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.

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.

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A Tavern Market for a Fair Day

This stately house of drink stands guard above a lovely quayside village market. Flickr user Gary^The^Procrastinator has done an excellent job polishing the diorama and inserting just enough bright colors to make it come alive. It’s always good to remember how important scale is to creating realistic models: an official LEGO tavern would probably sit on an 8 inch footprint, but this model is closer to 30×15 inches. This gives it room to breathe and encompass detail without becoming crowded.

Over the Moon

Polish builder Michał Kaźmierczak is no stranger to massive LEGO dioramas, and we are no stranger to him either – you can read about his lava-bound space base and Indiana Jones temple adventure right here. So what could be more suitable to a large-scale LEGO treatment from Michał than the epic landscape of the moon Pandora from the 2009 movie Avatar?

I particularly like Michał’s use of the waterfalls to solve the problem of the Pandora’s airborne mountains (which can float due to high concentrations of superconducting Unobtainium ore interacting with the moon’s magnetic fields something something something science reasons). And for scale, the diorama even includes a microscale version of the Dragon assault ship:

Valencia – a Hangar to call home

Far too often I see fantastic Sci-Fi vehicles that are presented itself either on a plan backdrop or photoshopped background.

So it’s always refreshing and awe inspiring when Keith Goldman (Don Quixote 2×4!) posts one of his epic dioramas with a fully brick built background:

Not to be satisfied with just a great ship, Keith takes it to the next level by building a home for his ship, complete with fantastic hexagon floor (based off of Tim G’s design) and classic-Goldman back lit wall.

Mountain-sized Surprise

Curious what’s at the top of the mountain? Feast your eyes on the sweet, cold surprise waiting for you, courtesy of Mel F. Torolug has been building the most adorable habitats for the Collectible Minifigs, and they’re taking it to new heights with some of their newest ones.

This Creation Looks Like It Belongs in a Landfill

If ever there were a LEGO creation that looked like it was straight from a landfill, this is it. (And I mean that in the best possible way.) As the second industrialization-gone-awry model this week, Nooreuyed’s creation features some terrific looking brick trash and a great bit of forced perspective.

The Battle of Endor in epic proportions

Markus1984 is displaying this massive diorama of the Battle on Endor during Star Wars Days in LEGOLAND Germany. It’s built in 5 months from about 40,000 pieces and measures 57 X 39 inches. You can see more photos on Flickr.

Welcome to the Planet of the Grapes

I honestly can’t say enough in praise for this creation by A Plastic Infinity (A Plastic Infinity). The purple alien landscape is lovely, and the lime acid fluid pops against it perfectly. The building has some cool little details, and the scene for an alien planet just works.

My only “complaint” is that I bought 8 cups of purple at the Lego store this weekend, with the intent of using it for an alien landscape, and now I’m late to the party!

It’s Training Time!

My education in trains and train creations is woefully incomplete, fortunately Tim pointed out this creation to help me along the way. This is a German BR64, built by brickshelf user abhf. The truly amazing thing about this creation is that this photo is not the work of forced perspective. This is a huge an detailed display. I bet it looks amazing in person.

Enter the marshy depths of Purity

This alien landscape of a cavernous marshland by Raoul Baldwin features many exotic elements. There are so many aspects of this creation I like, including the color texturing with olive green and dark tan, the vertical raised dark tan baseplate, the rocks in the foreground to add perspective and depth, and the integration of elements of technology and nature. Don’t forget to check out the details of the organic looking alien walker.

So it goes.

Generally speaking, I don’t consider most Lego builds ‘art’. Most of the time, builders just want to make a cool castle or spaceship or whatever. When someone wants to convey a message through a build, it’s all too often done in a heavyhanded manner.

Not so with this scene by Brian Rinker (Âtin). The construction and technique is all top-notch, but it’s the understated framing here that transcends the medium.

Spring Time in Tuscany

You know those snapshots that just bring you to a time in your life? Where you remember the defining moments, those poignant memories that make you smile. For me, this particular MOC reminds me of the first time I saw fireflies, in Tuscany, amid the vineyards. They were the only light along the path.

Carson Hart‘s rendition of an Italian Tuscan villa captures the bright colors and classic look, while forced perspective in the background shows off the rolling hills of vineyards. I imagine the other part of this villa may or may not include a winery that filled that bottle on the table.