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

Medieval castle in a digital age

Castle was one of the earliest themes introduced by LEGO back in 1978. The theme no longer continues, but fan builders have maintained a strong alliance with this favourite topic to display their creative talents. Sunder59 has built a microscale castle complete with gatehouse and stone fortifications surrounding the town. This is a digital model and has the advantage of using parts that are not officially LEGO parts at present. Despite this, I really like this model and it could easily be built in real bricks with a few small changes.

Mirtrum castle

A closer look at the castle reveals some of the parts that are not currently part of LEGO’s inventory. I spotted three parts in colours that don’t exist yet; dark blue lipstick on the top of one tower, the reddish brown 1 x 1 bricks with studs on 2 adjacent sides and the Technic sprocket on the main tower.

Mirtrum castle

How do you feel about us highlighting digital builds and renders?  In a digital age, more and more people share their work online and the renders are improving all the time – is it cheating to use parts that don’t exist yet in those colours, or just part of the advantages of building this way?

Futurama ship is a LEGO colour conundrum

The U.S.S. Planet Express Ship is the delivery vehicle for Planet Express Delivery Service in the animated TV series Futurama. In keeping with the creator’s other animated characters, the space ship has a distinctive ‘Matt Groening overbite’. Aido K has managed to make an instantly recognisable LEGO version of the ship using a mix of System and Duplo parts. The key part that captures the shape of the ship is the large Duplo airplane fuselage, and the builder has managed to add in all the other features using LEGO bricks to make this fantastic creation.

Duplorama

If you know your Duplo parts, then you may be confused about the build above – the upper fuselage part is only available in red.  Aido explains the magical appearance of his ship – the build is actually red with a blue stripe and and blue lights and he altered the colour hues in the photograph to achieve a green and red ship! Thanks to Aido for sending the original image as it is a beautiful build  in red,  let alone after some photo-manipulation to re-colour in green.

Save 20% on selected Star Wars 2018 sets at Amazon.com [News]

Star Wars fans who wish to purchase 2018 sets should be aware that Amazon.com have 20% discount on selected Star Wars 2018 sets. If you are uncertain about which set to buy, we have already reviewed  75202 The Last Jedi: Defense of Crait and 75201 First Order AT-ST.

The following sets are showing 20% discount when purchased from Amazon.com:

75197 First Order Specialists Battle Pack $11.99 (RRP $14.99)
75198 Tatooine Battle Pack $11.99(RRP $14.99)
75199 General Grievous’ Combat Speeder $23.99 (RRP $29.99)
75201 First Order AT-ST $31.99 (RRP $39.99)
75202 Defense of Crait $67.99 (RRP $84.99)

 

LEGO Star Wars 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon available again UK/EU [News]

LEGO online store  is showing that  75192 Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon is back in stock and available to order once more for UK and EU customers, but expect the set to be gone quickly. Stock of the UCS Millennium Falcon has been limited since its launch last year,  sadly it is still showing as out of stock online for our US and Canadian readers.   This announcement is for our UK and EU readers!

For customers in the EU, just set your region to your country after clicking the link above.  All EU countries are showing the UCS Millennium Falcon to be in stock currently.

Unsure whether you want to drop £649 on a LEGO set with 7,500 pieces? Check out our hands-on review of the new UCS Falcon.

 

Is it a bird, a plane or a butterfly?

You would be forgiven for thinking that this was a huge LEGO butterfly. It certainly seems to have the key features of one; four wings, clubbed antennae and a segmented body. In fact, Milan Sekiz has called this beastie a Leption, the combination of the Serbian words ‘leptir’ meaning butterfly and ‘avion’ meaning airplane.  I love those shapely wings, Milan must have used some LEGO mathematics to work out how best to fill their centres with decorative, coloured parts.

Leption

You will notice that there is a pilot at the helm, holding on to some handlebars – is he steering or just along for the ride?

Leption - SidesFans of butterflies may enjoy revisiting these two previous butterflies we have highlighted; a colourful glass-like butterfly and a larger, realistic butterfly.

A flying fortress of LEGO bricks

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft that played a key role for the Allies in World War II. When the prototype B-17 first flew in 1935, a reporter for the Seattle Times was watching and coined the name “Flying Fortress” with his comment, “Why, it’s a flying fortress!” The B-17 was mainly used in the strategic bombing campaign of World War II. PlaneBricks has built a fantastic LEGO version of this famous bomber, complete with the machine guns poking out of clear ‘blisters’ to allow bombardiers and gunners to visualise their targets.

