Tag Archives: Farms

A complicated combine combination

A while ago I wrote that I feel that my Lego models keep getting more complicated due to new parts and new techniques, while building something small and simple can be a lot more fun. The flip side is that those parts and techniques allow building things I could not have built years ago. Case in point: my new combine harvester transport. For years I mainly built larger-scale models, in part because I struggled to build a recognizable make and model of the vehicle at a scale suitable for Lego minifigures.

Despite new parts, it still is not particularly easy. This is one of the reasons why even Lego’s own designers resort to using stickers for the cars in the Speed Champions range, for instance. And those are pretty complicated, certainly for sets. Furthermore, their scale really stretches the definition of what is suitable for minifigures. Of course, I could have built a truck carrying a combine years ago. It would have looked like a generic European truck, though, while this model is recognizably a Dutch DAF truck, thanks to parts such as brackets. Obviously, I did use some stickers, but only for the company livery. What kept building this fun and relaxing, despite its complexity, was looking at it as a combination of smaller projects.
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LEGO Creation of the Week (#36): “FARM” by André Pinto

Every week readers of the The Brothers Brick Telegram channel choose the Creation of the Week: one project that impressed all of us the most. Last week it all came down to a Pokemon versus a farm diorama… and the results are shocking! André Pinto grabs the award with his neat and detailed rural build. What a round!

Meanwhile, the new vote is already on! Join our Telegram channel to follow all the best LEGO creations, latest news, and, of course, vote for your favorites. See you there!

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Because the suburbs aren’t rural enough

Because the suburbs weren’t rural enough, I just moved to the exurbs. Out here everything runs on propane, there’s a septic system and just taking out the trash involves a vehicle that apparently isn’t my hipster Beetle. With greenhouses, windmills, sheds, and tractors much of it looks just like this LEGO diorama built by André Pinto. All my new neighbors own tractors and they tell me that I won’t survive a winter without one. While I mull over that ominous portent, I gaze over André’s diorama with its pumpkins, tomatoes, birdhouses, chickens and especially that tractor. I even checked out the tractor catalog and thought; holy schniekes, these things are expensive! Maybe I’ll just settle for buying a trucker hat; I mean, I’ve gone my whole life without tractoring so why should that change now? Maybe I can be like André and just build them in LEGO. That sounds like a plan!

FARM

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Don’t fall asleep looking at this build – you’ll feel rather sheepish

Character master Oliver Becker has crafted this charming scene of a shepherd and his flock (of, er, one sheep). Now this might sound odd, but I’m actually glad there’s only one sheep here. Not because I’m ovinophobic, but because if I started counting sheep, I’d surely fall asleep and miss the rest of this great build! The sheep is very good, chewing away on the grass, with its spindly legs. (Well it’s chewing with its mouth, but you know what I mean.) And any build that uses X-pod covers is a good one in my book. But the shepherd is where the whimsy really comes into this scene. He’s a great caricature, using inverted arch pieces twice – in his boots and for his face. He’s quite rotund though. Maybe that’s where the rest of his flock went…

Couting The Sheep

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The age old chicken or the egg discussion. Why choose?

Chickens might be my favourite animals ever. They have so much personality. You can see that quite clearly in Rickard Stensby’s latest chicken related creation. Using round 2×2 and/or 3×3 plates for the feathers is rather ingenious. I’ve been staring at this creation for a couple of days and I just can’t figure out how he managed to construct this creation. So far my guess is that there are a lot of minifigure robot/skeleton arms used to attach some of the plates to an inner structure. I also guess that some plates are just held on by friction of other actual connected plates. But I might be mistaken. Maybe you can help and take a wild guess in the comments. If you’ll excuse me now I have to convince my partner that we need some free range chickens for our garden.

The hen and the egg

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Japanese farmers in a bamboo forest

This creation by Ids de Jong exudes a sense of calm and quiet even though the creation represents a bunch of Japanese farmers that are about to put in a good day’s work. Ids used the candle piece in dark tan and green to represent bamboo. The parts haven’t been fully pushed together to mimic the structure of bamboo better. It is nice to see the Raya hat alongside the two types of conical hats that already were in production.

Japanese farmers

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Why did the chicken cross the road?

