Tag Archives: 1:1 Scale

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

Impressive life-size LEGO skeletons

Don’t be rattled by these life-size LEGO skeletons from Tomáš Kašpařík (“Chairudo”) (Skull design by Matthias Richter). The size of this build is impressive, to say the least, and it’s even more impressive that the sculptures can be moved and put into different poses. These are some white LEGO bricks that I do NOT want to yellow out. Scale aside, it’s amazing how much detail Tomášis able to achieve with a single color, from the joints to the ribcage to the skull.

A humerus joke must have tickled their funny bones in this pose.

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Wes Talbott and James May talk about how they designed the LEGO Ideas 21327 Typewriter [News]

LEGO Ideas 21327 Typewriter, the newest Ideas set revealed, was designed by Wes Talbott and James May. They both wanted the Typewriter to have as much functionality as possible, and say it was a challenge to create a working model where Technic and System bricks work well together.

Click to see the Designer Video!

LEGO unveils life-size Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 built with over 400,000 pieces [News]

LEGO unveils yet another life-size sports car to add to their collection: Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. The model is made of more than 400,000 Technic pieces and weighs 2,200 kg. The model was created by 15 engineering and building specialists and took a total of 8,660 hours to develop and construct. To create it, 154 different types of LEGO Technic elements were used, and 20 of them were moulded just for this model.

Click to see the full details of the 1:1 scaled vehicle

It takes Ingenuity to fly a craft on Mars

What does NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Stephen Pakbaz do for fun when he’s not working on real-life Mars vehicles? Well, it turns out he builds Mars vehicles in LEGO. Here is a 1:1 scale, motorized model of the Ingenuity Helicopter that spans about four feet (1.2 meters) across. In case you’ve been living under a meteorite this past month this craft has made headlines with a number of historic flights.You can keep up with the latest real-life shenanigans of the helicopter on Mars on Nasa’s official website. As for LEGO-life shenanigans, you may notice that Stephen has also built the Ingenuity a leeetle friend in 1:3 scale. That one he has launched on LEGO Ideas in hopes of gaining the votes needed to maybe make it an official set at some point. This isn’t Stephen’s first orbit with LEGO Ideas. He was successful in turning the Curiosity Rover into an official set back in the early days when LEGO Ideas was called Cuusoo. Check out our interview from 2013.

Blissfully busy are brilliant blue barn swallows

Say that ten times fast! I’m just keeping you on your toes, like these busy little creatures. If you’ve ever worked on a farm or ranch, you know the job can be hard work. Barn swallows, named such because they often nest in barns, are no slouches! These beautiful birds, recreated here in LEGO by Bricolé, spend countless hours building their mud nests and raising up to 10 babies (in two clutches) a year! They’re always in a hurry and even eat while on the go! They earn their spot in the barn by scooping up tons of pesky flying insects.

As wonderful of a color it is (and as great as it looks here), LEGO “earth blue” or “dark blue” doesn’t quite do the bird justice. In real life it’s pretty stunning. That said, I love the movement in this build – especially the windswept vibe of the “grass” as the wings swoosh past. The katanas for the swallowtail are also a nice touch.

While you’re here, don’t miss out on all the other incredible animal builds we’ve featured!

I find your lack of LEGO disturbing

LEGO artist Ekow Nimako is celebrating May the Fourth with this amazing sculpture of the original Sith lord, Darth Vader. This massive helmet is just about life-size and as is typical for Ekow, incorporates a huge variety of LEGO elements ranging from Technic panels to slopes and even the big quarter saucer panels from the 90s. Ekow says this is only the first part of a larger build he’s working on.

See more of Ekow Nimako’s LEGO models on TBB, and listen to our interview with Ekow about race, inclusion and LEGO.

This is the way you build a bigger cradle

What do you do when you really want a plush LEGO Baby Yoda but can’t seem to justify it? Do what Simon Liu did – buy it anyway and build a to-scale cradle to go with it. Of course, you might need some other hard-to-find LEGO elements like sails from Jabba’s barge, but it’s a small price to pay for an upscale ride for your snuggly little pal.

