Yearly Archives: 2013

# 23

Despite a rich history of his country’s basketball players who played in the American NBA to draw upon for inspiration, players like… Detlef Schrempf, Uwe Blab and Dirk Nowitzki…for some strange reason Alex Jones (Orion Pax) is still fixated on Michael Jordan. So journey back with Alex and TBB, to the 1990’s when grunge music, Pokémon cards and MJ ruled the planet. #23 also comes complete with his pet bull, on which he rides about dispensing justice and expensive footwear with a flaming sword!.

I’m not sure what to say about Alex’s solution for MJ’s visage…I mean, what do you say about Tim Allen in blackface? For more photos, head over to Orion Pax Designs.

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Vespula vulgaris

David Roberts (David Roberts 01341) is under the influence and it shows. Dave cites nnenn, Peter Elson and Stewart Cowley’s Terran Trade Authority books as inspiration, which is as good as it gets for Sci-Fi ship design. According to the builder, the Wasp F1 is a high-speed interceptor designed to operate in space or the atmosphere. To me it looks like a paper airplane that has been painted by someone with a checkerboard fetish, but looks can be deceiving. The model features pop-up weapons, landing gear and something unique to Sci-Fi ships; an under-mounted cockpit.

You know I always like to hook up the stat-junkies when I can. The model is 86 studs long, with a wingspan of 40 studs. It weighs 1.45kg (3 lbs 4 oz) and is composed of around 2,000 bricks. With such a fine catalog of models, I’m surprised this is David’s first appearance on this blog of blogs.

Aerial Assault in the 18th Century

French fan Théo‘s latest model depicts a terrifying past filled with adventurous biologists, mighty dragons, and a fair bit of Steampunkery.

Desert Blitz Krieg

It’s a good weekend for lovers of military builds. Vibor Cavor (veeborg) brings us an excellent rendition of a WW-2 German Army Opel Blitz truck, in desert camouflage. The model is highly detailed and just about everything on it opens.

In the industrial age, armies require vast amounts of stuff to keep going. You can’t have a Blitz Krieg if your supplies can’t keep up with the pace of the advances, which is why armies invest heavily in trucks. Interestingly, even during the war, Opel was owned by General Motors, whose GMC division built the famous ‘Deuce and a Half’; the US Army’s standard truck.

Sunday morning R-Type fix.

Sitting in the Starbucks drive through and figured I would multi-task (don’t worry my car is safely in park…it is a long line).

This morning’s fix of R-Typey goodness comes from halfbeak with two rockin’ edits…one old-school and one new-school.

In other news, I finally got my caffeine fix now as well…

Medieval eye candy

Ádám Monostori’s (Rifiröfi) colorful presentation of this action-packed medieval scene is quite eye-catching. It made me realize that an appropriately colored and textured background adds a lot to the photo, which you can see in more of his works.

Thanks for the tip Gabe Umland!

“You sank my battleship!”

Canada’s Adam Dodge (Dodge) brings the famous 1967 Milton Bradley board game Battleship to life with an emphasis on playability and portability. Although I was initially disappointed that the ships don’t look much like ships, I got over it, so perhaps the more critical among you will too. Adam should have considered subcontracting the ship design to Bruce Lowell. I vividly remember a game of Battleship gone wrong in the 5th grade that ended in fisticuffs and those little plastic pegs scattered everywhere. I’m pretty sure I moved my sub late in the game and got caught, although the specifics are hazy at best.

It should also be noted that waaaaay back in June of 2012 Kristi “McWii” (customBRICKS) posted a nice compact version of the popular game.

T-72 Main Battle Tank

For a long time, the T-72 was the Soviet Union’s main battle tank and it was widely exported, basically to whoever could afford it, including wonderful holiday destinations such as Iraq and Syria. The T-72AV, which is the version modelled by Chris Lee(Babalas Shipyards), is an upgraded version fitted with explosive reactive armour to defeat shaped charges.

You can’t hold the base upside-down without bits falling off, which may not be to everyone’s liking, but I like the effect. Iraqi T-72 units got comprehensively clobbered in the Gulf War of 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 at the hands of American tankers and British tankers, with their far superior M1 Abrams and Challenger II tanks, but this model is a winner in my book.

Bike Monster

I knew it was only a matter of time until I was able to give an official shout-out to the “raisin capital of the world“. Fresno California’s Carl Merriam (Carlmerriam) recently designed a LEGO model to be used as a prize for the city’s I Bike Fresno Million Mile Challenge. While Fresno may not have the flashy lifestyle options or ocean access of its neighbors to the north or south in California, as a former resident I can tell you it has a thriving underground LEGO fan culture that is not to be trifled with. It is good to know that Carl is keeping the scene alive since my departure.

Kicking xenomorphs out of airlocks with Kooberz Studios

Alex Kobbs (Kooberz Studios) is kicking off a new series of “BrickTube” videos featuring his signature combination of scenes inspired by movies and video games recreated with LEGO stop-motion animation. His launch video shows a scene from the new Aliens-inspired video game “Colonial Marines.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7g6pIW8E18

Via Kotaku.

“My fist your face, that’s for sure”

Resident of Nazareth, Belgium, Jeffrey Mille (BeLgIuM ww2 bUiLdeR) just posted a very slick example of mobile artillery, the H.A.M.L. (Heavy Armored Missile Launcher). Although the builder has the model tagged “WW2” on Flickr, I was unable to find any reference to such a vehicle. I think things might have gone differently on May 10, 1940 if Belgium was in possession of such a device. The teddy bear is a nice touch of whimsy and reminds me of the umbrella Andrew Somers included on his recent tank.

Eclipse and Omega

Its time for a Friday night Sci-Fi double feature courtesy of Björn (kaydee1982) of Bremen, Germany. The models are reminiscent of any number of 1980’s films, cartoons and toys, without being too specific to any one reference, and also harkens back to the halcyon days of the .Space crowd on LUGNET.

We begin with the “Omega“, which some reviewers on Flickr have likened to the Normandy from the Mass Effect video game series. I did enjoy the builder’s inclusion of his homeland’s flag on the side of the ship.

And finally, Björn has also created a suitable context for the “Eclipse” with the “Omega” space-dock. Not many builders bother to give their models a background beyond a piece of white paper or digital star-field, and the extra effort is appreciated by this Brother Brick.