Category: Toys

Another Lego Crane

May 21, 2014

Over the last week, I assembled this Lego kit:

As far as these kits go, this one is seriously lacking originality, being almost identical in design and construction to other cranes I have made before.

As it turns out my familiarity with the basic design would almost be my downfall! This kit has 108 pages of assembly instructions, with over 250 individual steps. And on the 19th page, less than 20% into the construction, I made an error. This isn’t the end of the world – everyone makes mistakes with complex Lego kits here and there. But this tiny mistake became massive indeed since I didn’t notice it until over 70 pages later!

Here it is:

See that circled piece? We’ll call than an ‘eleven-er’. It should have been 2 tabs shorter, a ‘nine-er’. But it’s so embedded into the construction of the crane that removal at this point would require essentially dismantling 50% of the build and redoing it – losing many hours of work. What was I to do? I was so close to the finish at this point that my options were few, and I really, really didn’t want to dismantle and start again. So I had a brainwave:

Can’t see the fix can you? The curved piece on the side of the crane is attached using the 9 piece that I should have used 70 pages earlier. I had to attach it differently (the original instructions required the 11 piece and it was attached at the bottom not at the top as I did). But it’s very clean and it’s only visible in profile that there is an error:

Notice how on the left side the side panel is not flush with the body of the crane? Not perfect perhaps, but good enough 🙂

Here’s the final product compared to a very large animal so you can see how big it is:

It’s a very nice kit. The crane can be raised and lowered, and the claw at the end opens and closes using a fascinating mechanism. The kit can also be fitted with the technic motor and be battery driven, but my motor is still in my other crane so I didn’t do that. All things considered this is a great kit and while derivative of the other cranes I’m glad I own it 🙂

Himeji Castle

April 27, 2014

This is Himeji Castle in Japan:

It’s a world heritage site, considered the best example of a feudal-era Japanese castle still standing.

Here it is in metal:

This was the largest and most difficult metal miniature model I’ve assembled yet. Taking about 6 hours in total, this was an exercise in patience even with the correct tools. Don’t even think about making this without fine needle nose pliers! It also suffers from the common problem of less-than-stellar instructions.

Sadly, as with most Japanese structures, Himeji is vulnerable to the occasional attack from an oversized monster…

The Doomsday Box

March 16, 2014

For Christmas, I received a most wonderful item from Doctor Florence (aka. The Great Bear of the Northwest). Specifically, I received this:

“Useless Box“? What is that? All will be revealed…

There’s actually a funny story behind this gift! I had purchased one myself for JBF for Christmas, and when it had arrived I committed the evil sin of covetousness and very nearly ‘stole’ his for myself. My good nature won out though, and it was wrapped and put under the tree. I was super happy when I ended up getting one of my own from SFL! In short: this was a perfect gift 🙂

I made it yesterday. The suggested assembly time was 1.5 hours, but it took me at least double that. During construction I ruined:
– my eyes (due to me needing a new prescription)
– my fingers (due to friction from jewellers screwdriver handles and a soldering iron burn)
– my back (due to bending over the tiny pieces putting them together
But despite the endless and soul-wracking pain, this was one of the most enjoyable builds I have ever done!

That’s me being a technomancer there, soldering the toggle switch to the PCB. There was actually quite a bit of soldering required, since none of the wires came attached. Here’s the finished circuit:

You can see a motor, a PCB, a toggle switch and a pressure switch. What could it all do?

The box itself is made of thick laser-cut plastic, and is assembled using a very clever T-connection system (via nuts and bolts). The machining of the parts is superb, and it all went together smoothly, seamlessly and very easily. Here’s the nearly-finished box:

And here’s the final product, both closed and opened to show the inside:

I finished it! I made it with no mistakes, and it worked perfectly first time. As you can see when it is closed there is a just a switch poking out. So what happens when you switch it on? This happens:

Yes my friends, the box – when switched on – switches itself off! It’s only goal in life is to turn itself off if anyone happens to turn it on. The very definition of a useless item…

…and I love it!

Robot Claw