LEGO Heavy Weapons: Book Review

A LEGO Building Book With A Warning!

I posted this review on Amazon today and thought I would share it here, too. 

When a LEGO book comes with a warning label, you know it’s going to be good. And so reads the back cover of Jack Streat’s, book, LEGO HEAVY WEAPONS: “Be particularly careful when handling these models in public because they can be mistaken for real guns.”

Streat’s 353-page instruction manual offers adult builders the opportunity to create four realistic renditions of some of the world’s most interesting guns.  And it gets better.  Three of these guns actually shoot. Using LEGO bricks as plastic bullets, these guns ratchet, clack and recoil with amazing realism.

For each of the four unique models, Streat offers meticulously crafted step-by-step instructions and interesting side notes that help you feel as if Streat is at your side helping you build.  The two-toned, photo realistic instructions make sure you don’t miss a step, and the bill of materials provided in each section makes preparation a breeze.  Of course you will need a healthy dose of LEGO Technic beams and bricks at your disposal, but numerous online shops make parts acquisition easy.

The four guns Streat has chosen for this volume offer unique building opportunities beyond just their iconic looks.

The Desert Eagle handgun offers builders the opportunity to build a tight, well-engineered handgun and learn about trigger mechanics.

The AKS 74U is an optical beauty in it’s own right and offers a great learning experience for building a brick-bullet magazine plus a heavy-duty folding stock.

The Jungle Carbine is fun because of its bolt-action design and long barrel accuracy.

The SPAS 12 shotgun includes an intricately designed firing mechanism that Streat --and the resultant builder-- can certainly be proud of.  Note: This model only shoots one brick at a time rather than a spray of bullets, but this in no way diminishes the cool-factor of this machine.

While this book isn’t for everyone, it’s definitely for the serious LEGO fan or action hero enthusiast who wants to learn something new.  Streat even provides X-ray views of how his creations work, so that your combined handiwork can be appreciated from the inside out.

A small but important aspect of this book that many builders will find useful is that the book will lie flat (and on the correct page) while you build, thanks to the publisher’s choice of a RepKover binding.

Builders may wish this book featured more models, and for that I originally thought about giving this book a four star rating.  But after I experienced how well Streat laid out his instructions and how far he takes each builder in explaining his craft through more than 300 pages, he gets five stars.   

This book should indeed be on the shelf of every serious LEGO fan. And these fans should heed the warning.