Yearly Archives: 2016

War pig ready to roll

When you are building a vehicle in minifigure scale, it’s usually hard to achieve all the details. It takes a lot of planning and rebuilding to properly scale the original. Andrew Somers worked four long years to improve his initial attempt on an M1A3 Abrams tank. The result is a magnificent craftsmanship. Thick shield of the tank requires smooth surfaces with low angles and Andrew perfectly recaptures all the subtle slopes. A correct amount of greeble is accompanied with related accessories and a nice photography shows off the model. See it from the back if you want to be amazed by more details!

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LEGO Dr Who chess set has all the moves

Adam Dodge has built a fantastic miniland-scale Dr Who chess set. The figures and characters he’s created for it are fabulous – various Doctors and companions facing off against a collection of classic enemies and villains.

We have multiple Doctors and the obligatory TARDIS…

And then there are the enemies. I love how Adam has nailed the design for Missy’s hair — immediately recognisable in only a handful of pieces. Cracking work on Davros too…

Click through for more images of this great creation

Agile Hawk will take you on a breathtaking flight above the clouds

Creating a beautiful model is a lot like cookery – you need right ingredients, carefully prepared and elegantly served. I worked up my appetite while checking out this Agile Hawk 2.0 by Thomas W. Saying that stickers contribute a lot to the appearance of the aircraft won’t do much for the description of the model. The combination of white, lime and dark blue has always been great for tiny models, but completed with stickers it’s a double win solution.

But what I love the most about this aircraft is the fact that is not quite an original build. Actually it’s a makeover of an old model by rongYIREN that first appeared in 2012. An obligatory cloud next to the aircraft is simply the best way of creating an atmosphere around it with just one simple detail.

New Century Corner

Finnish AFOL Eero Okkonen created the most amazing street corner ever and we all love modular buildings at The Brothers Brick, especially when they have a distinct taste in architecture! So a mix of art-nouveau buildings inspired by the dream-like city of Prague definetely catches our eyes. Luckily, Eero went to further lengths to name each of the five houses, wrote brief explanations on building techniques and also provided some photographs of inspiring places. Read them all on his personal blog.

Nine projects qualify for the first 2016 LEGO Ideas review [News]

The official LEGO Ideas blog has just confirmed that nine LEGO Ideas projects have hit the 10,000 votes required to go on to the first review of 2016.

The nine projects include two Star Wars based ideas – a rolling BB-8 and the Jedi high council chamber. There are four minifigure scale buildings: an old fishing store, modular railway station, Jurassic Park visitor centre and a gingerbread house. The movie based project this time is Johnny Five, a model of the eponymous robot. Finally, in the science themed section we have a fossil museum display of dinosaur skeletons and a functional model of a particle accelerator.

Readers: Which projects have captured your attention, and which do you think will go on to pass the strict LEGO review criteria and become an actual LEGO set?

See a short description of each project by the creator after the jump

Who’s watching this watchtower?

Great landscaping and medieval style building skills are on display this latest model from Isaac S. There’s also a nice contrast between the stone texturing of the tower itself and the wooden hall, and the detailed organic looking base makes a pleasant change from the “square base framing” which has become something of a cliché in LEGO castle and fantasy building.

In his Flickr post, Isaac is happy to point out where he’s taken inspiration from other builders in this model. I enjoy when builders do this — it’s a little hat tip show of respect, and it doesn’t retract from this being a solid creation in its own right.

It’s a Dutch world after all

The People of Laaf is an exhibit in the Netherlands amusement park Efteling, which is older than Disneyland. It’s a fairytale land of animatronic puppets who have their own language and architectural style, and the whole thing is accessible by a small monorail. Koen‘s giant representation of the park captures the unique turrets and rooflines of the park quite nicely. But what I love about this model are the cobblestone paths and the towering trees. Make sure to click through the photostream for a full tour, including some side-by-side comparisons to the real park.

TBB cover photo: May 2016

This month’s cover photo comes to us from TBB regular Letranger Absurde and is entitled Ella “Tall Tide” Kneebone’s Cabin. In this creation he augments his signature style of character building with a beautiful diorama featuring a wealth of gorgeously detailed objects.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then acquaint yourself with the submission GUIDELINES and submit your photo today.

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Superheroes settle their differences with a game of H.O.R.S.‌‌E

Sure, the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel nearly leveled the Kent family barn, but Supe’s mom Martha stepped between them with her trusty rolling pin and put an end to the destruction. Now, these two superheroes are settling their differences like men. Builder Thorsten Bonsch said he wanted to create a lighthearted scene. He achieved that and more! In addition to the playful atmosphere, this scene packs some incredible details. I love the heat vision damage on the corner of the barn, the wheat field, and the terrific texture on the sidings. Check out close-up photos of this build on Flickr.

A double-helping of Spacey goodness

First up, Moko with a beautiful little space crawler decked out in Classic Space livery. What’s not to love here? Trans-yellow windows, blue and gray color-scheme, black and yellow striping, and even the red and green lights in appropriate positions — this model follows all the “rules” for Classic Space building, but still manages to look fresh and interesting.

And then we have Jason Briscoe‘s latest, a tanker truck in M-Tron colors. This is a great little model, and despite being built in an “old” LEGO theme, it makes interesting use of the some of the newest LEGO parts. Check out the Nexo Knight shields as plating and mech torso pieces as greebling. Really good work.

LEGO Omnibot, the fully programmable robot ...with memory!

Back in the mid-1980s kids across the world were begging their parents to buy them an Omnibot. Toy manufacturer Tomy released Omnibot 5402, and Peter Reid has built this adorable LEGO version. The advert-style background compliments this awesome LEGO robot perfectly. The build was created for a ‘parts challenge’ over on parts-obsessed blog New Elementary and the eyes of the robot utilise the new Nexo Knights part trans neon orange bar with towball. What a great way to utilise this new part!

So just as I get over not receiving a Tomy Omnibot for my 8th birthday, I now long for my own LEGO Omnibot all these years later…

Desert dwelling puts other houses in the shade

Marcel V. has built a wonderful little desert scene. The house walls show lovely texturing and color choice, and there’s some nice parts usage on display — particular props go out for the white snake as a curl of smoke.

I’m also impressed with the rock and plant details on the base. Sometimes “tanscaping” like this can feel a bit plain and formulaic, but the curved rocks, minifig-hand scrub plants, and the paving around the door make the base of this model as visually-interesting as the house itself. Good stuff.