Tag Archives: Novvember

Snow Piercer, but this time in space

You don’t normally think of “round shapes” as a highlight of a NoVVember Vic Viper, but Sheo, as usual, refuses to be bound by conventional building styles. The Blue Piercer is a twin-fork starship with enviable curves. My favorite detail is the thin Technic pulley tires nestled inside arch bricks. I also like the small detail of the half-circle tiles, adding another subtle bend to things. And those rear thrusters are pretty sweet, too.

Blue Piercer

If you like your spaceships (and other LEGO creations) with a heavy dollop of curved building, then be sure the check out the other creations of Sheo’s that we’ve spotlighted.

Sleek and smooth viper strikes a bold balance

There are some parts in any LEGO collection that seem to have few uses outside the intended purpose of the set they come in. I might have considered these angled helicopter rotors in this category, but official LEGO Model Designer Chris Perron and this sleek and clean custom racing ship say otherwise. Finding the perfect use for two rotor parts fore an aft of the transparent orange cockpit, Chris also combines black and teal and some very unusual angles to create a ship that looks very much at home alongside the bright aesthetic of the racing game Wipeout, which inspired an entire genre of LEGO creations known as Vic Vipers.

Dark Phantom

Swoosh swiftly across the stars

Every year in November, talented builders turn out spaceships with a very particular style as a friendly themed challenge. Unlike SHIPtember, when the goal is to build a huge spaceship, Novvember is all about the Vic Viper, a style of racing spaceship made popular in several video games. Tino Poutiainen brings a lovely addition to the fleet of Vipers with this clean and elegant model. It is microscale, with some Apollo astronauts at the helm, which is surprising but cool, and I can count all of four visible studs on the whole darn thing. That’s impressive given the angles involved. And the color blocking is perfect. The black stand gives it a display presence that sets it apart from the pack, too.

V7 "Tonfall"

Looking at the ship, there are two pieces that jump out to me right away. The first is the old Blacktron II jet pack, one of my favorite childhood accessories, tucked seamlessly between the cockpit and the tail. The second is the cockpit itself, a Ninjago spinner dome; that’s a part that I’ve always wanted to use but have yet to find a good way to integrate it. The rest is just so smooth and refined that nothing leaps out. It makes me wonder how it all holds together, which is a great puzzle to have when looking at a build. Novvember might be come and gone, but we can still enjoy spaceships.

When pink touches yellow, you’re a dead fellow

If you’ve been hankering to hit the stars in a stylish Vic Viper, Kirby Warden has you covered with his blazing yellow Kigiku. In Japanese, Kigiku means yellow chrysanthemum but don’t let the name fool you; if you think you can outrun this starfighter, it’s time to wake up and smell the roses! You’re not going to get away when the pilot has maximum visibility in the cockpit mounted high above the fuselage.

Kigiku

If the subtle angles of the body formed using hinges are any indication, this is also one speedy vessel. Even the most formidable opponents may find themselves distracted by Kigiku’s lively yellow, dark pink, white and dark bluish gray color scheme.

Kigiku

Floats like a butterfly. Possibly also stings like a butterfly.

Ah, Novvember. The time of year when all the forked-front spaceships come out to play. It’s always a lot of fun to see what new takes on the Vic Viper builders will come up with. Sheo is among those who took a stab at it, and delivers a ship that really has that “wow” factor. Butterfly Racer is all about the curves.

Butterfly Racer

White hot air balloon panels create an hourglass shape that is surrounded by undulating curves in red. There are dinosaur tails and inverted arches, along with a mixture of curved slopes. The curved shape is also emphasized by the repeated use of round tiles in white, red, and black. All in all, this is a lovely craft that pays tribute to the themes while still bringing a new and distinctive style to them.

Baby, it’s cold outside

I think Khan said it best: “Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in space.” Yes, in addition to being the final frontier, space is also pretty darn nippy. Builder Seb71 celebrates that icy perspective with the clean and crisp lines of Siberia. The subtle curves on the edges and wings keep things from feeling boxy, even with decoration that is very angular. And let’s talk about that deco work! The choice to keep things greyscale gives the stripes at the front great contrast to the white of the hull. The technique used to make the stripes is worth a closer look, too. Clever use of multi-directional building is used to align cheese slope tiles to get those sharp angles.

Siberia

The real treat, though, is the blocky gradient on the rear wings. It’s a tiny mosaic that gives a lovely fade from black to white, blending the colors used elsewhere on the ship into a harmonious whole. And it just looks so swooshable…

Siberia

Classic space never looked so..... long

LEGO themes present creative builders with endless opportunities to mash multiple themes together into the ultimate, ultimate LEGO creations, like zombie pirates, zombie army, zombie spaceships, and zombie cowboys. (what is up with this guy and his obsession with zombies? I blame Halloween). Anyways, back to mash-ups, this wonderful SHIP (Seriously Huge Investment in Parts) by Hans Dendauw brings together the fan challenges of SHIPtember and Novvember (an homage to the Vic Viper, one of the racing spaceships from the 1995 video game Gradius, distinguished by a two-pronged fuselage), and does it all in Classic space style. Benny would be proud.

Space Truckin' Round The Stars

Float like a dragonfly, sting like a viper

We are over halfway through Novvember, but there’s still plenty of time to build a Vic Viper and honour the late Nate “Nnenn” Nielsen. This particular Vic Viper by Andreas Lenander not only depicts a beautifully futuristic craft, but also manages to highlight one of my favourite colours.  The use of Medium Azure really makes this an eye-catching build and those double lateral wings at the rear are definitely sending dragonfly vibes my way.

Dragonfly - vic viper

As always, it’s the little extras that make a build really stand out and in this build the greebled pipes plus the use of hockey sticks on the prongs are fantastic additions.

Chugging through the starry skies

LEGO Vic Vipers tend toward the sharp and angular, with sleek lines and sharp corners. Each design must meet strict requirements epitomized by the late Nate “nnenn” Nielsen. Not so with this bulbous affair by Tyler Clites. Tyler’s Vic Viper has enormous, rounded engines — with frying pans as intake vanes, no less — and stubby little wings, with bright, childish colors. But it’s no less a legitimate Vic Viper than Nick Trotta’s Serrated Night.

Vic Viper: Arini

Cutting through the jagged night

Master of spacetastic angles Nick Trotta has outdone himself with his latest LEGO spaceraft, dubbed the Serrated Night. Indeed, this ship looks like it would cut through the dark night of outer space with stunning precision. Nick says that he took inspiration for this Vic Viper from the anime Yukikaze and the F-117 stealth fighter.

Serrated Night 3V

Black is a notorious color to build with and successfully photograph, but Nick uses lines of blue along the wings’ edges and presents the ship against a planetary atmosphere to offset the black. Nick also says that this is his largest ship to date, which has enabled him to incorporate lots of fantastic details, from judicious use of LEGO ingots to peeping yellow studs.

Serrated Night 3V: Rear 3/4

Sora Vic Viper

There is some really nice color-blocking on this Vic Viper, by Kyubi. I really like how the white outlines make the rest of the colors really pop. Also, the details and textures that have been worked in here are really exceptional. Lastly, if you look really close, you will see some really cool parts-usage. Some of my favorites are the skis and ski-poles.

Sora VV

Thundermount

010-Thundermount-Splash

Mark Stafford does it again with this killer Vic Viper. The use of the train front is brilliant as is using the brick seperator for the tail. You also have to love those intakes. Really there is too much awesome here to list. It’s just a sweet, sweet ship.