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

An artistic view of Italy, painted in bricks.

We have been enjoying a taste of Italy in a series of  photographs by  brickexplorer on Instagram. First we take in the view of a gondolier cruising along the famous canals of Venice. I love the combination of natural elements (be that water, sky or earth) with LEGO built surroundings.

Next, let’s stroll through the narrow cobbled streets in the old town.  A gatto is eyeing up a crossaint while some washing dries in the sun, what a peaceful scene.

Finally, as the sun goes down, it’s time to relax and enjoy some freshly made stone baked pizza. The lights inside the pizzeria make it seem so inviting,  I’m not sure how far people travel to enjoy theis infamous pizza, it looks like a rocket has just landed on the left.

Even LEGO Garfield hates Mondays

Garfield was actually created by Jim Davies back in 1978, so he’s not doing too badly for a 40-year old cat.  I imagine his love of lasagna, hatred of Mondays, general lazy nature and obsession with eating have not necessarily aided his longevity.  This instantly recognisable LEGO version was built by Vlad Efremkin and captures Garfield’s reluctance to get up out of his cat bed in the morning. Those heavy eyelids are a particularly effective use of  Commander Cody or Poe Dameron’s shoulder armour.

I hate Mondays

 

Take a 12 foot high ride on the Worlds largest Lego Ferris Wheel [Video]

While LEGO’s own official Ferris Wheel set stands at a measly  23 inches (60cm) high, this World record holding LEGO Ferris Wheel is a whopping 12 feet (365cm) high. Built by Tomáš Kašpařík, the same builder as brought us the amazing wooden-style LEGO rollercoaster, this creation contains over 40,000 parts and took around 300 hours to build. Amazingly, the ferris wheel is powered by 2 small LEGO Power Functions motors.

DSC_0580

Click here to see a video of this huge ferris wheel in action

Build your own LEGO Mario [Instructions]

If you have been dreaming about having your own poseable LEGO Mario figure, then dream no more! hachiroku24 has created a LEGO version of the world’s most famous plumber and had kindly provided instructions to allow others to build their own Mario. He can be posed in a variety of ways thanks to the use of Mixel joints.

Lego Mario MOC

Click here to see the parts and instruction video

Fabulous superspeeder hops into spring

While it is generally accepted that cheetahs are the fasted land animal, you may not know that the fastest ‘air’ animal is Bonnie Bunny in her superspeeder.  Yes Bonnie Bunny may have enjoyed camping in her caravan and playing in the playground in official LEGO sets, but her true adrenaline-junkie nature has been exposed by  Pico van Grootveld. The adorable speeder is fits Bonnie Bunny perfectly with some cheery spring yellow parts and nice sticker application.

Bonnie Bunny’s Superspeeder

The Fabuland creatures always scream cuteness but there’s nothing better than crossing Fabuland and some of the other LEGO themes.  If you liked this Fauland/Star Wars hybrid then you will also enjoy a Fabuland-themed Millenium Falcon or this fabby Tie Fighter.

 

AC Shelby Cobra brings vintage style to LEGO bricks

Back in 1961, an American car designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur called Carroll Shelby wrote to AC Cars to ask if they would build him a car modified to take a V8 engine. Ford happened to have  a new, lightweight V8 ready,  and when Ford provided Shelby with two engines, the AC Shelby Cobra was born. -lichtblau- has revised his previous AC Shelby Cobra design with this fantastic black and white version. The shaping is superb, especially the use of the short mudguard at the front to depict the curved nose.

This particular model has an attractive dark orange leather interior with a chrome rollbar,  held in place simply via the friction between the seatback and the trunk.

LEGO Speed Champions 2018: More images to whet your appetite [News]

We first saw some high-resolution photos of the 2018 LEGO Speed Champions sets a couple weeks ago, but further images with detailed product info have now been revealed ahead of their release in March.

