Airships with houses on them are just plain fun — implying a life of endless adventure among the clouds. Luis Baixinho has created this delightful vessel for his own OutroMundo theme. I love the nets tying down the cargo, but my favorite detail is the tile roof of the cabin.
Luis has been creating the people, places, and vehicles of OutroMundo since 2004, so be sure to check out lots more good stuff on Flickr.
This steampunk airship by Daniel García (Evo) may have the most unique shape I’ve seen in quite a while.
As cool as the airships that look like, well, ships are, there’s nothing to say that they have to look like ocean-going vessels with propellors or balloons tacked on. With underslung cannons and a prow that goes on forever, Heracles looks like it was designed to ply the clouds (nice touch, by the way) of an unrealized steampunk past.
Brent (thwaak) has built what looks like a flying submarine for the Pony Express. I love the sort of whimsy that can go into a steampunk creation, and this is a great example. It even has a periscope! The mix of colors on the hull is a nice touch too, it looks like a mix of wood and metal.
Linking to Jamie “Morgan19” Spencer‘s Brickshelf gallery in my last post, I realized that I’d never blogged his fighter/reconnaissance craft, the Obenwolken:
Obenwolken has a “state of the art onboard photographic recording system” to survey the steampunk battlefields of 1862, and is armed with a pair of repeating cannons. The always-excellent schematics reveal even more details (click for full resolution):
Hey all! There have been a pretty good output of nice models during the holidays – in addition to spending time with family and friends, it seems people are taking the time to finish old projects. A good thing! Lets start by taking a look at Adrian Drake’sThomas E. Dewey, the steam powered airship:
The Dewey has been under construction for a long time – the earliest pictures (depicting the starting construction of the hangar bay) came up on Adrian’s flickr in May 2006. Heck, the smaller crafts this beast carries were finished in April! With a unique, sculpted exterior and a deliciously detailed interior, this ship is nothing but a work of art.
Wow, I’m still here. I’m sorry I haven’t contributed for the last month or so. I blame my new part-time job, college classes, and brickfilms.com, roughly in that order. Anyway, to jumpstart my comeback, I’m going to invade Linus’ domain (please forgive me!) and feature this extremely cool airship by Felix Greco:
I especially like the use of the Jabba’s Sailbarge sails and the bubble canopies as magical air balloons. I only wish there were more pictures.
Dave DeGobbi of Burnaby, B.C., Canada attended NWBrickCon 2006 over this past weekend, and stole the show (well, at least the steampunk section) with his Goliath airship:
Naturally, the Goliath won the Best Steampunk prize for the show! Inspired by my favorite movie of all time, Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky, the airship includes many cool features:
Dual, counter-rotating props
Four vertical props
Dual, motorized bomb bays with a payload of sixteen bombs
Ten three-blade props
Steam engine with working crank shafts and light-up boiler fire
Two main air-to-surface artillary guns
Two anti-aircraft guns
Nine small turrets
Four tail guns
Dave says it took him about eighty hours to build, based on three years of parts collecting. The movement is powered by seven regular LEGO motors and one micro-motor. He estimates that Goliath includes over 7000 LEGO elements, which he spent more than $1000 CDN to purchase. (Multiple Yoda sets on clearance helped with the tan.)
Those of you who transport large LEGO creations may also be interested to learn that Dave included a 3/4″ x 1 1/4″ x 4′ Brazilian cherry beam in the Goliath, which makes it strong enough to survive long trips. As an added bonus, it makes the airship strong enough to hang from the ceiling. Here’s a picture of the DUPLO cradle and straps he uses to secure the Goliath:
Be sure to check out the full photoset on Flickr for lots of detailed shots. Dave’s awesome airship has been showing up in lots of Flickr photostreams, so you might see some new details in other people’s photos as well. Thanks for sharing this info and sending me the video, Dave!
Still playing catch up. The often blogged Legohaulic has gone on a steampunk building spree lately. He has invented an inventor named Bartholomew Crank. First up is Crank’s personal airship, the Boistrous Maiden. Note the patchy balloon!
And to his mailman, Mr. Basil, Bartholomew Crank built the aptly named Postal Gyro:
Inspired by anime director Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Horace Cheng presents a great set of “flappters” with excellent minifig passengers:
Horace has a fleet of four flappters, so be sure to check out the gallery to see them flying in formation!
And here’s the crew of the air-pirate zeppelin Tigermoth (inspiration for all steampunk airships since):