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Authors on the "10 Cool LEGO Mindstorms Dark Side Robots, Transports, and
Creatures" are:
Kevin Clague, Soren Rolighed, Miguel Agullo and Hideaki Yabuki.
The models include:
1. Super Battle Droid - A 2 legged weight shifting (ankle type) walker
2. Orbital Devense Cannon - Neat looking, but I'm not sure what it does yet.
Guess I have to build one.
3. Imperial AT-ST - Very nice Technic realization of this 2 legged walker.
4. Go-Rilla - A shorter and supposedly faster 2 legged walker.
5. X-Stormer - A 4 legged walker that looks somewhat like the AT-AT.
6. Droid Transporter - A wheeled vehicle I'm probably need to build to fully
understand.
7. Draigon - A 6 legged walking dragon
8. Scorpion Assasin Droid - A neat looking 4 legged walker with an
interesting gait.
9. Ludic Ordinance Unit (LOU) - A funny little automaton that plays guitar.
10. Imperial Hound - Mibo with only one motor.
The book is a step up from the LEGO constructopedia, but it is definately
projects based. Each chapter is devoted to a specific model. The first
page shows the finished model with the robot's name above the picture. I
wish the author's name was also included. The second page contains a few
paragraphs describing the robot. All of these were very Star Wars based.
I'm not a huge fan, so the descriptions often didn't mean much to me. The
following pages contained the assembly instructions.
The assembly sequences were more logical than that usually presented in LEGO
instructions. The models are divided up into subassemblies. Each
subassebly is accompanied by a brief description of what the assembly is,
and where it fits in the model. Some of the assembly steps also have text
describing what is going on.
The graphics are very good grayscale images. Color would have been nice,
but then the book couldn't have sold for $25. Each assembly step has a
graphical parts list. After a part is added to the model it is "ghosted
out" by lightening the image in subsequent steps. This works rather well,
except when it comes to adding white parts.
I found two small errors in the first robot. The parts were in the correct
place, but were installed in the wrong order. The problems were easy to
figure out and simple to fix. This sort of mistake easy to make when the
building instructions are created using MLCAD. I haven't built any of the
other robots, but a quick scan of the instructions didn't turn up any
glaring errors.
Don't feel too bad if you are lacking the Dark Side Developers kit. I'm
pretty sure you could build all the robots (or reasonable facsimiles) using
the Droid Developer kit or just using a 9V battery box and a geared motor.
I was dissappointed that there wasn't more content relating to robot design
and LEGO building. If this is to be a companion book to help people get
more enjoyment out of their DSDK, it would have been nice to give them a
stronger foundation for going off and creating their own designs.
For LUGNUTS it is a very enjoyable book. It's filled with examples of how
to use those "worthless" parts that come in Technic sets today. I am
impressed with how much these folks did with so little.
Dean Hystad
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