Tag Archives: 1:1 Scale

Lifesize props that will have you asking “Is it LEGO?”

A graceful companion for a wizard of refined taste

The wizarding world of J. K. Rowling has been generating quite a lot of interest in the LEGO community recently, in large part thanks to the recent revival of the official Harry Potter LEGO theme. There have been many amazing creations and many contests dedicated to it (such as our own Microscale Magic contest), showing how popular the universe of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts is among LEGO fans. Revan New‘s latest creation is the winning entry to a contest on bricker.ru, the goal of which was to create a magical animal that does not exist in the books and movies, but very well could.

The builder has obviously succeeded in making an animal that looks coherent with the fantasy of J. K. Rowling’s universe, but it is much more than that. The head of the bird is an intense mix of rounded parts representing feathers and the body is full of wedge plates and slopes to get this same effect of feathers and colour patterns. A nice little detail is translucent fins used as tail feathers, giving the bird a truly magical feel. But Revan New does not stop there. He adds a little stand for his wavebird complete with velvet and a magic wand.

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Equip the LEGO Apex Legends Wingman and become the Champion [Video]

Games in the Titanfall universe are some of the best first-person shooter games I’ve played, and the surprise free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends is no exception. 20 squads of three enter, one survives, making for a tense spinoff game. My favorite sidearm from Titanfall is the Wingman revolver, and it returns in Apex with increased effectiveness. So, of course, I just had to create a LEGO Wingman for the LEGO gaming arsenal.

The most interesting feature of the Wingman is its reload function. Throwing a switch above the trigger expands the black rails and unlocks the ammo cylinder for removal. I couldn’t get the function switch-activated, but all other parts work including the cylinder lock. Read more and see a video of the Wingman’s features

1% inspiration, 99% perspiration

That was Thomas Edison’s recipe for innovation. But he failed to mention the importance of keeping things simple. When it comes to LEGO creations, sometimes the simplest models are the most impressive, and this wonderful LEGO lightbulb by Josephine Monterosso is a great example. It may be comprised of only seven pieces, but this economy of parts only makes it all the more impressive. The transparent minifigure head and clear space helmet make for the perfect recreation of retro lightbulb curves, and the short length of silver ribbed hose is a nice way to evoke a screw thread. Maybe this LEGO lightbulb will give other builders ideas too!

Block-rocking beats from this LEGO Walkman

When Ralf Langer put together his excellent LEGO headphones and tape cassette, all that was missing was something to provide the tunes. Now he’s filled the gap with a brick rendition of the innovative 80s hardware that reinvented how we listened to music — the Sony Walkman. The colour scheme is a perfect match for the 1979 original, and the details down the side are simply spot-on — don’t miss the use of a silver ingot piece and grille bricks to recreate the volume slider, the offsets so the buttons stand out from the casing, and the nice deployment of the “back-to-back grille tile” technique to make those tiny square holes. I also love that silver stripe separating the blue from the grey — excellent attention to detail.

These life-size LEGO ice sculptures glow with elegance

When builder Tomáš Kašpařík takes on a project, you can almost bet it’s going to be unpredictable and stunning. These two statues, an athletic woman and a child, are beautiful and have a feeling of piercing tranquility. Made mostly with 1×2 transparent LEGO bricks lit with LED strips from the inside, the sculptures contain about 20,000 bricks and 10,000 bricks respectively. For them to be stable for display and transportation, the pieces are glued using similar methods to those employed in the models at Legoland.

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The greatest brick hits from the ’80s

There was nothing quite like living in the 1980s. Back then, having a single cassette tape on-hand meant being forced to listen to a full album of music and nothing else. It was just one of many technological shortcomings we had to deal with. These two nostalgic builds by Ralf Langer certainly bring back some of those memories. At first glance, the headphones look so realistic. Ralf used LEGO rubber tires to form the ear cushions, and I’m still puzzled by how he incorporated them into the build.

The compact cassette tape is also shaped perfectly, right down to the placement of the capstan and pinch roller openings. My favorite parts are the chain links used for the magnetic tape supply reels. While writing this article, I was inspired to play music from the ’80s over my 21st Century Bluetooth headset; talk about instant gratification!

LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy Star-Lord helmet is wearable

The legendary outlaw Star Lord of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is brought to life in LEGO with a replica of his helmet built by master of LEGO cosplay Brickatecture moc industries.The face mask is perfectly shaped and detailed to be instantly recognizable from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and comics. The brick-built hairstyle is an interesting choice that works well.

Of course, like Brickatecture’s Venom mask, the Star-Lord helmet is hollow yet sturdy, making it wearable by its creator.

A waffle-y good LEGO breakfast

Waffles and milk — a delicious breakfast. And the subject for a delicious digital LEGO creation by ExeSandbox. The waffles themselves are immediately recognisable — neat and tidy constructions of tiled bricks and slopes. But it was the scattering of fruit that caught my eye — balloon parts and clown afro wigs! Sadly there are some “impossible” colour/part combinations going on here. That’s normally enough for us not to cover a digital creation, but this one was so good we thought we’d still feature it. The dribbles of maple syrup are a case in point, they are beautifully done — genuinely gloopy and tasty-looking — but they feature some curved elements that don’t come in those colours in the real world. All-in-all, this is a breakfast of champions, but one that will remain a fantasy until LEGO actually makes those bricks.

When our inner schism stops destroying and starts creating

By now, LEGO bricks’ place among other art media should be obvious, but it still seems to be more of an exception than the rule for builders to express their emotions through bricks. But some times, builders do feel the need to express themselves, as in the case of Malin Kylinger in her latest build. Malin states that the dual theme of the creation represents a range of emotions she went through in the recent times. What at first glance looks like a simple struggle between good and evil hides countless possible interpretation. Is this a chaotic whirlwind of changing emotion or is it a fine balance? Or maybe there is no struggle, just coexistence of light and dark?

Whatever the interpretation, there is no getting around the fact this is a great build. The face is technically a somewhat flat build, but from the photos, it looks very realistic. The hair is built using an interesting technique using strings with bars as the flexible basis for the white and dark red leaves. My favourite part by far are the eyes built using pieces as crazy as feathered minifig wings. The landscaping might look chaotic to some, but I see it as a stream of consciousness in LEGO.

Let your fingers do the counting

If you blink or scroll a little too fast, you may just miss that these items are made of LEGO. Marco Gan reminisces about his younger days when his father did his daily ledger work using an abacus and a Chinese ledger. The writing on the ledger follows actual records he made. The beads of the abacus are built with, yes, you guessed it, LEGO tyres. The gold finishing gives it an authentic touch of antiquity, leaving us in awe about how much we’ve advanced since the days when these were the essential tools of a merchant. Of course, some older folks today still claim that they can calculate faster using an abacus than you can on a digital calculator…

A noteworthy build waiting to be discovered

Every once in a while I get that feeling of “why didn’t I think of it?” and this is certainly one of them. Peter Reid, who designed the 21109 Ideas Exo-Suit, makes use of parts both new and old in unique ways. I’m particularly impressed by the method with which the thin blue lines were achieved, using the Hinge Brick Base and the Top Plate. The parts have been around for quite a while, which means it was technique waiting to be discovered. The two other new pieces are the Hoop Blade, which was only introduced this year, which forms the notepad’s rings, and the realistic looking end to the pencil thanks to the obvious use of the Eraser Minifigure from the Batman Collectible Minifigure Series.

Take control of Twitch’s LEGO Shock Drone from Rainbow Six Siege [Video]

One of the most fun games I play with friends is Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, a tactical multiplayer game of attack and defend resolving bomb defusal or hostage situations. In the attack phase, I like playing as French GIGN operator Twitch, who is equipped with her own hand-crafted camera drone outfitted with a taser. To show some love for this game, I built the Shock Drone with LEGO in 1:1 scale.

The bulky design of the Shock Drone compared to other operators’ standard camera drones allowed enough room internally for Power Functions. Each front wheel is powered by a motor and controlled by SBrick, which, just like in Siege, allows me to control the drone with my phone. You can see it in action, as well as a glimpse at the internals and a gameplay comparison for those unfamiliar with Siege, in the video below.