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Happy New Year! Another year of creating Lego videos is complete. Let’s review 2025, both financially and creatively.

Links to old reviews: 2024, 2023, 2022.

Revenue

Total revenue in 2025 was 210 thousand USD. Finally, the 3-year downward trend came to an end, thanks to YouTube Shorts. I’m very satisfied with the result.

Breakdown by revenue source in 2025. As in previous years, YouTube accounts for the largest portion (91%).

• 124000 USD – YouTube
• 66000 USD – YouTube Shorts
• 5800 USD – Facebook (BeyondTheBrick)
• 2700 USD – BuildaMOC
• 1200 USD – BiliBili (Influcity)
• 5200 USD – TikTok (BeyondTheBrick)
• 4800 USD – other

Expenses

Total expenses in 2025 were 8600 USD. Of that, 3300 USD was spent on Lego parts, and 5300 USD on other stuff, such as a new computer for editing, filming equipment and company operational expenses.

Work time

Work time is difficult to estimate because it is so tightly interwoven with my leisure time. I work full time, including weekends, but in a slow pace. Maybe around 40 hours per week.

Most of my time was spent developing new video ideas, filming and editing videos. A smaller portion went to ordering new Lego parts, creating building instructions for Lego models, answering emails, reporting copyright infringement, bookkeeping, and writing articles for this blog.

YouTube

In 2025, my YouTube channel gained almost 2 million new subscribers, mostly from YouTube Shorts. The total subscriber count is now 5.45 million.

It does looks nice on paper, but most of these are “useless subscribers” who watch only Shorts. Only 4% of my audience watches both long-form videos and Shorts.

The RPM on videos was 0.52 USD, which is in line with last year.

The RPM for Shorts videos was 0.11 USD, but note that this is an inflated number provided by YouTube Analytics, based on “engaged views”. If you actually compare earnings (66000 USD) to public Shorts views (1090 million), the RPM is 0.06 USD.

On Shorts, the Stayed to watch -percentage was 65%, the Average percentage viewed was 71%, and the Average duration was 0:53.

Shorts seem to have a much shorter lifespan than regular long-form videos. All the Shorts I published 3–9 months ago have already lost their momentum. I don’t expect much revenue from Shorts in the future.

Facebook

Beyond The Brick’s Facebook page continued posting my videos, and I earned a fair amount of revenue there: 5800 USD.

My own Facebook page has been growing well. In 2025, the page gained 170k followers and 40 million Reels views. Unfortunately, it is still not monetized.

TikTok

The BeyondTheBrick’s TikTok page was very popular in year 2025. My videos received 120M views there, generating 5200 USD in revenue (after BTB’s cut).

BiliBili

My BiliBili page, managed by InfluCity, received 34M views in 2025. Revenue was 1200 USD (after InfluCity’s cut).

Lego kits at BuildaMOC

In 2025, I released four new Lego walker kits. Unfortunately, only 20 units have been sold so far. I spent two full weeks creating the building instructions and got very little back. You can’t always win.

Luckily, the older kits are still selling.

No more Rebrickable

In November 2025, I deleted my Rebrickable page. The page had 8 MOCs, 147 followers, 2300 downloads and 17400 views.

It started when I was refused to submit new MOCs because they contained links to BuildaMOC and my blog. Later, most of my old MOCs were blocked for the same reason.

I don’t understand why they didn’t allow links to my blog, where nothing is for sale. The reason from admin jaredhinton was: “Your link contains links to places where instructions are for sale.” What? There is no “link to links” requirement in Rebrickable’s rules.

Furthermore, the enforcement of rules was arbitrary. I submitted two MOCs at the same time, both containing the same link to my blog. One was approved, and the other was not. The same randomness applied to BuildaMOC links. Many creators (e.g. JK Brickworks) include those links in their MOC descriptions, but suddenly it was not allowed for one of my MOCs, even though the rules hadn’t changed. Very confusing.

Finally, when I tried to include a text explaining to the readers why a link to my blog has been removed, the same admin didn’t allow it. He called it a “passive-aggressive comment”. He also didn’t approve my new text: “link removed for a reason I’m not allowed to tell you, because apparently saying it would be a ‘passive-aggressive comment'”. With that, he seemingly got angry and blocked 6 of my MOCs.

Summa summarum, without links the page no longer promotes my blog or BuildaMOC kits, which essentially nullifies the reason for me to keep managing it. Plus, it was never a very popular page anyway.

All the partlist and instructions can be downloaded here.

New videos

Only 6 new videos came to fruition this year.

The most popular video was 5 Lego Walkers vs 7 Obstacles with 44 million views. It is a sequel to last year’s video, which was also popular. These vehicles vs obstacles competition-format videos tend to get a lot of views.

New Shorts videos

In February 2025, I started releasing YouTube Shorts videos. A total of 21 Shorts were published this year, accumulating 1090 million views. All the shorts are re-edits of older videos.

The most popular Short was How engineers think differently and why it’s so helpful 4 #shorts with 319 million views. It is a re-edit of the Cross Narrow Bridges video released a year ago. That odd cheesy title was copied from ainterestinpage/IG, who had stolen my video and gained a lot of views.

In hindsight, starting to publish Shorts was a no-brainer, but at the time it wasn’t clear. I was worried that 1) YouTube wouldn’t recommend the Shorts because they are essentially re-edits of old videos (repetitive content), 2) they had already been uploaded by thieves (unoriginal content), or 3) they would compete with my regular videos, causing me to lose revenue. None of those doubts materialized.

My routine for creating Shorts is simple. I analyze stolen content I’ve found on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts to see which videos and edits perform best. Over the years, I’ve downloaded and cataloged over 100 stolen videos. Typically, the videos are sped up from 1.5x to 3x speed and cropped from the sides to better fit the vertical format. Black or blurred bars are added to the top and bottom, with a title on top. Any intro may be edited out. That’s it – pretty simple stuff. It takes 4-20 hours to edit one long video into a Short.

Compilation video

This year, I also released a 4-hour-long compilation video titled “Best of BEC Lego Technic Compilation. 4 Hours, 50 videos!”. It was the first of its kind.

The idea was to provide a convenient way to watch my content during a long car ride or whatever. Some people prefer long videos over playlists.

This also gave me a chance to improve the quality of the old videos. I basically re-edited all 50 videos, fixing small errors and tightening the editing. The compilation was released in full HD resolution and 50 fps frame rate.

To convert the original 25 fps footage to 50 fps, I used AI-powered frame interpolation software called Flowframes. The result is very good, but only if there isn’t fast movement in the video (those parts I kept at 25 fps).

