Lego building instructions through time • Hacker News Board

Re: Lego building instructions through time

#41

Post by hmartin » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

bcraven wrote: post #21

hmartin wrote: post #8

Might as well mention a couple of lego projects I've been working on, a parts browser TUI and a 3D model (eg .stl or .obj) to lego model (ldraw) converter: https://github.com/hbmartin/pyldraw3/ https://github.com/hbmartin/legolization/ I'm actively trying to get good instructions out of the legolization project now

Both of your projects would benefit (as is so often to case) from screenshots.

Good call thanks! Added screenshots:

https://github.com/hbmartin/pyldraw3-tui

Re: Lego building instructions through time

#42

Post by pizzafeelsright » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 11:54 PM UTC

I am not a big fan of the predesignated final 'this is the only thing you can create' type of set. When I build with children or on my own, I pick a direction and end goal. Example: the goal is for us to build a "Space Shark Transporter" and set a time limit.

At the end we take photos and then animate them using AI.

Re: Lego building instructions through time

#43

Post by pseudohadamard » Sun, Jul 19, 2026, 9:34 AM UTC

xixixao wrote: post #5

I would love simpler (harder) instructions! It's too easy tbh brick by brick as it is today. 1964 looks lovely. I also have a gripe with the complexity of modern bricks (besides "basic bricks" sets). It's getting harder to build something else than what the model is.

Yup, it's more or less defeating the whole purpose of Lego which is that you can build whatever your imagination comes up with. If I wanted an Airfix model I'd buy an Airfix model, not a click-together Minecraft simulation of one.

Re: Lego building instructions through time

#44

Post by omnibrain » Sun, Jul 19, 2026, 2:04 PM UTC

I just built one of those plant sets. I'm use to that modern instructions just place 1 or two bricks per step. But these plant sets took the cake. You had to build identical submodules. From the picture at the box you could see that it's essentially 8 times the same submodule. But the way the manual presented it was, that you build one submodule 2 times, fit it to the base, then build it 2 times again (same illustration!) and put them on the other side of the base. Then you start building the top and build the same submodule 2 times again, fit it to the top and then 2 times again and fit it to the other side of the top.