Josh Hanlon of Beyond The Brick has been posting video interviews with well-known fan builders. If you’re not aware of his Youtube channel, here is a list of video interviews posted so far. Josh also covers Lego news, events, and reviews.
Logo by Si-MOCs
Or, at least, it has the number “11” on the side… Unless those are Ls. Regardless, this ship by Nate Daly makes an impression. It’s his first attempt at build a space ship in the coveted 100+ stud class, and I think he’s done a great job.
There are plenty of nice details throughout, and the color blocking is well done. My favorite thing about it, though, is the crew. Many builders, when building a ship this long, declare it to be a battleship, or drednaught, or something else with a huge crew. Not Nate, though, he calls it a frigate, and gives it a tiny crew. Bravo, Nate.
Peter Oglivy (Peter.A.B.) has graciously offered to take over the occasional LEGO Trains challenge, and given us a doozy for town and train builders: build a railbus. Railbuses were an important part of rail networks in the 1930s (and even today in some parts of the world) and because of the era and other limitations, are rather difficult to build well in LEGO.
So if you’re keen on a challenge, head on over to LEGO Train MOCs. And even if you’re not, check out the entries as they appear, you’re sure to see some spiffy models and snazzy techniques.
To the right is Henrik Hoexbroe’s take on a Railbus from a while back.
Falk (bricknerd, top) and Peter Norman (swoofty, bottom) performed a trans-Atlantic (respectively in Berlin and LA) LEGO co-build with this cute twinset of Union Pacific (UP) locomotives. Both models are excellent demonstrations of all the techniques good train builders are known for, with clever and varied grilles and other texturing details, as well as some very cunning rod and clip work by Falk in the wheels.
One of the MocAthalon categories this year is to build a medieval inn. Julien Andries (Julandrius) has built one full of character and detail — from the battered tile roof to the splotched walls and rough stonework.
Admittedly, I’m not a big David Bowie fan (the extent of my knowledge involves puppets and tight pants). This mosaic by Adam Myers, though, caught my eye. I liked the simplicity of the image itself, with the high-contrast in black and white.
And I LOVE the technique using layered clear plates!
There are a lot of cute little Tachikomas floating around lately, but this isn’t one of them. This mighty legged-tank by Dylan Denton is a bit more serious, and it’s got the looks to prove it. Based on a mech in the anime series Sound of the Sky, the Takemikazuchi looks deadly as it goes for a stroll through the snow.
Our TBB cover photo “inbox” is yielding a number of gems we’ve missed. Dutch builder Stijn Oom has built a cargo ship in a style dear to my heart, with fantastic asymmetry and excellent color blocking — particularly the white stripes that span most of the length of the vessel.
![3H-5 [Alasie] - Cargo Transport Vessel](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8516713148_e894659323.jpg)
Stijn says this is his first micro-space ship, so I’m hoping we can look forward to many more in the future.
I sat down with my boys a while back to build the new LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 79104 Shellraiser Street Chase set. When I first heard that LEGO was coming out with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sets, to say that I was excited was an understatement. The Turtles were a favourite of mine when I was a kid, and actually it wasn’t until I heard of the LEGO sets that I knew there was a new cartoon on Nickelodeon.
I will start with my overall impressions, and then go into the finer points. The set has 620 pieces, retails for $59.99 USD ($74.99 CDN) and comes with a total of 5 minifigures. I would definitely recommend this set to any TMNT fan, and actually also for those looking for a parts pack…even with this being a licenced theme set the price point is very good for the amount of pieces you get. This is a very well-designed set in terms of playability and ruggedness. The finished product is a nicely sized Shellraiser with a fair amount of play features, and a small, but very cool bad-guy truck.
I will admit to using child labour for this part, as I pretty much let Tate build it for me. (Well honestly I don’t think he would have let me build it even if I wanted to). I did follow along with him the entire time, and apart from a few points where he had placed a few pieces incorrectly, he was able to build the entire set in about an hour and a half. He was able to follow the instructions very well, so clearly adult LEGO fans wouldn’t have any issues with them. The one thing that really stood out for me was the use of some nice building techniques. We aren’t talking blow your mind SNOT or anything, but there certainly were not any shortcuts taken. In particular with the bad-guy pizza delivery truck, as a secondary part of the set, I was actually surprised by how cool the little model ends up…it is exceedingly fun to zoom around!
There was a total of 5 poly bags along with the sticker sheet, two tires and vehicle base. The minifigs were a highlight for both me and the boys. The turtles are so brilliantly designed, and I really love the fact that they used different shades of green for each of them. The baddies are also nothing to sneeze at, and are another example of ever-increasing quality of figure design and detail that LEGO has been churning out. The fact that Dog Pound has standard fig legs with the oversized torso works so perfectly, and does make me laugh a little bit too. Obviously the highlight of the bricks themselves are the new olive green ones. But there is a very nice selection of smaller pieces and commonly used parts that actually makes this set a pretty good choice for parting out. That being said, we have had the set for going on 2 months now and Tate still won’t let me strip it for pieces.
The set is an absolute hoot to play with. The Shellraiser has a tonne of neat play features: the roof is removable, there are flip-out computer panels and weapon racks, the rocket launcher on the roof, and the cherry on top is most definitely the adjustable wheels to allow it to roll on railroad (subway) track. After two months of being played with hard by my boys the set is still going strong, with only the red garbage can missing (Milo has a thing for garbage cans and won’t tell us where he put it). If you are a TMNT fan of any kind, you NEED to buy this set…and if you are just looking for parts, well, it is still a good choice.
It should also be noted the comic strip box art was done by TBB’s own Paul Lee.
Check out my full photoset for all the pictures.
And when you rush out to buy this, be sure to follow the links below and help out The Brothers Brick at the same time.
The Builds are changing. ∆TMM∆ has built the greatest bookends that Middle Earth has ever seen! These incredible, detailed micro-scale versions of Tower of Orthanc and Tower of Barad-dûr not only look great, but they serve a practical purpose as well.
Much larger versions of these Two Towers have been featured before on Brothers-Brick. OneLUG’s The Last March of the Ents and Kevin Walter’s Barad-dûr.
We may be well into March now, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still in love with fantastic rovers. Case in point, here’s one we missed previously: Robert H’s (Robiwan Kenobi) Helium Transport Rover. Like all the best microscale models, it belies its size, and abounds with ingenious techniques. The micro-mech that accompanies it is also a marvel of miniature engineering, employing some cool joint techniques that even I haven’t seen before.
EDIT: Oops, looks like we didn’t actually miss this one the first time around. We blogged its differently-colored twin here.
At least, that’s how I remember the adage. Halfbeak has posted a creation on Flickr that makes fantastic use of stickers to add contrast and detail. I’m always a fan of checker patterns, and the stripe on the helmet is a great touch. The aesthetic reminds me of THX-1138, while the name (Koma Police) has gotten a song stuck in my head.
