Ever wondered what Ninjago City would look like if LEGO decided to use the same format on a medieval-themed build? Wonder no more and just take a look at Benjamin Stenlund latest creation. This amazingly detailed build celebrates the 10 years of existence of The Guilds of Historica. It features an Elven tea pavilion, a tavern, a tights shop, and a cartographer’s shop. On the street level, we find a candle maker, a bookstore, a jeweler, and a room for rent. On the second level, there is a moneylender, an apartment, and a shield shop. Benjamin didn’t stop when he filled up a 32×32 base plate so he had to expand the city to add a Chapel, a bakery, and a barbershop. I know for sure I would love to get lost in this amazing Medieval city. Can you spot all the little shops/businesses included in this massive build?
Tag Archives: Benjamin Stenlund
Command and control your space
NPU, or Nice Parts Use, is the fan term for taking an unusual and seemingly single-use LEGO element and cleverly incorporating it into something else. It’s rare to see the NPU ethos applied to expensive electronic components, however, that’s exactly what TBB alumn Benjamin Stenlund has done with the 9V battery box controller on this Vic Viper, positioning it so the infrared emitter becomes a cool cockpit. Of course, don’t miss the carrot blasters on this greebled entry to the Novvember fan challenge, too.
Cluckery on the high seas
LEGO builder and The Brothers Brick alumn Benjamin Stenlund acquired some chickens recently. This inspired him to build The Bad Egg, a plucky pirate ship inhabited entirely by chickens. As Ben tells it, here we see Captain Cockerel and his bloodthirsty buck-buckaneers prowl the seas in search of gold. Golden corn, that is. The plume of tail feathers at the aft of the ship is a brilliant touch and the chicken masthead is also quite funny, but I like that one of the crow’s nests is an actual nest. Ben tells us he enjoys watching the real-life chickens roam the yard and do their thing, which is mostly eating and pooping. It’s about as productive as some humans get, truth be told.
It’s always great to check in on how an old friend is doing. Have a gander at our archives to see why we think Benjamin Stenlund is still the cock of the walk around here.
Apprentice of the blacksmith
Whenever I go to a new building that is quite large and has a big open space, like a warehouse or a church, I always get the feeling that I am a tremendously small speck of a human being on a very big planet. It is almost humbling in a way. I’ve never had this feeling when looking at a LEGO creation up till now. The picture of the blacksmith created by Benjamin Stenlund evoked the exact same feeling for me. This building has to be between 35 to 40 bricks high. Which by itself is massive.
The building itself is constructed out of brick build bricks. This helps to prevent the Big Grey Wall Effect. It also adds to the feeling that this building is immense. Another thing that makes this creation stand out is the lighting. We have light coming from the oven and light coming through the gate and through the windows. The way the light enters the blacksmith makes it feel like it is a real setting and not just a well-lit LEGO creation. The attention to detail in this creation is superb. The sliding gate gets some nice wood carving. The arched vault windows are made out of cheese slopes, plates, and bricks. These arches also show how thick the walls are which attributes to the big building vibe. Ben describes that the building has to be this big in order for dragons to have their armor fittings. Which sounds like a very valid reason indeed.
Bricks on the High Seas
If you enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, then you’ll love this seafaring LEGO creation by Henjin_Quilones.
Do ye know what a pirate’s favorite letter be? Ye’d think it would be “R”, but his true love will always be the “C”. All jokes aside, this is truly a wonderful little build. Ship hulls are difficult to contrive out of most bricks, but Henjin manages it by using a variety of angles. The sails are made of sloped bricks and automotive spoiler pieces definitely give off the vibe of being pushed by the wind. My favorite part, however, is barely visible. If you look at the deck very closely, you can see a windowpane lattice doubling as the deck grating.
A whale of a Jeep Rubicon
The ever-popular Iron Builder competition is heating up like Georgia asphalt in July and we’re pretty thrilled. Our friend and recent The Brothers Brick alumni Benjamin Stenlund is climbing the summit with this delightful little Jeep Rubicon. The seed part was used four times here along the fenders. But to me, that isn’t even the most exciting part. Did you wonder how I came up with the title? Well, it turns out Benjamin used two Duplo whales, a big one and a little one, as part of the rock formations. That’s some brilliant parts usage right there! Good parts usage is the reason Benjamin has been featured a lot lately. Rooting for the other guy? He’s no slouch either. Then check out how Grant Davis is measuring up.
