My latest creation is a good example of what happens when a builder gets carried away with a simple concept. My simple concept was to use blue bubble domes as microcolonies, which grew into a large mass that I am calling The Death Ring (see story on Flickr).
The large dome is constructed from stretcher hoses that maintain the shape without central supports. The smaller domes contain glow-in-the-dark disks that give off an eerie light in the dark to simulate the glow of the bioluminescent spheres in space. The size of the model may look deceptive due to all the small greebly bits that play with your sense of scale, but the actual diameter is 1.5 feet.
Then I definitely hope more builders will get carried away with simple concepts. Normally I dislike when bloggers blog their own stuff (even though hey, it’s their blog), but this I would’ve wanted to see here no matter who made it. Those stretcher hoses really bring this to the next level. I’d love to see a low-light shot of this after some blacklight lovin’, now that you mention the GitD disks.
If I own a blacklight, I’d definitely try for the shot.
This is awesome, Nannan. The hoses and blue domes are a very nice touch.
Agreed with the blacklight comment–that would look incredible. You may want to consider playing with other colors for effect if you do that; trans-neon-orange and trans-neon-green also glow brilliantly under a blacklight, even in a bright room. It’s not the dark that makes them glow; that just helps the colors pop. It’s the UV from the blacklight interacting with the phosphors in the colors.
Nannan you’ve outdone yourself!
You have one of the most imaginative building minds out there, and this is a interesting change in building style. From the mass of greebles that gives such a different effect at nanoscale, to the sheer size, coupled with graceful symmetry – what can I say, keep coming up with these crazy ideas, keep building!
If you have a a go at another MOC in this style, have you considered adding lights, sound, and motorized elements?
Catsy: Other transparent colors would be equally eye-catching, but currently the domes and the crystal skulls only come in the blue flavor. I consider it a fortunate coincidence that the skulls have blue “brains” in them.
Magnus: thanks! I have definitely considered putting more functions to my MOCs, I even bought the new Mindstorms kit last year with that goal in mind. Unfortunately it’s no simple task, even though builders like Legohaulic and Jerac make it look so easy. Adding movement will still remain on my to do list. As for lights, I’ve considered that as well, but I’ve never had a hands on experience with LifeLites to see what I can do with them.
^ I was thinking more as something to add under the domes. Trans-neon-yellow in particular might take on a marvelous greenish glow under blue domes.
But anyway. Just ideas.
The alternative I considered were the Atlantis rings. They fit perfectly and give lots of detail to the domes. In the end I settled for the smooth glow disks not only because they glow without a blacklight, but also because their smoothness contrasts the surrounding greebles.
Nannan, as regards a UV light, it’s a pretty simple matter of going down to hardware store of somekind (I got mine at a Home Depot) and purchasing a UV lightbulb in the $3 to $8 range that fits in any ordinary lamp. Those UV shots I did with those glow-in-the-dark tentacles from the IB challenge was done using one regular desk lamp with a UV bulb.