With Easter coming up, I finally decided to revisit one of Kristal’s ideas from 6 years ago, which was a bunny rabbit that would poop chocolate eggs. I know, right? It’s a super fun idea. This time, I decided to take a completely mechanical approach (the original was designed around the LEGO BOOST robotics kit), and with the LEGO White Rabbit set (31133) being currently available, I decided to use that model as a starting point. It has a capacity of three chocolates, and dispenses (poops) one out every time you press down on the head. You can see it in action in the video below, and continue r ..read more

When the LEGO Avengers Tower set was first announced, my attention was immediately drawn not to the tower itself, but to the Chitauri Leviathan model it included. It looked to be about the same size as my Flight of the Luck Dragon model, and thoughts of making it move in the same way started running through my mind. As soon as the set was released, I downloaded the instructions, cobbled together a Leviathan with parts I had on had, and set out to recreate the scene from The Avengers where The Hulk faces off against a Leviathan on the Park Avenue Viaduct in New York. You can see a demonstration ..read more

Last year, LEGO’s Build To Give campaign challenged people to build and share a heart, and I really wanted to build one that incorporated some sort of movement. I decided to keep it simple, and ended up with this stylized heart that would ‘beat’ when you turned a crank in the back. You can see a demonstration of it in action in the video, and continue reading for more details and free building instructions. A full build kit is also available from BuildaMOC. I think it would make a great gift to a loved one, especially with Valentine’s day on the horizon. https://youtu.be/CmdtJZKJ06AVideo can’t ..read more

I have finally updated the design of my working minifig ski hill and finished making instructions for it. If you are not familiar with this model, it is a fully operational ski hill that allows your minifigs to go endlessly skiing on their own. You can see a demonstration of the model in the following video and read more about it below. Building instructions are available on Rebrickable, and a full building kit is available from BuildaMOC. If you build it, or are thinking of building it, be sure to read the build notes below to get the most out of it. https://youtu.be/DOLayF67lhoVideo can’t be ..read more

This is an updated design to my kinetic stand for the shark from LEGO set 31088 Deep Sea Creatures. This version of the stand has a much simpler design than the original, using less Technic pieces and more System parts. It also adds the opening and closing the Shark’s mouth, which really brings the shark to life. You can see a demonstration of the model in the video below, and continue reading for the building instructions and design notes. A full kit for this model is also available from BuildaMOC, if you want to conveniently get all the pieces needed to build it. https://youtu.be/tGe31ojasa8 ..read more

Continuing a fine annual tradition in our household, I designed this robot to help deliver sugar to the children that come to our door at Halloween. It launches a mini lollipop, using a catapult mechanism, whenever it senses something in front of it. It is built entirely using only parts from the Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit (51515), and the instructions are freely provided below if you would like to build it yourself. You can see how the model works in the demonstration video, and continue reading for the instructions and build notes. https://youtu.be/K5s7myoCt04Video can’t be loaded because ..read more

Kristal actually designed this model for Halloween last year, but I thought I would wait until this year, when I had the instructions finished, before posting. It’s a cute little decorated pumpkin, or Jack-O’-Lantern, with a ghost inside of it. When you turn a crank on the back of the pumpkin, the ghost rises and falls. It’s a suitably spooky model that makes for a great little Halloween decoration. You can see a demonstration of it working in the video below, and for the instructions and build notes. A full kit for this model is also available from BuildaMOC, if you want to conveniently get a ..read more

Since building my Domino placing machine a few years ago, I’ve been thinking about ways to build a machine that could run behind a line of falling dominoes and set them back up. Designing a general purpose machine of that sort would be quite challenging, and I eventually settled on a fixed ring of dominoes that can, theoretically, run forever. You can see how it is built, and how it works, in the video below. Continue reading for a detailed discussion of the design and programming, as well as a link to the building instructions on Rebrickable. https://youtu.be/IQhgiL3TqYQVideo can’t be loaded ..read more

This is a fun little model that really packs a punch. Designed around the fairly common LEGO 1×4 spring loaded shooters, I wanted to build a model that could launch many of them in quick succession. I ended up with a hand held mini launcher that processes them via a belt system. It’s incredibly fun, and very satisfying to operate. You can see a demonstration of how it works, along with an in depth discussion of the design, in the video below. If you would like to build one for yourself, you can continue reading to find the building instructions https://youtu.be/5mE52Ta9aLwVideo can’t be loaded ..read more

A few years ago, Kristal designed this small sculpture of Eeyore, from Winnie the Pooh, in an appropriately sad scene. At the time, I only put together instructions for Eeyore himself, but over the years, I’ve received quite a few requests for the full scene. I finally set aside some time to put instructions together, which you can find below. It’s primarily brick-built, studs up, so pretty straight forward in terms of build techniques, but with the suspended raining cloud, it provides a suitably moody environment for Eeyore to hang out in. It also makes a nice bookend for display on a booksh ..read more