November 11, 2017 - New alternative models
I've mentioned two videos that I made for LEGO Life application in last blog report. The first is called "Beware of sharks!" and the other "How to build fish out of car" and you can watch both of them on my youtube channel now. I also promised you new alternative models built out of this year's LEGO Creator sets. So I built two trucks from sets 31054 and 31055, scorpion from set 31057 and toxic dog from set 31058. The latest models are four alternates built out of set 31056 - dachshund, plane, buggy and steam engine. The most difficult set for remaking was helicopter (31057) because it took me a lot of time to find good idea for alternate. On the other hand I really enjoyed building mutated dog from dinosaur (set 31058). Finally I also built few alternative models out of promotional sets (these sets are not sold in shops and you can get them as gift for your order in official LEGO stores). Elephant and rabbit built out of set 40251 (piggy bank) are the most interesting of them.
When I looked on my latest models I've got feeling that I prefer system bricks to Technic. So I've built couple of "studless" models to keep myself in good "Technic condition". These two models are RC bulldozer built out of set 42065 and off-road formula from set 42037. I wanted to add some playability to set 42065 and bulldozer was good idea because it has ability to push for example bricks on floor besides riding. :-) Formula has little bit stranger past. I began building it more than one year ago and got stuck with front axle. Then I abandoned it for about one year and finished it just few weeks ago. My original idea was that I want to build something resembling formula because main model doesn't resemble it at all even it is called formula off-roader. Building instructions for both models should be available during Chrismas.
In the end I would like to tell you about the most complex model I built so far. During last winter I was contacted by a man from Hewlett-Packard and he asked me: "Are you able to build LEGO robot that would supply Nespresso coffee machine with capsules?" It sounded interesting to me so I set meeting with him to know more. He explained me that they got coffee machine with bluetooth so you can turn it on from your smart phone. The problem was that you have to insert capsule manually into coffee machine and they were looking for some "remote control LEGO solution". Soon I began working for him and it took me about 3 months to finish this robot. It was built mainly out of LEGO Mindstorms Education and LEGO Technic Bucket Wheel Excavator. It contains about 2500 parts. The most difficult part of development was building this robot. Programming was piece of cake. You can read more about it here.
