TFOL Joshua Christenson from Washington State finds inspiration from the classic board game Monopoly and its mascott Rich Uncle Pennybags. Based on a characature of financier and banker J. P. Morgan, Pennybags beckons you for another rousing game of bankrupting your opponents. Joshua has been on a roll with his scuptures lately and is clearly someone to keep an eye on in the coming years.
Time for your Friday night train. Australian Mike Pianta (Scruffulous) strikes again with this stunning Y Class locomotive. Revealed at the recent Brickvention, this working train sports Power Functions gear like a rechargeable battery, IR receiver under the front grill, and a single motor. “Take me right back to the track, Jack.”
Frenchman Vince_Toulouse seems to channel fellow countryman Mobius to bring his latest model to life. Simply titled “Machine n°1”, this flying conveyance sports an unlikely open cockpit and a great chrome section that really makes the model pop. Félicitations Vince, votre modèle est très inspirant, nous espérons voir plus de votre talent dans un proche avenir.
Military builder Andreas proudly presents: “At the Edge of the Future”, a diorama that showcases the nice lines of his M3A1 “Atlanta” Main Battle Tank. Andreas has some crazy rhetoric about America annexing Canada, but I will leave the fine print for your careful inspection. If you have the time, take a look at his other atmospheric scenes like Operation Big Apple or Neon Nights.
Amazon currently has some pretty good sales going on, here are the highlights:
LEGO Kingdoms Joust 10223
LEGO Monster Fighters 9463 The Werewolf
Lego Friends Heartlake Stables 3189
LEGO® Architecture Brandenburg Gate 21011
LEGO City Police Forest Station 4440
LEGO Star Wars 9516 Jabba’s Palace
LEGO Star Wars 9496 Desert Skiff
LEGO Wolverine Chopper Showdown 6866
LEGO Architecture Farnsworth House 21009
Dennis Bosman (Legotruck) says it took him six months to build this rugged Kenworth K100 (with Holmes 750) and even a caual inspection proves that it was time well spent. You can see all the fine details in Dennis’s Flickrstream or check out his website LEGO Trucks & Heavy Equipment, that features a wealth of design notes and details.
Husband and wife team Sean and Steph Mayo are known for being among the craziest builders out there, churning out stunning models at an unbelievable pace. Their latest work, built for the on-going Iron Builder contest (where they’re up against stiff competition, even for them!) is a mind-blowing coral reef, all decked out in the wildest underwater colors and vibrant with sea-life. Many of LEGO’s lesser-known parts lend themselves well to creating the organic shapes of coral-dwelling creatures, and it’s amazing to see how life-like some of them can be (like the sea anemone Nemo is hiding in on the far left).
Adam Grabrowski has just worked up a couple of beautiful little World War I tanks, tan and olive green Renault FT-17s. This tank first saw use in 1918 and revolutionized tank design at the time.
World of Tanks fans will recognize these as the first tank in the French Tech Tree. Adam’s design is very true to the original and is a great build. But of course we expect greatness from Adam, so this is no surprise.
Before anyone gets all excited about the olive green parts, both tanks sport custom paint jobs. The olive green version is completely painted and the tan tank has a custom-painted turret. I’m really liking these awesome little tanks!
Dave Shaddix just finished this mosaic in honor of Buzz Aldrin’s recenly celebrated 83rd birthday. This is a great rendition of an iconic photograph. For the few who don’t know who or what is in the picture, it is a picture that Neil Armstrong took of Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. The LEM and Neil Armstrong are reflected in the visor of Buzz Aldrin’s spacesuit. Well done, Dave, I love it!
The London Toy Fair revealed that the Series 10 Minifigures will contain 5,000 gold minifigs randomly distributed across the world. Sounds interesting, what do you think?
We love Chris McVeigh (powerpig on Flickr) for the many real-world objects he recreates so faithfully — and photographs so beautifully — in LEGO. His latest is the original Apple Macintosh. That thing over on the left is called a “mouse.”
While we’re at it, here’s a wonderful little Leica M9 camera we didn’t get to a couple weeks ago.
If you feel like buying one for yourself, it’s available in Powerpig’s store.
Registration is now open for the third annual Brick Fiesta that will take place in Dallas from July 4-7. This is a standard 4 day Lego convention with the usual activities you’d expect plus the weekend public exhibit. I will of course be there since I am a Dallas resident and I hope to see many of you there!
