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 31065 Park Street Townhouse 3-in-1 [Review]

LEGO’s latest set in the Creator theme is 31065 Park Street Townhouse, which was recently released in both the UK and the US. This set contains 566 pieces and retails at UK: £44.99 / US: $49.99 / EU: €49.99. The main build is the townhouse, but there are alternative instructions for a city café and a suburban home. The set comes with 2 minifigures, a moped, and the parts to build a little blue bird and a white dog. This type of Creator set is often called a “mini modular” and interestingly one of the images at the back of the first instruction booklet shows this set linked with 31050 Corner Deli to form a mini street scene. Other examples of so-called mini modulars include 31026 Bike Shop & Café or 31036 Toy and Grocery Shop, both of which are now retired.

Read the full review of 31065 Park Street Townhouse

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Technically, this LEGO Godzilla is in a thousand pieces

Godzilla is an iconic beast who first appeared in Ishirō Honda‘s 1954 film Godzilla and has remained a feature of Japanese pop culture ever since. There have been many builders who have created a LEGO Godzilla, but this version by 62778grenouille really caught my attention. Firstly, it’s huge. And secondly, it has been built in the most extraordinary manner, using Technic parts that seem to flow into the shape of Godzilla.

See more photos of this massive LEGO monster

Is it time to create 1000 LEGO origami cranes?

Which one is plastic and which one is paper? Takamichi irie has made a lovely little LEGO crane in the same style as the origami version. Traditionally, it was believed that if you folded 1000 origami cranes, your wish would come true – according to the 1797 book Sen Bazuru Orikake, which translates to “how to fold 1000 paper cranes” and contains instructions for how to make these special objects.

Takamichi’s LEGO version closely resembles the paper one next to it, and is a great way to present this seemingly simple build. A closer look at where the wings and neck join the main body suggests that this was not as simple as it first appears, and I imagine creating 1000 LEGO cranes would be a similar undertaking to folding 1000 paper cranes.

The folded crane has also become a symbol of hope and healing during tough times and therefore is often known as the “peace crane”. The touching story of Sadakos legacy is worth a read if you have a few spare minutes.

A waterfall of colours hides a secret

We have been left to form our own conclusions about the meaning of this latest colourful creation by Delayice. The only potential clue given is the title, Maze of Entrance, which simply adds to the intrigue rather than offering any explanation. The medium azure waterfall was the first part of the build to capture my attention and it contrasts perfectly with the dark orange inverted slope. The texture of this inverted slope gives a pixellated feel to the build and my overall impression is that this door is part of a colourful quest, almost like a video game.

Who knows what lies beyond the doorway, but it seems that there’s a few intelligence tests on the wall to overcome before it will open.

LEGO Flowers built using bananas, Bart Simpson’s head and a croak of green frogs

At first look, these flowers by Theo Guilia look rather nice. They are made from LEGO but nothing too strange or odd about their appearance from afar. The reality is that they are both made up of parts that would not be a first choice for creating a flower in the hands of most builders. The sunflower petals are bananas, the central portion of the sunflower is an afro hairpiece and the leaves are a mix of elf hats and green frogs. It sounds more like a recipe for witch’s brew than the parts to build a LEGO sunflower!

The second flower is a pretty blue cornflower. It uses Bart Simpson’s head as the central portion of the flower with the old-style plastic capes as petals. Those elf hats make another appearance as leaves to complete the flower. How strangely effective.

LEGO certainly brings out the creativity in people. I’ll never look at an elf hat the same way again…

Handy LEGO Harry Potter Christmas tree ornaments

It’s Christmas time and preparations are well under way in the LEGO building world. Markus Rollbühler‘s collection of Christmas ornaments for his family’s Christmas tree are complete and this year’s theme is Harry Potter. Thankfully Markus has stuck with some of the lighter moments from each of the seven Harry Potter boks, a challenge especially given darker nature of the later books. Microbuilds are often a real building test requiring ingenuity and a real knowledge of all the LEGO parts – Markus has both. Blades from minifigure weapons become wings, minifigure hands become quidditch players in flight and the trigger for a stud shooter becomes Buckbeak’s head!

Can you work out the scene depicted in each ornament?

