I bet you thought this model was about twice as big from the thumbnail. Jonathan Lopes (BKNY Bricks) continues with his sub-minifig scale building series with this delightful Portland firestation. The flag is very cool.
LEGO firehouse from Portland
Yearly Archives: 2013
“Shut up and drive”
Lucky for you Bob Alexander (bobalexander!) is handing you the keys to his Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo (1988 Spec). Bob’s choice of windshield is perfect, and his attention to detail puts him up there with some of the best builders in the genre. So now you’ve got a premium ride, show us that fancy driving you’re always talking about.
On a related note, I really enjoy it when a builder includes an exclamation point in their screen name. Bob Alexander is nowhere near as cool as bobalexander! It forces you to run the names together and really say it with gusto. On that note, I’m off to alter my screen name on Flickr. I hope you’re enjoying Saturday as much as I am.
A Different Sort of Mech
Most of the mechs we see are hard, utilitarian machines bristling with guns and rocket launchers and big steel panels. Which is cool, to be sure, but sometimes it’s refreshing to see a different take. This gorgeous mech by Legorobo is wonderfully organic, and armed with one of the coolest looking battleaxes I’ve ever seen.
Picture perfect profiles
Some people see LEGO as a toy, other people see building with LEGO as a form of art, but some people, myself included, tend to use it as a medium for building scale models. There are obvious limitations when building a scale model using mostly angular elements of a certain (minimum) size, but nonetheless it is possible to achieve a high degree of accuracy.
Lately I have been updating some of my existing models, including my F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter. Another builder who is working on a LEGO model of a Hornet (or make that Hornets -plural) is Corvin Stichert. He recently made a direct comparison between a line-drawing of the real jet and a side-view of his work in progress made in LEGO Digital Designer.
He did such a good job that it made me (and him) wonder how my Hornet stacks up. (In fact, I was a bit worried, as I do have a bit of a reputation to uphold.)
Well, I am not disappointed and I think you’ll agree that, even though Corvin and I have made some rather different choices, the agreement between both our models and the profiles is about as good it gets on this scale.
Elador on the icy river
tiberium_blue is known for his technique of making brick-walls out of liftarms as seen in The Sleepy Oak and T’Met Monastery. His latest is another great example showcasing this style, but also notable is the landscape that features embedded boulders that first made their appearance in Castle Palamar.
“We spared no expense.”
John Hammond would no doubt approve of this Jurassic Park vignette by Combee! who makes his first appearance on TBB. This build really captures the scene by reducing it to only the most essential elements. Also, the floating Hammond-head is a little creepy and it looks to me as if he’s about to consume the baby raptor. It is probably a good thing the builder chose not to use Dr. Sattler’s face, I’m not sure that her expression can be captured with LEGO.
Project Swapfig
Yes, some Kickstarter projects are lame or overly ambitious, but here’s one that actually makes sense to me: Project Swapfig.
The man behind the project is British AFOL Drew Maughan (.SilentMode). His intention is to address the following question:
How many times have you wanted a specific minifigure, but didn’t want to buy a whole set – or spend hours feeling through packets and risk getting the wrong one? Wouldn’t it be easier to trade with someone who had the figure you want?
The (modest) funding he is asking for will go towards promoting a web site that Drew is setting up, where collectors of LEGO minifigures can trade their unwanted figures for ones they want, instead of having to use different forums all over the web or having to pay big bucks to unscrupulous sellers. Drew has already put a lot of thought and work into this project and it looks good so far. I also know him to be a stand-up guy. I heartily recommend that minifig-lovers among you (you know who you are) check out the project and support it. The funding deadline is the 16th of April.
LEGO Castle Grayskull
David Frank (AKA Fraslund) has created an outstanding LEGO rendition of that classic toy, Castle Grayskull, from the 80s television show, Masters of the Universe. David’s version is drop-dead gorgeous. He was able to perfectly capture the iconic gate and drawbridge, as well as the lesser known details around the sides and rear. David definitely has the power!
Check out the rest of the pictures. They are definitely worth it.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Ryan McNaught (TheBrickMan) takes a break from building giant helecopters to bring you his microscale take on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The model was built for a LEGO retail store display and I’m guessing the employees are going to get tired of explaining to customers that it isn’t an official set.
A Nighthawk by any other name
eldeem brings you a diorama inspired by the 1942 painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. The scene is the culminating installment of the builder’s “Hawks in the Night” series, which features some very effective camera work.
If you’re a fan of the painting, you might have missed Alex Eylar’s Nighthawks of the Living Dead, featured on this august blog back in 2010.
Yakovlev Yak-1
LUGPol’s Air Marshall mrutek returns to TBB with a smoothed out warbird from WW2. This time mrutek sets his sights on the workhorse of the Russian air force, the Yak-1. Although the design was Russian, the Yakovlev 1 was also used by the Lotnictwo Wojska Polskiego (Air Force of the Polish Army). Enjoy today’s offering of military history.
Reaching for the sky in China
Spencer Rezkalla (Spencer R) is a master of micro-scale skyscrapers, and his models have been featured on TBB many times. That does not stop me from calling your attention to his latest project, however. The US may be known for cities full of skyscrapers, such as Chicago and New York, but nowadays most such buildings are being constructed in Asia and Spencer has now turned his attention to China, building the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Jin Mao Tower.
The subtle curve and the way the façades intersect on the Shanghai Financial Tower is particularly noteworthy. A third skyscraper, called the Shanghai Tower, is currently under construction next to these two and is due for completion in 2014. As you can see from the picture above, Spencer has already saved a spot for it.