I’m sorry, but I don’t have much to update

I actually dug out the Pennybacker Bridge model (or the pieces of it, actually), assembled most of it, and repaired the damage done when I broke it down after the last show. I’m thinking of maybe displaying it in my house somewhere, but it’s rather large and I’ll also have to keep it out of reach of my kids!

Work, photography, and my home life has occupied my time. My sons and I have tinkered a lot, but I’ve not built anything serious since the bridge.

Actually, I do have a train project going. I need to finish it…

TexLUG’s display at the Healthy Baby and Child Expo in Houston was a good success (see more info and pics here). Our modular tables (based on the MichLUG design) made their debut and worked quite well.

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It was very nice to have a flat, level surface (roughly matching LEGO dimensions) to set our stuff on.

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Finally… I have taken photos of my train work I’ve been messing around with two things. The first is an 8-wide bogie for freight cars.

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I did a lot of test runs at the HBCE show, and the fatal flaw in the design is that the outsides of the bogie fall off. Their attachment to the inner frame is a little weak, and that’s something I’ll revise.

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My other train work has been on a compact, powered bogie. This design will be useful to make a powered (using LEGO’s Power Functions parts) boxcar or perhaps a tender for a steam engine.

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It’s problem is that the whole assembly torques to one side when running. This presents a problem when running through switches. I’ll work on debugging this design.

I’m making the switch to using PF trains and getting away from the old 9V system. One of my old 9V motors died recently, and it’s just the push I needed to move to PF. Aside from that, I’m really attracted to making PF trains because I get to design and build the drive systems. That’s Technic-related stuff and that’s what I enjoy.

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And finally we have Project X.

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More about that later

We’re already in the back-half of January 2010 and I honestly don’t know where time has gone. It almost makes a whooshing sound as it flies by.

My older son has been building a lot in the past several months. He’s built many small sets and has also started to use his imagination to make his own MOCs.

It’s been a lot of fun watching him build and play. A lot of my “LEGO time” is just being with him and helping him when he needs it.

So what’s new?

The complete Memorial Hermann tower model is pictured below. Sometime later, when they get the model in its permanent display, I’ll visit it to take my own photos.

I’ve been helping out our LUG (TexLUG) to build modular train tables. Here are some photos from Tony Sava.

I continue to tinker with PF trains and making powered bogies. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before here, but I’ve been wanting to “upgrade” my existing trains to PF, and I’m experimenting with various wheel and gear arrangements to find something that works smoothly and is durable.

My crane project sits idle. I disassembled the base and plan on building a new turntable. Rather, I need to finish the design that I came up with last year.

I’ve not yet disassembled the 10+ foot long arched truss bridge I built last year. I’ve decided to re-use it for an upcoming TexLUG event in March. But I’m going to widen the bridge by 8 studs to make passage of TexLUG’s monster-wide trains possible

I think that’s it for the to-do list. Oh wait, there’s the white tower crane project as well….

So many ideas… too little time

Whoops… I’ve let a lot of time slip by. I’ve been sitting on a special project for a long while now. It’s done as of about two weeks ago, but I have yet to upload the finished photos. Here’s a sneak peak of the unfinished model.

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This is a 1:130 scale (roughly) model of a new hospital building here in Houston. I was contracted to built it, and planning and construction took place this past spring. I ended up passing along a portion of the model to another builder, Kurt Baty, so the MOC is actually co-designed and built by us.

Aside from that, nothing LEGO-related has been going on around here since the 10-foot bridge. I’ve messed around with some custom trucks for my train rolling stock, and I’ve played along with my 4-year old son quite a bit. He’s into building his own MOCs

Finally, after nearly a year of planning and developing, Texbrick.com has been completely revised and upgraded:

Please check it out. If you find any bugs or content that appears to be missing, please contact me or post a comment here. Thanks!

I’m currently working on a complete redesign of Texbrick.com. I started this site nearly 8 years ago and did not anticipate or plan for growth. It’s become a tangled mess of files, photos, and broken links.

The new site will be clean and consistent in format. It will also allow me to add updates much more easily than the old site.

All the old content will make it to the new site. But I’m revising, and in some cases re-writing, the model pages. And, there will also be a few new models

The “articles” section will be a new, revised form of my old “ideas” section. And, as mentioned previously, this blog will serve to host new ideas that I develop.

I don’t have a target date for completion. I just work on it when I can. Currently, I’m probably 70 - 80 percent done. I’m hoping that I can get the new site rolled out by the end of this month, but I’m not too sure. We’ll see…

Welcome to the new Texbrick.com blog! Another blog about LEGO? Well, it’s not just another blog, it’s MY blog.

Seriously, this will be an easy and organized way of announcing and sharing updates. It will also be an outlet to share building ideas in a neat and categorized manner. (After all, nothing appeals more to a slightly obsessive-compulsive LEGO-file than a system of categories and compartmentalization! )

I’ve not uploaded much of anything to my site in a long while. Again, I’ll offer up the excuse that my photography and my family life (got two kiddos now!) eat into my LEGO-time

I’m still building when I can. My older son enjoys this “LEGO-time” with me and either builds something of his own or jumps in front of me and demands to use (steal) whatever I’m working with. But we always have a good time.

my LEGO desk

Sit tight and stay tuned. A lot of new stuff is on the way!