Fire Station

A couple weeks after meeting Kate for lunch at the MOA Lego Store, I was visiting my parents for Thanksgiving.  During that weekend, I found the Lego Digital Designer application.  What an incredible virtual sandbox to put together potential creations to put in my Lego town.

The first building I came up with was the Fire Station.  I don't know why I picked a fire station.  I didn't have many firefighting Lego sets.  But I think it was the ease of design that spurred me on.  It felt like a pretty easy setup.  Two floors, connected by stairs and a fire pole.  Leave one side of the bottom floor open to serve as the garage for parking all the fire trucks.  How hard could it be?

It wasn't... until I got to putting the floor together.  It took a long time to get it just right (according to my OCD's standards).  Each piece had to interlock with every one above and/or below it.  I didn't want to leave any edges permeating more than one layer of plates.  To accomplish this, I needed some larger, more expensive plates.  Ones that didn't normally appear on the Pick-A-Brick wall.  Ones I had to special order from Lego or a reseller on BrickLink. Ugh.

First floor contents: tools, fire pole, stairs, and yellow fire extinguisher

Second floor living quarters

If you plan on putting together a floor with multiple layers of plates, I suggest downloading the Lego Digital Designer and color coding each layer to ensure they interlock together.

I don't remember when I finally got it finished, but you gotta admit, it's pretty spiffy.  The upstairs area has a table for the firefighters to eat, a couch and chair to sit in, some beds for them to catch some Z's at night.

There are two squads of firefighters, red and white (as indicated by the color of their helmets).  The guy in the white button-down shirt and tie is the fire chief.

Red squad meeting to discuss fire and rescue operations with the chief

White squad members testing out equipment

I could fit the 4208 4x4 Fire Truck into the garage with the rest of the vehicles, since it is too tall to fit in there.  I'll leave that parked outside.  The 6911 Mini Fire Truck on the far right it too small for a minifigure, but it acts as a tool for small fires and will be handled via remote control (not pictured) when the need arises.

Fire response vehicles in the garage (above) and on display (below)

Sets used: 4208, 5613, 6511, 6911, 7942

Lego Haul - 1/19/15

On Martin Luther King Day, I went to the Lego store once again to try to get the rest of the Series 13 minifigures and a Double Decker Couch.

The haul for Monday, January 19th, 2015

Once again, I didn't have the best of luck.  I found 5 of the 6 minifigures I needed (Unicorn Girl, Evil Wizard, Classic King, Disco Diva, and Samurai), but there were no Double Decker Couch sets.  I did peruse the Pick A Brick wall and got a small cup of bricks.

Unicorn Girl, Evil Wizard, Classic King, Samurai, and Disco Diva

All of these minifigures will go to the costume party at the Grandstand, except Samurai.  She will be at the Marine Base.  I though about also making the Evil Wizard and Classic King marines, but their outfits are a bit too elaborate for service.  Additionally, I made my Series 12 Wizard a partygoer, so why not his nemesis?

The contents of my small cup of bricks

I don't bother much with the Pick A Brick wall at the Mall of America Lego Store.  There just isn't enough variety.  The bottom two rows are dedicated to 2x4 bricks, and I don't need any more of those.  There aren't enough gray and brown pieces to make it worth my time.

However, there is a new blue color, so I can buy them for my Plumber's shop.  I grabbed tan bricks for my Pony Farm.  They really helped me with putting together a physical model to start tinkering with.  I also got a small handful of angular black 1x1 bricks, which will be great for building traffic lights.  Finally, I added some light green 2x4 plates and red 1x3 sloped bricks.  Can't complain about that.

I still need a Hot Dog Man minifigure.  And a Double Decker Couch.  Maybe a large cup of those blue bricks pictured above.  I'll probably make my new run on the 31st.  I've still got about $120 in Lego gift certificates to burn, so this isn't over yet.  The way I see it, we've only just begun.

R2-D2

I bought Lego set 10225 R2-D2 Memorial Day Weekend 2012, because I was bored and I needed a project to keep me busy on Monday, before I went back to work Tuesday.

I don't normally buy these massive sets that are designed to be decorative pieces, but there was something about that R2 unit that made me think, "Hey, maybe I can assemble it, throw in some Power Functions and Mindstorms, and create a fully-functional, mobile droid."

It did not go as well as I had hoped.  I knew the set was going to run me $200, and Mindstorms was an extra $300, plus whatever motors would cost me.  But I didn't imagine how much engineering I'd have to do design a new internal mechanism.

So far, so good.  Only 9 more bags to go.

R2 is built pretty solid, and it'd have to be to contain all the gear and axle pieces working in harmony.  It did not leave much room to add components, which would have meant making R2 bigger and buying more bricks.  I already dropped a couple of C notes, I didn't want to spend more.

We still haven't found those stolen data tapes, Lord Vader.

Once I got R2 to this point, I started considering alternative uses for it.  "It came with a couple of arms hidden behind doors, maybe I could attach a USB drive to one of them and use him as external storage.  Or, um..."  That's all I could come up with.

Nearly four hours, 105 steps, eight bags of bricks, two booklets, and who knows how many pieces later...

