Tag Archives: Classic Space

Rocket, yeah, satellite of LEGO

For Classic Space fans, 6950 Mobile Rocket Transport is up there with 497 Galaxy Explorer as one of the all time great LEGO sets. It packed in rockets, radar, chonky wheels, a unique trans yellow cockpit, and loads of play potential for aspiring astronauts. Jan Schönherr-Wacker (with the amazing handle Fiftyshadesofbley) makes their debut with a stellar reimagining of the classic set, putting as much care into preserving the set’s character as LEGO did with the Galaxy Explorer update.

Lego 6950 Mobile Rocket Launcher Redux [MOC]

Like the best Neo-Classic Space builds, Jan sticks to classic colors while drawing on a much deeper bench of parts and adding plenty of greebles. The upgraded wheels come from Chima/Ninjago sets. The radar dish is replaced with a trio of hexagonal flags that can bloom into place. The simple hinge lift of the original is redesigned using Technic parts to support the much heavier rocket. Jan tops off the build with a custom-printed 6950 brick to pay tribute to the original’s serial number. It’s a great debut and we’re excited to see what Jan builds next!

Monorail Station celebrates Classic Space evolution

What could stir the heartstrings of LEGO Classic Space fans more than a motorized monorail? How about TWO monorails and an epic station bustling with intergalactic travelers? That’s just what  Martin.with.bricks delivers in this stunning diorama that combines Classic Space with modern techniques and minifigs at a truly epic scale.

Classic Space Monorail Station

All aboard the monorail for more pics of this epic space diorama!

A Bohemian Brick-sody Bash

If you ever wondered what goes on inside your speakers, have I got a LEGO build for you! This retro speaker cut-away by Martin K. spills the secrets of making minifigure music. In this scene, a singer and drummer are in the studio recording their new hit single as a producer and his adorable assistant manage the mixing console. Martin has done a fantastic job with that drum kit. They’re difficult to design authentically at this scale, but Martin makes it look easy! The drummer’s colors mean they side with the Space Police over the dastardly Blacktron, while the singer has ties to the Futuron faction. All I know for sure is they’ll have the out of this world sound of a space oddity!

Inside Retro Speaker

Just an itsy-bitsy taste of nostalgia

If you need a little more nostalgia in your life, you can get some teeny-tiny doses from these LEGO builds by Rick Brickham! Rick has taken on the challenge of miniaturizing a number of classic LEGO sets from years past. Not only are these great representations of the larger sets, they are examples of great building techniques in their own right. Let’s take a look at each build individually!

Click here for some close-ups!

One of the classic space blunders

Feeding wildlife is generally frowned upon, even at your local park, but more so on alien worlds where lifeforms have too many legs, teeth, or tentacles and where the only thing protecting your body from asphyxiation or worse is a brightly colored space suit. I’m not sure if the happy-go-lucky LEGO spacefarers in Dicken Liu‘s playful scene are taunting the local fauna for science or just for kicks, but I sure hope they brought enough gems to share with all the locals.  Last year we named Dicken Liu Builder of the Year for his clever parts usage and joyful models and this vignette lives up to that reputation. For the surface of the alien world, he uses hexagonal rotors from the Nexo Knights line, which tessellate nicely with 2×4 wedge plates. Red crowbars make for convincing legs for the insectoid aliens, while Nexo Knights make a return for the larger alien’s half-dome head. Liu titled this build Scavengers Reign, perhaps in reference to the creepy cool animated series which offers many clear reminders of what can happen when you get up close and personal with strange lifeforms.

Scavengers Reign

Aren’t you a little young to be collecting alien flower goo?

The classic LEGO Space theme gets an adorable update with this diorama by Joel Short, who provides some quick lore behind the expedition: “These giant flowers are a great source of energy, but must be approached with caution!” Much of the cause for caution, I assume, comes from the fact that those harvesting the flowers are infants who surely lack the necessary qualifications to operate such heavy equipment on unforgiving terrain … but hey, look how cute they are! Speaking of small things worth ooohing and awwwing over, check out all the great little details: the crocodile tails standing in for spiny plant tendrils, the full and empty bottles of pollen, and of course the Space logo itself at the front of the build, lovingly rendered in all its minimalist glory.

Space Baby Buddies

A “train”-ing spaceship in blue and yellow!

