My daughter and I built this LEGO DNA sculpture for her school science project.  It took us a lot of trial and error to come up with the design, but I think it turned out great.  This is the first model I’ve ever glued, because without it the sculpture was very fragile and would have never survived the trip to school.  We used Oatey All-Purpose Cement, which was smelly but did a great job of holding the model together.  It actually melts the plastic bricks together, so the sculpture is very sturdy.

More Pictures Below…

The picture above was taken more from the top, which gives a better view of the spiral effect.

Above is a close up of the center connections.  Notice the different jigsaw designs which only allow each colored section to bond with the proper corresponding colored section.  The other LEGO DNA models I’ve seen usually don’t have this feature, which my daughter said was a critical part of the design for the assignment.

Above is another close up showing a series of several steps in the ladder.

Overall, LEGO turned out to be a great tool for modeling DNA.  We had fun coming up with this design, building and gluing the model together.

The box even has a removable cover, so it could be used as a small jewelry or treasure box.

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted a project with a love theme. I have featured a Legend of Zelda mosaic with an ‘I Love You’ message as well as a love sign language sculpture.

I created these sculptures for a LEGO building workshop on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at the Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum. I did a LEGO Discovery Days Workshop in June, and the museum asked me back for another project. There are 16 kids signed up to build and I’m looking forward to this event.

Building Instructions and Part Lists…

Here is a larger image of each sculpture with both individual parts lists and a combined parts list.  Step-by-step instructions are not included (or needed) to build these models.  The only non-obvious construction detail is the inside of the bat body, and for this model I have included one additional image to expose this.

More pictures and information…

This sculpture took me about 6 hours to build and is roughly 1:2 scale of my hand, which I used as a guide to built it. Shown below is the back side with a soda can for comparison.

I found this sculpture to be very challenging. There are so many different curves and contours to consider and the two folded fingers were also tricky. There was more rebuilding during this project than most.

Here are a couple more pictures highlighting the folded fingers from different angles.

Although it is hollow, I estimate this LEGO sculpture contains about 1000 pieces, and weighs about 4 pounds.

Updated 08/29/2008:  This project is complete!  I’ve completed a full article with many pictures here.

More pictures and information…

It took me several orders from BrickLink to acquire all of the specialty parts needed to build this set. Most of my LEGO creations are done using standard bricks, so I didn’t have a lot of these parts on hand. Luckily, with BrickLink it is possible to get almost any LEGO element in bulk quantities.

I also made a minor change to the top of the queen, adding a layer of 1×1 round plates, which I think is a nice improvement.

Here is a picture of the red side.

Like my other Small LEGO Chess Set, I think this set is also very playable, which I’ve always thought of as an important attribute of a chess set.

These are simple projects to do with kids, and for some reason remind me of the wood and metal shop projects I proudly brought home in junior high school. I think my parents still have the letter holder I made in wood shop when I was 15 years old in their kitchen.

The leftmost item above is a 1×1 LEGO 10x Brick, which is the same dimensions as other two items. See below for more pictures and details.

Above is a picture of the pen and pencil holder with a single LEGO pen. The sides are constructed of all 1×2 bricks, the bottom is a 10×10 stud base which is 3 plates thick. The top edge has two rows of plates and is capped with tiles giving it the smooth edge.

Inside the bottom is also covered with tiles for a smooth surface.

Here is the other holder, which is the same dimensions. For this item I built my nickname (Dave) around the outside using the raised lettering technique from the BrickPlayer Logo Sculpture. It can be a pen and pencil holder without the cover, or a small storage container with the cover in place.

Here is the other side showing the ‘V’ and ‘E’. Like the other pen and pencil holder the inside bottom is covered with tiles for a smooth surface. With the cover in place the red portion of the box matches the outer dimensions of the 1×1 scaled-up brick exactly.

I guess now I just need to build a LEGO letter holder to go with my pen and pencil holders.

Additional pictures follow, including a 2-D screen shot simulation…

Below the sculptures are laid flat to simulate the way the video game actually looks (2-D).

Below is a picture of several of the sculptures under full lighting.

More pictures and information…

This set is designed to fit comfortably on a board with 4×4 squares, which is the same size as the chess boards in the LEGO chess sets.  (My last small chess set was sized for 6×6 squares.)  A couple days ago, I ordered a bunch of these chess boards on BrickLink to use as mosaic backing, which is what gave me the idea to build a custom set this scale.

Above is a more detailed shot of the pieces.  Like my last set, my favorite piece is the knight.

Above is a picture of the knight shown with one from my larger set for comparison.  The smaller scale definitely made it more challenging to match the shape of the pieces accurately.

Once I have built an entire set in this scale I will post an update with more pictures.

[Updated: 07/22/2008 - Smaller LEGO Chess Set Complete]

More pictures…

Above is a close up of the larger trophy.

And a close up of the smalller trophy.