Courtesy of the Philippine Lego Users Group (PhLUG), Brickxhibit2015 and Abrickadabra will unfold at Resort's World this April 2015.
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Monday, April 13, 2015
Event: Brickxhibit 2015 and Abrickadabra (PhLUG)
If you love Lego prepare for one of the biggest Lego exhibits the PH has ever seen.
Courtesy of the Philippine Lego Users Group (PhLUG), Brickxhibit2015 and Abrickadabra will unfold at Resort's World this April 2015.
Courtesy of the Philippine Lego Users Group (PhLUG), Brickxhibit2015 and Abrickadabra will unfold at Resort's World this April 2015.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Review: Lego 31009 Creator Small Cottage
I'm gonna pick up the pieces and build a Lego house
If things go wrong we can knock it down
- "Lego House", Ed Sheeran
When I was a kid my parents bought me a lot of Lego City houses. Those sets taught me a lot of the building techniques needed to make great Lego houses.
This Creator set caught my eye with its sliding door and nice mix of colors. I knew I had to get one.
The great thing about Creator sets they already have 3 different models and instructions for them in the box.
Opening the Box
The box shows the Creator line branding as well as the 3 main models that can be built from the kit.
Just like any big creator box it contains 3 separated instructions booklets for all 3 main models.
Now let's get to building this creator set.
The first model: Small Cottage
It has been a long time since I built a Lego house straight from a boxed set. This brought back a lot of memories form my childhood when mom and dad bought me a lot of City sets. Those sets taught me a lot about building structurally sound Lego houses. And 31009 is no different as it uses a lot of proven building techniques and a few modern ones.
Lego houses in the past used to have one wall missing so that you play with the interiors after the house is built. A lot of the modern ones use swing out walls as a means to have a complete structure as well as a way to still play with the house interiors. Seen above is one of the ways by which this is accomplished.
The sliding door above was what actually convinced me to buy this kit. I was working on some sliding doors for a spaceport moc and I stumbled on 31009. It's not close to a space station sliding door but I still wanted it haha.
Another building technique here is adding those tiles with studs at either ends as connection points for the roof structure. The lesser amount of studs let the roof be easily disconnected from the house and once again let you see the house interiors. The minimal stud count allows for a good grip for the roof so it sits well on the house.
And just like that the first model is done! Again being a creator set this is just set 1 of 3 that you can build with instructions from the box.
It's a nice small cottage. And that awesome sliding door!
And here we have the completed house with the small pond and lawn. Also showing up in the picture is nephew BJ's champion racer from the Lego City line.
The Second Model: A small bungalow
Out of the 3 models this is the one I like the least. This is also the model that felt more like a standard Lego house build. Take note of the classic technique of splitting the house in half to allow building a house with 4 walls and still be able to play with the interiors.
The technique shown from behind.
Here's a more complete structure of the house's ground floor. I love the window details and the small fireplace.
The structure form the outside.
Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of the completed house split in half. The roof section is also created so that you can open the house in the middle.
It is a nice little house when get down to it. I just prefer the sliding doors cottage and the windmill to this build.
Third Model: The Windmills in our mind
After the Small cottage the windmill is my second favorite build from this kit.
I like the fact that the Windmill is on a raised platform.
Well some of these bricks (particularly the glass panels) won't be used
The windmill opens up to show the distillery inside.
Some additional shots:
And with the extra bricks a waiting shed popped up. :)
As usual a Creator set never fails to satisfy your building urges. This was an extremely satisfying set to build especially for people who loves to build Lego houses. It also provides new builders with a lot of great techniques they can learn from.
If you ever get the chance to acquire 31009 I suggest you go get it. The sliding doors are awesome!
Thank you for going through one of my longer reviews in recent memory.
Until next time Leg Godt!
If things go wrong we can knock it down
- "Lego House", Ed Sheeran
When I was a kid my parents bought me a lot of Lego City houses. Those sets taught me a lot of the building techniques needed to make great Lego houses.
This Creator set caught my eye with its sliding door and nice mix of colors. I knew I had to get one.
The great thing about Creator sets they already have 3 different models and instructions for them in the box.
Opening the Box
The box shows the Creator line branding as well as the 3 main models that can be built from the kit.
