Lego 851 Tractor

My first Technical Lego kit I ever got my hands on as an 8 year old was the 851 tractor. I can still recall looking at it in the Toy shop window and really wanting it for Christmas. I've still got the kit, box, instructions and all the parts.

It features real working rack-and-pinion steering through a universal joint and power transmission to tools. The tools can be attached to the rear of the tractor and raised/lowered via a lever on the right of side of steering wheel. A true classic Technical Lego model.

Scans of the plans for the 851 can be found at Peeron.com

Here's some Lego leaflet blurb dating back 33 years ago about the 851 tractor:

For old time's sake, I've assembled it and stop-frame animated the assembly in the video below:

And here's the default tool being assembled:

Scans of Lego Instruction Manuals

If you want instructions on how to build Lego models the why not check out Peeron
This website has a huge rage of manuals going back manual years and it seems that reproduction of the manuals has been given permission by the Lego group so it looks like it's fully legitimate.

So, why not download the manual to your favourite classic kit and get building!

Lego 4954 Model Town House - from TubaFrog

Here's a neat animation I found on YouTube courtesy of TubaFrog of the Lego 4954 Town House being assembled.  It's quite a large kit, containing 1174 pieces.

Lego 5891 Apple Tree House Part 3 - Summer House

Hannah completed the 3rd and final house in the Lego 8591 house kit, this time it was the turn of the Summer House.  This was somewhat smaller than the previous two houses but was a little more challenging with the hinged roof feature that allows one to access the inside of the house.  The hinged arrangement was a little weak until the final roof bricks were in place and this caused a little bit of frustration to Hannah.

Inside, the house sports a little fireplace and open hearth, which is a fine little detail.  Outside, the garden contains a sun-bed a small drinks table and an outside heater for those Autumn nights.  Here are some photos of the assembled house:

Well, that's all three houses now assembled. My hope is that Hannah will get creating and make some new houses using her own designs.

Lego 5891 Apple Tree House Part 2 - Town House

Well, it took Hannah a couple of hours to build the second model in the 5891 kit - this time she built the town house.  This model sports a small garden containing a bird bath/water fountain, a garden table and chairs and also a working see-saw for the Lego children.

The roof and 2nd floor can be easily removed to gain access to the rooms in the houses.  Outside the house are two small bushes and a small lamp-stand.  There are plenty of small details to keep this house looking smart and realistic.

Not bad at all!  Here are some photos:

Lego 5891 Apple Tree House

Hannah recently acquired a Lego Creator 581 Apple Tree House 5891 kit. The kit comes with 3 different house plans: a modern family house, a tall town house and summer house. This posting covers the modern family house which features an opening garage door, a letter box with letters, a removable roof section for easy play access to the house interior and a ladder to the attic. The garden comes with a lawn mower, outside water tap and a basket ball net and an apple tree. The kit comes with 539 pieces so it's fairly good value for money!

Hannah added in some mini-figures for the following photos as the kit does not come with any (which is the only downside to the kit):

I hope to add some more photos of the alternative model houses once Hannah has got around to making them :-)

Olde English Church

Thought I'd try and capture the character of the quintessential olde English village church with the following little building. My aim was to incorporate flying buttresses and try also populate the insides with several rows of pews. Internally, the roof is build upon 3 arches that bear the roof loading. I was very constrained as I had limited roof bricks and the windows aren't really up to stained glass standards!

Anyhow, it was a fun little diversion!