I just got a sample copy of Badass Lego Guns from No Starch Press. The book is very simple: essentially it is the complete guide to building five Lego guns that actually shoot Lego bricks like bullets. While the video above is indubitably sexed up, you’re basically seeing what you can build: the badass Lego guns of the title.
I’m not going to go into the various models; you can pretty much see what you’re getting in the video. What you can’t see is the great information that author Martin Hüdepohl puts into the entries. Each starts out with an explanation of the mechanics behind the firing mechanism, surely the primary detail that most people building Lego guns cares about. Hüdepohl also includes some of his design sketches, giving the reader a sense of the model’s development. Next, each project gets a visual parts list so you know whether you can build it. Finally, each gun gets full instructions, made up of CAD drawings similar to those found in regular Lego kits. Like the rest of the book, these step-by-steps are black and white, with relevant action points highlighted in red. These two-color pages convey a surprising amount of information. As a bonus, Hüdepohl supplies a sixth weapon, a butterfly knife he calls the Magic Moth. The blade is merely a Technic girder, but apparently you can do cool butterfly knife moves with it.
Badass Lego Guns pretty much describes the book. If you’re looking to make Lego brick-launchers, Hüdepohl’s book will show you how.
