the oval
     5. Click the two center buttons:
        • Center on vertical axis
        • Center on horizontal axis
6. After you get the oval much smaller than your top-of-brick shape, set its stroke size back to 1 px

Figure 11 below shows you approximately what size the ‘stud base’ should be.

Now to finish the stud.

1. Select the stud object
2. Hit Ctrl + d to duplicate (or right click -> duplicate)
3. Hold down Ctrl and click and drag the (duplicated) oval upward
   • Drag it until it just crosses the topmost corner of the brick
4. Duplicate that moved oval
5. Click the Edit Paths by Node (F2) tool
6. Click the Convert selected object to path (Shift + Ctrl + C)
   • See Figure 12
7. Repeat for the first/lowest oval
8. On the top oval, select top and left (or right) node, then Delete segment between two non-endpoint nodes
   • See Figure 13
9. Select just the topmost node (of the topmost oval) and delete it
10. Repeat on the bottommost oval
11. Select both ‘half ovals’ and click Ctrl + k to make them the same object
12. Select the leftmost two nodes, then join the paths
    • See Figure 14
13. Repeat for the two rightmost nodes
14. Now on the Fill and Stroke Dialog (Ctrl + shift + F) choose the Fill tab
15. Change the fill color all black (RGBA: 000000ff)

Your 1x1 brick should look like the one in Figure 15. Select all (click and drag around the whole thing), then press Ctrl + G to group all objects (or right click and group). Also turn snapping back on.

Before continuing, I’d recommend duplicating a dozen or two of these, placing them next to each other and making sure they look good zoomed out. Hint: you can duplicate multiple at once. Snapping should make positioning them easy, especially if you drag from a corner of the brick. If the stud does not look good to you, delete the copies, ungroup the original (Ctrl + Shift + G) and resize the stud. Remember to make all paths 1px wide when you are done.

2x4 Brick

Now we will make a 2 x 4 red brick.

1. Select the Bezier tool
2. Make the long side of a 2x4 brick using the guides
   • If you forgot to turn snapping back on, do so now
   • It should be 3 minor (1 major) guide line high and 4 wide
3. Make the narrow side
4. And finish with the top (no studs yet)
5. Select all objects and click Red in the palette area

Your unfinished brick should appear like the one in Figure 16.

Now for the studs.

1. Select your blue 1x1 brick
2. Duplicate it (Ctrl + D)
3. Drag the duplicated copy elsewhere
4. Ungroup the copy (Ctrl + Shift + G)
5. Delete the left and right sides (but not the top or stud)
6. Select the top side and stud objects
7. Group them (Ctrl + G)
8. Drag your object to the bottom corner of the top red object
   • See Figure 17
9. Duplicate the blue object and move it to the left and up to fill the leftmost corner
10. Select both stud object, duplicate and cover more area
11. Repeat until the 2x4 red brick is covered with 8 stud objects
    • Make sure you are using snapping
    • See Figure 18
12. Ctrl click and delete each blue diamond shape (not the studs)
    • Tip: you can Ctrl + Shift + Click to do all your selecting at once
    • If you delete something you should not, just undo and try again
13. Ctrl click each top-of-stud object (only blue left)
14. Click the Red palette

Now your red 2x4 brick is complete. Select all the red brick objects and group them. This should look like Figure 19 below.

Create Your Inventory

Now that you have the basics, create an inventory of brick you will need. It is up to you whether you create all the different types you need now or as you go, but I’ll create the ones I need now.

A couple notes:

• Plates are just like bricks, but only one minor grid-line high.
• Tiles are just like plates, but no studs.
• Slopes are a bit more difficult, but not by much.
• Other bricks are more complicated
  • Use the Bezier tool to create the paths you need
  • Turn of snapping as needed
  • Use the ‘transform’ handles (with object tool, click twice - non-corner handles) for vertical features (e.g. SNOT brick studs)

I will be creating the bricks I need for my Micro (Nano) Nebraska State Capitol.