The compilation video has gained 4.4 million views so far. The average view duration is 10 minutes, 5 times longer than normally. The RPM is 2.3, about 4 times higher than usual. I’m very happy with the result.

Other creative moments

This year, I started releasing all new videos at 50 fps. I made this change because I noticed how jerky the beginning of 6 Lego Vehicles vs 6 Obstacles looks in 25 fps when a car drives fast on a white table. See the comparison video below. Also, 50 fps is convenient for re-edits, if you need to speed up the footage by fractions like 1.5x.

The last video of the year was shot using high-quality daylight bulbs, Falcon Eyes ML-40 and ML-55. These have a much higher CRI (92-95) that the household bulbs I’ve used in the past (CRI ~80). I don’t think anyone will notice the difference, but it was nice to try something different.

Deals

In June 2025, I made a licensing deal with BRAVE+, a small streaming platform focused on family-friendly videos. They have released my content on their app.

In November 2025, I made a licensing deal with EVANS THE CHAMPION, a YouTube channel that creates Spanish-language parody videos.

In November 2025, I sold design work to the Education Development Center, creating building instructions for 4 Lego vehicles. This is the first time I’ve been paid purely for design work. Below is an image of the finished vehicles.

Copyright issues

Copyright issues are still an ongoing nuisance. This year, I’ve found a surprisingly large amount of stolen content in YouTube Shorts, and I’ve received 3 counter notifications. You can read more here.

Overall feeling

2025 was a good year – YouTube Shorts were popular, and my revenue almost doubled. Old videos are still being watched, which suggests a steady base income for the future. The licensing deals were a nice little bonus. Overall, a very good year.

Future?

The plan is to just continue creating more videos.
It would be nice to finally get my Facebook page monetized. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for reading. Good luck in 2026 and beyond!

This is an update on my battle against people who steal my Lego videos. The previous blog post was 3 years ago. Since then, the situation hasn’t gone any better.

Report count

In total, over the past 5 years, I’ve taken down 1600 videos for copyright infringement. Together, the videos had 1300 million views.

Breakdown by platform:
    -TikTok 750M views
    -Instagram 270M views
    -YouTube 160M views
    -Facebook 70M views
    -LinkedIn 50M views

TikTok is definitely the biggest platform for stolen content, but lately I’ve been finding a lot of stuff on YouTube Shorts.

Thoughts on platforms

TikTok is frustrating because copyright reports take a long time to process, usually around 3 months. By then, the videos have already stolen most of the views they’re going to get. On the other hand, their 3-strike system works, and the accounts are eventually terminated. Additionally, if an account uses my BEC logo without permission, reporting it is straightforward and TikTok terminates the account.

Facebook and Instagram have always handled copyright reports well. They process them quickly, and accounts are terminated after multiple strikes. The only drawback is that finding infringing content is somewhat difficult. For example, you can’t sort videos by popularity on a page or, on Instagram, search for videos using keywords.

YouTube has also handled copyright reports very well, and their automatic Content ID system helps detect infringing content. Unfortunately, over the past year, I’ve found a lot of Shorts videos that their system didn’t catch.

LinkedIn is slow to process reports, and you never know when/if the content will be removed. The lack of a “most popular videos” or similar feature makes it difficult to find infringing content.

BiliBili requires some form of ID verification to report content, which is why I haven’t submitted any reports there. I don’t feel comfortable sending pictures of my driver’s license.

Twitter/X and 9GAG don’t have much stolen content. I’ve only had one video taken down on these platforms.

Reddit does have stolen content, but I’ve never filed reports because users usually credit my channel in the top comments.

How to find stolen content

Google reverse-image search has been the best tool for me. You just upload a video thumbnail or frame and go through the “Visual matches” list.

Keyword searches are also good. Example keywords I use:
    -Brick Experiment Channel
    -Lego vs obstacles
    -Lego submarine
    -How engineers think differently

Sometimes viewers are kind enough to send links to stolen content they’ve found. Those help as well.

Luckily, you only need to find one video on a page, and then you can browse to find the rest.

When to report stolen content?

Most of the stolen content is direct copies of my videos. I’ll report those if they’ve received a significant number of views (>10k views).

Sometimes people slightly alter the videos to make them harder to catch or whatever. Here are things I’ve seen:
    -change playback speed
    -edit out the intro or other parts
    -clip the video into multiple parts
    -flip the video horizontally
    -strect the image vertically
    -zoom in (edges are cropped)
    -change the colors
    -add a horizontal scratch line in the middle
    -add continuously moving wavy lines
    -sway the image continuously

People can be pretty inventive with these tricks. Unfortunately for them, these modifications won’t fool reverse image searches.

Commentary videos are a bit more problematic. Where is the line for fair use? Usually, these videos wouldn’t pass the 4-factor fair use test, in my opinion, because:
    1) amount: 100% of what you see on screen is taken from my video
    2) not transformative: commentary only explains what is already on screen
    3) purpose: they are trying to profit from my content
    4) effect: they harm my channel because viewers watch their video instead of mine

Therefore, I often report commentary videos. The same applies to fandub and parody videos.

Reaction videos are a bit further along the gray scale of fair use. Not only do they contain commentary, but they also show a face on screen reacting on the content. So far, I haven’t reported any reaction videos.

Lastly, here are a few examples that are not copyright infringement. More are listed in the previous blog post.

A YouTuber combined my Cross Gaps video with the Bad Piggies game. The creator did a great job and spent a lot of time creating all those vehicles. I don’t want to ruin the work. I also believe it is fair use, since it is transformative and uses a lot of self-made footage. Not reported.

A 5 second clip of a Lego walker screaming “Blyat!” when it falls. It’s very short and transformative. Not reported.

A teacher asked me for permission to show my videos in a classroom of 20 people. I gave permission, since it’s for educational use and a small audience.

Cataloging

Finding stolen content, reporting it, and following up on the results is all manual work for me. I don’t use any automated tools. Therefore, it’s important to keep everything organized.

I use Excel to keep track of every reported video. The information I’ve found important to write down:
    -video link
    -page link
    -view count
    -name of the original video
    -report date
    -status
    -additional info (e.g. how many followers the page has)

If a video has a lot of views, I gather a bit more information in case the page owner contacts me later.
    -take a screenshot of the page
    -download the video

Contact

Sometimes I get an email from the page owner who received my copyright report. They apologize and ask if I could retract it.

My response depends on the following factors:
    -how many videos did they steal?
    -how many views did the stolen videos get?
    -does the page post any original content?

If it is a minor issue, I will retract the report.

