Many people assumed that Crawler Town by Dave DeGobbi was inspired by the book Mortal Engines.
Salthook apparently wasn’t populated by pirates in the book, but they certainly lend a sense of whimsy to the thunderous roar of doom. Dave’s version is also fully motorized, so we can hope for a video at some point soon.
The landscaping in this military diorama by Infomaniac is superb — especially the rock formation under the sentry tower.
Don’t miss the muddy soldiers sneaking up on the tower, though I suspect their camouflage will wash off in the crystal-clear waters of the stream.
The Kockice LEGO Club based in Zagreb, Croatia is hosting a large Lego expo from May 13 to June 24. If you’re around the area, this is an event you may want to check out.
Here’s some info on what’s included in the expo from the coordinator Matija Grguric.
There will be featured lots of large models, including all current exclusive sets, a large city diorama, scaled models of Croatian buildings, a steampunk diorama featuring more than 30 aircrafts, castle diorama, pirates diorama, SW dioramas, space and many more. Exhibition space is spread on 450 square meters. LEGO is also participating with some of their models and displays, including a huge Einstein head weighing more than 250 kg.
There is also a playing area for kids and a playing workshop for kids where they build a huge fireman out of basic bricks. There will also be posters with models from AFOLs around the world, and some posters with history of LEGO, LUGs, AFOLs, SNOT and many others!
For interview number 10, Keith Goldman chats with on one of our own. Take it away, Keith!
Although my next guest prefers to build in one genre, he is a bit of a Renaissance man in the hobby. Dan “Happy Weasel” Rubin has been an Ambassador, Administrator for CSF, convention coordinator, Brother Brick, active WamaLUG member, contest sponsor… And the list goes on. Dan and I have twice shared the low-budget convention experience, and the abject terror of a fellow AFOL emerging from the bathroom in a pair of too-tight red briefs… and nothing else. Dan is also a lawyer, but we won’t hold that against him for the purposes of this interview.
I sat down with Dan Rubin during my trial for manslaughter in the nation’s capital. During a recess for a witness to compose himself, we talked about art-school chicks, Gymkata vs Rexkwondo and the horrors of Kentucky. We also talked about LEGO.
KG: How early in your build process do you decide the color scheme in a build? You’ve publicly declared a foot fetish and admitted that this MOC was based in color scheme, off of this sneaker, is there any other garment, item, or device you have taken inspiration for your palette?
DR: The color scheme of a build is a very early choice for me. Usually, I’ll decide on a shape/style, and then the color scheme is the second choice, before I put two bricks together. That is, unless I want to try to create a shape that I’ve never attempted before, and I have to prototype it. Sometimes I’ll change the exact placement of stripes, and finer details of a color scheme as the build progresses, but the color combination, and general color blocking are early decisions.
As far as inspiration is concerned, I suppose that it can come from just about anywhere. The shoe-inspired ship is definitely the most explicit example of an inspiration for a color scheme among my builds, though. I built a police ship once that drew its color scheme from the ubiquitous “black and whites” of the LAPD, but since that was intended to be a lineal descendant of the inspiration, I’m not sure it’s what you’re looking for.
Right now, I’m working on something in dark blue and lime, which is a color scheme I cooked up playing around with the colors while sorting. As you may have noticed, I like contrast between the colors of my models. I’ll usually use one neutral color for greebles, and then two more colors that will set each other off, or possibly just one color that contrasts with the greeble color (dark bley is a lot less neutral than old light gray, for instance).
KG: Can you think of any attitude towards building that you used to adhere to that you no longer do?
DR: This is a tough question, it’s going to take some thought. Generally speaking, I’ve had to make LEGO building a far smaller part of my life lately, as real life issues have taken hold, but that’s not really an attitude towards building as much as it’s a forced change in priorities. Lately, I have been trying to embrace colors that I once disliked. I’ve tried to take on orange and red in particular, as well as lime, to which I used to be ambivalent.
When I first joined the AFOL community, all the spacers were building in themes, and I jumped on that bandwagon. Lately, I’ve been trying to cast my net wider, and embrace any idea that I find, rather than trying to force another creation on a theme that’s likely already stretched thin. That’s not to say that I don’t build things into a theme on occasion, but I am trying for more variety.
KG: Do you have a different approach for building models for a convention as opposed to a standard internet posting?
DR: Absolutely! There are a lot of considerations that arise when you’re building for a convention, rather than for posting on the internet. Stability is a pretty major difference, as you have to be prepared for tables to be jostled, or worse, your creation to be grabbed in a fragile spot. Viewing angles are also important. Building a diorama for internet posting, you can leave large spans of back-side completely un-treated. When you’re going to display a diorama at a convention, you have to consider where people will be able to view your creation from.
When Nick and I built the Faded Giant, we decided on a triangle shape, which would allow viewing from a much wider angle than a rectangle with three tall sides. It also allowed us to force our own background on more viewing angles, rather than leaving the chaos of the convention hall visible behind the display.
