This LEGO Thing

Over the past few months I've rather gotten into this whole Lego thing. Somehow it never got it's claws into me when I was a kid, my brother seemed to be the one who was into the engineering aspect of it and he was the one who ended up with a lot. Apparently this love finally arrived for me about 15 years later and now I am officially an adult fan of Lego. I have been drawn to Technic, mostly due to the fact that I really enjoy piecing mechanical components together and seeing how it all works. It might not be pure Lego, but it sure is still a lot of fun.

Keep on truckin'!
This monster has fully functioning battery powered crane. The gearbox required to make it work is Lego wizardry.

The Collection So Far
(Sackboy not official Lego. In fact he isn't Lego
at all. He is made of sack. Makes a good pilot
though.)

On my first Technic build, I really enjoyed piecing things together and then recognising them as some abstract concept I had picked up over the years from mechanical engineering osmosis from my brother and father. Piecing together my first differential and rack and pinion steering mechanism on my Lego Extreme Cruiser and realising what they were was pretty great. Being able to see these devices working in front of me as well as knowing how they are put together really brings a lot of understanding. I truly believe that I have learnt a lot from the various builds. I now have a greater understanding on the basic principles that underlie a modern motor car, as well as general engineering.

Of course to top it all of, building things is really fun. Putting together a new Lego set is a fantastic way to spend a few hours and best of all you always end up with a sweet model at the end of it.

Naked Lego Car. (For kids!)
Everything here is visible and working, including the
pistons in the engine, to the suspension and the
 steering mechanism.

Now I'm starting to wish that I had taken a different path when I was younger and become one of the Lego wizards. That seems like the best job. The people that design these Lego sets are clearly very clever and talented engineers. Would love to know how they do it...

Basically, Lego is awesome. So keep up the good work Lego Wizards! I salute you!