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.

A little lunar liftoff

For the past few years, I haven’t had as much time to build as I once did. That’s a tale that’s no doubt familiar to many of our readers with careers and families. That also means that when I do find time to build, I’m working through the backlog of ideas that have been piling up in my brain. And so lately I’ve found myself returning over and over to microscale space, because my brain has a logjam of sci-fi scenes I want to translate to bricks before moving on to pirates or castle or any of the other myriad themes I enjoy.

Set in the same universe as my previous large spaceships Vanguard and Discovery, this simple diorama depicts a launch facility on the moon with an attached habitat. I built the rocket first as a standalone model, but I wanted a better way to display it, and what better way to display a rocket than with a huge burst of engine exhaust? And of course, any facility on the moon worth its salt needs a habitat.

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It takes two to build a LEGO masterpiece

And by two, we mean the LEGO builder and their community. Describing his latest project, Kit Nugent pays tribute to the Builder Improvement Initiative group, which seems to be a fantastic place for creative feedback and enhancing your building skills. His newly finished Tudor-style creation speaks for itself. It might be the camera angle, but oh boy, how much I love the composition! The thin sand-green tower peeking from behind the fortress-like structure is just stunning. And take a look at the two-tone upper floor! The way the bridge extends beyond the edge of the diorama adds both a sense of story and dynamic movement to the scene. Now I can’t help but wonder—will those two make it out safely?

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.

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

Well, well, well, what do we have here?

For a lot of treasure hunters, the real treasure was the great LEGO builds we found along the way! This build by Eli Willsea portrays a pair of adventurers delving deep into a empty desert ruin, but what it really shows off is a trove of fantastic building techniques! Down on the floor of the lost well the cracked tiles are made from the immensely useful cheese slope, but did you notice they’re embedded in 1x2x3 windows? On the back wall, Eli uses those windows again with minifigure brackets as decoration. Finally, if you take a look at the well itself, you’ll see that it’s a combination of cheese slopes and 1×1 bricks with sideways studs which fit so well inside an 8×8 dish!

A brick-built vision of life in the post-apocalyptic desert

The year is… sometime in the future. The passage of time has long been forgotten by the dust. And if you don’t have your wits about you, you, too, will be forgotten. This is the dystopian vision that Polish LEGO builder Marcin (bigfig2000) brings us. But for all its post-apocalyptic caution, it’s impossible to take your eyes off this huge diorama! It depicts what looks to be an outpost in the desert, an oasis of sorts among the chaos. That isn’t to say there’s no disorder here, though! It’s absolutely jam-packed with details, characters and little stories forming.

Come and see who’s hanging around – if you’re brave enough…

Many motors make this massive LEGO MAZ mobile!

Earlier this year, Nathan Hake debuted this huge LEGO model at a convention, and we have finally been graced with pictures! This behemoth is a MAZ-537, a former Soviet vehicle used for carrying… Well, pretty much whatever you want, from armaments to heavy machinery. It’s typical of vehicles of its ilk and era, with great big tyres and utilitarian styling. In LEGO form, Nathan has combined Technic and System pieces to pull off the MAZ in terrific detail. And of course, there are plenty of play functions: it’s got working suspension alongside motorised steering and propulsion!

But how do you level up such a huge undertaking? With an equally huge diorama, of course! This makes for a very nice display piece, with the colours of the river, grass and appropriately autumnal birch trees providing some pleasing contrast to the grey hulk of the truck.

I recommend heading over to Nathan’s Flickr to check out some of the videos of this creation in action – even in the real wilderness!

Amazing LEGO big rig delivers the goods

Keep your Mustangs and your Harley-Davidsons. For me, nothing captures the spirit of the American road like a semi-truck. German LEGO builder Eugen Sellin pays tribute to the American freight truck with a gorgeous diorama that pairs his highly detailed vehicle design with an enormous warehouse. The truck is built in the 9-wide* scale of newer Speed Champion sets, which allows for smooth lines and great detail in both the cab and the freight pallets being pulled (love those Octan cylinders). The warehouse is just as impressive, elevating a simple box design with wonderful textures, great use of color, an asymmetrical base, and attention to detail from the ventilation units to the papered-over windows. I especially appreciate the care taken to the road and concrete barriers. Even in the face of infrastructural decline, blue-collar workers keep on truckin’.