Bebop a lula this spaceship is in perfect harmony

You may not be familiar with the 1998 animated television series Cowboy Bebop but that will not stop you admiring this spaceship built by Haeum Daddy. Cowboy Bebop was set in the year 2071, and follows the lives of a crew of bounty hunting cowboys travelling on their spaceship Bebop. This LEGO version of protagonist Spike Spiegel’s racing craft the Swordfish II is like an Ultimate Collector Series edition with all the greebled details and a stand. The smooth aerodynamic lines of the wings and the front of the ship are maintained with the use of curved slops and wedges …this ship is fast and swooshable.

The power all comes from the incredibly detailed engine and exhaust portion of the ship; definitely worth a closer look. So many great dark grey LEGO parts have been packed into this area that the bulbous shape of the animated ship is emulated despite being formed from lots of smaller pieces.

Exclusive LEGO Star Wars Rogue One preview, thanks to a bed sheet and a broken lamp

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story releases later this week, but Ian MacDonald has built a special preview shot in LEGO with help from a bed sheet and some extreme forced perspective in his basement. Rogue One takes place just before 1977’s A New Hope, when the Death Star was being built. Ian’s scene depicts Jyn Erso walking out of the hanger on Yavin IV, where the Rebellion is based. His scene matches a shot seen 44 seconds into the second official trailer, and 2000 bricks went into just making the huge hanger, let alone our view into the distance.

I just had to quote Ian’s description of putting this scene together, as I’m sure many builders will recognise their own experiences in these words: So many things had to go just right to make this image. There’s 3 layers of background, a bed sheet for a sky, and a couple lamps, one of which is broken. All shot in my basement.

As you can see, the end result is fantastic, but I really enjoy seeing ‘behind the scenes’ photographs that show the work and thought that goes into this kind of cinematic LEGO shot. The forced perspective of the layers of background gives the impression of differing size and scale with huge mountains at a distance, a tall pyramid-like structure and then the expansive hanger itself. A lot of effort for one shot but the finished shot is awesome.

The Last Airbender’s Southern Air Temple

The Southern Air Temple was a location in the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and the childhood home of the main protaganist in the series, Aang. Micah Beideman has built a LEGO version of the Southern Air Temple, capturing the impressive collection of blue roofed buildings and the tall tower dominating the centre of the white temple. The lower buildings have been built at a nice depth and varying heights to give the model a real ‘temple in the sky’ feel with their steep winding paths. I also like the use of the transparent 1×2 bricks, built up to form the clouds that encircle the temple.

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Do you have a reservation?

This hotel lobby, built as a 16×16 stud vignette by Sven Franic, is all ready for guests. You will be able to check in on arrival and have your suitcase taken up to your room by the smartly dressed porter pulling the luggage rack. There is everything a hotel lobby requires: tasteful wallpaper, a local map, comfy leather couch and a reception desk complete with bell to gain attention. I particularly like the wooden display behind the reception desk with pigeon holes for guests’ room keys or messages.

If you fancy trying out some of these builds as inspiration for your own creations, Sven has even supplied an exploded view:

26 Dorset Street, a beautiful building on the worst street in London

Between 26 and 27 Dorset Street in Spittalfields, London, was a passageway that led to the home of Mary Jane Kelly at 13 Miller Street. Dorset Street had the reputation of being the worst street in London, which is a fitting description for the location of the brutal murder of Ms Kelly by Jack the Ripper on 9 November 1888. Mark Hodgson has clearly being doing his research for this LEGO build as he has accurately captured some lovely details. The ‘sand green’ creeping mold and the good use of old and new light grey for the discoloured paving really gives that dirty old London feel. Mark’s brick-built windows are perfect when looking at the only contemporary photograph and those window arches – well they are simply awesome.

There are many more detailed photographs of the full build (as well as some research images) on Mark’s Flickr album. The entire Millers Court scene includes a street, additional buildings, and a fully furnished interior that includes the unfortunate Ms Kelly’s bedroom and even a grocery business that was located in the same building.

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Gas! Gas! Gas!

The immediate action drill for suspecting a gas attack is to shout “Gas! Gas! Gas!” and then start putting on your respirator and protective clothing. nobu_tary has a build already prepared for such an occasion with his protective clothing, gas mark and a dark foreboding look. The build uses a clever mix of Technic, constraction and system parts to form this awesome looking character. As examples of this mix, the respirator uses a headlight tile from a Dino theme set, the thigh part belongs to Poe Dameron, and an old-school system modified brick is perfect as the toe of his boots.