10 Best Model Building Books

Have you ever wondered what your LEGO creations would look like on the big screen? The LEGO Animation Book will show you how to bring your models to life with stop-motion animation–no experience required! Follow step-by-step instructions to make your first animation, and then explore the entire filmmaking process, from storyboards to post-production. Along the way, you’ll learn how to: -Create special effects like explosions and flying minifigures -Convey action and emotion with your minifigure actors -Design sets for animation–make three buildings look like an entire city! -Light, frame, and capture consistent photos -Add detail and scope to your films by building in different scales -Build camera dollies and rigs out of LEGO bricks -Choose cameras, software, and other essential animation tools Dive into the world of animation and discover a whole new way to play! For ages 10+

In The LEGO Neighborhood Book , you’ll create buildings with real-world details like cornices and facades, and try your hand at interior design by filling your buildings with furniture and light fixtures. Then add the finishing touches to your models with plants, traffic lights, scaffolding, and park benches. Snap together a few houses, shops, and apartment buildings to create your own neighborhood! Inside you’ll find: -Complete, step-by-step instructions for four multistory buildings -Dozens of inspiring ideas to use in your own models -Mini builds for a recliner, old-time lamp post, traffic light, and more -A gallery of the authors’ designs For ages 10+

The LEGO ® BOOST® Idea Book contains dozens of ideas for building simple robots with the LEGO BOOST set. The LEGO ® BOOST® Idea Book explores 95 creative ways to build simple robots with the LEGO BOOST set. Each model includes a parts list, minimal text, screenshots of programs, and colorful photographs from multiple angles so you can re-create it without step-by-step instructions. You’ll learn to build robots that can walk and crawl, shoot and grab objects, and even draw using a pen! Each model demonstrates handy mechanical principles that you can use to come up with your own creations. Models come with building hints and ideas for putting your own spin on things. Best of all, every part you need to build these models comes in the LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox (set #17101).

Originally published in Japan, Karakuri is an introduction to the simple mechanisms, such as gears, cranks, cams, and levers, used to bring to life these amazing moving paper models or automata. Included are pull-out pages for you to use to construct your own moving models of the different types of gears. These models serve as the basis for designing your own karakuri or may just be admired on their own. Detailed explanations, accompanied by diagrams, explain the physics behind how karakuri move and operate, so you really learn about the properties of the different types of gears and cams. And to inspire you, also included are four fun, full-color karakuri models designed by the author, a well-known paper engineer. Printed on pull-out pages and easily assembled, the projects include a whimsical tea-serving robot, an amusing penguin perched on an iceberg and trying to fly, a delightful peek-a-boo-playing teddy bear, and a mesmerizing train that goes around on a track and through a tunnel! With complete directions, fourteen full-size models, and the science behind the craft revealed, Keisuke Saka’s book is a unique introduction to an ancient art and a perfect gift for creative and imaginative minds.

At last, fans of the LEGO BOOST robot building kit have the learning resource they’ve been missing! Enter The LEGO BOOST Activity Book : a full- color guide that will help readers learn how to build and code LEGO creations that move, explore their environment, grab and lift objects, and more. The LEGO BOOST kit lets younger builders create fun, multifunctional robots by combining bricks with code, but it doesn’t come with a manual. With the help of this complete guide to the LEGO BOOST set, you’ll be on your way to building and programming BOOST robots in no time. You’ll begin your exploration by building a basic rover robot called MARIO to help you learn the fundamentals of the BOOST programming environment. Next, you’ll add features to your rover to control its movement and make it repeat actions and react to colors and sounds. Once you’ve learned some programming basics, you’ll learn how to program your robot to do things like follow lines on the ground, scan its environment to decide where to go, and even play darts. As final projects, you’ll create two complete robots: BrickPecker to help you organize your bricks and CYBOT, a robot that talks, shoots objects, and executes voice commands. As you advance through the book, optional lessons aim to deepen your understanding of basic robotics concepts. Brain BOOSter sections let you dig into the math and engineering behind your builds while a host of experiments seek to test your skills and encourage you to do more with your robots. With countless illustrations, extensive explanations, and a wealth of coding examples to guide you, The LEGO BOOST Activity Book is sure to take you from beginning builder to robotics whiz and give your robot-building brain that needed boost!