The LEGO brick was voted “Toy of the Century” by Fortune magazine and later by the British Association of Toy Retailers, beating longtime favorites like the Teddy Bear. Why? Playing with LEGO comes with joy and fun but also with real educational values. And more than any other toy, LEGO allows our imagination to take physical form—if you’re reading this book, you likely know exactly what I mean.

LEGO Technic expands the traditional LEGO System by providing a challenging building experience. The three core concepts behind LEGO Technic—Authenticity, Functionality, and Challenging building (which the LEGO Group calls its AFC strategy)—let you create authentic, real-life models with lots of working functions.

Modern LEGO Technic sets address these principles more effectively than ever, and the challenge is by design. But many builders find freely building their own models difficult in this system, and that’s where this book comes in. It is fun to create with Technic, but it can also be quite complex.

Paul has unscrambled the secrets of Technic building in the best way I can imagine, and I’m delighted that his ideas are now available to all LEGO builders and fans. You will find many examples, tricks, and practical advice on assembling sturdy and useful mechanisms. You’ll also find detailed information on the history and evolution of LEGO Technic elements, for example, the LEGO pneumatic system’s evolution.

The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide will certainly help introduce many young builders to the creative possibilities of LEGO Technic. If you’re a beginner, you’re going to read the introductory chapters and start getting excited. . . . If you’re an intermediate practitioner, it will take you to the next level. If you’re already an advanced builder, this book has those extra gems and inspiration to push you even higher. Despite my own considerable experience, I still learned quite a bit about Technic from reading the book. I hope that you will too.

I got to know Paul and his work in 2007, not long after I decided to embrace the task of writing a blog devoted to the LEGO Technic theme, called TechnicBRICKs. His ingenious mind revealed itself when he introduced some of his own mechanisms to the fan community, like the pneumatic autovalve, the PF Speed Remote add-on that makes it more intuitive and easier to use, and the gorgeous automated turn signals used in his large trucks, to name just a few.

In this book you’ll see building techniques through the eyes of one of the most experienced builders. Although Paul has no formal technical education (he is a linguist by education and an artist in the broadest sense of the word), his interest in mechanics and experience with LEGO bricks shows the unique educational value of the Technic brick. Moreover, he has a constant stream of ideas for new models always flowing from his fingers. All of this makes him one of the most prolific LEGO builders. Paul’s models include construction machinery, cars, buggies, bikes, realistic hot rods, large trucks, tanks, and much more. In many of these, he uses a kind of realistic Model Team style taken to the extreme: carefully crafted aesthetics, plenty of internal functions, and infinite details. And this is probably his best ability, to turn the extraordinary into ordinary. I can safely say that Paul stands at the forefront of the LEGO Technic builders.

I hope you find this book valuable in your constructions and an excellent reference in your challenges ahead.

Fernando Correia

Editor in Chief, TechnicBRICKs.com

Lisbon, 2012