Tag Archives: Grant Davis

LEGO Creation of the Week (#9): Shelob by Grant Davis

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. As the sales of new LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings 10316 Rivendell has began last week, there’s no better time to enjoy a stunning themed creation. No wonder, Grant Davis grabbed our Creation of the Week prize this easily! His scene featuring spidery monster, Shelob totally deserves it!

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!

Siege of Gondor vignette pays tribute to a great battle

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of Lord of the Rings, so you can expect to see a number of fan-built tributes in addition to official LEGO sets based on the franchise. Grant Davis has been building vignettes inspired by LotR for a while, and this latest build is a fantastic tribute to the white city of Gondor. Depicting a scene from the epic battle set in the third book where the army of Sauron lays siege to the city, sending rock after rock against the white walls and towers. The impacting rock and all of the rubble are very cleverly attached with only a few barely visible bars the same color as the wall, and the angle of the photograph hides any non-essential parts, creating the illusion of a moment frozen in time.

The Siege of Gondor

If you want to see more, be sure to check out his Shelob build from LotR that we recently featured.

We’re caught in the web of this wonderful build.

Grant Davis has been on a quest to depict the major moments from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings saga in LEGO form. Grant’s latest vignette is of Sam’s encounter with the vicious, spidery monster known as Shelob. Rarely has an arachnid been so perfectly captured in LEGO form. The secret is plenty of inverted rubbery tires to give Shelob some organic roundness and an eerie texture.

65. Shelob

These LEGO dominos keep getting knocked down, but they get up again

Engineering mastermind Grant Davis comes to us today with an infinitely brilliant design: a machine that knocks over and resets ten LEGO dominos. The simplicity of the tan dominos atop a plain gray box with only “D-O-M-I-N-O” spelled out on the front belies the complex machinery within. Grant has rigged up sections of of the base to open, revealing liftarms that right the fallen dominos in reverse order. This allows for another round of toppling via a different poking device, again hidden in the base. But the really impressive genius here is the magnet system in each domino making sure that the rectangular tiles always fall and reset into the same positions. To hide the standard LEGO magnet in a two-stud width without sacrificing any exterior design is truly marvelous!

Infinite Domino Machine

Of course a picture can only do this build so much justice. Check out a full explanation of Grant’s design process, and the final product in action, in the video below. Oh, and prepare to pick your jaw up off the floor, as well. This machine isn’t designed to reset that…

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

The spring equinox has just been and gone, so the days are getting longer and summer is on its way. To get us in the mood, Grant Davis has crafted an idyllic-looking bit of LEGO coastline. The still pictures on their own are already making me long for a bit more sunshine (especially having just been through the Finnish winter!), but these only tell half the story…

Seaside

See what secret lies in the water…

A celebration of the humble LEGO frog

When I first joined the online LEGO community about 20 years ago, I had to choose an avatar to represent myself online. I decided to draw the LEGO frog in MS Paint and use it as my avatar. The frog piece was released in the year 2000. Over the years some LEGO parts get redesigned. It is however my honest opinion that there is no way to improve the iconic little frog. For its time it is very detailed and still very cute. Four amazing builders decided to celebrate the piece and I could not pass it up the chance to take a closer look at them.

Roanoke Handybuck’s frog is currently visiting the Swamp with a lovely dock featuring some paint brushes and a beautiful architectural sculpture using red parrots.

Fred's Adventures: The Swamp

Read on to see the rest of the models

This flight’s been grounded…except on the water.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about getting whisked away somewhere on a plane. But hopefully not a plane that uses an actual whisk to hold its propellers on, like this one does. But I suppose the whisk is the least of this pilot’s worries, as Grant Davis has constructed quite the impressive belch of black smoke coming from the engine of this seaplane. The texture of the smoke is quite impressive, and I particularly like the black smoke near the engine, made from what I think are a couple of TIE Fighter pilot helmets. The use of the small ship in the background to create a forced perspective horizon really makes it feel like this pilot is isolated, which adds a wonderful additional element of drama to the scene. I don’t imagine making engine repairs while rocking on the open ocean is an easy task. Hopefully his radio still works.

Unscheduled maintenance

Living atop the wave-worn coastal rocks

Grant Davis never ceases to inspire with his exceptional LEGO creations. This adorable cottage is far from some craggy shack. The color combos and shape set the stage for visions of a quaint ocean hideaway. But it’s tough to decide if the best details come from the sand blue spoilers used for clapboard siding, or the magnificent rocky outcropping upon which it sits. The seamless transition from the smooth boulder foundation to the building is excellent. One can also appreciate the conical hat used as a barrel lid, and skates used as door handles.

Life On The Rocks

While you’re here you should check out some of Grant’s other work. Also, take a peek at some other excellent cottages and all sorts of landscape techniques.

The Blue Beetle Brigade

Grant Davis must know I am partial to a good brick-built insect. It is my dream to one day have framed Entomology display made entirely out of LEGO bricks. Now all I have to do is convince my partner that this is suitable decoration for a living room. These wonderful bugs by Grant might help me convince him. The body of the beetle is build using the vehicle spoiler for the antennas Grant used minifigure whips. There is an interesting mixture of brown parts used in the making of the branch. The flower on the branch must be some sort of parasitic plant species because it looks like it is not part of the branch itself. The eggs used for flowers petals is a very lovely touch and the presentation of this creation is simply sublime.

The Blue Beetle Brigade

A study worth studying

One of my guilty pleasures is spending too much time on Zillow. I’m not really looking to buy a home, I’m just curious about what they look like inside. But if I was browsing the site and saw anything as modern and cozy as this build by Grant Davis, I might start trying to convince my wife we need to move. The modern stairway grabs your immediate attention, but there’s so much here to love, from the beautiful bay window to the hardwood floors (look closely, they’re not just long tiles). And that steamboat on the top shelf cleverly uses sideways radiator grilles for its windows. I hope the steamboat comes with the house, because I’m ready to make an offer on this place.

A Modern Study

Do you want tentacle babies? Because that’s how you get tentacle babies!

There was a time when LEGO builder Grant Davis was a regular here at The Brothers Brick but lately he’s been as rare as truck nuts on a Prius. That’s because he’s been away at the university. But that’s all about to change because he is competing in the ever-popular Iron Builder competition against our friend and recent TBB alumni Benjamin Stenlund. Grant calls this one “The Experiment” and, like many sci-fi movies and Florida Man stories, it features toxic goo, tentacles, and a situation that’s about to get calamitous. This is only his first entry in this competition so we can expect to see plenty more from Grant and even Benjamin soon. Iron Builder always means job security for us. Speaking of job security for us, check out the other times we were totally gaga for Grant’s stuff.

The Experiment

Just add butter and a good movie

Things are getting a little ridiculous here. The level of Grant Davis‘ genius LEGO skills lately is making me want to be better at life. Making a popcorn machine is neat, but what’s really cool is that it functions. Yup, the “popcorn” pieces come out of it just like the real thing, using a motorized piston at the top. It’s an excellent idea that I wish I would have thought of myself. But on top of that, we have to address the font. Can you imagine a better way to replicate that old school cartoony movie theater style?

Iron Popper (Functional)

If you look closely, you can see the piston moving up and down. It “pop” out just the right amount at the right timing to mimic the real thing.

You can see all of Grant’s LEGO builds (including many with a common parts theme) in our archives.