The Big Wheel !

 

This is the piece we wanted the most! The Lego Creator series Ferris Wheel. We were so excited to build this. So let's do it!

 

 

This is what 2464 bagged pieces looks like. Lots of fun right around the corner for sure!

 

 

 

Completing the main base gives us a hint at just how big this project is going to be.

 

 

 

Here's a mysterious little build. This is the first "mechanical" piece you will put together. Wonder what it's for?

 

 

 

Actually, it becomes part of this little apparatus. After some twisting and turning and a bit of finesse, we finally got it to fit in. Once finished, it will help to raise and lower the floor, allowing little Lego folks to get in and out of the buckets.

 

 

Here we begin to see the operator's control room take shape.

 

 

For the most part, the base is ready to go. Complete with the finished control room, guard railings and even an ice cream stand. Things are beginning to look great. Next up, we start the actual wheel itself.

New Signage

 

Now that we have selected a theme, all we need is a name for our new theme park. As you know, we had already given it a name and even a logo, "Mystic Mountain." But now with the change to Lego, we are working on a new name.

 

Once we have it, this retired piece, bought for us by my wife Susan, will not only be a perfect way to announce the coming park, but by switching artwork inside the "picture frame", it can also be used for new ride construction areas and holidays! Awesome!

 

 

Susan also bought us this expired piece which is actually a name plate and business card holder. But put them together and they also can be used as an interchangeable sign! Cool stuff. Thanks Susan!



It Had To Be Fate !!!!!!

There it sits. A quiet little building in Kent, Washington that used to house a store for furnaces or something like that. Never really took notice. But then one day it seemed to turn into a thrift shop. And then, a bit later a sign that said "We Buy Lego" appeared. And not long after that we noticed a Lego sign in the window. Just what was this mysterious place?

It took us a long time to get curious enough to check it out. Driving around back to their parking lot we found ourselves in a little gathering of houses, making it seem even more strange. But there was no turning back now.

We stepped up onto a porch filled with empty crates, some tables and chairs. Putting my hand on the door I had no idea what to expect when I opened it.

 



Welcome to Lego heaven!!!! This place is just amazing. Wall to wall Lego, some in the box, some already built, and some in big bunches to choose from.

 

Not only is this place great for finding discontinued Lego sets, but we found new sets as well. It was like a Lego museum, store and hobby shop all tied into one.

 

 

Lego isn't just for building Temples and theme parks. Believe it or not, these murals are all made from Lego brick. Pretty amazing. And take a look at the mini-figures. They are all over the store!

 

 

Another thing we love about this store is the staff. Super friendly and ready to help. They are there because they love the hobby and it shows. I've had many great conversations with them already and have gotten some super ideas.

 

 

This store is one of those little treasures that you find while on a long out-of-state road trip. You know the kind, you walk in and find yourself saying "why don't we have one of these shops where we live?"

 

Lucky for us, it is practically in our backyard!

 

 

Next time you are in the Kent, Washington area come check them out at 12135 Kent-Kangley Rd, Kent, WA 98030. Or give them a call at the number above. You can also get more information (such as their Facebook info) by going to www.bricksandwheels.com. We love this place!









It's a Family Affair

This summer, my mom was visiting from my home state of California and so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get her, my wife, my daughter and myself into building mode. We all went down and got a Lego set that could work in the park and off to work we went.

 

Mom was a bit reluctant at first, not being a Lego builder, but she did great and she is now a Lego fan!

 

 

She choose to build us a news crew! Gotta have a news crew to cover the opening of the park and all the fun to come in the future. Thanks mom!

 

 

My daughter, Autumn, chose to build a rock stage from the Friends series. Autumn is a great Lego builder and has created some pretty cool stuff.......without instructions! A future Master Builder!

 

 

The stage turned out amazing and got me to dreaming about the fun we are going to have with lighting all of this up. I love that part.

 

 

Autumn also built this magician act. Little known fact about Autumn and I.......we are building a real life magic act and will begin performing in 2016! For me, it will be a return to magic, but for Autumn, it's a fresh start. She's already doing great! So we had to throw in a magic show.

 



 

My wife, Susan, had fun building an audio studio. This can be used as a section of our stage or could even be used as a Karaoke booth.

 

 





Lots of cool possibilities with this scene.

 

I like the spooky side of life, so I choose to build a section of our spooky side of the park with the Ghost Busters car and team. This is a pretty cool set and will be perfect in our park!

 

So next time you decide to build some Legos, get something for everyone to build. It's a good time! 

The Lego Bible

 

If you are looking for a great book that will give you the knowledge to build your own special building designs, this is the book for you. I was able to buy a used copy on-line for $5.00.

