2019 Parts Fest #1: Jessica Farrell's microscale

Another quick post for our Parts Festival, from Jessica Farrell today. Following her animals last week, we have a couple of microscale creations using some of the LEGO® parts we sent her. This is a good moment to explain that we don't send all the chosen builders exactly the same parts; for example Jessica received some of the new 3x3 Technic frames. 

BAVARIAN ICE CREAM CONE CASTLE

Invert the inverted printed cone piece (Cone 2X2X2, Inverted, No. 1 in Medium Nougat – 6261728|52116) and you get something that resembles the turrets of a fairytale castle. At least, it would if it was in microscale!

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jaap Bijl - week 2

Time for another update of what's been going through Jaap Bijl's (jaapxaap, found on Flickr and Instagram) head as he is faced with the various LEGO® parts in our Parts Festival.

There was one piece in the parts selection that was just weird to me. It's a white piece with some strange holes and details that didn't feel like LEGO to me. I was wondering why it even existed and why they would make such a part. But hey, if I think a piece doesn't deserve the name LEGO, I feel like that's enough reason to use it.

While looking at the piece, it suddenly came to me that it looked exactly like a security camera. So I took some bricks together and made a little scene to prove that even this piece is useful.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Inhert's Splat Gear Experiments

Back to the Parts Festival fun today as our LEGO® fan builders find uses for 2019 parts. Following his discoveries with the big yellow star, Inthert returns today with fascinating analysis of the gear wheels.

Perhaps it was their bright colours or unusual shape but the three sizes of the affectionately dubbed ‘splat gears’ immediately caught my eye as I emptied all the parts onto my build table.

• Vibrant Coral Gear Wheel 6X6, Z14 (Element ID 6258385 | Design ID 35446)
• Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/ Dark Bluish Gray [BL] Gear Wheel 4X4, Z10 (6252371|35443)
• Medium Lilac [TLG]/ Dark Purple [BL] Gear Wheel 2X2, Z6 (6238330|35442)

LEGO® Hidden Side review: 70425 Newbury Haunted High School

We interrupt your Parts Festival to bring you the first of our reviews of LEGO® Hidden Side sets, of which we will examine five over the coming weeks. Jonas Kramm takes reviewing duties of 70425 Newbury Haunted High School.

Hidden Side is the new LEGO® theme in town, and brings us eight new play sets. To start we’re exploring the biggest one: it’s not a new Elementary School, but Newbury’s Haunted High School.

Opening the box reveals nine bags containing 1474 pieces, one big instruction booklet and two sheets with 44 stickers to apply. The biggest interest for me is always what new parts are included so let’s take a look what treasures are buried here.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's Castle Maze Puzzle

After his initial creation using the new LEGO® stud shooter, Duncan Lindbo returns with a wholly different idea, this time using the new gear wheel, as part of our ongoing Parts Festival.

When I got my shipment of Gear Wheel 4x4, Z10 (Design ID 35443) from New Elementary, it didn’t take me long to come up with an idea for a MOC that used them. With a diameter of six studs including the teeth, and four studs without, they’re big enough to have some space to work on without requiring a tremendous investment in parts. Also, the ones I got were Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray (Element ID 6252371), which works well for a variety of uses (they also come in Medium Azure, 6238331).

So I built a slide puzzle. Not just any slide puzzle, but one in which the pieces also rotate!

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jarekwally's Space Base, candle and summer break

Following his first creation for our Parts Festival, LEGO® builder Jaroslaw Walter (jarekwally on Flickr, Facebook & Instagram) returns today with three more varied builds all using our seed parts.

Base in Space

2019 Parts Fest #1: Samuel Pister's tube and king

Samuel Pister (Pistash on Flickr and Facebook) is a French LEGO® builder and member of Lug’Est. His wild and colourful style seemed the right fit for the wild and colourful elements in our Parts Festival!

When I received the different parts shipped by New Elementary my first question was, “What will I do with this giant coral gear?” (Gear Wheel 6x6, Z14 in Vibrant Coral 6258385|35446.)
Obviously there were two main difficulties with this part. Firstly this element is designed to be used as a functional element, a gear in rotation, not for aesthetic effect. Secondly, the Vibrant Coral. I love this newest colour introduced by LEGO but it is not natural and very difficult to integrate in MOCs.

Despite these difficulties, it is always feasible with LEGO parts to find solutions and that is one aspect of the hobby that I particularly like: everything is possible.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Sarah Beyer's Technic experiments

Swedish LEGO® builder Sarah Beyer (betweenbrickwalls on Flickr) usually builds modern house interiors and microscale buildings, and her initial contributions to our Parts Festival are no exception!

I received a whole bunch of various new parts from New Elementary, and some of them belong to the Technic category. I rarely build Technic MOCs but I find those parts very useful, especially when it comes to microscale builds. The Round Plate 2x2 Thin with Rotation Stem (Design ID 40145), and Liftarm 1 x 3 with Connections for Hose and Rubber Bladder (41817) first caught my attention.