Capitol Inventory

• 6x Black Plate 1 x 4
• 1x Black Plate 2 x 3
• 1x Black Plate 2 x 12
• 2x Black Plate 6 x 8
• 1x Black Plate 6 x 12
• 4x Black Tile 1 x 6
• 4x Black Tile 1 x 8
• 20x Dark Green Plate 2 x 3
• 4x Light Bley Plate 1 x 1
• 4x Light Bley Plate 1 x 4
• 1x Light Bley Tile 1 x 1
• 1x Light Bley Tile 1 x 2
• 7x Light Bley Tile 1 x 4
• 3x Tan Brick 2 x 2
• 1x Tan Brick 2 x 2 round
• 2x Tan Plate 1 x 1
• 8x Tan Plate 1 x 2
• 8x Tan Plate 1 x 3
• 8x Tan Plate 1 x 4
• 3x Tan Plate 2 x 2
• 13x Tan Plate 2 x 3
• 1x Tan Plate 2 x 4
• 10x Tan Plate 1 x 2 with Jumper
• 10x Tan Tile 1 x 1
• 4x Tan Tile 1 x 2
• 1x Blue Plate 2 x 2 round
• 1x Copper Brick, Round 2 x 2 Dome Top

Figure 20 shows one of each of these parts. You will need to use white or light gray for the borders of black pieces.

For the jumper plate, I took a stud apart and aligned the ‘bottom part’ to the center of the top-of-plate object, then I aligned the actual stud to that.

For the round bricks, I grouped the ‘square’ parts in the background for alignment/snapping and only removed them after I positioning them; you can see these light blue shapes in Figure 20.

I’ve found working with every piece at once can slow down your machine. You may wish to just add pieces as you need them.

Make sure to group all the shapes of your pieces.

Instructions Steps

It is finally time to create all the instruction images. We will first create all images, then worry about positioning/labelling them.

First Step Image

1. Find your ‘lowest’ or ‘base’ pieces
2. Move/duplicate them to the right place
   • Make sure to have snapping on
   • Use Page Up and Page Down keys to adjust what objects overlap others
   • I would suggest doing the ones in the back/furthest away first to minimize layering fixes (when you duplicate an object the copy is on top)
   • Be aware of the Flip selected object horizontal button on the object tool
3. Select all of those pieces and group them

Figure 21 shows the first level of the capitol.

Second Step Image

1. Duplicate your first image and move the copy down below the original
   • Leave enough space to put the next layer of pieces on
2. Position each other piece on top of the original layer
   • You can save space/computer resources by deleting hidden studs (the ones on the first parts that are now/will be covered up); it is tedious but often worth it for baseplates and the like
   • You can also delete whole hidden pieces for the same reason
   • If you are not covering a whole layer, you’ll need to break the lower part images apart and use Page Up to place the lower bricks studs above the higher layer’s object; see Figure 22
3. Once you have all pieces for this step positioned, group your object

Rest of the Pieces

1. Duplicate (and move down)
   • Moving is where your CPU will chug due to all of the objects, just be patient
   • Save often
2. Add new pieces
3. Group
4. Repeat

Tip: you can draw boxes around ‘sub-steps’

Tip: you can add arrows to the end of paths in the Fill and Stroke's Stroke style tab under the Markers: setting.

Tip: to place pieces on jumpers:

1. Duplicate the piece three times.
2. Then snap the first and second copy to the left and right (respectively) of where you want the centered piece
3. Group those two
   • You can give them a diffrent color so they stand out
4. Use the alignment tools (Ctrl + Shift + A) to align the origional between the grouped copied
5. Delete the two-copies group

Figure 23 has all the images we need for the capitol’s instructions.

Completing the Instructions

Now that we have the source images, it is time to put it all together. The main goal is to arrange these images (groups in the .svg file) on to multiple page-shaped .svg files. We will then save these page-shaped file as .pdfs and merge them all.

My instructions only have 8 images, but each is fairly wide and complicated. Thus, I will put 4 on each page. My pages are 8.5” x 11”.

1. Make an 85px x 110px, borderless rectangle object
2. Use the object tool to move and stretch it to cover one page-worth of instruction images
   • Hold down Ctrl when resizing to keep the 8.5:11 ratio (or whatever your page size is)
   • When you get close, use the End key to send it behind your images
3. Press Ctrl + Shift + D to bring up the document properties dialog
4. With your rectangle selected on the Page tab, click the Resize page to drawing or selection button
   • Expand Resize page to content... if needed
   • See Figure 24 below
5. Close the dialog
6. Delete the page-size rectangle
7. Do any final arrangements
8. Add numbers using the text tool and align them with each image
9. File -> Save as instructions page 1.svg (or similar)
10. File -> Save a copy as instructions page 2.svg
11. Delete all images not within the page boundary
12. File -> Save a copy as a pdf: instructions page 1.pdf or similar

1. Close Inkscape and open up instructions page 2.svg
2. Remove all images in the page area and move the next set into the page area
3. Save
4. Save a copy as page 3 (if needed)
5. Delete all images that do not fit on the page
6. Save a copy as instructions page 2.pdf
7. Save and quit
8. Repeat these steps until you have a set of .pdf with each image

Now that you have a set of .pdf files, each one page large, we need to concatenate them into a single document. The only way I have used is PDFMerge; it is free (up to 15 MB files) and online.

