A builder who goes by the name of DOGOD brick design has a dream. It’s a very specific one. It takes place back in his school days and he is studying at a fast-food restaurant. He listens to rock music and once his studies are done, his electric guitar is right there for when he wants to totally rock out! Apparently DOGOD is also a lion. That sounds like a few dreams I’ve had actually, minus the homework, but totally the rockin’ lion part. I approve of the pink and purple streaks in his mane.
Stephan Niehoff revisits the sci-fi video game universe of Star Citizen, the oft-delayed but undeniably gorgeous space combat simulator.
Like Stephan’s Brutus gunboat we previously highlighted, this craft is a herculean LEGO creation packed with neat details and shaping techniques, and given the appearance of metallic wear with a dusting of chalk. If you look closely you can spot an inventive use of multiple orange flippers (aka Frogman’s feet).
The more I see of the game’s vehicle designs the more I’m reminded of Sky-Fi, a favorite sub-genre of LEGO fan building which features (sometimes illogical) flying vessels that repurpose familiar air- and space-craft design elements. The Vanguard looks to me like a very chunky offspring of the P-38 Lightning.
Although it kind of sucks to be stuck at home these days, one upside is the number of glorious LEGO creations coming from builders all over the world. But if you’ve got builders-block or need something small to get you started, Tiago Catarino keeps the instructions rolling! When you can’t go to the real bowling alley, why not build yourself a little lane? This adorable build would look great with several lined up together!
As always, Tiago has provided a visual tutorial. Follow the link below to build along!
In the northern hemisphere, spring is underway. It might not feel that way for some, as snow is still falling in parts, but it is indeed springtime. And what says springtime better than a butterfly? Maybe flowers, but flowers need pollinators like butterflies, and so the two go hand in hand. Or proboscis in nectar pit, as the case may be. So when the Style it Up contest gave the prompt to build something with LEGO that is perfectly symmetrical across a line, I (Benjamin Stenlund) eventually settled on a Monarch butterfly, one of the most recognizable insects in North America. Ok, I admit, my wife told me to make a butterfly.
The challenge, of course, is trying to replicate the complicated patterns on the wings, with their many angles and colors, all while using a mostly rectangular system of interlocking bricks. I found that the old fingered hinges were better than the newer clip hinges, as they are flat, so I was thankful to have my childhood LEGO laying about. An even greater challenge than the building was photographing it without glare, as the flat surfaces reflected everything. But the end result, in my not-so-humble opinion, is delicately beautiful.
Even though we don’t have hovercars yet, we can still imagine a world where scenes like this one, by lokiloki29, of a farmer taking his wares to market in a floating carriage, pulled by a robot horse, are as common as rain. Tha bot-horse has some great details, like the subtle angle of the head, and the multi-jointed legs look almost insect-like. The carriage is the perfect blend of sci-fi and historic, with that brown railing and reigns for the bot.
When LEGO released the 75222 Master Builder Series (MBS) Cloud City set, LEGO fans immediately wondered whether the landing platform could support any other Star Wars ship. Wouldn’t it be great if we could fit a few other iconic ships on that platform, at the same scale as the fantastic Slave I included with the set?
We now have a custom build by hachiroku24 with clever chibi designs of an X-wing and Millennium Falcon on a similar scale that you can build to swoosh down onto Cloud City to save the day.
See how you can build your own chibi LEGO Star Wars vehicles
This LEGO concept car by Vince Toulouse has super-strong TRON:Legacy vibes. I mean…c’mon. Hubless Car could have been lifted right off the game grid. Okay, it’s not all black and neon like the rest of that world. But if Master Control ever lightened up on the color choices, red and sand blue would be awesome additions. Certainly, no one will complain about the general shape; it’s futuristic, sleek, and streamlined. And it’s just “real world possible” enough to feel like something you could drop a ton of money to own in the real world.
On the LEGO front, there are some fun part choices to call out. The canopy is a 5x9x5 half-sphere from the Jurassic World sets. The fins on the side are Bionicle skates, with the printed 2×2 logo tile sourced from a 2004’s Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze sets.
