Tag Archives: Aircraft

An ace Sky-Fi fighter

When it comes to the “Sky-Fi” Dieselpulp style of LEGO building, one man is the undisputed master of the air: Jon Hall. He strikes again with his latest retro-flavoured aircraft — the P-98 Nemesis. The shaping of the hefty triple-fuselage structure is excellent, and there are loads of lovely touches on display — the strong colour-blocking, the raked exhausts peeking from beneath the engine cowls, and the racks of ordnance slung under the wings.

P-98 Nemesis

Packed full of Jon’s trademark attention to detail, the model includes custom stickers, a folding undercarriage, and a detailed cockpit interior. Check out this view of the seat and the instrumentation panel with its trio of joysticks. And don’t miss the spanner mounted up-front as a gun sight — great stuff.

P-98 Nemesis

The bandit in one the best bad movies ever made

Watching Top Gun is like eating a Philadelphia cheesesteak with cheez whiz. Some of the ingredients are a bit dodgy and there really is an awful lot of stringy cheese, but it tastes oh so good. Why? Forget Tom Cruise—the undisputed star of the movie is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. However, instead Lego Admiral chose to build one of the villains, called the MiG-28, and that’s cool in my book.

MIG-28 as featured in "Top Gun"

The MiG-28s in Top Gun weren’t really Russian, of course, because they never made a MiG-28. In reality, the planes on-screen were F-5 Tigers, which are normally used by the US Navy as adversaries in air-to-air combat training. However, the jets certainly looked the part, as for the occasion they were painted in temporary color schemes with fictional national markings of some Communist country. This made them look even more sinister, as we all know that evil wears black. The LEGO model has a long shark-nose and an expertly rendered coke-bottle fuselage. Even more than thirty years later the MiG-28 still looks bad-ass.

Aces high – a duel in the sky

Harking back to an age of more gentlemanly aerial combat, these LEGO versions of a Sopwith Camel and a Fokker Triplane from Vaionaut are beautifully done. The tan and dark brown colour scheme on the Sopwith is perfect, and I particularly like the smart use of clip-and-bar pieces to give the upper wings their signature raked-forward look. Nice use of binoculars and screwdrivers to create the twin machine-guns too. The restrained use of some custom stickers, an appropriate choice of minifigures, and a lovely little workbench all come together to complete the scene.

Sopwith F.1 Camel

However, if you have a Sopwith, you must have an opponent in red. And sure enough, Vaionaut has built a gorgeous Fokker Dr.I to accompany.

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Tora! Tora! Tora!

A Second World War themed LEGO airplane fleet is a rare sight to behold. This image by Allen Lim looks amazing, even though the Japanese Zero fighters are multiplied digitally. Obviously my favourite part is the effort put into editing, but that should not overshadow the excellent work on the aircraft carrier and the aircraft itself. There are some shapes around the cockpit and on the wings that are very impressive once you take a closer look and think about how they are done.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

I think the best way to view this aircraft is in combat in a dogfight with a Spitfire.

My Lego Spitfire Vs BM Zero Fighter

Allen has been building military aircraft throughout February so expect to see more from him in the near future.

Take to the skies in your own little helicopter [Instructions]

Perhaps this helicopter is actually a better size for ants rather than people, but it is definitely a fun little LEGO build. GolPlaysWithLego has built this great microscale helicopter out of 30 LEGO parts.  The fuselage is built using some of the newer 1×2 curved slopes with notch and the tail rotor is a boomerang. Clever use of parts for a small build!

Nano Chopper LEGO MOC Click here for Instructions

A flying fortress of LEGO bricks

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft that played a key role for the Allies in World War II. When the prototype B-17 first flew in 1935, a reporter for the Seattle Times was watching and coined the name “Flying Fortress” with his comment, “Why, it’s a flying fortress!” The B-17 was mainly used in the strategic bombing campaign of World War II. PlaneBricks has built a fantastic LEGO version of this famous bomber, complete with the machine guns poking out of clear ‘blisters’ to allow bombardiers and gunners to visualise their targets.