The circular shapes make great microscale watch towers like in this fort somewhere in the desert.

The round plate can also be used in minifigure scale builds. It´s a perfect alternative to using Support 2 x 2 x 2 Stand (3940/19798) or a Telescope (64644) when building a stool. You need a Round Tile 1x1 with Bar and Pin holder (20482) to connect it to a stud.

In the room below I´ve used the round plate to create a side table. It fits well in a Swedish home from the early 20th Century.

As you may notice I´ve also used Brick, Modified 1 x 1 x 2/3 No Studs, Curved Top (49307) to create arm rests for the sofa.

READ MORE: Jaap Bijl shares his initial Parts Fest experiments 

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2019 Parts Fest #1: Jaap Bijl - week 1

The next LEGO® builder to introduce you to is Jaap Bijl (jaapxaap, found on Flickr and Instagram) from the Netherlands and he is a member of Lowlug and Innovalug. His building motto is “Never ask whether something is possible with LEGO or not. Only ask how.” Sounds like an ideal candidate for our challenging Parts Festival! Jaap has taken the unique approach of sending us weekly updates on his progress; an insight into his creative process.

A week ago I got my hands on the parts New Elementary sent me and that made me excited as I had no idea what pieces I would receive. I took the package straight to my room, got a pair of scissors and immediately opened it. Since then they have been sitting on the coffee table in my room! I had a lot of work to finish first but by having them in sight I still saw them a few times a day, to get inspired.

I started experimenting with the pieces that immediately triggered my creativity, such as the purple gear (Gear Wheel 2X2, Z6 in Medium Lilac/ Purple  – 6238330 | 35442). That was not because of the shape but the colour. If you follow me, you might know that I have done a lot of fantasy builds with purple, so getting new purple pieces was a fun surprise! It just looked like a flower to me. This was the same thought I had with the yellow star pieces from The LEGO Movie 2 sets (Design Plate, 4X4X2/3, No. 1 in Bright Yellow/ Yellow – 6248804|39611) which were a lot bigger than I expected, which means a harder (and more fun!) challenge to incorporate them into a build.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jessica Farrell's animals

The next Parts Festival participant to introduce you to is Jessica Farrell from Ireland, a member of Brick.ie. You may have first seen Jessica's work when her LEGO® version of Her Majesty's Theatre in London gained widespread coverage back in 2015. She runs her own nursery and so you you can expect organic builds from her, and today is no exception as we look at the animals she created from the parts selection we sent her.

I felt genuine anxiety when I received my sealed box of new elements. I had already discovered that, to my chagrin, my creative brain stubbornly does not work this way! When I build a model, I choose the elements to suit the build rather than chose the build to suit the elements. I’d happily put all these new elements away in a drawer somewhere until, one day, I’m puzzling over a tricky, fiddly bit of some enormous model and suddenly a bell rings in my head and I know just the part to fit... but Tim said “Just go and build stuff, I have faith in you,” so (gulp) here goes!

GANDER

2019 Parts Fest #1: Inthert is Starry-Eyed

The next Parts Festival participant to introduce you to is Inthert (on Flickr), a UK-based LEGO® builder who was one of the winners of our Build 'n' Fix contest earlier this year with his lovely spade, although spaceships are really his thing. Here's the first of his investigations into our 19 seed parts.

At first, I questioned how useful the star element (Design Plate 4X4X2/3 No. 1 in Bright Yellow/ Yellow – Element ID 6248804| Design ID 39611) would be, especially without straying straight into illegal techniques. This is simply down to its number of connection points which, for a part of its size, is pretty limited. A star with nine friends is a slightly different story though.

LEGO® Ideas review: 21319 Central Perk

Well, it might not have been your day, your week, your month, or even your year but we are here for you with our review of the new LEGO® Ideas 21319 Central Perk set. Could you BE any more excited? Well it might depend on whether you actually ever watched the television series Friends back in the 1990s.

LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk is rated for ages 16+ and contains 1070 elements, seven minifigures and a small sticker sheet. It is due for release on 1 September 2019. Let's go and have a coffee with some friends now.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jarekwally's flowers, vase and butterfly

Our second Parts Festival participant is Jaroslaw Walter (jarekwally on Flickr, Facebook & Instagram), a Polish LEGO® builder living in Ireland who is a member of the LEGO User Groups LUGPOL, Zbudujmy.to, Brick.ie and Lug.ie. Here's the first of the varied creations he's made for us.

Building LEGO should make us happy. Personally I build to de-stress and forget about everyday problems. It helps a lot. I like enter to my room, sit down and combine different elements. At some point, ideas come to my mind. 

