NALUG Garage Sale
DISEnchanted Market
Comic Book Expo 2024
GETS 2024
All aboard! Here are the top 5 reasons why you should definitely attend GETS 2024:
- Get inspired: Model train shows are a great place to see intricate and detailed layouts created by fellow enthusiasts. It's a great way to get new ideas and inspiration for your own railroad empire.
- Learn new techniques: From diorama techniques to track laying tips, model train shows often feature workshops and demonstrations that can help you improve your skills and take your hobby to the next level.
- Connect with fellow enthusiasts: Model train shows are a fantastic opportunity to meet and connect with other model train enthusiasts and AFOLs. Share your passion, swap stories, and make new friends who share your love for building.
- Shop 'til you drop: Model train shows are a paradise for collectors and hobbyists, with vendors selling everything from locomotives and rolling stock to scenery and accessories. You're sure to find that special piece you've been searching for.
- Fun for the whole family: Model train shows are a fun and family-friendly event for people of all ages. Bring the kids along and watch their eyes light up as they marvel at the miniature world of model trains. We know they will love NALUG's display!
DISEnchanted Market
Game Con Canada
Come by the Annual Game Con in Edmonton and find the NALUG booth! We'll have plenty of game-related MOCs on display.
Northern Bricks
Edmonton’s #1 LEGO Fan Event
- Play brick was available for children of all ages!
- LEGO® Masters shared their LEGO® joy with everyone.
- Over one hundred MOCs (My Own Creations) were on display.
- LEGO® vendors were on hand, showcasing their unique wares.
DISEnchanted Market
Come visit the Disenchanted Market, where NALUG will have a booth displaying pop culture MOCs!
New Years Eve 2023
NALUG prepared a Christmas-themed display as part of the New Year's Festival 2023 at Festival Place.
Arch Greenhouses
Yardbird Show 2023
YEGO 2023
Brick By Brick
Muttart Brick by Brick premiered June 26 and was designed especially for the Muttart Conservatory. The event ran for two months and featured many famous Edmonton landmarks, a large Star Wars display, and a Gingerbread Castle. Other displays included: Lego Spaceships, Disney, a beach, Ninjago, and Jurassic Park.
LEGO Movie Event 2023
NALUG took part in promoting the LEGO movie day at Metro Cinema in Edmonton this past week. See the gallery below for some awesome photos!
New Years Eve 2022
NALUG had a wonderful time at Enbridge's new year's eve event this year. Check out the photos below!
Disenchanted Market Dec 2022
A number of NALUG members attended the Disenchanted Market at the Alberta Aviation Museum on July 23, 2022.
NALUG put on a small display and had a wonderful time interacting with all of the attendees.
EXPO 2022
NALUG had a great time at EXPO this year. This year's display was bigger and better than before, featuring Pokemon, Star Trek, Stargate, Harry Potter, and so much more! Expo attendees came out in droves, and we had tons of fun interacting with everyone who stopped by.
YEGO 2022
Let's POP! 2022
Some members of NALUG attended the Let's POP (Let's Pursue our Passions) event on Boyle Street Plaza, on July 23, 2022.
A great time was had by all!
Disenchanted Market 2022
A number of NALUG members attended the Disenchanted Market at the Alberta Aviation Museum on July 23, 2022.
NALUG put on a small display and had a wonderful time interacting with all of the attendees.
Yardbird Show 2022
NALUG put on a pop-up show at the Yardbird Suite on July 9-10
All the members who participated had a great time, lots of people came through, and we got a standing invitation to use the venue again
Saskatoon Model Railroad Show 2022
With the world of shows and conventions starting to emerge post-COVID, NALUG was excited to be a part of the Saskatoon Model Railroad Show this year. NALUG once again managed to take home best in show for a non-scale layout! Congrats to Drew and Andrew for the awesome job. We'll be back again next year!
YEGO 2021
First LEGO League 2020
Saskatoon Model Railroad Show 2020
NALUG had another great showing at the Saskatoon Model Railroad Show (AKA: Toontown) this year, managing to take home the best in the show for a non-scale layout! Congrats to Drew and Andrew for the awesome job. We'll be back again next year!
