About Keith Goldman

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Posts by Keith Goldman

Version #5 – Audi.TW’s Savoia S.21 from Porco Rosso

Stephen 趙(Chao) (obscurance) makes his first appearance since 2009 on this venerable blog, with this gorgeous “Savoia S.21“. The S.21 is a fictional seaplane / fighter that appears in the anime Porco Rosso, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

According to Wikipedia: “While the plane depicted in the film never existed, Savoia was an actual Italian aircraft maker which produced a considerable number of flying boats in the 1920s, during which the film is set. An actual Savoia S.21 even existed, though the fictional one does not closely resemble it—the Cant.Z 501 “Seagull” is probably the closest real-life match. As a matter of fact, Hayao Miyazaki is said to have drawn his Savoia S.21 from his childhood memories of Macchi M.33.”

Constant readers of the blog will no doubt be familiar with this model, as 4 outstanding builders have taken a shot at the Savoia over the years. When I discovered how often the Savoia had been featured I was tempted to send the draft to the trash can, but I enjoyed seeing the unique approach used by each builder over the years and hope that you will too.

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There’s more than meets the eye at this Swedish power plant

Sweden’s Lego.Skrytsson is providing the power for Saturday’s broadcast with his “Transformer” diorama. Gabriel brings the substation to life with accurate detail and just the right amount of minifig action to keep it interesting and provide some color. The varied textures help to overcome the necessarily monochromatic style, and the overall result is both pleasing and a nice respite from the mostly violent dioramas I come across while looking for models to blog.

Friday Night Fights (Round 4)

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another bruising edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout features two up and coming fighters in the always contentious Bantamweight division. Let’s go to the tale of the tape:

Fighting out of the red corner…from somewhere between heaven and hell…Nooreuyed and his “Teatro“.

And fighting out of the blue corner…The pride of Rockford College, Illinois…Julius No and his “Plastic Prison“.

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the judges scored the fight 4-2 in favor of Andy the D-Town Cracka

Friday Night Fights would also like to thank Chris Maddison (cmaddison), who is in the fight of his life against Bruce Lowell, for contributing to tonight’s broadcast.

Random Octangent

I’m not sure what got into him, but .Jake jumped up and built himself a SHIP. The Random Octangent is truly unlike any large-scale spacecraft I’ve seen, mostly because the builder has thoughtfully included a full-service gas station welded to the top. The fuselage faintly echoes the collected works of Mike Yoder, but with Jake’s own asymmetric spin on the design and a classic livery from everyone’s favorite petro-chemical company. If you’re a fan of a good SHIP, take the time to check out the full set, especially the rear end.

See…I like British Sci-Fi. Dr. Whooligans!

“Three hundred against ten thousand!”

I can’t think of another licensed theme that has inspired more epic dioramas than Lord of the Rings. You can add one more to the list with GOEL KIM’s interpretation of the battle of Helm’s Deep. The builder doesn’t have much to say, other than the diorama is 90% finished and contains 1700 minifigs. I deliberately selected this photo because although many of the others show the grandeur of the diorama, they also show the garage. It’s a nice garage, I have nothing against it, but it does detract from the grandeur of some of the long-shots. The size of the project makes it inherently difficult to photograph, and I’m sure the final presentation will be improved, but fans of LOTR should enjoy the rough-cut nonetheless.

Bionicle Lives!

Even though the product line died out in 2010, there is still a determined tribe of builders who keep the flame alive. Case in point is this fine bio-mechanical death-knight from Bio Master. The model is a kick-ass fusion of System, Bionicle and Hero Factory components, and some top-notch photography by the builder really makes the trans-red accents stand out.

Take the ferry to Port aux Basques

Jason Allemann (True Dimensions) collaborated on this eye-catching microscale model simply titled “Maritime Fishing Village“. Based loosely on the Newfoundland town Port aux Basques, the builders manage to pack in a nice variety of color to help make each building seem unique.

Hopefully Jason will enter this into the pool for consideration for TBB’s monthly Facebook cover photo, as it fits the criteria pretty well.

“Avalonian lords, not the sort of people you mess with...”

legonardo Davidy makes the first of what will no doubt be many appearances on this humble blog with an inspired build he calls “Receiving orders“. The model is part of the Guilds of Historica fan-theme that features great builds from a variety of builders that should be familiar to constant readers. The angle of the roof is what originally attracted me to the thumbnail of this model, but there is fine detail around every corner of this amazing structure.

More photos are available by following the GoH link.

Fahrvergnügen!

May the 4th be with you, today is Star Wars Day where nerds across the planet strap on their lightsabers and celebrate the brainchild of George Lucas. In that spirit TBB is proud to present a model by LEGO Design Lead Craig Callum and posted by designer Mark Stafford (lego_nabii), that shows what happens when the good folks at Kuat Drive Yards conspire with Volkswagen.

Friday Night Fights (Round 3)

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout is a classic tale of David vs. Goliath with State bragging rights on the line. Let’s go to the tale of the tape:

Fighting out of the red corner…from the badlands of Wisconsin…Andy the (D-Town Cracka) and his “ZSU-23-4V1 ‘Shilka’”

And fighting out of the blue corner…also from the Badger State…Brian (mondayn00dle,) Kescenovitz and his “Dreamstalker”

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the judges awarded Miguel “Rocket” Reizinho (MReizinho) a 5-1 victory for the savage pummeling he gave his opponent.

Friday Night Fights would also like to thank InkBlotPhoto for contributing to tonight’s broadcast.

Call THEO

When your brightly colored pointy spaceship breaks down on the side of the intergalactic superhighway and you’re not even sure where the gas-cap is, don’t panic, just call THEO. Brought to you by TBB newcomer Galaltek, the THEO series of space-tugs can get you out of a jam in no time flat. I really enjoyed the use of TIREs, which according to the builder, stands for “Totally Integrated Repulsion Emitters” for safe pushing of space freighters or barges. Enjoy this microscale delight.

“Go Ugly Early”

According to the Urban Dictionary, to “go ugly early” is to admit to oneself that you will not pull a good looking woman not matter how long you hang around the night club. You always end up taking the least attractive option anyway, so why not just “go ugly early” and get it over with. To a military aviator, however, there is a whole different meaning to the phrase. The saying has been associated with the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) in reference to calling the durable plane in early to support troops in ground combat. The builder responsible for this slick rendition is Australian (JustOneMoreBrick), who also has a very cool model of an F/A-18F Super Hornet if you’re interested.