Yearly Archives: 2019

This wild Mustang is the Boss of the canyon

Collaborative building projects can yield amazing results, such as this slick 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302 overlooking a picturesque cliff. The bright red Mustang was built by ham_MOC, while the cliff was built by Jonathan S. If you didn’t know this was a collaboration, you might think everything was made by one person. That’s because the two builds pair nicely, complete with advanced coloring techniques like the Mustang’s two-tone exterior and the layering of colors on the cliff. It makes for a cohesive build that couples American muscle with the beauty of the American West.

The two builders built this colorful vignette for the LEGO Ideas contest, “Celebrate your favorite Ford Mustang in a beautiful scenery!”

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AT-RT nimbly navigated across the floor of a sinkhole on Utapau

It’s a good thing that clone troopers are genetically enhanced because there is no way an average Stormtrooper could pilot an AT-RT so smoothly over slippery rocks. This fun scene by Inthert combines a well-designed AT-RT, perfectly scaled for a minifig, with some nicely sculpted rock-work.

The Yin and Yang of panda house design

This month is an exciting time for the Copenhagen Zoo because they will be introducing a pair of pandas to the public this month. The two bears will be taking up residence in the Panda House, an enclosure designed to look like the Chinese symbol for yin and yang. Builder Full Plate was commissioned to build a replica of the Panda House for the Copenhagen LEGO Store, where it will be on display. It’s a great likeness of the original, complete with the curved staircase and viewing area. The unique architecture is accentuated by lush landscaping.

More pandas!

A rustic barn with a classic Ford Mustang

Some LEGO builders say that architecture and scenery merely exist to serve as backdrops for cars or trains. Looking at this display built by Andrea Lattanzio, I beg to differ. While the classic first-series Mustang Hardtop is beautiful on its own, the barn behind it is equally delightful. Andrea achieved the barn’s dilapidated look through effective use of brown and dark grey tiles, which are not pressed down all the way. Personally, I find it difficult to ignore the satisfying feeling of pressing two LEGO pieces together but, when they’re tilted just a little and with varying degrees, the rustic charm is undeniable.

Other highlights include the rusty broken gas pump and an American flag, which is cleverly formed out of plates with clips in such a way that makes it look as if it’s waving in a light breeze. The car itself cannot be overlooked; the lines are sleek and the construction is smooth. Curved slopes on the hood are ideal parts in creating the perfect angle, and the use of clear slopes for the windshield is simple but feels representative of a real Mustang.

A fine study in Dutch country life

The Netherlands isn’t only about tulips, windmills and the narrow houses of Amsterdam’s center. For legotrooper501st, his recent trip to the Netherlands inspired this serene and peaceful diorama of a Dutch rural house. I tend to think it’s the colors and the composition that set the mood; there’s a lot in this build that makes it look almost like a painting, while it can boast a whole bunch of brilliant building solutions, like the roof, tall grass by the water and dark water itself.

LEGO 75259 Snowspeeder – 20th Anniversary Edition [Review]

In the world of Star Wars, there are a few fan-favorite vehicles that have stood the test of time, and the Snowspeeder is definitely one of them. They’re sometimes referenced as airspeeders since they were originally utility vehicles until they were modified by the Rebel Alliance for the snowy landscape and battle as seen in Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, and LEGO’s newest version is 75259 Snowspeeder – 20th Anniversary Edition.

To date, there have only been 3 other snowspeeders at this scale sold in individual sets in the 20 years of the LEGO Star Wars lifespan (plus one cousin, the Sandspeeder). Of course, then there are the other snowspeeders that appeared as part of larger playsets, which include the 7666 Hoth Rebel Base, 8089 Hoth Wampa Cave, 75014 Battle for Hoth, and finally the 75098 Assault on Hoth. Lastly, most fans will remember the Ultimate Collector Series versions which range over a thousand pieces and are masterpieces on their own, plus several tiny microscale versions. Without further ado, let’s take a look at this special commemorative edition the snowspeeder, which LEGO has released as one of five sets in celebration of two decades of Star Wars LEGO. 75259 Snowspeeder – 20th Anniversary Edition has 309 pieces and is priced at USD 39.99 | GBP 34.99 | CAD 49.99. It is currently available in stores and online.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Best to stay away from brooding Batman

We first saw Desert Batman from the flashback scenes in Batman vs Superman, and fans can’t get enough of it. This chibi style version (also known as super-deformed) by Choi Dambaek captures him like he’s about to make someone’s day a lot worse. I love how this tiny build has enough articulation at the arms and knee joints to give life to the character poses.

