About Jonathan

LEGO was always Jonathan's favourite toy growing up in Middle Zealand, until around the age of 16 when he was told he was too old for toys. 16 years of Dark Ages later he decided you are never too old for toys and became hooked again with 7477 T-1 Typhoon vs. T-Rex and has since amassed over a hundred thousand bricks to facilitate his MOC building obsession. Jonathan runs a small IT business from home with his wife and three young boys under 5 (who are allowed to play with Daddy's LEGO when they can learn to stop putting it in their mouths!). When not working or spending time with family Jonathan is usually sorting LEGO.

Posts by Jonathan

Maserati’s first mid-engined road car, the Bora

If there’s one thing Jonathan Elliott is good at, it’s replicating beautifully detailed, lifelike versions of real-life cars. You may remember his Renault 5 or Volkswagen Westfalia and noticed his incredible eye for detail. This time he has created a 1971 Maserati Bora in LEGO. With a top speed of 171 miles per hour, this was an important build for Jonathan as the Bora is his favourite mid-engined supercar so he wanted this to be perfect. 

Lego 1971 Maserati Bora - 01

The Bora combines jaw-droppingly elegant style with both technology and power. I love how he has recreated the distinct stainless steel roof and Giorgetto Giugiaro’s beautiful hubcaps.

Flitting hither and thither, the fantail always appears in a dither

The New Zealand fantail, or pīwakawaka in Te Reo (the language of the native Maori), is one of the cheekiest little birds you will ever meet. Beautifully recreated in LEGO by BrickMonkey MOCs, the fantail is known for its friendly ‘cheet cheet’ call and energetic flying antics. Smaller than a house sparrow, these audacious little guys flit around twittering and swooping within centimetres of your head if you find yourself outdoors in the native bush. The aptly named fantail is one of the most common and widely distributed native birds on the New Zealand mainland.

NZ Fantail V2.0

Lord of the Rings – Weathertop confrontation

It seems like only yesterday we featured Sanel Lukovic‘s post-apocalyptic ruins, but sometimes a builder keeps knocking it out of the park. He has done it again with the hill of Weathertop from The Lord of the Rings. If you aren’t familiar with your Middle Earth geography, Weathertop overlooks the Great East Road east of Bree, about midway between the Shire and Rivendell. (Although really it is on a large farm near Port Waikato, in the Waikato Region of New Zealand.) It was the location where Frodo gets stabbed in the shoulder by a Ringwraith in the first book. It took Sanellu about 4 months and around 30,000 LEGO elements to build this beautiful scene from The Fellowship of the Ring. Have a look and let your eyes feast on this sumptuous banquet of bricks.

Lord of the Rings " Weathertop"

What’s not to love about a post-apocalyptic toxic wasteland?

Bleecker Street never looked so bleak in this delightfully dreary scene built by Sanel Lukovic, part of a collaborative build presented at Bricking Bavaria in Munich with friends Robert Maier and Jonas Obermaier. Simply titled Apoca, it has a lovely rustic, decaying motif. Broken windows throughout the dilapidated building contrast with the charming copper oxide green Vespa, while overgrown weeds and cluttered wreckage cover cracks in the pavement. And nothing screams post-apocalyptic like respiratory equipment being worn by the armed and dangerous-looking dudes surveying the badlands.

Apoca

Hey baby, welcome to the Old West

Here’s a cute idea for the new LEGO baby fig that arrived last year. Kai NRG/Geneva has been building a delightful series of vignettes entitled Tiny Trailblazers. This little Texan tyke showcases some clever parts usage in its creation of the old-style fences of the Wild West, the Star Spangled Banner, and even a cute little cactus.

Tiny Trailblazers: Cowboy

The diminutive cowboy is the second in the series. Check out the tiny knight defending his wee castle…

Tiny Trailblazers: Castle

Miniature army marches merrily onward, old chap!

There is something about this cute collection of LEGO bricks by P. B. that makes me grin. “King and His Guards” is a simple troop of miniature, chess-like cannon fodder with overseeing gentry and cool bipedal heavy-artillery. It could be the chihuahua looking like a great dane next to our heavily mustachioed king, or his men all assembled with a small number of bricks, yet they all appearing to have their own personalities. Or it could simply be I love the walking tank — whatever the reason, I hope it makes you grin too.

The King and His Guards

Steampunk ray gun goes pew pew, zap zap

Hey it’s me again, Jonathan Samson with a new creation for your perusal. When I originally wanted to create a ray gun, I started by building a couple of diodes – for inspiration I was trying a new sorting technique (pre-sorting into hues). I found I had an eclectic array of dark orange and dark tan pieces that seemed fit for purpose – round pieces for the barrel, a wing for the trigger and a bucketload of medium dark flesh crow’s nest elements for the pistol grip, so the diodes quickly got crystal downgrades and it became my first steampunk creation.

Steam Punk Ray Gun

3 fans take over 200k LEGO pieces and 2 years to build incredible diorama of Hoth Echo Base from Star Wars

Hoth accounts for less than 20 minutes of The Empire Strikes Back, yet it has left an indelible imprint on Star Wars fans, including Brick a Ben, Ferroh12 and Brick_Phil. Together, they have collaborated to create Winter is Hoth, and incredible diorama built over two years and using more than 200,000 LEGO elements.

WinterBV2A Continue reading

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s home from work we go

Most of us grew up watching old Disney films. César Soares  says he wanted to live in the cottage in the woods when he watched Snow White as a kid. This fabulous LEGO representation of the Seven Dwarves’ cosy abode is based on a Thomas Kinkade depiction of the famous film.

Cesar claims to have “rushed the build a bit” to make room for other projects, although I see no evidence the final result suffered for it. There is so much to love about this model — the cute little bridge, the shapely trees, and the lived-in feel of the cottage with its gently smoking chimney. Superb landscaping technique and a beautiful array of colourful flowers round this creation off perfectly.

Just like a doll's house

Classic Space Supra-light Starfighter

If like me, Jonathan Samson, you were a child of the 80’s, chances are higher than a snowflake in the White House that you’ll remember LEGO Classic Space. As long as I can remember I have always wanted my own Classic Space Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP – allow me to present the Fruit Bat.

Fruit Bat

Affectionately named for the Megabat family Pteropodidae  due in part to its stunning manoeuvrability at high-speeds, but mostly because the pilot is a lotta bit nuts.

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The World Sportscar Championship awaits the Porsche 956

I’ve been a Porsche fanboy all my life. And since I love LEGO, when I say Manuel Cara‘s Porsche 956 gave me goosebumps, you’ll understand why. With its custom decals and clever building techniques, this perfect scale replica looks amazing. The 956 was originally designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the FIA World Sportscar Championship. This car holds the all-time record for the fastest vehicle ever to lap the famed Nürburgring, completing the 20 km circuit in 6:11.13 during qualifying. 

Porsche 956 Lego front-lateral

I love the technique Manuel has used to create the exhaust port in front of the rear tires and although I am not quite sure exactly how they are attached, using the levers as wing mirrors is a stroke of brilliance.

Down and dirty swivel-frame truck

If you have played any GTA V then you may well recognise this delightful scene by Pixel Fox. It’s a Dodge Power Wagon W300 with Swivel-Frame. The base is a LEGO box filled with real dirt and rocks — an unusual touch which elevates the model out of the ordinary. My favorite little detail is the Collectible Minifigure Spy rope piece used on the telephone pole.

Dodge Power Wagon W300 Swivel-Frame