Category Archives: Building Techniques

Not sure what SNOT is? Want to learn innovative new ways to create awesome LEGO models of your own? Peruse our posts about LEGO building techniques to pick up tricks & tips from the best.

In space no-one can hear you rust

One of the more notable Maschin Krieger inspired builds from this year’s Ma.Ktober fest is probably the Baumeister Spinnentier, a “construction arachnid” style zero-G hardsuit, created by Canadian builder Josh Derksen.

Clearly the break-out technique Josh has used here is the application of paint to give the model a rusted look (…yes it rains in space, deal with it!). Using paint to artificially ‘weather’ LEGO is something I’ve wanted to do myself for a long time, but have not yet been man enough to attempt. But Josh totally nails it with this creation. Check out his full breakdown to get a look at all of its finer details and play features (which include poseable arms and pincers, and an openable cockpit).

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Stickering 101 – the magic tutorial

Applying stickers used to be something my dad would do for me when I built sets as a kid, and seems to be far less common in today’s adult builds. But anyone paying attention to the space builders this past year has seen a steady rise in stickering, especially in the micro-sized builds. Enter Jacob Unterreiner (4estFeller). We’ve seen him a few times here on this blog but I don’t think we’ve really seen him like this:

That’s a pretty amazing stickering job. But look at it closer, that’s a micro GARC and is only 11×5 studs! Feels a lot bigger, eh? He’s taken stickering to the next level and really able to skew the sense of scale with his intense stickering. By my count (assuming symmetrical stickering and no stickers on the bottom) I found 54 stickers! That’s probably 2-3 times the usual sticker sheet size for a 1000 piece LEGO set.

But dear reader, you might be asking yourself, how does he achieve such wonderful results? Thanks to our friends at Build Like a Boss who have been running a series of tutorials on everything from advanced bricklink buying, building frames or bases, and of course stickering:

You can check out the awesome three part sticker tutorial series:
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Loholt Manor

Luke Hutchinson is one of the current top medieval builders and this creation shows why. This is a build that he built nearly a year ago and never posted because he didn’t feel it was quite right. The majority of builders just post whatever they make as soon as it is done. Letting a build sit for a time and then coming back to it later can give you a much better perspective. I call it letting a build ‘age’. Another sign of Luke’s build skill is the standard to which he holds himself. This build wasn’t posted originally because there were a number of aspects with which he wasn’t happy. A good builder doesn’t build to get the “Wow, awesome build!” comments but should be pushing themselves to ever greater things. Do I think this build is striking? Yes, I do. The unique colors, mixed with Luke’s trademark roof profiles and textured walls really make this pop for me. But I’m also very happy to see that Luke is willing and able to self-critique and push himself to a higher level. Well done, sir!

The LEGO Neighborhood Book [Review]

No Starch Press, known as the purveyors of many LEGO books written by LEGO fans, recently sent me a copy of their latest book exploring our favorite hobby, The LEGO Neighborhood Book. Written by brothers Brian and Jason Lyles, it explores the City Modular standard through pre-built creations, architectural techniques, and model instructions. The 204-page book is 8″x8″ with a high-quality soft cover, and the glossy pages with great color representation we’ve come to expect from books about LEGO.

Continue reading →

I’m just here for the gasoline

The LEGO company seems to be onto a good thing putting out sets based on iconic cars from classic movies such as Back to the Future and Ghostbusters. So I think they should make this a series! In which case, they can begin by studying this amazingly accurate Interceptor from the movies Mad Max and The Road Warrior by Marcus Paul…

And after that, they can get to work on an Aston Martin ;-)

Friday Night Fights – Say Cheese!

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada, USA for another round of Friday Night Fights! Tonight we’re going a bit cheesy – cheese wedges that is. Our contenders have been throwing around the cheese all month, posting a build a day using the humble Slope 30 1 x 1 x 2/3. Let’s go to the tale of the tape.

In the blue corner, we have Grant Davis who gives us a brilliant rendition of Chinese Checkers:

In the red corner, we have Eli Willsea who give us one of the coolest cheese wedge floor mosaics I’ve seen in awhile:

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding who’s the cheesier builder by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, Steampunk Rifles, Monster wins 9-1. Tune in next week for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights!

Beautiful realism

This power plant office by LegoJalex is a simple and realistic creation with believable details. On a more subtle note, the tactful use of colors contributed much to this creation’s appeal. Some examples include the dark orange tiles on the smokestack, the yellow caution sign, the black stripe at the bottom of the building, and of course the blue door.

