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Friday, June 20, 2008

g24


This building was constructed with a Gernegross set. The Gernegross set is one of the smallest (is it the smallest?) Anchor Stone block sets. Not only in size, but also in the number of blocks contained in the set. There are only 38 blocks in a Gernegross set.

It's been mentioned that a Gernegross model can be constructed with a Heinzelmannchen set with a few substitutions in block color. It's also possible to construct any Gernegross model with a #6 starter set. One only needs to substitute two #4R blocks for two #4G blocks.

Hints:

4 comments:

Alan said...

The Kleine Gernegroß seems to the smallest set ever done, considering the total physical volume of the stones in a set.

But many sets were done with fewer stones.

The smallest I can think of right off, Comet 0, had 18 stones. This set had 19. Being KK, those had slightly smaller footprints than a KG, but greater depth for more volume.

Several sets had counts in the twenties and thirties up through 37 for the Orion KK 2 (and possibly others).

William Seppeler said...

Leave it to me to reinvent the wheel.

A while back, I suggested the creation of an Anchor Stone promo set. The promo set idea was just a repacking of Froebel gifts 3, 4, and 5. Instead of Froebel gift 3 where you have a cube of eight #1 blocks, you would package a cube of two #4, two #15, and two #1 blocks. The set would fit in the same wooden box as Frobel gift 3.

I even went so far as to create a larger "sample set" as follows:

(2) #1
(2) #3
(2) #4
(2) #5
(2) #15
(2) #17
(2) #19
(2) #21
(2) #28
(2) #29
(2) #31
(2) #34
(2) #69
(2) #72
(2) #208
(2) #210
(2) #218


This sample set creates a 3x3 cube and gives a sample of most of the basic Anchor blocks. It's not a very practical sample set, but thought it was novel in that it uses two of every block to create the cube. It's an easy puzzle if you want to build a cube from the above block list.

Alan said...

Wow.

That list of stones sounds thoroughly weird. I may have to give it a try. :)

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I found two smaller sets: Orion KK 0 and Orion GK 1 - the latter being from that fun series were the block cross section is 25mm by 18.75 mm.

Unfortunately, I don't have design booklets of sheets for either of those -- I'd like to see what Ankerstein came up with for them.

That may be the nudge to get me to order a current set of CDroms.

William Seppeler said...

It's not too weird. There's a systems to the block choice.

In my first "cube" example, I choose

(2) #1
(2) #4
(2) #15

This produces a 2x2 cube where all the blocks are based on a #4 (ie: the largest). The #1 and #15 are blocks that can be derived from a #4 by halving.

Similarly, the 3x3 "cube" is a collection of blocks all based on the #4 and #5 blocks. The other blocks are derived by halving, then quartering, and so on.

I thought it particular that a solid "cube" could be constructed by using two of each block type. I'm sure there's some mathematical proof or reasoning behind this exercise. I just found it interesting. Makes for a good puzzle if anything.

NOTE: I should point out that this "halving" exercise is not really consistent. I only half the #5 block down to a #29, but I continuously half the #4 block down to a #72. I also introduce the #208, #210, and #218 blocks, which are diagonal cuts derived from a #4 (actually a #1, but a #1 is derived by halving a #4).

BTW: When I say something is based on a #4, I mean it has a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio in it's dimensions. If a block is based on a #5 block, it has a 3:1 or 3:2 ratio somewhere in it's dimension. OK, saying that probably confused you more :) Suffice to say, there was a system at play (pun intended) going on.