Beyond Blocks

Is this year the year your child takes off with programming?

We've just relaunched our Introductory LEGO Robotics course at Surbiton Hill Methodist church for September, so if we're not yet at your school, this is the best place to start and this season we're giving you the option to attend with your child if you wish

Places are limited. Want to reserve your space?

https://beyondblocks.co.uk/clubs/surbitonhillmethodistchurch/

The new season trailer is out for FIRST LEGO League UK from the IET Education team and it looks really exciting.

It's the final year of FLL as we know it, and we are fully subscribed with 4 teams going in this year and I can't wait.

Check out the season trailer below, and keep your eyes open around 1:04 for a familiar face...

Day 8 of our summer Big Build and it's almost done!

The top half of the wing came on and you can see the command deck visible, which covers the Emperor's throne room.

The top half of the wing also had to be reinforced but not quite as much.

We're in the home stretch now, and when we finish it tomorrow we'll be doing a bit of stop motion animation with it.

It's been a long build, with exciting bits and less exciting bits, with some nice internal features.

Day 7 of the Big Build camp and we've mainly been working on getting the bottom wing panels attached.

We've had to do a lot of work on the panels. Having built Raskolnikov's Star Destroyer last year, we found the panelling on the wings of this model is disappointingly thin.

The panels were huge, but only 2 plates thick and held together only by the clutch between studs. As the panels increased in length, we found that the design and perhaps the clutch power of the Mould King parts meant that the panels were not holding together very well.

But this gave us a really interesting set of problems to solve as the children had to work out how to stop the panels from coming apart.

We then had to work out how to attach the wings with our additional reinforcements.

It was a hard day, but we were really satisfied when that panel went on.

2 more days and we think we'll be able to get it completed in time for the show in Southend this Sunday.

Day 6 of our Big build camp. The main body has been added so the hull is now in place.

It's looking really good!

Day 5 of our Big Build Camp!

We're over the halfway mark and things are starting to get complicated. It's no longer just building individual sections as the children now have to bring them all together and work out how everything fits. That means teamwork, communication and plenty of problem-solving.

The children have worked incredibly hard this week and it's brilliant to see the ship finally starting to take shape. We're really proud of everything they've achieved so far.

We'd also like to give a huge shout-out to Jorstad Designs, LLC whose incredible Eclipse design we've been building this week. If you enjoy amazing brick-built spacecraft, go and check out their Instagram – they've created some truly spectacular models.

We were contacted by Jorstad this week and learned that they say they were not involved in, or compensated for, the commercial production of this kit. We weren't aware of that when we bought it, and we can't comment on the legal position, but it has made us reflect on something that's important to us.

At Beyond Blocks, we believe creativity has value and it's something we recognise and celebrate in all our sessions.

Whether it's a child designing a robot, an engineer solving a problem or a designer spending hundreds of hours creating an incredible model like this one, creators deserve to be recognised for their work and, where companies profit from those creations, fairly rewarded too.

MOULD KING, this really is a fantastic kit, and it's a shame this conversation has to sit alongside it. We'd love to see manufacturers and independent designers working together, with designers receiving clear credit and fair compensation for the amazing creations that make our hobby so special.

Our brick building community is stronger when we work together.

Now... back to building. We've still got half a Star Destroyer to finish!