Tag Archives: Dimexart

This LEGO Vintage Radio lets you actually play music through your smartphone…

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With 25 submissions to the LEGO Ideas forum (5 of which crossed the 10,000 vote mark), LEGO builder Dimexart is somewhat of a veteran when it comes to putting plastic bricks together. The brick aficionado’s latest creation combines LEGOs with the real-world in the form of a vintage radio that actually plays music. Made from over a thousand LEGO bricks, this vintage radio has a secret flap on the back that lets you slide your smartphone in. Switch on Spotify or YouTube, select your favorite track, and hit play as you pop your phone into the LEGO Vintage Radio and it recreates the feeling of having an antique radio playing your favorite tracks! The best part, Dimexart’s build comes with functional knobs and buttons that you can twist and press, moving sliders inside the gizmo just like you would with an authentic AM/FM radio.

Designer: Dimexart

Strangely enough, Dimexart made a radio back in 2021 out of LEGO bricks, and it did cross the 10,000 vote mark too, but was rejected by LEGO’s internal team. Unfazed by this, Dimexart went back to the drawing board and decided to tweak the radio to make it even better. The new MOC (My Own Creation, as it’s called in LEGO parlance) now features a flap on the back that let’s you slide any smartphone in, using the phone’s speakers and the acoustic chamber of the empty LEGO radio to create that warm, slightly twangy audio associated with radios of the past.

In Dimexart’s demo, he even uses the phone screen to mimic the warm backlight seen in most radio control panels. Given that they were sometimes used at night too, radios came with lights in their gauges so you could see which station you were on. Dimexart’s build uses light from your smartphone’s screen to create a similar experience.

The dials on the left and right are both functional and cause sliders inside to move left or right to indicate the station/frequency or the volume. There are dials/knobs and buttons on the bottom too, which are functional in that they can be interacted with – but that’s about all they do. It’s a fun interaction, however, and recreates the real tactile joy of the radio, which firmly belonged in a much more hands-on era long before touchscreens dominated our lives. The radio comes with a wood-inspired aesthetic, a rather realistic set of grills, and that gorgeous control panel on the bottom that I’m sure you won’t be able to get enough of.

Dimexart’s entry currently has 3,228 supporters as of writing this article. If you want to vote for the entry (and hopefully see it turn into a retail box set), vote for it on the LEGO Ideas website here.

The post This LEGO Vintage Radio lets you actually play music through your smartphone… first appeared on Yanko Design.

Charming LEGO Popcorn Machine is a Nostalgic Tribute to Retro Movie Theaters

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I hope that whoever came up with the idea of pairing popcorn with watching movies knows exactly what a massive impact they’ve had on the cinema experience. Movie theaters are practically incomplete without popcorn machines, and I can’t think of a single time in my entire life when I’ve wanted to have popcorn MORE than I have while watching a movie. Designed to capture the beauty of this relationship, LEGO builder Dimexart decided to create the iconic movie theater popcorn machine. A standard fixture at any concession stand, this popcorn machine is synonymous with cinemas. Sure, we can make our own popcorn at home in Dutch ovens or microwaves, but there’s just something different about popped corn that comes from this machine. The machine comes with a rotating kettle encased within a glass chamber. With a height-adjustable lid, the kettle constantly churns out popcorn, which falls out and fills up the glass chamber directly. It’s a hypnotic process that’s so embedded into everyone’s memories that looking at this LEGO recreation will probably remind you of the theaters and make you imagine the smell of butter!

Designer: Dimexart

Apart from building with LEGO bricks, Dimexart has also built a reputation for himself for recreating retro machines almost immaculately out of LEGO blocks. His functional antique cash register and vintage toaster hold a special place on this website, and the Popcorn Machine is soon to be a favorite too! The machine is styled in all its retro glory and comes with a 955-piece build, although whether that includes the LEGO popcorn is unknown. Yes, the popcorn is made from LEGO bricks too, and each individual kernel pops out of the machine’s built-in kettle, sliding down the ramp and into a popcorn bucket.

You can load the kettle by accessing it through a door in the back, and an M-Motor powers a rack and pinion mechanism, causing the LEGO kernels to pop out and slide down into the bucket for you to munch on later. While the machine originally was designed for LEGO popcorn, you could theoretically fill it with actual snacks too, like M&Ms and other hard candy, making for an interesting Halloween treat-deploying gadget!

With over 5000 votes, Dimexart’s Popcorn Machine is dominating the LEGO Ideas forum. If it gathers 10,000 votes, LEGO’s internal team will turn it into a box-set that all of us regular-folk can buy! You can cast your vote for Dimexart’s Popcorn Machine here.

The post Charming LEGO Popcorn Machine is a Nostalgic Tribute to Retro Movie Theaters first appeared on Yanko Design.

Gadzooks! This fully functional antique cash register has a sliding drawer and is made from over 2000 LEGO bricks!

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Built to absolute stunning detail, the LEGO Ideas Antique Cash Register models itself directly on the National Cash Register Model 452 – a popular cashier’s machine from the 19th Century, designed and developed in Ohio at the start of the era of retail businesses. The LEGO variant, however, is the brainchild of a Master Builder who goes by the name of dimexart, and uses a whopping 2055 pieces to come together. Once assembled, dimexart says that the model will be entirely operational, with pushable buttons, a working swing arm, and a slide-out cash drawer with actual LEGO coins in it too!

The Antique Cash Register looks phenomenally like the original. It comes in gold and brown, and sports ornate brass detail-work on the sides and the front. From the looks of it, it’s almost the same size too! Now all it really needs is the signature ‘ka-ching’ sound when you crank the arm on the side to get the drawer to slide out!

Just like all LEGO Ideas projects, dimexart’s Antique Cash Register is currently gathering votes on the LEGO Ideas forum. If the project gathers over 10,000 votes from the LEGO community, LEGO will turn the fan-project into a commercially available box-set that people can then buy and build on their own! You can go cast your vote on the LEGO Ideas site by clicking here.

Designer: Dimexart