The Brothers Brick

Flickr user bobalexander! has not only built a car with a very non-LEGO shape, but he has done so in a very tricky colour. Even with the limited parts availability of Maersk blue, the iconic shape and colouring of this classic racer are perfectly captured.

We had previously featured Malte Dorowski’s 917, and it is always neat to see the different tactics taken by builders on the same source material.

Be sure to click through all of the photos to see the details and working components of Bob’s build.

Janey Gunning asked if we could share the following press release in regards to this year’s Brickfête.

To all AFOL, LEGO collectors, builders, hobbyists, enthusiasts within walking, driving or flying distance of Toronto, Canada.

The Brickfête Team is honoured to invite you to our annual LEGO Fan Convention. Join us for some good times completely focused on our beloved obsession with the brick. You will see some amazing displays, have chances to get involved with fun games and event, as well as hear from official LEGO Designer and LEGO Master Builder.

This July 11, 12, 13 and 14, 2013!
Hilton Hotel, Airport Rd in Toronto, Canada

To register for the four days visit the AFOL portion of our site and please note, space is limited so act now, operators are standing by.

We are returning to the same hotel as last year, and have secured decent room rates (however those end soon, so book now before you end up paying full rates.)

If you are from out of town (or country) we are located right across from the Toronto Airport, which means you can just fly here, board the shuttle to the hotel and not worry about renting cars, maps or public transit.

Join our website’s free forum if you have any questions or want to discuss things such as sharing a room, collaborative builds, or just a chance to connect with others before the event.

Our list of events are being posted and there is something for everyone to get involved with.

• Have you built something cool that others would love to see???
• Do you want to hang out with other amazing builders?
• Listen to LEGO guest speakers or get involved with build challenges or contests!
• Don’t forget those prize raffles and all the other fun activities!
• Want to have chances to win LEGO prizes or bid in the LEGO auction??
• Display with us and enjoy the company of other AFOLS.

If you are new to conventions and are hesitating… check out this forum post and feel free to ask questions.

The general public is invited to view the awesome LEGO Creations on display during the following public expo days:
July 13th and 14th – 10am until 3pm
Tickets sold at the door and online

All the rest of the details and more can be read on www.brickfete.com

See you in July,
Janey Red Brick & Chris Magno
On behalf of the entire Brickfete team!

“A festival run by fans, made by the fans, for the fans.”

Sometimes relatively simple scenes can provide the most opportunity for showing terrific quality. Take, for instance, this beautiful diorama of the Roman invasion of Britain by James Pegrum (peggyjdb) which is really just a bit of shoreline with some soldiers. I’ve seen the trans-blue 1×1 round plates used as water many times, but James has made better use of it here than I’ve seen previously, adding waves and some flecks of green, and he also extends that technique to make an interesting gravel beach. James also puts in great little details such as the Romans wielding iron-tipped spears, while the barbarians fight with LEGO’s older, solid-color spears.

I thought the adorable love llamas we blogged a couple weeks ago looked a bit like alpacas, but who am I to split the hairs of a South American camelid? Still, this lovely llama by Delta (itself inspired by delayice’s pair) has a certain fuzz factor thanks to the studs-out construction that I can appreciate.

We are still far removed from the point where LEGO robots can build copies of themselves, but the ‘Fabrik Mosaïque’ built by minkowsky shows an interesting first step.

The factory building itself is nice, but when I first saw it, it didn’t strike me as all that remarkable. I’m glad I took a closer look, however, because of what it does: using LEGO Mindstorms it scans an image and then produces an 8 x 8 pixel two colour mosaic of that image using lines of LEGO tiles.

I can’t quite see a factory like this appearing in every shopping district and I wonder how well it does with an image that isn’t pixelated to start with, but this is clever stuff.

Amazon has some decent deals on Lego architecture sets ranging from 21-34% off.

• 21009 Farnsworth House / $59.99 / $47.66 (21%)
• 21004 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum / $44.99 / $31.78 (29%)
• 21002 Empire State Building / $24.99 / $19.60 (22%)
• 21003 Seattle Space Needle / $24.99 / $17.79 (29%)
• 21007 Rockefeller Plaza / $44.99 / $31.29 (30%)
• 21011 Brandenburg Gate / $34.99 / $22.99 (34%)
• 21008 Burj Khalifa / $29.99 / $20.67 (31%)
• 21012 Sydney Opera House / $39.99 / $28.06 (30%)

Via FBTB

This hive mind behemoth is Zane Houston‘s largest mech and features the builder’s “chunky” style of combining large distinct shapes to make the creation. Those red eyes are a distinctive feature along with the smooth-flowing tan armor plates.

