A Project For The Grandkiddo!

 My youngest grandson just turned four at the beginning of this month. The little guy is quite into playing with plastic army men.

Up until now we've been building forts for them out of large multi-colored Mega-Bloks, but those just don't seem to fit with the overall feel of a military fortress.

Especially the pink and purple bricks.

Since I have tons of LEGO parts just sitting idle in the basement La-BOR-atory, we decided it might be a good idea to build a proper fort out of some of them.

Out came a couple of large base plates and my entire collection of grey and dark grey plates and bricks.

I really started with no prior plan about how the fort would look, I just started building.

The front wall is built entirely of stacked bricks and plates, with castle-like parapets on which to stand soldiers.

Everything is scaled to fit the height of the standard 54mm tall plastic army man.

The corners of the front facade feature elevated guard towers. All of these features include ladders and brick-built stairways for access.

The front portal consists of a pair of working hinged doors.

At the back of the structure stands a two story headquarters building with lots of window openings and a doorway. This structure is built of vertical plates supported by lots of interior SNOT bricks. 

The roof is equipped with another protective brick wall and a tall observation tower, topped by a mast and banner.

Finally, the rear walls of the fortress are added, these also being built up of vertical plate/SNOT construction.

There is nothing particularly fancy about this play fort, it's main purpose being to be the scene of many future plastic army man battles.

Perhaps over the next few weeks I will, at my leisure, begin adding additional details, but for now it is meant for functionality alone.

I suspect that, at some point, the little guy will lose interest and move on to something else, but for the meantime it will serve nicely.  

My overall philosophy with LEGO MOCs  is to photograph them, use them for the moment, then tear them down to use the parts for another project.

Cheers!

More Parts For The Stash!

 Today I stopped into the local Bricks Mini-Figs store to fill up my first Bulk Tub for 2026.

Since an inventory search at home revealed that I'm kind of low on sand-colored elements, part of the jar was filled with a number of plates, bricks, and tiles in that hue.

The rest of the jar space was given over to handfuls of parts scooped from the Technic bin.

I think I have more fun just doing things grab-bag style, rather than picking out individual items.

Like Forrest Gump said, "You never know what yer gonna get!"

Cheers!

An Interesting New Small Project

 My recently completed Star Wars C3PO set is about to receive an interesting embellishment.

This week, one of my daughters gifted me with a third party lighting kit specially designed for the droid.

Looking forward to getting started on this one.

Stay tuned -

Artemis - Completed !!

 Yesterday, I managed to finish up parts bag #7, the final leg of the build.

Oops, I forgot to take the usual picture of the contents of the bag, all spilled out in a box lid.  Never mind- moving on...

This build session saw a number of different additions to the model.

First the remaining lower sections of the SRBs are built and attached.

Next up is the construction of the command/crew module and escape tower.  A couple more decals are applied here, adorning the capsule with NASA logos and American flags. Once this is complete, the capsule is placed atop the core booster where it will slide freely in and out.

The next step is the attachment of the mechanism that will lift the command module off from the booster when the crank is turned.

To accomplish this motion. The set designers used a clever combination of a LEGO cable and chain assembly.

Finally to complete the build, there is a small 1x4 plate on which to mount four micro-fig astronauts.

Here are some pics of the front and back of the model during different stages of motion as the hand crank is turned.

A very cool model for display and playing with!

One last surprise. I wasn't aware of this until I reached the final page in the instruction manual: the top cover of the base is designed to flip up so that the wonderful mechanical workings can be displayed. Nice touch.

Overall,  I think this set is one of the finest produced by LEGO as far as attractiveness and 'playability'.  The 'automaton' feature is most excellent. 

Also, I am a bit biased, as well, being a major space-nerd!

Cheers!

Artemis - Parts Bag #6

Judging from the numerous white cylindrical elements that emerged from this bag, the build will now focus on the SRBs.

For those of you who are not well-versed in rocket technology, 'SRB' is short for Solid Rocket Booster.  The two side boosters are solid propellant motors that are jettisoned once the fuel is expended. They give a lot of extra thrust to the entire vehicle during the initial push to escape gravity and atmospheric drag.  Once separated, the core vehicle, powered by liquid fuel, continues its journey without the weight of the booster airframes.

Now that I've bored you with tech-talk, let's get back to some LEGO clicking.

This is the first group of elements in the set that contains some standard LEGO pieces, but it's still mostly Technic.

The SRBs are built up using a series of Technic cylinders and standard 2x2 round bricks and plates.  At this point only the top two-thirds of the SRBs are assembled.

Roll pattern details and markings are added thanks to a lot of  self-adhesive decals.

Once completed, a handful of Technic parts are added on to attach the units to the mechanics on the main model section.

Here is a close-up of one of the SRBs attached to the model:

In addition, a pair of long axle pieces are added to the model support system to secure the core vehicle.

With these tasks completed, the action of booster separation can now be tested using the hand crank. Here are the pics:

The motion is very cool, because the core vehicle continues its upward motion as the SRBs seperate.

Tomorrow, I will post the 7th and final entry in this build series.

Looking forward to seeing (and playing with) the completed model.

Stay tuned!

Artemis - Parts Bag #5

 Now we are getting to the core of the build!

The core booster of the SLS system, that is.

Here are the bag 5 parts all ready to go:

This exercise went very quickly, as the booster is made up of four nearly identical 'modules' with the addition of a small amount of components that will affix the whole to the mechanical system.

I was surprised to see that the rocket is open in the back, but realized that the model is meant to be viewed from the front only.

Here are the pics:

More tomorrow...

Artemis - Parts Bag #4

 The 4th lot of parts in this set yields up some more interesting elements, many of which I've never encountered before.

Not surprising, though, as I haven't built a huge amount of Technic sets to date.

In this section of the build the remainder of the base cover is put in place.

Once that is done the remainder of the 'lift' mechanics is built and installed. 

This consists of the thick screw element, connected to the gear train, that will run the motion of the rocket vehicle sections.

Very fun project...