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.

Incredible LEGO Roman Temple of Minerva with parading legionaries

Antonio Cerretti has brought a marvel of the ancient world to the brick with this stunning Roman temple and courtyard. When many of us LEGO fans saw the Roman soldiers in the collectible minifigures lines, we envisioned a scene like this with legionaries standing in formation before their eagle, perhaps just returned from a campaign in Gaul or Africa. But although I’ve seen a few impressive Roman armies so far, it’s Antonio’s masterful recreation of Roman architecture that sets this model apart. The pure white marble columns and reliefs are beautiful, and the sheer scale of the temple and courtyard is amazing — over five feet in length and featuring around 130 minifigures.

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At my signal, unleash hell

What’s not to love about this giant crossbow siege engine from sanellukovic? We’ve got great landscaping creating a believable patch of terrain, and there are figures and assorted equipment providing a genuine sense of military activity. Then, to top it all, check out the fantastic medieval contraption which genuinely looks like it’s straining at the leash to fling a massive spear at somebody.

You can almost hear the enormous SPOING! this thing would make when fired. I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of this when it was used in anger.

It’s not grim up North, in fact this village is lovely

Patrick B has created a beautiful village scene, vaguely reminiscent of the architecture of Skyrim. It looks like the perfect place to settle down and raise a little tribe of Nords. There’s a real sense of a living town here, created in no small part by the angled buildings and irregular stone paving. The landscaping provides an interesting base for the model, and the whole thing is nicely broken up with the patches of horticulture — check out the wheat on the right and the little garden on the left.

Patrick has built a number of models in this style recently. I particularly liked this large tavern…

That’s no moon! Expansive fan-built LEGO Death Star play set is a nod to classic Star Wars toys of the 80’s

French builder Eric Druon‘s nostalgia for old toys has been featured here before, with his LEGO versions of such classics as GI Joe and Adventure 2000. This time though he’s really cranked things up a notch with this huge Star Wars themed LEGO play set inspired by the Kenner series of Death Star toys released back in 1982.

In many ways I think this makes for a better play set than LEGO’s official Death Star set, with it’s labyrinthine arrangement of platforms and corridors, and perfect reinterpretation of the Death Star’s interior design. Many memorable scenes from the original Star Wars movie are in there, plus a few easter eggs too. See if you can spot them all!

Like the original system, Eric’s version is comprised of three separate components that can be pushed together to form one giant play space: Battle Station Escape, Battle Station Compactor and Battle Station Throne Room. He’s even provided downloadable instructions on his website, for anyone that wants to recreate all this with their own bricks. You’ll also find lots more closeup photos of the play sets over there too. And for context, here is one of the original toys that Eric was inspired by:

“Pigs... In... SPAAAAAACE!”

And now Pigs in Space starring the ever handsome Link Hogwash, the illustrious first mate Miss Piggy, and scientist Dr Jullius Strangepork. Our story begins when German builder Andreas Weissenburg follows up his LEGO versions of muppets The Electric Mayhem, Waldorf and Statler, and the Swedish Chef with this fully built-out set of the USS Swinetrek and its incompetent crew. Andreas has even recreated the cheap viewscreen ‘effect’ featuring the mysterious space villain Dearth Nadir.

Mickey Mouse makes a clean sweep

The new Disney collectible figures are getting put to good use all over the LEGO builder community. Take this Fantasia-themed model from simply bricking it, for instance — I challenge you to look at it without starting going “dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dah-da-dum…” under your breath.

There’s some nice building techniques on display in this tiny vignette — the “masonry bricks” used for the sideways-built floor, and the unusual use of technic pieces for the textured wall. But for me, it’s the old-school black castle corner piece, and the choice of an Imperial Guard’s torso for the Mickey minifig which mark this out as a cracking little scene.

The (LEGO) Walking Dead

I have to disclose I’ve not ever seen The Walking Dead, inspiration for Jerome Vaillant‘s gorgeous diorama. I can’t speak to show accuracy or what it’s portraying, but man do I appreciate some of the lovely landscaping techniques going on here.

There’s a lovely sense of overgrowth, and I absolutely love the goat pen. That, along with the sunflowers, really caught my eye. Then there’s the buildings. They are lovely, dilapidated, and full of detail with the siding, doors, and foundation. I love how the windows look with the brown framing.

I highly encourage you to check out Jerome’s photostream for more amazing scenes from The Walking Dead and other popular films and shows.

Giant 5ft-long LEGO Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer “Tyrant” features incredible interior

LEGO builder Doomhandle wasn’t satisfied with LEGO’s official versions of the Imperial Star Destroyer — they just didn’t have enough detail, inside or out. Taking a cue from the official sets, though, he’s created a stellar model of the Imperial Star Destroyer Tyrant with a minifig-scale interior full of various scenes aboard a ship of the Imperial fleet.

Doomhandle tells us he spent over a year constructing it, and the final model is nearly 5 feet in length. It is significantly more accurate and detailed than LEGO’s official Ultimate Collector’s Series model, and it features a full hangar deck complete with TIE Interceptors, a Sentinel Class Imperial Shuttle, and a captured A-Wing. It also has a command deck, conference room, barracks, detention center, supply rooms, canteen, and more.

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Amazing LEGO Iron Man lab shows all of Iron Man’s suits

Minh Pham is a master LEGO customizer, and he’s long been working to create LEGO versions of Iron Man’s numerous suits — and what better way to display them than in a huge laboratory just the way Tony Stark would? See if you can pick out all the different suits, from the standard iconic suit to the rare, little-known ones.

The Northern Bears’ new castle

Check out this castle build by Mark of Siloam. In addition to the beautiful, two-toned stonework of the castle itself, Mark’s build features a functioning drawbridge to keep out baddies and some of the nicest-looking brick-built trees I’ve seen. Also, this build has excellent play-ability as the walls fold out and the upper levels are removable for easy access to the fully-furnished interior.

Mark built this sweet castle for the Summer Joust contest on Flickr. The contest consists of six castle-themed categories and is open to anyone with a Flickr account. It runs through June 30th, 2016 so there’s plenty of time to whip up an entry or two of your own.

Retro LEGO workspace makes us nostalgic for floppy disks

Chris McVeigh proves once again that he’s the master of technology nostalgia with this perfect recreation of an 80s/early-90s workspace.

The desk and chair are nice work, but it’s the details on the desktop which make this brilliant — the phone, the lamp, the stapler, the computer itself, all good. But best of all? The floppy disk storage box — a long-departed office fixture which remains immediately identifiable.

And of course, everyone who works with technology deserves to get the occasional upgrade…

LEGO statue feels a little exposed

Jonas has built a funny scene featuring a statue that’s clearly not enjoying feeling exposed.

The statue itself is a cracking build, making good use of Mixel joint pieces to enable great posing. But I’m also a fan of the terrain and the added visual interest provided by the inclusion of the farmer and his cart.