Thank goodness Eero Okkonen had the incredible foresight to rebuild this lizard beast. After all, there aren’t that many Tyrannosaurus Rexes left in the wild! Using ABS plastic and discarded Bionicle technology, Eero was able to piece together all that remained of this once-great creature (including his Duplo grass spine and even the very tip of his tail) and transform him into a six million dollar dino.
Even if you don’t like 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (though we loved it in our review), or Porsches in general, the existence of that set has opened the doors for many more creations through the introduction of some fantastic new elements. We’ve seen its pieces already used to make a hammer drill, but they’re back as a car in this Aston Martin DB11 by Jeroen Ottens.
The build features a lot of functioning mechanics such as independent suspension, a complex gearbox, adjustable chairs, and more. Not to mention, it just looks great. Looking at the side view below, it’s also impressive how well the underlying Technic frame has been covered using those now-familiar panels from the Porsche.
Tracer has become my hero of choice when playing in Overwatch competitive play on offense. Her movement abilities suit my play style of unpredictable movement—giving me a chance to compensate for my poor aim. So my latest LEGO build is of Tracer’s primary ability, her dual rapid-fire Pulse Pistols. Constructed from 1,063 LEGO parts each (2,126 total parts for the pair), the pistols feature moving triggers, a working “reload” mechanism in which the side disks expand outward, and light-up elements powered by BrickStuff LEDs.
The most challenging part of the build was the reload mechanism. The same mechanics as in MyDifferentUsername’s KRM-262 Shotgun were used, but the mechanism had to be reduced from 4-studs wide to 3, so the disks on either side would maintain the overall 5-stud-wide model.
Watch the working features in both third person and first person viewpoints in the video below.
The beginning of the 20th century brought music to the masses with the invention of mass market gramophone records, allowing for the reproduction of sound and radio broadcasts. Jazz and Blues were the first new-age genres to form entire cultures around them. Sven Franic‘s entry to the 2017 Brickstory contest in the History of Music category captures the essence of that category’s description. I particularly love the ingeniously designed treble clef and musical notes, but the scene is completed by the gramophone and a singer—presumably singing some bitter-sweet blues into the mic.
There’s something very appealing about the nostalgic past of the Volkswagen T1 campers. The LEGO VW Camper 10220 remains a favourite with fans, as evidenced by the fact that it’s been in production since 2011. At a smaller scale, though, this fan-made version by mzxgod does a great job at roughly minifigure scale. The model looks great with the stickered VW logo from the big set and a wedge plate to achieve the “V” signature look. Want to go one size further down? You can go back to an official model with 40079 Mini Volkswagen T1 Camper Van.
It’s hard to improve on the builder’s own title of “Panic in paradise!”, but when I first saw this beautiful and terrifying little scene by Marcel V., I immediately thought of the Hawaiian goddess Pele, simultaneously destroying as she creates new land. While I’m personally not a huge fan of loose bricks for water, the tiny houses and lush forest, along with the fiery volcano itself, more than make up for my aversion to unattached LEGO.
Today LEGO announced the newest addition to the Ultimate Collector Series, 75144 Snowspeeder. Like traditional UCS sets, this snowspeeder is a large model loaded with details, and can be displayed with a stand and info card. The Snowspeeder has 1,703 pieces and includes 2 minifigures. The set will cost $199.99 USD and will be available beginning on Star Wars day, aka May the 4th, in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online.
Watch the designer video, read the press release, and see the full gallery of images below.
While this almost bunny-mecha looking contraption looks pretty cute, take a moment and do give it some thought. Why would a bunny minifigure need a mechanical bot such as this? The only reason I can think of is to get some damage done! With those huge feet, I’m sure a stomp or two would take any other enemy minifigure out flat. Just a reminder from IamKritch that all things cute are not what they seem, perhaps… Bring out the weapons, I say!
You can almost hear Chewie growling with frustration in Mike Sinclair‘s interpretation of the classic scene on Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back. Lobot looks on suspiciously as the Ugnaughts taunt our favorite Wookie, throwing C-3P0’s head between themselves. I love the greebling used to create the junk, and the yellow plate with translucent red grills for the furnace looks perfect. A fantastic representation of an instantly recognizable Bespin scene.
It’s the lead up to the Formula Zero Gravity Championships for Octan Racing’s Tigress. Piloted by a rookie racing under the name Octana, this larger-than-minifigure scale racer is ready for its paces. Builder Tim Goddard has used a variety of interesting techniques to get the amazing angles and sharp lines of this beastly speeder.
The body appears to be an extension of the cockpit window, which has been wrapped around a massive rear engine. Plus, there’s the great use of regular and inverted tall slope bricks opposite each other to create interesting panel lines. Slap on a hefty rear stabilizing wing with a handful of maneuvering thrusters and coat liberally with Octan livery and you have yourself an incredible racing monster. As the competing teams continue to work on their racers for a warm up race in Leicester this weekend, I think Octana and her ferocious feline are in for a fantastic racing season!
Builder Martin Harris took a break from his usual Star Wars fayre to build something requested by a family member. The result is this charming minifig scale tennis court. There are so many neat little touches here – the choice of pink for the playing surface, the brick-built line markings, the ball in motion (thanks to a few transparent pieces) and use of older fence pieces to create the net. The inclusion of lights, bleachers and a cast of minifigs brings the whole scene to life.
India’s most famous piece of architecture is also the world’s most famous mausoleum and the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal, a 17th-century empress consort. Builder Brick Point brings us a lovely microscale LEGO rendition complete with the tomb and its surrounding grounds, including the long reflecting pool in front.
And if you want to see how the builder created this, they’ve made an excellent 55-second time-lapse video of the construction showing the process layer by layer.