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 M-Tron Core Magnetiser 2.0 now available in all stores (may not be available in all stores)

British builder Andrew Hamilton is on a one-man campaign to relaunch the LEGO M-Tron theme which retired back in 1993. Andrew has updated LEGO set 6989 Mega Core Magnetizer. Actually “updated” is an understatement. Check out the Mega Core Magnetizer 2.0 — a fantastic vehicle with a double-width set of caterpillar tracks and a beautifully shaped hull encompassing a rear hatch, power functions. AND it even utilises magnets (the M in M-Tron was a nod to the use of magnets in this theme).

All the details can be seen on the 360° view of the Mega Core Magnetiser 2.0, but first, we must pause for this short, highly entertaining commercial for the Mega Core Magnetiser 2.0.

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Tintin’s LEGO rocket takes off from the moon!

This impressive rocket by Tyler Clites depicts Tintin’s rocket in Explorers on the Moon, the 17th volume of the famous comic series The Adventures of Tintin by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The classic red and white chequered rocket is beautifully shaped with traditional slopes, wedges and curved slopes. The jet thrust gives rise to some fantastically simple but effective smoke, maintaining the original cartoon feel.

There is also a detailed interior allowing the construction of this LEGO creation to be admired. Tyler has used a mix of Technic and system parts to build the rocket, but you can see that the inner construction is not a hidden construction site but a functional part of the final build.

Fans of Tintin will also enjoy a previous build by Tyler of Tintin’s moon explorer vehicle from the same comic series. Tyler’s version of Tintin’s rocket is not the first time this vehicle has been featured here on TBB – Tintin’s Rocket by Gonkius was a previous, memorable version.

A small but perfectly formed spaceship

This micro-scale spaceship built by Sergeant Chipmunk proves that diminutive stature can still have impact. The LEGO genre of Neo Classic Space comes with its own set of rules which Sergeant Chipmunk has obeyed when building his LL-345 Kestral — using the Classic Space colours of blue and light bluish gray, landing lights correctly oriented on wingtips (green-right, red – left), yellow only used for ‘bumble-bee’ stripes that should point forward, and cockpit windows in trans-yellow.

Of course rules are made to be broken but sometimes it is fun to build within a set of parameters or guidelines to test your building skills.

Rare sighting of a LEGO elephant in the room

British builder Tim Goddard is well known for his fantastic Neo-Classic Space creations, but his latest build provides a change of scenery. We are not the only people admiring this lovely scene of a mother elephant and her calf — there’s a brave photographer filming their every move. Her camera is mounted on a professional looking LEGO tripod and she has managed to locate a rare ‘Classic Space safari outfit’ for the event. Up in the tree, a vulture seems to be keeping watch.

The elephants are minifig-scale and ingeniously constructed with Mixel joints providing movement of the calf’s legs and the mother’s ears. Tim has designed their skin with a mix of textures; studs on show, smooth tiles and the odd light bluish grey ingot to provide a wrinkle or two.

I was going to make a clever comment about the mother’s knee joints and impossible movements but remember, this is LEGO and anything is possible!

LEGO Digital Designer updated [News]

LEGO has released an update for LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), the company’s proprietary virtual building program. Update 4.3.9 is available for free on both OSX and Windows operating platforms. If you already have LDD, the latest update will install automatically when connected to the internet. The update is approximately 275MB in size and includes over 300 new parts such as CMF Series 15 minifigure parts, Speed Champions, Elves, Jurassic Park, Nexo Knights and so on. The new parts are available by opening a project using LDD’s Extended tab.

After bringing you the news that LEGO Digital Designer was officially defunded and unsupported back in January, it’s safe to say that this latest update was unexpected. It is hard not to believe that the huge backlash in response to that sudden announcement of LDD’s demise was a factor in the decision to now release a long awaited update.

Since the LDD community has waited over 2 years since the previous update, there is no doubt that the new one will be well received. Enjoy the update, there’s no knowing when/if another update will be released in the future. Flickr user Nachapon S. has put together an image showing all the new pieces.

