The winter 2014 LEGO Ideas results have been announced, and the next set will be the female minifigure set, which will be named “Research Institute.” Check out the video announcement below or read the full announcement on the LEGO Ideas blog.
Category Archives: Models
Horsemen of the post-apocalypse
Through the leaning pose of this futuristic rider, and the outstretched limbs of his steed, Hungarian builder and artist Kristof (legoalbert) manages to impart a beautiful sense of motion to this creation using relatively few bricks. It’s not hard to visualize the leaping gait of this long-legged robot as it efficiently navigates the obstacles of some other-worldly landscape.
But the poetic backstory to this figure really completes the piece and leaves me wanting to see more of the savage world in Kristof’s imagination:
“Dark cloaked shadow-men patrol the wilderness of the Afterworld, roaming around on their tall artificial mounts. Swiftly rushing trough the densest of the forests, zig-zagging on the streets of the dead cities, they’re only vulnerable to the Vultures of the Plain, out in the endless grassfields, where the Insectmen rule.”
Unitron Pushback
Everyone loves to build star fighters, and other space combat craft, or space racers, buy when was the last time you saw a truly utilitarian space creation? R. J. Waldman (*jwaldo*) seems to have recognized this gap, and brings us a pretty fantastic star port support vehicle. I’ve long been fascinated by the geometry of airport support vehicles, they really bring minimalist and ultilitarian aesthetics home. This creation does a great job of capturing that look, and it also includes a lot of cool details and play features. There are built in stairs and cabinets, and I really dig the grill riding platforms sticking off the back.
Fracture – a tale of two towers
I don’t build castles often, but I love looking at them, and what’s better than one castle? Two Castles… together! Castle uber builders Asimon481 and ZCerberus teamed up to create this wonderful 80 x 288 stud diorama:
It’s another great example of builders coming together to achieve awesomeness. The layout is actually comprised of three separate pieces that flow seamlessly together:
Check out some of the great details here.
Dragons in space
I’ve seen so many starfighter designs that it’s rare to see one that’s as unusual as this dragon-starfighter hybrid by BobDeQuatre. If you want to see more, check out other designs from the series that the builder calls Space Ninjas.
To steam-finity and beyond!
I’ve seen a lotta great steampunk flying machines and airships built from LEGO. But this is the first time I recall seeing anyone build a steampunk starship! Here we see the USS Steambucket by Tim Schwalf reaching for the stars, in a wonderful brick-built cloud of steam.
LEGO steampunk fans should really check out Tim’s Flickr stream. While there may not be a huge number of builds up there (yet), every one of them is a keeper.
Chicago or bust
So many great builders are gonna be exhibiting at Brickworld this year, I almost don’t know who’s work I’m most excited to see! But a series of busts by Tyler Halliwell (The Deathly Halliwell) will probably be somewhere near the top of the list. Check out this latest addition to his collection, the Sandman, from the Neil Gaiman comics (er, I mean “graphic novels”) of the same name:
And this suitably bling-y bust of Anubis, jackal-headed Egyptian god of the afterlife:
The ultimate Imperial Star Destroyer built from Lego, measuring over 2 meters long
Imagine the finesse of Jerac‘s spaceship building skills applied to a massive model: the result is this over 2 meter long Imperial Star Destroyer. It is the only large model of the ISD built using the SNOT technique. The result is a super smooth design that hardly looks like a Lego creation. Check out more photos on Jeraec’s Flickr photostream.
Check out this amazing edit by Jerac’s friend Migalart
Desolation
This landscape diorama by Patrick Massey (MassEditor) conveys a foreboding sense of emptiness and silence. The integration of the rocks and the tiered rise of the landscape is very skillfully made.
Pancakes can fly
In the thirties, before WW2, many aircraft were biplanes, powered by propellers and built using wood and canvas seemingly held together with bits of string. Not long after the war, all-metal jet- and rocket-powered planes were flying near the speed of sound. These rapid developments did not happen without a lot of experimentation. Some of those experiments produced decidedly odd-looking aircraft. Lino Martins (Lino M) is mostly known for building slightly wacky cars, but he has now built one of those wacky experimental aircraft instead.
The aircraft in question is the Vought V-173, popularly known as the Flying Pancake. It was built to test the viability of building a fighter aircraft using a low-aspect wing. This was expected to deliver relatively low aerodynamic drag, but with good low-speed handling. The concept worked, but the fighter that it was to lead to, known as the XF5U-1 Flying Flapjack (I kid you not), was overtaken (literally) by more modern jet aircraft. The idea may not have been a success, but as far as I am concerned, Lino’s model is.
Indistinguishable to the untrained eye
At first glance nothing seems out of the ordinary about this modern Japanese tram going about its business on the streets of Sapporo, Japan…
…until you realize it was built from LEGO! Flickr member 1103spa not only went the trouble of photographing the model “on site” in forced perspective, but also did a great job using stickers to complete the illusion. Here’s the reveal:
Schools out ... forever!
With Brickworld fast approaching, this means one thing for many of our younger readers: No more school!
While most students say they’re studying, Ordo has been working hard studying how his exams can be brick built. He celebrated each exam with a delightful little build:
Congrats Ordo!