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CHAPTER 1

CRASH LANDING ON THE MOON

Build an outer space encounter between astronauts and aliens! Let your imagination come to life with crazy aliens who are constantly fixing their malfunctioning space blaster. Then add astronauts! The warning light flashes on the spaceship, and the astronaut is forced to land on the moon. Unfortunately, his split-second decision is too late and his ship crashes. Frantically, he calls for help on his radio. More astronauts arrive to help him, and who should they encounter but some mischievous aliens wielding a space blaster that shoots something no one was expecting!

THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON

Up on the moon, on the side that can't be seen from Earth, three aliens were busily designing new space weapons to use in their never-ending galactic war with the alien nation of Zoron. They had travelled to the moon's surface to escape the blistering heat and drought that was occurring on their home planet, Squaddle. However, so far their work had been a fairly big disaster....

"Glump, the space blaster is malfunctioning again. When I push the button, nothing happens. I can't get it to shoot at all!"

"Not again!" Glump groaned. "I'll get Gadget to fix it."

Glump yelled into his radio. "GADGET! Get over here and take a look at this space blaster!"

Gadget grabbed some tools and began working on the blaster. "Grooby, I think the space blaster is fixed now!" Gadget squeaked. "I replaced the release button, but I can't find anything else wrong with it."

"On second thought, maybe there IS something else wrong with it!" said Gadget, as a torrent of pizzas shot out of the blaster and hit Glump directly in the face. Glump wiped the cheese off his forehead and then exploded in frustration.

"GADGET!" hollered Glump. "Give me that screwdriver! Next time, I'm fixing this myself!"

GROOBY THE HAPPY ALIEN

Grooby the alien is goofy and a little absentminded. For some reason, he is always the one to operate the space blaster even though he is probably not the smartest choice! His open mouth gives him a humorous expression. Pretend that Grooby is shooting pizzas all over the place, or pretend that his space blaster shoots slime or space dust or anything you can imagine!

STEP 1: Start with the alien's head. Find a 2 × 4 green plate, a 2 × 2 green plate and a 1 × 4 green plate.

STEP 2: Attach the two larger plates with the 2 × 2 plate as shown.

STEP 3: Add a 1 × 2 inverted slope, a 1 × 1 brick and a 1 × 2 plate on each side of the underside of the face.

STEP 4: Find a 1 × 2 — 1 × 2 inverted bracket, a 1 × 2 green brick and a 1 × 2 × 1 magenta panel. If you don't have the panel in the magenta color, use another color.

STEP 5: Attach the 1 × 2 green brick to the underside of the head, and attach the other two bricks as shown.

STEP 6: Attach the mouth to the alien's head.

STEP 7: Find a lime green 1 × 2 — 2 × 2 bracket (inverted) and a 2 × 2 dome brick.

STEP 8: Attach the bracket under the green plate as shown, and then add the dome brick.

STEP 9: Add a 2 × 3 green brick, two 1 × 2 green bricks, two 1 × 1 green bricks with a stud on the side (headlight) and two eyes to the head.

STEP 10: Place two 2 × 3 green plates on the top of the alien's head. Then add four 1 × 1 gold cones, two 1 × 2 lime green plates and two 1 × 2 white plates with claws as decoration on his head. If you don't have those bricks, use something else!

STEP 11: Build the alien's body. Start with three 2 × 2 green inverted slopes, one 1 × 2 green brick and one 1 × 4 green brick.

STEP 12: Add a layer of green bricks to the body.

STEP 13: Build two more layers on the alien's body. Bricks shown are two 2 × 4 bricks, two 2 × 2 bricks, two 1 × 4 bricks and two 1 × 2 bricks.

STEP 14: Place a 1 × 4 — 1 × 2 light gray bracket on the body. Then add two 2 × 3 green bricks and a 2 × 2 green brick.

STEP 15: Add two 1 × 2 green plates on top of the gray bracket. Then gather the bricks shown.

STEP 16: Build the alien's shoulders and neck as shown. The turntable brick is sitting on top of two 2 × 4 green plates.

STEP 17: Place one 1 × 2 dark gray plate with a ball on the side under each set of curved bricks. Add a 1 × 2 green plate on the top of each shoulder.

