2018 Parts Fest #2: Peter's Post Apocalyptic World and Flying Fortress

We are continuing with our ongoing LEGO® parts fest and welcome our penultimate guest builder, an extraordinarily talented young builder from Russia, Peter Guz. We are huge fans of Peter's work, but even we did not anticipate the creations Peter made in a short space of time with a parcel of elements we sent.  Peter is a builder of few words but his images speak for themselves. This is the first of two posts by Peter.

“Lanterns have to light” thought I at first. And then I found the mecha leg Elspeth made using a Lantern in the blog post Enlightening Elements. I realised that I must complete it and build a light-up Lantern mech using Black Lamp, No. 1 (Element ID 6227901 | Design ID 37776).

LEGO® Creator review: 10265 Ford Mustang

The LEGO Group have just announced the next car in the LEGO® Creator Expert series 10265 Ford Mustang, based on the 1967 Fastback and will be racing into LEGO stores and online from 1 March 2019. It has 1,471 elements and priced US $149.99/€129.99/£119.99. Jonas Kramm gets into gear to take a closer look under the hood of this 1960s American muscle car.

The LEGO Creator Expert theme’s new addition to your garage is a classic 1967 Ford Mustang. It’s a dark blue beast that comes with two play features and - even more importantly – includes two new moulds and more delicious recolours.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Devid VII's mecha, radiator and more

The next builder in our LEGO® parts festival is Devid VII, an Italian builder whose work I have admired for sometime, especially his mecha creations. Devid showcases a variety of ways to use our chosen parts festival elements, including this fantastic mecha just for us!

2018 Parts Fest #2: Hubtastic skyscrapers

As our parts festival nears its end, there are still a couple more LEGO® builders to come but two builders we have already featured sent me some further ideas using Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (Element ID 6227156 | Design ID 37195), an element only found in one set at present, 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5. So I thought both Sarah Beyer and Ralf Langer could share a hubtastic post, starting with Sarah.

When I first saw the hub cap my instant thought was "skyscraper". The silver colour and round shape remind me of modern cylindrical skyscrapers. The pattern adds an interesting aesthetic dimension and, seen from the side, makes excellent nanoscale windows. However I didn't have a clear idea about the surroundings and lay the concept to one side. Later on, when I was sorting loose parts, I came across the hub caps again.

LEGO® Xtra 40341 Sea Accessories

We're always excited to receive new sets from The LEGO Group but this supplementary set was definitely one of the stranger offerings... so after scratching our heads we challenged a man who will seemingly face any LEGO® challenge, Tim Goddard (Rogue Bantha), to actually build something with them!

The LEGO® Xtra line is a very welcome one, offering a chance to purchase some useful parts at a reasonable price. The Xtra set 40312 Streetlamps released last year contains particularly great parts such as the new lantern (Design ID 37776). I was sent three copies of the new 2019 set 40341 Sea Accessories to, um, review I guess.

There is something a bit fishy about this Xtra set though; the parts are not quite so useful as those found in other sets in the range and I am not sure I would be tempted to buy a copy myself.

Brickset: A history of Technic pins

Occasionally we see an article about LEGO® parts that we love so much, we republish it here on New Elementary. (With permission, naturally!) Well our good friend Huw Millington of Brickset wrote this great rundown about the humble Technic pin and we definitely didn't want any of you to miss out.

I can't quite believe I'm writing an article on such a seemingly mundane subject as the history of Technic pins but, given the popularity of last week's article about one such pin, perhaps there'll be similar interest in this one too.

The first Technic sets launched in 1977 came with just one type of pin; however, the very first 'Technic' pin produced predated them by some 7 years, and it wasn't made from plastic...

LEGO® Ideas 21316 The Flintstones

Sven Franic reviews LEGO® 21316 The Flintstones for us today but will it be a yabba dabba doo or a yabba dabba don't? The set is available to VIPs this Wednesday 20 February 2019 with 748 pieces, four minifigures and retails for US$59.99/ CA$79.99/ 59.99€/ £54.99/ 549DKK/ AU$99.99.

