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.

The Great War that should have ended all wars...

Today marks the 100th anniversary of Germany’s declaration of war against France, drawing two of Europe’s largest nations into what would later be known as World War I. The “Great War” introduced numerous new and deadly military technologies, from fighter planes to tanks.

Talented Polish builder Ciamosław Ciamek (PigletCiamek) has built a triptych of highly detailed dioramas depicting three phases of World War I.

The first diorama, titled “Enthusiasm,” shows French citizens volunteering as the patriotic population admires the soldiers marching off to the front in 1914.

The second scene, titled “Awe”, illustrates the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917, in which hundreds of thousands of men died.

Finally, Ciamek’s third diorama, titled “Glory”, shows the moment when German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen (the “Red Baron”) was shot down in his famous red tri-plane in 1918.

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Fabuland Fun Fair

Paul Hetherington (Brickbaron) is the master of incorporating moving elements into dioramas. His Fabuland Fun Fair display shows a colorful theme-park featuring dozens of Fabuland characters and a slew of animated carnival attractions. The YouTube video below is a must-see.

The Fastest Man Alive meets his match?

I got a nice chuckle from this scene by Outer Rim Emperor. It doesn’t hurt that it’s well built, in addition to containing a little joke. In particular, the speed streak behind The Flash really caught my eye (and in fact drew me in past the thumbnail to see the rest).

211 in progress! Suspects are armed and hilarious!

Apparently, I’m not the only one who finds the LEGO Simpsons Collectible Minifigures vaguely unsettling. Nooroyd has put the Krusty the Clown head to good use as rubber masks hiding the identities of a pair of bank robbers. Beyond the use of these minifig parts, the scene is wonderfully photographed, with overhead and ambient lighting.

Life’s A Beach in Lego World

At least, it is for the residents of Miro Dudas’ (miro78) Lego world. His beach side fruit stand captures a nice tropical flavor. The small scene is packed with little details that take one to the islands. I think my favorite is the inclusion of a scooter, which brings me plenty of beach associations.

I need a vacation.

There is no land beyond the Volga!

The Battle of Stalingrad continue to fascinate me. Stalingrad became a symbolic battle of the wills between two totalitarian dictators that manifested itself in devastating real-world consequences for over a million men and women who died on the front lines. For me, building LEGO models inspired by such a brutal battle isn’t about cool things that go “Boom!” Using LEGO to build vehicles, minifigs, and dioramas of historical events puts me in touch with aspects of history that I wouldn’t normally explore — I’m reading Antony Beevor’s excellent Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 alongside my building process.

Back on the 71st anniversary of the end of the battle in February, I posted a small diorama titled Victory in Stalingrad, but didn’t post any of the actual vehicles or minifigs, since I was building toward a much larger diorama for BrickCon this October. I finally managed to take some pictures yesterday.

Not much has changed since February on my KV-1s Heavy Tank (“KV-1s” is the model of the tank, a faster and lighter variant with a lower turret), but I’ve removed the extra plate between the turret and the hull and added some ammunition crates on the rear deck.

The KV-2 Heavy Artillery Tank was based on the KV-1 chassis, so a LEGO KV-2 to follow my KV-1 was inevitable. The monstrous turret enabled me to build quite a bit more functionality into the KV-2, including a fully elevating gun, as well as hatches on the top and rear that both open.

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Toltoburg on Display

Toltomeja and Lego_fan, two Polish builders, have collaborated to bring us this amazing layout. It goes on display for zbudujmy.to LUG’s summer exhibition in Swarzewo, Poland. You’ll be able to see it in person until the end of August!

There are plenty of pictures to go around, so I invite you to pour over this gorgeous little seaside castle and town and take in all the details.

Fracture – a tale of two towers

I don’t build castles often, but I love looking at them, and what’s better than one castle? Two Castles… together! Castle uber builders Asimon481 and ZCerberus teamed up to create this wonderful 80 x 288 stud diorama:

It’s another great example of builders coming together to achieve awesomeness. The layout is actually comprised of three separate pieces that flow seamlessly together:

Check out some of the great details here.

Schools out ... forever!

With Brickworld fast approaching, this means one thing for many of our younger readers: No more school!

While most students say they’re studying, Ordo has been working hard studying how his exams can be brick built. He celebrated each exam with a delightful little build:

Congrats Ordo!

Friday Night Fights – Say Cheese!

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada, USA for another round of Friday Night Fights! Tonight we’re going a bit cheesy – cheese wedges that is. Our contenders have been throwing around the cheese all month, posting a build a day using the humble Slope 30 1 x 1 x 2/3. Let’s go to the tale of the tape.

In the blue corner, we have Grant Davis who gives us a brilliant rendition of Chinese Checkers:

In the red corner, we have Eli Willsea who give us one of the coolest cheese wedge floor mosaics I’ve seen in awhile:

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding who’s the cheesier builder by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, Steampunk Rifles, Monster wins 9-1. Tune in next week for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights!

Mr. Stay Puft’s okay! He’s a sailor, he’s in New York...

As excited as we all are to see the very cool Ghostbusters CUUSOO set finally hit the shelves, wouldn’t it be even cooler if it came with a street to drive down, or some ghosts to fight? Korean building team OliveSeon realized this, and they went and did something about it…

Arca: Consummation, Cultivation,and Corruption

Arca is a story told by three builders: Max Pointner, Ian Spacek, and Paul Vermeesch about a dying planet where the inhabitants cultivate a little basket of life – Arca – and created a glittering city only to see corruption seep in.

The overall construction of this build is extremely clever, an upside down Ziggurat with some fantastic transitions between a lush garden zone and dark cubes areas. I am having a hard time deciding if I like the little green house more, or the extremely complicated and interesting corrupted cube structure:

But what impresses me about this build, isn’t the interesting back story that they had developed or the quality and execution of the build itself, but the seamless manner in which three separate builders could create a single uniform build. I’ve had the pleasure of being in several collaborations over the years, but I have never been a part of something so tightly integrated. Though this isn’t the first time the three have collaborated on build – last SHIPtember they managed to some how build 1/3 of a SHIP each.

Thankfully Max has provided a bit of a behind the scenes on how they approached and executed the Arca Project for those looking at joining forces to do a collaboration build like this.