STEP 18: Add two 1 × 1 light orange plates with a claw and two 1 × 1 white round plates to the front of the alien for decoration. Or substitute other bricks that you have on hand.

STEP 19: Assemble the alien's arms as shown.

STEP 20: Build the alien's feet. Each foot is one 2 × 4 lime green plate, one 2 × 3 green plate and two 1 × 1 white plates with one claw.

STEP 21: Attach the arms, feet and head to the alien's body, and the alien is complete!

STEP 22: Build the space blaster gun. Gather the pieces shown.

STEP 23: Attach the 1 × 2 black plate with a handle, 1 × 1 lime green round plate and 1 × 2 dark gray plate with a handle (open ends) to the 1 × 4 yellow plate.

STEP 24: Add the other 1 × 4 yellow plate, the orange dome and the 1 × 1 black brick with a stud on the side as shown.

STEP 25: Complete the gun by adding a 1 × 1 black round brick and a 2 × 2 black round plate.

Now find something for your alien to shoot with his space blaster! If you don't have pizzas, use 1 × 1 round plates in translucent colors to be slime, or shoot gray bricks to be moon dust. Or think of your own ideas!

GLUMP THE ANGRY ALIEN

Glump the alien is certainly not the most patient guy you've ever met! Change his face from serious to angry by adjusting the tilt of his eyebrows. Fully posable arms make him a lot of fun for creating hilarious scenes. Put his hands on his hips, or make him raise his fist when he is arguing with Grooby and Gadget about the silly space blaster repairs!

STEP 1: Start with two 2 × 2 blue inverted slopes, a 2 × 2 blue brick and a 2 × 2 blue plate. These will form the base of the head.

STEP 2: Add a 2 × 6 blue brick, a 2 × 4 blue plate and a 1 × 2 slope (30 degree).

STEP 3: Add four 1 × 2 blue plates next to the black 1 × 2 slope, two on each side.

STEP 4: Place a 2 × 4 blue plate above the alien's mouth. Then attach two 1 × 2 blue inverted slopes to the underside of a 2 × 6 blue plate.

STEP 5: Attach the 2 × 6 plate to the front of the face. Note that the two sections of the head are still not attached to each other.

STEP 6: Add two 1 × 2 light gray bricks and a 2 × 6 blue brick to the head.

STEP 7: Gather the bricks shown for building the alien's face.

STEP 8: Stack the two 1 × 2 blue plates and place them in the middle of the face. Then add a 1 × 1 brick with a stud on the side (headlight style) and a 1 × 1 brick with a stud on the side on each side of the face.

STEP 9: Attach the light gray bracket on top of the two 1 × 2 blue plates. Then add the eyes, the two bricks with a handle on the side and the 2 × 2 dome brick as a nose. Then gather the bricks shown.

STEP 10: Fill in the top of the head with the light gray bricks shown.

STEP 11: Add the two blue wedge plates and the two 1 × 1 black slopes to the top of the head.

STEP 12: Attach the 1 × 2 black plates to the bricks with a stud on the side to make the eyebrows.

STEP 13: Build the body. Start with three 2 × 2 blue inverted slope bricks and a 1 × 6 blue brick.

STEP 14: Add a 1 × 6 blue brick and a 2 × 6 blue brick.

STEP 15: Build another layer with two 2 × 2 dark gray inverted slopes, two 1 × 2 dark gray inverted slopes, a 1 × 4 dark gray brick and a 2 × 4 dark gray brick.

STEP 16: Use yellow plates to create the alien's belt. Place a 1 × 2 — 2 × 2 bracket (inverted) in the middle. The bracket sits on top of the gray brick with no yellow plate under it.

STEP 17: Build another layer with two 2 × 4 blue bricks and a 1 × 8 blue brick. Or fill in the space with a different combination of blue bricks.

STEP 18: Add two 1 × 2 light gray plates with a socket, two 1 × 2 blue plates, a 2 × 4 blue brick and a 1 × 4 blue brick. Then gather the bricks shown.

STEP 19: Place the slope bricks on the shoulders as shown. Then stack the 2 × 2 light gray plate and the 2 × 2 turntable. These will be the alien's neck and allow the head to turn. Place the 2 × 2 yellow plate on the light gray bracket.