There’s the age-old question of why the chicken crossed the road, but it appears it doesn’t apply at this tidy chicken farm by LEGO builder Carter Witz because there are no roads here. Instead, these birds are stuck at home with their tiny wings, because this chicken farm is on a floating island. With lovely autumnal colors and a rustic vibe, this build has everything we’d want from a floating island habitat. The stone doorframe on the house is a great detail that makes the structure feel sturdy despite its precarious location, and there are lots of other great details like the shingled roof and the adorable chicken coop.

Chicken Island

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Clever parts use that will blow you away

The on-going BioCup has seen pieces from the now-defunct Bionicle theme used in ever-more interesting ways. NateMakesMOCs has raised the bar with his latest effort in this amusingly cartoonish scene. Thinking outside the box, Nate has used a ball joint arm – or, more precisely, several of them – to create the mean-looking tornado that is the central villain of this piece. It’s an inspired choice: the analog nature of ball joints allows for a more chaotic look, which is perfect for this overgrown dust-devil. The slightly caricatured facial features are a perfect complement. The subject of this tornado’s ire? Well, it seems to be the farm below that is about to get swept up in its path. This is actually quite minimalist in style, with only a barn and some hay bales to suggest a setting for the build. Nevertheless, they both do a perfect job, and the technic gear hay bales in particular are another great use of parts!

Hungering Storm

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If a Deere dumps in the woods

I don’t know why but I’m way into agricultural equipment. But seriously, I don’t know why. I didn’t grow up on a farm, most of my life has been spent in cities or suburbs so I have no farming background to speak of. Perhaps it’s the exotic-ness of farming that really plows my harvest. So you can imagine, I was pretty thrilled to see this LEGO John Deere tractor and Joskin tipping trailer built by Damian Z. The model is not overly large but it’s a solid construct and well detailed for its size. I can just smell the diesel fumes now. Or is that manure? This city slicker doesn’t seem to know one from another! Still, I get a kick out of this stuff. Check out our farming archives to see what I mean. While you’re at it, take a gander at our other John Deere builds including a twelve-year-old entry by yours truly.

JohnDeere&Joskin.05

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New LEGO City 2022 summer sets explore farming and retail [News]

According to the product images revealed by German toy-retailer JB Speilwaren, this summer LEGO City is revisiting local farms — and it’s all about fresh and healthy produce. Four new sets ranging from a tiny one to a solid city building, re-introduce farming with lots of new animal figures. There is a bunch of highlights, with one being a full-size grocery store.

60344 Chicken Coop | 101 pieces | EUR 9.99

60345 Vegetable Delivery Truck | 310 pieces | EUR 29.99

60346 Farm with Animals | 210 pieces | EUR 49.99

60347 Supermarket | 404 pieces | EUR 59.99

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Returning home just in time for the harvest

Forced perspective is always a way to get your LEGO creation to look amazing! Haven’t got the bricks to build a really big mountain for the background that you place at an appropriate distance? Just build a really small one! Caleb Saw did just this and it turned out amazing.

Returning Home

I always like it when a LEGO builder manages to capture movement in their creations. It makes the build less static and, if done right, makes the creation come to life. Caleb however did the complete opposite. He captured a moment in which everything stood still. The moment after the woman dropped her bucket after seeing her lover come home unexpectedly. At first I thought Caleb used Fleur’s head for the surprised face, but it turns out to be Luna’s. Which is a bit softer and quite demure which is perfectly for this scene. You can just sense that time stopped for a brief second. Both characters make eye contact and run towards each other. Caleb did this so well that I didn’t even notice the third person tending the crops.

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This cow doesn’t fear the reaper, nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain

It’s a tribute to the enduring power of certain images that I cannot hear the word “cowbell” without thinking of Blue Öyster Cult and fevers. And the LEGO minifgure torso looks remarkably like a cowbell, if one ignores the holes where the arms should go; so when I faced the challenge of coming up with creative uses for the part, I just had to build a cow with a cowbell around her neck. The whole time I was building it, I had to resist the idea of scrapping the build and trying to craft a hairy Will Ferrell holding the cowbell instead, and “The Reaper” was playing on repeat in my head. Ever try to build LEGO while dancing around playing air cowbell? It ain’t easy. I snuck in another torso in the barn, and added some of my dad’s old bushes and trees around it for some microscale detail in the background. LEGO is truly a multi-generational toy!

I've got a fever

While you’re feeling rustic, here are some more LEGO builds of barns and LEGO farms. And don’t forget to check out the Iron Forge, and even get a few entries in yourself!

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