Tag Archives: Evancelt Lego

Brickmaster and commander

For someone who grew up with the old Pirates LEGO theme, it’s always gratifying to see the theme’s evolution at the hands of able builders. Case in point: “Redcoat Navy Brigantine” by Evancelt Lego. The Imperial Navy sets sail in a slick, stylish vessel that pays homage to the original theme while really hoisting the yardarm a few notches in terms of detail and accuracy. This incarnation of the pirates’ nemesis has a distinctly Napoleonic feel. The deck hums with activity while bayonet-wielding marines stand at the ready. I love those brick-built furled sails, which are almost indistinguishable from cloth, and the trans blue and white tiles standing in for a serene sea. Is the Navy on the trail of pirates, or do they have another mission in mind?

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How the West was fun in LEGO

Fort Legoredo, biggest set of the 1996 Western theme, had all the qualities of a great LEGO castle, only trading grey stone for brand new log bricks in brown and swapping knights with cowboys and soldiers. It was a remarkable set, the first that I bought in multiples as a parts pack, and so iconic that LEGO re-released it in 2002. Evan Crouch, one of our favorite builders of historical MOCs, rolls out the welcome wagon with his take on a Western Stockade Fortress. While not a direct remake of Fort Legoredo, Evan’s base uses elements from the classic set to build at a more accurate scale with wonderful detail and technique. Brick yellow cones atop the log bricks give the palisades a rough-hewn look. The headquarters takes advantage of white log bricks, not available at the time, for a painted log cabin. The terrain texture is wonderful, especially the tan ruts in the road from wagon wheels. And instead of just decorative bullhorns, Evan’s fort features a whole longhorn skull over the gate.

While historical themes shows up in Architecture, Collectible Minifigures, and Ideas, it’s been quite a while since LEGO looked to history for a full play line. Would you hitch your wagon to the Western theme again, or is there another historical period you’d rather see explored in bricks?

Looking great at the LEGO gate

For years now, one of my favorite historical LEGO builders has been Evan Crouch, known for turning out beautiful buildings and landscapes from medieval and colonial times. This gatehouse, intended for a DENLUG collab at Brickworld Chicago this coming weekend, is yet another stellar entry into his catalog of work. I adore the construction of that pine tree, leveraging the flexible nature of the 6×5 leaf pieces. And the texturing on the tower’s walls is top notch, as always. I hope I get to see some pics of the whole DENLUG layout from the convention in the near future.

History is made in the abstract

At LEGO street level, a tense scene plays out. Orders from the General. It’s time for Major Brickleton to finish up his puddings and bid adieu to the modernist comforts of Seawatch’s beloved Mondrie Inn. The colonel raises his gaze to look upon the half-timbered rooms, blocked in primary colors in the Dutch style. “War is all well and good in the abstract,” he thought, “but I’d rather stick to my puddings.” Evan Crouch is no stranger at progressive builds that fuse history and whimsy, but his latest scene might be his most modern(ist) creation yet from (neo)plastic bricks. I wonder what came first, the delightful play on the name of artist Piet Mondrian for the Mondrie Inn, or the visual pun of fusing half-timbered architecture with Mondrian’s trademark blocks of primary colors? Evan backs the whimsical concept with exceptional technique.

The inn’s ground floor uses a mix of masonry bricks, round plates and SNOT bricks for a nice weathered effect, while dark grey ingots make for effective cobblestones. The color blocking for the upper stories is minimialist in approach, appropriate for the inspiration, with no windows and just a few round tiles to show wear. Evan rounds out the build with a custom sticker for the inn’s signboard and historical characters.

Hanging up the sword of Martin the Warrior

Deep in the heart of the Mossflower woods, south of the gently-flowing River Moss, sits the storied Redwall Abbey. And when you need a cozier space to have your meal than the Great Hall, you can pull up a chair in the Cavern Hole, built for us in LEGO by Evancelt. This smaller dining hall is lovingly rendered for us in (plastic) brick form with a hearty feast upon the table. Evencelt here has made excellent use of third party parts for this build. The mouse figures and weapons – including the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior mounted on the wall – are from Crazy Bricks’ Mouse Guard series, and the stained glass windows are excellently repurposed from BRIQUESTORE’s Harry Potter stained glass prints. Going back to 1st party bricks, I love the living edge table made from various curves and arches holding a feast made from various printed tiles and food pieces. The chairs are also an excellent piece of design; managing to look both unique and similar enough to form a set. I hope they have saved a chair for me by that fire!