Beep and Sweep: A robot’s guide to mopping floors
Looks like there is a lot of cleaning to do for this poor robot, as Benjamin Stenlund astounds us again with another encapsulating scene. It’s great to see a fully enclosed build, like this, with atmospheric lighting, which suggests that this display has a story to tell. The model is an entry in the Iron Builder contest with the current challenge being to build a model featuring sand blue spoilers. These spoiler pieces appear not only on the robot but also in the fans and the lights on the walls.
Ursula’s tentacles have been cleverly used as the mop head with the handle made out of candlestick pieces. I love the idea that even in a futuristic hangar, they still require a mop and bucket to clean the floors. Check out more articles on Benjamin’s stunning builds.
The old mill at sunset
The lighting in this LEGO creation by Benjamin Stenlund is simply stunning. It looks like the sun is slowly setting (or rising) illuminating only one side of the building. I actually had to look twice to make sure the building wasn’t made of tan and dark tan bricks (note I might be a bit color blind). The spoilers make not only great mill blades but also great roof shingles. The best used part in this creation has to be the plain old jumper plate. They are used to create the insets where the underlying bricks are visible. The effect is simply stunning. It looks like the plastering crumbled down on several spots of the building. Last but not least, can you spot Groot?
Watch out for the Legolex
Bored of looking at your own bland wristwatch? Look no further than the Legolex. Carefully crafted by Benjamin Stenlund, the Legolex has style and grace. Spoiler pieces connect together along the comfortable strap. Brown link chains create the textured border around the delicately placed face of the watch. An elegant crown is used to complete Legolex logo so that others know you have a great taste in watches. And with a Legolex you will always know what time it is. It’s Lego time.
All jokes aside, we’re sad to say Benjamin is leaving our team. We wish him all the best on his future endeavours. Be sure to follow him for more of his wonderful creations, and of course, we hope to see more of his amazing creations here on TBB.”
The Hiding of the Druid Shrine
I am an absolute sucker for LEGO photography where all that meets the eye is LEGO. Hardly no backdrop visible. Just bricks. For me this helps me stay in the scene a lot better versus seeing it as a creation made of bricks against a nice backdrop. A good example of this is Benjamin Stenlund’s latest creation. It depicts a druid in a sacred shrine. For the druid Benjamin used the sorting hat, which to me always looks like the sorting hat. Therefor it always looks kinda out of place in non Harry Potter creations. However in this case it works perfectly fine thanks to the shadow cast on the druid figure. Benjamin made a rocky landscape covered in foliage. The rock work looks really intricate and I would have no idea where to start when making them. The trees give a nice pop of colour to this creation. There even is a waterfall that lights up in the dark. My guess is this is where the secret treasure is hidden. Somehow this creation gives me strong Lord of the Rings vibes, but this is not the case. You can read the backstory to this creation in Benjamins caption.
Always remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle
As a LEGO fan, reusing seems like second nature, but reducing can be hard; instead, the desire is always for more, more, more, right? Recycling is something that LEGO fans do, too, taking the same ideas and making them again and again, in slightly different forms, or else taking parts from one build and using them in another. In my case, I took parts from a Star Wars Eta-2 Actis-class Jedi Interceptor and turned it into a Vic Viper-style racing ship. The central cockpit stays, the sloping side wings stay, but the engines get an upgrade (and it needed a hyperdrive, of course) and of course a giant fin gets put on the back. It looks faster than the basic Interceptor, ready for some serious space racing. I added a large space gate, too, so that it had something to fly through, marking the space race course.
This was built for the Space Jam racing team collaboration category, as well as for the Iron Forge. So many contests. But while you are here, you should check out our collection of LEGO spaceship builds and make Benny proud.
Dabs of lively color
Brothers Brick contributor Benjamin Stenlund has been braving the Iron Forge lately, and this artistic build make uses of the seed part of a LEGO banana. And that’s cool and all, but there are other keen details to enjoy. If you look closely you’ll spot some wildlife hanging out in those colorful puddles of paint. And I really do enjoy when a frog shows up unexpectedly as creative part usage. And somehow that rat is even more perfect, with the curve of its tail suggesting a squiggle of paint.
