Strange technological contraptions? Weird magical equipment? Portals to another dimension? Dusty books of arcana? A cage full of—cough—volunteers? An evil wizard’s basement always holds a mystery—just pray you’re not one of them. I’m not sure precisely what’s going on in this scene by Pistash, but it’s certainly fascinating and maybe a little horrifying.
Tired from a long journey by sea? Stop on by the Imperial Port, by Issac S. The build features a sturdy fort to protect the harbor, and plenty of commerce to browse while you stretch your weary sea legs.
I particularly like the water; it’s simple but effective in showing the ebb and flow of the waves. The commercial district is full of life and details as people go about their business. It conveys a great sense of densely packed shopping on the harbor.
Maarten W‘s diorama brings us a fabulous slice of Middle Eastern market life, with an added dash of adventure. There’s a great sense of activity and the hustle and bustle of commerce at the base, and then an exciting rooftop chase going on above. I wonder what treasure the stolen map will lead our intrepid thief to discover?
That wall behind the snake charmer is a lovely detail and there’s just enough texture on the fortifications to avoid “big tan wall” syndrome. This is the latest in the recent spate of Middle Eastern-themed creations we’ve covered, including this beautiful mosque, also built by Maarten. I hope this trend continues.
There aren’t many places more picturesque for a castle than on a cliff by the sea, so that’s precisely where Alex Jones has placed his new fortress. Giant walls encircle this palatial castle, and the king even gets a strip of beach to relax on, as well as his own ship anchored in the harbor. You can see more of the diorama on Alex’s website.
South Korean professional building team Olive Seon specialize in creating huge layouts for retail stores to showcase official LEGO sets (like this epic UCS-scale Star Wars trench run or a true minifig-scale Stay Puft marshmallow man terrorizing the city). Though the official sets are the focus, the team are masters at integrating them into beautiful custom backdrops, and I never tire of seeing the official sets nestled into dioramas like the LEGO catalogs from the 80s and 90s. Olive Seon’s latest diorama is worth it just for the epic shuttle launch they’ve portrayed. Never has the 60080 Spaceport shuttle looked so good.
justin_m_winn brings us a vision of a clean-energy future with this scene of a Fuel Cell facility running a test. There’s a good mixture of spacey greebling and robots with more ordinary minifigs. This creates a strong sense of everyday activity in a sci-fi setting.
Justin has other images of maintenance and day-to-day work at the facility. They all display the same combination of good near-future design and excellent photography…
The great Orc stronghold of Orsinium is a key location in the sprawling world of The Elder Scrolls Online, and there are few to do it more justice as a model than Thorsten Bonsch. Thorsten has previously brought us into Tamriel through his stunning depictions of a Dolmen and Stonefalls (and he’s also shown his diorama-building mastery by creating possibly the coolest Tardis model we’ve seen).
The technique Thorsten employs for cobblestone here — accomplished by using white tiles turned on edge, then filling all the gaps with grey tiles and slopes — has been around for awhile. But rarely is it so expertly done, with minimal gaps and perfect integration into the landscape. Be sure to take a close look at the stonework on the structures, too; it’s a great example of skillfully combining flat planes with textured details.
Inspired by the cover of a book about a South European town, Andrew Tate created this very pearl of Mediterranean architecture. A mixture of European and Oriental elements and colors, a beautifully designed wedding shop and a careful cast of minifigures deserve the highest mark. With some minor changes one could even imagine this diorama as part of LEGO’s modular building series, providing city center residents with a view of the bay and a small yet neat quay.
Markus19840420 continues to impress with his LEGO Star Wars dioramas. Following up his Sullust scene, he presents a slice of Echo Base from The Empire Strikes Back, impressive in both size and detail. The carved snow cave look, hanging lights, maintenance bridges, and runway lights make the whole scene feel authentic. I won’t overlook Mike Psiaki’s X-wing and Larry Lars’s Snowspeeder, both great models recreated by Markus from their respective building guides, with some modifications.
See more photos of Hoth Echo Base on the builder’s Flickr.
We have seen a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in microscale among the LEGO Architecture series, but this time we have a minifigure scale representation of a Usonian house. Michele must have worked very hard to create this magnificent diorama. The house itself perfectly matches the original building, and there’s even a party going on! We all love parties here at The Brothers Brick! Make sure you check out close-up photographs as there are endless details. It’s also worth paying attention to the vegetation — each part of the diorama features a different kind of plant.
Her Turkel House album on Flickr gives a good insight on building large models. She has shared the full building process starting from the foundation of the house through final decoration.
I’m not really sure if this ruined town of Sandwood has anything valuable in the bank, but Deadeye Bill and his gang wants to give it a “shot” anyway. General Magma masterfully creates this action scene with smoking guns and also includes a little story on the side. Facial expressions of the figures are very carefully selected and body movements are just perfectly arranged. Blood splatter on the sheriff and the collapsed wall on the left building turn out to be nice finishing touches.
“Deadeye Bill and his gang were at it again. The most notorious gang known to Sandwood Town came to snatch up a couple of sacks o’ gold at the local bank, as usual. ‘Not if I got somethin’ to say bout that’, Sheriff Dave must’ve said, before gettin’ shot down by Leroy “the Gambler”, one of Bill’s fellow outlaws. Cold as a wagon tire. And the other one, Dynamite Juan “the Mexican”, was just shootin’ away at it. This robbery committed by three dodgasted chuckleheads soon became one of the bloodiest shootouts ever seen by this rottin’ little town…”
One of the kings of space corridors, Jeremy Williams has built the most gorgeous reactor I have ever seen. It is cavernous, beautifully lit and full of of enticing details. The lighting of the observation balconies is atmospheric and the choice of white spacemen gives a real ethereal quality.
This is not just a LEGO build, it’s a theatrical performance!