If you need a space fighter to hunt bogies with, this LEGO ship by Linus Bohman might be just the thing you need. Linus built this fighter around a skeleton of railroad track parts including curves and straights from the 4.5V era and six Duplo curve sections. I’d argue that this build is all horsepower, no ballast, with huge engines embedded in each wing. All-in-all, the grey details between the rails provide a nice buffer, while the rails themselves couple everything together!

Overview

The builder of this spaceship is no mug

What does it take to succeed in the Iron Forge? Well, I don’t exactly have any experience to draw on, but you can be sure that a bit of ingenuity and outside-the-box thinking will go a long way. Exhibit A: Nate Chiles‘ latest effort. In this early phase of the contest, the seed parts are not always as prescriptive as in the Iron Builder finals, so the ongoing second round challenges builders to use any LEGO piece tagged as a cup or goblet. And that does technically include the actual LEGO mug that forms the engine of this spaceship. Or at least, we’re assuming that’s what’s going on here. The alternative explanation is that this is a standard minifigure mug, and Nate has a shrink ray. Are they even allowed in this competition? Can we get a ruling on this please?!

Benny's Spacemug, Spacemug, SPACEMUG!

A Classic Space swoosh and a slam dunk!

Swooshable is a word thrown around in the LEGO community that means the model is easily picked up and swooshed around the room without parts breaking off and probably while making fun spaceship noises. Don’t act like you haven’t done it! Martin.with.bricks gets extra kudos points from us for not only making this craft look awesome but also highly “swooshable.” The two are not always obtainable together. I mean; go ahead and try to swoosh your Hulkbuster set around the room and see what happens. Martin tells us the white with orange trim is his favorite color scheme and I’m inclined to think it’s mine too. Maybe it’s time to dust off my white leisure suit with orange belt and platform shoes. While you’re soaking in that mouth-watering visual check out our Martin.with.bricks archives for s’more LEGO goodness.

LEGO Spaceship! Totally swooshable!

Come and explore this epic LEGO Futuron moon base

Classic LEGO space isn’t just limited to blue spaceships with yellow canopies, you know. It may be the longest-lived and most recognizable of the many Space sub-themes, but as LegoMathijs proves, a build can be just as awe-inspiring in the Futuron setting! Futuron was the first Space theme to get its own moniker. It’s also where the iconic 6990 Monorail Transport System is from. So it’s perhaps no surprise to find these familiar monorail tracks in Terra Station Z too.

02_Terra_Station_Z

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The bricks must flow...

I first read Dune in the deserts of Egypt, on the night train from Cairo to Luxor, and since then I’ve loved every rendition of the Dune saga I’ve ever consumed, starting with the full book series by Frank Herbert, of course, but also every adaptation, from David Lynch’s weird 1984 film and the 2000s Syfy TV series to the recent Denis Villeneuve masterpiece, but even the concept designs by Chris Ross for the aborted Alejandro Jodorowsky version in the 1970s. It’s almost like there’s a Dune multiverse in which every incarnation is awesome. Angus MacLane seems to share my passion, with this Classic Space homage featuring a Spicing Guild navigator floating in his tank accompanied by his entourage.

Classic Space Guild Navigator

Using black Classic Space minifigures and a giant classic smiley head inside the tank is so freakin’ weird that it fits perfectly into that hypothetical Dune multiverse. Especially for minifigs wearing uniforms, many LEGO builders choose to vary their minifigs’ faces. But it’s the very uniformity of these minifigs that makes the whole scene weirder, magnified by the massive head in the tank.

Will we ever stop exploring LEGO’s Galaxy Explorer?

When it first debuted in 1978, this most infamous LEGO theme was known as Space. But after a while, factions later, we started referring to it as Classic Space. And after the shade of light gray changed and more curves became available, it morphed into Neo-Classic Space. But now, after the Galaxy Explorer set has hit store shelves, I think we’ve hit the start of the Neo-Neo-Classic Space age. That’s certainly what it feels like in Alec Hole‘s stellar (and interstellar) Explorer Mk 4. Bursting with all kinds of sci-fi textures, this blue and gray starship represents yet another point in Space’s evolutionary timeline. The double cockpit, done up in the traditional trans-yellow, is a superb choice. And I quite like all the light gray gear bits worked in throughout the wings.

Explorer Mk 4

Check out more of this Classic Space creation below