Visit Rome, where ghosts of gladiators roam

While Rome wasn’t built in a day, Kevin J. Walter probably built the Collesseum in a few hours. Made in the style and charm of the LEGO Architecture series. What made particular design possible is the new Arch 1 x 2 Jumper element to construct the arched columns in an accurate manner at this scale.

Click to see more

Classic Space, roved by rovers for 40 years

Brickshelf user (yes, Brickshelf still exists) legofrik has recently built a cute boxy rover in the colours of Classic Space. He says the inspiration was a coincidental discovery that small treads fit around 6×6 dishes to create a unique wheel design.

The build has a very boxy shape, and yet avoids looking rectangular and simple. The colours are not only blocked visually, but also by purpose; blue as the main bulk of the vehicle, gray for radars, hoses and other technical doodads and translucent yellow as the iconic Classic Space window and windscreen colour. The rover also has working suspension and a detailed interior.

Lond Daer, the Númenorean shipyard in Middle Earth

There have been many great LEGO creations from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchise over the years, including a recent epic collaboration which we were proud to feature here on TBB. The other ages mentioned in the book, however, tend to be overlooked. Well, there is a new collaborative project underway and Barthezz Brick has built an amazing model of the Númenórean ship-building port of Lond Daer.

This model has so many details worth mentioning, including some very nicely built arrow slits in the tall tower in the back, which starts with a fairly common technique using cheese slopes but repeats the pattern in an interesting way. The buildings on the right also show a neat architectural design for the arched windows made from loosely connected plates, and this minifig neck bracket to attach tiles on top. Click to see more of Lond Daer

Exclusive LEGO Star Wars 75227 Darth Vader Bust [Instructions]

Last month, LEGO revealed the exclusive 75227 Darth Vader Bust set for Star Wars Celebration 2019. Convention exclusives are usually very hard to obtain and command a high price on the secondary market from scalpers. Thankfully, LEGO is somewhat addressing that since this set will also be available to Target REDCard members online starting April 11th until supplies run out (which we expect will be very quick).

(EDIT: Target did not make the bust available on the 11th and instead posted it early in the morning on the 12th. It appears to have sold out in less than 15 minutes. We have reached out to Target to see if any other batch will be made available but have not heard back.)

While we celebrate that the set won’t be entirely exclusive to the show in Chicago, it will still likely prove to be a hard-to-get collectors item elsewhere around the world. We know many of our international readers have bemoaned the fact they can’t get the set, so we are happy to report that LEGO has published the instructions and parts list for the Darth Vader Bust online. You can download the instructions from LEGO here (the file is 23 MB).

Our very own News Editor Dave Schefcik has already searched through his collection and built the Darth Vader Bust with only a few pieces needing to be substituted with alternative parts. Behold Lord Vader!

Dave also discovered that the Darth Vader Bust contains two new unique pieces: a pair of 4×6 right/left plates in black that help shape the back of the helmet. These wedge plates are relatively new and are only currently available in white on Bricklink (also available in red on LEGO Bricks and Pieces). Dave substituted them with the more common 3×6 right/left wedge plates and got close to the final look.

Luckily, the two new black pieces are currently available on LEGO Bricks and Pieces if you need your bust to be perfect. Dave actually priced out the entire set since 100% of the inventory is currently available from Bricks and Pieces, and it came to a total of $50.90 USD plus tax and shipping for all of the parts brand new from LEGO. (It may even be cheaper with used brick on Bricklink, though not nearly as convenient.)

That total cost is only $10.91 more than what the set will retail for ($39.99) so it is a pretty good deal if you want to just build the Darth Vader Bust with new sorted brick from LEGO using the digital instructions provided. Yes, you wont have the box or printed instructions–but for many fans who won’t be able to get their hands on the set mint-in-box anyway, we are happy there’s a way for everyone to enjoy building it.

Good luck and May The Force Be With You!

This custom modular building is bananas!

Modular buildings, whether they’re sets or custom creations, are very popular in the LEGO fan community. They can be admired as standalone creations or as parts of larger town layouts, but there is something in every modular for every LEGO fan. Kofi says this is his first modular, but he does not seem to have struggled at all.

The first key feature to note is that while the two adjacent houses are quite dissimilar, they feel like they fit together perfectly. A modular building is not a true modular building without clever repeated part use for architectural detail. Kofi uses clips and wedge plates for these purposes, but the real star of the show is the houses’ “accessories”, namely the drains, built using everything from medium dark flesh bread pieces to different sorts of lightsaber hilts. Look closely and you may even spot a banana.