About Lino

Lino is an artist, humorist, and occasional responsible adult. He is the co-founder of a challenge-based LEGO car club called LUGNuts which boasts over 1100 members worldwide. He proposed automotive building challenges every month for ten years (120 challenges!) which he and the other members built accordingly. LUGNuts has retired its challenges on its 10th anniversary but still remains a cornerstone for LEGO automotive builders. Between his artistic work and LEGO builds, Lino has been published in several books, including Beautiful LEGO, Beautiful LEGO: Dark, and Beautiful LEGO: Wild. He lives in Washington with his girlfriend and dogs.

Posts by Lino

The Star Wars N-1 Starfighter before it was made famous-er

While it is true we all soiled our collective Beskar pants at the awesomeness that is The Mandalorian’s new hot-rodded N-1 Starfighter, it’s nice to see someone show a little love for the original version. Ciamosław Ciamek has rendered a handsome LEGO N-1 in its original yellow and gray (chrome if you squint) color scheme. Artoo sits in his Astromech station while cute little Anakin pilots the craft before he got all huge and brooding. It’s certainly one of the more stand-out designs from the Clone Wars era.

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There’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow this St. Patrick’s Day

LEGO builder Dan Ko wishes us all good luck and fortunes on this St. Patrick’s Day. I checked my lineage and I’m Portuguese, French-Canadian, Polish, and Ukrainian. No Irish. No matter our heritage we can still appreciate the neat techniques used to construct this lucky leprechaun. If it’s alright with everyone I may still have a healthy pour of Jameson later and toast in honor of all my Irish friends. And if anyone kisses me today thinking I’m Irish, then I’ll just smile, raise my glass, and take it all in stride. If you celebrate the occasion, then Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and yours.

A space baby on a mission with with a porpoise

Well, LEGO builder Tim Goddard has just checked pretty much all the boxes that spell The Brothers Brick success. He’s got an adorable baby with a Classic Space onesie, a spaceship shaped like a dolphin, and great parts usage. I think this means we’re contractually obligated to feature it. It says so in the Ancient Doctrines, somewhere in the back. Probably. We simply overload y’all with cuteness, then call it a day. It makes my job easier, really. Thanks, Tim!

Call of the West

Saddle up because it’s time to head west! Douglas Hughes’ new LEGO covered wagon just may be the best way to make it happen. He tells us this ain’t one of those big fancy swoopy-looking conestoga wagons you may have seen in the old Westerns. It’s a farmer’s wagon, which apparently was preffered by settlers as these smaller more nimble wagons get through rough and muddy terrain without bogging down. Makes sense, really. Be sure to hunker down and check out these other creations by Douglas Hughes that also makes a lot of sense to our logical minds.

It’s best to keep an eye on this one

A LEGO builder who goes by the uncanny name of Iggs is a person of few words, all of them cryptic, shadowy, and kinda creepy. About this Lord of Many Eyes creation, he tells us “That which collects eyes will set sight on many…” The three dots at the end was his inclusion, probably for dramatic effect. And what a dramatic creation this is! I’m loving the foreboding nature of this totally creeptastic figure. Iggs’ words are a bit shadowy indeed but hold plenty of truth. The same can be said for anything, really. It’s kinda like me with Hot Wheels cars or, since we’re here talking about adult LEGO builders, and LEGO. This wouldn’t be the first time Iggs made us think whilst also giving us the heebie-jeebies a little. Click the little blue link (if you dare!) to see what I mean.

Behold the elegant Dracomata

Sometimes a LEGO creation comes along in which even the most jaded of us are compelled to stop what we’re doing and just take it all in. This is the case with LEGO Masters contestant Michael Kanemoto and this piece simply called Dracomata. Michael tells us this took roughly eighty hours over a two-week period. He goes on to say this clip and bar construction boasts almost no typical LEGO stud connections. The end result is something akin to Victorian Clockwork. Maybe that is why the overwhelming feeling you get is to just stop and take it all in. Even the non-LEGO pedestal enhances the experience, giving museum-like quality to this piece.

