This incredible layout, by OliveSeon, shows Mothra, sometime ally/sometime enemy of Godzilla, involved in an epic battle. I love Mothra herself and her silken spray entangling all the buildings around her. The builder did a good job of seamlessly incorporating actual modular building sets in the layout as well. But I’m also partial to well-built battle scenes, and this fits the bill. For the record, I’m rooting for Mothra…
VirtuaLUG collaborated on a mammoth Wizard of Oz layout for BrickWorld this year. I posted the wizard’s hot-air balloon earlier but the entire diorama definitely deserves its own post. They worked together on a large number of dioramas depicting crucial scenes throughout the story. Each of the sections is an incredible piece alone. Together they form something truly incredible. Every time I go through the pictures I find more details that I didn’t notice before. I especially love how the early scenes were built in tan, black and greys to depict the black-and-white scenes in the movies and the motorized cyclone with mini farmhouse. The vibrancy and technique in the later dioramas is breath-taking. I didn’t make it to BrickWorld but I wish I had seen this in person. Incredible!
The entrance to the Emerald City:
Uncle Henry and Aunt Em’s Farm:
The Dark Forest:
See the rest of the Wizard of Oz layout after the jump!
Brick Fiesta 2013 took place in Dallas this past weekend. In its third annual event, Brick Fiesta has grown to be one of the largest medium-sized Lego conventions in the US, trailing behind its big sibs known as BrickFair, Brickworld, and BrickCon. This year the event was held in my location of residence, so I attended the convention, albeit briefly, to set up some MOCs and do coverage of the displays. Here are some of my favorite creations from the event.
Matthew Greene’s Hobbiton was a colorful display full of lush landscaping. The cheerful colors and peaceful action of the Hobbits (minus the fire that burned on the top right on Sunday) was a soothing contrast to the builder’s other WW2 display that also attracted lots of attention.
The Unexplored Ruins by a team of 5 builders showcased a lot of advanced techniques used to create a realistic-looking ruined castle. In the walkthrough videos I showed a close up of the MOC and highlight a few parts that I really liked.
Even though I’m not a train builder, I enjoyed this layout by David Hawkins for the detailed landscape and the few realistic buildings.
These are many more creations that I enjoyed besides these featured ones. I encourage you to browse through the Brick Fiesta Flickr group to see more photos from the event. I have also recorded around an hour of video of me walking through the exhibit hall and talking about the displays in 4 clips, with part one shown below:
A forest may not be the most appropriate environment for a main battle tank, but the Leopard 2A8cE tank built by Corvin Stichert seems to feel right at home in the woods. The Leopard 2A8 is a fictional development of the real-world German Leopard 2, fitted with new armour and goodies such as IR signature reduction technology and an active protection system.
I like that Corvin sticks to technology that isn’t too far-fetched. For instance, active protection systems, intended to intercept incoming projectiles and missiles, have already entered operational service. I also like how, unlike many tanks people build and post, this one isn’t just dark grey.
Everybody’s favorite super-villain returned to movie theaters this past weekend, assisted by an army of minions. Joachim Klang (-derjoe-) has created a series of photos featuring the adorable minions from Despicable Me 2. One of my favorite scenes from the first movie is when Dave the minion blows up several of his colleagues with a rocket launcher.
Here they are suggesting that you head back to theaters again later this year.
And finally, a little something for those of you who’ve seen the movie.
Though not as bitingly hilarious as the first movie, I thought Despicable Me 2 certainly lived up to its predecessor in sheer entertainment value — my wife and I laughed so hard several times tears were streaming down our faces.
Diamond Dave Shaddix hopes you are, and he’s ready to get you in the mood with this outstanding sculpture of an Arizona Cardinal’s helmet. Lucky Dave was commissioned by the NFL franchise to build both the helmet and a mosaic for the upcoming season. While it doesn’t quite match the cool-factor of Dave’s other high-vis commission from world-famous illusionist David Copperfield, it is impressive nonetheless.
Although the dome-protector won't save you from concussions, it is quite wearable. If you want to check out the helmet, sans Dave, it will be ensconced in the Arizona Cardinals HQ in Tempe.
New Zealand builder Millie McKenzie, aka Leda Kat would like to share a model with you that is near and dear to her. Dedicated to the nurses of the Chemotherapy Day Ward in Christchurch Oncology Department, Millie manages to make a very serious subject both light-hearted and positive. Hopefully if any of you out there are going through the challenging and daunting treatment, this model will bring a smile to your face.
Run for your lives!….lisqr has sent an “alien crawler” war machine to destroy your favorite planet. When I first saw the model I thought it was from our own beloved Brother-Zhang, but the lack of pseudo-poetic gobbledegook gave it away.
This diorama is so metal!
Organic shapes can be awfully tricky with LEGO, and part of that challenge I think is what makes some of the pieces of landscaping and life we see that so very impressive.
Eduardo Gavilán (aToMiKWiWa) does a lovely job with the rock formations that create the foundation for his windmill, and shows how the builders used the formations to their benefit instead of sculpting to what they needed.
Alex Jones (Orion Pax) proves that Prince Adam isn’t the only one with “fabulous secret powers” with his latest nostalgic 1980’s project, The Masters of the Universe. The latest installment in the series focuses on two vehicles the evil Spydor and the heroic Windraider. Alex brings his usual arsenal of weapons to the build including a wicked eye for detail and a willingness to go beyond the purist mindset. For more information on the Masters of the Universe project, head over to Mr. Jones’ website Orion Pax Designs for more He-Manliness.
I’m not sure why, but every time I see a reference to He-Man, I’m reminded of the Village People. You can’t stop the music.
Once again I venture into dangerous territory staked out by Brother-Brick Tim to bring you some much needed Train-related action. pinioncorp claims this is an old model, but we won’t hold that against him, especially since he found a way to fit Power Functions inside such a small shunter. The diorama isn’t half-bad either, with just enough snowy detail to make it interesting.
See you next weekend, constant reader, unless of course Tim has other plans…
