Display MoreBuilt from 1923 to until the Second World War, the Austin Seven was Britain’s answer to the Ford Model-T, except it may have been even more influential.
Powered by a 10hp 750cc straight-4, weighing just 360kg (less than half a Model-T!), and with a 75 inch wheelbase, the Seven proved ridiculously popular, replacing almost every other British cyclecar and economy car of the 1920s.
The design became the first BMW car (being built in Germany under licence), the first Nissan car (being built in Japan, er… not under license), was produced in France and America, and formed the basis of both the first McLaren racing car and the first Lotus.
It was also, being British, given a silly nickname, becoming known as the “Chummy”. Nope, we don’t know why either.
This rather wonderful Town-scale recreation of the Seven “Chummy’ comes from previous bloggee _Tiler, who has both built and presented it beautifully. There’s more to see of this pedigree build at his Flickr photostream, and you can head to 1920s Britain via the link in the text above.
Posts by feedposter
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Many Marvely-type superheros have flown across New York. Or run. Or swung on spiderwebs. Or been propelled by their supersuit/hammer/insertmagicspaceitemhere.
The real heroes of New York however, take the bus.
Nurses, firefighters, police officers, teachers… the people that keep NYC’s engine running, whilst simultaneously not being able to afford to live in it.
Cue the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New Flyer XD40 buses, transporting hundreds of unsung heroes across New York City every day.
This superb brick-built recreation of true hero transport comes from previous bloggee JLui15, who has not only captured the New Flyer and its MTA livery beautifully, he’s packed it with working functions, including motorised drive, steering, and opening doors controlled via an SBrick.
There’s much more of the New Flyer XD40 to see at Flickr, Eurobricks, and in the video below, and you can join the everyday heroes transiting New York on board via the links in the text above.
YouTube Video
https://thelegocarblog.com/2023/07/05/flying-across-new-york/
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LEGO and lighting have been wired together for decades. From early 4.5V lighting sets, via the 12V and 9V eras, to the latest LEGO LEDs, a huge range of sets have been enhanced by the addition of light over the years.
Of course it took third-party companies about five minutes to figure out that for a niche group of builders, there was demand to go well beyond LEGO’s own lighting offerings. Cue Game of Bricks, Lightailing and others, who have created some fantastically intricate, fully programmable lighting products designed to bring official LEGO sets to life.
But building with LEGO isn’t just about official sets. The best models are those designed and built uniquely, using scale, techniques, and themes that could never be packaged into what is at heart a children’s toy.
These are the models we publish here of course, many of which have an even greater potential to be brought to twinkly life by in-built illumination. Now Brickworld Coordinator Brian M. Williams and the excellent No Starch Press can show you how. This is The Lego Lighting Book.
Available in digital download or hardback, The LEGO Lighting Book is the latest in No Starch Press’ ever-expanding catalogue of brick-based titles. Combining LEGO history, step-by-step building instructions, example images, and a few not-quite-purist approaches to wiring lighting into LEGO bricks, Brian M. Williams’ runs to around 180 pages, with production and printing as lovely as we have come to expect from No Starch Press publications. That said, it is worth noting that whilst most images are super sharp, a few look like they were taken in the dark on a camera phone in 2009. Probably because they were.
The book begins with a brief background to lighting at Lego shows, and a history of LEGO’s own range of lighting components, before moving on to applications, step-by-step instructions, and – interestingly – a bit more physics and electronics than we were expecting.
Whilst rather detailed, the author makes good use of imagery, layout and white space to ensure The LEGO Lighting Book is easy to follow and engaging, exemplified by high quality building instructions that both demonstrate how to build – and then illuminate – example creations, and also create brick-built electronics components, which is something of a niche within a niche.
Not all of the instructional builds will be suitable for everyone however, with the steps of a few involving ‘double-sided tape’, ‘soldering’, and one beginning with “drill holes to create a path for the wires”…
This degree of LEGO modification – and a requirement for third-party electronics – won’t suit many builders, however we suspect more casual LEGO fans are not really who The Lego Lighting Book is aimed at.
Rather, Brian M. Williams’ exploration of lighting Lego models illuminates a path for those wishing to take their brick-based artistry to the next level. The components to choose, how to place them, how to modify pieces, diffuse, direct and colour light – all can be learned via The LEGO Lighting Book, with step-by-step instructions and a nod to the physics behind it all helping readers along the way.
If you’re looking step your creations, and their presentation, into the very top-tier, The LEGO Lighting Book could be your guiding light.
★★★★
Check out The LEGO Lighting Book by Brian M. Williams via No Starch Press
https://thelegocarblog.com/2023/07/03/the-lego-lighting-book-review/
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Following on from our in-depth look at the fantastic range of new elements in 71799 NINJAGO City Markets, it's time to build the largest Ninjago set ever.
Doing an element review before building such a large set does not help speed up the process, in fact it slows it down. All the bags have to be opened and searched through to find the new elements and with 51 bags that takes a lot of reorganising. No complaints though, I was very happy to be constructing this set and putting all those new elements and recolours to good use...https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/MArMKaWmc83cO7JuCaevBovmyuk5fxzE
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