About Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

Andrew Becraft is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Brothers Brick. He's been building with LEGO for more than 40 years, and writing about LEGO here on TBB since 2005. He's also the co-author, together with TBB Senior Editor Chris Malloy, of the DK book Ultimate LEGO Star Wars. Andrew is an active member of the online LEGO community, as well as his local LEGO users group, SEALUG. Andrew is also a regular attendee of BrickCon, where he organizes a collaborative display for readers of The Brothes Brick nearly every year. You can check out Andrew's own LEGO creations on Flickr. Read Andrew's non-LEGO writing on his personal blog, Andrew-Becraft.com. Andrew lives in Seattle with his wife and dogs, and by day leads software design and planning teams.

Posts by Andrew Becraft (TBB Editor-in-Chief)

The joy of leaving your LEGO model in someone else’s capable hands

I’ve seen some wonderful collaborations between talented LEGO builders and photo editors over the years, and though I certainly can’t claim to be either, I included a note in my description of the Aldrin Mars Cycler I posted yesterday saying that I wouldn’t mind if somebody felt like Photoshopping it onto a cool space photo. halfbeak left me a comment offering to help, and we were soon exchanging ideas in email.

I wouldn’t normally post one of my own LEGO models twice, but I’ve learned a few things along the way that I thought I’d share.

After nearly 10 years of posting my LEGO models online, I find myself pretty locked in to the “Dorling-Kindersley aesthetic” of LEGO photography and presentation — a three-quarters view of the LEGO model on a neutral (usually white) background. (I know Chris has strong opinions about this, too.) Even as I was envisioning something flashier than my unedited photo in my head, it was still basically the same thing, except with Mars in the background. Halfbeak combined views of Earth and Mars with the NASA logo and some text to create something that looks a lot like the publicity photos NASA releases for its missions. Way cool.

I also have a tendency to let the LEGO model take over the whole photo, but halfbeak scaled it down in several of his edits to really emphasize how tiny a human creation is on the cosmic stage.

In many of his edits, he changed the orientation of the spacecraft from my original photo, turning it on its side and even upside down — after all, there is no “up” or “down” in space.

One of my favorite edits is this vertically oriented photo, with Mars hanging above the minuscule ship. This one is now the wallpaper on my phone.

Ultimately, my Aldrin Mars Cycler isn’t necessarily the favorite among the things I’ve built, but these photos demonstrate how stellar presentation can take a fun but fairly middle-of-the-road model to a whole new level. These are now easily my favorite photos of something I’ve built. I’ve also learned to look beyond how I’ve photographed the model in thinking about how best to present it.

Huge thanks to halfbeak for truly awesome work! It’s amazing what variety he’s created from just one original photo.

See all twelve photos on Flickr.

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The Vitruvian Minifig

LEGO community coordinator Kevin Hinkle is apparently also a talented artist. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s 1487 drawing “Vitruvian Man” (itself inspired by earlier work by the architect Vitruvius), Kevin has drawn the idealized proportions of the LEGO minifigure.

I love how Kevin even signed the drawing from right to left.

MDI.12 “Huski” exploration vehicle

The MDI.12 “Huski” by m_o_n_k_e_y has forced me to take a brief break from my current obsession with historical and near-future spacecraft rendered in LEGO. The Huski appears to have independent suspension on its balloon tires, an airlock/hatch, and some sort of cannon (which I’ll assume tracks and shoots errant meteors and not aliens, since this is an exploration vehicle).

I’m also currently obsessed with excellent presentation, and something as simple as combining multiple pictures from multiple angles can make a LEGO model pop.

Gemini 4, first American spacewalk

Dave & John Xandegar continue their space-themed LEGO models with this Gemini capsule, with astronaut Ed White performing the first American spacewalk. I love how Dave & John built the underside of the capsule. Ed White is suspended above the capsule not by zero gravity but by a wire inside the yellow LEGO tether.

More photos on Flickr. (Via The Living Brick.)

Soviet Lunokhod 1, first robotic rover on another world

I watched a show on the Science Channel called “Tank on the Moon” last night, about the USSR’s Lunokhod robotic rover program, and learned just how much today’s rovers on Mars owe a debt to these Soviet lunar rovers. Built during the 1960s in secret, Lunokhod 1 landed on the moon in 1970 and operated for four months. The feat of launching, landing, and successfully operating a remotely operated rover on another celestial body wouldn’t be repeated again for nearly 30 years, with the Sojourner rover on Mars.

After watching the show, I felt like my own collection of LEGO rovers was incomplete, and felt inspired to build one. However, I soon remembered a wonderful LEGO version of Lunokhod 1 by Japanese builder Kei-Kei over on CUUSOO.