A major issue would be something like this: an Instagram page posts two of my videos that have 10 million views, and their page is full of content obviously stolen from other creators. In this case, I’ll ask them why I should retract the report. If they offer payment, I’ll consider it.

Payments

So far, I’ve received payments from 5 different people for retracting a copyright report. Usually, these are Instagram page owners, but once it was a YouTube channel owner. The payments have ranged from $100 to $500. The transactions were made via PayPal or cryptocurrencies.

This is definitely not a way to earn money, considering the small amounts and the time it takes to handle the reporting, discussion, payment, and retraction. However, I want to help if someone truly needs to have a report retracted.

From a moral standpoint, what I’m doing initially felt like extortion: I’m asking for money, or else they may lose their Instagram page. But, on the other hand, they stole my videos, and I’m seeking compensation for the monetary losses they caused me. In that sense, as far as I know, it is not legally extortion. The key distinctions are: 1) not filing false or illegal reports, and 2) asking for compensation that is proportional to the losses they caused or to what the licensing fee would have been.

Counter notifications

A counter notification is the legal way for an uploader to claim that a copyright takedown was a mistake or a misidentification. So far, I’ve received three counter notifications on YouTube. I’ll go through all the cases here.

In May 2025, a YouTube channel Гохисыч, with 1.5M subs, re-uploaded my Cross Narrow Bridges video as a YouTube Shorts video. The video got 12 million views. They used 100% of my content and added an AI-generated Russian-language voice-over with on-screen text. I filed a copyright report, and the video was taken down. A week later, I received a counter notification from YouTube stating that I had 10 days to prove I had taken legal action, otherwise the video would be reinstated. In the notification, the uploader claimed “fair use” and “commentary”. I did nothing, and after 10 days the video was reinstated. The uploader made the video private shortly after it was reinstated.

In May 2025, I received another counter notification from a YouTube channel ARDEL, 1M subs. It was submitted by the same person as the previous one. The video was the same, except this time it had a Spanish-language voice-over. The counter notification contained the same claim of “fair use” and “commentary”. The uploader made the video private after it was reinstated.

In Dec 2025, I received a counter notification from a YouTube channel Khela Hobe, 150k subs. They had re-uploaded 7 of my videos as YouTube Shorts and got 19 million views. The videos were 100% copies with an added Indian-language voice-over. The counter notification was full of blatant lies, e.g. claiming they have filmed all the footage themselves. This should have been easy for YouTube to verify, since my original content was published years before the channel even existed. Anyway, after 10 days, the videos were reinstated, but the uploader had already deleted them.

copyright2_counter_notification_khelahobeDownload

What I’ve learned:
    1) people can file a counter notification based on lies – apparently, YouTube only verifies the name and address
    2) you really can’t fight the counter notification – filing a lawsuit is too expensive
    3) if they have stolen content from other creators, you can contact those creators and ask them to file reports in the hope that 3 strikes will get the channel terminated
    4) luckily, even when you lose the counter notification, they’ll probably delete the videos and stop posting your content, because they don’t want to risk getting strikes

Copyright claims I have received

Since the previous blog post, I have not received any copyright claims.

Final words

I hope you found this article helpful.

If you find my videos stolen somewhere, please send the links via email, Facebook private messages, or in the comment section below.

Images of various remote-controlled Lego vehicles designed by Brick Experiment Channel.

Normal Car

A 4-wheel car with rear-wheel drive and turning front wheels. video

Basic Tracked Vehicle

A tracked vehicle that turns with differential steering. video

Another version, with rubber tracks. video

This one is motorized with Circuit Cubes.

4WD Vehicle

A wheeled vehicle with 4-wheel drive (4WD) and differential steering. video

Another one that is motorized with Circuit Cubes.

A vehicle with 4-wheel drive (4WD) and 4-wheel steering (4WS). video

Rolling Vehicle

A big monowheel-style vehicle called the Big Wheel, with no steering. video

A smaller version with two wheels for steering.

Obstacle Climber

A 4-wheel car with a motorized middle joint and separate front/rear wheel motors, with no steering. video

Another version with two motorized middle joints. video

A bigger version with differential steering. video

Simple 2-legged Walker

A simple walker without steering. video

2-legged Walker

A 2-legged (or 3-legged?) walker with a tail “leg” for turning. video

4-legged Walker

A 4-legged walker with a pivoting middle joint for turning. video

8-legged Walker

A 8-legged walker that uses a Klann linkage. video

16-legged Walker

A 16-legged walker. video

Dual-Pivot Tracked Vehicle

A tracked vehicle with 4-wheel steering and pivoting front/rear axles. video

Articulated Tracked Vehicle

A tracked vehicle with articulated steering and rubber treads. video

Mark V

A rhomboid-shaped tracked vehicle, modeled after the Mark V tank. video

Long Track

A long single track vehicle without steering. video

Tank

A tank with a remote-controlled turret that shoots Lego soccer balls. video

A bigger version called the Mega Tank. video

A small Mini Tank that shoots Lego 1×1 liftarms. video

200-Wheel Vehicle

A 6.4-meter-long road train with 200 wheels. video

Gap Crossing Vehicle

A vehicle capable of crossing gaps up to 70 cm long. video

Narrow Bridge Crossing Vehicle

A vehicle able to cross narrow bridges, even just a string, by lowering its center of mass. video

Airboat

An airboat. video

Paddlewheel Boat

A paddlewheel boat. video

Motorboat

A motorboat with underwater propellers. video

Part lists and instructions are available for some of these vehicles. Check here.

After 8 years of watching Lego Technic content on YouTube, I’ve put together a list of my 25 favorite channels. These are skilled builders and creative artists whose videos have inspired me and whose work I admire.

1. Brick Experiment Channel (5.2M subs)
Number 1, for obvious self-promotion reasons.

2. Brick Technology (2.3M subs)
Unique builds and experiments, similar to BEC.

3. JK Brickworks (2.4M subs)
Beautiful Lego sculptures and automatons.

4. Nico71’s Technic Creations (0.074M subs)
Technical and visually appealing Technic MOCs.

5. Sariel’s Bricks & Pets (0.27M subs)
The grand old daddy of Lego Technic. He’s done it all.

6. Akiyuki Brick Channel (0.35M subs)
A very skilled builder and artist, known for GBCs and other large builds. Showcases them in beautiful videos.

7. 2in1 Bricking (0.077M subs)
A crazy creative inventor of Lego mechanisms and other small builds.

8. redshoebox (0.025M subs)
Made a popular video series about Mechanical Principles.

