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?

In all seriousness though, once I had my hands on a bunch of heart plates (Plate 3X3, Heart, No. 1 – 6254513|39613), I knew I wanted to use them in some sort of creature. The fact that I also received a bunch of heart tiles (Tile 1X1, Heart, No. 1 – 6258993|39739) worked nicely with my vague plans to use them as “I dunno, scales or something”.

So, here we are, with a garishly colored centipede-looking thing. The Tyranids from Warhammer 40K were the main source of inspiration for this MOC. They’re basically H.R. Giger’s “Alien” xenomorphs minus some of the Freudian imagery, plus some crustacean influences, now in 12 fun colors! Devouring a solar system near you.

Build-wise, there’s nothing too complicated going on, other than the fact that using the hearts as “scales” necessitated mounting them at 45 degree angles. It can be tricky to work with 45 angles in LEGO, but if you’re willing to sacrifice sturdiness, single stud connections work 'fine' (somehow, I didn’t actually lose any parts outside, despite the fact that pretty much any adjustment in pose requires re-attaching one or more scale plates).

I kept the scales from wiggling too much by relying on the fact that the flick fire missile shafts (3 M.Arch W.Knob And Shaft Ø3.2 – 61184) are three studs long, which is exactly the right length to pass through the Technic connector, the CCBS beam, and plug into one of the 3.18 mm holes in the CCBS shell on the other side, which provides the friction to hold everything in place.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, this thing’s drool is starting to burn holes in my floor so it’s time to break out the flammenwerfer and purge some xenos...

READ MORE: Heart plates become a nose for Samuel Pister's toy clown

Help New Elementary keep publishing articles like this. Become a Patron!

Thanks to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Iain Adams, Huw Millington, Neil Crosby, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Sue Ann Barber & Trevor Clark, and Kevin Gascoigne. You're all awesome!

You can also help us by doing what you perhaps do already - buying from Amazon. Amazon USA: Amazon.com Canada: Amazon.ca UK: Amazon.co.uk Deutschland: Amazon.de

Search New Elementary

Products mentioned in this post were kindly supplied by the LEGO Group. All content represents the opinions of New Elementary authors and not the LEGO Group. All text and images are © New Elementary unless otherwise attributed.