Graphing Cam Profiles

Jason

Cams are one of the basic mechanisms I use frequently when designing models that move. They transfer rotational motion into linear motion and basically consist of a piece rotating around an axle (the cam), and a piece that rests on the cam (the follower). By using cams of different shapes, you can achieve some interesting movement patterns in the follower.

I’m currently working on a model using a cam to make a Seagull move up and down, to give it the impression of flying, and I thought it would be interesting to build a jig to graph the movement of the follower for different cam shapes.

https://youtu.be/WPc34E5zrRE

In the video above, I tested 10 different LEGO pieces, and you can see that the resulting movement varied quite a bit. I thought it was really cool to see the movement graphed in this way, to really show how the follower moves over time.

I’m sure there are some other pieces to test, and even combinations of pieces to make more interesting cam shapes. If you have any ideas of other pieces to test, feel free to leave a comment and perhaps it will show up in a future video.

Kyiv Skyline

Jason

I have heard from many fans of our work living in Ukraine, displaced by the war, uncertain about their future, and my heart goes out to them. These events are so needless, and have affected so many innocent people.

I wanted to do something LEGO related to help, in some small way, those people affected by the war. I noticed that BuildaMOC is selling kits of a Kyiv Skyline model, designed by Klosspalatset, and donating all proceeds to UNICEF. I decided to make a build video for this model, to help bring awareness to it, and I will be donating all ad revenue generated from the video as well.

https://youtu.be/eIrOW7cCHwY

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Suspended Train

Jason

It’s actually been over a year since I built this suspended train, designed to run on the LEGO roller coaster track system. I was waiting to post about it until I put together a design video and instructions, which apparently took forever. I kind of just kept putting it off as other projects popped up and before I knew it, over a year had passed!

You can see it in action, along with a breakdown of the design, in the video below, and you can continue reading to find the instructions and some additional build notes.

https://youtu.be/ZfM4dS8FZlI

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Endlessly Skiing Minifigs

Jason

Ever since I posted my Ski Chalet model last winter, I have dreamed of the possibility of the Minifigs getting back on the ski lift by themselves. That way, they could endlessly ski the slopes without any human intervention.

A couple of months ago I finally began tackling the challenge in earnest, and I’m happy to report that I have turned the dream into reality! You can see the results in the video below, along with a discussion of how it is designed.

The full Ski Chalet model is also on LEGO Ideas, and I have updated it to include the new automatic Minifig return, so you can head on over there and add your support if you’d like to see it become an official LEGO set.

https://youtu.be/donIaLRsyMw
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Swimming Koi Fish

Jason

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of the LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets, especially the animal themed ones. So, when set 31129 Majestic Tiger was released, I immediately had to pick it up. I was particularly excited that one of the alternate models was a Koi fish, and the first thing I did after cracking open the set was see if I could make it swim.

If you are familiar with my previous projects, you may already know that this isn’t the first time I’ve tackled a project like this. A few years ago, I did something similar to the shark from the Deep Sea Creatures set. The biggest difference this time, other than the Koi fish having 5 body segments instead of 3, was that LEGO has since released some fancy new gear plates that allowed me to really simplify the design.

It actually came together pretty quickly, and I was extremely happy with how realistic the resulting movement turned out. I go over the design in detail in the video below, and you can continue reading to find building instructions if you would like to build it yourself.

https://youtu.be/YT4oeZh2Zok
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Love Story Pop-Up Book Instructions

Jason

A few years ago, I designed this love themed pop-up book for Kristal as a Valentine’s gift.

At the time, I only released building instructions for the pop-up ‘I heart U’ message and ring box, as it could be fit in the original LEGO Pop-Up Book set (21315).

Since then, there has been a pretty steady interest in building instructions for the full model, and I think I’ve actually been getting more requests as time goes on. I finally took some time to put full instructions together, which you can find below, along with a short video demonstration of the model.

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Twinkling Star

Jason

For this year’s Build To Give campaign, LEGO has challenged people to build stars for the holiday season. For every star built and shared with the #buildtogive hashtag, they will donate a toy to a child in need.

I decided to use a few of the relative newly released metallic gold pieces to design an elegant six pointed star to sit atop our tree. Continue reading for instructions on building your own, and a video showing how I motorized it to turn it into a twinkling star.

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Polar Desert

Jason

For the third in my series of micro scale biomes, I’m visiting a very harsh and barren environment, the Polar Desert. As a result, this is a much more minimal model than the others, with no vegetation to speak of.

Not much can survive in these regions, so I decided to build a coastal area of Antarctica, to include some cute little penguins and a couple of orca in the water. The terrain consists primarily of snow, ice and rocks, along with the small ocean section. Continue reading for more details and building instructions.

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40499 Galloping Reindeer Modification

Jason

With the release of set 40499 Santa’s Sleigh, I was excited to try to make the reindeer gallop, like I did many years ago for the reindeer from the Santa’s Workshop set. I gave it a modular design this time, so that it can be configured with the 4 reindeer that come in the set, or extended to 8, 9, or any other number of reindeer.

You can see it in action with 4 and 9 reindeer in the video below, and continue reading for more information and building instructions. I also made a build video showing how it is assembled, which can be found at the end of the post.

https://youtu.be/145BWcp5xiM
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Temperate Mixed Forest

Jason

For my second micro scale biome vignette, I thought I would build something a little closer to home. In fact, this is the biome I live in, called a Temperate Mixed Forest. As the name suggests, there is a large mix of different trees in this one, and I’ve included pine, cedar, birch and an apple tree, as well as a variety of ground and water plants.

It also features a moose grazing in the shallow water of a beaver pond, with the beaver swimming towards its dam. Continue reading for more details and building instructions.

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