Monthly Archives: January 2007

Tank Me Up

Jonesy, Classic-Castler and co-founder of NeutronBot, has just released pictures of his latest MOC: a Soviet-era inspired tank whose driver appearently has delared war on daisies.

Horseback Warrior by Dellta

Japanese builder dellta presents a very large warrior on horseback:

(Click for gallery on Brickshelf, when public.)

Arcade Fire

minifig and I share a deep appreciation for music and minifigs. His latest band is a group from Montreal, Canada called Arcade Fire:

News: Prototype Sets Shown at Fan Event in Germany

Remember when LEGO asked fans what kind of classic car we’d like to see in a collector’s set?

Well, LEGO Ambassador Stephen Sander announced on LUGNET (via Based on a True Story and How Many Studs to LEGOLAND?) that The LEGO Company displayed several prototypes at an event held in Frechen, Germany.

Ford Mustang:

Aston Martin:

Delorean:

(Note the fusion power thingie on the back, making this the car from Back to the Future. For licensing reasons, I doubt the production version will include this little detail, but it’s still very cool.)

Volkswagen (classic) Beetle:

Finally, here’s the text of an announcement about a completely new (potential) product line displayed at the event:

In April we will launch a big Modular Building. Product will be announced in Brick Journal March issue. What type of building would you like to see as a LEGO product? Which one of the buildings shown do you prefer?

Check out Stephen’s LUGNET announcement for links to all three pictures, but here’s my favorite, a hotel:

Knight-Bot by Moko

It hasn’t been long since I posted something by Moko (is it ever?), but I haven’t posted a mecha by him in a while. Moko’s latest is a rather shiny robot inspired by knights of old:

News: Ross Crawford’s LEGO Instructions Cross-Reference Now Linkable

Ross Crawford announced today (well, technically tomorrow) that he has made queries to his LEGO Instructions Cross-reference database linkable using Web addresses.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ross’s ongoing project, The LEGO Company releases instructions for older sets on LEGO.com. However, the instruction code LEGO uses doesn’t necessarily match the set number you might be familiar with from the box or sites like Peeron and Brickset. Ross has painstakingly cross-referenced the LEGO instruction code with the set numbers.

So, head on over to Brickley’s Words and try out the instruction cross-reference tool:

http://www.br-eng.info/words/?page_id=29

Chris Malloy’s Falling Star diorama

Chris Malloy gives us a nice diorama, with a surprised rancher (and his trusty dog) checking out a fallen satellite. Note especially the landscaping and the scorched earth.

Falling Star

This could be considered part of a fan-created subtheme called Tech West, though Chris himself hasn’t labelled it as such.

Ed Diment’s USS Maddox

The same recently mentioned Ed Diment constructed the USS Maddox some time ago. While old, it is still a jaw-droppingly impressive ship:

USS Maddox

Don’t let the small picture deceive you – this is a huge beast. Featuring a fully detailed interior, a smooth exterior and some complex construction, it is one heck of a piece of work – still amazing despite it being built some year ago.

The return of Blacktron 1!

No, sadly, as the title might mislead, it is not a question of LEGO re-releasing the, in its days quite fantastic, Blacktron line. However, the space community more than makes up for that by producing some fun original models! First out is Ed Diment’s nicely chunky Black-CAT, a transport of sorts:

Ed Diment's Black-CAT

With a lot of moving parts, nice shape and a well-executed colour scheme, this is definitely something I’d have enjoyed as a kid. But no worries, I’ll enjoy it now instead.

Next up is Andrew Verner’s (aka Andrusi) Legion. At first sight one would think it is a CAD version of the original Blacktron Invader:

Andrusi's Legion

But lo and behold – he had us all fooled! With a few twists and turns it transforms into a robot!

Andrew has gone to great lengths to ensure that the ship mode still is modular, and he even put a .mpd file in his gallery which means that those with ldraw can take a look at how it is built (and even build their own!). Thank you for that Andrew!

And with that we end this session of nostalgia.

Howl’s Moving Castle Minifigs by Moko

Regular readers of The Brothers Brick probably know by now that my favorite movies by Hayao Miyazaki (maybe of all time) are the ones he released in the 80’s, including Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. I’ve certainly enjoyed his more recent releases, such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, but they don’t compare to my childhood favorites.

Still, Miyazaki’s latest film, Howl’s Moving Castle is a wonderful movie (which I just got on DVD for Christmas). Moko has created minifigs of the three main characters, Howl, Sofie, and Calcifer:

Two from lego2000

lego200 from Classic-Castle.com is a talented spacer who uses building techniques and unusual parts very effectively in cool creations.  First, check out the roll cage on this forklift:

Also, get blown away by the SNOT (studs not on top) on this  D66-TC Petrel Dropship:

Izzo’s Test 43

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged one of Izzo’s mecha. Today, he plays around with the latest revision to his basic frame. Here are the results, a great tan and dark grey mech:

Click the image for the full gallery, with pictures of the backpack and weaponry.