Just like any big creator box it contains 3 separated instructions booklets for all 3 main models.
 |
| Ah a nice bunch of packs... since this is a Creator set the bags are not numbered |
 |
| Agh I can't find my hair in this mess!?!?! |
The first model: Small Cottage
It has been a long time since I built a Lego house straight from a boxed set. This brought back a lot of memories form my childhood when mom and dad bought me a lot of City sets. Those sets taught me a lot about building structurally sound Lego houses. And 31009 is no different as it uses a lot of proven building techniques and a few modern ones.
 |
| I have my hair piece, skate board and hotdog! Time to get to building! |
 |
| Notice the swing out wall that allows you to arrange stuff inside the house |
 |
| Ahh that awesome sliding door! It's what made me buy this model |
The sliding door above was what actually convinced me to buy this kit. I was working on some sliding doors for a spaceport moc and I stumbled on 31009. It's not close to a space station sliding door but I still wanted it haha.
 |
| Preparing the section where the roof/second floor will connect |
And just like that the first model is done! Again being a creator set this is just set 1 of 3 that you can build with instructions from the box.
 |
| Me and my girlfriend Apple's sigfigs |
It's a nice small cottage. And that awesome sliding door!
And here we have the completed house with the small pond and lawn. Also showing up in the picture is nephew BJ's champion racer from the Lego City line.
The Second Model: A small bungalow
Out of the 3 models this is the one I like the least. This is also the model that felt more like a standard Lego house build. Take note of the classic technique of splitting the house in half to allow building a house with 4 walls and still be able to play with the interiors.
The technique shown from behind.
Here's a more complete structure of the house's ground floor. I love the window details and the small fireplace.
The structure form the outside.
Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of the completed house split in half. The roof section is also created so that you can open the house in the middle.
It is a nice little house when get down to it. I just prefer the sliding doors cottage and the windmill to this build.
 |
| Nice details on the exterior. |
 |
| Small Cottage 2 |
 |
| Love the hotdog as lamp neck. |
Third Model: The Windmills in our mind
After the Small cottage the windmill is my second favorite build from this kit.
I like the fact that the Windmill is on a raised platform.
Well some of these bricks (particularly the glass panels) won't be used
 |
| Nature shot! |
The windmill opens up to show the distillery inside.
 |
| Milk? Beer? Your guess is as good as mine. |
Some additional shots:
And with the extra bricks a waiting shed popped up. :)
 |
| Let's PPPPAAAAARRRTTTYYYY! |
 |
| Always remember this technique to make your internals accesible |
 |
| Woohoo pool party! |
 |
| From the extra bricks I made a small white shelf |
As usual a Creator set never fails to satisfy your building urges. This was an extremely satisfying set to build especially for people who loves to build Lego houses. It also provides new builders with a lot of great techniques they can learn from.
If you ever get the chance to acquire 31009 I suggest you go get it. The sliding doors are awesome!
Thank you for going through one of my longer reviews in recent memory.
Until next time Leg Godt!
Friday, March 20, 2015
Event: Philippine Lego User Group (PhLUG) March 2015 Brick-Fast Meet!
Another month, another regularly scheduled monthly meet for the Philippine Lego User Group (PhLUG). So let's get to the festivities shall we? :)
The Lego Oscar Statuette was there. Recreated by Stan "Manila Brick" Lao. It was there to welcome everyone attending Brickfast and most folks couldn't resist getting their pictures taken with the little statuette.
As with each Brickfast there are three main activities: The buy-and-sell of Lego items, The display from various subinterest groups and the state-of-the-LUG speech by our very own Lego Ambassador Randy "Citizen Piper" Protacio.
So let's take a look first at the awesome MOCs created by the various subgroups of PhLUG:
PhLUG Garage: Trucks and Bikes
Garage is the subinterest groups for MOCcers who like building models of cars, trucks, bikes and other motor vehicles. I am one of the admins for the Garage and under the passionate guidance of Eric Teo it has produced many MOCs from crazy gearheads. Jeff Tagle completes the trio of crazy admins and is the person who came up with the Garage concept in the first place.
For this meet our them was #trucks and #roadwild which was MOCs of bikes.
Team PMS: Fairytales, Fantasy and Fiction display
Team PMS is PhLUG's resident all-female build team. And yes sir they make awesome mocs. For this meet-up they made displays following the theme of fairytales fantasy and fiction.
PhLUG Force Legion: Pod Race!
PhLUG Force Legion are PhLUG's resident Starwars fans. They do all sorts of MOCs based on the Star Wars universe. Gungans are pretty much tolerated.
PhLUG Starfleet: Space Station
Space is the final frontier and its a frontier that Starfleet likes to be in. They are the resident space moccers of Phlug, loving all stuff Blacktron and Benny.
PhLUG MOC (Mecha Only Creations): MFZ and other Mecha
MOC as their name implies deals with mecha MOCs. Ranging in size from Mobile Force Zero mini mechs to mechs of grand scale, you can rely on PhLUG MOC for all your mecha needs.
PhLUG Minifigs Collectors: Elves and Trolls
Minifig collectors like to emphasize the huge amount of minifigs they have. They dabble in MOCs that are centered around their prized minifigs. For this brickfast they brought out their elven and troll armies from LOTR.