1. Go to http://www.pdfmerge.com/
2. Choose each file (I have two)
3. Click the Merge! button
4. Watch your download start soon, likely named merged_document_1.pdf or similar
5. I would rename it

And that is it. Now you have a professional, print-quality LEGO instructions document. When printing the .pdf, make sure to resize to your printing page’s size.

See Capitol_Instructions.pdf for my finished product.

I built this while getting ready for the first football game of the season.

Go Huskers!

Information

The palette is based on LEGO’s 2010 color palette. Only the ‘Solid’ colors were included (not the ‘Transparent’ or ‘Effect’ colors).

Both the ‘common’ (bricklink) and LEGO color names are noted as well as the LEGO color number.

Usage

You can read more about Gimp color palettes here. To use the palette in Inkscape:

1. save LEGO.gpl to C:\Program Files (x86)\Inkscape\share\palettes on your Windows machine or corresponding path on Linux.
2. Restart/open Inkscape
3. Choose “LEGO” from the palette menu

There are guides to creating LEGO mosaics using Gimp.

The colors used on the LEGO portion of my website are from this palette.

My biggest complaint about LEGOs in terms of quality was that older pieces, especially white ones, would yellow over time, especially in direct sunlight.

The yellowing is due to a chemical process, which can be reversed using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)and Oxy-clean.

This page documents my results of using the steps outlined from the following pages:

• Eggy Pop’s post on LEGO whitening
• Brother’s Brick Article
• Retr0bright Project who figured this out in the first place
• Extra suggestions here

Quick Steps

1. Put pieces into a plastic/glass tub
2. Lightly dust pieces with Oxy-clean (optional)
3. Submerge pieces in hydrogen peroxide (3% strength)
4. Place in sunlight (optional)
5. Once a day, add peroxide, stir if needed
6. Rinse on the 5th day, or when white enough

2019 Update

After doing this process a few more times with a few variations, I updated the quick steps above and made a few notes in the rest of the article.

Lately, I’ve only been using hydrogen peroxide and letting the bricks sit in the sun while soaking - that works best.

Setup

I have just started with my 1xN white bricks. I am not cramped for time, so I am using 3% hydrogen peroxide. I used just under three quarts of hydrogen peroxide, just enough to cover the bricks in a clear, plastic Sterilite container. I ‘dusted’ the tops of the pieces with some Oxy-clean.

As I am no rushed, the container is sitting in my basement, where it will get a many hours of indirect sun light a day (and be within arms reach of a two-year-old).

I did not take any ‘before’ pictures, but many of my white LEGO were bought in the 90s. Almost all of those were noticeably yellowed when compared to new pieces.

Two images of the LEGO soaking are below on their last day in the solution.

If you have a model that is already built and yellowed, you can make a paste solution to apply. Please see the Retr0bright Project for details.

Nightly Activities

Each night/morning I stirred the mixture. I also had to add some hydrogen peroxide as it does evaporate fairly quickly. I would recommend getting enough so you can be generous when you submerge your pieces.

I got a bit worried after three days or so when I did not see a huge improvement. But after four and five days, most of the pieces were much whiter. I think if my pieces were spread out more and had better sun exposure, it would not have taken this long, but as I said, I had time to wait.

Results

After about five days, I rinsed off the first batch of pieces. Most of the pieces are much whiter. Some parts only got three days and had a few yellowed pieces, but overall I am very pleased.

The tubs with single layer of bricks seemed to have a much higher percent of white parts. Same with those that soaked for five days. In the image below the top brick was the yellowist one I could quickly find; most pieces were as good as the bottom ones.

A few of my parts had stickers and a few were printed. There was no noticeable degradation of either. Others have suggested non-white LEGO bricks may lose some color if they soak too long. In subsequent tests, I have confirmed that blue bricks do become less saturated (they faded) after soaking.

