theBrickBlogger.com — Sharing the Passion of the LEGO Hobby!

Build Up Your LEGO Winter Village – Book Series

by Thita (admin) on October 31, 2020

About four years ago, when we reviewed the #10254 LEGO Winter Village Holiday Train, we briefly mentioned a custom version of the train by LEGO fan David Younger (see: LEGO Holiday Train Review, Thoughts, Tweaks) . David recently contacted me that since then, he had designed several more custom cars for his train as well as other models compatible with the LEGO Winter Village sets, including a longer train, a church, a pub, a roller coaster, a chocolate factory, and many more.

David’s models have been very popular with LEGO fans, so he started selling PDF instructions for them on eBay. And this year, due to demand from customers, he also published instructions for some of his most popular models as actual physical books. The series is called Build Up Your LEGO Winter Village. There are now a total of nine books in the series, and all of them are available through Amazon. Below are the titles and a brief description of each book.

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS TOWN – Within this book, you’ll find complete instructions and full parts-lists to build a collection of brand new Winter Village models, as well as step-by-step guidance on how to buy all the pieces you’ll need through Bricklink.com – LEGO’s official online marketplace. The seven models in this book include a Chocolate Factory, a Hot Cocoa Truck, a Chocolate Sculpture, a Church, a Nativity Scene, a Canal Boat, and a Pub. All of the models are just the right size and style to mix with the official LEGO Winter Village sets. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS FAIR – Residents of Winter Village are ready for some fun! This book includes instructions and parts-lists, and building steps for seven more models, including a Roller Coaster, a Ferris Wheel, a Mulled Wine Stall, a Pig Roast Stall, a Gift Stall, a Theater, and a Horse-Drawn Sleigh. Again, all of the models are designed to perfectly match the official LEGO Winter Village sets. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS MEGAFIGURES – This book is a bit different from the others as it features instructions for two giant Christmas figures (18 inches tall!); Santa and a Snowman. I suppose they can be added to your LEGO Winter Village layout as sculptures, or you can use them as other holiday decorations around the house. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS STORIES – In this book, you will find instructions for six models relating to some of our favorite classic Christmas stories, including a Scrooge House, a Hansom Cab, a Grump House, a Grump Tree, a Grump Sleigh, and a Gingerbread House. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN – In this book, have a rustic Christmas and head up to the snow covered mountains with instructions for six more models to fit with the LEGO Winter Village sets, including a Woodcarver, an Ice Sculpture display, a Ski Slope, a Chalet, a Tree with a Robin, and a Gypsy Wagon. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS PARADE – With this book, you can bring the excitement of a Christmas parade to your Winter Village with instructions for eight models, including a Gingerbread Float, a Sleigh Float, a Presents Float, a Rooftop Float, a Fire Truck, a Fire Station, a Gas Station, and a Cola Truck. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS TRAIN – This is the model that started the whole series. Please note that because some pieces used in the original version of this train were available years ago but are rare now, David went over every single section and redesigned where necessary with currently available pieces, so building the train should remain affordable. The seven models featured in this book include a Christmas Locomotive, a Passenger Car, a Hot Cocoa Tanker, a Reindeer Car, a Gingerbread Car, a Present Car, and a Christmas Tree Car. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR LEGO WINTER VILLAGE: CHRISTMAS TRAIN 2 – This book expands the train further with instructions for seven more cars for the ultimate super long holiday train. Models include a Sleigh Car, a Dining Car, a Candy Machine Car, a Mail Car, a Snow Globe Car, a Light Reel Car, and an Igloo Car. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

➡ BUILD UP YOUR HALLOWEEN VILLAGE: HALLOWEEN TRAIN – The last book in the series turns the Christmas train into a spooky Halloween train with instructions for seven models; a Halloween Locomotive, a Pumpkin Car, a Toxic Tanker, a Frankenstein Car, a Man-Eating Plant Car, a Skeletal Stock Car, and a Caboose. For more details, and to purchase the book, visit David’s page on Amazon. – BUY ON AMAZON

If you like to expand your LEGO Winter Village, these books should give you plenty of ideas. And if you prefer to purchase the instructions separately instead of in books, you can get the PDF instructions at David’s website at InkklingBricks.com, and also via his eBay store, InklingBricks-Designs. Whichever way you go, you will have enough awesome Christmas projects for many years to come.

What do you think? Do you collect the LEGO Winter Village sets? How do you like these additional models? Are you planning to build any of them yourself? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

{ 9 comments }

Brick Breakdown: LEGO Hidden Side Race Car

by Thita (admin) on October 30, 2020

in Reviews & Comparisons

(Written by William)

A few days ago, we discussed the #70425 LEGO Hidden Side Mystery Castle (see: Brick Breakdown: LEGO Hidden Side Mystery Castle), but I also wanted to review one of the smaller sets. Enter the #70434 LEGO Hidden Side Super Natural Race Car! This is the second cheapest set in the latest wave of LEGO Hidden Side sets, priced at only $30.