Last week I was taken to task by a reader who complained that this blog-hole is prejudiced against Bionicle builders, using incendiary rhetoric like “nip around” and “Mocists”. Although I was quick to dismiss this reader as a disenfranchised malcontent, after a little research I’m forced to agree that we can do a little better in our “Bionicle Fandom” coverage. With that in mind I present the first installment in an ongoing exploration of the wonderful and thriving world of Bionicle.

First you are invited to gaze in wonder at this overlooked gem from 2011 courtesy of Patrick Biggs (Dviddy), simply titled “Catwoman“.

Next its time to remedy the problem of Dylan Mievis (Sparkytron) never before gracing the ivy-covered halls of TBB. This is “Eris“.

And finally, to break up this sausage festival, we close this week’s exploration with an offering from Breann Sledge (Archinto).

I can’t let the weekend slip by without something to appeal to the Kastle-heads out there and this one is just the way you like it..fresh out of the creative oven. We’re nearing the midpoint of 2013 and already K.Kreations (which sounds horribly like a Kardashian enterprise), has appeared three times on this rag-tag fugitive blog. The title of his latest creation is “Assault on Toberg“, which is actually a re-imagining of an older model, “Toberg South Gate” by bentoft. Both models are part of a Classic Castle inspired Flickr group that you can find if you follow the rabbit hole deep enough, Alice. Just like the seaplane posted earlier this weekend with its many versions, I find it fascinating when one builder interprets the work of another.

First up is K. Kreations:

And here is the orginal by bentoff:

Does this count as a mosaic? Regardless, this creation by diegoboy is flippin’ rad!

I totally have revolution909 in my head now…and that is a good thing.

The current Iron Builder throw-down between Maddison and Lowell has been nothing short of spectacular and my favorite of the series to date. Although there have been many outstanding competitions in the past, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen two opponents that were so evenly matched in both style and productivity. While I’m not surprised that the Aztec God of Reseda has turned in a bevy of clever models (one only has to refer to his legendary battle with Legohaulic for proof of his Iron greatness), I am forced to wonder what the hell has gotten into Chris Maddison (cmaddison). Please excuse an American a baseball reference, but it’s kind of like a punch-and-judy journeyman middle-infielder suddenly became a power-hitting all-star overnight. As soon as I’m done with this posting I plan on contacting the folks at Iron Builder to suggest that Maddison be subjected to a drug screening and background check immediatately.

In the meanwhile, please enjoy Maddison’s latest hammer-fist to the crotch of Lowell. The build reminds me of the opening to Game of Thrones opening sequence, and recalls any number of strategy board games.

In short, you can’t stop C-Mad, you can only hope to contain him. Lowell must go down!

Canadian John V (Lemelisk) makes his first appearance on this blog of brothers with his “Adnavik” tug boat. Named after a village on the Labrador coast, this Canadian Forces Arctic Vessel (CFAV) is accurate to its real world counterpart, with many playable features that would make a great official set.

TBB recognizes the importance of family on this day dedicated to mothers everywhere. Lego Admiral has been hard at work building up his force of Warhammer 40K futuristic killing machines and he has thoughtfully gathered them all together for a group-shot. The Valkyrie Assault Carrier hovers maternally above the tribe, and from left to right: Leman Russ Tank, Sentinel, Hydra Flak Tank, Chimera APC and the robust Baneblade Super Heavy Tank. Who can forget old uncle Baneblade?…lets just keep him away from the hooch this year. If you’d like to see close-ups of any member of the Imperial Guard family, Lego Admiral has thoughtfully included them in his photostream.

Being almost at the half way point of the R-Type & Beyond starfighter build challenge, we have seen a very nice assortment of brilliant builds of all sizes shapes and colours.

Here is a quick round up of my favourites so far.

Shannon Ocean brings his retro space style with this rockin’ entry.

Pasukaru76 has been churning out a tonne of builds in both micro and minifig scales, but this colourful addition has to be one of favourites.

Mike Yoder blows it out of the water with this behemoth.

Pierre E Fieschi created perhaps the most colourful entry so far, and it works so well on all levels.

HatRabies has been keeping pace with Pascal on the number of submissions with a continuing variation of a micro R-Type…with each post they get better and better.

There are plenty more brilliant creations, so please head on over to the submission thread if you haven’t already checked it out.

You still have a little over 2 weeks to join in on the fun…hopefully by that time I will have mine done too.

LegoMarat brings you some remote-controlled action tonight with his rendition of an Illinois Department of Transportation International 4400 tow truck. Not content to merely nail the shaping for the exterior, he also packed in a working front and rear suspension, opening doors, 6 motors, 3 IR receivers, and a battery box to bring it all to life. This model brings out the Tonka-Truck loving little kid in me and I want to take it out to the sandbox.

The rugged model also features a working fork that is capable of lifting a 2kg load. Don’t believe me?…check out the handy instructional video that highlights all the wonderful power-function driven features of the IDOT wrecker.