Keith Goldman‘s latest diorama depicts a scene from Planet of the Apes. The rocky cliff and caves are beautiful to look at, especially with the added color texture created from using dark bley and gray. You can see more detail shots on Flickr, where each picture seems to have its own story to tell.
Competition is heating up over at Forbidden-Cove‘s Jolly Roger Contest. Matthew Hurt steps into the competition with this fortress, prepared to defend against the oncoming enemy.
There’s a certain grace in simplicity, and I do believe this build captured some of that essence. LegoLord posted this lovely little chapel, complete with columns, arches, and recessed windows. I like the little details that pop up to make the building visually interesting.
I’ve just returned from Brickvention 2011 where I had an absolutely awesome time. I’m waiting for more photographs to appear on flickr before I give a proper roundup but there were some excellent LEGO models there.
In the interim I’ll write something about what Mike Pianta (scruffulous) and I displayed: a diorama based on the (presently flooded in) town of Ararat in Victoria, Australia as it was in the year 1972.
Mike and I started planning this about three months before the event. Our goals were ‘simple’: keep the level of accuracy and detail high, include a large curved track, and work off the grid as much as possible. Not the easiest set of goals but not impossible. I feel like we did manage to achieve them.
However we had one further problem: Mike lives in Melbourne (where the exhibition is) and I live 1800km away in Brisbane. Which meant my contributions also had to be modular enough to survive a plane trip. This was OK until, just days before I was due to go, my city was flooded leaving me wondering if I’d ever make it out.
To cut a long story short I did make it and I got very lucky with the baggage handlers who helped my models survive largely intact. Phew! Anyway, that’s probably all you want to hear about it here. If you have any further questions ask here or on flickr.
And as for the floods: my friends and family are all fine, my girlfriend got stuck on holidays for an extra three days by a flooded road and the city is a mess. Luckily the loss of life in Brisbane was very low but some nearby towns were destroyed by an ‘inland tsunami’ which killed many. Still, compared to those in Rio state we got off lightly.
Photographing a low-contrast LEGO creation in low light seems like a recipe for disaster, but Brandon Bannerman (Catsy) manages to pull it off in this top-down shot titled “Long Way Down”:
The photograph itself rewards closer examination, and be sure to click through for the backstory.
If you remember some of the old Lego holiday catalogs, you may recall a few having covers that depict minifigs from different themes coming together to celebrate the holidays. I built this concept in a scene that features a gingerbread house and a Christmas tree. How many different themes are represented?
One of the Categories for the Colossal Castle Contest is Fairy Tales–and Scrat has chosen to illustrate the Danish tale The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. In the vein of many original fairy tales, this is a sad, sad story. Scrat’s rendition captures the melancholy atmosphere perfectly:
Matt De Lanoy (Pepa Quin) built Andy’s room in minifig scale – Toy Story minifig scale, that is. This magnificent build is a full 30″x30″. Scaled to real world sizes, that makes Andy’s room 16’x16′. That’s a pretty decently sized room!
It’s the details that make this build particularly impressive – and deceptive. Thankfully, Matt’s photographed some of the best parts of the room so we can get a good, up-close look at the details. Check the photos out, along with a toy’s eye view video, below the jump!
There are 23 days remaining until the close of this year’s Colossal Castle Contest over at Classic Castle! Let me tell you–I don’t envy the judges. There are some fantastic creations. Here are just a few:
The Pastoral Life Category – Walking The Goats (David Leest)
Fairy Tale Category – Humpty Dumpty (DarkTemplar)
Mythical Battle Category – Attack of the Skeleton Horde (ACPin)
Dave Shaddix lets the viewer control the action with Peace is Bad for Business. But we all know that squiddie controls the action.
It’s been nearly two years since tiberium_blue has posted a LEGO creation that I’m aware of, but the wait has been worth it. There’s so much to love in the details throughout the scene, from the stone wall to the walls and roof on the treehouse itself.
I want to go to there…
Thanks to Paul Lee for the tip!
Brian (Âtin) uses microscale buildings and mountains in the background to create a fantastic forced-perspective diorama.
Don’t miss Brian’s behind-the-scenes shots showing some interesting techniques for the road in particular.
