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

A bedroom fit for a toy

LEGO fans come in all shapes and sizes and it seems that this particular bedroom may belong to a taller than average LEGO fan. Yvonne Doyle has built a bedroom with a good collection of toys on show, but this is far too tidy to be the room of a child. The choice of a larger scale is interesting, as the toys are mainly minifigure accessories or “pets” such as teddy bears and baby dragons. The slightly open sash window looks great and I love the plugged-in lamp on the table. In fact, everything in the room is made of LEGO, including obscure vintage parts from the Duplo, Belville and Scala lines.

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Light up your desk with LEGO

Finding the right desk lamp can be tricky, but fans of LEGO will love this desk lamp created by Victor. At first look, this may appear to be a functional desk lamp, but actually it’s a cleverly designed lamp made from LEGO bricks. The lampshade is made with the shoulder armour from the Baze Malbus constraction figure, and was actually Victor’s starting point when building the lamp. Details like the little on/off button on the base and the 3mm rigid hose posing as an electrical power cable mean that this lamp is appears to be real.

Your favourite band is now playing at Hardy Nilsson Arena

You will not find Hardy Nilsson Arena in real life as this building comes directly from the creative mind of Nybohov Creation Ltd. Hardy Nilsson is a retired Swedish ice hockey player and coach, and this fantastic microscale arena has been named after him. The shaping of the building is both unusual and eye-catching. Both the curvaceous walls and wavy corners of the roof are beautifully designed. The colour scheme gives a 70s retro feel that I love. How easy would this arena be to spot in a busy city?

As with all microscale scenes, the ingenuity of parts use is often found in the small details. The builder demonstrates a lovely array of microscale flora in the landscape with at least four different types of tree. The billboard lights made from telephone handsets look perfect, while the microscale traffic in the streets surrounding the arena really set the scene.

It’s a dog’s life with Droopy

Today we have not one, but two versions of the cartoon character Droopy created by American animator Frederick Bean “Tex” Avery. Droopy was created in 1943 during the Golden Age of American Animation, and was known for being a rather lethargic, slow character with a monotone voice and deadpan humour. The first LEGO version of this character is by Jimmy Fortel. With those hanging jowls, drooping eyelids, and characteristic paunch, there’s no doubt about the name of this dog.

74louloute has not just stopped at Droopy, but included LEGO versions of the Wolf and the Red Hot Riding Hood. This second build is a smaller-scale version of Droopy, with good use of the droopy eye 2×2 tile and some nice shaping around the muzzle. I had to smile at Wolf’s classic ‘eye on stalks’ pose when he spots Red Hot Riding Hood — those red helmets are certainly protecting her assets!

Space pod arriving at Martian Outpost, please mind the gap

I’m fairly sure this LEGO “Martian Outpost” is a human outpost on Mars rather than a place for Martians to hang out. The dark orange-red environment in this diorama by KW Vauban certainly looks like Mars to me, and there’s a lot of action despite the microscale size of the build. Centrally, a railed transport vehicle approaches a shelter — suggesting we are seeing only a small portion of a much larger habitat. My favourite part? The sliding doors closing behind the ‘space saucer’ that has just left an underground area. I want to peek inside those doors to see what’s down below!

There’s a whole story in this microscale diorama, but the builder hasn’t given us any extra information — just this smart little snapshot in time.

Distracting children make #BBCdad a viral star

The recent live BBC interview with Robert Kelly, a political science expert in Korean politics, took an unexpected turn when his study door burst open to allow a front row view of his 4-year old daughter dancing into the room, followed swiftly by 8-month old James scooting through in his baby walker. The clip went viral as the professor tried not to crawl under his desk with the adorable clash of roles; dad vs expert interviewee. We all know that a clip or photograph is not truly viral until someone has captured the moment in LEGO. Well thanks to Sergio, Robert Kelly can now make his LEGO claim to fame.

Let’s party like it’s 1984! [Instructions]

Those were the days, back when you had rewind the tape to play your favourite song again or when ‘shuffle’ meant spending hours making up a mix-tape. Hudson Rippetoe, otherwise known as Brick Classics, has found a way to capture some of those sweet musical memories with his LEGO version of the cassette tape. He has kindly provided us with these instructions so you can make your own LEGO cassette tape. Giving a mix-tape was a way to impress the ladies (or guys for that matter) and I bet presenting someone with a LEGO mix-tape will have an even better effect.

Remember, you don’t need a pencil to fix this LEGO cassette tape if it gets stuck in the player.

Bringing music to the masses

The beginning of the 20th century brought music to the masses with the invention of mass market gramophone records, allowing for the reproduction of sound and radio broadcasts. Jazz and Blues were the first new-age genres to form entire cultures around them. Sven Franic‘s entry to the 2017 Brickstory contest in the History of Music category captures the essence of that category’s description. I particularly love the ingeniously designed treble clef and musical notes, but the scene is completed by the gramophone and a singer—presumably singing some bitter-sweet blues into the mic.

Then nightly sings the staring owl

Owls are mainly nocturnal, solitary birds of prey who are known for their silent flight. Most birds of prey have eyes on the sides of their heads, but the owl’s forward-facing eyes facilitate their low-light hunting. Shawn Snyder has created a LEGO owl with plenty of attitude and a somewhat impudent glare. This is an owl who knows his position, with those piercing, hooded eyes, sharp talons on show, and wings spread wide in an act of defiance.

That’s a lot of character to be displayed by a brick-built owl – I feel watched.

When steam powered a revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700s and saw a shift from manufacturing within people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines, to powered machinery, factories, and mass production. Factories and steam locomotives were signature developments of the times. Toltomeja has used both of these icons of the industrial revolution in his LEGO diorama. There’s a large factory with tall chimneys emitting clouds of smoke (the part used is the cloth spider’s net) and a steam train loaded with coal. The bridge and the factory are very nicely put together, but it was the brick-built lettering and the little horses and carts that really caught my eye.

The steam locomotive is cleverly built at this scale, using a telephone handset as the coupling rod connecting the drive wheels, while a few treasure chests become the open wagons containing coal.

Make mine a cup of mo’joe

It’s early, the alarm has just gone off, and you wearily drag yourself out of bed, not exactly rising and shining. I know that I enjoy that first cup of coffee to clear the cobwebs and it seems that Brother Steven enjoys a cup too. What a great combination for fans of LEGO and coffee — a cup of coffee made with bricks. I love the pouring action from the milk carton and the splash into the coffee.

On second thoughts, there is a certain drawback to LEGO coffee… it doesn’t quite hit the mark on taste.

LEGO BrickHeadz 41593 Captain Jack Sparrow and 41594 Captain Armando Salazar [Exclusive Review]

Last month we revealed the two new BrickHeadz characters from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Captain Jack Sparrow (41593), and a new character, Captain Armando Salazar (41594). TBB has already exclusively reviewed Salazar’s enormous ghost ship 71042 Silent Mary and now we’re taking a look at the movie tie-in BrickHeadz characters.

Like all the BrickHeadz, Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Armando Salazar will retail for $9.99 USD/£9.99/9,99 €. They have 109 and 118 pieces respectively, and will be available March 17 for LEGO VIP-card holders both in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online.

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