This enormous Wild West diorama will bring out your inner cowboy

LEGO’s Western theme may have only lasted a couple of years, but the sets available in that short span could build you a pretty comprehensive Wild West. In the spirit of that, Evan Crouch has collaborated with fellow builders Matt Hudson and Donnie Greenfield to bring us this huge diorama! It’s all there, laid out down one main street in typical spaghetti-western style (among some stunning landscape, I might add). There’s a bank, a sheriff’s office, a Native American camp, settlers, a train station – pretty much the only thing missing is Fort Legoredo itself!

A distressed badger badgers the Mouse Guard for help

A builder who goes by the name of Evancelt Lego presents a diorama that is called Redwall: A Visitor to Loamhedge. From their Flickr page; “After receiving the distressed badger and hearing his tale, Abbot Gersey sends warrior mice out to aid in his search for his daughter. Weasels had been spotted near Loamhedge a fortnight earlier and the abbot has his suspicions they were behind the badgermaid’s disappearance.” They go on to say that this started as a chance to play around with light lime alongside yellowish green and lime in the base, which incidentally, was the very thing that attracted me to this build. Those of us in the know about such things understand that these colors are as scientifically different as pink and orange and can look pretty neat when presented together.

Here’s the scoop on this wintry scene...

The latest LEGO creation by builder Evancelt‘s depicts a wintry scene with an impressive castle towering above the nearby village. The castle, with its yellow colour scheme, is reminiscent of the classic LEGO Yellow Castle, but what impresses me with this castle is that the walls are made from a digger bucket! In micro builds like this, I’m always impressed when parts you wouldn’t expect should work really do work so well!

But it’s not just a great castle on display here. Surrounding the castle is a beautiful wintry scene complete with snow-covered forests, using various horn pieces, and a small village which utilises the printed plate from the latest CMF series, but my favourite piece of detail in this scene? The snowy mounds made from white croissant pieces!

Now, all this talk of winter leaves me needing to find an open fire to warm up…

When you want to build a Castle, but you only have pieces in white

Castles and knights are cool, but they are not the only ones who need impressive fortresses. What about grenadiers? These guys know a thing about pretty fortified buildings. Ayrlego and Evancelt Lego combine their love for historical-era creations to collaborate on a couple of sweet-looking military buildings. First, Arylego recreated the grenadiers’ parades outside their barracks in the Corlander settlement of Queenston. And it’s the massive corner tower that reminded me of the classic LEGO castles! In white, it looks stunning, bringing us to a very different place and era (compared to fantasy).

Meanwhile, Evancelt Lego goes with a different layout for his armory but sticks to the distinctive architectural style of the barracks. It took me a moment to notice a totally unique design for trees: they fit so well, I nearly left them unnoticed. And, of course, the combination of various shades of yellow and orange on the walls is so good. The weathering effects bring these builds to a whole new level.

Restocking Fort Stockton

Part of a larger LEGO concept by the builder, this model of the docks at Fort Stockton, Wullham features some lovely architecture, delightful parts usage, and realistic rock formations. Flickr Builder Evancelt enjoys historical era models full of red jackets and muskets set against natural scenery with old buildings. Here they used some simplistic parts as crenellations and molding along the top of the fort, while cleverly employing letters with a red seal as diamond-leaded windows. Well-molded sea grasses and foliage compliment the sharp change to rock as we move down to the dock. Basalt formations are a delightful bit of geology that we don’t see enough of in LEGO builds or real life. Using dark grey at the base to illustrate the spray and waves of the sea on the rocks is a great decision that adds to the realism of the build.

Of course, the multilayered dock is also wonderfully detailed. Multiple shades of brown make up the boards, while reddish brown and dark brown in the supports mirror the water effect used on the rocks. The lamp piece is a good period setting element that matches well with the flat-topped chest. I love seeing historical models that aren’t focused on war. Sure, these are soldiers at a Fort but still, this is more about daily life than about a battle and I’m all about that. Not to mention how soothingly executed that blue sea is on the eyes. Well done, Evancelt, well done.

In Spudkirk, it’s all about the little things

The fictional town of Spudkirk is home to this LEGO scene by builder Evancelt Lego, featuring a row of tiny townhouses and itsy-bitsy infantrymen. And the details here, even at this scale, are larger than life. The cobbling on the wall is excellent, demonstrating how war-weary the town must be. The use of color in the road, specifically the blotches of lime green and burnt orange, further the worn look of the town. And it does this without drawing too much attention away from the rest of the model. This allows other, more nuanced details to shine through, like that teensy tree on the left. The yellow-orange flowers as foliage on top of a trunk mostly composed of a brown stud shooter fits perfectly at this scale.

Onwards, to the Sierras

Evancelt Lego has captured a little piece of the Wild West in a beautiful LEGO colour palette in this snapshot of the Westward Expansion. Theres some nice takeaways here from the construction of the carts and the autumnal trees using horn pieces to the clouds made from ice cream.
And as they rode off into the sunset, the wagon train was last heard humming Wandering Star…