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

LEGO on the fast track with a Nissan GT-R Nismo

With a £150,000 price tag, it’s clear the Nissan GT-R Nismo is not a car for driving to the supermarket and back quickly when you run out of milk. The fact that renowned LEGO car builder Firas Abu-Jaber built a LEGO version and said it was his favourite car, makes it even more apparent that this is a special vehicle. The name Nismo is just a contraction of Nissan Motorsport, and this supercar is all about speed, control, and performance on the track. Firas’ LEGO version is brilliantly accurate with some skilled building techniques used to get the shaping and the coloured components spot-on.

See more of this super-fast LEGO supercar

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A rare sighting is the big cat’s pyjamas for this colonel

The Colonel has found a real vantage point within this overgrown Meso-American watchtower as he manages to catch sight of the elusive jaguar. This build by Ayrlego uses a nice mix of LEGO flora to create a little jungle scene — even the sprue from the three-leaf plant is utilised and becomes a vine winding its way through the watchtower’s window. The textures and colours used for the overgrown watchtower are perfect allowing the scene to be both aesthetically pleasing and true to nature.

The jaguar is a rare animal but thanks to the new City Jungle theme, the population of jaguars has increased. You can read more about this new animal in our review of 6061 City Jungle Exploration Site.

Rocketing up to a new home in the sky

There’s definitely a creepy feel to this microscale LEGO scene — it seems that a little extraterrestrial tourism has led to a sudden drop in the population, as if something untoward has left a rather full looking graveyard on the ground and a large ‘not of this world’ city in the sky. Kale Frost has left the exact history of events to our own imaginations, but the title “After the Martians Came” suggests a post-apocalyptic exodus from Earth. I love the use of the stud shooter trigger for the headstones in the graveyard, and Rocket Boy’s rocket outfit gives a nice retro 1960s film feel to the scene.

A closer look at the ground shows that a surprising number of parts have been utilised to make this microscale scene. The street lamp is cute and the damage to the streets is another sign that all is not well in town.

’32 Ford Deuce served in true vintage style

This classic hot rod, built by Andrea Lattanzio, doesn’t have a bright red or racing green paint job, but a rather more drab shade of tan. Officially known as Cordoba Tan, it was a colour used almost exclusively by Ford, and the actual vehicle depicted is a 1932 Ford Deuce 3 Window Coupé. The hot rod is awesome, but for me the background workshop with its vintage details draws the whole image together. I love the vintage Coca-Cola bottle vending machine, the palate with Esso oil spilling onto the floor, and the retro radio on the window sill.

This particular Deuce was built in California and shipped to Japan where its new owner lives. Takehito Yamato contacted the Walden Speed Shop in Pomona, California, to order a traditional hot rod. Andrea has also captured this hot rod’s details in LEGO as you can see from the broken-down view showing the red Chevy ZZ383 with aluminium heads in all its glory.

Tips for Kids – Transformers: Cool Projects for Your LEGO Bricks [Review]

Joachim Klang and Alex Jones are a duo of builders well known within the LEGO community, and their creations have appeared on The Brothers Brick numerous times. Now they’ve got a new book to share some of their techniques: Tips for Kids – Transformers: Cool Projects for Your LEGO® Bricks. Over the past few months, we’ve already highlighted a few of the builds that the pair created for the book, but now we are able to review the book itself.

Title: Tips for Kids: Transformers: Cool Projects for your Lego Bricks
Publisher: Heel Verlag Gmbh (July 10, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3958434959
ISBN-13: 978-3958434950
RRP: $19.95

Continue reading →

Keep on truckin’ with a Peterbuilt 352 110 Cabover

If you find that the boot of your car (or trunk, for those across the pond) is not quite big enough to transport your LEGO collection, then this heavy hauler should do the trick. André Pinto has built a LEGO Peterbuilt 352 110 Cabover in its original paint scheme of blue and white with just enough glinting chrome to catch the eye of those truck admirers out there.

André’s model might not use much fuel, but the cab can tip just like the real vehicle to show off the chassis and lots more chrome, especially those exhaust pipes.

