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.

Mad Misterzumbi

LEGO designer Adam Grabowski (Misterzumbi) is obsessed with cars. Adam has taken a break from posting photos of beat-up Fords to post some rather excellent custom LEGO cars from the Mad Max series of movies.

Adam isn’t afraid to sticker the heck out of his builds, nor to paint a brick here and there if it isn’t available in the correct color. The end result is gorgeous — Max’s Interceptor.

The Ford Landau from The Road Warrior is covered in paint, about which Adam says, “The paint will never come off. Those bricks are ruined.”

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The Value of a Piece

The_jetboy is taking the concept of a “seed part”* to a whole new level. He’s used a single piece, the wide track link, 92 times to create this crazy microscale citadel. It’s not often I find visually interesting models made of only one part type.

*A seed part is single part type that must be used in a model, ideally in a highly ingenious manner. “Seed Part” contests are a staple among fan sites. If you’re not as crazy as the_jetboy, you also use other parts in conjunction with the seed part.

Ride the big slab on a Yamaha Horizon

TBB virgin F@bz just finished a fabulous new motorcycle and he’s handing you the keys. Don’t let the custom stickers fool you; this is a 100% LEGO fuel injected suicide machine! If Neo-Tokyo really is about to explode, ride the shockwave in style with the Yamaha Horizon

To Land Upon A Foreign Shore

Sometimes relatively simple scenes can provide the most opportunity for showing terrific quality. Take, for instance, this beautiful diorama of the Roman invasion of Britain by James Pegrum (peggyjdb) which is really just a bit of shoreline with some soldiers. I’ve seen the trans-blue 1×1 round plates used as water many times, but James has made better use of it here than I’ve seen previously, adding waves and some flecks of green, and he also extends that technique to make an interesting gravel beach. James also puts in great little details such as the Romans wielding iron-tipped spears, while the barbarians fight with LEGO’s older, solid-color spears.

Functional LEGO Hand-Mixer

There is something that’s just plain awesome about LEGO creations that go beyond just looking cool and enter the realm of being full-on functional. In this case, hippotam‘s made the perfect gift for the kitchen-inclined AFOL in your life.

And yes, it totally works:

An old church in a quiet place

Kris_Kelvin loves dark red and textured walls, and his latest creation undoubtedly has both characteristics of his style. Check out this close-up view of the clock tower for a detailed look at the walls made out of plates.

Tower roof as a dragon’s head

Nick Sweetman (MinifigNick) followed advice from his 9 year old son to use the tower roof piece from the Harry Potter sets as the head of a dragon. It just so happens that the roof tile texture mimics the dragon’s scales and the exposed studs are right at where the dragon’s eyes should be – a classic example of NPU!

A new kind of water

Jonas (Legopard) returns to TBB with a new water technique that is sure to catch on with the hot weather crowd. In “Flooded Barrack“, the builder uses window “glass” supported by various plants and parts to simulate dihydrogen monoxide and the overall effect is very pleasing although no doubt a bit fragile in places. More than just a test bed for his new method, this model is also a nice study in how to build a structure that is abandoned or decayed. More photos are available on MOCpages.

The Lonely Tree

I spotted this the other day, and simply needed to share. There are some brilliant trees floating about in the general LEGO universe, and I love spotting techniques that add character, brilliance, and stand out amongst the others.

Enter the Lonely Tree, by Luke Watkins Hutchinson (Derfel Cadarn).

I love the way the tree twists and turns.

You can see more of his beautiful builds (landscaping, building detail, take your pick!) here!

Monochrome Ruins in LEGO

Recently the Polish LEGO club LUGPol ran a challenge to build a monochrome LEGO model. I think we can agree that Hippotam more than succeeded in meeting the challenge and making a great model with his “Destruction of Pompeii“. I’d like to see more people try building in just one colour.

The Spinning Wheel

It’s hard to find a meaningful way to move on here on our silly little LEGO blog in the face of complex world events. As a former resident of Boston who lived directly on the marathon route, my heart goes out to the city, to all my friends back in Massachusetts, and to the victims and their families — one of whom was an eight-year-old boy. One of the beautiful things we humans do in the face of evil is to refuse to allow it to rule our lives. So, despite the pain and sadness we all must feel, we’re going to move forward today.

During the non-violent campaign for India’s independence, Mohandas Gandhi used the spinning wheel as a symbol of Indian self-sufficiency and resiliency — a positive symbol in the face of evil oppression and cruel violence. Michael Jasper posted this yesterday before the bombings in Boston, but I think it’s a fitting LEGO model to highlight first as we push ahead.

As always, Michael uses LEGO elements in wholly unexpected ways; his spinning wheel includes magnets, bucket handles, robot arms, and Technic chain links.

Build Your Own MK1 Iron Man Armor!

CK Tsang (Chiukeung) has made a great little model of the Ironman Mark One Armor, with HK Lug. It’s a pretty great rendition of the first Ironman suit, at minifig scale. But that’s not all! He’s also made instructions, so you can build your own!