Get a sneak peek into the latest trends in Goblin decor right here! Logs, tentacles, and lengths of chain are all the rage this season — and no fortress wall is complete without a culvert gate spewing a stream of lava. Kingdomviewbricks keeps us all up to date on Orcish design in this fantastic LEGO scene. The bubbling river of hot death is a nice touch, but don’t miss the mix of old and new grey sloped bricks to create the barren landscaping of the base.
This week we headed up to our great neighbor to the north to track down Tim Schwalfenberg. Tim lives in Canada, is 21 years old and is currently studying Materials Engineering at his local university. He also likes to publicly smash his LEGO builds too, but more about that later.
TBB: Hi Tim! Can you tell us a little about yourself and your relationship with the Brick?
Tim: Sure! I have found LEGO to be a great creative outlet when I need a break from all my calculus or physics courses. While I’ve been building almost as long as I can remember, it wasn’t until my first year of university that I started to look at LEGO with the intention of making anything beyond the rainbow-warrior spaceships of my earlier years. Through a combination of some inspiring creations I stumbled upon through MOCpages and finding myself with too much free time on my hands, I decided that to try out this LEGO thing more seriously. Thousands of pieces and hundreds of creations later the LEGO hobby has become an incredibly important part of my life. The itch to build has become a constant companion that is easily rewarded by long hours tinkering away on a table-scrap covered table.
For the final round of The Tourney medieval building contest on MOCpages, W. Navarre has given his all in this intense diorama. Whether you like the controlled chaos or not, it is impossible to deny the intricacy and detail at work here. An epic fight of the last two competitors ensues as the Forsaken Abyss mine burns beneath them. One can almost hear those cliched words: “You are going down… Or both of us are going down!”
At first sight I thought this build was a recreation of the climax action scene from the Mask of Zorro film – and I was only halfway wrong. It was indeed inspired by it, although the builder adds that he has in fact never actually seen the movie.
Looking like a cross between napalm and chili sauce, Barqan Fire appears to be nasty stuff with a lingering afterburn. Jonas Wide showcases the weapon’s devastating potential in this explosive vignette. Everything about the build is pure class: the tiled roof is simple yet grand, the hints of woodwork and sand green give subtle highlights throughout, and the style of architecture is excellently done. The centerpiece, though, is the fire-breathing beast spewing hell itself at the nearby wall, which Jonah has enhanced with a light brick behind the explosion for extra effect.
Jonas notes that “the soldier doing the final adjustments to the pumping mechanism has however unknowingly built up way too much pressure in the cylinder…” Let’s hope a bigger explosion isn’t imminent!
Even though this oriental bazaar creation by Scottish builder Colin Parry uses LEGO pieces introduced as recently as 2016, there is a strange 2008-like essence to it. Maybe it’s the use of all yellow minifigs (flesh tones have been more predominant in recent years) and amongst them many older head prints. Or maybe it’s how clean the design is, as opposed to more contemporary high-detail castle building trends. Whatever it is, I like it and I think it’s important that we do not get so wound up in progress as to forget how much more there is to be done in styles that fell out of fashion years ago.
While there is much to love in the architecture and other details like the boat or canvases, the real star of the show is probably the minifig action. Minifig posing is an art most people ignore when making dioramas, but it can be the difference between a good scene and an amazing one. After all, what is a diorama without life?
Those who attended Brickslopes in 2015 may recognize this build from K.Kreations. Well, it’s finally been photographed and put online, so the rest of us can enjoy it! This fantastic floating rock plays home to a Guild House, combining some of the builder’s favorite things: castle, steampunk, and rocks. It’s a winning combination. I love the stonework on the side of the building, and the details on the tower are wonderful. There’s a lot going on in this creation, and all of it’s great.
Asterix was my favorite graphic novel growing up, even though most of the jokes went over my head. Builder alego alego has created the home of the local fishmonger Unhygienix (Ordralfabetix in the original French comic).
My favorite features are the Han Solo Hoth headgear for fish baskets, the rock walls, and of course the LEGO bananas used for the roof — a technique the builder previously used for a treehouse we featured last year. Continue reading
We’ve covered castles of many sizes from the very large to the incredibly small and somewhere in-between. Look closely at this incredible (entirely digitally generated) microscale Kazum’dar Castle by Sunder_59…
I love how the castle walls rise and fall with the terrain. A bird’s eye view shows the full complexity of the build, allowing a glimpse inside the castle walls at the multi-story buildings, including a perfect wee church, barracks, an assortment of dwellings and a shop. This micro-scale castle is a perfect example of how simple can be elegant.
Windmills have been utilising the energy of the wind power to automate tasks such as water pumping of grain grinding since 500-900 A.D. in Persia. This LEGO windmill by Issac S was inspired by some of the windmills seen in the video game Skyrim and was built for the 2017 Brickstory contest in the Early Middle Age category. The textured stone base of the windmill contrasts nicely with the wood and lighter stone central section and inspired use of the upturned barrel is the cherry on top.
The model features working windmill blades and a grindstone that are simultaneously operated by a crank on the back of the windmill. Issac has shared a video of this feature in action.
If you want to read more about the landscaping and, in particular, the tree seen in the left hand corner of this build, Issac has shared a tutorial. Originally this technique was used by Joeri Riddler and Issac has unpacked the design to allow others to develop the technique.
This scene by W. Navarre, while simple, hides a deeper complexity in the construction of the hut and rockwork under it, but most notably the build has great atmosphere and a unique theme. On such a small scale, using many colours can be very risky, which is why I am happy the builder only used as many as he needed to.
There is more to the build than only that seen on Navarre’s Flickr page, as he shares a few more vignettes on MOCpages, including a temple and a juice pressing structure. While it is not accompanied by a story as most of Navarre’s creations are, it leaves more to the imagination. It was built as part of The Tourney 2017 competition on MOCpages.
Games can provide inspiration for LEGO builders, although its often videogames rather than their more old-school cousin, the board game. Simon NH, however, has taken Settlers of Catan as his muse, and it has prompted a wonderful island scene, which ironically wouldn’t look out of place in a medieval real-time strategy game on PC! The landscaping grabs the initial attention, with a lovely colour gradient around the shoreline and excellent rockwork. But it’s the buildings which hold the eye, rewarding a closer look at some of the fabulous building techniques on display.
See more of this great medieval building
Continuing our on-site coverage of the New York Toy Fair, LEGO has revealed 19 new Nexo Knights sets for August 2017, including Clay’s Falcon Fighter Blaster and Jestro’s Headquarters. The Nexo Knights story continues in two new seasons of episodic content on Cartoon Network and a free digital gaming app, Merlok 2.0, that enhances the building fun. Sets range from $9.99 to $129.99. Check out our earlier coverage of some of the sets that we already knew were on the way.
70357 Knighton Castle $129.99, 1426 pieces
70356 The Stone Colossus of Ultimate Destruction $69.99, 785 pieces