For this creation I used various parts from the selection provided by New Elementary.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's TRT13 dropship

Our Parts Festival begins today! If you missed yesterday's post introducing the LEGO® parts that our selected builders are using in their creations, check it out. To kick things off proper today though we have the one returning builder from a previous parts festival, Duncan Lindbo (donutsftw on Flickr and Instagram). Duncan is a member of the North Carolina LEGO Users Group who generally builds mecha and Space stuff and for his first build he has chosen one of the most peculair and controversial elements from our selection.

Stud shooters: Kids love ‘em (I assume, since LEGO keeps making new ones) and AFOLs hate ‘em. So Shooter w/ Cross Axle, No. 1 (6248534|41812) probably wasn’t a part I would have sought out on my own but now that I’ve got my hands on a bunch of them (thanks Tim!) let’s see what I can come up with.

The various ridges, flaps, and clips that facilitate the stud-shootin’ action give this piece some interesting texture, and because every part is a spaceship (or mech) part, my first thought was to use them as thrusters/engines on a mini spaceship.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Introducing the Elements

It is Parts Fest time once more here at New Elementary. We have posted a lovely selection of new-for-2019 LEGO® elements to some of the most innovative, inspiring builders we know and love. This time our featured builders are from Ireland, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, USA, Poland, France and Sweden; each with their own style and techniques to bring to our parts festival.

In this first post,  we wanted to introduce the elements included in this parts festival. All the elements are new to 2019 and almost all are completely new element moulds. Without further ado, let's meet the elements.

LEGO® review: 71044 Disney Train and Station

Announced today, LEGO® set 71044 Disney Train and Station is a mammoth, detailed set containing a 77cm-long train, and a station based on Disney theme parks measuring 39cm x 35cm. Victor Pruvost has reviewed it for us and it retails at £299.99/ US$329.99/ CA$379.99/ DE€329.99/ FR€329.99/ 2499DKK/ AU$549.99.

In 2016, LEGO released the first series of Disney Collectable Minifigures, followed by a big set. This year, LEGO released the second series of Disney Collectable Minifigures, and it is also followed by a big set. 71044 Disney Train and Station comes with 2925 pieces and five minifigures, which we’re about to examine!

2019 Kockice Convention workshop: part 2

Today we're continuing the highlights of our workshop in Croatia earlier this year which was a part of the Kockice Convention in Zagreb. If you missed part 1, see it here.

“Modern Living” by Vesna Todorovic

2019 Kockice Convention workshop: part 1

It's time for another parts festival at New Elementary, where we put LEGO® elements from 2019 in front of LEGO fans and see what techniques, tablescraps and MOCs they come up with.

To kick things off we have the results of our workshop in Croatia earlier this year which was a part of the Kockice Convention in Zagreb. Over 100 AFOLs from 13 countries attended and you can read a report by The LEGO Group about the event here.

LEGO® Ideas set review: 21318 Treehouse

Time for the second part of our LEGO® Ideas 21318 Treehouse review, looking at the build. We covered its elements in part 1.

In a great alteration to Kevin Freeser's original fan submission, which had a grey square base, César Soares' official version has an irregular green shape with a stream running through it. The stream is Dark Azure plate (including the 4x8, Element ID 6209672, its third appearance in sets) with a layer of Transparent 1x1 and 1x2 plates on top.

LEGO® Ideas parts review: 21318 Treehouse

Fan designer Kevin Freeser faced an unexpected challenge after submitting his Treehouse to LEGO® Ideas: he had exceeded the 3000 part limit imposed and had to redesign it with fewer elements. Ironically the final retail set exceeds it again, at 3036 pieces, but you can see why The LEGO Group didn’t want to skimp with this set. Folks, this thing is big.

Fabuland Lives On: the elements

This year marks 40 years since The LEGO Group (TLG) launched the FABULAND theme. In total, 99 Fabuland sets were released from 1979 until 1989, plus the theme featured licensed products such as books, clothing, key rings and for the first time an animated TV series. To celebrate this, we're examining the surprising legacy that this theme for 3-7 year olds has had upon the elements of the LEGO® System to this day.

We thought it would be interesting to take a look at the influence of this theme by finding some current LEGO elements that started their lives as Fabuland elements.

LEGO® Technic review: 42099 4x4 X-Treme Off-Roader

Our final review of summer 2019 LEGO® Technic sets is 42099 4x4 X-Treme Off-Roader which uses the new Control+ system, has 958 pieces and is available as of today for US$249.99/ £199.99/ 229.99€. This time, we welcome back Ryan Welles to reviewing duties! 

It was the year 2007 when the good people in Billund introduced a new motorized system. The Power Functions system, known for its orange banded box art and incorporated in both Creator and Technic sets, is the electrical system that has had the longest lifespan in LEGO® history to date. The powerful motors came in several types and sizes, with infrared remote controls and receivers, and initially showed a combination of studded and studless connections. Later additions to the Technic line included a Large Motor and Servo Motor introduced in 2012, that only allowed for studless mounting.