Posts by Simon Friesen

A bull that only sees red

What kind of bull has 8 wheels, and can travel over 220 mph? The Eurosprinter Taurus, modeled in LEGO by Ties van Asseldonk (the designer of BDP Series 2’s Logging Railway)! I love LEGO locomotives and I gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that looked this smooth before. With the sloping and curves around the cabins and the fine details by the logo, you – like me – may be wondering how on Earth Ties pulled this off. Luckily for all of us, Ties has graciously posted the instructions and digital model on the Open L-Gauge website; a great little space for sharing LEGO train designs. Ties has put on a masterclass, here, and given away his secrets for free. And that’s no bull!

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A streetcar named...

Renfe got a lot of things right with the 446, but they got one incredibly important thing wrong and people gave it a nickname. So folks, allow me to present – made in LEGO by the expert Julián – the Renfe 446, nicknamed the dodotis, or “nappy”, for its lack of toilet facilities. Put that aside, though, and there’s plenty of great parts and techniques in this build. The ridge along the top of the train is covered in hinged train gates. With its magic wand windshield wipers, this motor car can survive any storm, but the conductor should still be careful; that meat cleaver mirror sure looks like a safety hazard!

In space, no one can hear you croak

Our amphibious friends have been making great leaps in the field of space travel, as shown by this LEGO model by Julie vanderMeulen. This ship, dubbed the Pond Hopper, was built to help frog-kind see if the water really is bluer on the other side of the wormhole. With a water-lily radar dish on the back, and gold accents throughout the build, any frog will be able to travel in style in a frog shaped cabin. So say it with me, folks: that’s one small step for a frog, one giant leap for froggy-kind!

Fish are friends, not fuel!

I like a heavy motorbike as much as the next guy, but there’s something a little fishy about this LEGO trike by Ian Ying! Maybe it’s the sharp blue-and-red custom color-scheme or the cold golden gleam of the engine (with many parts recolored to pearl gold), but something makes me feel like there’s jaws (and teeth!) closing in. Well, not to worry. With a ride this fast, you’re sure to leave the competition eating your bubbles!

When all you have is a hammer...

If you need to nail down how much great building you can fit into a little vignette, look no further than this fantasy LEGO scene by Cora! Lets start with the real main character of this build: hammers. Cora has created an deeply authentic piece of brickwork out of enough hammers to make Thor drool! As for character design, Cora has kit-bashed a great minifigure out of parts from a bunch of different action lines. And with all that heavy equipment, I do wonder whether the crocodile has delved deep to find this treasure, or if it’s the reason it’s lying there in the first place?

Well, well, well, what do we have here?

For a lot of treasure hunters, the real treasure was the great LEGO builds we found along the way! This build by Eli Willsea portrays a pair of adventurers delving deep into a empty desert ruin, but what it really shows off is a trove of fantastic building techniques! Down on the floor of the lost well the cracked tiles are made from the immensely useful cheese slope, but did you notice they’re embedded in 1x2x3 windows? On the back wall, Eli uses those windows again with minifigure brackets as decoration. Finally, if you take a look at the well itself, you’ll see that it’s a combination of cheese slopes and 1×1 bricks with sideways studs which fit so well inside an 8×8 dish!

A Bohemian Brick-sody Bash

If you ever wondered what goes on inside your speakers, have I got a LEGO build for you! This retro speaker cut-away by Martin K. spills the secrets of making minifigure music. In this scene, a singer and drummer are in the studio recording their new hit single as a producer and his adorable assistant manage the mixing console. Martin has done a fantastic job with that drum kit. They’re difficult to design authentically at this scale, but Martin makes it look easy! The drummer’s colors mean they side with the Space Police over the dastardly Blacktron, while the singer has ties to the Futuron faction. All I know for sure is they’ll have the out of this world sound of a space oddity!

Cyber-statue scrutinizes samsāra

If you need a place to say a prayer to the ghost in the shell or the god in the machine, look no further than this LEGO cyber-punk temple by Liu Di Kai! This holy site borrows pieces from a bunch of different LEGO action product lines. The building on the right is decorated with the heads of the Hero Factory villain Xplode, the swords higher up on that tower have been a staple of Ninjago since 2021, and the swords above the statue are from Monkie Kid 2023. Speaking of the statue, this one is modeled after Avalokiteśvara who was given eleven heads by Amitābha – in this case borrowed from C-3PO. What would you pray for at this statue? A sword? Cyber-shoes? I’d want some extra arms to play drums with!

The bricks afoot!

Picture a locked room, a dastardly crime, and a thief hiding amongst the guests and staff of a house full of secrets and you’ll get a scene exactly like this LEGO build by Sam J.J.! The characters in this build have found the secret staircase hidden behind a hinged bookcase, but they are still deceived! To save space on the build, Sam used forced perspective to give a flat series of bricks the appearance of a staircase running deeper into the walls of the house. While the minifigs focus on the staircase, let’s take in the rest of the build. The decorative sections on the wooden columns are mostly made from one, two, three bricks and seemingly a whole lot of friction. The table with its teacup is made from wands and book covers. And finally, the stained glass windows are made from turntable bottoms. Now back to our minifigures. Remember, when there’s a mystery, it’s always the butler who did it!

No such thing as an ugly duckling

If you need a little extra cuteness in your day, look no further than this LEGO art piece by Bert Van Raemdonck! I’d argue the strength of this build is all the subtle details. From the single stud for the cygnet’s nostril, the two tiny feathery tufts on its head, to the adorable little nub tail, all these things add up to be greater than the sum of their LEGO parts! Special mention needs to be given to the cygnet’s eye, as Bert has found the perfect piece for the job; a bicorne hat! Finally let’s talk colors. Bert has used light aqua for the swanling’s highlights, while on its other side the colors transition through gray and tan into yellow and bright light orange. With that, its time to wrap this up. I hope this cygnet signals a certain upswing in your day!

This build’s a barn burner!

If you’re ever in need of a emergency rescue, look no further than LEGO City’s finest as built here by Jordan Parmegiani! This firetruck is extremely well outfitted, with hatches containing a wide array of firefighting and rescue tools. Those hatches themselves are interesting. The large hatches were released in 1994 (making them just older than me) and were still in production in 2023, while the smaller hatches are originally from train sets released in 1991. Jordan has also made excellent use of official LEGO stickers in this build! The fire badge on the roof of the truck is lifted from a firetruck from 2013, and the large number 4 designation is from one from 2019. Even though this truck is called #4, I think it’s number 1 in our hearts!

Cruisin’ for a bruisin

TBB alum Mansur Soeleman is back with a heavy-duty LEGO cruiser that can dish it out with the best of them! Using only one technic plate, a slope, and two plates with bars, Mansur has built a gun turret that he’s peppered across the ship. I count seven visible, can you find more? Be sureake in all of the fascinating greebling between the armor panels on ship. And speaking of armor, gander at the tiny rounded indent just below the command deck, to the right of that turret. Mansur has added some extra texture using a pair of finger hinge pieces from yesteryear, likely to reverse the stud direction in the span of a plate. But, the star of the armor show is the 8x1x3 slope. Mansur has used six of them just on this half of the ship to create the angular and geometric paneling. With all of that done, all that’s left to say is “punch it”!

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