9. Brick Machines (0.6M subs)
Unique builds and experiments, similar to BEC.

10. Dr Engine (0.4M subs)
Cool experiments similar to BEC, but with a more artistic visual style.

11. GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines! (0.14M subs)
Creative Lego vehicles.

12. The Brick Wall (0.30M subs)
Big and complex Lego builds.

13. Brick Science (2.2M subs)
The most popular talking Lego Technic channel, producing MrBeast-style videos.

14. RacingBrick (0.25M subs)
Another great talking channel, focused mostly on Lego Technic set reviews.

15. Jamie’s Brick Jams (0.13M subs)
A rare creator producing narrated DIY Technic videos, and a highly skilled builder.

16. TrainGuy 659 (0.72M subs)
Timelapse videos of Lego trains on impressively long tracks.

17. Kevin183 (0.45M subs)
Makes the best rubber‑band Lego guns. Videos are nicely edited too.

18. Build it with Bricks (0.15M subs)
Cool builds and experiments, similar to BEC.

19. Yoshihito ISOGAWA (0.052M subs)
Creates short videos showcasing simple Technic builds.

20. munimuni Bekkan (0.13M subs)
Some very interesting builds, including a movable bridge video that inspired me a lot.

21. Lucas-Dynamics (0.13M subs)
Cool experiments similar to BEC, nicely edited videos too.

22. Mad Brick (0.060M subs)
Created a bunch of crazy Lego engine test videos that inspired me years ago in both content and editing style.

23. WOA Mini Bricks (0.11M subs)
Experiment videos aimed at children. Often copies others, but sometimes showcases unique builds.

24. diamabolo (0.005M subs)
Kinetic sculptures that inspired me a lot.

25. Shadow Elenter (0.067M subs)
Big yellow-and-black Technic builds, including this tank video that influenced my own.

Here are five different remote-controlled walking vehicles built from Lego.

Simple 2-legged walker

This simple walker moves only forward and backward – no steering.

The foot path is circular (parallelogram mechanism). As a result, the frame moves with an up-and-down bouncing motion.

2-legged walker

This walker is longer and wider, and therefore more balanced than the simple 2-legged. It is very good at surpassing obstacles (it even won the obstacle course test). Turning is handled by a “tail leg”, but this only works on flat surfaces when the frame is in the down position.

The foot path is a big circle and the frame goes up-and-down in big moves.

4-legged walker

This walker moves by lifting two legs from opposite corners at the same time. The soles of the feet need to be large for stability. Turning is achieved by pivoting around the middle joint.

The footpath follows a slanted oval shape. As a result, the frame moves slightly backward during each step. Not the most efficient design, really.

8-legged walker

This spider walker moves very smoothly. Four legs are always touching the ground, making it stable. Turning is achieved through differential steering – driving the left and right legs in opposite directions.

The mechanism is Klann linkage approximated for Lego dimensions.

The footpath is a complex curve that is both flat at the downward position and high during the return. The frame path remains fairly even.

16-legged walker

This multi-legged walker moves quite smoothly. It is stable and turns easily using differential steering.

The legs are timed sequentially, resembling a sine wave.

The footpath is a circle, which in other walkers causes the frame to bounce. However, thanks to this walker’s high leg count, the frame moves quite evenly. Small upward nudges occur periodically when support shifts from the outermost leg to the more stable innermost leg.

Kits

If you like to build one yourself, some of these walkers are available as kits from BuildaMOC. Each kit includes all the necessary parts and printed instructions.

https://buildamoc.com/products/2-legged-walker
https://buildamoc.com/products/4-legged-walker
https://buildamoc.com/products/8-legged-walker
https://buildamoc.com/products/16-legged-walker

Here’s what the instructions look like:

Different motorization options

Motors and battery boxes can be quite expensive, which is why different versions are available.

The BuWizz kit comes with a BuWizz 2.0 battery box and two Lego Power Functions M-motors. It’s the most powerful version, but also the most expensive.

The Circuit Cubes kit comes with a Bluetooth Battery Cube and two Cubit motors. This is more affordable than the BuWizz version, but the walkers move more slowly. You can see the difference in the demo videos at the end.

Here’s what the model options look like:

If you want to save money and also get a fast walker, you can use chinese CaDA parts. Simply order the “No motors, no battery” option from BuildaMOC, then purchase the missing parts separately from CaDA. List of required parts:

1x CaDA Battery Box JV1077
1x CaDA Remote Controller JV8011
2x CaDA M-Motor JV5073

BuWizz profiles

If you don’t want to set up the controls yourself in the BuWizz app, ready-made profiles are available. Simply download the ZIP-file and import it to the app.

buwizz_profile_2-legged_walker.zip
buwizz_profile_4-legged_walker.zip
buwizz_profile_8-legged_walker.zip
buwizz_profile_16-legged_walker.zip

Part lists and instructions

2-Legged Walker (BuWizz): instructions PDF, partlist xml
2-Legged Walker (Circuit Cubes): instructions PDF, partlist xml
4-Legged Walker (BuWizz): instructions PDF, partlist xml
4-Legged Walker (Circuit Cubes): instructions PDF, partlist xml
8-Legged Walker (BuWizz): instructions PDF, partlist xml
8-Legged Walker (Circuit Cubes): instructions PDF, partlist xml
16-Legged Walker (BuWizz): instructions PDF, partlist xml
16-Legged Walker (Circuit Cubes): instructions PDF, partlist xml

Which walker is the best?

In my experience the 8-legged and 16-legged walkers are the most drivable models. They are stable, easy to turn and fairly fast. The 2-legged walker handles obstacles well, but its unusual turning method makes maneuvering more challenging. Additionally, the Circuit Cubes version of the 2-legged walker is quite slow. The 4-legged walker is perhaps the least drivable model. It moves in a jerky and unstable manner, requiring a lot of effort to turn around.

Videos

I’m always amazed to see people recreate my Lego builds, often adding their own unique twists and modifications. Here are some of those creations.

Submarine 4.0 by Mike

Mike from Germany did a marvellous job building the Submarine 4.0.
One major improvement he made was enabling the on/off switch to function from outside the sub, using a reed relay and a magnet. He also added contact plates on the hull for easy battery recharging. With these two features, there’s no need to open the lids, greatly enhancing usability. Additionally, he crafted a nice wooden stand that is also a charging station.
The submarine uses the common 2.4 GHz frequency for radio control. To maintain communication, a long floating antenna extends from the sub.
The submarine doesn’t have an onboard computer, so there is no automatic depth control. Instead, the motors are manually controlled via radio buttons.
It hasn’t been tested in water yet, but so far the build looks very promising. Check the videos below.
Thanks to Mike and Emil.

