The Green Dragon Tavern in Boston inspired Jonas Wide to create his own colonial tavern set in the fictional continent of Celestia. It is a place where the latest scientific ideas are discussed and treks to uncharted territories are planned. A few techniques add a layer of complexity to an otherwise straightforward rectangular building such as the offset windows and the use of the gold bars on the quoins.
Elegant, functional mechanical models don’t need to be large. In their “LEGO Technic Micro Stepper Mechanism” video, Lego Technic Mastery demonstrates how to build a simple, manually-operated stepper motor that can attach to any Technic beam. This stepper machine has four 90° stops, allowing for precise quarter turns in both the clockwise and counter-clockwise direction.
At 0:56 in the video, Lego Technic Mastery provides a shot of all the parts needed for this mcahine plus step-by-step instructions. I followed the instructions and built my own “little stepper” with little difficulty (although I did break a LEGO rubber band in the process).
Check out Lego Technic Mastery’s YouTube channel, which includes an awesome pneumatic robot hand!
It was love at first type when I looked at this. Niklas Rosén built a nostalgic machine that’s almost extinct now with the advent of the new era of computers. You now get to build this right at home because it is just the type of build where you probably could find the parts for if you search hard enough in your stash of parts. And to make it fun, don’t stereotype the choice of colours to just black or red. Be adventurous and perhaps you’d want to make some modifications to your own prototype!
Somehow all the best LEGO creations designed by fans from South Korea are either huge jaw-dropping mechs or tiny adorable animals. This time it’s a pack of extremely good shiba puppers by CK HO. There are so many touches that make these models instantly recognizable, but I can’t help admiring their square pointy noses.
The idea of this model is so simple that you can build one yourself and make it any color you like! Moreover, you can easily customize you shiba by changing its eyes, ears or the shape of its muzzle. Click the link below to find the complete step-by-step building guide.
Take a deep breath and relax. Anthony Wilson shows us the best views are often found above the clouds. This creation depicts rock formations jutting from clouds built from a variety of sizes of white dish pieces. The composition’s soft pink background creates a very soothing aura, enhanced by the pretty cherry blossom tree. Sign me up for a trip to this spot to meditate and contemplate the meaning of life.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft that played a key role for the Allies in World War II. When the prototype B-17 first flew in 1935, a reporter for the Seattle Times was watching and coined the name “Flying Fortress” with his comment, “Why, it’s a flying fortress!” The B-17 was mainly used in the strategic bombing campaign of World War II. PlaneBricks has built a fantastic LEGO version of this famous bomber, complete with the machine guns poking out of clear ‘blisters’ to allow bombardiers and gunners to visualise their targets.
The Sagrada Familia is a famous Catholic church located in Barcelona. It was designed by a Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi. Sagrada Familia is a huge architectural project with colourful, mathematical design elements, and Gaudi knew it would not be completed within his lifetime. Construction began in 1882 and it is anticipated that completion will actually be around 2026! Koen has built a microscale LEGO model of the completed Sagrada Familia that looks like an official LEGO Architecture series model. The use of inverted ice-cream cones is inspired.
A view from another angle shows another feature I particularly like, Koen uses the scroll brick as a nice decorative component of the doorway. Koen has cleverly managed to balance the simplicity required in microscale with the hugely complex design of this particular structure.
In the LEGO creations of today, it seems as though technique is being emphasized more than ever before, especially within the castle genre. It seems as though not a day goes by when I don’t see an innovative way of making an everyday texture. This build by alego alego features a wonderfully designed blacksmith shop, primarily made using various Technic connector parts as individual logs. While I have used one or two of these parts as a single log in my own builds, I never would have conceived of making a whole building out of them, and the result is fantastic.
Check out these posts below for more amazing landscaping techniques:
This amazingly cute little fish is a perfect showcase for how to exploit the natural shapes of LEGO bricks to form imaginative creatures. Builder gonkius uses two curved slopes meeting each other to form a perfect fish mouth, and a curved fender element suddenly looks as if it were always made to be fish fins.
However, this adorable little fish is also a perfect example of complex engineering that looks deceptively simple. Think you’re pretty good with LEGO? Maybe you can even reverse engineer some of the builds we highlight. But how many parts does it take before a model is too complex? This fish has only 39 pieces. See if you can reverse engineer this guy using only the image above.
We’ve got the instructions below if you want to skip straight to the solution and build one yourself! Let us know in the comments if you think you figured it out without the instructions.
Santa is usually found at the front of a sleigh piled high with presents, racing across the sky – not slumped out on a bench with some treats scattered around and a wad of cash in his pocket. DOGOD Brick Design‘s take on jolly old Saint Nick conforms to the latter version of events though.
While we might not be able to give insight into Santa’s mental state in this scene, we can very easily appreciate how thoughtfully designed this build is. From the shaping of the santa figure, to the look of the bench, to the wonderful upscaled light post – there’s a lot to appreciate here.
South African builder Wayne de Beer made the rounds a few months back with hisTallneck build from Horizon Zero Dawn that he graciously released with instructions to build your own. Now he’s doing the same with his own microscale version of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier featured in a few of the Marvel movies. It uses less than a hundred pieces and can be made with regular pieces alone, or improved with a few printed pieces and stickers.
Check out the step-by-step instructions for this tiny SHIELD Helicarrier
As a holiday gift to our readers, The Brothers Brick commissioned talented LEGO artist Tyler Clites to design a LEGO model that everybody can build. This custom “Outlaw Spaceship” should make any sci-fi fan’s heart twinkle like a firefly in the depths of space.
Our simple, step-by-step instructions and parts list will help you assemble this unique model unveiled for the first time here. It’s full of LEGO building techniques you won’t generally see in an official LEGO model, so it’s also an opportunity to learn a few tips and tricks. Let us know in the comments if you like these instructions, and we may do them more regularly in the future.
See the step-by-step instructions and parts list for our Outlaw Spaceship