Tag Archives: Dioramas

There’s nothing like a massive LEGO diorama to prove that you’ve arrived as a LEGO builder. The LEGO dioramas we feature here span everything from realistic medieval castles to scenes from World War II, and more than a few post-apocalyptic wastelands.

When butterflies flutter without care, spring must be in the air

It’s been a long and bitter winter for those of us in the northern hemisphere. But the official start of spring is just a month away and signs of this most rejuvenating of seasonal changes are already in the air. Dario Minisini has an idea of what awaits us with a colorful scene featuring two of spring’s dramatis personae, the butterfly and seeding dandelion. The windborne seedlings add a sense of movement to the creation, almost photo-like in its composition. For the spring people out there, there’s no doubt this bright image will have them hankering for more.

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The future is bright, colourful and apocalyptic

Maybe it’s the light blue water or maybe it’s the cheerfully bright photography of this LEGO creation by lokiloki29, but it looks almost like a postapocalyptic world would be quite the place to live. Minus the whole probably being dead thing.

The overall scene looks mostly simple, combining few large monochromatic sections like the water, the grass, and the containers. The real details are hidden inside the containers and around them in the shape of a little tree, a very well made gradient of the oozing toxic waste, and a cute shelter inside the upper container.

Godzilla mech Rex through the town

What’s the only way to make a T-Rex more fearsome? Place him at the controls of a giant Godzilla-esque mechanoid! If you take a close look at the pilot’s cockpit of Simon Liu‘s impressive LEGO technobeast, you’ll spot Rex from Toy Story at the helm. You don’t need to get this little joke to be impressed by this creation and its wrecked-city diorama surroundings, but it’s details and touches of humour like this which elevate the best LEGO models into something special. The texture and mechanical-looking greebles prevent the central robot from just being a big mass of grey (always a danger with a one-colour model), and the ruined buildings are brilliantly done, creating an appropriate sense of urban destruction. The addition of Buzz Lightyear facing down Rex’s new toy, along with a bunch of fleeing claw-machine aliens, adds some welcome splashes of colour amidst the rubble.

The cruise missile that ended the Cold War?

At the moment I am building models from the Cold War for a collaboration with my friends at BrickFair Virginia. I already presented my Soviet SS-20 “Saber” about a week ago. That missile platform was seen as a direct threat to Western Europe. Whilst I was buying parts for that, I was already planning to build one of the weapons systems that NATO fielded in Europe: the BGM-109G Gryphon ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM). Or, more precisely, the vehicle used to transport and launch them.

It consisted of a large German-built MAN truck that pulled a semi-trailer with the launcher. This housed up to four cruise missiles in a box that was elevated to an angle of 45 degrees before launch. I built the vehicle to a scale of 1/43, making it roughly 53 studs long. Building its four-tone camouflage scheme (with dark green, dark tan, tan and black) was a challenge, especially on such a small vehicle.

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A full service station for all your LEGO automotive needs

Growing up in and around automotive repair shops, I feel some nostalgia anytime I catch the scent of fresh engine oil or hear the whirring of an impact gun. So naturally, Chris Rozek’s charming vintage car garage caught my attention. It’s an atmospheric scene thanks to the lighting and little details scattered around the shop.

You know, actually working on old cars isn’t too much different than building with LEGO. Sometimes you follow the instructions. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just give up entirely and never return. Also, opportunities for creativity can be as unlimited as the most vulgar of vocabularies. There is one rather important difference, however, of which my wife constantly reminds me — compared to fixing up old cars, LEGO has the rare honor of being the cheaper hobby.

Set your sights on this Scandinavian sea house

Certain builders have a distinct flavor running through their models, certain ingredients that make every build a masterpiece. Sarah Beyer is one of those crafty LEGO creators who I’m really starting to enjoy for the tranquility imbued in each of her models. Take a look back at her Lilium eco-house, the Vanilla House, or even the Jungle Cottage: there’s a clean simplicity in the homes she’s built, and a bit of a running theme of how each unique abode is connected to the natural environment it’s been built in. Now, compare her previous models to her latest production, a Scandinavian retreat by the sea.

See more of this beautiful Scandinavian home

The SS-20 “Saber” is a sinister Cold War relic

A little more than forty years ago, with the Cold War still in full swing, the Soviet Union introduced a new ballistic missile: the RSD-10 “Pioneer”. NATO code-named it the SS-20 “Saber”. It had a range of 500-5500 km and carried three nuclear warheads, each of which was roughly ten times as powerful as the bomb used against Hiroshima. It seemed purpose-built to threaten Western Europe. The missile’s short flight time, of roughly 15 minutes, left very little warning. Furthermore, it was mobile, which made it even harder to counter. A large six-axle MAZ-547 transporter erector launcher carried the missile, housed inside a large cannister, to dispersed launch sites.