Drone by Evan

Evan built my Drone with Lego motors, which is a very challenging build.
He was able to make a lift-off, which is an accomplishment in itself, but it flew like “a drunken sailor”, as he called it.
He tried supergluing the reverse props to a different angle of attack (see image below), and was able to increase thrust from 80g to 150g. Unfortunately, that didn’t improve balance. Maybe the imbalance is caused by thrust difference between normal and reverse propellers?
Thanks to Evan for the effort.

Cross gaps vehicle by Jesus Munoz

Jesus Munoz from Spain did a replica of the final build from my cross gaps video.
He also created instructions you can download for free here.
Thanks to Jesus Munoz!

20 Mechanical Principle Machine

Many have built my 20 Mechanical Principles Machine and posted images of their builds on Rebrickable. Cool builds!

Copycat creators

Some creators on YouTube, TikTok and BiliBili remake my entire videos, replicating not only the builds but also the editing and video structure. While this could be seen as copyright infringement, it’s clear they are inspired by my work and invest a lot of time into filming the videos. Let’s appreciate their effort.

WOA Mini Bricks on YouTube has been very prolific re-creating many of my videos, for example the 10 Movable Lego Bridges.

Smart Lego on YouTube has re-created many of my videos, for example the 200 Wheel Lego Vehicle.

FM Lego Technic on YouTube has re-created many of my videos, for example the Making Lego Car CROSS Narrow Bridges.

Học Viện Aka LEGO on TikTok did many of my videos, including the Shredding Paper with Lego Gears.

@hocvienakalego.com

Máy Cắt Giấy Bằng LEGO. #lego #dochoi #nuoidaycon #giaoduc #treem #dcgr #hocvienakalego

♬ nhạc nền – Học Viện Aka LEGO – Học Viện Aka LEGO

The Maker on BiliBili did my Making Lego Car CLIMB Slopes video.

What Brick Experiment Channel videos should you watch?

The all-time highest rated video is 1% Lego Guitar Skills 99% Editing Skills, a DragonForce musical cover. It has 99.6% likes percentage.

The highest rated popular video is 20 Mechanical Principles Machine. It has 99.0% likes percentage and 47M views.

Here are all videos, ordered by likes (vs. dislikes) percentage.
As of March 2025.

DATE VIDEO TITLE VIEWS RATING-% 2023-01-14 1% Lego Guitar Skills 99% Editing Skills 4.5M 99.6% 2023-02-25 Free Bird Solo on Lego Guitar (99% editing skills) 1.0M 99.3% 2023-05-06 Imperial March on Lego motors 1.6M 99.3% 2022-08-20 Lego Benny at 100g 2.9M 99.3% 2022-12-17 Lego Guitar (3 simple songs demonstrated) 1.3M 99.2% 2022-01-15 Requested Lego Experiments 3 2.6M 99.2% 2024-08-10 Making a Fast Lego Boat 2/3 – paddle wheel 1.1M 99.2% 2024-08-03 Making a Fast Lego Boat 1/3 – airboat 1.5M 99.1% 2022-01-29 How Many Walls Stops A Lego Cannon? 8.1M 99.0% 2022-09-17 20 Mechanical Principles combined in a Useless Lego Machine 46.9M 99.0% 2022-01-08 Requested Lego Experiments 2 5.5M 99.0% 2023-08-19 Building 10 Motorized Lego Doors 10.0M 98.9% 2024-02-17 Building 10 Lego Elevators 6.4M 98.9% 2022-04-16 Lego, Raspberry and Python Project – Reaction Wheel Inverted Pendulum 4.6M 98.9% 2024-08-17 Making a Fast Lego Boat 3/3 – underwater propellers 2.0M 98.8% 2024-10-12 Shredding Paper with Lego Gears (ver 2) 14.0M 98.8% 2022-07-16 Building a Lego-powered Submarine 4.0 – automatic depth control 26.0M 98.7% 2021-10-30 Do Lego Wheels Spin FASTER in Vacuum? 1.8M 98.7% 2023-07-01 Building a Lego MINI Tank 3.6M 98.6% 2023-03-04 7 Kinetic Sculptures in Lego 7.0M 98.6% 2024-04-13 Lego Propellers in Water (worst to best) 2.3M 98.5% 2023-10-07 Turning Diameter Comparison with Lego 4.5M 98.5% 2021-10-09 Build & Test Lego Gearboxes: 2, 4, 6, 8, 12-speed 3.6M 98.4% 2024-09-28 Creating a BIG Vortex with Lego and Magnets 2.6M 98.3% 2020-08-15 Building a Lego Tank that Shoots Lego Soccer Balls 3.3M 98.3% 2022-01-01 Requested Lego Experiments 1 (no voice-over) 1.6M 98.3% 2021-02-20 Making a Powerful Lego Hoist (re-edit) 2.8M 98.2% 2023-08-05 Lego Tank Battle – Mini vs Mega 1.6M 98.2% 2020-02-22 Playing Card Lego Gun 4.3M 98.2% 2021-07-24 10 Lego Boats Connected = BOAT TRAIN 4.0M 98.2% 2018-12-29 All 19 Lego Breaking Moments So Far 1.3M 98.2% 2021-07-10 3 Pole Climbing Lego Robots 9.3M 98.1% 2021-06-12 Build & Test Lego Engines: V8, U12, H16, X24, multirow-radial-42, S100 11.0M 98.1% 2023-07-15 Lego MEGA Tank 9.6M 98.1% 2020-06-30 Building a Lego-powered Submarine 2.0 – magnetic couplings 24.5M 98.1% 2020-12-12 Can Lego BREAK an Aluminum Beam? 17.2M 98.0% 2021-05-22 Build & Test Lego Engines: 1-cyl, opp-piston, S2, V2, F2, U2, W3, S4, H4, X4, radial-6 6.0M 98.0% 2023-11-11 Testing Lego-compatible Axles (max torque, durability, friction, etc) 10.7M 97.9% 2022-04-30 Requested Lego Experiments 5 6.2M 97.9% 2018-09-08 Spinning a Lego Wheel FASTER 16.6M 97.9% 2022-02-26 Spinning a Lego Wheel Fast BY HAND 12.4M 97.9% 2018-01-03 Testing Lego gear and pulley systems – part 1 0.7M 97.9% 2018-08-25 Lego Motor Lifts a Rock (88kg/195lb) 4.7M 97.8% 2020-11-21 Stealing a Key Ring with Teleoperated Lego 2.5M 97.8% 2021-04-24 33 Lego Wheels/Tracks on Wood (worst to best) 6.4M 97.7% 2020-10-24 Spinning Mini-Camera and Lego Benny 10.6M 97.7% 2023-04-08 Building 10 MOVABLE Lego Bridges 18.5M 97.7% 2018-12-15 Cheap the Lego Wheel Spins ALMOST TOO FAST 7.4M 97.7% 2024-11-16 Making Lego Car CROSS Narrow Bridges 17.8M 97.6% 2021-10-23 Lego Vacuum Pump 4.2M 97.6% 2021-12-18 Requested Lego Experiments 1 13.4M 97.5% 2019-07-20 Building and Testing a Lego-powered Submarine 16.7M 97.4% 2020-03-14 Can Lego BREAK a Steel Axle? 33.7M 97.4% 2019-02-16 Testing Lego in Cold and Hot Temperature 1.9M 97.4% 2021-08-07 100 Cylinder Lego Car 6.5M 97.4% 2021-08-21 Making Lego Car CLIMB More Obstacles 6.1M 97.4% 2017-12-06 Testing Lego pulley systems 1.1M 97.4% 2018-07-28 Testing Lego gear and pulley systems – part 2 3.1M 97.3% 2018-11-03 Building and Testing a Lego Press 10.2M 97.3% 2019-02-02 Testing a Lego-compatible Steel Axle 9.6M 97.2% 2018-09-22 Testing Lego Worm Gear HIGH TORQUE Performance 6.0M 97.2% 2018-08-11 30 Volts to a Lego Motor 0.9M 97.2% 2020-01-11 Making a Drone with Lego Motors and Propellers 32.1M 97.2% 2025-01-25 Best of BEC Lego Technic Compilation. 4 Hours, 50 videos! 1.1M 97.0% 2018-11-17 How Much LOAD Can the Smallest Lego Gear Handle? 4.5M 97.0% 2018-01-11 Lego Motor Lifts 100kg 4.8M 96.9% 2017-12-06 Testing Lego gear systems for hoisting 2.9M 96.9% 2021-03-20 Lego-generated Vortex 2 5.7M 96.8% 2019-03-23 Spinning Lego Propellers 12.3M 96.8% 2018-07-14 Spinning a Lego Wheel FAST 11.8M 96.7% 2020-08-22 Building a Lego Tank (no music, no filters) 20.9M 96.6% 2021-09-11 Building a Lego-powered Submarine 3.0 – balloon and compressor 25.7M 96.5% 2020-05-16 Making a GOOGOL:1 Reduction with Lego Gears 40.4M 96.5% 2018-06-30 What Happens If You TWIST a Lego Axle HARD? 7.2M 96.3% 2019-05-04 How To Make a Lego Man Fly 2.7M 96.2% 2021-03-06 Making the Longest 1:1 Lego Gear Train 37.5M 96.2% 2020-09-05 Creating a BIG Vortex with Lego Motors 67.2M 96.1% 2021-04-03 Making Lego Car CLIMB Slopes 18.4M 96.0% 2019-05-25 Shredding Paper with Lego Gears 23.9M 95.9% 2022-02-12 Requested Lego Experiments 4 35.5M 95.9% 2023-12-16 200 Wheel Lego Vehicle 26.0M 95.3% 2021-01-02 Making Lego Car CLIMB Obstacles 98.1M 95.2% 2024-05-11 6 Lego Vehicles vs 6 Obstacles (2nd edit) 12.3M 95.0% 2018-10-20 2.5 Hours Building a Lego Press (no talking, ASMR-ish) 0.7M 94.9% 2018-12-01 Lego Press vs Barbie Head and Other Things 7.0M 94.5% 2018-10-06 Spinning Contest with 10 Lego Wheels 6.6M 94.4% 2021-11-20 Making Lego Car CROSS Gaps 108.8M 94.0% 2024-05-11 6 Lego Vehicles vs 6 Obstacles 42.8M 93.5% 2019-10-12 100 Wheel Lego Vehicle 40.2M 93.4%

