It takes a lot to design a great LEGO spaceship and even more to build a swooshable one. Now, once the new 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery is revealed, let’s look into the eyes of brave LEGO designers behind the latest exclusive set. Meet Milan Madge, Mani Zamani, and Nico Vas, three courageous designers telling us more about how the LEGO version of the Discovery space shuttle was created.
Category Archives: LEGO
LEGO 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery with Hubble is revealed as 2,300-piece Creator Expert set [News]
2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the first NASA Space Shuttle flight in 1981, and LEGO is marking the occasion by launching its biggest shuttle set yet. 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery rings in at 2,354 pieces and features the iconic orbiter on its most famous mission, STS-31. This 1990 mission launched the renowned Hubble Telescope, which is still in operation. The new 18+ Creator Expert set will be available starting April 1, and will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $269.99 | UK £169.99.
LEGO sat down with Dr. Kathy Sullivan, a former astronaut who served as a mission specialist on STS-31, to reveal the set and discuss the mission to launch Hubble, as well as talk about engaging children in STEM and space exploration. The full interview can be viewed on LEGO.com/gobeyond.
Watch for our full review of this set coming very soon, and check out the rest of the details below.
Brick’s Gambit
Nowadays, custom chess sets built from LEGO are not at all unusual. It is after all the most popular board game and can be played over and over again without getting boring. It has also recently experienced a surge in popularity following the Netflix series Queen’s Gambit. Being easy to build from LEGO, it is something many builders do at least once in their life. Here, Daniel Barwegen adds his own flair to the arsenal of stylised LEGO chess sets.
I was immediately drawn to the uniquely spindly pieces with the wide bases. Some pieces like the king and queen continue the design to their crowns, which are sharp and angular, and even the horse-heads of the knights include teeth and gears. I love that the pieces appear easy to grip, like straws and pencils, rather than not having enough space between neighbouring pieces. The textures on the rooks are also well done without being overbearing.
And yes, we’ve noticed that some pieces are not in their correct squares. And so has the builder. That’s the beauty of LEGO and chess – you can easily move the pieces back to their correct place without ruining the game.
Check out more life-sized builds of things other than chess sets!
The famous cat stretch
Cats are majestic yet silly creatures, and generally, there are a few habits shared between big cats and their domestic counterparts. Among those habits is what I call the cat stretch, a pose that requires both front legs extended while the cat’s backend is elevated. LEGO builder nobu_tary expertly recreates this feline posture with some small LEGO elements in his kitty mini-build.
Very commonplace elements are utilized in this build; for instance, the front legs are minimally but accurately fashioned out of 1×1 cylinders with white cheese slopes serving as the paws, the cat’s head cleverly makes use of a few white 2×2 corner plates along with some tan 1×1 plates, cheese slopes, and semi-circle pieces. The rest of our furry friend’s body comprises of other slope pieces and tiles in tan as well as a tan cat tail piece. Surely this is a build that could be inspiring to both animal fans, and LEGO builders, pictured below is another brick-built feline build by nobu_tary.
Super fast speeder zips on by
Do you feel a need for speed? Are your competitors feeling hungry? Fix that speed craving and make your rivals eat your dust as you speed along in Oscar Cederwall‘s LEGO skitter vig.
Look at this speeder zip through the desert! It’s always great to see what sort of science fiction vehicles can be created, and this is no different. Using large blue pieces from buildable action figures was a clever idea, as was the decision to do an open cockpit. We’re able to see the figure, giving us a sense of scale with the dust clouds. Which, by the way, is probably my favorite part of this whole creation. I’m seeing how fast the driver is going and what kind of environment he’s in. This definitely shows Oscar’s talent!
Who will brave the deep chasm?
Anyone who is a fan of The Stormlight Archives novels will be thrilled to see Tim Schwalfenberg‘s LEGO take on The Chasm, a world in which the only source of light comes from cracks in the sky.
This creation is jaw-dropping. I love the color transitions as the light darkens deeper in the canyon. It really adds to the sense of depth in this build. How far does it go down? Sure, you can count the brick height along the chasm walls, but all the detail poured into this build gives the illusion of being near-bottomless.
The other detail I want to point out is the excellent plant work. From swampy saplings curing their limbs creepily to the vined flowers reaching upward for a glimpse of daylight. Like the color transitions, the way the vines wrap themselves along the rocky crevasse adds to the sense of how deep you are down in the ground.
I could gaze at this brilliant creation all day, though that might not be a wise idea. Watch out for chasmfiends!