In this alternate angle, you can really see the intricate shaping that makes this model pop. I love the curves coming off of the rear wheels, and bracketing the spoiler. And those front forks… If you’re not a fan of TRON, maybe you’d be comfortable dropping this vehicle into the Blade Runner universe as a variation on the Spinner.
If we can find an Earth-like planet within a reasonable distance, or perhaps terraform one of our closer neighbours, then we’re going to need to transport a bunch of plants to its surface. In this LEGO space scene, Sam Malmberg imagines how the interior of a seedling transport ship might look. There’s an impressive variety of plant-life on display, within an equally smart selection of vivarium equipment. The viewport and the wall panelling brings the styling of the Nostromo to mind, but thankfully there are no terrifying aliens threatening the crew. I love the inclusion of a microscale companion vessel, visible through the window, creating the sense of a convoy of intrepid colonists heading out together for a new world.
“Eventually it shall be reclaimed by the sands. But until then, it stands there still — empty and abandoned. A warning to us all.” I love when a LEGO model begs the observer to create a story, when narration springs into the mind as you look over the builder’s work. This excellent microscale castle by Eli Willsea somehow demands the creation of a backstory — its formidable walls and soaring towers seem to require an epic history to explain its emptiness and sense of decay. The model is well put-together, with a nice depth of texture despite a relatively limited selection of bricks and a monochrome colour palette. And its that colour selection which is key to the scene’s appeal, immediately placing the model in a desert environment and conjuring up an atmosphere of decay and mystery and romance.
“Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub.” If that means nothing to you, then you missed out as a child. The stop-motion animation show Trumpton — and its sister shows Chigley and Camberwick Green — were staples of British kids’ TV during the 70s, and repeated regularly into the 80s and 90s. Gentle tales of town and country life, narrated in the dulcet tones of UK-kids-TV-superstar Brian Cant, these series were charming and beautifully made — just like Jason Briscoe‘s latest LEGO creation: Trumpton Fire Station and its famous engine. For most kids, the undoubted stars of this particular fictional “universe” were these guys — rushing to the rescue of cats in trees, and even extinguishing the occasional fire.
Retro, and chunky, and deliciously smooth, Jason’s re-creation of the Fire Engine and its crew is spot-on. I suspect this model may leave younger readers a little cold, but for anyone over the age of 40, this is likely to bring a warm rush of nostalgia. However, regardless of your knowledge of, or fondness for, the source material, these models are wonderfully made at an interesting scale, allowing Jason to faithfully capture the shapes and styles of the inspiration.
I have never been enthralled with steampunk. Maybe it’s because I’m not the biggest fan of the Victorian Era in general, let alone a fantastic version of it filled with steam-driven automatons. Despite that, I can recognize a cool LEGO build when I see it, no matter what era it is from. And that is what this steam-church by Dwalin Forkbeard is. Inspired by a church in Ukraine, this particular one lacks a second tower (due to lack of parts) and the square in front (also due to a shortage of parts), but it looks great just as it is. I love how the smaller chunks of city life are connected to the central build by pipes, linking them together without needing to make a giant plaza. And I do like pipes. I also like seeing the planet half-spheres used for domes. Add in some handcuff ornaments and one amazing gas lamppost, and you have something special. Isn’t that right, old chap?
As a kid, I built a lot of model airplanes. I loved gluing them together and painting them, but never liked applying the decals. I read books about military airplanes, too, and played with tiny toy planes. I loved airplanes, at least ones that carried missiles and guns. I’m going out on a limb here, but I would hazard a guess that James Cherry loved airplanes, too, and still does. Why would I guess that? Because he has built an amazing Eurofighter Typhoon airplane out of LEGO bricks. Measuring up at over a meter in length and 73cm across at the wingtips (it’s a European plane, so we have to use metric), this is one beast of a creation, too. The whole thing is tiled an oh-so-smooth, with a custom canopy and nose cone, since The LEGO Group does not manufacture anything close to these specs.
Click here to see details of this fabulous fighter jet