Time to recap the busy year building Lego creations and filming videos. Let’s review 2024 both financially and creatively.

Links to old reviews: 2023, 2022.

Revenue

The total revenue in 2024 was 115 thousand USD. That is once again lower than the previous year. The downward trend has now lasted 3 years. Bummer!

Breakdown by revenue source in 2024. YouTube makes a hefty portion (89%) of the pie, as in previous years. More diverse revenue streams would be better, a less risky situation, but what can you do.

• 102000 USD – YouTube
• 3200 USD – Facebook (BeyondTheBrick)
• 3600 USD – BuildaMOC
• 1200 USD – BiliBili (Influcity)
• 5000 USD – TikTok (BeyondTheBrick)

Expenses

Total expenses in 2024 were 5400 USD. From that, 3200 USD was spent on Lego parts and 2200 USD on other stuff like various equipment, travelling expenses and company operational expenses.

Work time

About 40 hours per week was spent working throughout the year. Most of the time went to developing new video ideas, filming and editing videos. A smaller amount of time went to ordering new Lego parts, creating 3D models for old Lego builds, answering emails, bookkeeping, and writing articles for this blog.

My hourly rate amounted to 55 USD/hour.

YouTube

In 2024 my YouTube channel received 198M views and added 308k subscribers. The subscriber count is now 3.56 million.

YouTube view count was good compared to last year, but RPM dropped again for a 3rd year in a row. In 2024 RPM was only 0.51 USD. Low RPM is the main reason why revenue has been declining.

Why the drop in RPM? I think the reason is YouTube Kids app. The percentage of people watching my content through that app has gone from 0% in 2021 to 52% in 2024 – a big increase.

YouTube Kids app limits advertising, so the ad revenue is probably low. You cannot know for sure, because YouTube Analytics doesn’t show direct data on that. But I was able to combine two different data in Excel to reveal the ad revenue indirectly. Below is a scatter plot between RPM and a percentage of how much views came from YouTube Kids. Those are taken from daily channel-wide statistics since 2022. If you draw a trend line, you see RPM is very close to 0 when all views come from YouTube Kids. Seems like the app doesn’t bring any ad revenue.

Facebook

On Facebook year 2024 wasn’t too good. Beyond The Brick had problems with monetization on their Facebook page, and because of that I got a bit less than was possible: only 3200 USD.

At the same time I’ve been trying to build my own Facebook page. In terms of views and followers, the page did grow nicely from 5k to 49k followers. The videos were viewed 11M times in 2024. But, unfortunately, that doesn’t bring any revenue currently, because Finland is not an eligible country for In-Stream Ads. I’ve been investigating options to circumvent that with no success so far.

