Tag Archives: Dioramas

There’s nothing like a massive LEGO diorama to prove that you’ve arrived as a LEGO builder. The LEGO dioramas we feature here span everything from realistic medieval castles to scenes from World War II, and more than a few post-apocalyptic wastelands.

Summer holidays in the Southern hemisphere

Now you might think that penguins, famous inhabitants of cold and snowy Antarctica, would not be one’s first idea of subjects for a summer LEGO diorama. But I’ve seen Surf’s Up, as I presume Ian Hou (DOGOD Brick Design) has, so this scene of a penguin family at the beach is not so far from the truth. I’m in love with their penguin design! They look very happy to be beside the seaside, each with an individual accessory to give them that extra dose of personality. And speaking of love — well, it seems one of those crabs in the foreground might have found a bit of holiday romance on their beach vacation!

nEO_IMG_DOGOD_Summer Memories_01_

“Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies...”

LEGO builder BrickiboT pays homage to Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws movie and demonstrates why an entire generation was afraid to go into the water. Tough-as-nails shark hunter Quint was responsible for some of the movie’s most memorable scenes. When he slowly scratched his nails across a chalkboard, it simultaneously agonized audiences and cemented one of the most memorable character introductions in movie history. His off-color sea shanties were also kinda endearing but alas this shark-obsessed Ahab of the Spielberg world met a grizzly demise as illustrated in this diorama. Quint was quite the scene-chewer, in fact, but, as fate would have it, Jaws would become quite the (ahem) Quint-chewer. Sorry. I’ll just let myself out. Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies…

Jaws

The water is fine down by the Brandywine

Jesse van den Oetelaar has crafted this LEGO serene scene of a place in Middle Earth called the Brandywine River. It’s not a location I’m overly familiar with, but a river filled with brandy and wine does sound like a heck of a party! Unfortunately it also sounds like a recipe for a disastrous hangover. But hey, the last time a bunch of hobbits had a party they ended up saving the world, so it can’t all be bad! Anyway, I love Jesse’s use of depth here. It’s partly thanks to some seamless editing. But even so, the LEGO portion of this build goes back a deceptively long way. Combined with the clever photography it makes us feel totally immersed in the scene… And the river!

Brandywine River

How it’s made: nano-fig special

Ever wondered how LEGO’s nano-figs are made? Caleb Schilling has given us a sneak peek at their production line mid-manufacture. Bet you thought it was all ABS and injection-moulding, eh? Think again! Now I’m no expert, but I believe that inside this machine, there are tiny little gremlins (smaller even than nano-figs) armed with tridents, who carve these pieces out of coloured plastic. These tools of theirs are wonderfully versatile. You can see two of them sticking out the side, which when pulled presumably give the gremlins a poke, so they know which shift to be on. Some older ones also seem to have been re-purposed for the conveyor belt. How resourceful! It’s a wonder such production methods aren’t used elsewhere, really.

(Hm? What do you mean, I’ve failed the trial period for TBB’s production expert…?)

The Factory

Where the explorers are tiny and the perils huge!

Gnomes are tiny mythical creatures of European folklore. With that said, it is possible that the monster spider in the center of this LEGO creation by Mihał Ch is normal-sized. Still, a spider of any size gives me the heebie-jeebies so I wouldn’t want to be that wee little gnome explorer. It looks like he’s about to become a snack! I may stick around just long enough to admire the neat build techniques used in this underground terrain; the rocks and web design are amazing. The entire diorama is only six studs deep but the amount of detail rendered makes the cave seem to go on forever. But still, let’s hope the other things we feature soon will be less spider-centric!

Gnome Explorer

A Mûmakil kill still only counts as one

My wife and I are re-reading The Lord of the Rings together after having done so 22 years ago before the first Peter Jackson movie was released. By sheer coincidence, on the same day we read the chapter about the Battle of Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King, Kiwi builder Pieter Dennison shared the conclusion of a months-long project to recreate a Mûmak or Oliphaunt of the Haradrim in LEGO, based on how they appear in the movies.

"That still only counts as one"

Pieter’s build features all the iconic details of the enormous beast, from its four tusks (built from a series of 2×2 round bricks presumably strung on something like flex-tube), each with spikes on the end, to the war tower on the monstrous beast’s back. A closer look at the war tower shows just how huge this LEGO build really is, with about a score of minifigs riding into battle against the Rohirrim and men of Gondor.

closeup

If you want to see this in person, you can see it at the Christchurch Brick Show this July. And don’t miss all the other LEGO Oliphaunts we’ve featured over the years (also proving that this quote is the only one I ever use to write about this creature).

