Posts by Ben Dodds

Speeding to the scene of the crime

Builder Tim Goddardreturns with a LEGO speeder bike in this Space Police-inspired build.
I love speeder bikes, they’re an excellent quick build with table scraps and a fantastic way to practice just how useful those smallest LEGO pieces can be. This is seen from the very front of the bike where a Boomerang and Binocular are paired together to serve as steering vanes

Speeder Bicycle

What I particularly like is that the entire speeder bike is built around a bicycle frame. The frame serves as a great starting point to connect the wider build. The bike is made all the more striking by limiting the colours to those most familiar to Space Police fans, the recent Space Police Series 21 Collectible Minifigure is a perfect pilot for this one!

Speeder Bicycle

The great city of Sundari, Mandalore, beautifully recreated in LEGO form

Mandalore is described with domed cities littering the landscape and here, James Taylor captures the interior of one such City using LEGO perfectly in this sweeping cityscape from Star Wars. If like me, you are an ardent fan of the Clone Wars this is an instantly recognisable view of the Capital, Sundari, from the view of Mandalorians as they approach and slowly descend through the City to the Royal Palace. Take a look at just how James has captured the depth of the buildings here!

Sundari City

I love how, beyond varying techniques, James has used sizing of LEGO parts to introduce depth to the scene. In the foreground, James has used larger bricks and plates to capture the near buildings’ mix of geometric patterns that is a trademark of Mandalorian architecture. It turns into smaller plate builds for the buildings in the mid-ground, whilst still capturing the sleek lines and heavy use of 1×2 transparent plates to show the tall windows that are seen throughout the locale. Finally, serving as a backdrop to the scene, the grand design of the great doors to the Royal Palace is on full display and is put together with some nice building techniques to capture the delicate lines needed. Surrounding the doors, James has again stepped down to the smallest pieces to add crucial detail to the far cityscape again using various techniques to really set this incredible scene both in front of the doors and up to the sides.

A mighty battle to see us into Ragnarok

Simulterious captures some incredible action in his latest LEGO build depicting Ragnarok, the Norse end of days before all is built anew. Speaking of building, there’s fantastic construction on display within this scene! Simulterious has captured some naturalistic movement in the coiled sand green sea serpent, as it rears in readiness to strike the longboat and its remaining inhabitant. The curved tiles add a nice smooth line to the Serpent, with the plate with holder adding subtle detail to the spine and leading to a well executed brick-built head and crest.

Ragnarok

The longboat itself is well engineered, and I love the use of a wing piece to shape the front of the vessel. The feathers work effortlessly as layered planks on the ship’s prow, leading up to the brick-built carved head of the vessel. The shields that line the side of the ship add a nice detail too, formed from tiles. The sail, made from shell pieces, looks as if it’s catching a last great gust of wind.

Its a good time to be a Viking longboat fan!

Nature takes root in an abandoned castle

I really enjoy seeing examples of nature reclaiming abandoned spaces. Brick2 “Art”
has recreated this effortlessly in LEGO form with this scene of a tree taking root in an old castle.
There’s a lot of wonderful detail to be found in this build. The use of bars and whips in the construction of the tree adds a natural look to the trunk. Surrounding the tree, you’ll see other signs of nature looking to find purchase with some well placed mushrooms and tree roots.
Beyond this, we’re afforded suggestions of past castle life with a mix of scrolls, jars, and bottles discarded alongside weapons and the skeletons of the castle’s last inhabitants.

Growth

Let’s not forget the castle itself. Brick2 “Art” has composed this build with lots of subtle details suggesting the age of the citadel. And the arches along the sides offer the promise of more castle to explore. A final touch to this is how the light in this scene really adds to the composition, pooling the color centrally and making for quite the haunted scene!

Time for some DI-What?

I’m busy renovating my home at the moment and this LEGO build from Thomas Gion made me do a double-take as I originally thought it was a targeted advert! It’s a stunning example of an everyday object recreated in LEGO.
The caulking gun features Brick separators for the trigger and handle alongside making good use of technic tube pieces for the plunger. I’m particularly fond of the Caulk tube too and how Thomas has shown that he’s almost empty by introducing the black elements for the end of the sealant, now, time to build that next tube…

Caulk Gun

Carry on adventuring, Johnny Thunder!

There’s a great love across the LEGO community of the old Adventurers theme, and Jellyeater‘s latest build shows there’ll be no sign of that stopping. In this build, Johnny Thunder finds himself exploring caverns that were once home to the lost Toltec Empire. As he traverses down through the foliage above, his faithful companions Dr. Charles Lightning and Pippin Reed are already busy, documenting the site — from creepy crawlies to signs of past tomb raiders.

