初めまして！ティムとジョッシュです！

数回英語のブログを書いてきましたが、最近日本に帰国したことを機に、このブログも日本語に切り替えることにしました！

レゴ専門用語も英語なら結構分かっているつもりですが、日本語だと全然わかってない自分がいて、初心に帰って、日本のレゴ・オンライン・コミュニティーに参加していけたらな～と思っています　：）

今後の予定としては、LEGO IDEASなどで開催されているレゴ・コンテストを紹介し、また自分のエントリーと考えを書いて行きたいと思っています。

また、レゴは僕の家庭内においては、父と子の絆のために大切な役割を成しているので、親子でレゴを楽しむ様々なアイディアも紹介していきたいと思っています。

最後に、レゴ・アイディアで自分のアイディアの商品化も目指したいと思っているので、その道筋についての記録・紹介もしていこうかと思っています！

日本のレゴラーのみなさん、よろしくお願いいたします！

I’m one of those guys who wishes he was funny.

I come up with something that I think is funny, I say it, and boom… no one laughs.

But that didn’t stop me from making these designs for the T-shirt design contest at Beyond the Brick.

I’m tempted to explain each design, but even I know that explanation kills the joke.

So, with the hope that someone out there will find at least one of these slightly funny… Here are my “not so funny” designs.

And here’s a chance for you to be funny! Why not make a meme out of this scene??

If you’ve made a meme out of the scene, then please do share it with me!!

PS: just in case you are wondering… No, I did not get any prizes for these wonderful designs of mine.

When I saw the contest at New Elementary, I was excited!!

The task was to make something with the new bike frame, and I thought this will be fun.
As I only had a few days before the deadline, and because I wanted the bike-frame to be central to the build, I thought I’d keep is small and simple.

First, there was the brain-storming. While I only made the bridge, there were other ideas that I wish I had tried. If you are interested, please do try out these ideas!!

– Noodles.
I reckon a bike frame in a bowl will look like Ramen noodles. Didn’t try it, but wish I did!
– Shop Sign Frame
You know those signs and clocks outside shops? The I reckon the bike frame kinda looks like them…
– The bridge frame
I know, it’s another frame… It’s not something totally different to a bikeframe… But this is the idea I went with.

In retrospect, maybe I should have made it flat. It wouldn’t be difficult to have two 1×8 plates going over the bridge, instead of the two disconnected 2×4 plates I used.

But it was fun making it, and I’m quite happy with my idea! Please, let me know what you think.

All the MOCs I invested time in, are renders of virtual builds. And, I don’t restrict myself to existing elements. My MOCs are full of blocks that don’t exist in the real world. I’m sure some of you really don’t like this!!

At the same time, the MOCs have never been tested with real bricks. I don’t know if they are stable, nor do I know if they really work.

Well, a few days ago, someone contacted me asking about my Helm’s Deep Pop Up Book.

This was made by me about an year ago, as an alternative build for the Pop Up Book contest at Lego Ideas. And the person said to me, that he’s been trying to build construction, with an “inner wall”, using my render as reference, but couldn’t make it work.

Well, I was chuffed. I felt appreciated. And I was also intrigued to know, if this will actually work. As I don’t have the pop-up book, there was no way for me to try it out, and now I’ve come in contact with someone who is willing to give it a try!!

Just incase you are someone who is interested in also making a construction with two parts like this, here are some points you should note, together with a render from above.

1. The inner wall, is meant to nest above the outer wall when folded.
2. You must make space on the outer wall, to give space for the hinges on the sides to nest in when folded.
3. don’t start the inner wall too low, as it will hit the book cover during the fold.
4. The inner wall starts with being only 1 brick wide. It should only become 2 bricks wide, after becoming higher than the outer wall’s highest point.

This third point was the biggest find out from trying out the build with real bricks.

I am still waiting to see the completed build, but when I do, I hope to share it with you.
For now, here is a video of his WIP!

And if you happen to have built a similar build, do please share it with me!

Recently, I made a scene that uses forced perspectives, for the Lego Ideas’ Heroic Land Rover Contest. While I had quite a clear idea as to what the end result should look like, as it happened, I found it quit difficult to get it right.

Here’s the point when I realized that this is not going to work.

As you can see, I have three scales planned for the scene. The whole scene is meant to tell the story of doctors bringing medical lifelines to a hard to reach village.
At the back, I have a micro-scale build, showing the path they have traveled. The scale gets bigger through the river, depicted with three crocodiles, each growing in size as they approach the shore.
Then, the main build in minifigure scale, with two doctors taking a box of medical equipment from a Land Rover. Up to here, is the scenery from the window of a village hospital. And inside, is a large scale box, which I planned to fill with large scale medical equipment.

As I looked at this WIP, I realized that I needed to make some drastic changes if I want this to work. So, I went back to the paper, and started drawing various new options.

Still not sure what I’ll do, I carried on making the minifigure scale part.

Two things had changed. No longer was the scene from within the building. And the river is at the side. I realized that making a broken bridge in two different scales was too big a task. I had also changed the path, and made the building.
But I was still unsure what to do with the rest of the build…

So, I did a few tests. Trying out various backgrounds, to see if any will work.

I first try making a hill at the back. But I was doubtful that this will work. It doesn’t look great.

Next, I try out with a valley. A drop at the back. But again, it doesn’t look like it’s going to work…

After this, I stop making renders, and just try a few options, after which I decided to have a cliff. After a few days working on the cliff, I’m near completion.

To this, I added the back ground mosaic, and altered a few details, and this is how it turned out.

So, what do you think? Do you think my final MOC has a working forced perspective? How do you think I could improve? Do you have some great ideas for making the same thing in various scales? Please do share your thoughts with me!