Prolific Australian builder Karf Oohlu (aka Fedde Barendrecht) makes use of the still relatively-new “macaroni pipe” piece to create a twisty bendy pipey masterpiece of greebling. I have no idea what this piece of equipment does, but I imagine it makes some immensely pleasing gurgling noises when it’s operating. Aside from the piping, the use of engine turbine inserts placed back-to-back makes for an effective gasket – I’ll be stealing that for my own models.
LEGO is prepping for the influx of new sets (such as the Star Wars: The Last Jedi LEGO sets revealed yesterday) by slashing prices for the weekend on a wide range of current sets in the LEGO Shop Online. Most of the prices are dropped by about 20%, but this includes a few hard-to-find sets such as Arkham Asylum (which we reviewed) and the Winter Toy Shop that are more difficult to snag on sale. The sale should begin Saturday and run through Sunday.
The inn — an essential location in any half-decent fantasy tale. Where would your adventurers be if they didn’t have a good tavern to bed down in, get drunk in, hear gossip in, and get into fights in? titus.verelst‘s Grand Griffon is an impressive creation, with nicely-built Tudor-style panelling, and landscaping which adds detail and a sense of place without distracting from the central building.
This builder is on something of a roll with the fantasy creations at the moment. I really liked this detail shot from another model, showing an armourer at work in a side-street of a bustling town. It’s great when LEGO builders get their cameras down and close, creating minifigure eye-level scenes like this…
I don’t know much about the DC Superhero universe beyond the recent movies, but I do know this scene by Andrew Cookston is masterfully constructed. I love the use of the tooth plate pieces as icicles, while the placement of Batman (have you spotted him yet?) lurking in the shadows, just out of focus, is perfect. I viewed the photo a few times before I noticed him!
The presentation overall is outstanding — fantastic photography, with a wonderful focus, good lighting, and smart steam effects.
This astonishing golden temple is one of seven new additions to the Piece of Peace World Tour, opening this week in Singapore. This display of amazing builds features the Haw Pha Bang temple in Laos, built masterfully by Singaporean Eugene Tan. The builder toiled on this labour of love for over 90 hours from start to finish and used an estimated total of 13,000 bricks.
While I admire the exquisite detailing, it’s worth highlighting that the real challenge behind this majestic temple is the adornment of gold, a color that LEGO does not offer a very broad palette of elements to work with. Stay tuned for our coverage of the UNESCO World Heritage Exhibition for more amazing places in the world imagined in LEGO.
This month I am taking part in the ABS Builder Challenge against Legofin, Julien Andries, and Aaron Newman, all of which have already built more than two creations using the minifigure handheld fan seed part. I am a little behind, as this submarine is only my first entry to the contest. However, I think the extra time was well spent, as I am very happy with how the build turned out. It uses the fan part a total of 12 times, 16 including those used on the fish as fins. Four of these are used as an intake, barely visible on the bottom of the cockpit.
Eight are used on the back as the fins on the propellers:
I probably should have saved the fish for a separate entry, since this is such a hard part to find uses for, but they fit so well here and added a lot to the photo, I just couldn’t resist.
Today we’re getting our first official look at LEGO’s initial wave of sets for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If the release schedule follows that of Rogue One and The Force Awakens, the sets will hit store shelves in September. We don’t have part counts or prices yet, but you can check out what the First Order and Resistance have been getting up to with a host of new ships. While all of these sets will be available before the movie’s release, those keen on avoiding all spoilers may want to look with a guarded eye. We’ll just leave you with this awesome Ultimate Collector’s Series-style BB-8 above the fold, and you can see all the sets below.
This microscale scene is instantly recognizable: the Great Sept of Baelor in Kings Landing from HBO’s Game of Thrones, built by Antonio Cerretti. It’s so lovely to have a reminder of the Sept’s beauty and splendor. It’s a shame it’s no longer a location seen anymore – at least, not in the way pictured here. The other homes and buildings are simple and easily identifiable. The fountain and statue using the white horn stands out, and the textured brick for the steps makes it clear just how much of a hill the building sat on.
Have you ever watched someone blow glass? It takes patience, persistence, and a good helping of being able to move on when your gorgeous work of art crashes at the last moment. It happens a lot, by my understanding. Builder mike m. has presented us a brick-built workshop, in a scale we don’t often see: Technic figures! The use of Hagrid’s hair works really well, and allows for such detail with the tools and glass.
Machiya are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. This LEGO version of a machiya by Dan Blom is a great example of a seemingly simple build that really looks the part. The key architectural details like the barred window, known as mushiko mado [literal translation is ‘insect cage window’] and the wooden lattice façade are accurately represented. These days most roofs are covered with clay tiles called kawara, and Dan has left the LEGO studs exposed to give the impression of neatly arranged, rough tiles.
The addition of some extra little details such as the cart, the various items outside the front of the house and the ancient-looking tree complete the scene perfectly.
Heritage houses are wonderful older styled buildings with a typical façade that can be found dotted around many locations in Malaysia. Vincent Kiew has created a beautiful LEGO heritage house complete with detailed interior. I love the façade with its wooden louvre shutters and architectural decorations above the arched windows. The use of a mix of white and older yellowed white bricks really adds to the ‘antiquated’ appearance. The same slightly worn down appearance is provided by the mix of colours in the main left hand side of the house with light grey, white and the odd sand green brick as an aesthetic colour scheme.
Vincent has created a detailed interior for the house, complete with kitchen, living room, bedroom, study, toilet and more. The build is an accurate representation of a typical house and is structurally sound despite being made of LEGO.
It’s worthwhile taking a closer look at all the fantastic interior details that have been added. Most of the interior decorations and furniture are made of wood or stone with some lovely artistic details.
If you liked Vincent’s heritage house, you may also enjoy his LEGO recreation of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown that we featured last month.
Love or hate Brickheadz, seeing the community create their own versions of characters has been a treat (see our recent roundup of some recent good ones). And now builder tommilorenzo has given the blocky treatment to Thor. Although, this is the more classical version of Thor, and not the more recent Marvel incarnation you’ve seen in the newest Ragnarok trailer.
