Here at the Brothers Brick, we love a good spaceship (almost as much as Benny). Builder Steve Marsh, aka Rubblemaker, has created many of our favorite LEGO spaceships over the years, especially his distinctive starfighters based on Classic Space themes. Steve was nice enough to sit down with us to reflect on his shipbuilding journey.
TBB: Thanks for chatting with us today. Ever since your debut as a MOC creator, you’ve been one off our favorite builders, especially for your distinctive takes on Classic Space themes. Did you grow up with Classic Space? And were you always partial to Space sets?
Steve: You’d think so wouldn’t you? With 43 builds (at last count) in Classic Space themes you’d think I was obsessed with it as a kid. But no. In fact LEGO wasn’t even a big part of my childhood, but sci-fi and space were and have been ever since.
My interest in Classic Space started because a lot of people were making beautiful nostalgia upgrades of the Neo Classic Space triangle ships but few were doing something different with the color palette. I’m not great at making triangles so I got to work with all my curved pieces and smooth SNOT techniques… which originally drew a bit of wrath from purists who told me in no uncertain terms: ‘Classic Space is all about greebles, sharp angles and straight lines!’
TBB: Do you have a favorite Space sub-theme? And if so, why that one?
Steve: Definitely Blacktron. What’s not to love about building with black? The color alone makes it easy to create a really mean looking ship. Also with Blacktron you have the original variation of black, yellow and trans yellow and the later combination of black, white and trans neon green.
I’m halfway through my second fleet of Blacktron 2 ships and I can’t get enough of that color palette.
TBB: You began sharing MOCs on flickr in 2018, but from the start, your builds were at a pretty elite level. What inspired you to start sharing your work? Had you been sharing your works before that?
Steve: Thanks, that’s really nice of you to say. Personally, I don’t think I hit my stride until 2021 when I made a couple of really massive ships and had to learn how to do things properly (or they would have just fallen apart).
Before LEGO my hobby was astronomy. I would stay up all night taking hundreds of pictures of Jupiter so I could make a movie of it rotating to show the astronomy community (takes about 10 hours for a full rotation btw). I always feel like, if you’re really passionate about a hobby it’s a waste to spend hours working on something that nobody ever sees. The quality of your work, however, is in the eye of the beholder and you should always be prepared to learn and improve, which again, is best done by sharing your work and learning from the community you’re in.
TBB: Are you a member of any LUGs or other building communities, IRL or online?
Steve: I am but we’re not a conventional LUG who do collabs or anything like that. We’re a group of mates who met through this hobby and support each other. We chat about anything (but mostly LEGO) and they’re some of the most talented builders I know. So, big wave to bruxxy_mocs, flyinspace.mocs, Ron McPhatty and RemcoRohaan.
TBB: A lot of your earlier builds were inspired by Star Wars (we’re still in awe of your Star Destroyer glow-up – some of the most impressive greebling ever put to brick!). It’s been a couple years since your last Star Wars build. Was that intentional, and do you see yourself returning to that sandbox again?
Thanks, but all credit for the Star Destroyer must go to Raskolnikov who created that monster. It’s an engineering masterpiece that I’m still in awe of myself! I just swapped some external plates for tiles :D.
My own foray into Star Wars was bittersweet. I adore the theme but it’s a hard one to make mocs for and well catered for by the moc community. I was finding that as I got to the end of a ship I was working on, someone else would release the same ship, usually better than mine, and there’s no fun in that situation. But also, my mind was boiling away with a billion ideas for spaceships of my own design. The big part of Star Wars I took with me though, is how well it does small, single pilot starfighters. That element drove me in the direction I’ve gone creating that same scale of ship. I’m sure at some point I’ll do another Star Wars moc, if it feels right.
TBB: When going back to your first MOC shared on Flickr, you reference Raymond Swanland‘s art as an inspiration. Small world, but I went to high-school with Raymond and once hired him for some book covers. Personal anecdote aside, I find it cool that you drew on illustrations for your build rather than just the standard sources. Do you still reference illustrators and concept artists for your builds?
Steve: No way?! That’s awesome! His Machines of Dominion artwork hit me like a truck when I saw it, I just had to create something based on it.
These days I get ideas from loads of different sources. From illustrations of futuristic urban environments to household objects to videogames. I created a huge First Person Shooter diorama inspired by DOOM last year. The animal kingdom has also been a big inspiration and I’ve created mocs based on everything from Manta Rays and squid to flies and spiders.
TBB: Do you have a favorite recent set, or is there one you have your eye on? Or maybe you prefer to stick to MOCs. What is your relationship with official sets these days?
Steve: I have an odd relationship with sets now. The last set I built didn’t really do much for me. I think the buzz I get from creating my own thing surpasses what I feel from building a set to such an extent that it’s sort of stomped on my love of set building. So yes, I stick to mocs now almost exclusively.
