Book Review: Tiny Lego Wonders

I have a whole file devoted to instruction manuals. No, I don’t often use them, but yes, I have needed them from time to time! Tucked away in my file cabinet, they’re uninspiring, droll little sheaths of paper. But I’ve happened upon a new instruction manual, one that turns convention on its head.

Tiny Lego Wonders by Mattia Zamboni would look great on your coffee table, even if you couldn’t tell a Lego from a legume. As a life-long
Lego user, I was excited to open the book but was immediately
Captivated and distracted by the quality of the book itself. Gloss and matte textures contrast playfully on the cover, and it’s well bound to stay open happily once you’re ready to build.

Inside, you’ll find 40 sets of instructions for a variety of models, from race cars to construction equipment, cargo ships to spacecraft.
Each model has a clear and simple bill of materials, plus further illustrations for variations and modifications. Beautify and simply laid out, they remind me of everything I never got from the instruction manual for my, er, toaster.

The real deal-maker is the stark, elegant page layout, bolstered by solid photography and interspersed with the models set among excellent large-scale dioramas. Like the engineering of Lego bricks themselves, it provides a clear path to success while offering your imagination unlimited headroom.

It’s as pleasing to page through as it is to use for it’s stated purpose, but one word of warning: the models were largely designed around contemporary Lego bricks, which include some specific pieces that make these small models realistic beyond their scale. If you’re working from a vintage selection of bricks, be prepared to get creative or you may have to go shopping for some new bricks.

But hey, who doesn’t like shopping for Legos?

About the Author
Mattia Zamboni is a fan of computer graphics, photography, and LEGO. He is the co-author of the LEGO Build-It Book series (No Starch Press), has contributed to several other LEGO books, and has been a LEGO Ambassador since 2015. He works as a researcher in the robotics lab at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, and in his free time, he pursues his passion for 3D computer graphics. Check out his work at www.brickpassion.com

Tiny LEGO Wonders
Publisher: No Starch Press
Author: Mattia Zamboni
Print ISBN: 978-1-59327-735-2
Price: $24.95
Publication Date: July 2016
Specs: 208 pp., 4C, Hardcover
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000

IMAGES:
TinyLegoWondersCover
SamplePages

Whether you just bought your bike, or have one that’s been sitting a while, Rouser Rob and this Back to Basics video will outline what you need to check before your next ride. Watch it now.

This next video goes along with checking your bike for wear items. Back to Basics by Biltwell demonstrates how to change your oil, using a Dyna as an example.

Post by Marilyn Stemp

Worldwide circumstances have conspired to ensure that this year’s 80 th anniversary
Sturgis Rally won’t be the stellar celebration once planned. That said, once August 7th
rolls around, the eight-decade occasion will most certainly be marked, if with less
fanfare.

As bikeriders, we appreciate the significance of an 80-year milestone in motorcycling,
especially one celebrated in western South Dakota where the aura of wild west rebellion
and revelry so synergistically dovetails with biking. I’d wager that’s part of the rally’s
allure for us cowboys and cowgirls on iron horses. But even the most fervent rider would
agree: the relative longevity of this motorcycle rally pales quickly compared to the much
longer and far more dramatic American pioneer heritage that’s rife in these parts.
On my annual treks to the Black Hills to cover the rally over several decades, I barely
caught a glimpse of the region’s frontier history. It was all about the here and now. But
in more recent years, as I started arriving early, staying later and finally moving to South
Dakota, my inner history nerd won out. Women’s letters on the westward journey,
soldiers’ diaries recounting military campaigns, even cowboy poetry became my reading
of choice. Each year, when rally work was wrapped up, the western horizon beckoned.
Yes, I went to Yellowstone, Cody and Little Big Horn, of course. But there were also
gold mines, ghost towns, sacred sites, buffalo jumps and rock formations both natural
and man-carved. So much to see!

I soon went full-on geek, sifting through the Historical Marker Data Base and
Waymarking.com before trips. I’d alter my route when I spied small brown road signs
reading “Lewis & Clark Trail.” I hated when circumstances demanded I leave a roadside
“point of interest” unexplored. One October I happened upon scenery so stunning along
Highway 20 south of Thermopolis, Wyoming, that I did a U-turn at the bottom of the
canyon just to ride it the other direction and back again.
So imagine my delight when I learned of a memorial commemorating the little-known
Battle of Slim Buttes so close to home; a mere 90 miles north of Sturgis, near Reva, SD.

The story goes like this:
In the late 1860’s Jonathan White was one of many former Civil War soldiers seeking
fortune and adventure in the West. Sharp scouting skills and an affable nature earned
him work as a civilian scout with the Army. By the 1870’s he’d met and become a
devotee of Buffalo Bill Cody, emulating Cody’s mode of dress and literally following him
around. General Philip Sheridan once said White followed Cody too closely, mockingly
nicknaming Buffalo Bill’s ardent admirer “Buffalo Chips White”
By the autumn of 1876, White was scouting for General George Crook, whose troops
were combing western South Dakota for bands of Native Americans in the months after

the Battle of Little Big Horn. On September 9 th , Crook got word that Captain Anson Mills,
who’d been sent to Deadwood for supplies, had captured a Lakota Sioux village near
the Slim Buttes, an area so named for its rocky formations. A counter assault was
expected and Mills wanted help.

When Crook, White and three cavalry companies arrived, Mills and his men were under
attack by Crazy Horse’s warriors, led by Chief American Horse. Thanks to the
reinforcements, the Army ultimately took control. Though there were heavy casualties
among the Natives, only three on the Army side were lost, one of them civilian scout
Jonathan “Buffalo Chips” White.

Based on remaining accounts, the good-natured scout was sorely missed. Among the
stories that persisted is one claiming he was so steadfast a friend that he once saved
Buffalo Bill Cody’s life. Friends like that come along but rarely.
Bike riders know about prized friendships, the ones we make on the road, the ones that
persist over decades. Riding together has a way of turning strangers into friends. That’s
why naming his campground after “Buffalo Chips” White made sense to Sturgis Buffalo
Chip owner Rod “Woody” Woodruff. Woody’s witnessed quite a few friendships made,
molded and multiplied over the Chip’s 39 years. I’d wager he’s also made a few friends
himself.

So when you’re next in the Black Hills, why not make new friends or travel with old ones
on your social-distance machines to pay respects to the grit and fidelity of “Buffalo
Chips” White? It’s an ideal destination ride for celebrating the steadfast courage of
those who tamed the wild west and the staunch friends they made in the process.
Comforting thoughts in these turbulent times.

* The Battle of Slim Buttes monument is located off SD Highway 20, ¼ mile west of the
intersection with SD Highway 79, about one mile west of Reva, SD.