This isn’t the first Baby Yoda build we’ve featured, and I’d be shocked if it was the last. And hopefully, we’ll see more that make use of the plush version of the character. Surely someone is working on a Razor Crest that’s to scale, right? (Well, we can dream.)

That one frog from the poster!

One of the most famous frogs in the world is the red-eyed tree frog. This gloriously rainbow-colored amphibian has graced many a poster. In fact, I had the one with them stacked on top of each other hanging on my own wall growing up. What I didn’t realize at the time was that those cute little ones definitely aren’t babies… Anyway, Joffre Zheng continues the admiration with this roughly-lifesize LEGO sculpture. Simple but adorable. Fun fact: their vibrant colors are mostly for attracting mates, but also safety. They try to keep the colorful parts of their body hidden while they rest on leaves. Then when a predator comes, they open their eyes and flash those legs to startle the would-be killer.

Another fun fact: the scientific name for this rainforest creature is Agalychnis callidryas, and the species part of that name derives from Greek words meaning “beautiful tree nymph”. Fitting, right?

You can check out more cool animal builds in our archives, as well as more creations by Joffre.

Ice Planet just got cooler with this life-size handheld computer

LEGO designer Chris Perron recently sat down to build a life-size replica of a LEGO element, and settled on one of his favorite themes, Ice Planet 2002 (a love I share with him). Instead of building a simple upscaled version of the theme’s iconic 1×2 tile, though, Chris reimagined it as a handheld tablet for exploring the frozen world. It’s bulky and rugged so that intrepid ice adventurers can handle it through gloves, and Chris converted all the knobs, lights, and screens to three-dimensional elements. And I couldn’t be more in love with the result. Forget about flower bouquets, this is the life-size stuff I want from LEGO.

And Chris didn’t take the easy route and just make the back a flat, featureless expanse of white. It’s got a rugged pattern that seems exactly like what you’d see on a device made to withstand being dropped onto the ice. The 2002 in the middle is just the icing on the nostalgia cake.

Building a stacked deck

We’ve seen LEGO playing cards before, but I don’t recall ever seeing them built life-size before, like this set by Dan Ko. The cards are very simple as far as the build, but there’s a lot of cleverness going on with the selection of pieces. The Clubs made with two 1×1 round plates and a lever handle are perfect, as is the Jack’s initial made from an umbrella. I don’t recall seeing a lobster on the diamond suit before, but I can roll with it, especially when it’s surrounded by a nifty thin red diamond made of a stretched rubber band.

Dan built them for a contest where he had to use 101 pieces or fewer, and he’s provided this lovely knolled image showing he used precisely 100 pieces.

Chemistry 101: I’m blinding me with science!

High school chemistry class sometimes had its appeal. A great experiment can have a whole class oohing and aahing over various liquids changing color, shattering objects, and sometimes even blowing stuff up. A failed experiment can lead to a would-be chemist losing eyebrows. Unless, of course, the loss of eyebrows was the intent of the experiment, then that would be considered a success. But either way, eye protection is a good idea. Thankfully, LEGO builder Jonas Kramm included eye protection with this build as well as a Bunsen burner and a test tube containing a chemical that may or may not singe off your eyebrows if treated improperly. The whole shebang (or she-BANG!) consists of only 101 LEGO pieces, making Chemistry 101 an inevitable part of this title. The rest was a line from Mystery Science Theater 3000. I don’t know about you, but I’m having a good reaction to this experiment. Here are the other times we were favorable to Jonas’ stuff.

There’s something fishy going on here.

A while back IKEA released a line of LEGO-compatible storage boxes. We’ve seen some creative builds based on them before, but this creation by Chi Hsin Wei (LEGO7) is a little sus. Sorry, I mean “fishy”. The white IKEA box makes for a perfect insulated container, transparent 1×1 brick makes realistic ice, and metallic silver tile and slopes add just the right sheen to the saury. The brick-built sign with pricing really elevates the build, giving everything context and letting you imagine visiting your favorite fish-monger for the catch of the day.

I don’t want to carp on about what a great build this is forever, so I suggest you go check out some other featured fishy builds.