James May: New Lego & Meccano Engineering Series

Well, either way, I'll be there in the morning to witness the demolition. In getting down here, I figured out why people stay in Coventry - it's because they can't face that ring road. Those junctions where people are coming on and off at the same place and crossing over are... interesting, and don't get me started on some of those roundabouts. The fact that my satnav kept losing signal around the flyovers and not being able to tell me which exit it wanted me to take really didn't help. Still, I eventually escaped and once I was on the M40 I calmed down.
Then I discovered that despite what I'd said to my instructor when doing my pass plus, my mini in the outside lane isn't at all unlikely. The car doesn't have much pull in fourth so if I end up having to slow right down because of trucks, it takes about a week to get back up to 70 and that's annoying for me and everyone behind me. After doing that a couple of times, I got a lot bolder. :)
Anyway, I'll report on tomorrow, but I won't be there Wednesday, as Dad decided he doesn't like the noise my car makes from the minute it took me to move it to a parking space he thought was better. It does make a bit of a racket, the carb's set up wrong so it's overfuelling and it's a bit tappety but without asking me he's booked it in for a service with some bloke he knows from the tandoori. I'm not happy about this, as I was going to take it to my mate, who's a mini specialist from a family of mini specialists, as he's got plenty of spares and would just advise and let me do the actual work myself. If he thinks I'm letting someone I've never met and who I know took four attempts to actually fix *dad's* car loose on it he's got another think coming, so I'm going to stay there with a book and insist they let me watch what they do.
Did anyone contact Rebecca about the things they made? I'm really not bothered about most things, but I'd not say no to one of the small gable-ended roof sections.
 
Just heard from a fellow volunteer, they have trashed the inside pulling out the electrics and all the furniture has gone from inside :cry:
 
Oh, lovely. Sounds like they're taking plenty of care. Hopefully the furniture and so on has been taken somewhere.
 
:cry:

I'm really sad that they didn't manage to save the Lego House.

Still, a few days ago I read a comment on TopGear.com made by Escapee that I thought was really really good:

What is a Lego? It is infinite possibility, limited only by the imagination of the creator. By relegating any Lego to a permanent position that possibility is forever lost.

What better use for the majority of the blocks in the project than to release them back into that world of imagination and wonder; perhaps some young genius, inspired by the scale and intricacy of this project, will use them to go on and create something even more spectacular.

(?)

So let the inspiration from this project spread throughout the land. Let?s see if we can preserve the greatness of the ?House that James Built? not by cementing the blocks together, but by joining the imagination of youths far and wide by providing them an opportunity to use these blocks and the fantastic vision from whence they came to create their own wonders.

A far larger House may someday be the result

I'm going to cling on to that. :)
 
I think there's more benefit than just what Escapee said.
As I said a lot during the project, these toys help develop basic skills that a lot of other toys don't - problem solving, 3d design and resource management for example - and when you develop those skills early, then it's easier to make more of them later. I can't cite on it, and perhaps partially it's that kids inclined in that direction will prefer to play with toys like lego, but even so, the kids who didn't develop those skills early are going to have a lot of catching up to do and probably aren't going to bother trying too hard at something they consider themselves to be rubbish at.
The result, therefore is that if you give kids lego and meccano they're going to be a lot more likely to become engineers when they grow up - so you're looking at not just bigger and more ambitious lego structures, but 'real' buildings and technological advances.
Also, let's not forget that Hammond found lego useful when he was recovering from the crash, so it would probably be of benefit to a lot of other people with brain injuries or learning difficulties and so on. I think I'd rather it was used for that than just sat there looking pretty... but then, I had lego as a kid, so I'm an engineer, not an artist and I would think that. :)
 
Well I'm here at denbies and vic and a small team are taking it apart by hand, with just reciprocating saws for the timber. I've just been given lesley's car keys and sent on a coffee run. :)
 
Sounds quite leisurely and much less violent than previously supposed.

(the little kid in me is a tiny bit disappointed not to see giant lego-ripping chainsaws going fully nuts on the house buuuuuuuuut... very probably for the best!)
 
Aaand a finalgear web exclusive! Check twitter.com/random_c for a picture of vic through the hole in the wall.
 
Aaand a finalgear web exclusive! Check twitter.com/random_c for a picture of vic through the hole in the wall.

Trust him to get his head in a pic! ;)
Well at least the weather is better than the last time i saw it! Am GUTTED the flag is gone :cry:, worked so hard on that, and the bathroom and the windows and etc, etc
 
That is a low down person that would steal a man's cat.

And it is nice to see James is trying to get it back.
 
Awww, Fusker has gone AWOL. :cry:

I can't believe that someone actually knicked the cat, after being allowed into the house. :(
When I read the article I kind of thought about this, if they reallllly cared they could probably find it as I can't imagine a ton of people have been allowed in the house, and at this stage with it being complete wouldn't they have had to sign something saying they wouldn't like release video or pics?
 
I guess this means I should dismantle my lego house too. It's only appropriate.
 
I guess this means I should dismantle my lego house too. It's only appropriate.

Noooo! I have had too many heartbreaks the last 2 days!! Please don't break yours too :cry: ;)
 
Noooo! I have had too many heartbreaks the last 2 days!! Please don't break yours too :cry: ;)

We have pictures and I can always build something better later. I've been wanting to model up a cup or vessel of some kind to see how water tight I can make it.
 
We have pictures and I can always build something better later. I've been wanting to model up a cup or vessel of some kind to see how water tight I can make it.

Heh heh ask HeidiL about that....

Well, have done my bit, have pre-ordered the DVD, expected release date 30 November....squeee! ;)
 
i am still spitting nails all that work has gone to hell. As far as I am concerned legoland can take a long walk off a short pier and keep going. It just adds insult to injury that lego fusker has been stolen .... how low can people go
 
Well, I did my bit with the rubber mallets, and I've got quite a few pictures of it coming down. Taking Fusker is low, I would have assumed that Plum/Christina took it when clearing all the other movables out. If that's the case then getting it back should be fairly easy.
 
Top