STEP 20: Assemble the alien's arms as shown.

STEP 21: Build the feet. Each foot has a 2 × 4 blue plate, a 2 × 3 light gray plate and two 1 × 1 black plates with a claw.

STEP 22: Attach the head, arms and feet to the alien's body.

You can make your alien look angry by adjusting the eyebrows and posing his arms. Build him a walkie-talkie using a 2 × 4 tan plate, an antenna and a 1 × 1 translucent orange plate. Now he's ready to play! Pretend that your aliens are building a new space blaster. Or create a spaceship for them to ride in.

GADGET THE HELPFUL ALIEN

Gadget the alien makes anyone smile as soon as they see him! His head rotates and tilts which almost seems to make him come alive. Give Gadget tools to use as he fixes the space blaster that's always breaking, or pretend that he is zooming through space with his friends Glump and Grooby on his alien space cruiser here.

STEP 1: Gather the pieces needed to build Gadget's head.

STEP 2: Attach the top plate to the hinge brick. Then attach this to the turntable.

STEP 3: Attach the 1 × 2 blue brick and the magenta panel to the hinge brick.

STEP 4: Add the light gray bracket and the eyes to the alien's head.

STEP 5: Complete the head by adding the orange cone, the clear dome and the antenna.

STEP 6: Start on Gadget's body by finding two 2 × 2 inverted slope bricks.

STEP 7: The body is simple to build. Add two 2 × 4 blue bricks. Then add a 1 × 2 light gray plate, two 1 × 2 light gray plates with handles and the 1 × 2 dark gray plate with a ladder. Use 1 × 2 dark gray plates with a handle on the end as feet.

STEP 8: Add a 2 × 4 light gray plate to the top of the alien's body.

STEP 9: Assemble the arms as shown. Then attach them to the handles on each shoulder.

STEP 10: Attach the head to the body, and Gadget the alien is complete! Build Gadget's space cruiser (directions onhere), or design your own vehicle for him to drive. Or pretend that he is "fixing" a space vehicle or a space blaster gun and now it does something crazy!

CRASH LANDING!

Astronaut Kevin Brady was zooming through space at a brisk 17,500 mph when suddenly a flashing light caught his attention. It was the engine malfunction signal! Brady pulled the lever to switch power to the backup engine, but the lever broke off in his hand. "Drat!" yelled Brady. "I knew we should have checked over this spacecraft a little more carefully ... Okay, I have to think fast!" Brady did the only thing he could do. He directed his failing spaceship toward the moon!

Unfortunately, Brady's split-second decision was a moment too late. Unable to adequately slow down the ship before landing, Brady crashed into the surface of the moon. Instantly the front end of the ship went up in flames! "Aaaarrrghhh!" yelled Brady as he was launched from the spaceship and then skidded to a stop on the surface of the moon.

"Yow!" he groaned. "These space suits do NOT have enough padding!"

Once the fire was out, which didn't take long since there is no oxygen on the moon, Brady grabbed his radio to call for help. "Mission Control! Come in, Mission Control! It's me, Brady! We have a little disaster here. Okay, a big disaster here! The ship went down and sustained some MAJOR damage!"

"Mission Control to Brady," a voice responded. "We'll send help right away!"

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Brady said to Tucker and Luke, the astronauts who had arrived to help. "Let's get this spaceship back in working order!"

ASTROTEK 3.0 SPACESHIP

Astronaut Brady will love the speed and power of this nimble spacecraft as he zooms through space on his mission to the moon! This spaceship is equipped with a sleek design, an opening cockpit and three rocket engines on the back. If you don't have the exact pieces shown, adapt the spaceship with the parts you have.

STEP 1: Start with a light gray 6 × 4 inverted curved wedge and the light gray bricks shown.

STEP 2: Add a 6 × 10 light gray plate, a 2 × 6 blue plate and two 3 × 8 dark blue wedge plates. There will be space between the blue plate and the curved wedge on the bottom.

STEP 3: Add two 3 × 12 white wedge plates, two more dark blue 3 × 8 wedge plates, a 2 × 4 dark gray plate and a 2 × 8 blue plate. The two sections of the ship are still not attached.

