Dr. Johnson’s amazing potion

Dr. Johnson's amazing potion by crises_crs

Timeline of the Seventies (XIX century)

Timeline of the Seventies by Kai NRG/Geneva

Timeline description is given by Kai NRG/Geneva on his Flickr post here.

1870:
October 12th
Confederate General Robert E. Lee died at Lexington, Virginia. He was sixty-three.
“Forth from its scabbard! All in vain!
Forth flashed the sword of Lee!
‘Tis shrouded now in its sheath again,
It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain,
Defeated, yet without a stain,
Proudly and peacefully.”
–Moina

1871:
The unification of Italy as a nation, no longer city states and without the major civil control of the Pope, occurred during this year. Much of this was due to the efforts of the patriot Garibaldi.

May
The Paris Commune was smashed by the French Army during “The Bloody Week.” This commune had been formed as a reaction to the potential reestablishment of the monarchy. During its suppression, over 20,000 Parisians were killed. On a side note, Paris has really had quite a slew of mob riots throughout its history!
October 8th
The beginning of the Great Chicago Fire. Rumor said it was started by a cow, but rumor is, well, rumor. Three hundred people lost their lives in this fire, and damages ran up to an estimated two hundred million dollars.
November 10th
Journalist Henry Morton Stanley uttered the famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume,” when he met that renown explorer in the depths of Africa. Livingstone had disappeared and was thought dead.

1873:
This year witnessed the development of Blue Jeans.

1874:
The Japanese invaded Taiwan this year. Their pathetic excuse wasthe murder of a shipwrecked seaman by the inhabitants. The Japanese withdrew their troops after the Chinese agreed to the stipulated payment.

Another huge highlight of this year was the creation of the USA Republican party elephant!

1875:
The first Kentucky Derby was held this year. It was won by – yep, you guessed it – a horse! This particular horse’s name happened to be Aristides.

1876:
March 10th
Alexander Graham Bell spilled acid on his pants. This, in itself, is not a very noteworthy incident, especially as it doubtless occurred quite regularly. However, it set off a massive chain reaction! Alexander called to his assistant, Watson. But Watson heard him through the trial telephone speaker!

The National League of Baseball was also founded this year.

June 25th
Along with all his 256 men, General George Armstrong Custer was killed in this last Indian victory. Custer’s famous last stand… not thelemonade one though.

1879:
August 2nd
Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head while holding aces and eights, the Dead Man’s Hand.

And to top the decade off, this was the year Thomas Alva Edison invented a commercially realistic lightbulb and switched on the electrical revolution!

Stagecoach on White White West

Stagecoach on White White West by Brick Vader

Lake Worth Gold Mine

Fedin posted this beautiful minifigure scale model of the Gold Mine on the HistoryBricks flickr’s group. The rockwork is amazing but the minifgures posing is my favorite part of this diorama. We can find the workers, bandits, the old miner and  the guy washing the dirt/gold on the lakeshore.

By coincidence, today I’m recovering my brother’s old set 6761-1: Bandit’s Secret Hide-Out 😀

The Battle of Little Round Top

 

 

As mentioned previously, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. This sizeable diorama depicts the defense of the hill known as “Little Round Top” on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 2nd, 1863). Here The 20th Maine commanded by  Col. Joshua Chamberlain, defend the height of the hill against the onslaught of the 4th, 15th, and 47th Alabama under Confederate Brig. Gen. Evander Law. The Union troops successfully repulsed the attack, setting the stage for the next, and last, day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Hats off to Gary the Procrastinator who built this!

 

Modular Western Town

Modular Western Town project has been live on LEGO Cuusoo since October 2011. The Brothers Brick, Eurobricks, Brickset, Toys N Bricks and others have been supporting this project for a while. I would like to join them supporting too this great idea of extending the modular building concept to the old West!
Let’s take one step further to bring this idea to reality by supporting the project here.

Fort Legoredo

Fort Legoredo was one of my favorite LEGO sets during my childhood and was a pleasant surprise when I discovered this wonderful tribute from Franko Komljenovic and Matija Grguric to this set from the year 1996.

Fort Legoredo, originally uploaded by Matija Grguric.

Wild west chariot

Lovely these two wild west charriots built by Matija Grguric. The amount of details is very high and he managed to capture really well the concept of these western’s icons.

Wild west chariot, originally uploaded by Matija Grguric.

Collectible Minifigures Series 6 and 7

Toys N bricks had publish the first official pictures from the upcoming series of Collectible Mifigures. Like previous collections, these new series presents new historical figures that will delight many LEGO fans.

The 6th series presents a roman warrior. Personally I’ve been waiting for ages for the LEGO roman empire. This figure and the new rounded bricks of the Atlantis sets will make a beautiful  combination 🙂

This collection also presents a barbarian warrior, which is nice for the battles against the roman army, and a cowboy that will fit perfectly in any western MOC.

 

 

The 7th series presents a Viking warrior (girl?), a cool hippie that will fit nicely 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van and, my favorite, the Aztec warrior (or at least, what I think that it is). The mermaid man will also make a cool Neptune roman god of the sea.

Windmill

A motorized windmill is the last addition to Matija Grguric’s western layout. The details of the mill are great, specially the way he built the blades.

Windmill, originally uploaded by Matija Grguric.