For whatever reason I really enjoy sci-fi Victoriana. There’s something about the pomp of the era of British Imperialism that is just so enjoyabale to see. Which is why Sylvain Amacher’s (captainsmog) latest model is a particular joy, capturing the spirit of the age alongside a good but if Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Would be great to see some other examples of the Great Powers of ther era.
I built this spaceship to showcase some unusual pieces that come in flavors of red and blue. The build process started with me arranging those parts and filling in the gaps with white bricks to complete the ship. You can watch a short description video on Flickr.
Luke Hutchinson (aka Derfel Cadarn) has been continuing to build some of the best Castle structures around, but his latest subject matter particularly caught my eye. Based on my favorite game of 2011, Skyrim, Luke’s diorama shows the intrepid Dovahkiin assaulting an encampment of Stormcloak soldiers.
I’ve made no secret of my love for Jonathan Lopes’ urban landscapes and was a little sad to hear he’d destroyed his latest town. Luckily he’s back with a new project which promises to be very interesting: starting a new town in a sub-minifig scale. By my guess this is about half to 2/3rds the size of a regular train layout but so far seems to have most of the details I’ve always loved. I’m very excited.
Sometimes, you start building one thing and it ends up as something else.
I’ve been having great fun building micro for the last few months, and got out my bins of orange and medium-blue (yes, I sort some of my LEGO by color) because, well, they’re complementary and I hadn’t built anything with them yet.
I loved my tiny science vessel (right), but wanted to do something slightly bigger, in the same scale.
Instead, what came together was a futuristic submersible, which I’ve decided is an Underwater Autonomous Vehicle like ENDURANCE, designed to explore the icy depths of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. In honor of the composer-astronomer who discovered this moon (as well as the planet Uranus) and the explorer who discovered Antarctica, I’m calling it Herschel-Lazerev.
Until now, the LEGO Minecraft project has been undergoing the standard review process that all projects coming out Cuusoo will have. However, LEGO has now officially decided that the Minecraft project has what it takes to be a viable set. You can read the press release here.
The set seems to be picking up a lot of interest outside of the normal LEGO fan circles, even getting a nod in this week’s Penny Arcade comic (strong language).
For the past decade or so, I’ve done all of my writing in nothing but Moleskine notebooks. Moleskines have never been more than an arm’s length away, accompanying me on trips to England, New Zealand, and Ireland, capturing details and inspiration for my life on the literary fringe. Occasionally, I’d jot down ideas for LEGO builds.
With the upcoming release of officially licensed LEGO Moleskine notebooks, I’ll have a dedicated place to put my lists of micro-space ship classes, World War II vehicles, plans for next year’s collaborative display, and sketches of interstellar refueling depots.
All four are available for pre-order on Amazon.com:
I’ve ordered all four, and I’ll let you know what I think when they arrive.
At this year’s Brickvention I once again had the pleasure to team up with the very talented Mike Pianta (scruffulous) for a town/train diorama. Like last year’s Ararat we went for a rural Australian town theme, and again set it in 1972 to maximise our building fun. This time we chose Elmore for its distinctive train station.
You can find many more pictures by some wonderful photographers at the convention in the layout’s flickr group.
While we’d learnt a lot from the previous year this one presented new challenges. Not least for me how to bring large buildings in my aeroplane luggage. And for Mike how to assemble large base segments without ever getting a chance to see them all together. Luckily we were able to overcome the challenges and I’m very happy with how it turned out. Apparently the TLG judges were too as we were honoured to be awarded Best in Show.