B-17G Flying Fortress

See more images of this classic LEGO aircraft

Protect Naboo with a microscale Naboo Starfighter [Instructions]

Naboo is an idyllic world close to the border of the Outer Rim Territories in the fictional Star Wars world.  It is a peaceful place inhabited by humans, called the Naboo, and an indigenous amphibian species called the Gungans. Protecting their home is essential, and the Naboo Starfighter is the sleek craft that patrols the sky and space above Naboo. Thanks to these instructions by Justin Chua, you can build your own microscale Naboo Starfighter, resplendent  in its classic yellow and grey colours.

The Naboo Starfighter with instructions!
Continue reading →

The LEGO NINJAGO Movie 70632 Quake Mech [Review]

The second wave of The LEGO Ninjago Movie tie-in sets was released on 1st Dec and, following on from our review of  70656 garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON!, we’re now taking a look at 70632 Quake Mech. Quake Mech is Cole’s method of transport in The LEGO Ninjago Movie and probably the coolest looking vehicle with it’s single wheel and hulk-like chest and arms. This set has 1202 pieces, five minifigures, is rated ages 9-14, and is priced at £79.99 / $79.99 / 79.99€ (which equates to 6.7p / 7.5c / 6.7c per piece). When fully built, the mech measures over 12” (33cm) high, 6” (16cm) long, and 11” (30cm) wide.In the Box

There are 8 numbered bags with the single large tractor tyre and its rim  rolling free inside the box.  A single 164-page instruction booklet and a small sticker sheet completes the contents list.


Click to read on

Sagrada Familia completed at last

The Sagrada Familia is a famous Catholic church located in Barcelona. It was designed by a Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi. Sagrada Familia is a huge architectural project with colourful, mathematical design elements, and Gaudi knew it would not be completed within his lifetime.  Construction began in 1882 and it is anticipated that completion will actually be around 2026! Koen has built a microscale LEGO model of the completed Sagrada Familia that looks like an official LEGO Architecture series model. The use of inverted ice-cream cones is inspired.

Sagrada Familia

A view from another angle shows another feature I particularly like, Koen uses the scroll brick as a nice decorative component of the doorway. Koen has cleverly managed to balance the simplicity required in microscale with the hugely complex design of this particular structure.

Sagrada Familia

The empire strikes back to the 1980s

The Empire Strikes Back was released back in 1980 and is still one of the most popular Star Wars films to date. Josephine Monterosso has captured the likeness of two of the main characters from the movie, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, as BrickHeadz. Each character has some great little details to enjoy that are a step beyond the official Brickheadz style,  but there are no rules when it comes to building your own characters. Luke’s flak vest with its tubing is a lovely touch and, along with the helmet and visor, really makes this character recognisable.

Brickheadz - Luke Skywalker (Snowspeeder Pilot) - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Han Solo’s fur-lined hood works well with simply some studs on show to give texture. I love the use of a palisade brick to give the clinched-in appearance to his parka waist — it really adds some flair.

Brickheadz - Han Solo (Hoth) - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

See more 1980s movie characters built in this style

Say it with a huge bunch of flowers

People have been conveying messages of happiness, love and sorrow with flowers for centuries. Bigger is not always better when it comes to your favourite bouquet, but when it comes to LEGO flora, there’s something special about big flowers. Chungpo Cheng has built a much larger version of the 1×1 Plant with 3 Stems. In fact, the flower is upscaled about ten-fold — a LEGO version is 1.5 cm tall and the upscaled version is 15 cm tall.

LEGO White Flower Plants with Green Stems 1x1

Other builders loved Chungpo’s design so much that they decided to build one too.  Miro Dudas‘s version has been spotted growing in the wild.

Chungpo Cheng's upscaled flower stem

Swashbuckling staircase in LEGO style

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 American swashbuckler film that starred the suave Errol Flynn in the title role. One of the most famous scenes from this movie is the final sword fight between Robin Hood and Sir Guy of Gisborne.  Eggy Pop has built a fantastic LEGO version of this scene that will be instantly recognisable to those who have seen the reference movie. I love the candlestick in the corner and the  specially constructed doors under the arches The real eye-catching design element is the use of larger brick-built stones to construct the elegant, curved staircase.

AdvRH Fight Scene

AdvRH Fight Scene