What exactly is a slope? What's the difference between a tile and a plate? Why is it bad to simply stack bricks in columns to make a wall? The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide is here to answer your questions.

Focusing on building actual models with real bricks, The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide comes with complete instructions to build several cool models but also encourages you to use your imagination to create your own fantastic creations.

Inside, you'll learn:

• The best ways to connect bricks and creative uses for those patterns
• Tricks for calculating and using scale (it's not as hard as you think)
• The step-by-step plans to create a train station on the scale of LEGO people (a.k.a. "minifigs")
• How to build spheres, jumbo-sized LEGO bricks, micro-scaled models, and a mini space shuttle
• Tips for sorting and storing all of your LEGO pieces

The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide also includes the Brickopedia, a visual guide to nearly 300 of the most useful and reusable elements of the LEGO system, with historical notes, common uses, part numbers, and the year each piece first appeared in a LEGO set.

The firm foundation for your LEGO hobby starts here!

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The LEGO System: Endless Possibilities
• Back to Basics: Tips and Techniques
• Minifig Scale: Oh, What a Wonderful Minifig World It Is!
• Miniland Scale: The Whole World in Miniature
• Jumbo Elements: Building Bigger Bricks
• Microscale Building: More Than Meets the Eye
• Sculptures: The Shape of Things to Build
• Mosaics: Patterns and Pictures in Bricks
• Technic: Not as Technical as It May Seem
• Putting It All Together: Where Ideas Meet Bricks
• Beyond Just Bricks: Other Things to Do Besides Building
• Sorting, Storage, and Sitting Down to Build Something
• Making and Using Tools for LEGO Projects
• Appendix A: Brickopedia
• Appendix B: Design Grids: Building Better by Planning Ahead
• List of Key Figures
• Index