Saskatoon Model Railroad Show 2018
NALUG put on another fantastic display at the Saskatoon Model Railroad Show this year. Trains, town buildings and automobiles played a prominent role (it is a train show, after all), but this year's layout also featured some custom amusement park rides! While they didn't work for the entire show - Michelle is still working out the kinks - they were a hit with all attendees. Our NALUG members also had a great time hanging out with and meeting the other train clubs in attendance, including our fellow LEGO fans from Saskatchewan.
Muttart Conservatory: A Blue Christmas 2017
On Sunday, December 10, 2017, from 11:00 to 15:00, NALUG thrilled hordes of families and young children with our Lego creations.
This was our second year there, and our layout was over twice the size of 2016. In keeping with their theme of a Blue Christmas, we converted Kolin’s rock and roll stage to host an Elvis concert with an Elvis minifigure bought at Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo. The center area was taken up with a new roller coaster consisting of 44 feet of track tubing, and all but two of the crosstie supports were sold in 2 expansion track packs from CDX bricks. It worked flawlessly for the entire duration of the show. A rarity for mechanized contraptions! Peter filled one end of the layout with his copies of the Lego amusement park rides, including the most recent Carousel and Ferris wheel and the Mixer. Al's House of Ralph food outlet also made an appearance along with most of the newer Lego food trucks, also courtesy of Peter.
Nadine's and Andrew H's help with set up and take down was much appreciated. Nadine went through her minifigure collection to find several clowns and mimes to fit the theme of the layout; they looked really nice. Special thanks to Martin, who manually controlled that ride and others for several hours while Michel tinkered and tried to get them all running. And as always, thanks to everyone who helped make the event such a fantastic success!
First Lego League 2017
This yearly event took place at NAIT, and NALUG had a small display. Since FLL is a LEGO Mindstorms robotics competition, our display focused on robots and other such contraptions. Some of the members specialize in Mindstorms (robots) and Technic (machines and vehicles with detailed parts). Blaine brought his usual robots based on three generations of LEGO programmable bricks: EV3, NXT, and RCX. He also exhibited his new Robo-Maze game.
Ponoka Display 2017
Earlier this year, The Ponoka and District Chamber of Commerce invited NALUG to host a display at its annual trade fair on April 28 and 29, 2017. Our members responded with a varying display which included Mickey and Minnie at church, a Ponoka grain elevator, and a train running through the town display. People also saw the carnival rides, a pirate scene, and a Star Wars display. We were also graced by the presence of Waldo and Yoda. Many had fun searching for Waldo and other characters within the display, and fun was had by all - including the young and not-so-young!
Enbridge New Years Show 2018
NALUG had another great evening at Enbridge's new years celebration. This year's display was focused on winter sport and activities, so we made sure to include a hockey rink and many other favourite Canadian pastimes.
Vimy Ridge 2017
Built by two NALUG (Northern Alberta Lego Users Group) members, Chris Gray and John Koob. They report it has over 140,000 pieces. I believe they said it took them 3 years from start to finish.
Enbridge New Years Show 2016
NALUG was invited back once again to help out with Enbridge's New Years Eve celebrations. The club put on another display that was enjoyed by kids, parents and families alike! The display featured a town, carnival and more. Many thanks to the members who were able to make it out and make the show such a success! We hope to return next year!
Muttart Conservatory Christmas Traditions 2016
On Sunday, December 11, from noon to 4 PM, A couple of our members had the pleasure of displaying a small winter-themed display at the Muttart Conservatory, as part of their trains, toys and Christmas traditions event. You can find out more about the event by following the links at the end of the article. Check out the picture below!
Thanks goes out to many of our club members. To Travis, who lent me all of the beautiful Winter Village sets. Chris G. who provided the original Christmas train and Drew, Ron and Travis whose baseplates covered with white bricksformed the base of the display. Thanks as well to Peter, who provided several of his awesome winter-themed vehicles. We forgot to advise him that there was an outdoor ice rink, so he didn't have time to make a Zamboni!
NALUG was in a quiet alcove with a woodworking group who shared a lot of their Christmas treats with us. It was fun to run some 12V trains, with the remote controlled switches and stop/go lights. Unfortunately, one of the old 12 V motors started to show signs of its age, and I ended up only running one of the two Christmas trains for the second half of the time there.
The organizers provided tables and chairs and even fed us lunch. There were a lot of younger patrons than we see at our other events; it was really fun to see their eyes light up at seeing Lego and even Lego trains. We might even have recruited another member. If we are invited again next year, we'll certainly try to enlarge the display if we can find more tables!
