LEGO Heavy Weapons: Build Working Replicas of Four of the World's Most Impressive Guns Paperback – May 26, 2012

Easy to use instructions, great book. Lays out clearly what blocks to purchase for the builds.

The instructions for each model are broken up into the following parts - A brief description of the real life firearm, followed by a 'design history' for the model itself - A fully diagrammed description of how the internal mechanisms work - A pictorial bill of materials - Thorough isometric assembly instructions with notes describing anything requiring further explanation than the picture providesIn reality the lack of colour takes little away from the instruction set as the AK74U fore grip is essentially the only part that isn't black or grey anyhow.Each model has a set of notes detailing the specific final assembly and also any problems you may encounter getting the mechanism to function or any parts that require modification.Lastly, here is the information I was looking for when I bought this book but couldn't find, regarding buying the LEGO bricks (Based on building the AK74U).Where to buy the bricks - I assumed that the LEGO official website would have all the parts required to build a model, I was wrong. The LEGO website does not have many of the parts required available on their website. As suggested in Jack's book, Bricklink.com is the place to go. Even here however I had to get parts from 6 different shop fronts and there was two parts I could not get in the colours required (6538a in black, and 2458 in reddish brown)How much the models cost - As mentioned above, I had multiple shipping fees but the total cost ended up being about AUD$115.00 for the AK74U (783 bricks). Compare prices between shop fronts, they can vary a lot.

Bought this book for my 7 year old son. Had to buy a few parts on the web, but build the first gun and it is great! For the most part the instructions were clear and easy to follow. Print quality was not the best being Black & White. Did not folow the standard Lagos plan coloring because of that, but the way they highlighted build steps in the book worked, just different.We look forward to building the other three guns soon, but he won't stop playing with the first one.

This book was purchased as a gift. Since it's not packaged, I gently opened it up to peek thru. Yes, this is a good book. Detailed, diagrams and parts list with parts help list. I chose this book over the others for a couple reasons. One being that this shoots Legos. The second, which should not be thrown to the wayside in my opinion, is that this book is from a regular joe (or Jack, I should say) who knows his Legos. His videos are on YouTube and tutorial would certainly be available. Happily, I purchased this book. Bought this book as a father and son type gift and I am certain it will get good use.

I just finished building the AKS-74U and it works great. The instructions are very well presented and I appreciate the hard work that was put into it. I'm thinking of getting the binding replaced by rings though so it's easier to hold open while building. If there was a way I could get this on PDF for use on my iPad that would be even better, but I don't think I'll take the time to scan it.I used Bricklink to gather the necessary parts, which took quite awhile, but it was worth it. This is about the coolest LEGO model I've built and it's crazy how well it works. Can't wait to start on the other models.

Product was exactly as advertised other than the fact that when it was delivered the book and spine were bent and marred to the point that my son couldn't open it without ripping the back cover and a few pages. My 10yo son saved up his allowance for 3 weeks to purchase this book and waited patiently for the 2 weeks it took to ship to our door and although he was still very excited the condition of the book definitely deflated his sails a bit. It broke my heart honestly. I only hope the book is either replaced or my son reimbursed for the damaged product he received.

It got a page where you can see what you need for the gun that you are currently building and i was afraid that it didn't but when i got it and saw that it did i was reliefed and happy that i didn't need to just find them as i build it so in my personal opinion this is a great book and you should buy it right now

I bought this book as a gift for my husband and he loved it. He and all of his guy friends think it is the greatest thing ever. The only problem is that he hasn't actually been able to use it yet since it is prohibitively expensive to try and track down all of the specialty Lego pieces you need (the book does offer some suggestions).

Yes ...an amazing book

Excellent!

Having seen lots of Chinese clone Lego makers release gun kits, I wanted to see how the real Danish Brick coped with similar treatment. Lego would never, ever make an official model gun set, but Jack Streat's book is the next best thing. This book has the parts count, instructions and information on the workings of 4 influential firearms.The book itself is very well written and has a sensible number of steps in the instructions. Unfortunately the pages are in black and white, which produces two problems: the colours are all the same (well, red is slightly lighter grey), and the joins can be very hard to see as almost all parts are black. Having said that, the author knew about these issues when writing the book and has tried very hard to lessen the effect, both in the text and the way the guns take shape. Be warned though - you'll need good eyesight and your wits about you to get it right first time.I bought this for the gun on the front - the AK-47. OK, this version is the AK-74U, but it's basically the same thing with a shorter barrel and folding stock. What was most impressive was not the 11-round magazine, the surprisingly good accuracy, nor the way the firing mechanism actually works (lots of elastic bands power these things, in case you're wondering, and no, the AK is not semi-automatic). The really impressive bit is the overall design skill, and how the Lego pieces have been chosen to assemble a structurally coherent shape. Cleverly placed technic bars, pins and rods create a strong but lightweight structure which can withstand the large tensions inherent in the firing mechanism and the reloading magazine. It is this that singles out Jack Streat as a truly impressive builder. Hard to believe he wrote this when he was 18.Finally, unless you have a huge collection of black technic parts, getting everything via the ubiquitous BrickLink is likely to cost over £100 for the bigger guns. However, when built they fire 1x4 bricks at quite a punch. I use orange bricks so I can find them next to the dents in the furniture. Oops...

My son was always building guns by himself with old lego bits. With This book now he can build some of his favourite properly

This year being the 100th year since the start of world war 1, I am setting up huge events for help for heroes so this was just what i needed. I did actually have an issue with the products however, whilst walk down the street with them on the way to one of my events, i had them on show and they are so realistic the police were called and i was checked to be sure they were safe!These are by far the coolest thing i own, and i hope more books like this can be made so i can have the ultimate firearm collection!