Old Elementary: The 1x2 plate with the arm that moved

Today's look back into LEGO® part history comes from Felix Stiessen, an avid LEGO enthusiast from Austria who is always interested in discovering new and interesting techniques to exploit the unique geometry of certain LEGO bricks.

Making its first appearance in 1984’s LEGO Castle range, the basic design of the LEGO® 1x2 plate with a vertical bar attachment has now been around for 35 years. However, in 2008 LEGO introduced a subtle design change that might have gone unnoticed by many.

This article will explore the difference between Design ID 4623 - Plate W. Hook 1X2, and Design ID 88072 - Plate 1X2 W. Vertical Schaft (sic).

How the LEGO® element team designed the new gear wheels

We’ve really enjoyed this latest Parts Festival, which now draws to a close, and we are so grateful to the talented artists who gave us their time and creative talents for everyone’s pleasure; in no particular order – Jessica Farrell, Inthert, Jaap Bijl, Duncan Lindbo, Samuel Pister, Sarah Beyer and Jaroslaw Walter.

To complete the festival we will take another look at what are arguably the most noticeable parts in the selection; the new gear wheel plates that we affectionately named ‘splat gears’. You may recall back in March, Elspeth wrote a fantastic post listing the different kinds of LEGO gears through history, including an examination of the new splat gear family.

It seems LEGO enjoyed her post too! – we later received this fascinating email from Marinus Jasperse on behalf of the Element Design Platform Team at the LEGO Group about the development of the new gear family...

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo's Schwebeadler

It's the final day of creations in our Parts Festival today and we hope you've been inspired by the incredible LEGO® models and techniques our global team of fan builders have come up with. (If you're looking for a building challenge yourself, check out our latest competition, Recycle my Bicycle!) To round things off, Duncan Lindbo creates a cool ship.

With Ma.Ktober approaching, I decided to get in on the action with this build for the parts fest. So, here’s the Schwebeadler, a two-person hovercraft used primarily for scouting and light anti-infantry duties.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Inthert and the pauldon

Our Parts Festival has almost ended but those of you with a good memory may recall there is an element that hasn't yet been shown in any of the LEGO® creations yet; Reinhardt's pauldron. We didn't have lots of this element and a couple of unfortunate complications meant that in the end, only one builder was able to use them. That builder is Inthert, and we're excited to present his ideas to you today!

As an AFOL who almost exclusively builds spaceships (more specifically, grey spaceships) there was one part amongst the selection I received that I took particular interest in: Design Element 5x5x3 in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (6254171|49523).

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jessica Farrell's flowers

Being a horticulturalist, Jessica Farrell was well placed to build flowers with the LEGO® parts we gave her for our Parts Festival! In her final post, she gives us a beautiful bunch of bunches.

NARCISSUS

Outside my bedroom window there is a clump of dwarf narcissus that faithfully bloom a cheery yellow and orange every February, no matter how inclement the weather. What better way to immortalise them than by recreating them out of my favourite medium? 

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo bugs out

After a break let's get back the last few contributions to our Parts Festival, where LEGO® builders use some of the newest parts to create inspiring ideas. Duncan Lindbo is back today, finding a place for the first creation he made for us.

Today we get to see where the TRT13 dropship was in such a rush to get to…

(Click image to enlarge)

The colony on planet LG-624 had gone silent, so a platoon of marines was dispatched to investigate. They start their search at the colony’s power plant complex. The massive reactor tower appears intact, but the shattered windows and flickering fires in the admin towers suggest some kind of struggle. More ominous still, the entire complex seems deserted: no sign of the colonists anywhere.

LEGO® Hidden Side review: 70419 Wrecked Shrimp Boat

Our third LEGO® Hidden Side set review is one of the cheaper sets, 70419 Wrecked Shrimp Boat. It has 310 elements, four minifigures and one sticker sheet with 15 stickers. It retails at £24.99 / US$29.99 / 29.99€.

Let's take a look and see if this set has any interesting new elements to float the boat of New Elementary readers.

Contest: Recycle my Bicycle

This contest is now closed. See the amazing entries here!

Time to see what you readers can build; yes it's time for a new contest! (You must be 18 or over.) We're asking you to make an amazing LEGO® creation using a new piece; we want you to recycle the bicycle element to build something completely different with it. Impress us with your imagination and ingenuity!

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jaap Bijl - week 3

Jaap Bijl (jaapxaap) reveals his final LEGO® model for our Parts Festival using a collection of seed parts chosen by us.