Just like the Mystery Castle, this vehicle does an excellent job at hiding away all the colored bricks that interact with the LEGO Hidden Side app. And to my surprise, this is the first LEGO Hidden Side set I can recall that didn’t have something that transformed into a monster. I’m not sure how I feel about this as I like the transformational features of the LEGO Hidden Side sets. Though, I can definitely say, this car is excellent in many other ways.

In the video below, I share some of my general thoughts on the set, then we will look at some of the interesting building techniques, why they are done the way they are, and how you can utilize them in your own creations. So, let’s get to it!

LEGO HIDDEN SIDE RACE CAR – ELONGATION

Let’s say you have an action element or even a decorative element that just doesn’t fit into something scaled to a minifigure. Do you give up and just forget about it? You can, but you don’t need to. Especially when you look at smaller LEGO sets, you will notice that LEGO designers will are able to fit in action elements and decorations by using the technique I call elongation.

Keep in mind that minifigures are a brief representation of a person. Therefore, their world is made up of representations of models that are sort of scaled to real life. This means, if you happen to stretch a section of the model out a bit, it won’t necessarily throw off the end result. However, if you do stretch an area out too much – say, you make the back section of a car too tall – there is still a method to compensate for this. Essentially, it involves stretching out and scaling up the entire model. Length, width, and height are all effected. Though you can play around with even this concept. Just because you make something taller doesn’t mean you have to change the width and length by the same amount.

Let’s take the Super Natural Race Car as an example. It needs a color wheel in the back for the app to read. This wouldn’t normally fit a car this scale, especially since you need to cover up three sides of the wheel. So, the height and width were given a little more room. The length of the car was left pretty much alone. The vehicle seems to be based on a coop, which tends to already have a long body.

Even though stretching a model in this way would seem to be a way to make it look odd, in reality, this is a method to disguise features. It does this by drawing attention away from sections you don’t want to have too much focus on. Just by examining this vehicle, it’s easy to say that the color wheel on back is the least intrusive feature you notice. In a nutshell, that’s elongation at work.

LEGO HIDDEN SIDE RACE CAR – EXAGGERATION

Elongation is not the only way to draw the eyes away. When you feel stretching your model would look too ridiculous, you can move to exaggeration. This covers the more artistic side of your creation. Consider it as turning your models overall look past standard and into the extreme!

You have a number of options before you to achieve this. The easiest is to play with colors. If your model has muted colors, you can find more vibrant ones. If you have vibrant colors then maybe play with contrast. Make your blues pale and your reds super dark. Or just use colors nobody would expect to see.

Next, you can look at the edges of your model. If they are square, you can always round them off. Or maybe go more into the edgy look and turn them into sharp blade-like edges and spikes. If you have a corner, consider your options of the angle it should slant or type of curve it should present.

Finally, look at the surfaces and consider if it’ll look better if they bulge out. Should they extrude like a cylinder, a bubble, or even cave inward? Some of these looks are easier to achieve than others, but they do bring more options.

Another way to exaggerate is to subvert normal conventions. Looking at the Super Natural Race Car, we can see the bright colors, the curved edges behind the wheels and cab, the bulging of the front hood and back, but the exhaust pipes are straight up! Normally, we’d expect these pipes to be angled at 45 degrees. Likewise, the giant skull on the front of the car is distracting. These are so interesting that the normal giant intake for the motor becomes mundane. Large intakes are usually distractions all their own. But in this case, the intake hides another colored piece for the app, so you kind of want to draw attention away from it.

APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

Both elongation and exaggeration are techniques you often find paired together in official LEGO sets. These are tools to normalize something that would otherwise really stick out or seem strange. I mention in the video above that it is odd that the wheels can fold down despite there being no real narrative reason for it. However, it’s a mild annoyance thanks to the techniques used.

There are so many other things going on to distract me that wheel movement seems minor by comparison. It’s more important to me that the car is crazy and fun. It doesn’t look like anything on the road. In short, it is unique and interesting. And that’s the important takeaway when your goal is to release your imagination!

If you’re interested in this set, or the other LEGO Hidden Side sets, you can find them all at the LEGO Hidden Side section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? Do you have any of the LEGO Hidden Side vehicles? How do you like their shapes and play-features? And what do you think of the building techniques we discussed here? Do you use them in your own creations? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

{ 7 comments }

Next Posts Previous Posts

Build Up Your LEGO Winter Village – Book Series

Brick Breakdown: LEGO Hidden Side Race Car

LEGO HIDDEN SIDE RACE CAR – ELONGATION

LEGO HIDDEN SIDE RACE CAR – EXAGGERATION

APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

Get new posts by email: