Australian LEGO Certified Professional Ryan McNaught recently built what is likely the first and only minifig-scale Saturn V rocket, complete with gantry. At 5.76 meters (nearly 19 feet) tall and clocking in at 120,000 bricks, it’s certainly huge. But I love the details that Ryan has built into the rocket, including liquid fuel tanks and the NASA Astrovan.
You can see more photos of this monster in Ryan’s Flickr album.
Thanks to everyone who sent us the link!
I’ve been sick this week. Though nothing life-threatening, I’ve kept my sniffling and sneezing to myself here at home. Between naps and sipping green tea while curled up on the couch to watch whatever’s on the National Geographic Channel, I’ve built a few things (including 10214 Tower Bridge).
My U.E.F. Ship Recovery Vessel was inspired by equal parts Chris Foss and pseudoephedrine.
As eye-bleedingly garish as it is, I like the idea behind it:
The U.E.F. Kudu-class SRV enters battle zones to recover and transport damaged or disabled combat vessels.
Aboard their unarmed and lightly armored ships, SRV crews have a motto: “Jump In, Jump Out.” SRVs have the highest-precision FTL jump computers in the U.E.F. fleet, able to jump in behind the disabled ship, extend a shield for temporary protection, secure the ship for transport, and jump out of the system in under 90 seconds.
For less dangerous cargo than that carried by my Pit Viper fuel tanker, I built this Octan “multitanker”.
Finally, I revisited the idea behind the cargo container ship I’d built nearly five years ago, resulting in this interplanetary transport.
I can’t wait to feel better, but it’s been nice having something to distract myself from feeling miserable in the meantime.
The Supreme Court of Canada building was designed by architect Ernest Cormier and opened in 1946, after Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) laid the cornerstone in 1939. For Christmas 2011, -greenglo- built a LEGO version of this important Canadian building for his wife, who works for the Department of Justice. The LEGO model now decorates her office.
Rod Gillies built this great TV to showcase his new LEGO Superman minifig. The TV cabinet is lovely, and the background includes excellent details like little puffy clouds and microscale, forced-perspective buildings.
But it gets even better. The background behind Superman scrolls!
After trying on stripes for some spaceships inspired by Chris Foss I turned my eye to the less garish but no less colorful aesthetic of the Homeworld games (in turn inspired by Peter Elson). I can’t say that this ended up fitting any particular Homeworld race or ship class, but my Pit Viper fuel tanker is easily one of my personal favorite micro ships. In nature, venomous animals use color to warn off predators. This tanker does the same as it transports the U.E.F. fleet‘s poisonous sources of interstellar fuel.
Graffiti covers the underside of the central tank. After all, the lower surface is where planet-bound delinquents would be able to reach when the Pit Viper lands, right? Both the fore and aft sections use old X-Pod parts, for a “greeble sandwich” effect.
Via twee affect. ;-)
Minifig customizer and friend of the blog Catsy shared a write-up about attempting some customizations on the new LEGO Friends mini-dolls on the SEALUG mailing list, and he graciously agreed to let us share it here as well.
This is the result of about half an hour or so of experimenting with the mini-dolls from the new Lego “Friends” line, and introducing them to my good friends Hobby Knife, Razor Saw, and Pin Vise.
Some findings, in no particular order (not all of which is new information):
Thanks, Catsy! Mike Yoder has also taken a crack at customizing these new figs, with some pretty badass results.
I alluded to the opposing force that inspired my own microscale battle fleet, but it looks like I didn’t end up blogging Mike Yoder‘s fleet on its own. Well, this wonderful new poster created for Mike by Stijn gives me a great excuse to do so.
All of Mike’s ships have a consistent design that visually places them within the same faction, while each vessel has a unique style of its own. I just love the little fighters!
There’s a certain challenge in trying to recreate somebody else’s design (including historical vehicles and vessels), but I feel most creative when I build something completely my own. After poring over Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss
Next, I set myself a challenge to build something less vertically oriented — bricks stacked on bricks. Even though the build was much more complicated, I prefer my finished spaceships safely swooshable, and just don’t feel like the gunship below would be safe to hand to the nine-year-old who lives in my head.
Nevertheless, the gunship was a fun build, and I may reuse the front part for something different (more in line with my existing microscale fleet).
Most of the mecha we feature here on The Brothers Brick are standalone LEGO models all on their own. knobbyplastic goes farther to incorporate his menacing mecha into a diorama.
The crack going through the wall and windows on the gray building is a nice detail, as is the broken railing. The mecha doesn’t even take the central place in the photo, standing off to the side as if waiting to pounce. It’s an excellent composition, with a great balance between light and dark that draws the eye to the mecha even though the mecha isn’t in the middle of the picture.
Something I look forward to every New Year’s Day is the lovely LEGO creations by Japanese builders celebrating the new year, most often incorporating the animal from the Chinese Zodiac. I generally wait a couple days and do a roundup, but Moko‘s dragon is too gorgeous to share later.
(And since we get at least one comment about this every year, Japan celebrates New Year’s on January 1st every year. Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, the exact date varies by year, and is celebrated by many other Asian cultures. Just not Japan.)
Even though the idea that the Maya believed the world would end on December 21, 2012 is a complete fabrication, it’s an amusing thought that makes for some great jokes. Perhaps the Maya were in on the joke all along, as Bricko suggests.
We’ve taken a look at the top LEGO news stories of 2011, but The Brothers Brick is really about the great LEGO creations built by LEGO fans all over the world. Let’s take a look back at the ones that proved most popular over the course of the year.