LEGO Ideas is a constantly evolving system, but there are a couple of individuals who seem to have cracked the magic formula. This is fan designer Andrew Clark’s second Ideas submission to make it all the way to store shelves after 21304 Doctor Who in 2016.

Bricks & Pieces: Jonas’ Highlights - January 2019

We love highlighting new elements here at New Elementary and one of our regular contributors, Jonas Kramm, has recently started doing a really useful thing for LEGO® fans that we wanted you to know about: curating lists of the best new and recoloured parts he finds on on Bricks & Pieces. We asked him to introduce it to you.

The LEGO Group’s own service “Bricks & Pieces” is one of the sources to get your hands on individual new LEGO elements. It’s very up to date, not limited in quantities and has reasonable prices. But the main hindrance is that checking the price and availability of the wanted pieces one by one takes forever.

Contest: Build and Fix

This contest is now closed. View the entries here.

We're having a contest! Remember the large new hull element from The LEGO® Movie 2 70821 Emmet and Benny's ‘Build and Fix' Workshop? It was dismissed by many as a “juniorised” POOP part... but what if it actually opens up new creative possibilities?

So we're asking you to make an amazing LEGO® creation using this strange new element in our Build and Fix contest; we want you to BUILD something to FIX those negative opinions of this element by showing just how imaginatively it can be used!

2018 Parts Fest #2: Ralf's Compass, Medieval cart and microscale menagerie

The next builder in our parts fest is Ralf Langer from Germany.  He previously wrote about integrating LEGO® Modulex bricks in two posts for New Elementary last year.  Ralf has a real knack for innovative parts use, sometimes illegally, but always with the potential for stunning results.  If you haven't seen his builds before then you are in for a treat.

I started off with Reddish Brown Mini Brush (Element ID 6046576 | Design ID 15232), quite a versatile part. It is not as versatile as it could be as it doesn't fit in a recessed stud because of its tapered ends.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Sarah's Furniture and Robot

Our next builder is Sarah Beyer from Sweden. We have been admiring her creations for some time as she builds beautiful homes with LEGO® bricks, complete with detailed interiors. We sent Sarah a parcel containing new parts to see what should would build.

My first reaction when I saw the parts sent to me, was that they would constitute great furniture material. I mostly build modern furniture for my MOCs, but these elements fit in both retro and contemporary surroundings.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Simon's naughty dog and a touch of Japanese Architecture

The next builder in our LEGO® parts festival is Simon NH, a talented guy from Austria who is best known for his clever use of parts, especially novel ways to create textures and patterns.

Let’s start off with a fun little build featuring the four new elements shown: Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] Hub Cap dia. 24 NO. 1 (6227156|37195) , White Tile 1X3 Inverted W/ 3.2 Hole (6223491|35459),White Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)  and Reddish Brown Mini Brush (6046576|15232).

LEGO® BrickHeadz: Fall 2018 Retrospective

Aside from being super-popular collectibles, LEGO® BrickHeadz and notable for their excellent printed pieces and new recolours of parts that don't always seem to appear in other sets. We asked Chris McVeigh (powerpig) to scour the whole range released in the second half of 2018 to just highlight all these great parts for you, in case you need them in your MOCs! Chris looked at 41624 Mickey Mouse, 41625 Minnie Mouse, 41626 Groot & Rocket, 41627 Luke Skywalker & Yoda, 41628 Princess Leia and 41629 Boba Fett as well as having a quick look at what's new in 41630 Jack Skellington & Sally, 41631 Newt Scamander & Gellert Grindelwald and 41632 Homer Simpson & Krusty the Clown.

BrickHeadz are well-regarded among parts enthusiasts for introducing new elements, including rarer elements in good quantities, and offering a wealth of printed parts (and all at a great price). So how do the new sets released in fall 2018 stack up? We’ll take a close look at each one, starting with August’s Mickey Mouse.