My passages are normally flooded with jokes and puns but this piece has me lost for words but in a good way. This is becoming one of those “I’m just gonna leave this here” moments so I’ll do just that and allow the breathtaking closeup to speak for itself.

I just can’t contain myself!

You have to admit, container homes have been a hot topic as of late and I’ve admittedly watched a few guided tours of them on Youtube. Are they well insulated? Can I still have a vast LEGO room if I lived in one? What about an art room? And a crafts room? These are all questions I don’t yet know the answers to but it doesn’t make me any less intrigued. Tong Xin Jun may be able to answer those questions for me. This little container home looks pretty fabulous. It’s a simple two-story affair with an inviting front porch and a covered stairway chock full of neat build techniques.

Around the back, the panels are removed to see how container living might look from the inside. That cozy sofa and TV just might be calling my name.

Like a good bra, this rover lifts and separates

The orange brick separator is so ubiquitous that, as I write this, I’m less than two feet from one now. It keeps staring at me like it knows I’m writing about it. If you bought a LEGO set of at least $50 or any Ideas set of any price, chances are you have at least one Brick Separator too. Joey Klusnick has upscaled the Brick Separator and made it a feature in this clever rover. If you’re on a wicked cool space journey and suddenly have to pry up some LEGO this rover would suit your needs nicely. Others, including Joey, have used the Brick Separator in their builds. Click the little blue link to see what I mean.

Getting baked with the Ovenger

This new LEGO creation by famed film director Angus MacLane may appear, at first glance, to be just an ordinary oven.

But mistaking it for common cookery may be your undoing as it is more than it seems. Behold the Ovenger! It opens to reveal itself to be a suped-up spaceship featuring Pvt. Extra Crispy, the baked-to-golden-perfection pilot of this uncanny ship. And like much of what Angus MacLane has been building lately, it has a missile bay. Because of course it does!

Got anything that needs tormenting? Cuz I’m The Tormentor. It’s what I do.

My little brother may have described me The Tormentor in the 80s because I might have convinced him that the president was going to send missiles to our house if he wasn’t a good boy. In my defense, Your Honor, it was the 80s and, with plentiful stock footage of MX Missiles on TV, it was easy to convince him of self-caused, yet hilarious impending doom. Plus he was a toddler and toddlers just aren’t cool. So, one could argue, that he really had it coming. While you’re mulling over that legal defense check out this LEGO creation by Titolian. It’s called The Tormentor and apparently it’ll be featured in the game Destiny II: Lightfall.

The rockstar and her 5-star cabin

Somehow famed LEGO builder Jaap Bijl has made a non-food-related creation look downright delicious. It likely has everything to do with that sweet and refreshing color scheme. I’m imagining the flavors of strawberry ice cream and lemon sherbet. Do they go together? I just might be willing to find out! Aside from seeming dastardly delicious, this cabin is chock full of amazing build techniques. I love the smoke emanating from the chimney (it’s a white serpent!) as well as the gold scorpion nearly hidden among the filagree along the roofline. The chef’s kiss probably goes to the multitude of walkie-talkies making up the thatched roof. I love the musician’s lute but that hair-like lovely cotton candy! I feel like I could stay in this cabin forever but I just might be tempted to take a bite out of the wall just to see if it’s as delicious as I imagine.

A missile bay for every appendage

When Angus MacLane isn’t basking in the glory of being the director of the Lightyear movie he’s a LEGO builder, just like the rest of us. But unlike the rest of us, he basks in the glory of being the director of Lightyear and an all-around big-wig for Pixar. That’s how fame works! Now that that’s all perfectly clear, he took the Robot Warrior from the Series 24 Collectable Minifigures and gave it the mech treatment. He enhanced the arms and legs and gave it some cool wings because, in case you’re still following along, that’s how the mech treatment works. I love the dark green and dark pink color scheme which makes it seem like something that is both somehow healthy to eat and sickeningly sweet. It doesn’t hurt that this mech has, what we’ve all admittedly wanted for ourselves, a missile bay for every appendage. Totally badass!