Toontown 2016
NALUG put on another great display at Toontown 2016 in Saskatchewan this year with cities, forests, windmills and of course trains running through it all. A good time was had by all and it was nice to meet up with our fellow Saskatchewan LEGO geeks. Thanks to everyone who supported us and came out to the show - we hope that you all had a blast!
Enbridge New Years Display 2015
NALUG had a great time displaying for our second time at Enbridge's new years event. This year, we created a game where all of the kids in attendance had to find various hidden minifigures across our display. It was a hit!
As always, we hope to be back next year, but until then are looking forward to the new year with much enthusiasm.
All Aboard Model Train Show 2015
In February- prairie railroad workshop hosted their 31st annual All Aboard Train Show. Some of the members of NALUG went down for the weekend where Andrew, Drew and Kris represented Edmonton for the non-scale category in the Train show. The members arrived on the Friday afternoon and they quickly began construction of the layout- from 3pm til 10pm. We had to get it done in time for Saturday! When morning arrived, it was early, with our team heading to the show two hours early to place the finishing touches... or at least get the trains running. It was a lot of work, but we managed to have everything set up. Of course, since we’re all perfectionists, there was continuous “improvement” of the display during the show.
The turnout for the show was incredible with hundreds of people showing up to see our display booth. During the show- we met the Saskatchewan Lego Users Group who also had a non-scale train display for the show. SLUG's layout had an amazing mash-up of themes looked fantastic. After the show, there was a celebration dinner along with an award ceremony where NALUG won runner-up in the non-scale category! After dinner, SLUG's invited our members to a friendly get-together.
Sunday, quickly rolled along and it was by far one of the longest days and by the end most of the members were burned out. But before we knew it, it was tear down. Tearing down is always easier than setting up, and after a few hours we were on our way back to Edmonton for a timely arrival around midnight.
Overall, it was amazing experience. Despite the weather and road conditions, our members had fun; They got chance to see other LUG's in Canada and meet amazing builders. It's definitely something to look forward to again next year.
Building Workshops 2015
Over the past couple of months, some of NALUG's members had the opportunity to be involved in some building workshops where they worked with and hopefully inspired some of the future builders of tomorrow.
For more pictures, feel free to check out the galleries for Grandin School as well as the Morinville Workshop
At Grandin School in December, Kris and Nic kicked things up with building some competitions for the kids. First, there was a Mixel building completion where each kid got a chance to have a series #2 Mixel and make another mixel out of it. It was so cool what some of the kids came up with- they were super incredible!
The other competition was a speed build. It started off with the kids building a smaller set like the Emerald Express or Red Thunder- they had 10 minutes to build them and the top 4 fastest builder moved on to the finals. For the finals the winners built the Halloween Bat as fast as they could. All in all, there were many prizes and no one was left out- everyone had fun! What topped it off was hearing the kids ask our members “will you be back again next week?"
This past January, one of our members, Tim, had the chance to run a building workshop with a local LEGO club in Morinville Alberta. Things started off with the kids being challenged to spell their own names out of Lego bricks. It was awesome to see the many different ways that there were to use Lego to create the same letters from building sideways to studs up or backwards. After that, the kids got their build on with a competition to build the tallest tower that they could within a certain time limit. The competition was intense as there was a custom build LEGO Kirby on the line for the tallest tower. With many spectacular structural collapses and some ingenuity to keep on going, one tower emerged victorious, but all of the kids learned a bunch about what goes into building anything on a large scale from LEGO bricks. The event was such a success that it even got its own newspaper feature in the local Morinville paper!
We all had a ton of fun at both events, and if time and resources allow, we may have the chance to participate in some more in the future!
First Lego League 2015
For over 10 years- NALUG and the FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) have been teaming up and this year were back! FLL took place at the NAIT campus main building from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Teams from all over Alberta came to compete in the First Lego League and NALUG was invited as exhibitioners in the main Lobby. Our member Kris and Trevor came to represent NALUG and they wowed the audience with some of the robotic creations that they brought. NALUG was also there to talk about the upcoming event Northern Bricks.
Northern Bricks is sponsored by EEK! and will be the first LEGO fan convention to be held in western Canada. We were inviting the teams to come along and show off their robots during the event. So If you haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet- click on the link http://theeek.com/northernbricks/. Sign up now to participate!
