This dirigible/aircraft carrier by Daniel Church (DR.Church) is pure sweetness. I love the micro-scale biplanes and the whole Sky-Fi feel of the thing. Very nicely done, Daniel!
Category Archives: Models
LEGO Super Soaker 50
This one brings back the summertime memories. Bruce Lowell (Bruceywan) has recreated the iconic Super Soaker 50 in a compact size that retains all the detail and glory of the original. I remember the first time I fired one off. It was so awesome. Everyone who had one felt like they ruled the backyard. I quickly upgraded to a ‘100’ but nothing matched that initial thrill of the Super Soaker 50. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Bruce!
Friday Night Fights (Round 13)
Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another blood-drenched edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout seeks to answer the eternal question, what happens when a harness bull takes on a yard dick? Let’s go to the tale of the tape:
Fighting out of the red corner, from the wrong side of the tracks…The Brisbane Brawler Nik J Dort (Red Five89) and his Scandia Railbus.
And fighting out of the blue corner, from R’lyeh where he lies dead and dreaming…Karf Oohlu and his Micro monkey train.
As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights BeLgIuM ww2 bUiLdeR won his bout by the narrow margin of 6-5. Tune in next week for more action!
“I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down”
You can’t stop Ryan McNaught (TheBrickMan), you can only hope to contain him. Feast your eyes on Ryan’s LEGO Acropolis, currently on display in the Nicholson Museum in Sydney as part of their “Etruscans: a classical fantasy” exhibition. According to the museum’s website:
Following on from the extraordinary success of the LEGO Colosseum in 2012, the Brickman, Ryan McNaught, has turned his hand to one of the most iconic architectural monuments of Ancient Greece – The Acropolis!
The LEGO model displays the Acropolis both as it was in the fifth century BC and as it is today as one of Greece’s most popular tourist attractions. Captured in LEGO are some of the Acropolis’ more famous visitors including Pericles, Lord Elgin, Dame Agatha Christie, and even Elton John.
Also on display is the museum’s 19th century model of the acropolis, which captured the acropolis as it stood in 1895 in plaster.
Ryan’s awesome work will be on display through June of 2014, but if you can’t make it in person, be sure to check out the full set of photos over on Flickr.
Of Helicopters and Hooligans
In January of this year we featured Ryan McNaught’s (TheBrickMan) king of helicopters, the Erickson Air-Crane Elvis. As many of you have no doubt read by now, Elvis was on public display at Cairns Central shopping center in northern Queensland, Australia when the unthinkable happened: a group of misguided “youths” pushed mighty Elvis to the ground with predictable results.
We’ve all seen accidental damage to models at conventions before, most often caused by enthusiastic butter-fingered youngsters, gawking public day attendees leaning too far over the ropes or rotund builders trying to squeeze between tables…but nothing like this…nothing so deliberate. Fortunately the flight-recorder survived the crash and the authorities are hard at work piecing together the final seconds of Elvis’s life.
TBB reached out to Ryan for a comment and found him in remarkably good spirits considering the scope of this brick-tragedy and very much willing to speak about it. Because of the ongoing criminal trial taking place with 2 youths charged over the death of Elvis, Ryan cannot get into the specifics of the incident.
“I was asleep in bed when the phone rang, you always know when it rings and its late that its bad, and well it was, I drove about 40 minutes into the centre where it was on display and there it was just as pictured (see my Flickr) to see hundreds of hours worth of work ruined is pretty surreal, and something I’ve never experienced before.
To pull down and destroy your own MOC can be very satisfying, I’ll never forget the Brickvention of 2009 where by 9 foot Eiffel tower was brought down at the end of the show Team America World Police style!
Needless to say I had to pack it up that night after the police came and did their thing, and got back to bed at about 2am. The next morning the media were swarming, but of course nothing to see, so that was fun watching the media look like idiots.
Anyway I was up there building a giant LEGO rainforest where people came along built a bit of the rainforest and added it to the display, I felt it was really important to keep that going so that people could still have fun and enjoy it. As people either asked where the chopper was, or came to sympathize it kind of hit home, the usual anger then sadness kicked in, but that was all fairly temporary, because to be honest its LEGO right? anything can be rebuilt, so whilst it sucks to lose such a big model, its not like its a 2,000 year old Ming vase.
So I’m kind of circumspect about it, and a bit relaxed about it now (my wife holds the anger and frustration for me!) and to be honest, when I rebuild/repair it (who knows when I can find the time) it will be just as cool as what it was, and its got a hell of a cool story behind it.
Plus doesn’t rebuilding it stick it up the nose of those who ruined it? To me LEGO has this thing where its cool to return back to its original form and then become something else, so i guess this is kind of like that.”
I think it does stick it up their collective nose Ryan, but for the violent American inside me…it isn’t quite enough. It used to be the most you had to worry about while displaying your model at a convention was the occasional petty theft or jackassy question, but this is a whole new ballgame. Stay tuned to TBB for a follow up on the court case.