I am in the process of changing the LEGO sorting scheme I had as a child to something better. These are my thoughts and experiences on how to organize LEGO. The general goal is to sort by both type and color; that is, for each type, have several bins, but not one for each color. For a discussion about performing the sort, check out how to Sorting LEGO Faster.

View the results here or continue reading to see how I got there.

To give you some perspective, the size of my collection is about 50,000 pieces, not including the pieces used in my Capitol Project.

Ideas

A collection of links to other LEGO sorting pages I found insightful.

• Tom Alphin’s Comprehensive Guide
• Remy Evard’s infamous post on Lugnet
• Brother Brick
• Flickr Page of sorting ideas
  • Bruce Lowell
  • Michael Gale *
• JANGBRiCKS’s large lego collection video

* I would strongly recommend this sorting method for those who have a smaller collection of LEGO, but one where sorting by color is not enough. Presumably if you had dozens of sets or around 10,000 pieces. The method I will be using is heavily influenced by this scheme.

Summary: sorting by color is not generally helpful as tiny parts are hard to find. Sorting by type means you must bring out many, many bins to make a project. In general, I am applying this method to a sub-set of my parts that I am using for my Nebraska State Capitol Project, see the Case Study section below.

Old Way

I have had my LEGO sorted for a long time, but they have been sorted largely by color. Thus all my gray bricks (all shades) have been in a single large tub, same for the other colors. This makes it especially hard to find small parts of a given color. Each color was stored in its own drawer. One plus to this method is that it is very easy to sort (which is half the battle). This is step 7 in Evad’s post. I have been stuck at step 8 for a while.

Aside from color, I have also sorted out a few other categories:

• Baseplates
• Tiles
• Wheels
• Clear + Windows
• Minifigs, animals and their hand-held accessories
• Technic parts have had their own sorting scheme that will not be covered here

New Way

This is a work in progress (both in theory and execution). The general concept is to sort by piece type, but only combine a few colors at a time. For example, put all the blue and yellow 2xN bricks in the same tub. Referencing back to Remy’s post, my goal is probably step 13 or step 14 - with the large pile of stuff waiting to be sorted lying in my brick sorters (see Hardware).

Ideally, I would like to bring out as few bins as possible for any creation. I would also like to complete my sort too! I do not have enough pieces to sort by type and color.

Hardware

I have been purchasing 6 quart clear Sterilite containers when they go on sale (see image below). Drawers are more expensive, but you must provide your own shelf-space for containers. These containers are about $1 a piece on sale or in bulk.

I also have the draws I have had since I was a child. I have 3 that are multi-gallon size, half dozen gallon sized square, three gallon sized flat and a half dozen smaller ones. I plan on using these for less used parts.

The larger your containers are, the more general your catagories must be. Sorting by exact part requires hundreds of small bins as there are hundreds of parts.

I own two tiered LEGO sorters:

• Box4Blox
• Official LEGO “Sort & Store”

I plan on using one of these as my unsorted bucket (when it gets full, time to sort again) and use the other one to sort my bins while building. For instance, I would dump my 1xN bricks in to get find the 2xN ones faster; then dump the sorter back into the bin when I have all of those little ones.

For what it is worth, I like the official LEGO Sort & Store better than the Box 4 Blox, though the Box 4 Blox does hold more.

Now seems like a good point to describe the area I have available for storing and working with my LEGO. I have got one half of the large room in our basement. This gives me two walls and roughly 8x12 sqft of floor space. I do have some shelves and tables to use for storage and I have a separate table for working on they LEGO. This table used to be a flat door; my father made it for me years ago (best Dad ever!). In my first childhood home, I even had my own LEGO room.

Sorting by Part

My initial plan is to sort the following parts into containers and combine just a few colors per container:

• 1x1 plates and bricks, including those with clips
• SNOT (Studs Not On Top)
• 1xN Bricks
• 2xN Bricks
• 1xN Plates
• 2xN Plates
• MxN Plates
• Slopes
• Arches/Tiles
• Everything else - See [#The Rest] below

As bins fill up, I will have two options. My first one is to separate on size. 2x2 and 2x3 brick separate from the other 2xN bricks, for example. The second is to sort out the colors. I like the first approach because it seems to be a natural extension, but if I use my LEGO sorters when I am searching, this may not be an issue.