Do you hear the people sing? Les Misérables in LEGO

The barricade scene in Les Misérables — the musical based on the novel by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo — is a powerful mix of song and drama. Loosely based on the 1832 Paris uprising, idealistic revolutionary students set up a street barricade and fight government troops to the bitter end. W. Navarre has managed to capture this scene fantastically with the large central barricade and a detailed backdrop showing narrow Parisian streets. The barricade looks the part as a jumbled collection of brown coloured LEGO wheels, ladders, furniture, windows and bricks.

There’s a lot of detail to be found relating to the musical version of Les Misérables, I particularly love details like the tear in the French flag, the lantern and the fatally wounded Gavroche.

You can see more images of this build and the other Les Misérables-themed LEGO creations in his album on Flickr.

Ponies are cool, but LEGO ponies are about 20% cooler

If the rain clouds are still hovering overhead then it’s time to call the cavalry, otherwise known as Rainbow Dash. In the world of hit TV show My Little Pony this pugnacious pegasus maintains the weather and clears the skies of Ponyville. British builder Andrew Harvey used around 3700 LEGO bricks to capture Dash’s colourful likeness, even managing to give her a sense of movement in the process. This sculpture is cleverly made using a “studs out” technique for the head, body and wings – but those expressive eyes are my favourite part of this model.

There’s also a view of Rainbow Dash’s swishing tail as she makes her way back to Ponyville to kick away a few rain clouds. And if you’re in the vicinity of Manchester, England this weekend you can even marvel at this model in person at the Bricktastic LEGO show.

New Elementary LEGO typography competition results [News]

Back in May we told you about the LEGO typography competition taking place over on the LEGO-elements-and-colours-obsessed blog New Elementary. Over 100 creative and ingenious font designs were submitted, making the judges’ job really tough. The final three winners can be seen below, but it’s worth seeing the lot!

Eduardo Moreira (Brazil):

Li Li (USA)

Jeffrey Kong, Artisan Bricks (Singapore):

You can read more about the entries and the judging process over on New Elementary.

Machu Picchu in microscale

In 1983, UNESCO designated the legendary Peruvian citadel of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site. Located in the Sacred Valley, 50 miles northwest of Cusco, the city was constructed around 1450 at the height of the Inca empire and was abandoned just over 100 years later. At time of writing, the LEGO Architecture theme has yet to feature a South American structure or building. This omission prompted Diego Baca to build his own microscale version of this historic site.

Diego has captured all the key features including Huayna Picchu as the mountainous backdrop, the blue of the Urubamba River glistening on the left, and la piedra sagrada [tr. the sacred rock] represented by a single 1×1 round plate sitting on high. Also note the wandering llama in the middle of the site!

Diego has kindly created PDF instructions for this model in the same style as the official LEGO Architecture instructions, with a few pages of photographs, historical information, and step-by-step building plans.

Saturn 0.5 is go for launch

If the latest LEGO Ideas set NASA Saturn V is a little too big for your shelf or for your wallet, we have the perfect solution. Jussi Koskinen has built a compact Saturn V that can still separate into the launch and mission stages, just like the official set. Jussi has taken care to ensure each stage has the correct number of engines and maintains the same separation function as the larger model. I am impressed with the shaping achieved, since making a cylindrical LEGO rocket can be a challenge.

As you can see, despite being small in size, Jussi’s mini Saturn V still looks the part when launched.

Cruising the streets with cool treats

The summer sun is shining, there’s a hazy wave of heat beating off the pavement, and you’re feeling hotter than a jalapeño’s armpit. When an ice cream van comes into view, it’s like spotting an oasis in the desert. Firas Abu-Jaber has converted his International Harvester Metro into a vintage ice cream truck, all ready to serve up delicious cool treats. The classic red and white candy stripe body paint is sure to catch the attention along with some tinkling music.

This 1:17 scale model is not just about the candy stripe exterior. The interior is easily accessed via the removable roof and rear panel and contains freezers full of everything required to satisfy your ice cream cravings.