TBB: Aside from spaceships, you’ve shared a few music-themed builds. Do you make music in addition to MOCs?
Steve: I wrote songs and played guitar and bass in several different bands for about 20 years. These days I mostly play drums, having bought an electronic kit a while back to teach myself how to do it. In fact my interest in drums inspired me to create a 4 armed robot drummer earlier this year which grew into an entire robot rock band!
TBB: Let’s talk about your take on Classic Space themed ships. Even with familiar colorways and disparate profiles, your ships have an unmistakable aesthetic. The SNOT wings, clean lines, and often stubby profiles. Do you have a term for your style of snub fighter, or is it even fair to call it one style?
Steve: I’ve never really considered my style as having any sort of title to be honest. In fact I didn’t even think I had a style for a long time. It’s taken a while for me to accept that I’ll never be one of those builders adept at creating complex angles and architectural structures and I’ve since started to embrace the fact that I do things with my mocs which have unique merits in their own way.
I may not be the best at creating and combining intricately shaped submodels, but maybe I have the imagination to create things that other people might not have seen before. That’s the pep talk I give myself anyway.
TBB: Are there any builders who you’d like to call out who helped you in your journey? Either builders who inspired you, or friends you can always count on for honest feedback?
Steve: Of the guys I mentioned above in my LUG who undoubtedly fit that category, Bruxxy_mocs and I collaborated on a build for Brickvault once and that guy is an absolute beast! He has an encyclopedia of LEGO pieces in his brain and can tell you in an instant the best way to make something work in a moc.
Also Flyinspace (a Star Wars builder) can make ships from LEGO with a higher degree of accuracy than anyone on the planet! It’s hard not to be inspired by people like them.
Going back further I took a real interest in the SNOT (studs not on top) style of building early on and I had many chats with the builder Jerac who was really helpful and taught me the basics of building like this. I’ve built several of his mocs and learnt so much from them. My Raymond Swanland inspired moc was created as a hangar for one of Jerac’s Tie Fighters!
TBB: You’re a regular participant in NoVVember. How did you learn about the event? What does the event mean to you?
Steve: I learnt about NoVVember from our great lord and master… the social media algorithm. A post popped up which was all about the Gradius games and the late Nate Nielson who began the tradition and as I was already knee deep in spaceship mocs by that stage it was a pretty natural tradition to take part in and the memory of a great builder to honor by doing so. I love seeing the quality of the Vic Vipers every year from the community. It’s so great to see what all these incredibly talented builders can do.
TBB: Is there a MOC you’re most proud of? And why that one?
There are 3. The first is my Robot Recharge Room. It’s not a very technically proficient build but it’s so quirky and packed with detail and ended up looking much better than I imagined it would. I’m also really happy with the photos I took of it which probably have the best lighting I ever achieved with one of my shoots.
More recently I created a bass playing robot called Gusoku the Low who I feel has a ton of character (despite having no face) and I’m very proud of.
For spaceships, one of my most recent one is my favourite. It’s a huge circular saw embedded in a Blacktron ship, the saw spins round and the whole thing looked exactly like the sketches I did of it. Very pleased with how it came out.
TBB: What happens to your MOCs after you post and share them? Do you keep them assembled or do you break out the brick separator right away?
Steve: I put off the brick separator part for as long as possible. Not from any desire to keep the mocs together, on the contrary, I pick pieces off them for my next build almost as soon as they’re done. But because, as I’m sure almost everyone who’s read this far will agree with me on, sorting pieces is a torturous nightmare. I started paying my sons to take my mocs apart and sort the pieces into cups. Sadly they hate it too so even a monetary incentive isn’t enough to get them to do it anymore.
TBB: In the past, you’ve shared instructions for models on Rebrickable and other sites. What are your thoughts on the health of the family builder economy right now? Do you have any advice for builders curious about trying to monetize builds?
Steve: On the one hand it’s never been healthier as more people than ever are selling instructions for their mocs. On the other hand that creates oversaturation and massive competition, so everyone’s payback from it declines. For those in it for the money it’s not a great place to be. My advice to anyone going into selling instructions is definitely to test build the moc first. There’s often a big difference between a digital build and a physical one and even though you might be convinced your digital build is sound, you don’t want a customer to be the one to find out if it’s not.
TBB: Looking back on your time as a builder, how have your interests changed and how do you stay inspired?
Steve: I’m always discovering new techniques. I recently found a great one for a large cylindrical shape which I’m using way too much in my builds right now! In the last year my interest in brick built figures and robots has really grown and I’ve put much more time into creating those. But at heart, spaceships will always be my thing and there’s a motto I sometimes use which sums it up best: ‘The spaceship factory never closes’.
TBB: Thanks so much for your time. We can’t wait to see what you build in the coming year!