I love the way this piece turned out. I started out looking at those brown arch pieces and thinking that they would be perfect as roof supports at a light-rail station. I envisioned the station, and started building. There was just the right amount of experimentation along the way to make it an enjoyable build. This station came together quickly, and the overall shape turned out exactly as I had wanted.

If I had to find something to quibble about, it would be that I didn’t have enough gray plates to make the platform surface a little more uniform. (Oh, well.)

Someday, I’m going to buy some tracks so I can build a train for these folks.

For a gentleman requiring the use of a wheelchair, this latest model affords him the utmost in mobility. By harnessing the ultimate power source – steam – this wheelchair provides all the self-sufficiency such a gentleman should need. All that is required of a hired helper is the initial input of coal or wood, and then the gentleman is free to go as he chooses. Recent technological breakthroughs have allowed this wheelchair to be equipped with the smallest steam engine ever built, and has reduced the overall weight to merely a  few tons.

After a long, long bout of the Lego equivalent of “writer’s block”, I came up with this: My answer to Phillip’s request that I build something “in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright”. Even after I started building it, there were long periods of time when I’d set it aside. I just wasn’t inspired to build. Then, I had a burst of energy and finally finished it. It isn’t exactly in the style of Wright, and it predates him by several generations, but I like how it turned out – very much.

The nagging question is: How does that cow get in and out of there? This house makes clever use of its limited space and free-flowing layout through the use of sliding panels, hidden doorways, and recessed stairs. After a string of cow thefts in the area, one such hidden doorway was incorporated into the barn. Where that doorway is located is, of course, a secret.

It took me a very long time to build this little truck, because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to build. I kept putting together parts of things that didn’t quite work. Finally, I came up with this truck, which is so small I figure it must be used for maintenance workers in a park. I like the way this finally turned out very much.

I am proud of the fact that this truck was built in such a way that by rearranging a few existing pieces, the doors can be set to open the standard way, or to open “suicide” style, seen here. I’m not sure why, but the suicide doors look better on this vehicle.

My urge to build virtual apartment buildings in Lego Digital Designer continues. Here, I went for high-tech condos in a crowded urban environment. I like this building a lot. Sure, a minifig wouldn’t have much room for more than a futon, toilet, chair, and a flat-screen TV, (dinner out every night!) but that is what I was going for.

I’m not so sure this is recognizable as a condominium building – at least, by itself. If I had actually put a chair and futon inside, maybe it would be more apparent. Or, if it were surrounded by other buildings, perhaps. Still, I am very satisfied with this.

I stepped away from LDD to build a physical motorcycle. I had an image in my mind of what I was after, and this is very close to what I’d envisioned. This was a very difficult build, and it took a lot of experimentation to get the pieces put together. The rider was the last thing I factored in, and I really misjudged the scale of the bike. I had pictured a much smaller motorcycle. (The rider’s feet were supposed to be on top of the back wheel, while his head would almost touch the front wheel.) This thing is extremely fragile. Overall, however, I am happy with it.

Here is yet another building created in Lego Digital Designer. This time, I built a church based loosely on the church I attended for several years. The challenge I gave myself was to make it look like a church without using any obvious religious symbols. I think I met that challenge very well. In hindsight, I wish I had built a little more detail into it. I like it, but it is not one of my favorite architectural creations.

I have decided that Lego Digital Designer is especially well built for architecture. There are a lot of bricks available, and with architecture, there (usually) isn’t a lot of need for placing pieces at odd angles (which I find difficult to control in LDD). This time, I set out to build a house typical of the ones I see in Seattle, with a front porch, chimney, and Asian influences. The trickiest part of the house was the roof. I wanted to make an upper window on the side, like on the front and back, but could never match up  the angles. Eventually,  I had the house done to my satisfaction, and began building a yard. I haven’t yet learned how to build a tree that looks like a tree, so I added bamboo – a lot of houses in Seattle have bamboo in their yards (because of that Asian influence). Lastly, I added the stone wall in front, because a lot of houses in Seattle have them.

There’s something about that stone wall, though – and I haven’t figured out what, exactly – which, combined with the tropical plants, makes this house look rather South American to me. And, if it’s in South America, the fireplace is a bit of an anomaly. That’s OK with me, though – I like this cozy home.