My diorama shows the launcher at a snow-covered launch site, with the missile cannister raised upright for launch. On the model it is almost solid, so there is no actual missile inside, but you can just see the tips of the three warheads. Unlike most of my models, it is minifig-scaled (I picked 1/43) and built mostly without visible studs. I built it for a Cold War themed collaborative build for BrickFair Virginia, in the coming August.
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Cadet Thrawn outwits his opponents in the metallurgy lab

While many stories and characters passed into so-called “Legends” status when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, some fan-favorites have been incorporated into the new canon, and I can’t think of any character more deserving than Mitth’raw’nuruodo — or Thrawn, as he is more commonly known in Galactic Basic. The Chiss Grand Admiral had a more humble introduction to Imperial life as a cadet at the military academy on Coruscant in the first book of Timothy Zahn‘s new trilogy. In this jam-packed scene by CRCT Productions built as a RebelLUG collaboration, there are so many great details, not the least of which is the light gray angled walkway bordered by the two-color spring-loaded shooter brick.

See more of Thrawn’s early victory after the jump

Color and light blend beautifully in this Medieval city

Fantasy castle building often leans towards the creation of dark, gloomy and foreboding places in which one would not lightly tread. Master castle builder Jonas Wide usually takes a different route, however, using cheerful splashes of color to create incredibly warm and welcoming scenes. This style is definitely evident in his latest creation, the Houses of Barqa:

The buildings are elegantly designed and laid out, but the real star of this show is the use of color. If there’s been a better use of sand red, I haven’t seen it. The pastel palette blends so well with the more subtle tan/dark tan foundations and street. Taken together, it’s a gorgeous and eye-catching scene. Clever use of lighting also makes for some atmospheric and quite realistic looking images.

If Jonas’ city leaves you wishing for more, definitely check out his amazing Streets of Barqa from several years ago or last year’s Aslanic Temple in Barqa.

You know my methods Watson

When the body of Sir Charles Murgatroyd is discovered in his library, the local Constabulary are immediately called for. Foul play is suspected, and an investigation begins. Despite their best efforts, the police remain baffled as to motive or culprit. Only one hope remains, to summon the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr John Watson…

Since reading The Hound of the Baskervilles as a child, I’ve always been a huge fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. I’ve often pondered the idea of building scenes from some of his most famous adventures, and this little model was something of a trial. The library-based murder depicted is not based on any particular story, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. The trickiest bit of the whole model was the window — it took my ages to get the curtain to look right, and to get the leaded windows to fill the space without gaps.

Tropical paradise is a plea for warmer weather

Those of us in the northwestern hemisphere have had a tough time lately, what with the polar vortex, record-shattering temperatures (as low as -63 degrees Celsius at my mom’s house in Winnipeg, Canada) and unrelenting snow and ice. Even here in southwestern Arkansas, where winter generally just means anything below 10 degrees Celsius, we were racing to buy wintry garments normally only seen in movies about Alaska. On the flip side, the nasty weather meant more time shamelessly spent in the LEGO room. I built this tropical scene while daydreaming about places where I don’t have to leave faucets running for fear of water pipes bursting inside my home.

This was a simple but fun build to throw together. There are no crazy techniques or excessively nice parts usages (NPU) to highlight here. But a dash of color, proper composition and a bit of photography know-how can just about always turn a bland build into something that really catches the eye. If you like the trees, they are easily recreated using the 4mm pneumatic hose and cylinder bricks. They can be twisted around each other and held in that position with the leaf elements. Simple and easy jungle tree!

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, unless it’s a Trojan horse

The story of the Trojan horse is one of the most well known in ancient Hellenic lore. In the classical version, following a fruitless and decade-long siege of the city of Troy, the Greeks constructed a gigantic wooden horse in which they had hidden their finest warriors. The Greeks feigned defeat, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war. It was a brilliant coup, though historians have argued its veracity ever since. Regardless of whether or not the Trojan horse actually existed, Martin Harris wonderfully brings the story to life in LEGO form with his depiction of that fateful gift-giving moment.

One has to admire the simple but imposing Trojan walls and gate, which stood up to 10 years of determined Greek attacks (the angled walls are a great touch, though a bit more landscaping around the bottom edge would help break up the abrupt edges). The Trojans lined up along the battlements and the Greeks laboriously pushing the horse depict the sheer scale of this creation. Continue reading →