It’s not often that we see LEGO creations that incorporate the large Technic figures that LEGO included in sets back in the late 80’s through the 90’s. Similarly, most of the LEGO xenomorphs we’ve featured largely use standard System bricks to recreate the terrifying creatures from the Alien movies. Weilong Yao breaks with both of these traditions by building a work loader around a Technic figure and incorporating lots of Bionicle in the alien itself.
Four young builders join forces to bring us this extensive medieval village diorama. While I often complain about lack of variety in top-end castle-themed LEGO builds, there is a very bright side to this; if I had not known this creation was a collaboration, I would never have figured it out. The main image is hosted by Timothy Shortell, but the others involved are Micah the fire-breathing hobbit, Mountain hobbit and Cole Blood.
There are many details to see all over the diorama; the market has many interesting elemets, houses are all exceptionally done with interesting textures and angles everywhere, and the plant life facilitates the time and place where this diorama is set up – dried grass, autumn leaves and pine trees show us a cold but habitable place.
70s Sweden. What do you think of? If you didn’t say ABBA, there’s something wrong with you. But here’s a fabulous LEGO diorama from LegoJalex which manages to capture the era perfectly without a hint of the Scandi-SuperTroupers. We’ve got an excellent orange Volvo 242 in the driveway, but for me, it’s the surrounding scenery and attention to detail which make this model pop. I love the textures of the different walls, the use of forced perspective to create the buildings and factories in the distance, and the little touches like the pail and the abandoned football in the grass.
The car itself is a smart model in its own right, well worth a closer look…
Nobody likes to talk about waste/trash/rubbish/garbage — but it’s part of our lives as consumers. Call it what you like, but somebody still has to collect and transport it. de-marco has stepped up to help out our minifigures, building this adorable little waste container transporter. The garbage transporter will happily pick up any used and discarded LEGO bricks for disposal. de-marco has kindly provided instructions to help you build your own version. Just make sure you have the necessary training to work those hydraulics…
Here is an instructional video. Soon your LEGO town will no longer have rubbish piling up in the streets…
If you have played any GTA V then you may well recognise this delightful scene by Pixel Fox. It’s a Dodge Power Wagon W300 with Swivel-Frame. The base is a LEGO box filled with real dirt and rocks — an unusual touch which elevates the model out of the ordinary. My favorite little detail is the Collectible Minifigure Spy rope piece used on the telephone pole.
Nothing says man machine like a huge truck, and the thoroughbred stallions of the truckin’ world come from US brand Peterbilt. Affectionately known as a “Pete”, these long haul trucks are often referred to as “The Cadillacs of big trucks”. Jarek Wally has built a LEGO model of a Peterbilt truck that is anything but pocket-sized — 61cm long, 15cm wide, 21cm high, and weighing in at nearly 3kg. The model contains 1 XL motor, 1 servo motor, 5 sets of lights, a few engraved bricks, and a whole lot of chrome. I’m going to stick my chick neck out here and say this is a 379. I’m sure some of you guys out there had posters of trucks like this hanging up in your teenage bedroom.
Sometimes still images alone aren’t enough to showcase the wondrous stature and manly muscle behind these trucks. Just as well Jarek has made a short movie to show off all the shiny details. Sit back and enjoy the ride…
The Brothers Brick’s LEGO Millennium Falcon building contest ran throughout the month of September, with more than 160 entries large and small. When we announced our contest, we had no idea that LEGO would be running a Falcon contest of their own, with the new 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon as their grand prize. However, LEGO kindly leveled the playing field between the two contests, and the First Place winner of TBB’s contest will also be receiving a UCS Falcon, courtesy our friends in Billund. Each of the four winners will also be receiving the super-rare “Escape the Space Slug” set.
In First Place, taking home the UCS Falcon, Josh Fowler built a large-scale Millennium Falcon interior that depicts the creatures from the Dejarik “holochess” game that Chewie played with Threepio, but with the game’s creatures playing with minifigs instead. All of the judges agreed that the creative inversion of roles, large scale, and excellent recreation of both the Falcon’s interior and the creatures themselves deserved our grand prize.