PhLUG Castle:
Castle is a group of builders who love building castles and medieval themed MOCs. Here are some of their awesome creations.
And other stuff:
Here are some other scenes from the brickfast:
So that ends another great meet-up. Apologies if I left out some displays as these are all the pictures I took that day.
 |
| Me and hon Apple :) |
The Lego Oscar Statuette was there. Recreated by Stan "Manila Brick" Lao. It was there to welcome everyone attending Brickfast and most folks couldn't resist getting their pictures taken with the little statuette.
 |
| Lego Oscar says Hi! |
As with each Brickfast there are three main activities: The buy-and-sell of Lego items, The display from various subinterest groups and the state-of-the-LUG speech by our very own Lego Ambassador Randy "Citizen Piper" Protacio.
So let's take a look first at the awesome MOCs created by the various subgroups of PhLUG:
PhLUG Garage: Trucks and Bikes
Garage is the subinterest groups for MOCcers who like building models of cars, trucks, bikes and other motor vehicles. I am one of the admins for the Garage and under the passionate guidance of Eric Teo it has produced many MOCs from crazy gearheads. Jeff Tagle completes the trio of crazy admins and is the person who came up with the Garage concept in the first place.
For this meet our them was #trucks and #roadwild which was MOCs of bikes.
 |
| Phlug Garage Road Wild! |
 |
| Amazing truck MOCs |
 |
| Awesome military style truck by Irwin "Icy" Cruel |
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| A few bike MOCs from the prolific Billy Lee |
 |
| ROAD WILD! |
Team PMS: Fairytales, Fantasy and Fiction display
Team PMS is PhLUG's resident all-female build team. And yes sir they make awesome mocs. For this meet-up they made displays following the theme of fairytales fantasy and fiction.
 |
| Well this wasn't Team PMS but it was Richard Cunanan's humble contribution to the theme |
 |
| Maleficent by Louise Anne Mariano |
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| "P" monogram by Louise Anne Mariano |
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| Hansel and Gretel by Chestnut Pascual |
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| Frog Prince by Kathryn Ang |
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| Snow White awoken by her sweet Prince by Inez Vasquez |
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| Tortoise and the Hare by Nikki Orial |
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| And this was made by a 9 year old or so I was told... (feel free to correct me folks) |
PhLUG Force Legion: Pod Race!
PhLUG Force Legion are PhLUG's resident Starwars fans. They do all sorts of MOCs based on the Star Wars universe. Gungans are pretty much tolerated.
 |
| Output of the Force Legion flashmoc! |
 |
| Notice that Joker has his own pod racer in the back! |
PhLUG Starfleet: Space Station
Space is the final frontier and its a frontier that Starfleet likes to be in. They are the resident space moccers of Phlug, loving all stuff Blacktron and Benny.
 |
| Too much to drink? |
 |
| In space no once can hear you party. |
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| Make your own space minifig! |
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| Blacktron inspired MOCs |
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| Space rover mocs |
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| Spaceship! |
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| More Spaceships! |
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| Add caption |
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| Awesome powercore done by Scifi buff Tommy Lim. |
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| Now this is a rover! |
PhLUG MOC (Mecha Only Creations): MFZ and other Mecha
MOC as their name implies deals with mecha MOCs. Ranging in size from Mobile Force Zero mini mechs to mechs of grand scale, you can rely on PhLUG MOC for all your mecha needs.
 |
| The orange tinged mecha were made by ME! :) |
 |
| Green Dragon by awesome KFOL Daivik! |
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| Green Dragon in all its awesomeness |
PhLUG Minifigs Collectors: Elves and Trolls
Minifig collectors like to emphasize the huge amount of minifigs they have. They dabble in MOCs that are centered around their prized minifigs. For this brickfast they brought out their elven and troll armies from LOTR.
 |
| Open the gates you elves! |
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| The dragon is facing the wrong way! |
 |
| Elves! |
PhLUG Castle:
Castle is a group of builders who love building castles and medieval themed MOCs. Here are some of their awesome creations.
 |
| The kid might be thinking of building his own castle! |
 |
| Sentry duty! |
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| Great moc of foliage and water by Tina Mallari |
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| PhLUG's ambassador Randy "Citizen Piper" Protacio (in green) with announcements Beside him is Josiah Samaniego, PhLUG's exhibits director. |
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| Members of the PhLUG Garage SIG. |
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| Selfie! |
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| Giveaways at the brickfast. |
So that ends another great meet-up. Apologies if I left out some displays as these are all the pictures I took that day.
Next stop: Brickxhibit in April.
Leg Godt!
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