Daniel Church takes a slick approach to future sea travel with this cool little skiff. My favorite part is how the wedge plates angling with one another make a striking visual motif that really brings this model together. The addition of the dock and particularly the style of the lamppost lend a bit of context to the craft and the world it inhabits.
We’ve already seen the internal anatomy of a mini-fig, so I guess the innards of a brick-built figure was the next logical step. This version by Flickr member umamen comes complete with articulated joints, flex-tube veins and arteries, and helpfully color-coded organs. Can you name them all?
David Hensel (Legonardo Davidy) creates a detailed windmill with spinning blades and rotating tower. I really like the blend of sand green and olive green bricks for the base as well as its spherical shape.
Barton Thinks is recreating iconic Middle Earth locations in micro-scale. I really like the use of black level handles to detail the sides of Orthanc. The little bits of landscaping really bring it to life as well. Luckily this is before the Orcs cut down all the trees!
I have a personal tradition of watching a depressing movie on Christmas Eve; I find it has a nice effect of tempering the holiday festivities with some sobering reality.
Apparently Gabe Umland is similarly inclined. This depiction of London during the Blitz has some gorgeously detailed rubble, with just the right touch of Christmas spirit.
The Volvo Ocean Race is a yacht race around the entire world. It is held every three years and generally takes approximately 9 months to complete. Each boat has a crew of 9, who race 24 hours a day for up to 20 days at a time, living off of freeze-dried food and raw courage. It isn’t a race for the weak or faint of heart.
This incredible LEGO model was built by Johan Sahlstrom, who works for Volvo, and Anders Christensen, who works for LEGO. After deciding to build a model of the Volvo Ocean Race boats, they chose Team SCA, the first all-female crew in over 10 years, because “Team SCA is definitely the coolest looking”, according to Sahlstrom.
The SCA boat is 2 1/2 meters long and 3 1/2 meters tall, using over 100,000 pieces. It includes fully functional halyards, winches, grinding pedestals and a canting keel. It is completely to scale, took over 1200 man-hours to build and uses no glue. Creating it was a quite the feat in and of itself!
Jon & Catherine Stead have created this lovely Neo-Classic Space “Rocket Launch and Recovery Vehicle”. It really reminds of an updated Mobile Rocket Transport, which was one of my favorite sets from my childhood.
The mix of new and vintage parts really bring this concept home but I think it is the use of all the transparent bits that makes this standout. It’s a rather full of “bling” and I’m liking it.
This crazy house is the fault of César Soares and it’s an eye-catcher. It really has some unusual angles going on, both on the roof and the walls. I also like the patches and repairs. It gives the house a sense of character and helps create a story in your mind.
As Adult Fans of LEGO, we know that our hobby with LEGO bricks has some amazing applications, and we see how the creativity flourishes. I think it’s amazing when LEGO finds some very practical uses in real-world places that help not just creativity, but further science and innovation.
Five researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards (NIST) have used LEGO to create a LEGO Watt Balance. The Watt balances at NIST as well as other facilities are being used to help push the “measurement precision to within a few parts per hundred million,” which will hopefully achieve a redefined kilogram by 2018. This is important because as of right now, the kilogram is the only fundamental unit of the International System of Units that’s defined by a physical object, not a universal constant.
Leon S. Chao, Stephan Schlamminger, DB. Newell, J.R. Pratt and Xiang Zhang have recently submitted their paper on their LEGO Watt Balance to the American Journal of Physics. Their creation is helping bring quantum mechanics into the classroom, and will hopefully inspire a new generation.
This symbolic scene depicts the moment in The Lord of the Rings when Smeagol (soon to become Gollum) steals the ring from his cousin, Deagol, and evil takes hold of him. Tim Lydy has done an exceptional job with this scene. Everything fits together so well. The scene is almost idyllic, with the water, grass, fishing boat, tree (made from a dragon tail!) and the look of happiness on Smeagol’s face. It is almost easy to overlook the dead body of Deagol and the looming shadow about to possess him forever.