R2 accomplished its goal.  Keep me occupied for an entire afternoon.  And it was a lot of fun to let my imagination run wild with ideas to use it for more than just a decorative piece.  The thoughts of putting some wheels on it, driving it with a remote control.  Man, that would have been sweet.

All done...  Phew!!

R2 just sits on a shelf at home right now.  Maybe one day, I can take it over to my friend Vern's house and we can make it more powerful.  But Vern has two young kids who'd maybe get in the way, wanting to play with the Lego droid.  And we live about 30 miles apart.  Not too bad considering a project like that would require a day trip, but that's still a bit of a hassle, and I don't want to inflict that on anyone.

Don't just stand there, shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level!

R2-D2 also came with this nice little display plaque (which also required assembly).

This is what happens when you trust a strange computer, it'll leave you all exposed.

Left-side, rear, and right-side views of R2-D2.

Lego Haul - 1/6/15

As a birthday present to myself, I ordered a 10682 Lego Creative Suitcase.  It didn't have any minifigures (which I knew) and no instructions (which I did not know).  It's kind of vanilla, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have more bricks.

10682 Lego Creative Suitcase box

Contents of 10682 Lego Creative Suitcase

Bricks included in 10682 Lego Creative Suitcase

The best part of this entire set were the 16 Corner Brick 2x2/45° sloping brick.  I'm going to need a lot of them to build my Pyramid nightclub.

16 yellow Corner Brick 2x2/45° pieces included in 10682 Lego Creative Suitcase

All the bricks from 10682 Lego Creative Suitcase that would be used for the Pyramid nightclub.

I came up with the idea a couple of years ago, after I moved down to the Twin Cities.  With all my buildings, I didn't have a cool place for the Lego people to hang out at during the evenings.  I went backwards on this design.  First, I build a physical model, THEN I went digital.

Pyramid proof of concept physical model

Pyramid digital model (top) and physical model (bottom)

As you may be able to tell from my models, the original layout was for a 32x32 baseplate, but I determined that it only left me with about a 16x16 internal space, which wouldn't be a very big nightclub.  I had to go bigger.  I had to use a 48x48 baseplate to ensure I could have internal elements, like a DJ booth, a bar, a bouncer, and other typical nightclub fare.

Completed digital Pyramid model with 48x48 baseplate

I still have to add those internal items.  I haven't figured out how to make them fit yet, and the digital model is not conducive to that.  I have to go back to the physical model.

Costs of the building are also not in my favor.  Yet.  I need three large cups of 2x4 bricks, nearly 1000 2x2 roof tile bricks (also about three large cups worth), and 76 of the corner slopes, which you can't even buy individually from Lego's online Pick-A-Brick.  Putting this together is going to be a massive effort, probably running me close to $200.  At least.

Current building progress of the Pyramid Nightclub

For now, the trendy new hotspot won't be completed for years.  But it'll be pretty happenin' once it's finished.

Lego Haul - 1/3/15

The new year brings many great things to us.  One of the greatest things it brings me is new Lego sets.  After Christmas and my birthday, I've got $240 in Lego gift cards burning a hole in my pocket.  My wife and I went to the Mall of America Lego store yesterday, where I was hoping to get all of the new 71008 Series 13 Lego Minifigures, a 70818 Double Decker Couch from the Lego Movie, and a free 40140 Flower Wagon set for spending $75 at the Lego store.

It was slim pickings at the Lego store.  It turns out they were open on New Years Day (I wasn't sure if they would with it being a national holiday, and I had more important things to do that day, as my beloved Golden Gophers had a bowl date with Missouri).  There weren't many Lego Minifigures to choose from, as there were about 40 or so in the small bin.  The store was out of Double Decker Couch sets, if they even had any to begin with.  I didn't see a place on the shelf that marked where they would have been.  Several other sets I would have wanted were also nowhere to be found.  It did not look good for Homestar Runner.

Fortunately, I was able to adapt.  I only grabbed 11 Lego Minifigures, but I got to $75 with a 31035 Beach Hut and a 40120 Valentine's Day Dinner set, which my wife noticed before I had a chance to.

The haul for Saturday, January 3rd, 2015.

I may not have found what I originally wanted, but I was happy with what I got.  I've still got $150 in store credit left, and I'm sure they'll restock the shelves in the coming weeks.  I'm ready to get my ticket punched, after I get through the next several days.

The January 3rd, 2015 haul fully assembled.

What do I plan to do with my new Lego sets?  I'm glad you asked...

• The Beach Hut will be placed out at the Lake Shore.
• The Valentine's Day Dinner may go to the Restaurant, but I haven't decided yet.  It'll just be decoration until I figure it out.
• The Flower Wagon will go in the Plaza area.
• The Alien Trooper, Goblin, Lady Cyclops, Sheriff, and Snake Charmer minifigs will go to the costume party at the Grandstand.
• The Carpenter minifig will work at the Construction Site.
• The Egyptian Warrior minifig will be a Marine.
• The Fencer minifig is to be determined.
• The Galaxy Trooper minifig will work as a referee in the Laser Tag Arena.
• The Paleontologist minifig will go to the Research Lab.

10 of the 16 Series 13 Lego Minifigures

40140 Flower Wagon

40120 Valentine's Day Dinner contents and fully assembled

31035 Beach Hut contents

31035 Beach Hut open/front and closed/side views