Tag Archives: Aircraft

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

This is your captain speaking and we’re about to take off

There are dozens of reasons to love both old and modern LEGO City sets, but still not all adult fans are happy with huge molded pieces that aircraft models are built of. Jussi Koskinen presents a very elegant alternative to bulky fuselages. No surprise it took him about three months to finish this brilliant ATR 72-500, which features a very smartly designed body.

ATR 72

Skilfully designed and executed interior holds 28 passengers, 2 pilots and even a flight attendant — enough room for all your City travellers!

ATR 72 interior

Like an angel hurtling through the heavens at mach 3

With its sleek fuselage and arrowhead profile, the Seraphim reconnaissance jet by Corvin Stichert seems to resemble the stepping stone between the SR-71 Blackbird and the SSV Normandy SR-1 from Mass Effect. Although the builder had more of the former in mind when building, surely it’s ultrafast aircraft like this that will eventually eliminate the boundary between sky and space. Corvin puts all the curved slopes and wedges to excellent use in shaping the body, resulting in a craft that seems primed for radar deflection rather than merely a little pixelated as a consequence of the bricks.

My favorite touch on this model is the realistic, working landing gear and ordnance bays on the underside.

Corvin has also created a full ground crew to accompany the aircraft. Now all it needs is an Area 51 hangar.

Keep an eye out for black, white and dark red in the sky above

After a long break, German builder Sylon-tw is back into his assembly hall proving that his futuristic airplanes are still dominating LEGO skies. Instead of the dieselpunk go-to colors of grey, dark blue, bright red, or reddish brown, Thomas goes for bold black on the body and elegant decorations of white and dark red stripes. Combined with short droid bodies, the dinosaur flippers work perfectly as propeller blades. And in a nice change from convention, the aircraft has a fetching female pilot.

F-09 Trident

Lt. C. Williams

Double falcon or double awesome?

Sky-fi may be among the more obscure LEGO building themes, but if you dig deep, plenty of amazing models can be found. The F70 Double Falcon by Vincent Tolouse is a great representation of the alternate-history early aviation-based theme, because it has everything, from beautiful curves to unique and imaginative shapes. Add to that the gorgeous dark red and chrome silver along with some nice part uses such as the Galidor shields at the front, and you get a very memorable and absolutely insane aeroplane.

F70 Double Falcon

RAF Hawker Typhoon swooshes into enemy airspace

The Hawker Typhoon, known by the RAF as Tiffy for short, was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft during World War II. Einon‘s LEGO version of the Typhoon features a fully retractable landing gear and carries eight rockets under the wings and two bombs. The real life bomber had a few design issues but Einon has managed to iron out some of these in his minifigure-scale version.  The brick-built propeller is a good solution for sizing on this model but the invasion stripes on the upper wing surfaces and fuselage seal this as an accurate wartime Typhoon.

Hawker Typhoon Mk Ib - RAF

Einon has made a short video that not only shares more details about the Typoon, but also demonstrates his version’s retractable landing gear and how swooshable this LEGO bomber can be.

Fly above the blue yonder in this LEGO UH-2A Seasprite

Rotary-winged aircraft are probably not the first thing to come to mind when contemplating the excitement of naval aviation (who remembers seeing a helicopter in Top Gun?). But these whirlybirds are the unsung heros of navies across the globe. The UH-2 Seasprite is a perfect example, painstakingly detailed here in LEGO form by TBB’s own Ralph Savelsberg.

UH-2A Seasprite

The Seasprite entered service with the United States Navy in the early 1960s and played a vital role rescuing downed pilots during the Vietnam War. This particular model, Ralph explains, is an early model UH-2A which served aboard the USS Forrestal in 1965. After a complete rebuild, this helicopter was delivered 50 years later to the Royal New Zealand Navy.

UH-2A Seasprite

Ralph is no stranger to building military aircraft, particularly naval models — check out how he does it and his recent LEGO Sikorsky HH–60G Pave Hawk. His newest creation is no less accurate or well-built than his others. Every angle and shape of the Seasprite has been captured. The coloration and markings also help bring this beauty to life. In fact, it’s so realistic it looks late for an important mission. After all, naval planes may get the glory, but its naval helicopters which get the work orders.

Hear the ‘wocca wocca wocca’ as a hawk flies past

The Sikorsky HH–60G Pave Hawk is a twin-turboshaft engine helicopter in service with the United States Air Force, and TBB’s own Ralph Savelsberg has chosen to depict this versatile helicopter in ‘European One’ camouflage colours. The amazingly accurate shaping of Ralph’s model was the first reason this model caught my eye.  I have flown in Blackhawks and seen them close up in my previous line of work, and I instantly recognised the Hawk family resemblance. There are a few details that I particular like, for example Ralph’s clever solutions to using a limited palate of dark bluish grey, dark green, and olive green means the hubs on the wheels are actually dark green minifigure heads!

HH-60G Pave Hawk

See more of this amazing LEGO helicopter

LEGO Focke Wulf Ta 152 “Butcher Bird” prepares for action

Master aircraft builder Maelven has built some unique and historically accurate planes, but perhaps none are as eye-catching as his newest build, the Focke Wulf Ta 152 H-1.

Ta-152H - Front

Designed by famed aeronautical engineer Kurt Tank, the Ta 152 was a last ditch effort by the Luftwaffe during the closing days of the Third Reich to combat the high-altitude bombers deployed by the Allies. Although only a handful were built the Ta 152 proved itself as a capable interceptor and among the fastest piston-driven fighters of the war. The long nose and superbly sleek design which characterized this butcher bird are created expertly here in LEGO form.

Ta-152H - Alternate

The builder chose to adorn this particular model with the red-orange paint scheme used by Luftwaffe ace Fritz Aufhammer. Legend says Aufhammer adorned his plane in such colors to notify trigger-happy Flak crews that this strange and unfamiliar aircraft was actually on their side. The Ta 152 is seen here in the process of being maintained and refitted. The exposed engine compartment is a nice touch, and along with the other details, really helps to bring this build to life.

LEGO P-51 Mustang roars to victory

Historical builder Milan CMadge recently shared his version of one of the most iconic and influential fighter planes of World War II, the P-51D Mustang. The P-51D was not just a spectacular fighter, outclassing most of its counterparts in combat, but a real eye-catcher too. The sleek and seductive lines that made the Mustang such a pretty plane are captured nicely here in LEGO form.

P-51D - North American Mustang

The color patterns are accurate and look really good. The stickers are conservatively applied and add a nice bit of character to the model. Overall the builder has done a fine job paying tribute to this Allied workhorse, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to swoosh it around my house all day!