For the enjoyment of his fellow military aviation buffs, builder ama77what has beautifully reverse-engineered this microscale A-10 “Warthog” fighter jet from a knock-off brand of building block, recreating it using bona-fide LEGO pieces and presenting it in the form of this handy single-page building guide. There really is nothing more to say here than go build it and SWOOOSH it!
Gerald Cacas brings us a well-shaped LEGO version of the turboprop Fokker 50. There’s a lot of grey going on, but that’s because the build is modelled on the Royal Singapore Air Force version. This old warhorse of an aircraft is still in service with the RSAF in a Utility Transport and Maritime Patrol role. Aside from its realism, the muted tones of the model create an uncluttered feel, really showcasing the builder’s skill.
Nice innovative parts use with the claw element forming the six-bladed propeller on each side. Aviation fans will also notice the attempt to shape the cockpit window as close as possible to the real McCoy.
Ciamosław Ciamek today brings us simple but very effective, with a small “Barnstomer” plane rudely flying low on a farmer’s land. Take a few seconds to look at this build. There are no complex techniques nor an overwhelming amount of parts — it’s just the right amount of bricks used in the right places.
What I also love about this build is the small scale of the plane. It’s absolutely minute, and there was some cheating done with the build. I assume the minifig head is just stuck on a brick, or one of the 2X2 driver’s bodies that have a minifig head peg. They were popular with the Drome Racers theme in the early 2000’s, and it’s a good way to simulate a full minifig in a small space. Also check out this alternate view, which shows off more of the plane.
Soviet engineers were people with great imagination. Of course, at that time they didn’t have access to LEGO bricks, but even today their peculiar projects look awesome in plastic. Polish builder Ciamosław Ciamek presents Ushakov’s Flying Submarine — a hybrid of a military airplane and a submarine. Not only does it sound cool, it also looks cool. It’s gray, cold and bizarre even for an ambitious Soviet project.
Take a look into the brick-built airplane cockpit built by kosbrick. With carefully selected printed LEGO elements and clever use of minifigure paint rollers as the throttle and steering wheels, the scene looks authentic and ready for takeoff.
LEGO Certified Professional Ryan McNaught has been busy unveiling some fantastic new creations at Brickvention Australia. We showcased his incredible LEGO minifig-scale 120,000-brick sinking Titanic, and now we take to the skies with LEGO Concorde.
Ryan has chosen to build the iconic supersonic aircraft Concorde in miniland-scale. Building Concorde in LEGO is cool, but it’s only when you see the other side of the build that the really impressive details emerge.
While one side shows the complete aircraft, the other is an ingenious cutaway view that shows a slice through Concorde.
Jon Hall built five incredible planes this year. To commemorate that, he just posted this montage. Somehow we dropped the ball and only posted one of them here. That lapse has now been rectified. Here they are, all together in their breath-taking awesomeness.
Jon’s planes are truly works of art. So smooth, so seamless, so beautiful. He does paint some of them and uses custom stickers, which probably irritates somebody, somewhere. But he does it so well, I feel it just adds to the “realism” and makes the suspension of disbelief that much easier.
Crimson Storm
R-16 Vindicator
F49A Patriot
S-15 Vulture
He-98 Halberd
Brickmania has just released a new version of the iconic World War I tri-plane flown by Baron Manfred Von Richthofen, The Red Baron. The Fokker Dr. 1 kit includes special MG08 “Spandau” machine guns, hand-injected in the Brickarms studios, as well as a custom printed minifig of the baron himself.
From his Flickr stream, it’s clear that builder arwen qiea is a Cold War military vehicle buff. It’s an impressive portfolio of (mostly Soviet) tanks, missile carriers and navy vessels from the 50s and 60s. But his gigantic airplanes kind of steal the limelight! Here’s his latest one, a model of the Soviet TU-135, an experimental supersonic bomber from that era.
From that angle, the TU-135 seems almost as sleek as a modern Russian fighter jet. But from a higher vantage point you can see why it was nicknamed the “flying wing”.
So that’s a pretty big plane, right? Nope. THIS is a big plane…
…say hello to the Russian Antonov AN-22, probably the largest turboprop ever built. And the big builds don’t stop there. His version of the Lockheed C5a Galaxy (a heavy transport used by the USAF) is so big it literally eats other LEGO models for breakfast!
And here it is, digesting its meal of tanks and other armaments:
Once again Jon Hall proves that he is truly the master of building beautiful airplanes. He has only posted one photo so far, but I am looking forward to more shots of that gorgeous light-aqua coloured underside.
Measured by its longevity and popularity, the Cessna 172 Skyhawk is the most successful mass-produced light aircraft in history. The 1960 model 172a faithfully reproduced here by Jes Bert introduced a swept back tail and rudder as well as float fittings to the design, the price was US $9,450.
In brushing up on my Cessna 172 lore for this posting I was reminded that on May 28, 1987, a rented Cessna 172 was used by German teenage pilot Mathias Rust to fly an unauthorized flight from Helsinki-Malmi Airport through Soviet airspace to land near Red Square in Moscow, all without being intercepted by Soviet air defense. Who says teenagers aren’t motivated?
Air Marshal Jon Hall (Jon Hall18) remains ever vigilant to keep the skies of your home prefecture clear of enemy warbirds. The A-37B Marauder is the latest weapon in the never ending war against Eurasia or is it East Asia?…I always forget. For you purists in the audience giving that camouflage the disapproving skunk-eye, you can rest easy, the builder claims the effect was achieved by cutting up only the most official decals available from our Danish overlords.