Golly fluff – Archimedes the owl in LEGO form

Many will recognise this wise, well-educated character as Archimedes from the Disney film The Sword in the Stone. Tyler Clites has depicted his colouring perfectly from those yellow eyes to the tuft of white feathers beneath his beak. As a character known to be a little grumpy and sarcastic, Tyler has captured Archimedes’ cynical expression perfectly with those expressive eyebrows.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking he is a stuffed owl, I guarantee that those wings can flap. Fans of The Sword in the Stone will also enjoy a previous LEGO build we featured here on TBB, Kay’s Squire from the same movie.

A beautifully spacious number one reactor

One of the kings of space corridors, Jeremy Williams has built the most gorgeous reactor I have ever seen. It is cavernous, beautifully lit and full of of enticing details. The lighting of the observation balconies is atmospheric and the choice of white spacemen gives a real ethereal quality.

This is not just a LEGO build, it’s a theatrical performance!

A new take on Batman’s vintage batcave

While LEGO have just released the official 76052 Classic TV Series Batcave, Marcin Guzicki has his own take on a vintage-style batcave. Marcin’s batcave has a well-supplied equipment area with batarangs and a great retro “recording device”. The clever use of sloped dark bluish grey LEGO parts gives the impression of an underground cave within a beautifully compact diorama.

An equally vintage Batmobile at the other end of the sloped walkway means that Batman just needs to run uphill into action.

Find your destiny with this LEGO Arcadia-class jumpship

Fans of the video game Destiny will immediately recognise this creation by Paul Jeong. For the uninitiated, Destiny is a first-person shooter that incorporates role-playing and multiplayer online styles. Jumpships, such as the Arcadia-class model, are a means of transportation in the game and help you in your quest to save the last safe city of Earth from naughty aliens.

The ship has some lovely shaping thanks to some clever Technic use and plenty of curved slopes. The design is very accurate to the game, as you can see from Paul’s comparison shot.

I love the colors; orange and blue are opposing colors and work so well in this model due to the varied LEGO palatte. There are more images of Paul’s ship in his Flickr album, and it’s worth taking the time to check out the close-up views.

Rolls Royce Silver Ghost: a fine vintage car

Not content with bringing you one LEGO model of the classic vintage Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, I am spoiling you with two. Both of these models are entries to the LUGNuts 100th Challenge.

The first Silver Ghost is by Firas Abu-Jaber, a well-known, skilled LEGO car builder – although normally a fan of racy supercars such as this Ferrari Testarossa 512 TR. Firas has gone all out with this build, a pristine example of a Rolls Royce Springfield Silver Ghost Playboy Roadster. With shiny chrome, cream body and curvy shaping, she will definitely turn heads. If you want to see her from different angles and have a peek under her hood, there are more images on MOC pages.

Next we have Martien Nijdam, who has also created a Silver Ghost in classic racing green, complete with golden ‘boa constrictor‘ horn. I believe that Pino has gone for an earlier 1921 model complete with crankshaft. As my bicycle knowledge is far superior to my knowledge of any vehicle with a motor, please correct me if I am wrong. There are more images of Pino’s Silver Ghost in his Flickr album, and it’s worth taking the time to pore over the details.

Get on your LEGO bike, and ride

My two loves in life are bikes and LEGO, so you can imagine how excited I am by Tim Schwalfenberg‘s LEGO bike. Tim’s fixie has an awesome rigid frame, old school brown leather seat and a clever solution to re-inventing the wheel.

My only concern is that the chain needs a touch of oil…

In space, no one can hear you smack your lips

Things are heating up in our Space Chefs Competition Kitchen with these two fun entries whetting our appetite for more culinary creations.

For a quick appetizer, Lego 7‘s Hot Dog Chef will relish the opportunity to make the largest, tastiest hot dog in the galaxy. With spare dogs in the back and condiments at the ready, his speedy skills will let you ketchup and get on with your day!

For a second course, Marco Marozzi serves up his slightly fishy looking Masterchef. I love his head and eyes, while his belly suggests that he likes to taste his culinary creations first. With four arms I’m sure he can fillet a fish faster than you can say it!

If you haven’t entered yet, don’t get yourself in a pickle…there’s still time as the competition is open until midnight 29 Feb 16. Head over to the Space Chefs group on Flickr and check out the categories, rules and prize details.