 

 

This book has every thing you need to know and has many very useful resources. In the back is a great listing of Lego brick pieces, each with information about them such as the year they came out and how available they are. Priceless. We really loved reading about the history of Lego too.

 

This book will go on our building bench and will continue to be a valuable tool during our journey.

 

After reading this book you will be well on your way to making some Lego magic! 

The Train

 

 

 

The train was a very tough choice. The only trains we could find that we liked were no longer available and most didn't provide for a motor. We did take a look at the Lone Ranger train, but again, it was discontinued, had no motor (though it can be added) and no usable passenger cars.

 

So we took a look at this High Speed Lego train which comes with everything you need. I decided, with some modification, that this just might be what we were looking for. And in the future, if I can get a steam train, this one can become an elevated monorail! It lists for about $150 but were able to do some Amazon price matching at Toys R Us for a much better price :)

 

 

 

At 610 pieces, this one really isn't hard to build at all. Book one (of four) has you starting out by building the people, bicycles and train stop.

 

 

 

 

One of the first modifications we made was to not put the Lego City decal on the window of the announcement board on this piece. Actually, if our train ever has a "backstage" area, this will become a cast member crossing.

 

 

 

Now it's time to build the engine. Pretty straight forward, but once again, we decided not to put on the transportation decals as it made the train look too much like "city transportation." Eventually we want to make our own decals and add them to our scenes.

 

 

 

The Engineer watches as we begin to install the engine's windows and motor area.

 

 

 

 

And speaking of motor, here it is. It was critical to me for the train to run smoothly. I wanted it to be able to smooth start and stop and be able to run slowly as well as faster if need be. This train does exactly that. And it is remote control. Perfect for what we need.

 

 

 

With the motorized wheels in place it is time to add the back wheels.

 

 

 

The battery box and infrared control ride on top hidden in the back of the engine. And now we start to build the train's nose piece.

 

 

 

Our newly hired engineer checks out his seating space. With a thumbs up we continue with the work.

 

 

 

 

With windows installed, we attach the front body. This shows another alteration that we made. We did not add the electric hookup rails on the top of the train. No electric trains in this park!

 

 

 

The front of the train moves out onto the test track for a few solo runs.

 

 

 

 

Next up we build the passenger section. And then the final car is pretty much just like the front.

 

 

 

And here we are with our brand new train, taking a run on the test rack. The train is ready! 

The K'Nex Raptor's Revenge

I got a call from my wife a week ago asking me if she could bring me home a K'Nex Raptor's Revenge roller coaster. How could I say no?!

 

I figured it would be worth a try to build it and see if it would fit in with the look of the Legos.. Besides, rumors have it that in a year or two Lego will release a coaster, but that's going to be a while. So while we wait, we can use this one. It cost about $35 at Walmart. I found it to be well worth the money. But I had to get over the hump of building it first.

 

 

 

I found K'Nex not to be as easy to build as Legos. Some pieces fit tighter than others and sometimes pieces would fall apart as I built the structure. But the worst part was the instructions. Imagine trying to illustrate a 3-D coaster make of sticks onto a 2-D set of instructions. Not an easy task and I found it very difficult to try and decipher which bar was getting what pieces. Especially as the project got more involved.  I had to download the pdf instructions and blow up the pictures as large as I could  to try and figure out what connectors they used and how. Some were more obvious than others and others you just had to guess.

 

 

After a while I started getting the idea and it started coming together.

 

 

It didn't take long before it began to reach into the sky. When completed this coaster is 3 feet high.

 

 

This is when things started getting really crazy. And it wasn't long after this picture was taken that I was taking the entire thing apart. Two days work gone. But I figured, from what I had learned, I could rebuild it much better. So I tore it down and started again the next day.

 

 

 

 

Next day I went back to it, rebuilding everything from the ground up. Sad thing was, I still ran into the same issues as I started to lay track.

 

 

The model sat this way for a few days while I fiddled with it and tried to work out the kinks. Stay tuned to find out what happened next!



 











More Building on the Lego Mixer

 

 



The gears in the back of the truck bed are beginning to be installed. These gears will make the Mixer spin.

 

 

See the two yellow pieces pointing up? When you push those down it levels the attraction onto two small wheels. When hauling the ride you bring these back down.

 

 



Safety is always first, even in the land of Lego. So here is the safety gate, ready to be assembled.

 

Here is the main mechanism that will hold the seats. There are three arms of them. This folds for easy storage on the truck.  

 

 

 

Believe it or not, there are a lot of little bricks in this piece making it heavy and solid. Now we just need to add seats.

 

 

Each of the three sections have different colored seats. The yellow seats are ready for installation.

 

 

Now all we need to do is finish up the last seats and we will be ready to install the ride onto the platform. Stay tuned to see the finished product! 







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