About Elspeth De Montes

Elspeth De Montes is Scottish but lives in North Yorkshire with her partner and twins. She is a LEGO Builder not a collector of sets, which in theory should make the hobby less expensive (ahem!) but monochrome collections can be pricey. You can see more of Elspeth's work on her blog or website and Flickr. Elspeth is also a bike lover; mountain bike, fixie, road bike, tri-bike (n+1=number of bikes I need).

Posts by Elspeth De Montes

Learn from a LEGO master at the Royal Academy

There’s a whole medieval world created by LEGO fan builders as part of a role-playing game called Nine Kingdoms hosted by German-language site RogueBricks. Even RPGs need educational institutions and Markus Rollbühler has built the Royal Academy, a place for students to come and learn from the masters. There are lots of interesting LEGO techniques that we can also study at the Royal Academy with some fine LEGO construction and parts use on show. My eye was immediately drawn to the tree, with its foliage uniquely constructed using plumes of green feathers. I also love the bird’s nest sitting on the roof of the Academy, my ornithological knowledge is rather limited but it looks like a stork has made a home up there.

There are almost too many gems to mention, as the Academy itself has some lovely architectural details such as the beautifully shaped dormer windows. Can you spot the brown minifigure hockey sticks in the scene? There’s a lot to love in this creation and if you like this build, you will certainly enjoy spending a quiet summer evening at Markus’ windmill.

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2018 LEGO set images for LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes, Creator, City and Technic revealed [News]

Official images of a selection of early 2018 LEGO sets have been released, including LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes, Creator, City and Technic sets due for release. The details include the set number and part count or pricing in some cases, but not all the information has been released as yet. There are a couple of interesting sets in particular with 31081 Modular Skate House within the Creator theme, and 42074 Racing Yacht from the Technic line-up.

Images for three sets from LEGO DC Comics Superheroes have been released.

76097 Lex Luthor Mech Takedown, $39.99

76098 Speed Force Freeze Pursuit, $29.99

76096 Superman & Krypto Team-Up, $19.99

The LEGO Creator Line up includes a fun looking mini-modular build 31081 Modular Skate House and a selection of vehicles including a stunt plane, racing car and a 4×4 outback explorer jeep-like vehicle.

31081 Modular Skate House, 422 pcs

See more of the first wave of 2018 LEGO sets

No time to waste – the garbage is piling up [Instructions]

Nobody likes to talk about waste/trash/rubbish/garbage — but it’s part of our lives as consumers. Call it what you like, but somebody still has to collect and transport it. de-marco has stepped up to help out our minifigures, building this adorable little waste container transporter. The garbage transporter will happily pick up any used and discarded LEGO bricks for disposal. de-marco has kindly provided instructions to help you build your own version. Just make sure you have the necessary training to work those hydraulics…

Here is an instructional video. Soon your LEGO town will no longer have rubbish piling up in the streets…

The Cadillac of big trucks rolls into town

Nothing says man machine like a huge truck, and the thoroughbred stallions of the truckin’ world come from US brand Peterbilt. Affectionately known as a “Pete”, these long haul trucks are often referred to as “The Cadillacs of big trucks”. Jarek Wally has built a LEGO model of a Peterbilt truck that is anything but pocket-sized — 61cm long, 15cm wide, 21cm high, and weighing in at nearly 3kg. The model contains 1 XL motor, 1 servo motor, 5 sets of lights, a few engraved bricks, and a whole lot of chrome. I’m going to stick my chick neck out here and say this is a 379. I’m sure some of you guys out there had posters of trucks like this hanging up in your teenage bedroom.

Sometimes still images alone aren’t enough to showcase the wondrous stature and manly muscle behind these trucks. Just as well Jarek has made a short movie to show off all the shiny details. Sit back and enjoy the ride…

Incredible revenge is best served explosively

They say revenge is best served cold, but it seems like Syndrome is serving up his hot and explosive. monstrophonic has built a LEGO scene from The Incredibles featuring Syndrome and his Omnidroid attacking the superhero family. Our heroes are beating a hasty retreat as some impressive firepower rains down from above. The explosion has been nicely crafted, but it’s the fantastic architecture as the backdrop that makes this street scene truly awesome.

The front on image doesn’t quite show the clever angles the builder has used to create a forced perspective effect. The view from above reveals the acutely angled buildings…

A classic speeder speeds in space

Step aside Rey, there’s a speedier Classic Space speeder in town. Sad Brick has taken the idea of the Star Wars speeder bike and turned it into this grey, greeble-tastic bike complete with bumble-bee stripes on the side. While the bike is cool-looking and fun, the landscape is really something else. This is definitely Martian territory, with some weird looking, colourful flora…and perhaps fauna hiding amongst it. I love the tall rock formations with the eerie red shapes appearing from behind.