Overall, it another awesome show put on by NALUG and with the help of the FLL organizers we even got to talk about Northern Bricks at the closing ceremony and we hope that most of the teams will make it out and participate at the event in May. Throughout the weekend, it was great talking to all of the teams and seeing the amazing things that youth are capable of. It's definitely remarkable as well as inspiring to see what they built and the dreams they have for the future. We would to thank FLL again for all their help and for inviting NALUG back. See you again next year!
Grandin School Workshop 2015 Gallery
New Year's Festival 2014
To celebrate the end of the year, NALUG teamed up with Enbridge for the New Year’s Festival down at the Festival Place in Sherwood Park. Our display communicated Enbridge's slogan of "Life Takes Energy" by depicting the energy coming from a refinery plant making its way from the city to the small rural communities all around Alberta and we threw in a bit of fun, by creating a game for our guests as well! Each guest got to participate in a small scavenger hunt throughout our Lego display to identify certain minifigures, which was a huge hit! All the families and 500 or so guests that came through our display were blown away by the town and all the moving models we had created. One of the highlights of the night was when Kris M. and Fred W. had a chance to meet Sherwood Park's mayor- Roxanne Carr -they even got a hug!
Overall, it was an amazing night full of excitement and solid fun. We would like to thank Enbridge for this opportunity and we hope to be back again next year. And speaking of new years, we’re looking forward to many more awesome shows in the coming months. 2015 here we come!
Building With a Purpose 2014
This fall, one of our NALUG members, Kristopher M, presented to a group of kids at Eaglemont church in Beaumont. He had a blast throughout the presentation interacting with over 60 young, future master builders and working through the topic "Building with a Purpose". Throughout the presentation he saw many jaws drop as he showed off what Nalug has done throughout the years as well as his "MetalBeard Crew" MOCs. After the presentation there was an interview questionnaire where the organizer interviewed Kristopher and asked him some questions in regards to Lego, after which the kids had a chance to ask questions as well. To finish off the presentation, there was a "Build your own mini-fig session" with the children. They all had a chance to build themselves and over 60 min figs were built! This was definitely an amazing opportunity and most of all privilege to have been invited to take part in this event.
Enlightened Fall 2014
This past month, Guru Digital Arts College invited NALUG to take part in “Enlightened Fall”. Enlightened Fall is a networking event, embracing interactivity across a variety of cultures. “Create a spark! Spark up a conversation! Spark your imagination!“ - was the theme for the night. NALUG was asked to showcase projects that allowed the audience to interact with the pieces of art and the members of NALUG engaged the audience by charming them with their passion for Lego. We also had special guest, a Lego artist from Calgary: Eric MacCallum. He dazzled and awed the audience with his amazing Lego sculptures, and we must admit- his Lego Mario was pretty amazing-you should check him out! Now these events don’t always go as smoothly as planned and we had a slight mishap with one of Eric’s sculptures, but thankfully, he managed to put it back in one piece. Overall, it was an amazing night filled with memorable conversations, delicious food, amazing performances and the occasional comedic accidents. We’re very thankful that GDAC has gave us another opportunity to take part again in this excellent event. We hope to see you again next year!
Animethon 2014
This past weekend, NALUG had the privilege of running a display at Animethon - a massive Japanese animation (anime)-themed convention held in downtown Edmonton. The event was quite enjoyable, and we had a steady stream of visitors past our display booth throughout the weekend. It was always fun hearing people's expressions of sheer joy and amazement as they rounded the corner and saw Chris and Scott's gigantic display of Mordor from Lord of the Rings; there were quite a few people dropping their jaws! We also got to enjoy seeing plenty of people dressed up in crazy costumes for the event, most of which we didn't recognize but which were still awesome. All in all, we had a great time at the event and hope to come back next year for more!
2014 Saskatoon Train Show
February 22-23, 2014
Nalug members Andrew F. and Drew loaded up their trucks with tables, buildings, trains, track, etc., and headed east to the 30th Annual Model Train Show at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon Saskatchewan for the weekend. The show was Saturday February 22 from 9:00 to 17:00, and Sunday February 23 from 9:00 to 16:30 and was a lot of fun. Other groups at the show included SLUG (Saskatchewan Lego Users Group), Prairie Rail Workshop and the Yellowhead Rail Club. Over 4000 people attended the show throughout the weekend.
Enchanted Fall Meet and Greet 2013
NALUG was contacted in October 2013 about participating in an "Enchanted Fall" "meet and greet" get-together. It was to be held in the lobbies of the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. The event was hosted by the GURU Digital Arts.