(Kei-Kei’s presentation is even what I would’ve done myself, with the Classic Space baseplate and Star Wars planet standing in for Earth in the background. I may still build one of my own, but this one’s too good to not highlight here on TBB.)

Head on over to CUUSOO to support this excellent project.

Blacktron Scimitar XX-99 starfighter

Halfbeak has offered to ‘shop my Aldrin Mars Cycler onto a lovely spacey background, so it only seems fair that I highlight some of his great presentation work while I wait. He uses both a schematic and an edited background to showcase his latest LEGO model.

The model itself is a fun little build with lots of cool details (like the cockpit that splits open), but what really sets it apart is these two complementary presentations of the model.

Mars Rovers Sojourner & Opportunity + Aldrin Mars Cycler

Having immersed myself quite deeply in both the recent news from Mars and as a judge of the Real World Starfighter Contest, I felt compelled to do a bit of building to scratch that space itch. I’d already built Stephen Pakbaz’s Curiosity, so just had to build Sojourner (landed 1997) and Opportunity (landed 2004 and still operational) in approximately the same scale.

There’s nothing functional about my LEGO Sojourner, but Opportunity has working rocker-bogie suspension (which I struggled mightily to build, since the design is different from Curiosity’s, and I couldn’t simply scale down Stephen’s LEGO version). I plan to build the lander at some point, too.

After he landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong, astronaut Buzz Aldrin came up with an idea for a craft that would cycle back and forth between the Earth and Mars, providing significantly greater comfort for astronauts during the five-month journey. With the cancellation of the Constellation program, the dream of regular travel to and from the Moon and Mars seems even farther away. Nevertheless, I still find the idea inspiring, and built my own rendition of an “Aldrin Mars Cycler”.

Free shipping, 10228 Haunted House out, & free Monster Fighters mini-set [News]

The LEGO Shop online kicks off September with free shipping in the US, UK, and Canada on all orders over $75/£50, with a free Monster Fighters mini-set thrown in to sweeten the deal.

LEGO’s latest exclusive set, Monster Fighters 10228 Haunted House, has also just been released.

The set comes with six minifigs, over two thousand parts, and enough zombie heads to build a horde.

Here’s a look at the freebie, which actually looks like it has some pretty nice pieces in it (including another zombie):

As Ace over at FBTB rightly guessed, LEGO has also been kind enough to create a page for The Brothers Brick on the Shop@Home website. We’ll be filling it up with the sets we recommend shortly, but in the meantime you can click through from here to get your free shipping and free set:

US: The Brothers Brick page on the LEGO Shop
UK: The Brothers Brick page on the LEGO Shop
Canada: The Brothers Brick page on the LEGO Shop

Important: If you’d like to help support The Brothers Brick, we’d love it if you would bookmark this blog post and use it to click through to the US, UK, and Canadian Shop@Home websites. (Don’t bookmark the pages I linked to above. Oddly, LEGO’s systems won’t know where you came from and 3% of your purchase won’t go toward helping us pay the bills. Ah, software…)

Ralph’s B-52H Stratofortress is one gorgeous, Big Ugly Fat Fellow

Ralph Savelsberg (Mad physicist) takes his military aircraft in a massive direction with this gargantuan B-52 bomber. Ralph writes, “At 170 studs in length and with a span of approximately 196 studs this is the largest single model I have ever built.”

I’m headed back over to his photoset to finish looking at the pictures…

BrickForge releases accessories inspired by a distant galaxy

BrickForge has just released a batch of new custom accessories perfect for bounty hunters and scoundrels alike.

They kindly sent me a batch of their latest custom accessories — a pleasant surprise in my mailbox this afternoon. I haven’t been doing too much minifig-building this past year, so I can’t necessarily promise a review before BrickCon (too busy building other stuff), but it’s obvious these are well-designed pieces that take BrickForge in an interesting new direction.

Check out the full line on BrickForge.com.

Amazon.com discounts LEGO Lord of the Rings sets

Adding to the LEGO Star Wars sets that are 30% off, Amazon.com has just discounted most of the LEGO Lord of the Rings line as well.

Here’s the list:

Save $27.50 on 9474 The Battle of Helm’s Deep
Save $10 on 9473 The Mines of Moria
Save $24 on 4194 LEGO Whitecap Bay (LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, but still a good discount…

Some of the discounts have dropped or ended since I got Amazon’s email this morning, so this one might not last as long as the Star Wars sets.

And unfortunately, these may only be available to our US readers. (We’ll have something cool for people in more places in a couple of days.)

Funny LEGO LOTR stop motion shows orcs’ true nature

BrotherhoodWorkshop has created a funny little stop-motion video that proves we might have a lot to learn about orcs.