So here it is. My third and final update for the Parts Fest. I wrote last time that this update would be all about my final build that shows uses of some of the seed parts. I showed a little work in progress of a mushroom house with a purple door en an arch of stars above it. Over the last week I have spent quite some time on it and here it is. I present to you my Mushroom Mansion!

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo kills bugs

Duncan Lindbo returns from the garden today with a rather nasty discovery for our LEGO® Parts Festival.

There I was, out getting some fresh air, when a flash of purple caught my eye. Upon further investigation, it turned out to be some kind of foul alien worm. In an abundance of caution, I put on a pair of thick gloves before handling the specimen.

Nasty little critter, isn’t it?

LEGO® Build a Minifigure: Exclusive elements from July 2019

Back in July we published an article by David Gregory about some seemingly new colours/ decorations/ lack of decorations of LEGO® elements found in Build a Minifigure towers. In August our friend and avid follower AFOL Jack asked Vice President of Design Matthew Ashton whether these were intentionally being produced as exclusives – which Matthew confirmed! Meanwhile, Erik H. (HokayBricks) had been researching these new elements and shares his findings with us today. There are surely more than these, for example Erik hasn't tried to identify any heads yet – so if you are aware of more, do comment!

The parts described below are all completely new – they have not appeared in any official set prior to the release of the July 2019 batch of new parts for Build a Minifigure towers at LEGO Stores worldwide. For comparison I have photographed most of the previously released variants of each design, with the new one on the right.

Long Straight Hair (12890) is now available in Bright Orange/ Orange, previously available in Cool Yellow (one Collectible Minifigure and Build a Minifigure) and Black (one set). This piece debuted in Cool Yellow with the Trendsetter from Collectible Minifigure Series 10 in 2013.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Samuel Pister's clown and soldier

Time for the second half of Samuel Pister's creations for our Parts Festival today, where LEGO® builders from around the world try out new pieces. If you missed his first bunch, they're here.

For this clown creation, I integrated many of the parts from the selection:

• Vibrant Coral Gear Wheel 6x6, Z14 (6258385| 35446)
• Medium Lilac/ Dark Purple Gear Wheel 2X2, Z6 (6238330 | 35442)
• Bright Purple/ Dark Pink Plate 3X3, Heart, No. 1 (6254513|39613)
• Bright Yellow/ Yellow Design Plate, 4X4X2/3, No. 1 (6248804|39611)
• Bright Orange/ Orange Tile 1X1, Heart, No. 1 (6258993|39739)

2019 Parts Fest #1: Jarekwally's chair and speeder

Following his earlier creations for our Parts Festival, LEGO® builder Jaroslaw Walter (jarekwally) focuses on some of the stranger elements among our seed parts.

Office chair

For the base of my retro furniture I used three of the seed parts: Black Turntable 2X2X1 w/ Function (6252373| 40145), Dark Stone Grey Turntable Holder W/ Cross Axle (6252372|40144) and Black Pneumatic Connecting Piece, No. 1 (6249327|41817).

2019 Parts Fest #1: Sarah Beyer's microscale

Following her experiments with new LEGO® Technic parts, Sarah Beyer presents some microscale creations for our Parts Festival.

Last time I used Brick, Modified 1 x 1 x 2/3 No Studs, Curved Top (Design ID 49307) to create arm rests for a sofa. I believe that this "D brick" will fulfil many different purposes in coming sets and MOCs. Below, I've used it as the roof of a microscale train.

LEGO® Hidden Side review: 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack

Hidden Side is a new LEGO® theme for 2019 featuring brick-built sets that combine with augmented reality (AR) to give a physical and digital aspect to each set. The Hidden Side range features eight building sets and interaction is via a smartphone app which reveals a hidden world of interactive mysteries and challenges to solve, using AR.

We are taking a look at a few Hidden Side sets and following 70425 Newbury Haunted High School, our second set up for review is 70422 Shrimp Shack Attack. This set has 579 pieces, one sticker sheet with 16 stickers, five minifigures and retails at £44.99 / US$49.99 / 49.99€.

2019 Parts Fest #1: Duncan Lindbo sings C is for Cookie

A little Sunday treat for you from Duncan Lindbo, as he continues his LEGO® Parts Festival explorations for us.

So there I was, staring at a pile of Vibrant Coral gears (Gear Wheel 6x6, Z14 – 6258385| 35446), trying to think of a MOC to make with them, when it struck me that they kind of look like a big splat (I’m not the first one to make this observation, I know). Then I tried to think of things with big pink splats on them, and the first thing that came to mind was a particular variety of cheap, disgusting, and totally delicious sugar cookie that pretty much every grocery store and supermarket around here has a generic variety of…