Since we didn't really know what to expect, we took along a bunch of assembled Technic sets for folks to play with, as well as Laz's Sydney Opera House and London Bridge. Andrew F's new ATB building was the largest model, and quite impressed folks. Ron brought his model of Hawreliak House, which was built in 1919 and is now located in the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village at Elk Island. Don brought his expanded Statue of Liberty and Cafe Corner hotel. Chris G. brought his row houses and brick house College and the Alberta Jubilee Auditorium Society.
Attendance was expected to be 500-600 guests, and there were two dozen groups presenting or displaying. This was a new type of venue for NALUG and we didn't know what to expect. We definitely had fun, and met lots of interesting and artistic folks. One of the first sets of visitors was Edmonton's new mayor, Don Iveson, and his wife.
We wanted NALUG member John in the group photo, so the mayor's wife took the picture with his camera! It turns out the mayor is a Lego fan - he has some of the modular buildings, and there is Duplo in his office for his young children to play with. And yes, we talked about doing Edmonton's City Hall in Lego, but time will tell whether it happens. It would take a lot of windows!
Leo Nickerson School 2013
Leo Nickerson School - Sep 27, 2013
NALUG member Laz put on a display for Arts Day at the Leo Nickerson School in St. Albert, Alberta.
Provincial Archives Display 2013
June - September 2013
The Provincial Archives of Alberta did a display on the High Level Bridge, and so contacted us about displaying our model as part of that. It was on display there from June 3 through until September 20, 2013. The Archives are open to the public during the day Monday - Saturday, and on Wednesday evenings. Our display also included the Dudley B. Menzies Bridge (the Light Rail Transit, LRT bridge). This was the first public display of Andrew's new riverbanks. The Achives staff estimate that about 1200 people saw the display while it was there.
2013 Store Assembly
Sunday, May 5th 2013
With the new LEGO Store opening just around the corner, NALUG was contacted as to whether or not we'd like to help construct the models that would be displayed at the store in the many different windows. Naturally, we agreed! So this past Sunday, we hosted a build party for the whole of NALUG, with most of the members showing up - who wouldn't with free Lego to build?
The building started at around 1:00 am and finished up at about 5:00pm, which meant that when the pizza arrived there was little LEGO left to get greasy. Master build designs and sets were then taken to the store for display in the ribbon (the little windows where you get to see finished sets), and the showcase stands. A fantastic day!
Red Deer 2012
Red Deer Model Train & Hobby Show
NALUG members Drew, Kolin, Michel and Gary put on a display at this show in the Alberta city of Red Deer.
Four NALUG members braved the 100 mile drive in the cold and snow to put on a display at the Red Deer show this year. The display was mostly 9V trains, with some Star Wars models. Some of the town models new at GETS this September were shown, such as Michel's banks and Kolin's rock band stage, along with some older models and lots of trains. The display ran on standard Lego 9V train controllers.
Displaying at a show that is not just trains is a bit different for NALUG, even though we aren't strictly a train club. About 2000 visitors attended during the 2 days of the show.
Grandin Display 2012
One of NALUG's members, Laz, has an office in Grandin Mall in Saint Albert. That mall usually has unused storefront space. So, Laz worked out a deal where he could use a store there for NALUG display and storage space. These pictures were taken in early November, 2012, just after Laz had cleaned the windows. Laz has to clean them off every couple of weeks, since they accumulate a lot of finger-and-nose-prints from small observers.
The display has varied over the years. Currently it highlights Laz's model of "St. Joes" on the University of Alberta campus, the resort section that he had at GETS 2012, and two of Andrew's large models of downtown Edmonton buildings. Hmm. Andrew - you OK with your buildings on those rickity tables? :-)
The store isn't open to the public (that would require insurance and people there to man it), but since Laz works nearby, special requests can be handled.
First Lego League 2012
2012's FLL event was again held at NAIT. This is a fairly regular Technic/Mindstorms event for NALUG members.
Once again NALUG members Blaine and John participated in the annual First Lego League event held at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), this time with help from Fred and Jason K. The Mindstorms robots are Blaine's, and the construction vehicles are John's. There were over 50 teams competing, from all over Alberta and beyond, with an attendance of 400 - 500 people. FLL's official website is here.