The dust displaced in the wake of the speeder is just the icing on the cake for me.

Nature lovers will Lovell this modernist home

Lovell Health House is an International Style modernist residence designed and built by Richard Neutra between 1927 and 1929. It was built for the active, health-conscious Lovell family in the hills of Los Angeles. The house’s construction is rather interesting. In addition to the steel structure integrated with tension cables, the house is actually one of the first to use gunite. Mattias Søndergaard has captured Lovell House in LEGO form with its clean lines and overlapping planes perfectly suited to LEGO construction.

Whilst the house sits nestled into the cliff surrounded by nature, Mattias has used some artistic license to give the natural flora of Los Angeles a ‘New Hampshire’ colour spectrum.

A singularly great ship called Prometheus

Ashes of the Singularity is a real-time strategy game set in a future where the technological Singularity and advanced “Post Humans” wage war against each other for the resource Turinium. Gilcelio Chagas has built a LEGO version of the Prometheus, a Post-Human Coalition capital ship that features in the game. The shaping of this ship is fantastic with the colour blocks of red providing a perfect highlight. There’s a lot of weaponry on show with imposing turrets and guns visible throughout the ship.

I love the angled slope of the hull and the red highlights, but my favourite detail is definitely the use of the wheel rims and light blue interior along the outer edges of the ship. Are these for power? weapons? steering? No idea, but I love them.

What breathes fire and drinks tea?

After a hard day breathing fire and scaring unsuspecting villagers, even dragons need a little down time. Anthony Wilson has built one of the most distinguished, chilled-out dragons I have ever seen. In his relaxed position, this dragon is able to effortlessly enjoy a cup of tea without disturbing those fine Magenta wings and the floral decorations in his ‘hair’. I particularly love the use of the lime Gresh helmet for the dragon’s flared nostrils and Corroder Claws to form the head shape.

A closer look at the relaxed dragon shows that he likes nothing better than a Jammie Dodger to dip into his cup of tea. Milk and no sugar please, he’s looking after that fine figure. I love the cute little teapot suspended from the tip of the dragon’s tail, while the cup and saucer really look the part.

Have I seen this spaceship somewhere before?

YT-1740 is designed to be a fast and agile light freighter, only half the size of the Millennium Falcon and shaped like an arrowhead. Builder ZiO Chao has supplied her with three powerful engines and two pairs of long-range antenna on its sides. The builder points out that you may recognise features from other ships in the Star Wars franchise: The Defender-class light corvette from the Old Republic era, the Ghost from Rebels, and also Kylo Ren’s command shuttle from Episode VII. The red string pattern is a nod to Homeworld, and the shape of engine comes from the battleship of Gundam.

The detailed minifigure-scale interior has everything you could wish for — a medical room in case of inter-galactic mishaps, a meeting table for planning those all important missions and a crew resting area for a cold beer and a laugh about the latest crisis. The builder has put a handy label on the locations so that we don’t get lost finding the way to the bathroom at night.

A palace fit for a minifigure queen

Royal palaces are normally buildings with amazing architecture, plush interiors and rich decoration, and this LEGO palace is no different. Built by Johan Keuterink, this huge modular palace has a few similarities to Buckingham Palace, not just in its Neoclassical architecture style, but also the two Royal Guards that the Queen has lent to protect the entrance! Although the Baroque details will not be to everyone’s taste, the aim is to impress visiting heads of state, and Johan’s palace should certainly achieve such an aim. I love intricate exterior street lights and the front door with some suitably impressive gold handles.

Johan has taken the time to ensure that his palace has a lavishly decorated interior — Donatella Versace would feel at home in this house! The throne room is an example of the extensive details inside the palace with vast chandelier, patterned floor, and more gold than Fort Knox.

The escape of a colourful monster

The Masterpiece Gallery in LEGO House has creations from seventeen different fan builders from all over the world. French builder Samuel Pister has specially designed this fantastical monster for the display. Samuel explains that the build is the story of a colourful monster who is confined in the display case and wants to escape. The only language the monster speaks is modelling colours to express his emotions, and he is trying to call out to visitors to help him. The monster looks at the outside world with the face of the lime goblin, and he tries to push up the display with the orange tree. He is asking for love and touching the window with an aqua hand.

You might think that there is no way this monster can escape but by leaving a mark in the mind of the visitors, engraving colours and leaving questions, he will escape with them when they exit the house.