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.

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!

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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!

Diorama base unable to contain the speed and excitement of a pod race!

This year, 2024, marks the 25th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars, and builder “2mpaired” has created this Mos Espa pod race scene from the 1999 film The Phantom Menace to commemorate the occasion. The scene, with sand and rock formations spilling over the edges of the diorama base, brings the motion and excitement of the pod race to life. The pod racer builds for Anakin and Sebulba, the scene’s main characters, are among the best minifigure-scale models I have seen. If you’re not impressed, take a look at LEGO’s microscale model “75380: Mos Espa Podrace Diorama” to fully appreciate the detail in both landscape, minimal yet telling, and the racers themselves.

This jade dragon won’t leave you feeling jaded

If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for in LEGO creations of mystical worlds, it’s floating rocks. And had Mihał Ch (AKA BardJaskier) just shown us this serene scene of floating rocks and waterfalls, that would have scratched that particular itch. But he’s gone one further and thrown in another favourite of mine in the shape of a majestic jade dragon! I must confess that I first thought it was a Pokemon called Rayquaza – and in my defense, I think it does bear a passing resemblance. But its presence does lead to some questions; primarily, what is that mysterious figure at the top doing? Although he has a sword in hand, it all seems quite peaceful here, at least for now. Has he come to seek the dragon’s guidance, or challenge it? Or has he just stumbled across it by (mis)fortune?

Luminous and ominous; the Numinous Isle!

When LEGO builders collaborate, great things are bound to happen. Micah Beideman, Eli Willsea, and Grant Davis have gotten together to build the mystical breakwater called the Numinous Isle. Let’s talk gold! At the very top of this build, you’ll find a few gold 4×4 wedges. Those pearl gold pieces were only available in two sets from 2013. Behind the gold sais and interlocked gold bar clips is the grand dome of the build. That dome is one half of the Star Wars planet Bespin from a set released in 2012. Take a look further down at that grey arch. Did you know that macaroni pieces fit into a large arch so neatly? I sure didn’t! Even lower down, there’s a pair of fins from an A-Wing masquerading as part of a wall. Check out that fountain too. It looks like the ingots fit just perfectly into that specific wheel. All of that beautiful building only takes us to the shoreline. What other secrets are hidden beneath the waves?

Swashbuckling and derring-do aplenty in this LEGO adventure

It’s been a rough day for the merchant Steve. He’s just onshore to make a buck or two; unfortunately, he arrived at this idyllic Caribbean harbor town just in time for it to fall victim to enemy attack. Now he must join forces with the pirates of Captain Redbeard if he wants to get out before things get really rough. That’s the tale told in LEGO by Nicholas Goodman in this thrilling scene called “Escape from the Imperial Trading Post.” The thing is, I probably didn’t need to give you all that backstory. The build itself tells the story wonderfully, with a scene that feels ripped from a blockbuster movie: the pairs of combatants locked in desperate combat, the whitecapped waves crashing against the rocks, the palm trees swaying in the breeze. The cliffs have a natural, rugged look to them, and the fort’s whitewashed walls have just the right amount of weathering. Let’s hope Steve makes it to his ship okay; those cliffs look a little dicey.

Dungeons deep and caverns old

When I first saw Eli Willsea‘s epic LEGO diorama “Into Dungeon Depths,” it took my breath away. The epic vertical scale, the mix of colors and form, and the aura of foreboding make this one of the most striking works from one of our favorite builders. The cross section of the burrowing wyrm skeleton is the star attraction; the way its snaking body weaves around stones and intersects with the geometric stairs must have been an incredible building challenge, but the results are magical. Eli does impressive work with the lighting as well, both through the color gradation of bricks as the stairs descend, and through an ominous red glow coming from the dungeon floor. What will the three minifig adventurers find at the end of their descent, I wonder…?

“Into Dungeon Depths” is Eli’s entry into the Stairway Stories category of the Summer Joust contest. See why we loved his previous entry too.