We asked contestants to submit only one photo as their entry, but do be sure to peruse Josh’s photostream on Flickr for more close-up shots, like this one showing off the hilarious results of the game in progress.
In Second Place, winning the current 75105 Millennium Falcon set from The Force Awakens (plus a space slug), city son used LEGO bricks to create what is essentially an Impressionist painting of the Millennium Falcon. We can only think of a handful of LEGO creations that use this technique to good effect, and this is certainly the best — we just can’t imagine transporting it to a show!
Click through to see the runner-up winners and honorable mentions
Merlin Entertainment announced plans today to build a third LEGOLAND park in the United States, located in Goshen, New York. The park will be the ninth LEGOLAND theme park in the world and will only be open seasonally from April 1 to November 1 when it opens for business in 2020.
The park, located an hour and a half’s drive north of New York City, will be situated in the small town of Goshen near the US Military Academy at West Point and is expected to attract between 1.5-2.5 million tourists a year. The facility will also include a themed hotel and aquarium.
Custom car enthusiasts will surely recognize this LEGO scene by Primož Mlakar from Ken Block’s Gymkhana 7: Wild in the Streets of Los Angeles. The diorama has 20,000 bricks, almost half of which are the grille tiles on the walls and roof of the workshop. I was privileged enough to see this creation in person at my local LEGO club’s display, Kockefest, a few weeks ago and can confirm it looks even more impressive “in the brick”.
The cars were built in LEGO’s Speed Racers style and the diorama scaled accordingly. Primož has polished the model to perfection, despite having to meet the deadline — a feeling well known amongst convention-going LEGO fans. The buildings look realistic with just enough details to hold your attention, but not to be overwhelming. The cars themselves are excellent, with all the right curves and proportions, allowed by their slightly larger scale, as opposed to the more limiting minifig scale.
Best of all, the scene integrates Power Functions motorised elements, allowing the vehicles to spin some donuts…
A mysterious meteorite floating in the Arctic, a giant mushroom, a massive spider, and… a seaplane made of bananas? All these elements feature in Sad Brick‘s brilliant LEGO microscale version of a classic Tintin comic book cover. The stormy sea looks great, the iconic mushroom is immediately recognisable, and be sure you don’t miss the tiny Tintin and Snowy figures on the shore. But the star of this show is surely that little seaplane — beautifully put together from a handful of well-chosen pieces.
I remember reading and enjoying The Shooting Star as a child, but it’s worth pointing out that it hasn’t aged as well as some of Herge’s other works. The book is now regarded as something of a blot on Herge’s reputation with its questionable anti-Semitic depiction of the main villain.
Whilst we tend to like our LEGO purist here at Brothers Brick, who doesn’t like to see a bell jar put to imaginative use? Peter Ilmrud does exactly that with a lovely steampunk chronograph packed into a small footprint inside a glass display cabinet. The clock’s design fits perfectly with the jar — both in size and shape, and in its neo-Victorian aesthetic.
Whilst the model is remarkable for the integration of the glass jar, the resulting reflections in the photo do get a little in the way of seeing the details within. Don’t miss this shot of the beautiful brass-effect scrollwork Peter has included around the clock face…
Once again, Grantmasters has created something outside the box — and to think it all started with a bulk lot of LEGO Belville purchased online. Wanting to make something reminiscent of an old toy catalogue with all characters posing for the photograph, he has included an array of various doctoring devices. I love how the X-ray seems the perfect scale, and the discarded plaster cast boot on the floor by the bin.
Grant started with the computer screen – constructed by miniaturising Chris McVeigh‘s designs – he says the biggest challenge was getting the black part of the screen to hold the correct angled curve. He solved it by pivoting it and attaching it to an angled pin protruding through a hole in the middle of the screen.