Transport is also a huge factor. When building something to post on the internet, it doesn’t have to be able to fit through the door of your legoratory, or into your car. I built the landscape and most of the vehicles for the Faded Giant display, and they all come apart to be transported. The entire landscape splits into a series of 48×48 baseplates, which all fit in a box about 16 inches tall. The details all got thrown on for the first time at the convention. Similarly, Nick built the building to split into more manageable sections for transportation. After all, nobody wants to carry something six or more feet long.
More of Keith’s interview with Dan after the jump: Continue reading
The Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi looks impressive and a fine work of architecture that would be based on something a real landmark, but little would you guess that Tony Sava‘s amazing LEGO cathedral is actually fictional, based on St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and Chartres Cathedral in France.
If one is not impressed enough, what you see on the outside walls simply scratches the surface of what’s inside. Tony designed and built a nave to fit a full congregation for a proper wedding ceremony or weekly mass.
Built intricately with stained-glass windows that are perfect for ambient lighting to flow through, it embraces the very same atmosphere of stepping into an embodiment of a holy sanctuary.
The cathedral is full of detailing that will make your eyes wander in awe, such as a piped organ to fill the halls with heavenly music.
A red-carpeted aisle and a pulpit and accessories like the floor candle holders add to the detailing.
Building with such details is not without its toil. From concept to completion took about 5 months with serious architectural and blueprint planning with layouts and dimensions.
The finished work and time spent is definitely an architectural piece to appreciate and be in awe of.
Many of you may remember when we posted the job opening at Traveller’s Tales, back in February of 2009. The results of that job search were discussed in our interview with Carl Greatrix.
However, another very cool result of that process was that TT Games recently sent us these two bricks as a “thank you” gift.
They are very awesome. According to TT Games, these two launch bricks are the only ones in the public domain. You will also be happy to learn that the bricks came with one stipulation. They have to be given away. To honor their request, we will be donating them as prizes in some future event. It hasn’t been decided what or when that will be, but it will be something special, as these are incredibly unusual pieces.
I just LOVE this micro scale space mining ship. Michael Lehmann (Chiefrocker9000) has done a great job creating a realistic feeling utility space craft. The boom at the front in particular is quite striking. The color scheme is also quite pleasant, despite incorporating glaringly bright lime green.
I just watched Iron Man 2 this weekend, and I’m happy to see that Peter C. has captured the awesomeness of Iron Man in an action figure sized build. The head is a custom Lego-compatible piece from Hazel’s Amazing Armory, the core is a Clickits icon.
The announcement yesterday of 10213 Shuttle Adventure is followed today by an interview with Simon Kent, the Creative Lead who worked with Designer Steen Sig Andersen to create the set. Watch the video right here on The Brothers Brick:
Simon talks about some of the constraints that Steen worked under, as well as features of the set.
Yes, I know it’s not technically a dentist’s chair. But it looks like a dentist’s chair from the 1800s that Stephen King’s been commissioned to upgrade. Now tell me–isn’t that the stuff of nightmares?
Karf, this is all your fault. I’m not going to be seeing you for my next cleaning. And I’m not accepting you as a referral from my psychiatrist.
Now all kidding aside, I really WAS drawn to the chair. But the rest of the details are simply superb in this, too. Check it out!
The only thing that makes me sad about the announcement of the new 10213 Shuttle Adventure set is that the Space Shuttle program itself is ending this year. I’ll take some small consolation from swooshing this new set around my house.
The set includes 1,200 pieces, costs 100 USD, and ships in June. I’ve uploaded a full set of pictures to Flickr:
Here’s the official announcement from LEGO:
10213 Shuttle Adventure
Ages 16+
1,204 pieces
US $99.99 CA $129.99 UK £ 79.99 DE 89.99 €Blast off on an outer space mission!
Standing 17.5″ (44cm) tall and 10″ (25.5cm) from wing tip to wing tip, this detailed and realistic space shuttle is ready to count down and blast off on its next exciting mission into space! You can take off from the launch pad, separate the detachable fuel tank and booster rockets, and deploy the satellite with unfolding antenna and solar cell panels. Shuttle model features realistic engines, retractable landing gear, an opening cockpit with seats for 2 astronauts, opening cargo compartment with a crane that can hold the satellite and a ground maintenance vehicle. Includes 3 minifigures: 1 male and 1 female astronaut, as well as 1 service crew member.
- Includes 3 minifigures: 1 male and 1 female astronaut as well as 1 service crew member!
- Features realistic engines, retractable landing gear, opening cockpit with seats for 2 astronauts and even a ground maintenance vehicle!
- Take off from the launch pad!
- Separate the detachable fuel tank and booster rockets!
- Deploy the satellite with unfolding antenna and solar cell panels!
- Open the cargo compartment to reveal the crane that can hold the satellite!
- Shuttle Adventure stands 17.5″ (44cm) tall and measures 10″ (25.5cm) from wing tip to wing tip!
I don’t completely know what to make of this Tortoise class racing speeder by Jason Corlett, but I do know that I like the unconventionality, construction of the engine, and the attachment of the cockpit seemingly as an afterthought.