Sorting by Color

My plan is to combine the following colors (Bricklink color IDs shown, names are my own):

1. Blue (7) Yellow (3) Orange (4)

2. Red (5) White (1) Medium Blue (42) Dark Blue (63)

3. Old Gray Light (9) Old Gray Dark (10) Old Brown (36) Green (6)

4. Light Bley (86) Dark Bley (85) New Brown (88) Lime Green (34)

5. Tan (2) Black (11) Sand Blue (55) Brick Red (59)

6. Transparent

7. The rest

The ten most common colors are: Black [23] White [13] Red [12] Old Gray Light [9] Yellow [9] Blue [8] Light Bley [6] Dark Bley [5] Green [2] Old Gray Dark [2] -Peeron - Where [N] is relative quantity.

In general, I have tried to group the colors by contrast as well as those I would likely use together. Using the common colors charts, my main color combinations should be approximately weighted as: 19, 25, 13, 13, and 24; which is fairly even.

I have had a bit of a hiccup in telling the old (light) gray from the new one (bluish gray or bley). I am sure there are a few in the wrongs bins. After installing LED lights, telling the difference is much easier. In general, better light helps. One useful tip has been to take out a bley plate and put your other bricks on it to compare. The best way, I have found, is this: sort until you only have all light gray bricks in a (clear) container, then hold the container under a light and shake it around. Keep track of the bley bricks (assuming you have more old gray); if you can track them moving, they are probably bley. The old darker gray and dark bley are easier for me to tell apart.

A bit of history on bley is an interesting reading. TLG has said the these colors are untouchable: red, green, blue, yellow, white, black, light bley, dark bley, new brown. The LEGO Color Palette for 2010 is here. Either way, it seems the colors are going to remains somewhat stable for a bit. My bins of ‘other’ colors account nicely for sorting those rare pieces; we will see how easy finding is sometime later.

The Rest

The remaining parts of each color will be sorted as follows:

• Baseplates
• Wheels
• Doors
• Windows
• Big ugly rock pieces
• Castle wall pieces (gray and black containers)
• Printed Pieces
• Minifigures - possibly by theme - this way I can include accessories. Castle will be its own for sure.
• Remaining Small parts
• Remaining Medium parts
• Remaining Large parts

The remaining parts are as sorted by tiered sorters. They will likely include parts that belong in the other groups. I plan on all parts larger than a 1x2 plate to be in the medium container and above.

Enumeration

If you put all of that together, you get the following:

That gives a total of 12x6 - 9 + 14 = 77 bins, plus other small and large containers as well as Technic pieces.

Adjustments

I have made the following adjustments and I have been sorting.

Color Scarcity

I did not have enough of the following colors to find them in the their tubs:

Pink (23) Dark Green (80) Dark Tan (69) Purple (24)

They are now in the the rest bin.

Arch Scarcity

I do not have near as many arches outside of the black and gray colors as I expected to have.

A solution would to place all the curvy pieces into a bin. This would include arches, rounded slopes and macaroni pieces. I have settled on just adding the bows.

Tile Abundance

I previously had all tiles in one drawer. This made finding the smaller tiles quite difficult. I have since put them inside smaller containers (ones from Target gift-cards) inside of the arch bin.

SNOT Adjustments

I will be putting my technic bricks inside the SNOT containers. I do not have too many SNOT bricks, but I still think keeping them separate will be beneficial.

Intra-Bin Separation

I do not have a nice way to sort items within bins. I am not sure how necissary this is though. Using smaller, clear trays with lids (Target gift-card boxes) is working so far, but I do not have many of them.

I am using Plastic bags for my [other project ](#Case Study) and they work well, but seem a little sloppy. They are cheap and clear.

Update: I am still struggling with this. Plastic bags are ok, but get in the way more than the other containers do. When it comes down to it, having one or two inner containers (bags or boxes) is tollerable, but more than this gets in the way.

I have bought a few bead boxes to help sort the bins that had many sub-sections.

Future Sections

At this time, I do not have the need to sub divide the following parts, but they seem like good sections.