Just trying to get a head
Some LEGO elements are easy to upsize, and some are a nightmare of odd angles and complex shapes that defy common techniques. This was a challenge ToM Dracone (@yannickbuildsthings) was up for, though, as this super-sized Bionicle Toa head is a spot-on likeness. I’m particularly fond of the eye ridge/side of the head angling. This statue also has a great base, with sandy colors and greenery that harken back to the Island of Mata Nui. The gold Hau mask helps provide a sense of scale, making this head feel like a massive totem on the shoreline.
If you’d like to see more photos and details, check out yannickbuildsthings’ LEGO Ideas submission. And when you’re done there, why not delve into our archives for more great featured Bionicle creations?
We could all use more capes around here
You could say LEGO builder Marius Herrmann is having the best month ever. Earlier I raved about a Police Enforcer bot in a fashionable blue jacket. Then my colleague “Mr. Waffles” picked up a scoop about a flying bot in a sweet pair of Scala pants. Now I’m here again and this time Marius presents a 51L “Elanoides”-NC Enforcer adorned in a ragged cape. What can I say? I’m a fan of all these fashion-forward bots. It doesn’t hurt that the build techniques here and photography are on a whole ‘nother level.
Why don’t you build something cool that’ll attract our attention? That’s how this all works, you know. You build something neat, we feature it, and the world turns. Shampoo, rinse, repeat. It just seems that Marius shampoos and repeats more often than most and that means clean hair and job security for us!
A scraggily troll lives under a scraggily bridge
When I think of building with LEGO, the first thing that comes to mind is building with bricks. Jessica Farrell has taken that to the next level, and built a bridge out of bricks, that themselves are built with LEGO bricks.
And these brick-built-bricks ain’t your standard sized bricks either – they’re all kinds of odd shapes, cobbled together to build a bridge with character. Some have moss growing on them, there are even weeds poking out through the cracks. The vast array of different parts used give the bricks and bridge a quite amazing texture. Underneath the bridge you’ll find your standard bridge-hider-under, an ugly troll, ready to eat whatever goats go trip-trapping over his bridge. Luckily both sides of the river are quite lush. I really like the healthy-looking lime and green grass, as well as the custom-cut lengths of flextube for reeds and bulrushes.
TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for March 20, 2021
In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of March 2021.
We dig in deep with the Technic Heavy-Duty Excavator! Keep reading our Brick Report to get all the details.
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: This week we saw the kickoff of the new 2021 BrickLink AFOL Designer Program, built some cute DOTS tags for our luggage and reviewed the Technic Heavy Duty excavator!
- 2021 BrickLink AFOL Designer Program to give new legs to 31 LEGO Ideas 10k-club designs – Today BrickLink is kicking off the 2021 round of the AFOL Designer Program, featuring 31 LEGO Ideas sets that won 10,000 votes but didn’t pass the review stage.
- LEGO DOTS 41930 Bag Tag Panda – The latest wave of DOTS branches out from bracelets to include “bag tags” – cute, cubic animals that can be clipped onto a backpack or other things to add a bit of LEGO flair.
- LEGO Technic 42121 Heavy-Duty Excavator [Review] – Today we build and play with the new LEGO Technic 42121 Heavy-Duty Excavator to see if its great design can outweigh the flawed play features.
OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
- Get ready for the LEGO Star Wars Minifigure Madness tournament!, StarWars.com – Vote for your favorite heroes and villains of a galaxy far, far away
- LEGO to launch three LEGO VIDIYO ad spots during ITV’s The Voice UK final, Toy News – The three 20 second spots – all of which will air during the first advertisement break of the final on Saturday, March 20th – will feature L.L.A.M.A, the first live action human version of a LEGO Minifigure
- Lego Brand Group hires ex-Spotify exec Cecilia Qvist to run venture arm, VentureBeat – As head of Lego Ventures, Qvist will help broaden the impact of the mission of learning through play.
Gnepnug the Forager gathers mushrooms
Behold! Another fun little LEGO creation by John Snyder featuring a woodland gatherer. I’ll be honest, my first thought upon seeing this build was, “Oh, look! The Wicked Witch of the West!” But then I saw the title and realized it was an insanely cooler character, Gnepnug the Forager. I’ve never seen anyone use a Bionicle leg plate before as a face, but this works! The use of multiple minifigure capes for worn-in clothing was a clever idea. I also appreciate the lack of a baseplate, with John instead opting for what appears to be a green LEGO sail piece.
The hare of the bunny that bit me
A Gatling gun, grappling hook, chainsaw, and an unfolding semaphore tower is not the kind of things you’d usually associate with little pink bunnies. But LEGO builder Ted Andes has done just that with this Nousagi (野ウサギ) Reconnaissance Tank. This mech-tank looks like it means serious business. However, just a few pretty pink touches and bunny stickers clue us in that one can pilot a tank and still have a playful personality. The open hatch gives us a glimpse of a playful young driver who can still get down to brass tacks when serious reconnaissance stuff needs to happen.