The bricks afoot!

Picture a locked room, a dastardly crime, and a thief hiding amongst the guests and staff of a house full of secrets and you’ll get a scene exactly like this LEGO build by Sam J.J.! The characters in this build have found the secret staircase hidden behind a hinged bookcase, but they are still deceived! To save space on the build, Sam used forced perspective to give a flat series of bricks the appearance of a staircase running deeper into the walls of the house. While the minifigs focus on the staircase, let’s take in the rest of the build. The decorative sections on the wooden columns are mostly made from one, two, three bricks and seemingly a whole lot of friction. The table with its teacup is made from wands and book covers. And finally, the stained glass windows are made from turntable bottoms. Now back to our minifigures. Remember, when there’s a mystery, it’s always the butler who did it!

Middle Eastern megacity is a triumph of LEGO collaboration and creativity

Every day we see incredible LEGO creations built from one person’s imagination and collection of bricks. When builders come together for collaborative LEGO builds, not only are we blessed with scenes of incredible scale, but the mix of builder styles harmonize to create to create something truly special. One such collaborative project debuted at BrickFair 2024. Organized by George Hawes and Michael Willhoit, the “Medinat Al Musawrah” collaboration depicts a fictional Middle Eastern walled megacity. The other contributers are Brian O’Leary, Intense Potato, Detroitika, Evan M, Renobricks, Ryan K, Skooby C, and Zach Bean.

This impressive scene captures the sort of 80s urban sprawl that inspired sci-fi works like Blade Runner. (Fittingly, many of the collaborators also participated in last year’s truly epic New Hashima cyberpunk collab at BrickWorld Chicago). But it’s real-world cities, like Cairo, Algiers, and Kowloon that inspire the grounded sense of place.

Continue on our tour of this epic Middle Eastern megacity collab.!

A bard who likes to ramble on

There’s a feeling I get when I look at a great LEGO build, like this one by Tomasz Bartoszek! You can feel the scene drawing you in as you look for all the tiny details in this packed build. Tomasz has added a ton of designed disorder to the build that adds to the organic feel of the scene. For example, those gaps in the slats in that gate in the background are simply the gaps between bricks that aren’t pushed together. So, don’t be alarmed now if there are gaps in your brickwork. It’s just another building technique! Check out that tiny brick at the bottom of the stairs. That’s an old Modulex brick that Tomasz snuck in. Finally, the window in the door on the left is made from chain links. And don’t worry, that minstrel isn’t playing alone. The drummer will be there in four minutes!

Astronomy tower shoots for the stars

Centuries before Copernicus and Galileo would shake up our understanding of the cosmos in Europe, Islamic scholars like Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi were making breakthroughs about the movement of the earth, planets, and stars. Tylar_Lego pays tribute to the Golden Era of Islamic astronomy with this remarkable tower in LEGO.

The fictional tower impresses not only with the ornate architecture at massive scale, but with incredible landscaping and depictions of life at minifig scale.

Zoom in for a closer look at this telescopic tower!

Award winning builders are back with a champion LEGO diorama!

A team of elite historical LEGO builders have come together to create a sprawling diorama! Natelego_, Carson, Hunter E., Noah, Max, Matt, Hunter C., and Gary have taken on the Battle of Isted fought in 1850 between the Danish forces and rebels from the local provinces at the village of Isted. This build was displayed at BrickFair VA 2024 where it won Best Battle Scene! Take a look at the partially demolished church on the right side. While there’s one window still standing, the wall has collapsed leaving only the windowsill and part of the frame of the second window. And be sure to gander at the wider landscape too! Building hills and dips in the terrain one plate at a time must take a lot of patience. All of the lush vegetation really brings this scene to life, too.

Take a look at more closeups here!

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