• Car Parts
• Fences
• Rounds
• Panels
• Bars and/or Clips
• Hinges

Case Study

For my Nebraska State Capitol Project I am buying most of my pieces. This means I have the ability to easily sort them as I receive them and they are limited in scope. There are very few colors I need; the bulk of them are tan. I have them divided into the following eight bins:

• Tan 1xN Bricks
• Tan 2xN Bricks
• Tan Plates and Tiles: Inside of the tub, I have a few small zip-lock bags for the small parts
• Tan specialty: (everything that is not a brick, plate or tile)
• Windows
• Black bricks and gray plates: **: Black bricks are for putting behind the windows; Gray plates are for the roof
• Decorative: non-tan specialty parts
• Unseen: bricks and plates used for the inner structure - all colors
• Baseplates: not in a bin; this are just sitting separately until they are required

Overall, this has been working quite well. I only need eight tubs, and can often get along with three or four ‘on top’ - thus giving me extra table space.

Result

While this endevor is still in progress, I have completed much of the work and have built a few MOCs.

First, using one of the tiered sorters as the ‘to be sorted’ bucket has worked great. When it starts to get full, it only takes about an hour or two to go through it.

The actual sorting is described in the image below. Pieces are sorted by part and grouped by contrasting color.

A Miniland scale MOC built for our LUG’s 2014 exhibit at the Nebraska Robotics Expo. Additional photos are on my Flickr Page.

Brickficiency is program created by Myles Doupe that finds the optimal way to order a set of Legos from multiple sellers. Below are the steps I took when using this program for the first time.

There is now a newer version, which seems to work pretty well, though the programs interface has changed from what is listed below.

There is another program called Brick Wizard. I have not tried it, but it appears to do the same thing. I'm curious if it is faster, it should be, as it is written in C++ whereas Brickficiency is written in Perl.

Summary

1. Have a list of parts you want to buy
2. Install Brickficiency (on a Windows machine)
3. Install Brickstock *
4. Enter your parts into Brickstore, save your list as a .bsx file
5. Import the .bsx file into Brickficiency and search for parts (I find I needed to enter my username and password in the 2.x release for it to work)
6. Wait for the web page result to appear, click on the store links and buy from Bricklink

Steps (story)

1. Several months ago, I heard of a MATLAB based script that does what this program does, but I don't have MATLAB and I did not try to use Octave (open source alternative).
2. In the meantime, I saw a Lego Reddit post talking about Brickficiency.
3. When it came time to order more pieces for my Nebraska State Capitol project, I found the post and downloaded the Brickficiency program from its project page.
4. Reading through the instructions, everything seemed clear enough. The author does warn that the program is fairly rough from a user interface point of view, but if it got the job done, I would be happy with it.
5. There is no installation, just unzip the .exe to your harddrive and double click. For non-windows users, the author created the program in perl and the source is at the project link above. Perhaps Wine would be an option.
6. After opening it up, it asks you for some basic information for what you need, as shown below:
7. Most of the options are straight forward, you can see what I chose above. Besides the country codes, the most important setting is the 'Maximum combination query'. Selecting 3 goes through every combination of 3 stores looking for the complete set of parts. Selecting 4 goes through every combination of 4 stores, etc. This gets slow fast. Because of this, you can run it through on '3' evaluate the results, then go through on 4, then 5 I believe this is done automatically if you do NOT 'continue looking for larger combinations if a smaller one has been found'.
8. The only remaining step was to tell it which pieces I wanted. It supports two ways:
   1. Download from Bricklink Wanted List *
   2. Open a .bsx file
   I chose the former, having used the Bricklink xml format before. The Brickficiency project page discusses the .bsx option. I've listed my wanted list below for completeness. I was only looking for eight different parts (lots) for a total of 92 bricks.
   * The lastest version allows you to import the inventory xml format from a local file rather than downloading from your wanted list, though the last (only) time I tried, it failed to parse the xml file.
9. A quick note on downloading from Bricklink, you must specify a Wanted list name or ID. "Main" is the default one, so type that in. You do have to specify your user name and password, if this makes you feel uncomfortable, use the .bsx route. After entering that information, click import, wait, then click continue (unless there is a login error).
10. This then launches the download and search portion, which can take some time to run. I took under a minute to download all of the store information and under a minute to search all combination of two stores. I also ran it for three store combination, which took over five minutes on this step alone.
11. In total, there were 754 stores that had the pieces I wanted. After viewing this, you can (and only can) click "Quit and view report".
12. This brings up a nice HTML page (which you can see below) showing you the top 10 combinations of stores. The cheapest combination had what I needed for $6. Note that this does not include shipping and handling.
13. The html report that was generated gives you links to each store and while you cannot click on individual bricks in the store, copying the description of the brick (i.e. "Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex") and searching the store worked just fine for me.
14. After this, it is just a matter of putting each brick in your cart and ordering like normal. As stated before, mind the shipping costs. Also, some stores have lot and minimum buy restricitons, which are not handled by this Brickficiency; which is why you would want multiple results shown (default is 10). Also, seller feedback may be something to watch for.