Red Deer 2011
Red Deer Model Train & Hobby Show
NALUG members Andrew and Drew put on a display at this show in the Alberta city of Red Deer. Andrew and Drew went down to Red Deer for this show on October 29 & 30, 2011. It was held at the Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. They took a selection of their MOCs for display. The show had about 800 visitors over the weekend.
First Lego League 2011
2011's FLL event was again held at NAIT. This is a fairly regular Technic/Mindstorms event for NALUG members. NALUG members Blaine and John were at this year's FLL event. Blaine showed off his various LEGO Mindstorms robots. John had several Technic models on display.
Servus 2011
In early 2011 NALUG was contacted by Servus Credit Union, a provincial-level credit union in Alberta, Canada. They wanted to do a professional photoshoot for their annual report, and thought using LEGO buildings for it would be a good idea. We agreed! Laz built a great Servus building for the display, and hosted the photoshoot in the store he has the use of in Grandin Mall, Saint Albert. They took lots of pictures, a couple of which we have here.
Telus World of Science 2010
NALUG's ongoing relationship with Telus World of Science lead to another four month NALUG display there. This one included our High Level Bridge, LRT bridge and valley model, shown as part of a transportation display also featuring LEGO models by other groups. Sorry, no pictures yet.
First Lego League 2010
2010's FLL event was again held at NAIT. This is a fairly regular Technic/Mindstorms event for NALUG members.
NALUG members Blaine, John, Ian, Kolin and Tony attended this year's First Lego League event from 10 am to 2 pm, held again at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology). Several other groups from local schools and over a hundred visitors were also there.
Omnibot (ADRM) is Blaine's robot with three wheels and three ultrasonic sensors - omnidirectional. The mobile crane is John's set #8421. The Star Wars Hailfire Droid is Blaine's Mindstorms NXT robot based on Lego Star Wars set #4481, with a working missile launcher added.
Londonderry 2009
NALUG had the use of a store in Edmonton's Londonderry Mall, to display some of our models and to prepare for the annual train show. We were generally open to the public on Saturday afternoons, noon - 5p.m., and on holiday Monday afternoons.
Starting in 2009 NALUG had the use of a store on the main floor of Londonderry Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. The space was needed for Christmas stuff, so we had to leave in early November, but we hope to be back after Christmas. We had the store open Saturday afternoons, and also on the afternoons of holiday Mondays. We used the space to display lots of kits and custom models that various group members have assembled. We also used it for train layouts, including those being prepared for our annual showing at the Great Edmonton Train Show.
The pictures and movies shown here are from Saturday, September 5, 2009 - which was a couple of weeks before the 2009 GETS show. Stuff was coming together, but there was still work to do. Sorry about some of the pictures being a bit blurry - I was in a hurry.
Exterior View
Here is what you saw as you approached the store. To the left is one end of Laz's winter scene, which has been used for a few displays. He was awaiting his new FireHall set to add to the town portion. Al's new castle can be seen on top of the mountain. To the right you see Andrew's huge Enbridge building, behind the glass.
Toy Show 2008
On Sunday April 20, NALUG member Blaine and his wife Oksana displayed some of their Mindstorms and classic Lego at the Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show. As the pictures show, it was a good show, and a fun one.
First Lego League 2008
2008's FLL event was held at NAIT. As has become traditional, a few NALUG members had a small display at the event.
Telus World of Science 2007-2008
Telus World of Science Star Wars Display - September 22, 2007 - January 2008
This was NALUG's third display with TWOS, after the successful Egyptian and Dinosaur displays. There were lots of Star Wars minifigs, space ships, podracers and other vehicles. There were also displays of scenes on the planets Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, Geonosis, Yavin and Mustafar.
Capilano 2007
Castle Wars at Capilano Mall - Weekend of March 29, 2007
NALUG's second appearance at Capilano Mall was for a session of Castle Wars. We had a great keep with outer wall, huge armies including Andrew's giant trebuchet, and a lot of fun.
Royal Alberta Museum 2006-2007
NALUG displayed several detailed models, many relating to Alberta's centennial year of 2005, in an exhibit room of the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This display was so popular that the museum asked us to extend it 2 weeks beyond its original ending date.
Saskatoon 2006
This was NALUG's fourth appearance at the Saskatoon Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show, held at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Londonderry 2006
This was our second display at this local mall. It was mostly a mix of train, town and Technic.
