#TBT Old Town Parade

In the interests and long running tradition of "Throw-Back Thursday"--  which dates all the way back to 2011-- today's post features our town as it appeared back in its FIRST version.

Tyler and I were watching news coverage of a disaster somewhere (I forget where but it's possible these are from around the time of Hurricane Katrina) and we decided to act out a relief effort.   Of course we only had ONE town, so the mission became one of airlifting supplies and rescue workers from the airport.

Upon their return from their operation, the town threw a "Welcome Home" parade for their heroes, followed by a community celebration.

Tesla Supercharger Opens in Bricksburgh!

Inspired by Lego's leaked new set featuring an exploding gas pump, I decided  to see if I could whip up a proper alternative.

Fortunately, I didn't have to look very far for inspiration... as we have a Tesla in our garage!

In Need of Lego Tesla

Ran across today.  Supposedly from a leaked 2015 Lego product catalog.   It appears to be an EXPLODING GAS PUMP.

Dear Tesla,
        Please buy these by the pallet load for resale in your stores.
                                              Thank you.

Quiet On Set!

Summer schedules are proving busier than we thought!  Plus we're trying hard to launch our new blog www.TeslaPittsburgh.com (check it out!) and that's been diverting.   However, we do have a new video to share-- just on YouTube today!  Detailed pictures will post later, but until then-- see how many celebrities you can spot:

Hospital Makes A Grand Entrance

A fixture in any town is the hospital.  Minifigs who fall ill or get injured can expect to find themselves on the doorstep of our town clinic.  Like many of the structures in Bricksburgh, the hospital received quite an upgrade in location when we moved to the new house.  

Even better than the location change, though, was the new driveway-- a much GRANDER entrance courtyard!

The Start of the Revolution

It seemed like a peaceful day in Bricksburgh.  The sun was shining.  People went to work.  Tourists played on the beach.  And the TechMan was out making his rounds repairing things.  What no one knew was that he'd left his side project in the van while he was working.   And the van got hot inside.  And that triggered a cooling sensor on his project.  And that project was an advanced robot.

And once awakened...  it started the Revolution.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Communications are a vital part of a vital city service: the police department.   Recently there was quite a crowd gathered up on the roof of HQ trying to get some new equipment installed.

Normally a job like this would only need one guy-- but not in Bricksburgh!  What are all these guys doing up there?!

Keeping the Lights On For Ya

Every now and then the traffic light bulbs burn out.  We've already seen the unsafe way to work on them, but today's post will give you an idea how to do it properly...

...despite the less than ideal pictures.

Just Checking In?

For many tourists, the City Hotel is the first place they go after flying into Bricksburgh-- or coming by boat.  The City Hotel has plenty of rooms available, a great location, and wonderful amenities.

If you're ready to check in at the front desk, then click on through and we'll show you around the hotel in more detail!

Eye Spy With My Little Eye...

Urban explorers usually climb around and inside abandoned buildings and utility areas, like hospitals and sewer tunnels.  In Bricksburgh we don't really have any such things-- at least no abandoned-- so explorers have to find someplace else for their adventures.

We'll be doing a series of posts-- and maybe videos-- on our mini-explorers, here's some pictures of them in the meantime:

CATZILLA Memories

Sophie has a long history or causing destruction and mayhem in the town.  If we're truthful about it, she generally likes to just be close to us and watch what we're working on.  She will carefully and gingerly step around the crowded streets and not cause any REAL damage....  But what fun is THAT?!?

So naturally we created the CATZILLA character for her to play.. and since the internet didn't already have enough cat pictures on it, here is a MEGA collection of Sophie's greatest destructive moments!

Painted Flag?

I'm pretty sure you can't really do this in real life...

Found this guy on the roof of the speedway grandstand making all the flags green.  I guess that's better than the "vandalism" he's been caught doing before!

Bad Guy Charges Police Barricades

Most of the citizens of Bricksburgh are good people but occasionally one them will end up on the run from the cops. This man must have committed some crime. (Maybe he's a stud dealer or a bricknapper.) Either way, he got himself into a police chase, but the police have a a good and effective method of stopping him.

Head Up in the Clouds

We thought a new perspective on Bricksburgh might be in order...  so we decided to take flight!

Hurricane Electrolux

We've been getting CRAZY Spring thunderstorms around here lately and it reminded me of the largest disaster in the history of Bricksburgh.  It all started innocently enough...  Dust was noticed gathering on the assembled rooftops of Lego town.  The black roofs in particular were getting nasty.

The prescription was given: aggressive cleaning.   We attacked the town with spray bottles and a filtered vacuum cleaner (an Electrolux, hence the name) and cleaned all of Bricksburgh.   The disaster caused by the cleaning process made for some interesting set ups and so...

Well, HERE'S an Idea!

With Father's Day looming on the calendar you might be finding yourself wondering.... "Hey, WHAT am I going to get dear old Dad??"

Lucky for you, here at Bricksburgh, we have a GREAT Lego idea to pass along.   Consider it "open source" just like Tesla's patents.  (H/T to Mr. Musk!)

So what is it?   Glad you asked....

Big Snack Attack

There comes a time in every beach vacationer's day when the stomach rumbles.   For some of you this time comes VERY frequently-- looking at YOU teenagers-- and every beach needs a place for some snacks.

