Making LEGO furniture that meets the needs of your minifigures usually means utilising some of the smaller, more fiddly LEGO parts. Sarah Beyer has created some beautiful LEGO homes, each furnished for the most discerning of minifigures. There are instructions for three different chairs that feature in Cocoa Jungle Cottage and House on Striped Pillars. So take a relaxing seat in a comfy looking armchair…once you have built it of course!
Click here to see the instructions for two more chairs
The orange and blue colour scheme of the Ford GT40 Gulf represents the corporate colours of Gulf Oil. The original race car took part in Daytona and Sebring in 1967 as an independent entry by Gulf Oil executive vice president Grady Davis. Joachim Klang has managed to accurately build a LEGO version of this famous car using both brick and sticker solutions to pick out the orange highlights. The shaping of the chassis is fantastic at this scale, the sloped hood and front bumper are particularly well constructed.
It is worth noting that everything in the image is brick-built, from the paint brushes and paint pots, to the scalpel used to cut the stickers. No detail has been missed, including the unfinished driver still on the sprue.
You may occasionally still see the unmistakable Citroën 2CV gliding along the lanes of rustic French towns, some 70 years after its first introduction. Builder Nico71 pays homage to the iconic economy car with this 1/15 scale model.
The model features independent front suspension and rear suspension, opening front and rear doors, wheel-operated steering, and an opening trunk compartment (with a surprise hidden feature inside!). It also sports many brick-built stylistic touches, from the engine under the hood to the exhaust pipe in the back.
Rather than using Technic panels, each door consists of multiple Technic beams stacked pin holes-up to form a single, solid surface. Likewise, the roof, A-, B-, and C-pillars of the 2CV combine multiple beams to create the silhouette of the vehicle. The wheel wells and mudguards, however, show the curved building technique that strings Technic 1 x 3 beam pieces along a soft axle hose, creating an elegant arch. It’s a similar technique to one the that impressed us in the recent Shanghai LEGO Architecture set, where it was used to construct the twisting Shanghai Tower.
You can read more about the design and functionality of this model from Nico71’s website.
If you’ve studied antiquity or maybe just seen the film 300, you are familiar with the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, where a small collection of highly trained Spartans defended the “Gates of Hell” against an overwhelming Persian force. Letranger Absurde has created a cute little vignette featuring the shields of at least 50 battle hardened Spartans forming a protective dome or tortoise formation. I love how the simplicity of the colours juxtaposes the textures of the shields and rocks. A cracking little build.
In many movies depicting robots, artificial intelligence (A.I.) and the challenge of determining whether an A.I. is sentient often develops as part of the plot. Movies and shows like Westworld, Star Wars, and Short Circuit all feature robots that appear to share more human emotions like empathy, curiosity, hurt, anger. This LEGO mecha built by Nick Dryvvall captures the impression of robot sentience in my mind. The crouched pose, inquisitively reaching out to touch something newly discovered is reminiscent of a child crouching with the same intent. I find it most endearing and I can almost hear a few delighted little beeps emanating from the captivated robot.
The same mecha looks altogether different in a more agressive pose with its inquisitive arm stowed and weapons at the ready.
Steampunk is an always present theme in LEGO fan creations, and it pairs well with many different motives, from aircraft to architecture. Andreas Lenander adds to the latter with his recent build named Department of energy, a part of a larger collection of steampunk creations.
The building is a prime example of classic 19th century western architecture, with quite an interesting rooftop – a part often neglected. It appears as though the numerous technical additions were built on top of an older building in a time of disproportionately fast technological advancement. The multiple steam exhausts give a lot of character and the little touch of digital editing for the mysterious shine is a cherry on top.
As the last place to buy a few essentials or enjoy a good nights sleep before continuing on your journey, Minnie’s Haberdashery is a key location in Quentin Tarantino’s movie, The Hateful Eight. Marion has built a replica view of the haberdashery in LEGO and it really is an amazing likeness. There are hanging dried herbs and vegetable swaying from the ceiling, a huge assortment of jugs, boxes, barrels, lamps and mugs scattered across tables, shelves and chests of drawers. I love the placement of certain key features; the large beam frames our view to the left and the stool and table are in the forefront with a chest of drawers and open wooden shutters on the right.
Comparison with the actual set from the movie is a must, although Marion has added a few blood spots as we would expect in a Tarantino film.
Photo: Andrew Cooper, SMPSP © 2015 The Weinstein
Yes, the future is now! No more tying your own shoes: Flickr user vmln8r has designed the “Self-lacing shoe.” Better late than never, Marty!
The design looks simple and requires relatively few parts. The single axle accomplishes the real work of winding the shoe laces taut. The genius of this contraption, I think, shines in how the powered components—Power Functions L-Motor, IR Receiver, and AAA Battery Box—wrap snugly around the sides of the shoe. The transfer of power bears attention, as the machine uses a series of gears, including a worm gear, to direct the twisting motion from the vertically-oriented L-Motor to the horizontal axle.
In case you’re wondering: yes, the contraption works! You can watch the self-lacing shoe in action in this YouTube clip:
Star Wars celebrated its fortieth birthday last year, which was when this beautiful forced perspective by Jme Wheeler was built, within a 40-part series of builds for the Blocks magazine, telling the whole story of A New Hope.
I love the colours in the sky and the micro version of Mos Eisley is beautiful in its simplicity. The angle on the Millennium Falcon flying away is very expressive, with stormtroopers looking up at it, completing the scene.
These two spacecrafts by ZCerberus are geared up for intergalactic war. The missile corvette appears to be an armored and mobile unit with cannons mounted on the top capable of dismantling the enemy from multiple angles.
The battle frigate is a much larger and formidable vessel capable of dishing out a serious beating. Both spacecrafts feature a striking orange hull with white ID numbers. The white box pattern along with the dark orange stripes are subtle but well-incorporated design features. Prepare to be annihilated in style!
The new beehive piece, which appeared this January in a couple of the new City police sets, was wholeheartedly approved by LEGO fans. Its simple shape is instantly recognizable, yet it has some great potential for truly creative applications. Grantmasters starts exploring the new piece with this amazing little bee — and the beehive piece looks just fantastic here. By the way, the fairy wings piece contributes a lot to the bee’s adorable character.
Do you ever look at a picture and think, “If I had a band, this would be the album cover”? If you share in my very specific type of daydreaming, this build by Leonid An should be on your shortlist. Titled “Birth”, it will probably remind many of the scene from The Matrix when Neo wakes up, but I’m far more interested in the meticulous part usage that went into making this little art piece so cohesive. The sides are built up with what looks to be hundreds of Technic pieces, and even a few wheels thrown in for good measure.
The centre pod is the obvious focus, using the old Bionicle Rahkshi pieces to make the middle oval. This is surrounded by layers of tentacle pieces, and I do mean layers. What isn’t immediately noticeable from this angle is the fact that the pod is raised up from the rest of the build. It’s better seen in the picture below.