B-17G Flying Fortress

See more images of this classic LEGO aircraft

F15 on a LEGO-to-air combat mission

The F-15 is a twin-engine, all weather fighter that is the mainstay of the U.S. Air Force’s air superiority and homeland defence missions. Boeing boasts that its proven design is undefeated in air-to-air combat, with more than 100 aerial combat victories. Kai NRG has a special reason for building a LEGO version of this particular jet fighter, his grandfather worked on developing the aircraft. He has certainly done a very good job, the shaping is fantastic with SNOT building giving a wonderfully smooth, streamlined appearance.

F15 Eagle

Just in case you didn’t spot the working flaps in the main image, this view shows the added functionality in Kai’s design.

F15 Eagle

Large-scale LEGO Spitfire wins the air battle

Whilst the Battle Of Britain saw the RAF fly more Hawker Hurricanes, the Supermarine Spitfire’s beautiful lines marked it out as the signature British fighter of WW2. This large LEGO model by Lennart C manages to capture the iconic shaping and curves perfectly — no mean feat in the brick. The 1:18 scale employed is impressive — with the model stretching to over 50 studs long by my count — allowing the creation of accurate brick-built camouflage. This, coupled with some simple stickers makes for a wonderful re-creation of the famous fighter.

Spitfire (8)

The attention to detail on show is impressive, with 8 Browning machine guns built into the wings, and nice use of “macaroni pipe” pieces for the engine exhaust cowls. Don’t miss the underside, with its working undercarriage — excellent work.

Spitfire (6)

No sleep ’til bricktime

The Beastie Boys’ debut album Licensed To Ill is a certifiable classic. Not only is it packed full of awesome tracks, but I can distinctly remember how cool the gatefold sleeve looked when the LP first appeared back in 1986. Brick Flag is also clearly a fan. He’s recreated the iconic cover art in LEGO bricks — a Boeing 727 smashing into a mountainside, and looking more than a little like a stubbed-out cigarette. The model would be great anyway, but the fact it’s such an accurate representation of its inspiration just makes it even better. What’s the time? It’s time to get built.

Licensed To MOC

An airplane might disappoint any pilot but it’ll never surprise a good one

Even though brick-built airplanes cannot fly yet, designing a cool LEGO aircraft is no easier than engineering a real one. Wesley reveals a wonderfully looking copy of Albatros D.III biplane fighter, which was used by the Imperial German Army during World War I. Its design seems very simple and straightforward, but, no doubt, capturing all the proportions correctly is quite a challenge considering the scale of the build. And, of course, the picture itself is a very sweet example of a proper presentation!

Separate the aircraft from the chaff: LEGO U.S. Navy Douglas A-1F Skyraider

The original U.S. Navy Douglas A-1F Skyraider was an single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. The design underwent many modifications, including versions devoted to the electronic countermeasures (ECM) mission. Ralph Savelsberg has created a beautifully accurate LEGO version of the EA-1F,  which used ECM equipment to detect and jam enemy radar in the skies over Vietnam.  You can see that the front wing edges are swept back ever so slightly, which Ralph cleverly achieved using tiles and brackets, making each step half a plate thick.

EA-1F Skyraider of VAW-33

As is typical for carrier-based aircraft, the wings on the Skyraider can be folded  and Ralph has also made sure that his model is accurate in this respect.

EA-1F Skyraider of VAW-33LEGO models with folding wings can also save on display space, which is good because Ralph’s military aircraft shelves are getting rather busy, and I am sure more aircraft are inbound.

Peace through superior air power

Take a WW2-era Mustang, mix in a dash of muscle-car, then shake with a liberal helping of Dieselpunk. The result? Jon Hall‘s excellent new LEGO creation, the Fe-47 Rapier — a “sky-fi” fighter plane of formidable proportions. The colour blocking on this baby is fierce, the splashes of yellow adding real visual pop to the tail, nose, and engine cowlings. And the overall shaping is classic alternate-technology building — familiar enough to be immediately recognisable, but odd enough to make you look twice.

Fe-47 Rapier

One of the things I love about Jon’s creations is the attention to detail he lavishes on every aspect. The custom decals are an obvious highlight, but my favourite touch is the undercarriage — managing to let this bad boy land, despite the bulging lower fuselage…

Fe-47 Rapier