The action and buildings in SlyOwl‘s are expectedly excellent, but what impresses me most about this pirate diorama is the base:
The angled water with flotsam and jetsam in the foreground meshes neatly with the dock in the background. More photos in SlyOwl’s Tortuga gallery on Brickshelf.
Via those diligent TFOLs.
Matt De Lanoy (Pepa Quin) combines three of the world’s most popular brands — Star Wars, Apple, and LEGO — in a mashup that is sure to be a strong contender in the FBTB Podracer Challenge.
Those earbuds are brilliant.
Chris Wunz (Wuntztwice) has built a cool little flying car. I love retro-futuristic stuff, and this car captures that aesthetic very well. He’s also built in some cool features, like the rotating hover engines, and a very detailed cockpit.
Christophe Bongay built a bone-crushingly brutal creation called the Krabouillator. It looks deadly, and I sure don’t want to be on the business end of this thing.
Chris B has recently posted a couple of small robots/hardsuits that have a lot of style. He has achieved some really cool shapes and details at a small scale. I especially like the head and shoulder winglets on the yellow one. Based on their names, there may even be a third one in the works.
There have been a lot of really great starfighters posted online lately, and this one by Johnny (Dr. X) is certainly no exception. One thing that does make it different, is that it’s not an entry for the “Show us what you got” contest over on flickr, for which I am a judge. I’ve been trying not to show any bias by blogging about entries, which has been rather frustrating. I was glad to see this ship, which is pretty cool, wasn’t an entry for the contest (he already entered something in the contest).
There’s a neat explanation for the fins that pop open on the side of the ship, revealing a radar array, that has a clever realism to it that I like. More importantly, though, it just looks cool, it reminds me a of a cobra fanning its hood.
I neither know nor care if this is new. I think it looks great so I’m blogging it. Nice work Ulimy.
There’s something inherently funny about advertising a sold-out product, as Peter Edwards does with a hand car from Big Ben Bricks in this video:
The video features a fantastic Technic bridge long enough to span a LEGO Amazon:
In most niches of LEGO there are a handful of builders who have really pushed building. Any list is, of course, going to be quite personal but hopefully can give a good idea of what can be achieved. On The Brothers Brick we tend to focus only on new models but this can neglect some older builders whose influence is still felt. To redress this we hope to intermittently present ‘X of the Best’ posts to showcase the ‘leaders’ in any given niche.
LEGO aircraft design presents some unique challenges. The models are typically based on real prototypes and usually have multi-directional curves which are extremely challenging to represent in LEGO. Here are four builders that I feel have really pushed LEGO aircraft building and that I always find myself going back to when I need inspiration.
Klaus Dobisch (gallery EDIT: now eastpole too): Klaus has been building incredible aircraft for many years now. His attention to detail and, in particular to keeping his designs smooth is particularly impressive. 
Mike Psiaki (mpsiaki): With his ability to seamlessly use multiple techniques in a single model Mike offers a wealth of incredible designs, each of which offers many ideas for other builders. 
HIEN (HIEN): While not as prolific as Klaus or Mike, Hien packs in a huge amount of accuracy in his tiny models.
Ralph Savelsberg (Mad Physicist): Ralph is, in my opinion, the king of profiles. His effort in getting every angle just right really shows and, particularly in his new models, his windscreens and cockpits are excellent examples of what can be done with a bit of sculpting. The 30th anniversary celebration of Classic Space continues over on the Neo Classic Space website.
Pete Reid built a design by nnenn for the collaborative LL-989 Wildfire:
nnenn himself pits a pair of Heavy Interceptors and a Troop Support Sled against an alien species known as the Ugokin:
Ian Grieg captures the essence of 891 Two Seater Space Scooter with his LL-892 Skimmer, while I paid homage to 886 Space Buggy with my LL-997 “Craterbuster” rover:
Mark Kupietz builds vertically for LL-938 Supply Ship:
Keep an eye on neoclassicspace.com throughout the rest of the month for even more great creations inspired by vintage LEGO Space sets.
It’s been a while but I finally managed to build something I’m kind of happy with again. I basically set out to avoid any of the standard starfighter shapes although of course it’s not wholly original. Hopefully this heralds more models from me. I’ve been feeling very rusty.
Moritz Nolting (Nolnet) experiments with incorporating the power functions RC system into the smallest truck he can make to produce a creation that’s both functional and visually authentic. I really like how the bulky battery box is cleverly incorporated as the cargo container of the truck.
Check out the Youtube video showing the truck in action and see it do a wheelie.