75884 Speed Champions 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback – 183 pieces – £12.99 / 14.99€

Create a buildable LEGO® Speed Champions version of a classic car—the 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback. Ideal for display or racing, it features a minifigure cockpit, removable windshield, wheels with rubber tires and gold-colored rims, and authentic design details. This construction toy includes a minifigure and buildable ‘timing’ board to play out race scenarios.

  • Includes a classic Ford racing driver minifigure with Ford racing driver’s helmet.
  • The race-ready, buildable 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback vehicle features a minifigure cockpit with removable windshield, wheels with rubber tires and gold-colored rims, transparent light-style elements, racing colors, race-graphics stickers and authentic design details.
  • Remove the windshield to place the minifigure in the car.
  • Includes a buildable ‘timing’ board with digital display and Ford logo stickers.
  • This construction toy is suitable for ages 7-14.
  • 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback measures over 1″ (5cm) high, 5″ (14cm) long and 2″ (6cm) wide.
  • ‘Timing’ board measures over 2″ (6cm) high, 1″ (4cm) wide and under 1″ (1cm) deep.

 

Click here to see the rest of the 2018 Speed Champions line-up in detail

Welcome to the Dark Knight’s dressing room

Batman has always been a guy who likes to change his outfit, every new Batman seems to get a new Bat-suit to wear.  Thorsten Bonsch has graced the pages of The Brothers Brick many times, and this time he has taken on the Dark Knight’s dressing room.  With more that a little gothic influence, Thorsten has place the costumes deep within the Bat Cave.  The winding staircase uses fences as the steps leading to the raised platform.  I love the brick-built stalactites and stalagmites giving a sense of impressive scale to the scene.

The Batcave – 1. Costume Displays

Taking a closer look at the platform gives a better view of the Gothic-inspired cases for the Bat-suit and Robin-suit and you can see that both the central pillar and the cases have elaborate, ornamental decoration.  I love the tall candlesticks on the table, they fit into the scene perfectly.

The Batcave – 1. Costume Displays

Tianfeng Pagoda stands tall in history

The Tianfeng Pagoda is situated in the centre of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. With a height of about 167 feet, this hexagonal building is an ancient landmark within the city. It was named after the time period it was built, between Tiancewansui (reign title of Empress Wu Zetian AD 695) and Wansuidengfeng (reign title of Empress Wu Zetian AD 696) in Tang Dynasty. Tianfeng Pagoda’s hexagonal shape has been beautifully captured in LEGO by qian yj and the 7 levels of pagoda are almost as impressive in LEGO.

Tianfeng Tower legoMOC

This LEGO version sits peacefully in a park with trees, gardens and even a small pond. While Tianfeng Pagoda does sit in Tianfeng park, it represents the fusion of history and present day as the actual tower is located next to a shopping mall and bustling streets cross just beyond the park.

LEGO Merchandise revealed at Toy Fair New York 2018 [News]

LEGO is introducing a number of new merchandise items, from backpacks and patches to flashlights and display cases, and some of them are pretty awesome. We got a hands-on look at a few of the new items at Toy Fair New York today. Continue reading →

LEGO Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom sets at New York Toy Fair 2018 [News]

Live from the show floor at New York Toy Fair 2018, we’re taking a closer look at the LEGO Jurassic World line-up that will be on sale later this year.  The sets are based on the upcoming movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, due for release in movie theatres in the US on 22 Jun 2018.  Fear not, we have put the set images after the jump to prevent any unwanted spoilers.

See our complete coverage of LEGO Jurassic World sets from Toy Fair New York 2018

LEGO unveils the complete Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom line-up [News]

Jurassic dinosaurs are also making a comeback this year, not just Harry Potter! LEGO have unveiled the complete line-up of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom tie-in sets. The product images, part counts, prices and descriptions are all revealed below.  The sets have been unveiled ahead of this year’s summer blockbuster Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, so for anyone sensitive to spoilers try not to look to hard at the images as there are some dinosaurs included.

Click here to see the Jurassic World sets