{"id":10399,"date":"2015-06-04T10:46:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T00:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legoeng.local\/?p=10399"},"modified":"2016-07-27T12:46:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T02:46:22","slug":"the-build-begins-and-stops-and-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/legoeng.local\/the-build-begins-and-stops-and-starts\/","title":{"rendered":"The build begins (and stops and starts)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post continues the story of Melissa and her son, Lex, and follows on from their first post here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_0245\"<\/a>Lex was excited to get going on the build since pieces had arrived (some from France!). As tends to be the case, it started enthusiastically and with a great deal of energy, but after some time, and some roadblocks and issues, some discouragement set in. As a facilitator (and a mom) I have learned not to step in (although I’ll ask if he wants to brainstorm or is interested in input), and allow him to ride the waves of struggles and successes. It’s probably the hardest part, but it does make the “a-ha” moment that much sweeter. However, it can also lead to a flat-out, hands-up, quit. But not before a great deal of break-taking, rethinking and trying-just-one-more-time.<\/p>\n

This time is no exception.<\/p>\n

Melissa<\/em><\/p>\n

******************<\/p>\n

DAY 1 and 2<\/p>\n

I started the tracks today but I was having trouble getting the tracks to fit right around the bars. I used Technic bars (the ones that are rounded at the end and used in telescopic fire truck arms) and connected them together but that didn’t work, so I tried different bars, but that didn’t work either. I spent a lot of time trying different things, but I got frustrated, so I stopped working.<\/p>\n

DAY 3<\/p>\n

At first I was trying to get an even number of holes while I was also trying to figure out the right length. Then I thought I should try an odd number of holes and that worked. Oddly enough all this matters. The track pieces are bigger than a 1×1, but not as big as a 2×1 brick, so I needed an odd number of holes in order for the track pieces to add up to a length that would fit. Just like in math, you can’t have an odd and even number and end up with an even number.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t figure out how to connect the tracks to each other on the base, so I looked up the instructions to the older LEGO crawler crane set. I realized I\u00a0 needed to use Technic bricks<\/em> instead of the telescopic bars because the bricks have studs on top so that I could connect the tracks together using flats and then put the turntable on top of the flats.<\/p>\n