This build’s a grind

Castles are nice, but there’s something I love about a tranquil domestic scene of medieval life, and what encapsulates that better than a stone mill and miller’s cottage? This lovely little diorama is the work of ZCerberus, and although the stonework is nice, and the round mill is great, some of favorite techniques here are more subtle. First, there’s the mixing of brown and dark red for the roof tiles, a subtle swap that helps give a lived-in nature. Similarly, the mixed olive green and dark tan for the ground makes a wonderfully earthy tone. And secondly is something so foundational it took me a minute to even realize it: this diorama has two bases, thanks to a black slab beneath the sculpted landscape. Usually, LEGO dioramas have one or the other, but I really love the presentation here.

MilgrathsMill

Clean-up in apartment 2A, please

Housework is a real bore. It’s so easy to procrastinate over it. It’s why I’m here writing articles about LEGO on the internet. What I really need is a robot that can do my cleaning. Not a Roomba – I’m picturing something more like Duncan Lindbo‘s clean-up bot here. Sure, it’s more designed for toxic spills than doing the dishes, but look! It’s got a vacuum cleaner in one arm, and a net for… Hmm. What is the net for? Laundry? Actually, if the videos I see on the internet are anything to go by, some animals get really spooked by robot vacuum cleaners, so is it to catch unruly pets? That doesn’t sound very safe. And I might need to widen the doorway a tad to get it into my apartment. You know what, perhaps I don’t need a house-cleaning tachikoma. Not yet. Probably.

Rana hazardous environment cleanup unit

Instead of Rivendell, why not Balrog?

This exciting fiery scene is brought to you by the LEGO Rivendell 10316 set; or rather Roland Buzai’s disinterest in buying it. Its admittedly hefty price tag is prohibitive for a lot of builders plus, Roland tells us, is not a favorite scene for Lord of the Rings fans. He’d rather spend the money on a Balrog set, which doesn’t exist, so instead he constructed his own totally badass Balrog diorama complete with copious flames and four LEGO LED lights built into the base. You hear that, LEGO? Your inability to produce a Balrog set has caused someone to come up with an amazingly creative solution. Wait, that’s not a valid argument. Nevermind! It turns out legions of dedicated Lord of the Rings fans have taken matters into their own very creative and very capable hands. Click the link to see what I mean.

You shall not pass!

A cottage and a Vespa to call your own

I don’t know why but I’ve had a thing for little abodes lately. This LEGO cottage built by Erek Weidner is a little slice of perfection. You have an apple tree, a wee French Bulldog, a shiny red Vespa, and a tiny cottage to call your own. The butterflies, ladybugs, and squirrels are just icing on the cozy perfection cake. What else do you need, really? I imagine a good strong Wi-Fi connection would make this place perfect. The lawn is a little bit unruly but I think the sheep will have that settled pretty soon.

Little Cottage - Front

LEGO Creation of the Week (#18): Wild West by W. Navarre

Every week readers of the The Brothers Brick Telegram channel choose the Creation of the Week: one project that impressed all of us the most. Something unimaginable happened last week. This competition is too small for seven builds… this is why only one stands! And it’s ilive with stunning Wild West diorama! Seriously, take a closer look if you are in search of some Western inspiration…

Meanwhile, the new vote is already on! Join our Telegram channel to follow all the best LEGO creations, latest news, and, of course, vote for your favorites. See you there!

This LEGO diorama from the Thrawn trilogy brings great honour to the Mitth family

There’s a lot of hype in Star Wars circles about a guy called Thrawn at the moment. Apparently he had some books about him or something? Weird that they wrote nine books about a guy who was only mentioned in passing in that one episode of the Mandalorian. All jokes aside, Thrawn (or Mitth’raw’nuruodo, to give him his full title) has a special place in many a Star Wars fan’s heart, including Andrew Cazenave-Tipie (AKA CRCT Productions). I must admit that I’ve only read the latest crop of ‘canon’ books, so I don’t recognise the scene that this build is based on. What I do know is that it looks fantastic! The way the light bounces off the walls at the back gives this real depth. It also highlights some great texturing on said walls. And a mention for that floor pattern, too, made up of the 2×3 shield piece. This wouldn’t look out of place in a castle build, but looks equally at home in the Star Wars universe!

LEGO Thrawn Trilogy - The Delta Source