One of the most exciting attractions at LEGO conventions over the past two years is the massive Cyberpunk collaboration of New Hashima. An array of builders contribute cubes or toppers to the modular megacity that keeps growing and evolving. Ben Brickson is one such collaborator and he recently shared a wonderfully detailed gallery of his residential Hex Home Block. Capsule homes slot into a honeycomb grid of girders like a high-rise hive.
Jack in and see Ben’s block up close
Working on fortified outposts in the sea must have been quite lonely back in the day. Little supply boats would be your only connection to the outside world, and possibly your only human contact, too. What do you mean, that sounds quite nice?! Anyway, we’ve got LEGO builder Bryckland to thank for that particular train of thought. There are loads of great techniques on display in this diorama from days gone by. The palm tree is one of the best I’ve seen, making use of upturned eggshells; and there’s a pair of binoculars masquerading as a doorknob which I really like. The hexagonal tower looks great too, leaving the square LEGO grid to provide some interesting shape. Same goes for that superb little supply boat! I’m not sure I’d want to rely on a rowboat for entertainment, but give me an internet connection and a mini-fridge and I’d take up residence here in a jiffy.
Fallout wrapped its first season on TV, and a Fallout 5 game is still years off, but the post-apocalyptic world of Vault Dwellers and Nuka Cola lives on thanks to fans like Cube Brick who spent 8 months bringing the beloved universe to life in LEGO. The scene depicts a Raider camp built on the doorstep of Vault 27 in the Mojave Wasteland from wood scraps and rusty refuse. Cube Brick’s diorama is packed to the ghouls with incredible details lifted from recent games, while also sporting some innovative techniques to bring the wasteland to life.
Suit up and venture into the Wasteland for a close-up look and more surprises!
While castles (and particularly some LEGO castles) are often impressive in isolation, it’s easy to forget that in the mediaeval age, they were often just a part of a larger settlement. Over on Flickr, Baptiste (lebrickoleur) has provided us with a reminder of that fact. And in some style, too! It’s quite a sizeable build, but the section of castle wall we’re presented with is indicative of a much bigger structure than what we see here. The details such as the walkways or wooden coverings demonstrate an acute knowledge of fortress architecture!
That know-how is evident within the garrison, too, as you can see from this rear shot. This build is entirely modular; Baptiste has been building it in sections, each one corresponding to a chapter in an overarching story. It starts in the small wooden hut in the corner, and finishes in the banquet hall within the castle walls. It’s a fascinating way to go about the build! You can examine all 10 sections on Baptiste’s photostream, and if you speak French, you can read the story too. Magnifique!
In the LEGO hobby, some builders like to be able to build everything and anything; but some pick a specialist subject and stick to it, forever improving their craft. It’s fair to say that Jeff Friesen falls into the latter category, with his superb microscale cities and landscapes. But what sets Jeff apart is the variety he is capable of capturing within that niche! We’ve seen everything from his steampunk cities to Viking villages, and now we have a Studio Ghibli-inspired diorama to feast our eyes on. This one was actually rebuilt from a 20×20 stud footprint to a 24×24 base before being called finished. Ever the perfectionist, Jeff!
For the past few years, I haven’t had as much time to build as I once did. That’s a tale that’s no doubt familiar to many of our readers with careers and families. That also means that when I do find time to build, I’m working through the backlog of ideas that have been piling up in my brain. And so lately I’ve found myself returning over and over to microscale space, because my brain has a logjam of sci-fi scenes I want to translate to bricks before moving on to pirates or castle or any of the other myriad themes I enjoy.
Set in the same universe as my previous large spaceships Vanguard and Discovery, this simple diorama depicts a launch facility on the moon with an attached habitat. I built the rocket first as a standalone model, but I wanted a better way to display it, and what better way to display a rocket than with a huge burst of engine exhaust? And of course, any facility on the moon worth its salt needs a habitat.
And by two, we mean the LEGO builder and their community. Describing his latest project, Kit Nugent pays tribute to the Builder Improvement Initiative group, which seems to be a fantastic place for creative feedback and enhancing your building skills. His newly finished Tudor-style creation speaks for itself. It might be the camera angle, but oh boy, how much I love the composition! The thin sand-green tower peeking from behind the fortress-like structure is just stunning. And take a look at the two-tone upper floor! The way the bridge extends beyond the edge of the diorama adds both a sense of story and dynamic movement to the scene. Now I can’t help but wonder—will those two make it out safely?
What could stir the heartstrings of LEGO Classic Space fans more than a motorized monorail? How about TWO monorails and an epic station bustling with intergalactic travelers? That’s just what Martin.with.bricks delivers in this stunning diorama that combines Classic Space with modern techniques and minifigs at a truly epic scale.
All aboard the monorail for more pics of this epic space diorama!
For a lot of treasure hunters, the real treasure was the great LEGO builds we found along the way! This build by Eli Willsea portrays a pair of adventurers delving deep into a empty desert ruin, but what it really shows off is a trove of fantastic building techniques! Down on the floor of the lost well the cracked tiles are made from the immensely useful cheese slope, but did you notice they’re embedded in 1x2x3 windows? On the back wall, Eli uses those windows again with minifigure brackets as decoration. Finally, if you take a look at the well itself, you’ll see that it’s a combination of cheese slopes and 1×1 bricks with sideways studs which fit so well inside an 8×8 dish!
The year is… sometime in the future. The passage of time has long been forgotten by the dust. And if you don’t have your wits about you, you, too, will be forgotten. This is the dystopian vision that Polish LEGO builder Marcin (bigfig2000) brings us. But for all its post-apocalyptic caution, it’s impossible to take your eyes off this huge diorama! It depicts what looks to be an outpost in the desert, an oasis of sorts among the chaos. That isn’t to say there’s no disorder here, though! It’s absolutely jam-packed with details, characters and little stories forming.
Come and see who’s hanging around – if you’re brave enough…
Earlier this year, Nathan Hake debuted this huge LEGO model at a convention, and we have finally been graced with pictures! This behemoth is a MAZ-537, a former Soviet vehicle used for carrying… Well, pretty much whatever you want, from armaments to heavy machinery. It’s typical of vehicles of its ilk and era, with great big tyres and utilitarian styling. In LEGO form, Nathan has combined Technic and System pieces to pull off the MAZ in terrific detail. And of course, there are plenty of play functions: it’s got working suspension alongside motorised steering and propulsion!
But how do you level up such a huge undertaking? With an equally huge diorama, of course! This makes for a very nice display piece, with the colours of the river, grass and appropriately autumnal birch trees providing some pleasing contrast to the grey hulk of the truck.
I recommend heading over to Nathan’s Flickr to check out some of the videos of this creation in action – even in the real wilderness!
Keep your Mustangs and your Harley-Davidsons. For me, nothing captures the spirit of the American road like a semi-truck. German LEGO builder Eugen Sellin pays tribute to the American freight truck with a gorgeous diorama that pairs his highly detailed vehicle design with an enormous warehouse. The truck is built in the 9-wide* scale of newer Speed Champion sets, which allows for smooth lines and great detail in both the cab and the freight pallets being pulled (love those Octan cylinders). The warehouse is just as impressive, elevating a simple box design with wonderful textures, great use of color, an asymmetrical base, and attention to detail from the ventilation units to the papered-over windows. I especially appreciate the care taken to the road and concrete barriers. Even in the face of infrastructural decline, blue-collar workers keep on truckin’.
