Tag Archives: Eli Willsea

Arachnophobia triggered

Eli Willsea must not be afraid of spiders, because there is a really big one made of LEGO in one of his latest creations. The creation itself, as well as the spider, features a lot of yellow 9V Track Switches, and a few deserve a special mention. I am particulary fond of their use for the spiral stairs as well as the clock pendulum. But the 9v Track Switch isn’t the only cleverly used brick in this creation. The bagpiper’s hat gets used as a pillow in the chair, and the bookcase consists of a lot of bookbinding. It also appears that a judge or two is missing his gavel. Can you spot them?

Spider Infestation

One of ours, out of the main hangar

If you take a stroll through my post history, you’ll see that two things I love are Star Wars and microscale. So Eli Willsea hits out of the park, in my book, combining the two for his Theed Hanger. Zeroing in on N-1 Starfighter, you’ll see that nifty parts usage abounds.

Theed Hangar

Whether it’s the blades as the front fuselage, the paint cans, the switch track throw, and minifigure hands as engines, or the simple silver cupcake icing swirl as an astromech droid, this ship is ready to leave the hanger. A hanger, which contrasting the minute detail of the fighter, stays true to the large and blockyness of Theed. But as simple as the structure might appear, it is also rife with neat ways of using pieces, such as the old school wheels as the top and bottom of the columns.

Show them the door

Take a drive through any East Coast city in America, small or large, and you’ll find brownstone townhouses, their facades almost like familiar faces. Eli Willsea incorporates this sense of familiarity into his intricate brick-built brownstone doorway.

Doorway

The building façade’s construction is cleverly composed of grey 1×1 jumpers with dark orange 1×1 and 1×2 tiles – this construction approach achieves a brick and mortar aesthetic. The door itself is comprised of mostly yellow tiling with some silver matte pieces to render the doorknob, mail slot, and door knocker. Willsea uses various white elements, including hinge pieces, 1×1 scroll bricks, cylinders, 1×2 slopes, and claw pieces to render a moderately decorated trim. Perhaps the most ornate part of this build is the lunette – the half-moon shaped window above the door, which is mostly composed of yellow 9V track switches – a pretty unusual element, along with some yellow tiles of various shapes and a minifigure head. I appreciate Willsea throwing in some urban foliage, including some vines climbing up the façade along with a few other LEGO plant elements sparsely populating the ground. This build, although simple in the subject, certainly gets my mind out of the suburbs and back into the city.

This map took a lot of control to build

Let’s see. I should start this off with something topical, right? Hrm. Well, for a change how about I try something topographical instead? Something like this amazing map from Eli Willsea, perhaps. Sure, it’s not particularly practical if you want to fold it up and take it with you; some of the pieces are just sitting on the surface of the build. But who cares about that. Look at those mountains, trees, and tents made from 1×1 triangle tile! The little bridge made from a curved slope! The “North” indicator made from rods and tile. Oh yeah, and let’s not overlook that compass and map calipers. They make use of a really unusual part: The 9V Track Switch.

The Map

As that control switch is the seed part in the latest round of Iron Builder, I think it’s a safe bet we’ll see a lot more from this part in the future. Personally, I’m looking forward to whatever Eli builds next.

Sophie’s study is not just another brick in the wall

Sophie welcomes you to her LEGO study where you can not only find all sorts of books but also all sorts of parts being used in a very unusual and inspiring manner. Eli Willsea uses all kinds of bricks, plates, and tiles in dark grey to add texture to the castle walls. At first I was drawn to the creation because of it’s brilliant use of book covers and windows for the staircase. Both parts have a very distinctive purpose but are used for something completely different in a really creative way.

Sophie's Study

It took me a little while to notice that the book covers and windows weren’t the only parts used in a very original manner. The bookcase was made by using a boat. Adding some small bricks and bars made it blend in so nicely with the rest of the creation that you would almost not notice it at all.

Raiding the last Redbox in a post-apocalyptic wasteland

With Hollywood shut down and most movie theaters closed worldwide due to COVID-19, new entertainment has been a little harder to come by lately. I’m not sure our current global pandemic was the inspiration behind Eli Willsea‘s scene, but we find the protagonist (played here by the Lucas minifig from the LEGO Stranger Things set) fishing for DVDs from what is apparently the very last Redbox to have survived an apocalypse that turned the water a toxic green.

The Last Redbox

Eli’s build features a slew of wonderful details, such as the rebar or conduits sticking out of the elevated roadway and electrical bits on the power pole built from pieces like a rollerskate (the new universal greeble piece). Eli makes good use of printed pieces on the Redbox machine, including old-school LEGO Space 1×1 button panels and window panes from the TARDIS in the LEGO Ideas Doctor Who set.

