About Alexander

Alexander Alekseev is an active member of the Russian LUG since 2007. Linguist by education, he believes that LEGO pieces are the most effective mean of self-expression and communication between people.

Posts by Alexander

Beautiful Soviet spacecraft – now THIS is classic space

This year we celebrate 55 years since the first human spaceflight in history. Tyler takes on the role of a Soviet space program chief designer and commemorates the event in a stunning couple of spacecraft — Vostok-1 and Soyuz — classic craft from the early days of putting cosmonauts into orbit.

Take a moment to notice the choice of pieces. Pretty unpretentious, yet with ordinary slopes and wedges Tyler magically creates curved shapes of various diameters, which look fascinating even in plain grey colors. The aerials and dishes are especially heartwarming as they resemble the style of the legendary Discovery sets from 2003. What is so outstanding about the Soyuz model is the use of studs of various colors under trans-blue tiles — a simple and amazingly effective solution. These solar panels look even cooler than stickers from the said Discovery sets.

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Still planning your vacation? Go visit the Riviera!

Inspired by the cover of a book about a South European town, Andrew Tate created this very pearl of Mediterranean architecture. A mixture of European and Oriental elements and colors, a beautifully designed wedding shop and a careful cast of minifigures deserve the highest mark. With some minor changes one could even imagine this diorama as part of LEGO’s modular building series, providing city center residents with a view of the bay and a small yet neat quay.

Does this girl ring a bell for you?

I’m not sure what is delayice‘s secret, but ordinary bricks and slopes in his hands assume some extreme degree of cuteness. And even that creepy girl from the horror classic The Ring is crawling just to give you a hug and cuddle with you. Amazingly enough, the structure of the model is so simple and clear that anyone can repeat it by examining the picture. Thus, it’s another beautiful example of how great combinations of just a handful of pieces can be the best illustration of a builder’s talent.

Also be sure to check out this larger-scale version of The Ring girl we featured last Halloween.

This crane is here to lighten your Monday

Once you’ve flicked through Arjan Oude Kotte’s photo stream, be sure: You’ve seen the best of brick-built vessels. But every ship needs a harbor to tie up in, and where there’s a harbor, there are huge dock cranes. Arjan has just finished one, and this is not an ordinary crane. This one is a beautiful copy of a vintage iron giant from the 1900s. It is extremely realistic, including an amazing lighting system, which looks utterly charming.

Return of the Mack

Alexey Chukin, a talented young Russian builder, proudly presents the final result of a two month project – a stunning scale copy of Mack B75.

Extremely precise and well-balanced, the model is fully remotely controlled with Power Functions elements. While some truck builders might prefer placing the battery box right behind the cabin, Alexey has left it inside, just where the passenger’s seat is. It might be not the most elegant solution, but the smooth exterior of the cabin looks pretty neat as a result.

I’m not normally a big fan of non-original chrome parts, but in this case a gentle amount of chrome gives the truck a dazzling appearance. The whole album contains many more close-up details including the awesome custom Mack logo stickers on the rear splash guards.

Even old machinery can serve long when treated properly [Video]

One of the biggest dilemmas that LEGO builders face is choosing between impressive appearance and complex functionality of their creations. LEGO pieces, although offering an enormous number of combinations, still place huge limits on the functionality and mobility of models. That’s why hitting on a sweet build complete with a video of functions in action excites me like nothing else. One of the best Latvian builders, de-marco, whose works are always especially neat and aesthetically beautiful, has shared a small diorama of an old rusty rail-road crane by the loading area.

Click through to see this crane in action

Incredible PC motherboards made entirely of LEGO

As modern video games become more and more demanding in terms of hardware, no wonder getting the cutting edge component parts is a pressing problem. Recently, dueling LEGO builders produced a couple of brilliant microchips, and now it’s high time to get a proper motherboard for your high-end gaming station. Depending on your ambitions and budget, you can either go for the popular and reliable GIGABYTE G4M-XPZ by Tim Schwalfenberg…

…or opt for Jonas’ ultimate ASUS P9X79-E WS, which can be upgraded with up to 64 GB of RAM.

Give me space to build!

As February comes to an end, it brings us the final rovers of FebRovery 2016. Jon Blackford has probably got the most stylish couple of rovers in the whole galaxy.

Although, the flatbed’s curves may get all the attention (which they undoubtedly deserve), be sure to have a look at the loader’s arms — a beautiful example of how to get an impressive result with just a few plain gray pieces.

A proper starship to go bounty hunting all across the galaxy

There is definitely no proven recipe for an awesome starship. Sometimes it’s all about huge size and sometimes the color scheme is what amazes people the most. But the latest NovaFire by TBB alum .Tromas somehow achieves a brilliant result by just putting the right pieces in the right places — otherwise, I can’t tell why this ship looks so cool.

The modified Sienar-FS SL-75e Logistics Mule (as TR calls it) looks pretty heavy, but not overladen. This balance is particularly hard to maintain, and this time deserves applause.

Moreover, NovaFire includes a cargo pod which was modified to become a prison cell. This playability feature makes the model even more nifty. And I already know which minifigs I’d put inside to help them escape!

If you can’t hang with the big dogs, you stay on the porch!

Here is an adorable couple of Chihuahuas by delayice to celebrate the start of the weekend. Take a moment to note how adorably grotesque both dogs are and how recognizable the overall shape is. How can one not fall in love with these silly eyes and enormous ears?

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it

Not all LEGO creations are built with the goal of becoming world-famous masterpieces. Some models are created simply to share a couple of neat building techniques. This is one special category where you can come across some particularly brilliant exhibits, which have nothing to do with huge dioramas or horribly complicated mechanisms, but which still demand your attention. And Jonas Wide‘s Oleander house is exactly that kind of build.

I imagine most of us have tried building a shabby brick wall at least once. About 10 years ago it was a fairly difficult task. But with the arrival of dark red plates and bricks with masonry patterns, even a beginner can now manage some authentic-looking walls for their town or fortress. But Jonas throws some multi-layered techniques into the mix, to make it look as if the wall gradually deteriorated over the years. Simply beautiful, isn’t it?

Porsche 911 GT3 has never looked so good

Building iconic sport cars is especially challenging due to a limited number or ways one can use to make the model recognizable. Moreover, eventually thousands of versions from different builders simply start to repeat one another. But Malte Dorowski sets the bar with the first photo of his album devoted to the new model of Porsche 911 GT3.

I think I would have left Malte’s car unnoticed if it wasn’t for an astonishing picture of the detailed inside. Detailed brake calipers, engine and red roll cage are truly outstanding and look a lot like those in collectible scaled models of cars.