STEP 4: Attach the two sections with a 4 × 8 dark gray plate, two 2 × 6 dark gray plates and a 1 × 4 blue tile.

STEP 5: Find two 6 × 12 white wedge plates. These will form the base for the wings.

STEP 6: Start building the cockpit with two 2 × 2 blue bricks, a 1 × 6 dark gray plate, a 1 × 2 grill and a 1 × 2 tile with gauges. Add an antenna to the dark gray plate.

STEP 7: On each side, attach a 6 × 2 wedge, a 1 × 6 curved slope and a 3 × 8 wedge plate.

STEP 8: Gather the bricks shown.

STEP 9: Place the 2 × 6 dark gray plate and two 2 × 2 blue bricks across the wings as shown.

STEP 10: Place the two 6 × 2 wedge bricks next to the 1 × 6 curved slopes. Add the 1 × 4 dark gray brick and the two 1 × 4 tiles. Then gather the bricks shown for each wing.

STEP 11: Assemble the wings as shown. Add one 1 × 3 blue curved slope on each side of the cockpit.

STEP 12: Your two completed sections of the spaceship should now look like this.

STEP 13: Attach the two sections as shown. The base section should stick out past the wing section by one row of studs on the back end.

STEP 14: Add two 1 × 6 white curved slopes, a 2 × 2 blue brick and a 1 × 2 blue plate in front of the cockpit. Find two more 2 × 6 white wedges, a 2 × 2 blue plate and a 3 × 4 blue wedge plate.

STEP 15: Use these bricks to fill in the front of the spaceship as shown.

STEP 16: Gather the bricks shown for the cockpit windscreen.

STEP 17: Stack the 1 × 2 light gray plate with clips on top of the 1 × 2 orange plate. Place the 1 × 2 translucent blue plate on top of the 1 × 2 blue plate.

STEP 18: Place both of these on top of the 2 × 2 blue plate.

STEP 19: Attach the stacked bricks to the two 2 × 6 white wedge bricks as shown. Attach the windscreen to the clips and then add the 2 × 2 blue tile.

STEP 20: Attach the windscreen to the body of the spaceship as shown.

STEP 21: Gather the pieces shown for building the engines. You will need three wheels that have a pin hole, four 2 × 2 black plates, one 1 × 2 black plate, one 1 × 2 light gray plate, three black pins and three 2 × 2 light gray plates modified with a pin hole.

STEP 22: Assemble the engines as shown.

STEP 23: Add the engines to the bottom of the spaceship.

STEP 24: Cover the engines with a 2 × 6 light gray plate, and the spaceship is complete!

Now your LEGO astronaut is ready to zoom off on an adventure in outer space! Be sure to pack him an oxygen tank and some tools for repairing his spaceship, just in case.

Build a crash scene by removing bricks from the front end. Create an engine fire by using 1 × 1 translucent orange cones and fire bricks. You can prop the spaceship up at an angle by attaching 1 × 2 clear bricks on one side under the ship.

PIZZA BLASTER

Once the spaceship had been repaired, Brady and the other astronauts decided they would collect some samples of moon rock and conduct some other experiments before heading back to Earth. They rumbled over the surface of the moon in their rugged moon rover until they found a good place to dig. Tucker grabbed a shovel and started collecting moon rock.

One puzzling discovery was a pizza that Brady and Luke found sitting right on the surface of the moon! "This is extremely bizarre," said Luke.

"You're right," said Brady. "Let's get back to Tucker and see what he thinks."

"Wow, you guys ordered pizza up here on the moon?" said Tucker.

"What? No! We just found this! Isn't that a little odd?" asked Brady.

"No, that just confirms it!" Tucker replied.

"Confirms WHAT?" said Luke.

"That the moon is made out of cheese!"

"Tucker, you dummy, even if it is, and I'm not saying it really is, it's made out of cheese! Not cheese PIZZA! Who in the world could have made this pizza?" Luke exclaimed.

"I don't know," said Tucker. "It's not like there are any aliens around here. Well, I'm starving. Let's eat!"

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Epic Lego Adventures with Bricks You Already Have"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Sarah Dees.
Excerpted by permission of Page Street Publishing Co..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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