Brian Heins

The Vulture is a Star Wars style LEGO Spaceship using the new colors created for the Star Wars sets. I really like the concealed landing gear and weapons in the front. That's my favorite part of the ship. It was quite difficult getting all that detail into such a small amount of space. That's also where I got the name. In flight, the Vulture's nose tips down, like a landing concorde jet, to give the pilot a better view while flying. I assume it would have advanced landing programs so the pilot could have video displays of the landing area. The tactical purpose of this ship design is as a scout craft with self defense ability.

I built this race car in high school shortly after I got the LEGO 8860 Auto Chassis set. I already had 2 pistons from other sets and this one came with an H4 engine. I figured out how I could mount 6 pistons together and in a V configuration, then I had a chain drive to connect it to the motor mounted near the bottom frame of the car. I routed the wire up through the enigine bay so i could follow the car around with the battery pack control box. The little 1175 LEGO motor actually did move this beast, quite impressive considering the weight of those old 1236 wheels, and I was using 10 of them to get the proper proportions of wheel sizes. The frame of the car is pretty minimal, intentional to keep the weight down. I would rethink that spoiler however. In the background you can see my old tool drawers, I think I had 4 of them sorted at one time. And just to the right is a matching LEGO Trike I built a little earlier than this car..

This is a MAZDA MIATA model based on the 8865 LEGO Test Car set. I used the base undercarriage with a few modifications. This is by far one of the heaviest car models I've ever built. No point trying motorize it. The chassis rolled pretty smooth but the suspension was floored. The weight of the body panels and interior took a heavy toll on the little LEGO shock assemblies. I think I broke one open before redesigning the suspension system with some strut supports. I had planned for a retractable top but scrapped that idea when I lifted the finished model and saw how far down the wheels dropped. A stiffer tuning job would have helped this but Ididn't know much about that back in 1992.

I have recently moved to a new location in the Art Department at Novalogic. This is a picture of my cubical about a month before I moved. The device acting as a computer case is actually the base of what was a very large crane tower. It stood about 6 feet above my head and could be spun with the 9v Motor with gear reduction from my 8485 Control Center II mounted vertically, or by using the hand crank and removing the motor. I wanted to put a clutch in the gearing between the mototr and the cracnk so I could keep it all together but I had wished to redesign the turntable first. One day I'll build a better mousetrap, but not today.

This is my new desk at Novalogic. I may actually be the first artist at this company to have his own office, and I even get a window too. It's really great. I love having my LEGO models around me when I work.

These are my Practical LEGO creations. This includes items like our baby monitor stand and the halogen desk lamp stand, shown right, which was commisioned by my wife. She needed the lamp to be higher than the screen on her laptop computer so it would shine on the keyboard and work area in front. This gives it about 5 1/2 inches of additional

clearance, plenty to raise it over the monitor, and it puts the light switch on the base of the lamp at an ideal height. The pencil holder, shown above, was requested to complete the desk set. Clara added the eraser holder on the front after I finished the model. I believe that the designs share a simple Asian form, horizontal lines, and monochromatic. And that fits well with our office decor. Another baby related item is my solution to the lack of counter space in our bathroom for our daiper changing table. We have a stool that is just a few inches (5 + 2/3 bricks)

shorter than the countertop where we want the changing table. Clara originally wanted to use a couple of books but I was concerned with the instability the books would present, so I built this device shown to the left, I guess you can call it a daiper changing table support. The blue bricks on top lock the table in place very well, the studs line up with the space around the legs of the table. The grey plates give it amazing strength across the span over and under the stool, and the yellow bricks resting on the stool and at the sides provide the framework for the whole piece. It's difficult for me to call something like this a LEGO model, it's more of a Practical LEGO solution.

There were a few fundamental flaws discovered during the testing of this track. After spending one evening assembling the track in 3 parts, I discovered the difficulty in dealing with L-shaped plate layouts as one piece, especially in packing and carrying through doors. I have since redesigned this into a modular track system. I have straight sections, straights with obstacles, and 90 degree curves in 3 varieties; with curves, with flat edges, and in figure 8 patterns. This system works much better and the racing is really fun. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.