The Palpatine’s Shrink-O-Matic contest over at FBTB comes to a close at midnight PST tonight. One of my favourite entries that I have stumbled across is this Naboo Starfighter by Bartosz Sasiński (bartosza6m (War-C)). The construction of the cockpit is absolutely brilliant, and the sleek shaping is spot on. Plus the display stand really adds a nice final polish.
Flickr user Garry_rocks has been churning out an endless supply of stunning mecha and hardsuit designs ever since he joined in November. I tend to overlook strictly virtual creations more than I probably should, and Garry reinforces that I should pay closer to attention to LEGO Digitial Designer (LDD) models more often. The fact that he creates these models without being able to hold the bricks impresses me even further, when I build it is always by trial & error and just generally fiddling with the pieces. If you haven’t already, you must take some time to browse through Garry’s stream. It is guaranteed to inspire all the mecha and sci-fi builders out there.
Garry has a total knack for creating fantastic cockpit designs at a relatively small scale…trust me when I say that I have been making notes.
I had an idea to make this picture having filled the shoes of each of the roles mentioned in it. I hope it didn’t offend anyone :)
Tim Goddard’s microscale viaduct shows how something beautiful can be compacted into a tiny scene. The techniques used on the train engine, waterfall, and even the stone columns all add up to make this an enjoyable vignette.
As many of you know, the LEGO building community lost a leading light earlier this month, when Mike “Count Blockula” Crowley passed away.
The love and sympathy expressed here, on Facebook, Flickr, FBTB, and all of Mike’s other online homes didn’t go unnoticed by Mike’s friends and family, who asked me to pass along this message from Mike’s parents to all of you.
My wife Janina and I wish to pass along our gratitude to the wonderful folks from the Lego Brick community for their outpouring of sympathy to the family at Mike’s passing. We greatly appreciated so many sharing stories and pictures of their memories of Mike at the many conferences he attended. He so loved these times when his health was better and you all made us aware of a side of him that we did not know existed.
Again, thank you all for your kindness, it made a very difficult time for the Crowley family a great deal easier knowing that the Count had so many friends and fans.
God Bless you all,
Paul and Janina Crowley
Speaking of photographing your LEGO models well, brothers Joe and Will Merzlak do some of the coolest “on-location” LEGO photography around. Their latest, a hulking beast of a vehicle called the Goat, looks prepared to drive through positively any sort of terrain, and actually seems to be doing so.
Jean-Pascal Rignault has always had a way with hover cars. I love the angles and aggressive look of this new creation. To me, it harkens back to the aesthetic of ’60s muscle cars, in an awesome way. The flame stickers on the side are the perfect complement to the look.
This scene by James Pegrum is wonderfully atmospheric, depicting the origins of the Great Fire of London, which ravaged the city for four days in 1666. More than simply building a cool diorama, though, James has carefully planned his photograph to take advantage of the terrific lighting and the placement of his structures, to keep the entire image within his creation, giving it a fantastic sense of calamity.
From flickr user RedCoKid comes this roaring art-deco Skyscraper. I usually find LEGO towers pretty dull, but that’s because all too often they’re little more than just stacked windows and basic bricks. This beauty, though, has classic style. And if I make it out correctly, the elevators are powered and actually move, too.
We highlighted some LEGO sales & deals on Amazon.com late last week, but for those who missed that post, there are still some pretty sweet discounts on LEGO.
Highlights include 4440 Police Forest Station,
Other items still on sale:
(50% off!)
(35% off)
(32% off)
(34% off)
(17% off)
(28% off)Here’s a really gorgeous piece of horological gadgetry. Not satisfied with those giant LEGO minifigure digital clocks, Jason Allemann has built a mechanical timepiece worthy of any classy desk. Better yet, he’s made a video showing it in motion and given lots of details on how it works.
Jon Blackford has made this fantastic diorama illustrating what might happen to an unfortunate Neo-Classic-Space landing party. He’s got a great style going on here with the limited colors and the nifty shaping of the rock platform.
