With fewer wings than the Red Baron but no less awesome, this little plane by Bartosz Kacprzyk (the oneman) has lots of lovely details, from the raggedy trailing edges of the wings to a spike atop the cockpit.
Via YSAB.
Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)
Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe in LEGO
It’s not often that a diorama completely defies my expectations. When I saw this brown, tan, and gray scene by Gabriel Thomson (qi_tah), I dutifully clicked through expecting something post-apocalyptic. Instead, I found something far, far more interesting — the monumental architecture of Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic archaeological site in Turkey from 11,000 years ago that predates agriculture.
Gabriel has faithfully recreated details like the stone walls between the standing stones and even the “bench” that encircles the structure. I also love that it’s a mid-process excavation he’s chosen to illustrate in LEGO, complete with a grad student (my assumption) documenting each strata with a camera as it emerges from the dusty earth.
Constable Drex’s Hand of Fate weighs heavy on the galaxy’s criminal element
Jack McKeen (madLEGOman) enters the FBTB MOC Madness contest with this unique vessel dubbed the Hand of Fate. While the detailing on the hull is certainly cool, what sets this apart for me is the odd configuration of the engines, complete with sails.
The interior is excellent as well, with a nice battlesuit parked in the hold:
See more photos in Jack’s photostream on Flickr.
Revisiting downtown Tokyo
I’m still not satisfied with my indoor, winter/rain/Seattle photo setup, so I’ve been playing around quite a bit with post-processing to make up for the less-than-optimal lighting in my recent LEGO photos. After I finally posted my completed microscale Tokyo that I’d built a year earlier, I went a little wild with this next photo. I ended up turning it into a 1960s postcard, inspired by Godzilla battling some sort of kaiju as a visiting King Kong looks on.
The scale varies within the scene, and is wildly incorrect for the Micropolis standard I used as the base, but my tiny Tokyo has everything I remember from the time I spent there in the 70’s and 80’s — old-style bullet trains and neon-hued commuter trains, brightly colored advertising cubes atop buildings in Ginza and Shinjuku, the ever-expanding industry around Tokyo Harbor, Meiji Shrine, the National Diet, and the iconic red and white of Tokyo Tower.
LEGO Mindstorms “Time Twister” digital clock by Hans Andersson
Solving Rubkik’s Cubes isn’t the only thing that LEGO Mindstorms robotics are good for. Swedish robotics builder Hans Andersson has built a digital clock that even “blinks” with each second.
Check out more of Hans’ robots, including a Sudoku solver of all things, on TiltedTwister.com.
Thanks for the link, reader Thomas!
Rotterdam Harbor tugboat
While the real thing plies the waters of Rotterdam, this LEGO tugboat — Smit Bison — by Arjan Oude Kotte (Konajra) makes its way into my heart. Even if the LEGO tug can’t pull 28 tonnes, it’s a chunky little beauty with gorgeous lines and lovely colors.
Thanks to _zenn for the tip!
Viva la Robolution!
Jarek has captured the unique personalities from the “Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution” add-on for Borderlands.
Via The Living Brick. Iain suggests that these little robots could become the next LEGO building fad. I certainly wouldn’t object.
New CubeStormer II solves Rubik’s Cube in 5.3 seconds
We featured Mike Dobson‘s first Rubik’s-solving CubeStormer last year. Now, Mike has teamed up with David Gilday to create an updated version that scans the cube, creates a solution, and then manipulates the cube to solve the puzzle.
Read more about all the technical details on YouTube.
Between home and the war’s desolation
After I posted my little fleet of microscale spaceships in September, I kept tinkering with the design of the ships, and when I got bored, built new ones. By BrickCon, I had added a new cruiser and hospital ship.
The cruiser is based on the same keel as the carrier, but the most notable improvements overall are the little bits of light gray, red, and yellow, plus the decals. Exo-Force sets provide a remarkable diversity of military/industrial designs on clear sticker sheets that add cool details to a finished model.
Since I had all that gray greebly LEGO lying around, I tried building a Silverback from Gears of War 3,
For the minifigs, I’m trying out the new Gears-inspired armor and weapons from BrickWarriors. Their lineup doesn’t currently include a non-retro Lancer rifle or Gnasher shotgun, so I’m using the old Amazing Armory versions.
(I’m also experimenting with a new indoor photo setup and post-processing, which explains the difference in the same light bluish gray between the two photos.)
Dinosaurs return to LEGO with 2012 LEGO Dino sets [News]
I’m not sure where Brickshelfer grogall has gotten all the official photos of 2012 LEGO sets, but I keep finding more high-res photos of upcoming sets. The latest is the “Dino” line, reminiscent of the Dino Attack/Dino 2010 sets from a few years ago.
5885 Triceratops Trapper includes a tan triceratops with a bulky 4×4 vehicle:
The new dinosaurs reflect the improvements to animal molds and printing we’ve seen recently in other themes. The Tyrannosaurus rex in 5886 T-Rex Hunter looks simultaneously more LEGO-like and realistic (at least compared to the LEGO dinosaurs from the Dino Attack sets).
I’ll withhold judgment on the vehicle designs until I see them in person (presumably in January), but I really like what I’m seeing of the creatures.
LEGO vampire Jack-o’-Lantern
LEGO’s North American Community Coordinator Kevin Hinkle participated in a recent Halloween contest at work. The pumpkin-decorating contest required participants to include at least five LEGO elements. Kevin’s pumpkin uses the design from the recent Collectible Minifigure vampire.
I like how Kevin left the edges “rough,” as though the vampire painter minifig actually painted it.
Hello spooky Kitty!
There’s a special place in my heart for Sanrio-themed LEGO models. This series of Hello Kitty figures in Halloween garb by schfio gives me a warm glow.
My favorite is Dracula Kitty:
Check out bigger photos of all the cats in schfio’s photoset on Flickr
Thanks for the tip, Bruce & Tommy!