Enter the underworld, if you dare

A haunted forest, a ruined castle, an underground cavern — a lost world awaits. Eli Willsea‘s LEGO scene is a masterclass in microscale, creating a sense of epic scale and mystery with a tight colour palette and a small footprint. The forest ruins were a treat to begin with, but the vast underground chamber beneath the structure is where the excitement lies. We’ve got everything an adventurous explorer expects, from arching masonry and rickety wooden stairs, to perilous drops over deep dark water. My favourite detail is the section of the castle, poking from the water beneath the hole its collapse created — lovely stuff. I’ve obviously played too much Tomb Raider in my time — my immediate thought was that a jump to the hanging chain would surely activate some ancient mechanism to drain the water allowing access to a hidden chamber.

The Old World

Deserted in the desert

“Eventually it shall be reclaimed by the sands. But until then, it stands there still — empty and abandoned. A warning to us all.” I love when a LEGO model begs the observer to create a story, when narration springs into the mind as you look over the builder’s work. This excellent microscale castle by Eli Willsea somehow demands the creation of a backstory — its formidable walls and soaring towers seem to require an epic history to explain its emptiness and sense of decay. The model is well put-together, with a nice depth of texture despite a relatively limited selection of bricks and a monochrome colour palette. And its that colour selection which is key to the scene’s appeal, immediately placing the model in a desert environment and conjuring up an atmosphere of decay and mystery and romance.

The Desert Castle

It takes a village to make a village

I’ve recently started being interested in the idea of collaborative LEGO builds. Everyone does their part and they all come together to create an amazing piece of art. Such is the case with The Village of Thornefeld a terrific medieval village collaboration from Cole Blood, Timothy Shortell, Grant Davis, Eli Willsea, James Libby and Jake Hansen.

I had the pleasure of seeing this model in person at Bricks Cascade. Photographs can never quite capture the grandness of these large creations, but it was joy to see up close. What’s incredible about this build, besides it’s huge size and masterful execution, is the cohesiveness of the whole thing. Each builder worked within a tight color scheme and used matching rock styles to make all the sections mesh seamlessly. I love the way the ground slopes slowly upward, creating a wonderful rolling landscape and various levels. This is great territory for storytelling which each builder does nicely, creating a bustling village that’s full of life.

The Village of Thornefeld; A Collaborative Project

Get ready for a maximum meltdown

As a teacher, I am blessed with the company of large groups of children, happily building with LEGO. But all is not always quiet on the western front. One misplaced brick can cause a meltdown of epic proportions. If you’ve ever been a witness to one of these tantrums, then Eli Willsea‘s latest LEGO build will seem very familiar and might trigger a meltdown of your own! Built for MOC Wars 2020 on Flickr, this scene is perfectly suited for the “I’m melting” category in which it is entered.

Melt Down

I love a model with a story, especially one you can get with one look at the image. This tells a whole story in one frame like any good comic. The construction (or destruction as it were) of the little girl character is masterful. The expression on the face and the arms outstretched in rage tell you everything you need to know about her current mental state. Her angry eyebrows made with guns and with minifigure claws standing in for a furrowed brow is a terrific use of parts. The streaming tears and the simple arch shape for a mouth add to the emotion of the character. The melted body and dress have a great organic feeling to them expressed in curves and round tiles.

The scene is completed with a picket fence, a nicely rendered fire hydrant and a sideways built sidewalk complete with sewer drain that looks about to swallow the girl up as she slowly melts onto the pavement.

Float into the sunset

Some LEGO models create a sense of adventure, some an uneasy feeling of impending doom. Others, like this beauty by Eli Willsea, invoke a calm meditative state, and a wistful desire to lose oneself in the depths of the creation. The twin hot air balloons bob over a dramatic seascape, overlooked by a doubtless-expensive Frank Lloyd Wright style clifftop home, but the star of this show is the brick-built sunset — striking colours, combining to create a glorious sundown moment.

LEGO hot air balloon sunset

Brick-built adorableness

What says cute more than a LEGO hedgehog? Okay, maybe a real hedgehog, but dang this guy is a cutie! Created by excellent builder Eli Willsea, it’s a great use of that claw element for the spines. Eli says there are almost 200 of them, which comes as no surprise! The trademark curl of the body, little white tummy, and pink toes makes for a loveable build.

Hedgehog

Willsea (AKA Forlorn Empire) has been featured numerous times on The Brothers Brick. You can check out more of his builds here.