It’s always fun when we find builds that come with a little bit of a story. This scene, “Alliance Against the Invader,” by Jon Stead, is one of those builds. According to Jon, the year is 1178 and a medieval kingdom has been rocked by an object falling from the sky. A flaming saucer smashes into the forest and the alien invader it contains is ready to kill. Now it’s time for warring factions to come together to fight the beast and save the kingdom!
Click to see more of this war of worlds
A long time ago, in this galaxy far, far away, you won’t find lightsabers and droids, but you’ll certainly spot princesses and knights. Built by Koen, this precariously perched castle has a wonderfully Disney-like aesthetic with some clever techniques mixed in, if you take some time to study it. Note, for instance, the second-tallest turret, which has windows made of pulley wheels and Technic pins.
Personally, I’d like to think this is where the Little Prince lives after he grows up.
The TBB cover photo for June 2018 is Sandyman’s Mill by Patrick B. Now visiting our social media pages will make you want to be a hobbit and live in The Shire!
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One of the things that can really set a castle apart are the little architectural details — window frames, a well-crafted wall, bridges, and parapets. This stunning creation by Fraser Ratzlaff has all this and more. At a glance, it might seem like this castle in the clouds has to be microscale, but make no mistake, this minifig-scale castle is nine feet tall! One of the most impressive things about this castle is the support, made entirely of official LEGO bricks.
See more details after the jump
Spanning the river Cher in the Loire Valley, Château de Chenonceau is one of the most charming castles of France. Built in the early 1500s the place have seen many owners. Today it belongs to the Menier family, who are famous for their signature chocolates. Last year we got acquainted with the chocolate box château thanks to a wonderful microscale model by Isaac Snyder. And now it’s Aaron Newman turn to wow us with an off the charts model of the castle. Full of the tiniest elements the building is much larger than one might think; the final model measures more than 12″ (31cm) tall, 17″ (44cm) deep, and 40″ (102cm) wide!
I imagine being a fisherman in the middle ages was a modest but good life–if you count out living out in the open, ready to be raided. Jako of Nerogue solves this problem for his fishermen with the fortifications around the village he built. This facilitates both a picturesque and also practical feeling about this whole diorama.
I love how the diorama really makes sense. The village is confined by the wooden walls, and nothing is left outside… Or maybe it was just all pillaged. Sadly there are not many pictures showing the fortification’s interior, but the outside is impressive enough on its own. The mixing of dark tan with exotic greens is very realistic and pleasant to look at, and the grass also hides some cleverly used clip pieces to simulate taller blades of grass. The whole diorama is brought together with a few splashes of brighter colours, like the regular green bushes and a bit of water in the back.
A few years have passed from The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit hysteria that included an official LEGO theme, but many builders still find inspiration in Tolkien’s fantasy universe. Roanoke Handybuck is one of these builders and his latest creation is Beorn’s house. We can see the party of dwarves accompanied by the Grey Wizard and Bilbo Baggins meeting the master of the house.
The builder uses colours and their combinations to great advantage, especially mixing the dark tan and olive green, which seem to naturally fit together. Do not limit your attention only to the beautifully flowing roof, because the stonework of the house’s walls is quite impressive too, as is a plethora of details spread around the diorama.
Enchantments, potions and magic! What else would one need? César Soares sure knows what is important in life – who cares about all that pointless real stuff, right? Joking aside, this is a pretty impressive creation. The builder says he has wanted to build in this scale for quite some time, and I can totally agree. Minifig utensils and the thicknesses of some bricks are often out of proportion with the minifigs they are made for, and that often looks very cartoony. This is not a bad thing on its own, but some times, it is nice to see more realistic Miniland scale creations like this one.
I have said that this creation is impressive, and just being built in Miniland scale is obviously not enough to achieve that. The scene is filled with unique part usage, most notably cloth pieces. Just look at the broom and the unrolled scroll! And still there is more to see, like legs of the chair and table that are tilted off right angles, clever use of the log minifig costume under the table on the right and the wall texture, which uses a technique most often seen as floor, due to how unstable it would be when set upright. I wonder what kind of magic César used to keep it in place!
Orcs can be beautiful, as Dr. Zarkow demonstrates in his Warcraft-inspired Orc Burrow. Everything here, from landscaping details to the building itself is well-executed. The use of cheese slopes to create the impression of rough stonework on the hut is particularly brilliant. If you’d like to see how he achieved this technique, he has been kind enough to share a photograph of how it was done. There are also some really playful details, including the pig hitched to a cart filled with wheat. Seeing that made me squeal with excitement!
We’ve seen our fair share of massive LEGO castles. The effort put into these creations is always impressive, but here’s one whose styling makes it stand out from the rest. Amenk Sachio has created a beautifully distinctive fortress whose appeal goes way beyond simply being big. Soaring towers, buttresses and bridges, balconies and balustrades — this stunning castle has it all. The surrounding landscaping is suitably epic, with the odd burst of plant life and tumbling waterfalls to break up the rockwork. Things might have benefitted from a bit of action, but even without any minifigures to bring the scene to life, this is an amazing LEGO creation.
This close-up view of the main door gives a nice look at the level of intricate detailing which has gone into the model despite its massive scale. I love the sand green steps, and the unusual crest above the entranceway. The use of numerous pearl gold pieces as highlights is just the most noticeable element in those wonderful walls. Don’t miss the clever use of arches and angled bricks amidst all that grey, creating a rich depth of texture despite the limited colour palette…
Doors are always full of unknowns, and far too often it’s a gateway into another world. Every door that you open up for the first time is a surprise, a world that you’ve never seen before. Everywhere you go, doors are meant to be opened, with the exception of this one — it’s meant to stay closed for a very good reason. While what’s behind this door by why.not? is curious enough to tease our imaginations, I’m actually more intrigued by the mysterious technique used to create the door arch at the top. It’s a puzzle worth solving more than what’s behind the door.
It looks like when LEGO 7 finds inspiration and the right LEGO bricks, nothing can stop him from delivering awesome creations one after another. A stunning Nexo King is now accompanied by a gorgeous Centaur Knight Mech. This hero consists of a crazy variety of pieces — slopes, modified plates and bricks, tiles of many shapes and types — which both make its body and legs very flexible and awash with tiniest details. Of course, proper lighting of the model during the photo shoot makes the transparent orange pieces glow as if they are full of nexo energy, and this is simply awesome.