Microscale map of the city of Copenhagen

Ulrik Hansen displayed this micro layout of Copenhagen at LEGO World 2014. From a glance, you see a mesmerizing array of structures typical of a microscale city. On a closer look, you’ll be impressed by the skillful techniques used to create the angled roads. The gallery on Flickr with detail shots is a must see.

LEGO Melbourne 1972... and a quick message from our sponsors

For the third time (previous ones here and the supremely talented here), Michael Pianta (scruffulous) and I teamed up to present a 1972 era diorama at Brickvention 2014 based on the railroads of the great state of Victoria, Australia.

This time we chose our most urban setting yet in the APM Paper Mill in suburban Melbourne alongside some of its neighbouring suburbia. As usual, our goal was to create as realistic a display as possible, under the limitations of our collaboration (I fly my contribution in) with the specific targets of creating: 1) plausible landscaping, flora and fauna, 2) minimal gridding and, 3) realistic roads and rail. I’m happy enough with it to think we hit the targets.

On a sadder note, I’m using this flagrantly self-promotional post to announce my resignation from TBB as a writer/editor/curator/whatever the latest hip term for it is. After many years sharing my love of LEGO with you all, I need to focus my time and energies on other things. I even hope to start building more models again, although I’m not threatening that too strongly. I happily extend my thanks to Andrew, Josh, my co-bloggers new and old, and especially our readers for the fabulous time I’ve had here.

I’m a recovering Sortophobe. [Editorial]

I have always been the first one to admit that I have an intense fear of sorting LEGO elements. Spiders? Confined spaces? Heights? HA! I laugh in their faces!! But you set a big ol’ pile of random ABS in front of me with some empty drawer units and I start to hyperventilate, my palms start sweating and I get all twitchy.

Well, ok maybe I am just a lazy procrastinator who would rather play with LEGO than organize it, but I am still going to play the sortophobia card.

But there is light at the end of this cluttered tunnel…yesterday I took my first steps on the road to my sorted recovery. But before I get into that, I will give you a bit of a background.

When my wife and I moved into our house, I attempted for the first time to sort my LEGO. But like the rookie that I was I made a crucial mistake and sorted my entire collection by colour. It was hard enough to find a yellow headlight brick in a giant bin of bricks, let alone trying to find one in the bottom of a drawer that only contained yellow elements. So basically my three or four weeks of sorting were wasted and I started re-sorting it all into part type to better fit my style of building. Well that was 8 years ago and I haven’t really stopped sorting since. I would say that about 2 years ago I was approximately 85-90% fully sorted and organized. And I have been on a steady decline since.

Fast forward to 2013 and things got really bad. I hit my rock bottom. Readers may remember my AFOL’s guide to having a newborn. In particular point #1. I have learned over the preceding 10 months, that #1 is #1 for a very good reason! I didn’t really slow down the level of production of my builds, but my efficiency with build time had certainly been affected. Then I just became really lazy and made zero effort to stay organized. My LEGO collection basically became an un-useable mess of cluttered drawers and overflowing shelves. It took ages to build a simple model and believe it or not, it even started to take the fun out of building.

Well 2014 is a new year, and I intend to get my butt organized! Not only to increase the ease of building, but also for my wife’s sanity. We now have three, going on 4, LEGO maniacs in our house and I can only see this getting worse if I don’t nip it in the bud now. So that is where my steps on the road to recovery come in. What were they you ask? Simple. I dumped everything into a big ass tub.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tromas/12041865164/

And I have to say, it felt really good to do that. For the first time in 8 years, I am actually looking forward to sorting. It’s a brand new year and my future is looking bright and organized!

26.5 kg (58.5 lbs.) of un-sorted LEGO never looked so good!

The Dark Lord and His Ring of Power

Looking more like a movie still than a traditional brick sculpture, I had to look twice at this beautiful image by David Hensel (Legonardo Davidy) to be sure that it was, in fact, completely LEGO. Making wonderful use of his fantastic building skills and some great forced perspective techniques, this is one of David’s best models so far.

Ed Roth’s Rat Fink recreated in LEGO by Adam Grabowski

Adam Grabowski (misterzumbi) is usually quite laconic in his posting, so you can tell he’s excited about his latest LEGO work by the length of the accompanying prose. In short, he has recreated the famous Rat Fink by Ed Roth. And he’s done so with the help of some paint to make sure he got RF as close to source as he possibly could. Enjoy!