Lego Haul - Christmas 2015

Well kids, Christmas has come and gone again.  Thank goodness.  There was quite a bit of activity this time around, with all the travel and family and friends and activities.  I finally got a chance last week to put everything together, so here's what I got this year.

The Christmas 2015 Haul 

I'll start with the biggest toy, my new 10247 Ferris Wheel.  It's a great addition to my 10244 Fairground Mixer so I could run a full carnival.  It's not as portable as the Fairground Mixer, as it doesn't break down for transportation.  I could put the Ferris Wheel in the city, maybe by the shoreline, but then I'd have to move the Fairground Mixer as well.  For now, I'll put both out at the lake shore.

  10247 Ferris Wheel instructions (top) and large green plates (bottom)

Group 1 bags (left) and assembled contents (right)

 

Group 2 bags (left) and assembly progress afterwards (right)

 

Group 3 bags (left) and assembly progress afterwards (right)

 

Group 4 bags (left) and finished assembled product (right)

I also got a 10686 Family House.  There a good amount of bricks for it, considering it's a Juniors theme set.  I'm going to try to find some more bricks to go with it and build it up to match the size of the 5891 Apple Tree House and 31012 Family House.  It'll be nice to have another house in the neighborhood for all the families to congregate at.

 10686 Family House contents

10686 Family House front (left) and rear (right) views

My sister was kind enough to get me a Lego book and set combo.  Great Lego Sets covers the history of Lego products and their evolution from 1948 to today.  It was fun to thumb through and see a few sets I own and read about the evolution of the Lego System of Play.

 Great Lego Sets (left) and Pizza To Go on page 104 (right)

The set that came with the book was a little spaceship with a mid-80's vibe.  A throwback to Space sets before they received subthemes.  Also a mini version of a spaceship that Benny from the Lego Movie would freak out over.

 Lego set contents and finished product

I got a couple of Lego Classic sets, 10696 Lego Medium Creative Brick Box and 10693 Lego Creative Supplement.  I wanted these mostly for the variety of bricks they came with, but I did assemble a few things for the city park I'm planning.

 Lego Classic set contents: 10696 Lego Medium Creative Brick Box (left) and 10693 Lego Creative Supplement (right)

Lego Classic models constructed:

Most of the stuff I've shown you so far are things I got from my family, but I got a few things from my wife and her family as well while we were out in California.  We ran to Toys R Us and got a couple of the exclusive 2015 Lego Bricktober sets you only find in their stores.  I got a 40141 Bricktober Hotel and a 40143 Bricktober Bakery.  As with my other Bricktober sets, they're more models for the diorama I'm building.

40143 Bricktober Bakery (left) and 40141 Bricktober Hotel (right)

My wife also got me a 40153 Birthday Table Decoration to reflect how old I am.  It serves no other purpose than that.

40153 Birthday Table Decoration

With everything I got, I had a ton of leftover bricks for future projects, plus maybe a few current ones.  Between them and the $150 (approximate) in Lego gift cards, I'll have plenty to keep me busy for the coming months.

 

 Leftover pieces from everything I got for Christmas

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.