There is a LEGO Zoids contest on at the moment, and Garry (Garry_rocks) has virtually build himself a doozy of an entry in Ultraterius. Not sure if this can be built for real in blue, but I’d happily accept it in a grey or yellow.
Category Archives: Models
“I know nut-zing!” Awesome LEGO Hogan’s Heroes diorama by Brian Williams
Brian Williams (BMW_Indy) is back making awesome dioramas. This time he’s cooked up this excellent cube of goodness from Hogan’s Heroes, one of my all time favorite TV shows. There’s everything from Carter’s underground chemistry lab to the hidden antenna in the flagpole. You’ll have to inspect the barracks more thoroughly than Schultz, but you might just recognize some great nods to specific episodes. Plus Brian has outfitted the whole thing with lights, so it looks great in photographs. Note the cool textures on the walls using the antistuds on the backs of plates, and the edges of wedge plates for the rough-hewn walls of the tunnel network.
If you don’t want to click through the photos individually, check out this slideshow Brian made:
Beware the Batman
Chris McVeigh (powerpig) is no stranger to The Brothers Brick, having been featured multiple times for his lovely models and photography.
He’s started a new series of brick-based sketches, inspired by markers as an art medium. I love the stylistic design and presentation. This particular one features a comic-book staple, the iconic Batman:
Other sketches include Boba Fett and Wolverine. I’m excited to see whoever is next!
Soviet armor forged in the Arsenal of Democracy
Thanks to having run out of LEGO track (I can’t wait for Brickmania Track Links), I’ve been forced to build something with wheels. Between June 1941 and September 1945, the United States delivered 400,000 Jeeps and trucks, 12,000 armored vehicles, 11,400 aircraft, and 1.75 million tons of food to the Soviet Union as part of the Lend-Lease Program. The US often reserved the latest arms and armor for its own armed forces, and older or obsolete designs ended up on ships to the USSR to fight the Third Reich on the Eastern Front.
One such vehicle was the M3 Scout Car, an armored car created by the White Motor Company in the late 1930s. You can clearly see the M3 Scout Car’s heritage in the later M3 Halftrack, which I’ve included here with the Scout Car — both in Soviet livery.
Recent posts about my LEGO World War II models didn’t really discuss materials or building techniques. While I wholeheartedly agree with LEGO’s stance not to produce LEGO sets based on recent real-world military conflicts, it does leave a gap for the minifig-scale LEGO military modeler. Several custom accessory vendors fill that gap. Here’s a quick run-down of the custom items I’ve used in my recent models.
- Weapons and headgear by BrickArms: Will Chapman has been branching out from American and sci-fi weaponry over the last couple of years, with PPSh & DP-28 machine guns, Mosin-Nagant rifles, Tokarev pistols, and even an ushanka hat for those long Russian winters.
- Flags and trenchcoats by Cape Madness: My Soviet armor wouldn’t be the same without a proper Soviet flag. Naturally, LEGO isn’t going to make one of those… My thanks to Dave Ingraham for generously giving me a large selection from his catalog.
- Printed accessories from Citizen Brick: Though a bit on the pricey side, Citizen Brick sells a variety of interesting elements you can’t buy from LEGO, including printed BrickArms headgear like the ushanka with the red star and the medic helmets I’ve included in previously posted models.
- Printed BrickArms crates from Brickmania and G.I. Brick: Quite possibly my favorite recent addition to the BrickArms catalog, the crates are long enough to hold long guns and come in a variety of realistic colors and useful patterns. Frankly, I feel a compulsion to collect them all…
The Soviet decals — “CCCP” and so on — are stickers salvaged from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull LEGO sets (a theme rife with exceptions to LEGO’s policy, but full of elements useful to the military builder).
I’ve written before about how much I enjoy research while building LEGO models based on historical people, events, places, and vehicles. Though I haven’t posted anything in a few weeks, I’ve continued improving many of my existing WW2 models based on feedback from other builders and better photos I’ve come across.
Once I’m reasonably happy with a military model, I like to reproduce it so I can make further variations without destroying each one in turn. Here’s my much-improved (I think…) M5 Stuart Light Tank alongside a new M4 Sherman Medium Tank.