At the centre of the build, the underside of roller skate pieces is used to great effect adding detail to the altar. Towering over this, are giant statues that look suitably imposing with individual detail and all with different Hockey masks, sourced from an old Sports range suggestive of the long forgotten gods.

Johnny Thunder and the Toltecs Cavern

I’m excited to see where Jellyeater takes the Adventurers next!

Eyes right for an interesting Villa build

In this LEGO build,  Ayrlego takes us back in time with this Colonial scene of patrolling troops passing a white-washed villa. I enjoy learning from other people’s builds, and there’s some nice take-aways in the composition of this scene. We’re treated to some lush vegetation framing the building, and the palms are really well-executed, bookending the build. In addition to the palms, the undergrowth to the front and sides are great examples of adding fauna to any scene.

Campaign Planning, Port Woodhouse

There are some really nice touches to be found in the building itself too — some I’m sure to use myself in the future! I’m particularly fond of the aged white bricks used amongst the newer white pieces with other subtle details such as the white profile brick. The Micro Figure nestled into the wall, suggestive of a shrine, and the logs that serve to hold the upper level really elevate this whole scene. I think you’ll agree that Ayrlego has done his homework in constructing this one.

A mighty mech, using the smallest pieces!

You’d be mistaken for thinking we have a gargantuan LEGO build here from Cole Blaq.
Instead, we have an excellent example of what can be achieved using a selection of the smallest parts.
The feet show how versatile LEGO weapons can be and their various connection points too, used here to add a real mechanical look to the feet. I like the horn on the underside of the leg suggesting a hydraulic movement to mimic a natural crab-like crawl across the terrain!
The new 1×1 modified plate is also put to good use connecting the feet to the torso. From here, Cole has employed great knowledge of parts to complete his build adding subtle detailing with well-placed tiles in the design, along with a gas mask and the recent black minifig accessory add a nice touch to the head design of the mech. A mightily impressive smallscale build!

Red J

I wonder what that Puddy Tat is up to now?

Alego Alego has built an incredibly detailed scene in LEGO form, jumping straight from a Looney Tunes cartoon! Sylvester is mid hunt as he closes in on the bird atop the refrigerator as Tweety looks on ready to shut the door on this operation!
I love the faithfulness to the source material, alongside the action that Alego Alego has captured here with the broken egg, serving as a casualty of Sylvester’s latest escapade. The dynamite with lit fuse again adding to the action, I next see Tweety slamming that door with a ‘Wham’ followed by a ‘Boom’ as that dynamite explodes with Sylvester emerging slightly worse for wear…

Tweety Bird's ambush

Theres a lot of wonderful detail throughout this build, with the checkerboard floor and the curtain tied back just some of the call outs here, but I’m particularly drawn to the fridge.
Repurposing a small Bygglek Ikea box for the job is inspired but i’m bowled over by both the variety of parts used and level of detail going into the contents of the Fridge from the seal, made from some pneumatic tubing, to the drawers holding ‘lettuce‘ and carrots. I keep coming back to this scene, noticing something else that is just perfect for its use!

Just another shower Hutt scene...

I particularly enjoy a LEGO build that injects a certain degree of humour into itself, and this little scene from Albert Lee hits the nail on the head. The brick-built Hutt captures both the contours of the body and colour of the species. Some nice parts have been used to recreate the shower with the blue web piece from a recent Spider-Mech and the water-filled hose adding some subtle action to the build. Some nice detailing then complements this vignette.

Hot Shower Scene

Have you ever wondered how the Hutts kept so clean? Neither had I!

Holy LEGO build, Batman!

I’m a huge Batman fan, be it comics, cartoons, films or brick. In LEGO form, I’m always looking for something unique that’s perhaps not black (or very very dark grey!) and along comes DekuScrub72 with this fantastic build, lifted straight from the classic ’60s series! The vignette recreates the famous scene of the dynamic duo moving past an open window and meeting a local with a hint of the Gotham skyline beyond with Trans-Brown plates adding subtle detail as windows on the city block beyond and the Unikitty stand as clouds. And, just like the way the show was filmed, the scene is tilted 90 degrees!

Batman 1966 Vignette

Roll me a saving throw...

I was drawn to this LEGO build by the use of Chris Maddison’s colours but was then awed by the construction employed here. Chris has captured the natural movement of the worm and its dynamism perfectly as it explodes from the floor surprising our intrepid travellers. The dominant colours of sand blue and purple make the scene pop with the sand blue adding the suggestion of the cave floor without distracting whilst the positioning of the minifigs captures the energy of the encounter incredibly well.

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