Just Add Water

Filling in the gaps around Bricksburgh can be as simple/cheap or as hard/expensive as we wanted to make it.  Luckily, there are some easy ways to make your island "pop" without going the hard/expensive route.

Certainly this is one of them... but actually there is an even better way.

What Have We Been Up To??

You're probably wondering where we've been and what we've been up to.
Well, let me tell you.  We have found ourselves overwhelmed with final preparations for a new arrival to our home.  It's very exciting for us-- and I hope you'll read on for more details, but here's a hint:

Trailer Queen

Felt guilty not posting more videos this month-- so here's a quick one I whipped together this morning.  It features a car trailer that's been roaming around town for a long time now (surely you've seen it!).  Pretty simple design, looks good, functions well and easy to make.

Check it out!  Follow us and Subscribe!

A Shore Too Far

FRIDAY!  It's FRIDAY!   Sometimes the weeks just seem to drag on forever.  Even in a plastic paradise like Bricksburgh a minifig can't catch a break!

Our diver friend here thought he'd made a fortune-- finding a jewel out on the floor of the ocean, but alas....

The Tightest Bricks In the Shipping Business

Last post we showed you a typical Bricksburgher's departure from our little plastic paradise.  Today's post won't be quite as "storied" but it will show you the main parts of the "air cargo machine" at work.

As we dive into the dirtier and less flashy side of the airport, here's a quick look at a heavy cargo aircraft which has just landed.

Getting Out of Town

Looking for a quick getaway?   Where do you go when you already live on an island paradise?  Well, let me tell you-- away is AWAY no matter where you are!   So in the interests of following up our video on YouTube-- and as our 100TH POST--  here is the first of two posts covering our airport complex.  This one will follow a passenger's trip through the terminal, the second one will go into some details about our air cargo and freight capabilities.

Minifigs looking to "blow this popsicle stand" will first need to find a way to the airport.  You'll know when you're there because of the big signs out front and the overhead lights (which will also have more detailed signs someday).  So come along, click through, and let's get outta here!

Is This the Droid You Are Looking For?

Okay, we've seen this truck before, but what is it carrying?   I wandered across this unusual payload the other day when we were shooting the harbor video.

Can you make out what it is?   Click through for a better shot of it.

Everything is Awesome!

Last weekend, FINALLY, the whole family made a rare trip to the movie theater to see...  yep, you guessed it.  The Lego Movie!

So what did we-- the owners of Bricksburgh.com-- think about the Lego Movie's "Bricksburg"?
I'm glad you asked-- and you're safe, NO SPOILERS ahead:

Walk This Way

Around here we're pretty pro-Physical Therapists.  If your body is broken and it needs to be rehabilitated, find yourself a good PT!  But what does it look like when a minifig breaks a leg??

I'm glad you asked--- click through  -->>

New Airport Tour - 2014

Fresh tour of our airport and air cargo complex now available on YouTube:

But WAIT!   There's more....

Preview of Our New Harbor

Greetings Bricksburghers!

After a long hiatus, the harbor complex is returning to Bricksburgh.  You'll recall that it one of the few remaining "unfinished" areas of the new town (the other being the neighborhood).  Truly no Lego city is ever FINISHED, but I think you know what we mean.

If you can ignore the "construction" we'll take a quick preview tour around the complex.

Failure to Yield

As you may have read earlier, we had some car crash drama in our household recently.  Someone rear-ended one of our cars at a stop sign.  No one was hurt and our car has since been repaired, but it seemed like as good a time as any to show you some pictures of a recent chain reaction crash.   Tyler took all these pictures-- they were a complete surprise to me when I emptied the camera card!  He tells a great little story though...  as I think you'll agree:

Uh-oh...  something has happened here for sure!

Top Lug

We're big fans of BBC's "Top Gear" and have been enjoying their return to television this month.  Those of you who watch/look closely will often see white Stig or black Stig lurking in the background of our videos and pictures.   In honor of TG's superb 2nd episode of this season (which was much better than the 1st, happily), here's a clearer look at the long-gone black Stig.

I'm not sure if he's waiting for that bus or if he's waiting for a race car.  He's standing right outside the pit garages of our Speedway complex.  OH!  I just had an idea...

Safe Harbor

We're still running pretty light on posts/videos, but that doesn't mean we're not working hard for you!  One of the last remaining large projects for the new Bricksburgh is the rebuilding of its industrial might-- namely, the harbor complex.  It will pay homage to its previous versions, which you can find pictures of on this blog, but is also expanding quite dramatically.  Pictures and such will be coming... but for now, here's a preview:

Racer Adaptations

We've acquired a lot of the Racer sets over the last few years.  While only slightly more expensive than Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars they're better because you can change the cars' designs around and, of course, when they crash you can "damage" them.

The only downside is that you can't put a minifig in them...  and their wheels are set too wide to match the rest of the Bricksburgh traffic.   So, we had to adapt them.

Making a First Impression

Slow going here this week.  We are juggling options after someone crashed into our car and we might have to replace it.

But you didn't come here to read about that so here's a little update on the Airport complex.

Think Warm Thoughts

Here in Pittsburgh-- like much of the country-- we are experiencing CRAZY cold weather this week.

 To help get your "Lego mind" off of the extreme temperatures outside, here are some pictures from Bricksburgh's warm sandy beach and ocean front.