My Mazerati Does 185, I Lost My License And Now I Don't Drive

I hope everyone had a good Christmas holiday! This was one of my better ones. I got a Ferrari LaFerrari and a McLaren P1.

That's a bit misleading. They're built out of Legos. But still! They're neat little models, for minifig-scale supercars. Lego has a new theme called Speed Champions (which the Ferrari and McLaren belong to) that's actually pretty nice. All the cars are real, and very good likenesses for the size and using preexisting Lego pieces. I learned about it by stopping into a Toys 'R Us with my sister's friends one day; they had the Ford Mustang GT, and I liked the look of it enough to say hell with it and pick it up. I've built the LaFerrari already and it was a pretty clever build.

But while building it, I noticed something interesting on the back of the second (yes, there's enough steps involded that the LaFerrari needs two booklets) manual. Look at the lineup of the three cars - middle row, right side.

Ha ha! All the engine blocks are the same size! Get it? GET IT!?

They are, from left to right, the Lego versions of the Porsche 918, the McLaren P1, and the Ferrari LaFerrari. Hmmm... Where have I seen such a lineup before?

Oh. Right. 

Yes, Clarkson, May, and Hammond were working on an epic shootout between these three incredible cars on the Top Gear track, but as Ferrari and McLaren were coming around to the idea, Clarkson was booted and May and Hammond elected to follow. As they have a new show of their own on Amazon TV called The Grand Tour, I'm told they managed to organize the competition in their first episode. Still haven't seen it, or have any idea which car won. Even so... 

You Could Have A Steam Train If You'd Just Lay Down Your Track

Nothing like an indeterminate amount of time off work to give the LEGO railroad a bath.

Upstarts Are On Their Way

Just when you thought Japan couldn't get any crazier, the hairdressers get in on the act! You'll Never Forget Japan's Tomato Hairdo

WHERE IS MY SNOW SHOVEL LEGO Spill Shuts Down Highway Lane In West Virginia

These reviews are insane. Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer

More video strangeness:

Old Charlie Stole The Handle

I've blogged briefly at times about my Lego train hobby before, but I found a picture in a file on my computer that shows my collection at a very early stage. 

This was taken at my third apartment at Penn State; I've also previously blogged about my room's decor in this apartment. The components of set 4563 are visible; the red locomotive, red boxcar in back, yellow/black flatcar in front of the locomotive, and barely visible behind the steam locomotive and said flatcar is the blue gondola. Most of my reinterpretation of set 3225 is also visible; the aforementioned steam locomotive, the wooden gondola coupled behind, and the yellow/black/gray ballast dumper. I hadn't built the coach at the time. Also visible is the auto carrier from set 4544, coupled behind the locomotive.

I had been designing some cars since I discovered the LDraw software online a couple years prior to this picture. One of my more ingenious designs, sadly, is completely obscured by the High Life bottle - a tank car. However, at the time it was designed, I posted at least one picture of it on this blog. In the foreground are parts for the black/yellow boxcar I designed, and an incomplete green/white gondola as well.

Ten Years Gone

I can't believe it's been three years since I posted on this. This is ridiculous. Naturally, ninety percent of the things I wanted to write about are nowhere near started, if I'm still thinking about them.
That said, one thing that is up and running is my Robotech Republican Compendium. (Fear not, Democrats, if you can put aside politics for some good bad science fiction. This compendium is republican with a little 'r'. Mostly.) While the first chapter isn't quite up yet, one can glean some idea of the world that the story takes place in by reading the synopses of the various combat equipment used by nations appearing in the story.

I'm also actively building LEGO trains again. The Spirit of 9-Volt contains my creations. Of interest is the 2-6-2 Prairie steam locomotive, and passenger cars.

Last but not least I hope to start doing album reviews. I've plowed into a pile of new music since abandoning this blog all that time ago, and it really needs talked about. Also I plan on at least recording a demo of some music I'd written in college for a band project I referred to as The Tunnelmotors. I figure I can share that here, too.

Anyway, I guess I'm back.

I Rode The Highball, I Fired The Daylight

I've done it again. I've gone and created something. Not to mention added another to my very long list of hobbies.

I've created this Lego steam locomotive. It's not a very big engine, but it's really nice. It's actually a Lego design with Americanized details. I really like it. It's motorized, and runs well, if a bit noisily. I'm currently trying to get ahold of an engineer minifigure to place in the cab.


I'm a bit more proud of another design, however. This tank car was conceived not long after the locomotive was, and the design is wholly mine. I was attempting to create a tank car small enough to work with my Lego train set from 1993 (#4563). Great little set.



Check out the page created for my engine on the MOCPages: American Steam Locomotive