A striking frigate
Chris (Ironspniper) says his latest model is a microscale space frigate, but I think it could work just as well as a fig-scale drone or fighter.
That’s one of the odd things about LEGO models not built to resemble something “real” — it’s really up to the builder to decide what scale it’s in. I’ve built spacecraft myself that I only decided were microscale after I’d finished them and taken the pictures.
Regardless, the great color choices and contrast between angular and circular shapes make for one excellent LEGO model.
Clattering along in Ɍaillery’s Jigger-class Steam Railtank Mk. LXXIV
Going in the opposite direction, chronologically, from the last post yesterday, here’s an armored hand car by Beau Donnan (Ɍaillery).
Two minifigs fit inside this “railtank,” pumping the adorable little war machine forward.
Though posted nearly a year ago, I also can’t pass up Beau’s wonderfully inventive windmill locomotive in the same alternate history theme.
The lovely asymettry of the Azuki Shipyards Myrmidon-class missile boat
John Stephens (-=Steebles=-) says of his missile boat that it’s “designed to deliver endless salvos of medium and long range missiles.” While the loadout is certainly formidable, I’m most impressed by the radical asymmetry of the craft, with the cockpit offset from the center-line, balanced by the sensor array and two very different wings. Nevertheless, the forward projections and wingtips on both wings tie it all together very nicely.
Tyler Clites’ E-MOTE will make you feel human
Tyler Clites has embarked on a new project, crafting a friendly little robot with loads of pose-ability. This robot was intentionally made with lots of articulation and the fundamental elements of a face that allow us humans to interpret emotion from facial expressions. Tyler has been updating every day or two with new poses and expressions, and plans to continue for several weeks. Tyler is doing some fantastic work here: taking a relatively simple build and imbuing it with emotion and personality. This sort of creativity is what makes LEGO building amazing. We’ll be featuring the dramatic little robot again as his acting broadens, so be sure to watch TBB to see more of him. In the meantime, check out E-MOTE’s photoset to see all of his poses so far.
Today, E-MOTE discovers the wonder of butterflies.
You built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?
When first introduced, the DeLorean DMC-12 looked as though it came from the future. In reality, however, it turned out to be a disappointment. Its stainless steel body was impossible to keep clean, its fancy gull-wing doors leaked, its electronics were unreliable, the build quality was shoddy and its performance was lacklustre. It is no surprise then that DeLorean Motor Company went bust after a few years. Nonetheless, the Back to the Future Trilogy turned this sleek but hopeless clunker into a pop culture icon. In the words of Doc Emmett Brown: “The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?”
Back to the Future is a popular subject for LEGO builders, and we’ve featured a fair number of Back to the Future models here on The Brothers Brick. Now, thanks to LEGO CUUSOO, LEGO is getting in on the action too, with an official BTTF DeLorean scheduled for release soon. Like many of you, I’ve seen some of the preliminary pictures, and though I quite liked the original version on CUUSOO, I though it looked rather over-sized with the figures standing next to it. The size was chosen such that it could seat two minifigures side-by-side in a vehicle.
Since I am currently building cars from Eighties movies and TV shows anyway, seeing the preliminary picture of the set prompted me to have a go at building one myself. Since minifigures are oddly proportioned little characters and play value isn’t my priority, I decided not to bother with them, opting for a brick-built figure instead. I chose the flying version of the car that is introduced at the end of the first movie and was used during Part II.
I am not the only builder who was prompted to build a DeLorean by pictures of the forthcoming set — Larry Lars has finished his own. It is a rather different interpretation of this movie classic, but it looks the business. The model is slightly smaller than mine, which makes it about the same size as the CUUSOO version. In Larry’s words, it’s all about shapes and not so much about the details. He didn’t skimp on the details, though.
Larry and I realise that we don’t have to work with the same constraints as LEGO set designers. Our models would not work as a set; they use far too many parts, are too complicated and use a few illegal connections. Furthermore, mine doesn’t drive very well and the doors are very flimsy. I suspect this isn’t different for Larry’s model either. Inevitably, there’s something lost in translation between fan-designed models like ours and an official set. I’ll await definitive pictures of the set before making up my mind, but I hope LEGO haven’t turned a sleek design into a clunker.
Check back soon here on The Brothers Brick for coverage and a review of the official LEGO Back to the Future DeLorean.
A tiny lighthouse made of Modulex
The sheer scale of all the dioramas we’ve featured today calls for a tiny chaser — just something different. Modulex is as different as you can get, so here’s a lovely lighthouse built by Carson Hart.
Modulex has a fairly limited palette compared to SYSTEM bricks, so the sand under the water and the printed piece on top of the lighthouse are particularly excellent details.
Unexplored Ruins
Kyle Collard (Lazer Blade) displayed this beautifully crafted ruined castle at Brick Fiesta last weekend. This edited photo shows all the details of the decay and lends itself to insta-faves.