TikTok

The BeyondTheBrick’s TikTok page was very popular in year 2024. My videos got there 170M views. Revenue amounted to 5000 USD (after BTB’s cut).

BiliBili

On the Chinese BiliBili platform, where the page is run by InfluCity, my videos got 6.8M views in year 2024. Revenue amounted to 1200 USD (after InfluCity’s cut).

Lego kits at BuildaMOC

I didn’t release new Lego kits in 2024, but the old kits from previous years are still selling well. They generated a total of 3600 USD in revenue.

20 Mechanical Principles Machine kit sold 127 units and the 5 Engine Models kit sold 35 units in year 2024.

Affiliate links

In 2023 I started using affiliate links from BuWizz and CaDA. I put the links on a couple of video descriptions and two blog posts, in other words wherever I use products from those companies.

So far, the BuWizz links have generated 11 referrals which amount to 100 USD earnings. CaDA links have generated 18 referrals which amount to 25 USD. Needless to say, affiliate links suck at generating revenue.

Rebrickable

In 2023 I opened a Rebrickable page for sharing Lego models. There are now 4 models with instructions for people to download for free.

The page has generated 4900 views and 650 downloads. I don’t know if that is a lot or not. Probably not.

I added only one new creation to the page this year, 100 Wheel Lego Vehicle, because someone wanted the part list.

You can also download a 3D model without instructions for my Lego Mega Tank here.

Video content in 2024

In the past I’ve usually released 12 videos in a year, but this year only 10 new videos came to fruition. I’m becoming old and slow.

The most popular video was 6 Lego Vehicles vs 6 Obstacles with 33 million views. These type of obstacle-passing videos have been popular in the past as well, so it’s success was expected. Cars, obstacles, fast editing and a story in the form of a competition seems to attract viewers.

The least popular videos were the three Lego boat videos. Those didn’t attract viewers the way I had hoped, maybe because making a fast boat is kind of boring subject to watch. The viewer can barely see the small improvements in boat speed I’m trying to optimize. It is also difficult to film and edit in an interesting way, because the shooting location is always changing between a building table, water container and swimming pool.

One interesting release was the water vortex video, because it was almost a direct copy of an old video I’ve done. Generally I don’t think making the same video again is sensible. Who wants to see the same content again? But this time I took the chance, because the first video got magnificent 70M views. When I released the new version it started behaving strangely. In the first week the video got only 90k views, which is the worst performance in 5 years! It felt like a total flop. But, after that, it has slowly been collecting views and is now at 1.5M views, which is not bad. Looks like it is a late bloomer.

Another interesting release was the 6 Lego Vehicles vs 6 Obstacles, because it was released in two versions (here and here) that were edited differently. Never before have I done a double release on the same content (except for those two times when viewers complained and I had to re-release it). I’m not sure if multi-release is a good idea. The videos could start competing against each other, eating each other’s views, or some viewers could stop watching because they’ve seen the other version, thus hitting the audience retention metric. But, in the end, it turned out very well. Both versions were received well and gathered a lot of views. Maybe I should do multi-releases again in the future…?

New editing style was tried on Shredding Paper with Lego Gears (ver 2). In some of the building scenes I edited the footage so that my hands are not shown at all but instead the parts are added with fast jump cuts. I’ve seen this style used before by Brick Technology and other channels, but I’ve never used it before. I think it works very well. Those building scenes look very good. Especially when you use the same audio sample every time a part is added, it sounds good as well.

In terms of creation process, I tried this year separating the Lego building phase from the filming phase. At one point I spent a full month to prepare three video ideas with the Lego builds they require, and only afterwards, when all the Lego builds were finished, I filmed those three videos in conjunction. Basically I’m splitting the work into two phases that are done at different time. It feels more relaxed than doing all the work in a continuous run, which has been my way in previous years. Especially ordering Lego parts is easier in this new way, because you are not in a hurry to get parts. I think I’ll continue with this new approach in the future.

Copyright issues

Funny things happened regarding copyright issues. Two Instagram pages contacted me via email for retracting copyright reports I had filed, and they were willing to pay money for getting the copyright strikes removed. I won’t name the pages, but one paid 100 USD and the other paid 500 USD. Both pages had posted my videos without permission and gained millions of views. From the looks of it, those pages do nothing but post stolen content without any original content, otherwise I wouldn’t have dared to “extort” money from them like a mafia boss. Anyway, I found the whole situation pretty funny. Never thought one can earn money from filing copyright reports.

Shorts?

In the last year’s review I thought about getting into YouTube shorts. That plan has not materialized. I still keep wondering if the short views and RPM would be high enough to pay back the effort, or if the shorts would eat my long-form viewership. Maybe some day I’ll try it.

Overall feeling

2024 felt like a good year – better than most of the past 6 years I’ve been doing this. Part of it is because the last two videos in the year succeeded, leaving a positive note. But even the entire year’s view count was not bad. People are still interested in my content. At some point people will get bored and stop watching the content, which I think eventually happens to all creative endeavors. I believe my channel’s life cycle is already on the downward hill, slowly waiting for the end. Apparently it won’t happen just yet, because of the good year 2024. Weeeeee!

Future?

No big plans for the future – I’ll just continue creating more videos. If my Facebook page gets monetized, that would be great.

Thanks for reading. Good luck for year 2025!

Want to build a Lego model from the Brick Experiment Channel? Check below for all available part lists, building instructions, and 3D models for BEC creations!

Part lists:
Lego Motor Lifts 100kg partlist txt
Lego Mechanical Press partlist txt
Submarine 1.0 partlist txt
Submarine 2.0 partlist txt
Tank partlist txt
Submarine 4.0 partlist
Lego guitar partlist csv, partlist xml
20 mechanical principles machine partlist csv, partlist xml
20 mechanical principles machine (Circuit Cubes) partlist csv, partlist xml
V8 engine partlist csv, partlist xml
U12 engine partlist csv, partlist xml
H16 engine partlist csv, partlist xml
X24 engine partlist csv, partlist xml
Radial-42 engine partlist csv, partlist xml
5 Engines BuildaMOC kit partlist csv, partlist xml
Mega tank partlist csv, partlist xml, non-Lego parts txt
Airboat partlist csv, partlist xml
Paddlewheel boat partlist csv, partlist xml
Motorboat with underwater propellers partlist csv, partlist xml
100 wheel vehicle partlist csv, partlist xml
2-legged walker partlist csv, partlist xml
4-legged walker partlist csv, partlist xml
8-legged walker partlist csv, partlist xml
16-legged walker partlist csv, partlist xml
2-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) partlist csv, partlist xml
4-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) partlist csv, partlist xml
8-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) partlist csv, partlist xml
16-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) partlist csv, partlist xml
Paper shredder 2 partlist csv, partlist xml
Normal car partlist csv, partlist xml
Mark V partlist csv, partlist xml