Here in Alberta, a weekend in February is made long by adding a "Family Day". For the weekend, NALUG was invited back to the Londonderry Mall to do a small display - there were other activities for the Family Day monday, but we were asked to be there for the whole weekend (February 18 - 20). Due to mixups and delays, we ended up with not much lead time for the display, and not many volunteers. But, it came out pretty good in the end.
Two of our Chris's provided a lot of the MOC stuff. Chris M. provided most of the town stuff and vehicles, and several nice scenes. Chris G. provided the raised area (not the houses - one is Chris M's and one is Jon's), about half of the train rolling stock, the train track, and a couple small structures. Steve brought bridges (one quickly built for the display) and rolling stock. Nadine brought Technic models and her Train Shed. Blaine brought his Technic and Mindstorms robots, and some aliens. Drew brought Lego train models and DCC to play with. Dean brought his heavy hauler rig. Jon brought his house, which is a model of his own real house.
The same folks did most of the display manning, with visits from other NALUG members over the weekend. The crowds were as good as we've had at a mall display. The advertising the mall did helped on that. On Family Day, other events were nearby - dressed-up Star Wars fans, a petting zoo, a reptile display and face-painting. We held our own for visitors, except with the face painters - they had lineups from starting until they left.
LEGOslature
Legislature Display - ongoing
The Lego model of the Alberta Legislature building, built by NALUG members John Koob and Chris Gray with help from several others, is on permanent display in the indoor pedway system of the real Legislature grounds. The model is inside a great custom display case built by the craftsmen from the Royal Alberta Museum.
The LEGO model of the Alberta Legislature building was initially built for the 2005 GETS (Great Edmonton Train Show) display. 2005 was the Province of Alberta's centennial, so NALUG members built a number of historic structures to highlight the occasion. During 2007 the model was in the main entrance of Telus World of Science, as part of NALUG displays there. It was seen by the Speaker of the House of the Alberta Legislature, who decided that the model should be inside the real Legislature building. The wheels of government turn slowly, so it took a while, but the model now resides in a large custom display case located in the walkway complex of the Legislature building. Everyone involved agreed that a Lego model just did not belong within the marble and columned interior of the Legislature building itself.
The model is built mostly by NALUG members John Koob and Chris Gray, with considerable assistance from other NALUG members, friends and family. The structure is about 9 feet long, 7 feet deep and 3-1/2 feet high. It is built from well over 100,000 standard Lego pieces. Construction took several months, and the parts required were obtained from all over the world. No paint or glue is used in the model - the only non-standard components are the stickers on the flags. LEGO modellers will note that the building uses a lot of SNOT (Studs Not On Top), and a lot of half-stud and less spacing. The outer edges of the structure have some interior detail, but not a lot. The requirements of the outer wall detailing resulted in quite thick walls that are not overly strong - attempting to do the same for the interior would have more than doubled the construction time and cost, and perhaps not been really doable in the end.
The pictures of the display are divided into four parts - the final display inside the case, display setup, photos of an "incident", and some photos of viewers on the opening day of the display.
Saskatoon 2005
This was NALUG's third appearance at the Saskatoon Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show, held at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
This year's Saskatoon Train Show featured our largest travelling display, at 25 foot by 30 foot. It included the final viewing of Laszlo's 17-1/2 foot suspension bridge, a new addition of a 17 foot arch bridge modelled after a bridge in Saskatoon, and Drew's bridges over a river valley. Also new to the display was Don Parnell's early 1900's replica version of the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton. One view of that even shows the corridors inside the hospital, which would give you a sick, high fevered mini-fig's perspective :).
Other additions were John's mountains and Andrew's skyscrapers, featuring the Peace Hills Trust and Enbridge towers. Also new were the working Ferris Wheel, functional Merry-Go-Round (the horses do indeed go up and down) and the dual helixes which allow the trains to spiral to any of four possible levels.
Our display was a great hit with young and old alike, and the typical question was "Is this all really LEGO?" We had at all times four moving trains on three separate loops in the display, all using Lego analog power. The double spirals had a lot of comments from other railroaders and exhibitors. Only one accident was recorded over the two days as a 2-1/2 year old grabbed the moving train going down one of the spirals.
Travel has risks, and we lost a few structures and spent over 6 hours upon arrival in repair mode instead set up mode. That didn't allow for detailing to the degree we had hoped. :(. We did get the trains running for the show opening the next day at 10 o'clock sharp. Over the 2 days, we had over 2,500 people view the display - a great turnout for Saskatoon. This year's show was held at the museum with indoor showings of an old prairie town, and car and train displays. It was an incredible must see for any model train or vintage building fan.
