Next to join our Parts Festival is Kevin Levell, a UK-based LEGO® builder who participated in our Nexogon fest and has written other lovely articles for us in the past. Kev just loves a bit of Space, he does.
I may have squealed like a little child when I opened and emptied out the parcel from Tim, because immediately I could see more than a couple of handfuls of utterly awesome new parts. Some of which I had already (unsuccessfully) been on the scout for. It was these currently ‘unavailable’ parts that interested me most… I could almost smell the potential.
The parts in question are the eight new moulds in Silver Metallic/Flat Silver found in a pre-packed bag in only one set: 76122 Batcave-Clayface-Invasion, and which as of writing are still unavailable to buy via Bricks and Pieces.
This little collection of not-quite dissimilar parts is identified as Mini Accessory, No. 11 also in Silver Metallic (6266977|50018)’.
Within this bag there are 14 incredible and potentially game-changing parts. Six of these are duplicated and the final two are mirror images (which in itself is unusual for LEGO components of this sort).
I have been thinking of them as the following:
The main feature of these parts are bars and bar attachments, in varieties of one, two and three bars.
Some parts have holes all the way through that can accept the 3.18mm bar, other parts have blocked hollow studs.
And if that wasn’t enough, most of the parts have studs on both sides and are one plate deep. Effectively giving us a number of very handy little elements for turning anti-studs back into studs, via a ‘trapping’ technique.
My initial experimenting with one bag produced little more than a disparate collection of sketch models. It was only a matter of time before chaos broke loose and I tore into a few more bags...
A simple geometric arrangement of ‘triple junction’ and ‘phaser’ pieces, was my next experiment.
The initial fevered activity resulted in a number of things that eventually became the following models. The first thing I concentrated on though, was a pair of legs using four of the ‘crank’ piece, two ‘hips’ and two good-old Robot Arm (76116). It became an attempt to make a mech, but over the course of a day or so, it morphed somewhat into a quadrupedal something. That ‘something’ became the oddity presented here.
This is sort of a one-man mini AT-AT that slightly resembles a rabbit, and that’s about all the description and justification for it that I have. Watch out for the carrot torpedos!
The new Sphere 3X3X11/3, W/ Knob in Medium Stone Grey ( 49308 | 6263183 ) sits eccentrically on Plate 4X4, Circle, W/ 2 Knobs in Medium Stone Grey (6250188|32627) and creates quite a nice foot shape.
I had been wanting to use Bright Light Yellow/Flame Yellowish Orange with Transparent Purple canopies in a space build for a while, because they’re complementary colours don’cha’kno! I really like the Transparent Purple, and would definitely welcome more than the handful of options that are currently available.
I revisited the exploratory builds… the idea being to explore the potential beginnings of a new hypothetical theme using this colour scheme. Part Star Wars, part Flash Gordon, part (my beloved) Classic Space, part Aquanauts & City Jungle (the contradiction in terms there still niggles my inner pedant) and part homage to... Double Gloucester?!
The ‘fan’ tile from Mini Accessory, No. 10 in Silver Metallic (6266155|40598) was another piece I had been eager to obtain, but has also been unavailable on Bricks & Pieces.
I think this ship owes much to those classic-styled spaceships but it was the golden War Rocket Ajax from 1980s Queen soundtracked extravaganza that I thought I’d been working towards. I’ve only just realised it really should be being piloted by a 71018 Series 17 Retro Spaceman CMF, D’oh!
The rocket cycle (air-jetski / cloud-bike thing) from that film definitely influenced the next build.
This was mostly an exercise in trying to use the ‘trapping’ technique discussed above.
For the wheels, I used the wheels from R2-D2, exclusively available in 75253 BOOST Star Wars Droid Commander set. As usual, they’re enigmatically named: WHEEL, DIA. 18X14, W/ 4.85 Hole No.1 in Black (6273330|55889).
I really hope that LEGO sees fit to produce the Design ID 50018 ‘Mini Accessory, No. 11’ bag of parts in other colours.
The parts in question are the eight new moulds in Silver Metallic/Flat Silver found in a pre-packed bag in only one set: 76122 Batcave-Clayface-Invasion, and which as of writing are still unavailable to buy via Bricks and Pieces.This little collection of not-quite dissimilar parts is identified as Mini Accessory, No. 11 also in Silver Metallic (6266977|50018)’.
Within this bag there are 14 incredible and potentially game-changing parts. Six of these are duplicated and the final two are mirror images (which in itself is unusual for LEGO components of this sort).
I have been thinking of them as the following:
The main feature of these parts are bars and bar attachments, in varieties of one, two and three bars.
My initial experimenting with one bag produced little more than a disparate collection of sketch models. It was only a matter of time before chaos broke loose and I tore into a few more bags...
A simple geometric arrangement of ‘triple junction’ and ‘phaser’ pieces, was my next experiment.
The initial fevered activity resulted in a number of things that eventually became the following models. The first thing I concentrated on though, was a pair of legs using four of the ‘crank’ piece, two ‘hips’ and two good-old Robot Arm (76116). It became an attempt to make a mech, but over the course of a day or so, it morphed somewhat into a quadrupedal something. That ‘something’ became the oddity presented here.
The Rapid Agile Bionic-Armoured Transport (or RAB-AT)
This is sort of a one-man mini AT-AT that slightly resembles a rabbit, and that’s about all the description and justification for it that I have. Watch out for the carrot torpedos!
The new Sphere 3X3X11/3, W/ Knob in Medium Stone Grey ( 49308 | 6263183 ) sits eccentrically on Plate 4X4, Circle, W/ 2 Knobs in Medium Stone Grey (6250188|32627) and creates quite a nice foot shape.
I had been wanting to use Bright Light Yellow/Flame Yellowish Orange with Transparent Purple canopies in a space build for a while, because they’re complementary colours don’cha’kno! I really like the Transparent Purple, and would definitely welcome more than the handful of options that are currently available.
Classic Flash Double Gloucester Gordon theme
The ROCKETSHIP
The main extra build here forced itself into existence bottom first (breach) but as it developed, I realised I was drawing a lot of nostalgic influence from from Flash Gordon of my youth.
I think this ship owes much to those classic-styled spaceships but it was the golden War Rocket Ajax from 1980s Queen soundtracked extravaganza that I thought I’d been working towards. I’ve only just realised it really should be being piloted by a 71018 Series 17 Retro Spaceman CMF, D’oh!
The CLOUD-BIKE
The SPACE BUGGY
Finally, just to use up a couple of the parts that were left over I built a quick little buggy, owing very much to Classic Space sets of my childhood. What’s missing with these last two models is an appropriate Transparent Purple windscreen/canopy element.
For the wheels, I used the wheels from R2-D2, exclusively available in 75253 BOOST Star Wars Droid Commander set. As usual, they’re enigmatically named: WHEEL, DIA. 18X14, W/ 4.85 Hole No.1 in Black (6273330|55889).
I really hope that LEGO sees fit to produce the Design ID 50018 ‘Mini Accessory, No. 11’ bag of parts in other colours.
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Thanks to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: Iain Adams, Ryan Welles, Chris Cook, London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, 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. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon USA: Amazon.com Canada: Amazon.ca UK: Amazon.co.uk Deutschland: Amazon.de
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Ohhh... I didn't think of the stud reversal. Should have been obvious.
ReplyDeleteI might prefer calling the 'L' a 'hair dryer', though.
ReplyDeleteAnd the 'triple junction' might be abbreviated as 'trip-junk'...