I rebuilt the front of the Stuart to reduce how much it projected in front of the treads, lowered the turret by a plate, and gave the turret a proper commander’s hatch. The Sherman has a brand new turret, using 1×3 arches that I first saw built into the turret on the Brickmania Sherman I reviewed earlier this year — another example of how LEGO builders are indebted to each other to improve their designs.
I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with all my World War II armor (LEGO Italy circa 1943 seems overdue for liberation), but I’m certainly enjoying the vehicle builds along the way.
“Well, I can drive that loader.”
Aliens meets Bionicle in the latest cool creation by Kyle Peckham called Cervatus and his Power Loader. Built for the annual Bio Cup competition on MOCpages, the exosuit is designed to accommodate a 10 inch tall Bionicle figure while being fully poseable and removable from the character itself. The competition is bringing out the best of the Bionicle tribe, so check out the other entries if you have the time an inclination.
Refining the floating rock
The evolution of the floating rock can be traced by the construction of the rock, which becomes more realistic with time. Tommy M. (Eklund!) cites the inspiration of his creation from works by SlyOwl and Legohaulic. You can see how elements from the previous builders have made their way into this new creation.
Dennis The Menace
LegoJalex built a scene from a classic American comic and TV series, Dennis The Menace. I read some of the comics as a kid, so it was recognizable to me. Regardless, one should note the slingshot that Dennis is holding; it’s a very eye-catching accessory made out of official Lego elements and a custom sling.
Chasovoy is watching you.
It is time to put on your digital bib, constant reader, and feast upon the latest LDD build from Brickviller. Like most virtual models, I can’t get past my long standing prejudice of immediately wondering how it would look in “real” bricks, but hopefully the builder won’t hold that against me. The design is remarkable and to my admittedly untrained eyes, very Russian.
Get your rotting hands off my African Violet!
Nooreuyed offers a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse with his latest build, The Greenhouse. All too often dioramas in this genre end up looking like little more than catalog photos with aftermarket gun-laden minifigs standing aimlessly in front of generic building facades, so it is very refreshing to see a builder break out of that mold. The scene is very immersive and while busy with details it somehow never becomes cluttered. The rake and garden hose in the foreground are perfect for the setting, as is the lighting. So cheers Nooreuyed now make like Prometheus and bring your gift of fire to the builders over at the Flickr group Lego Scenes before their creativity is snuffed out completely by the conventions of the genre.
“I have been a stranger in a strange land.”
Presenting the Exodus, a colony ship by TBB first-timer Tim Clark (Tim C76). A SHIP (Seriously Huge Investment In Parts) is a milestone accomplishment for any serious sci-fi builder, but mere length is not enough to grace the ivy covered halls of The Brothers Brick. Fortunately Tim has created an interstellar behemoth that fits the nerdy and somewhat arbitrary specifications of the genre and looks great too. The Exodus has all the boilerplate features you’ve come to expect from a starship: powerful engines, pointy antenna cluster and non specific pieces of technology so often called “greebles“. As if our hobby isn’t dorky enough, we embrace words like “greebles“. Yes I realize the word existed before the hobby but it doesn’t make it any more acceptable. As a “spacer” I feel confident bashing my own kind. Back to the Exodus…it even has the final requirement for all great SHIPs; some celestial eye-candy in the background. Welcome to the SHIPwrights club, Tim.
LEGO Sharknado will rip you to shreds
If it’s an Internet sensation, Iain Heath of The Living Brick feels compelled to build it out of LEGO, as he’s done with memes like Grumpy Cat. Last week’s SyFy channel disaster movie was Sharknado, so naturally Iain had to build a Sharknado from LEGO.
Read more from Iain about this model on The Living Brick.
“He’s a demon on wheels”
The MACH 5 never looked as good as it does in the capable hands of TBB rookie Clayton Marchetti. The only thing missing is Spritle and Chim-Chim stowing away in the trunk. If you’re a fan of Speed Racer make sure you check out the rest of the photos on MOCpages, Clayton has included all the features you know and love from the famous car like buzz-saws and springs.