Review

Overall, I was very happy with this program and would recommend it to anyone looking for the best deal on Lego bricks via Bricklink.

The project can be found here, please donate if you find it useful. I always hate finding website with broken links, so I've archived version 0.85. To be clear, I did not create this program nor maintain it and it may be out of date. If the author wishes me to remove this archive, I will (see my contact information).

My wanted list

<INVENTORY>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3045</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>2</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>8</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3794</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>2</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>16</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3022</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>85</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>16</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3021</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>85</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>16</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3795</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>85</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>4</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3004</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>11</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>8</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3010</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>11</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>8</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
    <ITEM>
        <ITEMTYPE>P</ITEMTYPE>
        <ITEMID>3002</ITEMID>
        <COLOR>11</COLOR>
        <MINQTY>16</MINQTY>
    </ITEM>
</INVENTORY>

Brickficiency Report

- Parts list sorted by number of stores 70 stores have Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 210 stores have Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 348 stores have Black Brick 2 x 3 396 stores have Black Brick 1 x 4 449 stores have Black Brick 1 x 2 449 stores have Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 490 stores have Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 508 stores have Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 - 2 store solutions - Match #1 : $ 6 ($ 1.2, $ 4.8) (US) CD's Bricks (270407) Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.15 1.2 Total: 1.2 - (US) Studmart (117039) Black Brick 1 x 2 8 @ 0.05 0.4 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.08 0.64 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.06 0.24 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.08 1.28 Total: 4.8 - - Match #2 : $ 6.08 ($ 1.93, $ 4.15) (CA) Keep the fun(k) going (141197) Black Brick 1 x 2 2 @ 0.06 0.12 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 1 @ 0.05 0.05 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.22 1.76 Total: 1.93 - (CA) LLC Brickland (320857) Black Brick 1 x 2 6 @ 0.03 0.18 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.06 0.48 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 15 @ 0.03 0.45 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.04 0.16 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Total: 4.15 - - Match #3 : $ 6.36 ($ 2.21, $ 4.15) (US) Brickitecture (107487) Black Brick 1 x 2 2 @ 0.08 0.16 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 1 @ 0.05 0.05 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.25 2 Total: 2.21 - (CA) LLC Brickland (320857) Black Brick 1 x 2 6 @ 0.03 0.18 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.06 0.48 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 15 @ 0.03 0.45 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.04 0.16 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Total: 4.15 - - Match #4 : $ 6.37 ($ 2.22, $ 4.15) (US) Piles O Plastic (282414) Black Brick 1 x 2 2 @ 0.08 0.16 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 1 @ 0.06 0.06 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.25 2 Total: 2.22 - (CA) LLC Brickland (320857) Black Brick 1 x 2 6 @ 0.03 0.18 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.06 0.48 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 15 @ 0.03 0.45 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.04 0.16 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Total: 4.15 - - Match #5 : $ 6.48 ($ 2.32, $ 4.16) (CA) Keep the fun(k) going (141197) Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.07 0.56 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.22 1.76 Total: 2.32 - (US) Studmart (117039) Black Brick 1 x 2 8 @ 0.05 0.4 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.06 0.24 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.08 1.28 Total: 4.16 - - Match #6 : $ 6.59 ($ 2.44, $ 4.15) (US) Littlefigs (230757) Black Brick 1 x 2 2 @ 0.07 0.14 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 1 @ 0.06 0.06 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.28 2.24 Total: 2.44 - (CA) LLC Brickland (320857) Black Brick 1 x 2 6 @ 0.03 0.18 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.06 0.48 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 15 @ 0.03 0.45 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.04 0.16 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Total: 4.15 - - Match #7 : $ 6.64 ($ 1.2, $ 5.44) (US) CD's Bricks (270407) Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.15 1.2 Total: 1.2 - (US) A-Bout Bricks (97692) Black Brick 1 x 2 8 @ 0.05 0.4 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.10 0.8 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.09 1.44 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.06 0.24 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.08 1.28 Total: 5.44 - - Match #8 : $ 6.64 ($ 1.84, $ 4.8) (US) Brian's Bricks (2023) Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.23 1.84 Total: 1.84 - (US) Studmart (117039) Black Brick 1 x 2 8 @ 0.05 0.4 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.08 0.64 Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.06 0.24 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.08 1.28 Total: 4.8 - - Match #9 : $ 6.66 ($ 3.16, $ 3.5) (CA) Keep the fun(k) going (141197) Black Brick 1 x 2 8 @ 0.06 0.48 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.07 0.56 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 16 @ 0.05 0.8 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 6 @ 0.22 1.32 Total: 3.16 - (US) CreativeFury (94820) Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.06 0.96 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.06 0.24 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.08 1.28 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 2 @ 0.19 0.38 Total: 3.5 - - Match #10 : $ 6.76 ($ 2.96, $ 3.8) (US) Brian's Bricks (2023) Black Brick 2 x 3 16 @ 0.07 1.12 Tan Slope 45 2 x 2 Double Convex 8 @ 0.23 1.84 Total: 2.96 - (US) FREE SHIPPING DEALS! (3961) Black Brick 1 x 2 8 @ 0.05 0.4 Black Brick 1 x 4 8 @ 0.06 0.48 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 2 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3 16 @ 0.04 0.64 Dark Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 6 4 @ 0.05 0.2 Tan Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 16 @ 0.09 1.44 Total: 3.8 -

