About Rod

Rod likes building stuff, particularly steampunk and microscale. He's built for a number of the Dorling Kindersley LEGO books, including LEGO Play and the Awesome Ideas book. When he's not building, he writes, and has published a trilogy of old-fashioned adventure stories. To pay the bills he works in innovation and marketing for one of the world's biggest brewers, inventing new beers and ciders. This is clearly the best job in the world.

Posts by Rod

Come along and sing a song, and join the Mech Army

We’ve seen Disney-themed LEGO mecha before, but Julius von Brunk takes it to another level with this fearsome war machine piloted by everyone’s favourite corporate icon. Bristling with weapons, and stuffed full of attitude, Mickey’s newest ride is one intimidating hunk of junk.

I love the black greebling in the arms and legs, and the red shorts and heavy yellow feet are obvious highlights. But it’s the twin sensor arrays above the cockpit that lend this mech its signature style. Don’t miss this view of the famous pilot, nestled into his cockpit, sinister grin and thousand yard stare in full effect…

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Enter Sandpunk

If “LEGO Sandpunk” wasn’t a thing before, it totally is now thanks to this wonderful desert city scene from sweetsha. Windmills abound amidst the Middle-Eastern architecture, and there’s a nice sense of activity with the bustle of minifigs around market stalls. However, it’s the huge clock that dominates the townscape, creating an eerie collision between mysticism and technology. The whole thing is reminiscent of Stargate, but the transformation of the gate into a clock is a masterstroke, turning this into something all its own.

My only niggle with the model is the relatively plain studs-up base, which might have benefited from some added texture — pebbles, boulders, maybe a couple of plants. However, that’s a minor criticism of an otherwise well-built and interesting diorama. Check out this wider view to get the full effect of this creative build (and don’t miss the smart use of hot-air balloon pieces to create the onion dome on the foreground building on the left).

Thunderbird car is a fab one

I don’t care what anyone else says, FAB1 was the best of the Thunderbird’s vehicles — it’s a bright pink supercar with machine guns and an oil-slick dispenser! What’s not to love? The only thing that could make it better is some chibi LEGO styling — as delivered here by redfern1950s. The bubble cockpit, the stripe, the fun versions of Lady Penelope and Parker, all excellent. But the highlight for me? The stylish rake of that unmistakably Rolls-Royce front grille — utterly FABulous.

An Orc’s home is his castle

Get a sneak peek into the latest trends in Goblin decor right here! Logs, tentacles, and lengths of chain are all the rage this season — and no fortress wall is complete without a culvert gate spewing a stream of lava. Kingdomviewbricks keeps us all up to date on Orcish design in this fantastic LEGO scene. The bubbling river of hot death is a nice touch, but don’t miss the mix of old and new grey sloped bricks to create the barren landscaping of the base.

Wide-mouthed fighter will make you smile

A flying cement truck doesn’t sound like a great idea, yet Damien Labrousse has used LEGO’s concrete mixer parts to great effect in his Basking Shark Fighter. The gaping air intakes might grab your initial attention, but you’ll linger over the whip-smart colour scheme, and the wonderful angles of the rest of the fuselage.

The angular styling reminds me of the funky geometry of the fictional MiG-31 “Firefox”, from the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name, but it’s those massive engines which lend this little fighter a big character all of its own.

Explore the moon in this tin (tin) tank

What better way to explore the lunar surface than in a LEGO version of TinTin’s moon tank? Stefan Johansson has nailed Herge’s classic design, notable for its twin bubble cockpits upfront. The tank’s blue and grey colour scheme is accurate, and it’s making we wonder if the original comic strip from the 50s provided any inspiration for LEGO’s original Space theme? Stefan has included figures of Professor Calculus, the Thompson Twins, Captain Haddock, and TinTin himself, all clad in fetching orange spacesuits. All that’s missing is Snowy the dog popping his head up under one of the domes.

Who winds up the watchmen?

The LEGO watchmen stalk the streets, keeping their eye on a wary citizenry. Dwalin Forkbeard‘s sinister steam-driven sentinel would like to remind you that if you’re behaving in accordance with the law then you have nothing to fear from their oversight. This is great steampunk/clockpunk building. I love the use of the welding mask, the twin-barrel blasters as control sticks, and of course, the design of those fabulous spindly legs. But the highlight of this model for me is the wonderful streetlight.

Dwalin says he took inspiration from the Tallboys of the Dishonered videogame. I recognise this in some of the elements, but I also think this has a nice clanky style all of its own.

Mixing up the LEGO ingredients

Great LEGO building isn’t all spaceships and robots and Star Wars you know. Josiah N. cooks us up a beautiful domestic kitchen scene, which includes some excellent little touches. The rolling pin on the worktop, the white croissant as a curl of stray icing oozing from the pipe, and the classic design of the radio — all great. But the undoubted main attraction here is that mixer, and the clever use of an inverted knight’s helmet as the mixing bowl. Not just imaginative parts usage, it fits perfectly into the scene and looks fabulous.

Un-BEAR-able cuteness

The overwhelming cuteness of this red panda by Vitreolum might blind you to some of the great LEGO parts usage on display. Sure, it’s the chubby feet and the stripey tail that’ll catch your eye — but don’t miss the white croissants as bushy eyebrows, and the black Kepi cavalry hat for a nose! This is a cracking little model, somehow managing to be realistic but packed with cartoony character at the same time.

Court is in session. The verdict? Lovely

A Federal Constitutional Court building might not sound the most obvious inspiration for a LEGO creation. But the resulting microscale creation from Pascal Schmidt is just lovely. Designed by Paul Baumgarten, the original German building was one of the first truly modern court building, avoiding the traditional use of oppressive architecture designed to intimidate and impress. Pascal has perfectly captured the lighter, airy, Modernist feel of the structure. And those trees — fantastic.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful enmity

The relationship between Batman and The Joker has been the source of countless LEGO creations, not to mention the main theme of the recent LEGO Batman Movie. However, we don’t often see large-scale interpretations of where it all began, the confrontation between Batman and the leader of the Red Hood Gang at Gotham’s Ace Chemical Plant — as depicted in the classic graphic novel The Killing Joke. Once again Tim Lydy proves he’s a master of LEGO Batman creations, following up on his wonderful large-scale figures with this brilliant diorama.

I love what Tim’s done with the chemical tanks — their contents look suitably toxic. And the level of detail and greebling creates a fantastic impression of a working plant, full of pipes and valves and gauges. As soon as I saw the Red Hood figure in the Batman Collectible Minifig range, I knew someone would have a go at this scene. I’m just glad it was Tim — he’s certainly done it justice.

I think, therefore I tank

As the release of the live-action version looms, expect to see a bunch of LEGO creations inspired by Ghost In The Shell. However, all you would-be ThinkTank builders out there should beware, Pascal has cornered the market in cute-but-deadly styling for your favourite mecha design. The use of olive green and the tip-toe stance are nice, but it’s the neon burst of pink coupled with the stark backdrop which really makes this model stand out.