Building instructions:
20 mechanical principles machine instructions pdf
20 mechanical principles machine (Circuit Cubes) instructions pdf
V8 engine instructions pdf
U12 engine instructions pdf
H16 engine instructions pdf
X24 engine instructions pdf
Radial-42 engine instructions pdf
100 wheel vehicle instructions pdf
2-legged walker instructions pdf
4-legged walker instructions pdf
8-legged walker instructions pdf
16-legged walker instructions pdf
2-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) instructions pdf
4-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) instructions pdf
8-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) instructions pdf
16-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) instructions pdf
Paper shredder 2 instructions pdf

3D models (open with BrickLink Studio 2.0):
20 mechanical principles machine model io
20 mechanical principles machine (Circuit Cubes) model io
Lego guitar model io
V8 engine model io
U12 engine model io
H16 engine model io
X24 engine model io
Radial-42 engine model io
5 Engines BuildaMOC kit model io
Mega tank model io
Airboat model io
Paddlewheel boat model io
Motorboat with underwater propellers model io
100 wheel vehicle model io
2-legged walker model io
4-legged walker model io
8-legged walker model io
16-legged walker model io
2-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) model io
4-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) model io
8-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) model io
16-legged walker (Circuit Cubes) model io
Paper shredder 2 model io
Normal car model io
Mark V model io

Backups:
All of the above files are also available here.
mega
proton drive
dropbox

If you couldn’t find a partlist/instructions/3D model for something you’ve seen in a BEC video, then it simply doesn’t exist. Feel free to ask if I might have time to create it.

More information about the models – including build notes and images – may be available in the YouTube video description, or this blog under Lego builds.

Here are the finished three Lego boats.

Top speed

The motorboat is the fastest (5.3 km/h) but the airboat is almost as fast (5.0 km/h). The paddlewheel boat is a little bit slower (3.9 km/h).

Note that all the boats are powered with the same battery box (BuWizz 3.0) and the same motors (2x Lego Buggy), so the difference ultimately comes down to efficiency – how well these three propulsion methods can transfer power to movement.

Static thrust

The paddlewheel boat generates the most static thrust (390 grams), meaning it is the most suitable for a tugboat job or pushing away weeds and branches in the water. The motorboat is significantly weaker (250 grams) and the airboat is the weakest (180 grams).

Weight

The motorboat is the lightest boat (610 grams) while the airboat is a little bit heavier (780 grams). The paddlewheel boat is clearly the heaviest (1650 grams), because of the catamaran hull, paddlewheels and splash covers.

Stability

The paddlewheel boat is the most stable, keeping it steady like a rock. The motorboat is also stable, but it lifts the bow at full throttle and rolls to the side at turns a little. The airboat is the most unstable, rolling and swaying at turns. None of the boats are in danger of capsizing.

Driving straight

The paddlewheel boat is the best, going straight like an arrow. The airboat tends to oversteer, so you need to control it actively to keep it straight. The motorboat will veer right at full speed, because of two CW propellers, so you need to pull left with your handheld controller.

Slow-speed maneuvering

The paddlewheel boat is the easiest to drive near rocks and other obstacles, because the controls are fast and accurate, and the boat will stop moving quickly. The motorboat is more challenging, and it requires practice to make a 360 turn without moving forward or backward. The airboat is the most difficult to maneuver, like driving a car on ice: the controls feel delayed because you need to build enough RPM to get thrust, and also the big propellers hit near objects easily.

Build complexity

The motorboat and airboat are both fairly simple to build. The paddlewheel boat is more complex, because of the non-Lego splash covers that are laborious to create.

Availability of parts

The most difficult parts for you to get are the hulls. The motorboat hull 4245c01 and the airboat/paddlewheel boat hull 57789c01 are both rare items. The paddlewheel boat requires two hulls, so you may be out of luck getting them. Lego Buggy motors 5292c01 are also somewhat rare, and the prices vary a lot, but you have the option to buy a BuWizz motor instead. The big white propeller blades 89509 used in the airboat are also quite rare and expensive parts.

Price

The motorboat is the cheapest, costing about 300 EUR. The airboat costs 340 EUR and the paddlewheel boat 390 EUR. A big slice of the cost comes from the BuWizz 3.0 battery box, which you might replace with BuWizz 2.0 or some other alternative. A handheld radio controller is not included in the costs.

Which one should you build?

I recommend the motorboat. It is fast, stable and easy to build.

Downloads

airboat partlist CSV, partlist XML, 3D model
paddlewheel boat partlist CSV, partlist XML, 3D model
motorboat partlist CSV, partlist XML, 3D model

Here are datalogs from the “long journey” tests and some other stuff.
dropbox
mega

Videos

airboat
paddlewheel boat
motorboat

Long journey tests in normal speed.

Room for improvement?

The paddlewheel boat feels like the most finished product – only the splash covers could be reshaped a little to increase speed. The motorboat veers to the right at fast speeds, which could be fixed with a non-Lego CW + CCW propeller pair. Also, the motorboat’s motors could be placed both lower and closer to the bow for increased stability. The airboat tends to oversteer, which could be reduced at least with a skeg fin.

What was surprising in this project?

It is fun to look back at what you expected and what turned out in reality.

The biggest misconception was about the static thrust test (The Pollard Pull). I thought that would be a good way to optimize underwater propellers – find out which prop generates the most thrust and build on that. Turns out the Pollard Pull overemphasizes prop diameter a lot. I mean a lot. So much so that the best propeller in the Pollard Pull was the worst in terms of actual boat speed, even after optimizing the gear ratio.

The second misconception was about hull weight. I thought minimizing weight would be important because it reduces drag and improves planing capability. That’s why I gathered a large collection of different Lego hulls, expecting to find the speediest option there. But, it wasn’t so. The speediest hulls turned out the be the two biggest and heaviest hulls. That was a genuine surprise. Apparently, hull weight isn’t very important – more important is the hull shape and weight distribution.

Lastly, my plan was to optimize each prototype on thrust-to-weight ratio. That idea turned out to be trash. You cannot know the thrust of a moving boat (only the Pollard Pull result, which doesn’t compare) and, the weight isn’t an important thing for speed. Therefore the thrust-to-weight ratio is kind of useless.