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

Batman’s ride tumbles black into action

Batman seems to own more vehicles and contraptions than a superhero would ever need, including the infamous Tumbler. This was originally a prototype armoured tank designed for the military and includes a host of weaponry, plus the ability to boost power and jump over obstacles or gaps. There are a lot of LEGO tumblers around, but this smaller scale Tumbler by The Ka. Lor Project caught our eye with some nice details and proportions, and importantly it is mainly black.

There’s some attractive shaping involved in this build, perhaps best admired from a bat’s eye view.

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Dreams of summer in Tuscany

Picture it, Tuscany 1982. The sky is blue, the cypress trees are green and the sunflowers are in full bloom. Sandro Damiano has built a peaceful LEGO scene that is the perfect antidote to some of the post-apocalyptic creations we feature here on TBB. While technically this is not a complex build, the composition and colourful scene has been well crafted in a picture postcard style. I love the meandering stone path and the shapely cypress trees, while the balance of bright colours is ideal for this cheerful scene.

Assassins don’t stop for tea in Boston

Assassin’s Creed III is actually the fifth major instalment in the Assassin’s Creed series. The game explores the life of an 18th-century assassin in Colonial America during the American Revolution. Boston was an important location to both the American and British armies and Ben Trischler has used this setting as inspiration for his street scene. I love the dark red brick texture Ben has patiently created for the main building (based on the Old State House from the game). The round windows look particularly impressive, while the architectural details around the central windows and doors add a lot of character to the building.

The bustling street scene below has some lovely textures and interesting details that draw the eye, like those Salmon-coloured Scala flower pots and the hay cleverly made from a pile of mop heads.

Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal, LEGO’s 2nd biggest set ever [Review]

Last month we announced that LEGO is re-releasing the iconic 10189 Taj Mahal set as Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal. There was a mixture of surprise, pleasure and dismay at this announcement, depending on your ownership of the original 10189 and whether the re-release could affect your “investment” or your ability to finally afford this iconic set. Taj Mahal is the second-largest LEGO set of all time with 5,923 pieces, and is available beginning today in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online for $369.99 USD / £299.99. It is rated as 16+, reflecting the size and nature of the set as a display piece rather than any technical challenges when building.

In contrast to some recent re-releases like UCS Millennium Falcon 75192 or UCS Death Star 75159, this is not a re-modeled set but a pure re-release of the same set under a different set number. Let’s take a quick look at the two sets for comparison, as there are a couple of differences worth highlighting.

Continue reading our review

Nature’s ascending colour palette

The changing colour of trees and their foliage can be diverse in Alpine areas, usually making the long, steep hike with a camera well worth the effort. Inspired while hiking in the Swiss Alps, Emil Lidé has built an artistic impression of these natural foliage changes by creating a beautiful slice of LEGO mountain. As the eye ascends his build from left to right, the colours change from vibrant green and lime though the autumnal palatte of oranges and reddish browns to peak at the stark, snowy summit.

We have blogged previous builds by Emil, showcasing his skill at capturing the natural world in LEGO. Have a look at his polluted ocean, Krakatoa’s volcanic eruption, changing seasons in microscale and fall in the Avalonian countryside.

Amazon UK Black Friday LEGO Deals up to 50% savings on Star Wars, Technic, Minecraft, Friends, Superheroes [NEWS]

As Black Friday is now upon readers in the UK, we thought it would be useful to give a quick summary of some of the best deals out there for LEGO fans. While some of the deals may be available in other countries, these particular deals were selected for Amazon UK customers. Discounts vary from 28% to 50%, all currently a better saving than LEGO themselves are offering.

Star Wars The Last Jedi 75179 Kylo Ren’s TIE Fighter £54.99 (27% discount)

Star Wars The Last Jedi 75176 Resistance Transport Pod £19.99 (50% discount)

see more great LEGO deals on Amazon

What colour of gumball will you chews?

Gumball machines first appeared around 1907, although there were a few other types of vending machine for sticks of gum a couple of decades earlier. Bruce Lowell is not the first to create a LEGO gumball machine but his design is the most proportional, accurate and adorable version we have encountered. The globe utilises the gyrosphere parts that first appeared within Jurassic World, while the key from the Clockwork Robot minifigure is perfect as the turning mechanism.

LEGO Minecraft 2018 sets revealed [News]

There is an abundance of new sets being revealed at the moment, and the next 2018 set images we are able to share are from the Minecraft theme. The images show new Minecraft animals and printed parts that look like fun additions, including rabbits, donkey, polar bear, chickens, a brown bear and some ‘cubic melons’.

21144 The Farm Cottage, $49.99, £64.99, 59.99€, 549 pieces.
21142 The Polar Igloo, $29.99, £39.99, 39.99€, 278 pieces.

See more Minecraft 2018 sets!

Separate the aircraft from the chaff: LEGO U.S. Navy Douglas A-1F Skyraider

The original U.S. Navy Douglas A-1F Skyraider was an single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. The design underwent many modifications, including versions devoted to the electronic countermeasures (ECM) mission. Ralph Savelsberg has created a beautifully accurate LEGO version of the EA-1F, which used ECM equipment to detect and jam enemy radar in the skies over Vietnam. You can see that the front wing edges are swept back ever so slightly, which Ralph cleverly achieved using tiles and brackets, making each step half a plate thick.

As is typical for carrier-based aircraft, the wings on the Skyraider can be folded and Ralph has also made sure that his model is accurate in this respect.

LEGO models with folding wings can also save on display space, which is good because Ralph’s military aircraft shelves are getting rather busy, and I am sure more aircraft are inbound.

Patient researchers advance at a crawl

LEGO introduced the Model Team theme back in 1986 — it featured vehicle models at a larger scale, with more details and often some interesting functions. Shawn Davis has build a Model Team-inspired Research Crawler and photographed it beautifully. There’s a sense of exploring the unknown as the vehicle enters the dark, uneven terrain, encountering apparently giant autumnal leaves! Aside from the cool photography, the vehicle itself is a great build — plenty of windows, clever use of drawers for kit, and a manipulator arm at the front to obtain specimens for closer inspection.

The researcher looks ready for dangerous encounters with her PPE attire, but the poor motorcycling lookout only gets binoculars and a fast bike for protection!

Float like a dragonfly, sting like a viper

We are over halfway through Novvember, but there’s still plenty of time to build a Vic Viper and honour the late Nate “Nnenn” Nielsen. This particular Vic Viper by Andreas Lenander not only depicts a beautifully futuristic craft, but also manages to highlight one of my favourite colours. The use of Medium Azure really makes this an eye-catching build and those double lateral wings at the rear are definitely sending dragonfly vibes my way.

As always, it’s the little extras that make a build really stand out and in this build the greebled pipes plus the use of hockey sticks on the prongs are fantastic additions.

Whenever there is fun, there’s always LEGO

Coca-Cola first went on sale at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia 1886. The world’s favourite soft drink was invented by Dr John Pemberton, but it was Dr Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, who came up with the now world-famous red-and-white logo. Pixel Junkie’s latest LEGO creation is a vintage delivery truck bringing cases of Coca-Cola to the local hardware store to be sold for a nickel each.

The background has some nice retro details. I love the gumball machine with advertising, the Coca-Cola vending machine, and the little crate sitting on the hand cart ready to go in the fridge. All-in-all, a great nostalgic scene built in LEGO.