2927 Pieces

I have built a Lego go board. Go is a 2000+ year old game. It is also known as igo in Japanese, weiqi in Chinese and baduk in Korean. A summery of the game can be found here.

Update

2014-09-08

A few months ago, I built a set of bowls to go along with it and today I added star points. These can be seen in this image below.

I do not have instructions for the bowls. If you are following the instructions, please substitute 36 yellow 1x2 plates for 36 yellow 1x1 plates and 36 black 1x1 plates. I also considered using cheese slopes, but they would not quite fit. They may be able squish in. This would give a rounder shape to the star points. Right now, black stones are hard to see on the star points.

The star points add 36 pieces. The bowls add approximately 100 pieces apiece. This brings the total to over 3150 pieces.

Original Post

Building instructions and piece list can be found here. There are 2927 pieces (this includes the board and the stones). I have not created bowls yet. The board makes use of the SNOT building technique.

The first picture is the first game played on the final version (I was white). A full size version can be found here.

The image below is a shot of a corner (colors are incorrect of course). The whole board is 46x46 studs (about 14” square). To keep it together better, the board is placed inside a ‘box’ which consists of a 48x48 stud plate and walls 1 stud wide.

I also helped out in 2011 as a judge. I judged the robot design portion where each team demonstrated how their robot solved each challenge and how the team worked on the design. Over 60 teams participated.

The competition grew so much in the first two years, there were qualifying tournaments before the state competition. This year I helped out as a judging room attendant. 36 teams made it to the state competition.

Check out Technic Brick Power's How to mesh any two LEGO gears on a regular grid video for an excellent chart. Also look at Sariel's interactive gear calculator website or app.

You can calculate spacing yourself using these equations:

• (Teeth on gear 1 + Teeth on gear 2) / 2 / 8 = spacing in studs
• (Teeth on gear 1 + Teeth on gear 2) / 2 / 3.2 = spacing in plates

2020-12-04 Updated for the 28 tooth gear. Ordered by ratio.

• Normal Gears are in gray
• Double Bevel Gears are in black

Gear	Ratio	Image	Notes
8 - 40	1/5 0.2
8 - 36	2/9 0.222
8 - 28	2/7 0.286
8 - 24	1/3 0.333
12 - 36	1/3 0.333
16 - 40	2/5 0.4
12 - 28	3/7 0.429
8 - 16	1/2 0.5
12 - 24	1/2 0.5
20 - 36	5/9 0.556
16 - 28	4/7 0.571
12 - 20	3/5 0.6
24 - 40	3/5 0.6
16 - 24	2/3 0.667
16 - 24	2/3 0.667		*
28 - 40	7/10 0.7
20 - 28	5/7 0.714
28 - 36	7/9 0.778
16 - 20	4/5 0.8
20 - 24	5/6 0.833
8 - 8	1/1 1
12 - 12	1/1 1
16 - 16	1/1 1
20 - 20	1/1 1
24 - 24	1/1 1
28 - 28	1/1 1
36 - 36	1/1 1
40 - 40	1/1 1

* not as close at it could be