Videos taken show the workings of several key elements. The largest video is of the longest train we had going. The train ran for over 2 hours and consisted of 40 cars and 3 locomotives.
Special thanks go out to Drew and Don for their help in putting on the display. For three people, it was a lot of tiring fun and a labour of love for Lego and trains.
Saskatoon 2004
Saskatoon Show - March 6-7, 2004
This was NALUG's second time at the Saskatoon Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show. This was the first public appearance of Laz's monster suspension bridge.
Northgate 2003
Our third mall show in 2003 was at Northgate Mall, in a big sunny atrium area. This time John's crane was back, under Kevin's direction we tried out DCC with Lego trains, tried out the nifty transfer table that Kevin built, and Andrew built a whole layout for us.
On Saturday and Sunday, June 28 & 29 2003, Nalug put on a quick display in the big atrium (hot sun coming in through skylights!) in Northgate Mall in Edmonton. Here are Chris's raw pictures from that display.
Due to problems with the tables supplied not being the size that was expected, we were not able to execute the actual track plan. Things had to get shrunk somewhat. On Friday night the setup crew left things sort-of OK, but not really corresponding to Andrew's design. He fixed that Saturday morning, but things are still somewhat cramped.
On Sunday morning Kevin changed the track behind the city to add a siding (running on the roadplates!). This was to allow some experiments with running two DCC trains on the same loop, one in each direction, using the pair of passing sidings for - passing! It worked OK, but you need more space to do it better, and you also should have two engineers, each running just their own train, rather than one person trying to run two at once. A few minor (hah!) incidents occurred - others took pictures of some of those.
Londonderry 2003
Publicity from our Capilano show lead to more invitations. For this display we were able to re-use James' and Raven's castle, and get our first look at Mark's machinery.
On the weekend of May 24 and 25, 2003, NALUG put on a small display at the Londonderry Mall in Edmonton. At their request, a castle theme was the main part of the display, which allowed us to re-use James' and Raven's castle and Andrew's siege army. This time, however, Andrew's army had much more time to soften up the castle! He built a functional trebuchet (a medieval siege weapon) that hurled Lego bricks and rocks at the castle during a game of Brick Battles. James did not lose as many men as Andrew did, but his castle was about to be overrun at the end of the weekend. (The black tape on the castle is damage markers.)
One of our new members, Mark Kuipers, had built a number of larger-scale agricultural machines and semi-trailers, which he was eager for us to see. He was able to fill two tables with fine models (many of us missed him actually moving the two grain silos from one table to another!). He demonstrated a functional excavator that used a cordless drill-powered pneumatic pump.
Near the children's play area were more tables with a variety of models. Another new member, Tony Rodriguez, brought along some of his Star Wars models to make a small snowfield display. Al Pankratz built a grey castle tower that was hinged to get a view of the interior. And, a few of us contributed a small number of other assembled Lego sets to show folks. Most of these were large Technic sets. Finally, of course, James impressed us with his Lego sphere.
Saskatoon 2003
A couple of members did a small show for the Prairie Rail Workshop Annual Spring Show, at the Prairieland Exhibition Grounds in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Capilano 2003
Capilano Mall - Feb 17, 2003
This was our first invitation to have a display at a local shopping mall. It was a new experience for us, but great fun.
Nalug was contacted by a representative of the Capilano Mall here in Edmonton, about doing a display at the mall on Family Day (a one-day February holiday here in Alberta). After a bit of talking, we decided to go ahead with it. The main ideas were to have a castle display done by James and Raven, and a Star Wars Hoth display done by Joe. We later added the idea of smaller side displays, including one of several ISD's. With more work than some of us had counted on, the display went off. Attendance was good, considering there was almost no publicity. The visitors were in general quite enthusiastic about what we had done.
Supertrain 2003
This was the first show done by SALUG, our sister group in Calgary. A couple of NALUG folks went down to help out and came back with pictures. Well done SALUG!
Supertrain 2001
Supertrain 2001 - Feb 17-18, 2001
Our second NALUG train layout was set up by some of our members in the Big 4 Building, Stampede Park, Calgary. Attendance was over 13000, and the layout was a huge 70'x30' in size. This time we had a thousand handouts.