Tag Archives: horses

Build castle classic again.

Many older fans of LEGO might long for the days of yore, before we had fancy things like minifigures and molded animals. Grant Masters liked those good old days when we had to build our own horses. After all, the first LEGO horse wasn’t introduced until 1984, years after the first castle sets with brick-built horses. With his latest creation, Grant took it a step further and built his own people too!

Crusaders

The use of some pretty basic elements give his Crusaders a sturdily armoured look. And though he’s rejected newfangled molds for people and animals, he’s adeptly sculpted a horse with the use of new elements, such as the curved slopes, quarter round tiles, and my current favouite use of the power blast piece, giving the horse’s head just the right shape.

“Great ambition is the passion of a great character”

When a statue is erected of someone riding a horse, they usually follow certain rules. If the rider died in battle the horse would be rearing on two legs. If the horse has one leg up, the rider died of an injury and if the horse is standing on all four legs, then the rider died of natural causes. With this in mind Filbrick has built a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte on a horse standing on all fours. I particularly like the textured “greebling” effect on the horse using wheels, gears, Bionicle parts, radar dishes and other bits usually employed in building spaceships.

LEGO NAPOLEON STATUE

Some statues of Napoleon on horseback have been erected in all three leg configurations, because the cause of his death can be a topic of hot debate. Did he die bravely in battle defending the French army? Was he poisoned by enemies while in exile on St. Helena as so many history books suggest or was it just the unkind fate of the winds? Autopsies reveal that the cause of death was stomach cancer which may have been brought on by excessive levels of arsenic. (A-ha!) However, later studies, not available during his time, stated that Napoleon (and so many others of his day) were being exposed to arsenic throughout his entire lifetime from glues and dyes and not by purposeful murderous intent. It would seem that Filbrick’s depiction of a serene horse on all four legs may be the correct configuration all along.

It’s dangerous to go alone, take this Link sculpture!

Hey! Listen! Builder Vincent Kiew has built a terrific homage to one of the best RPG video games ever made, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Series hero Link (please don’t call him Zelda) has been lovingly recreated here astride his trusty steed (also not named Zelda), ready for an epic adventure in the kingdom of Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

This is a delightful model that brought a smile to my face as soon as I saw it. Upon closer inspection, I was immediately impressed by the iconic Zelda touches and the creative use of parts. The horse is chock full of building techniques that combine together to create the complicated musculature. The modified 1 x 2 plates with 3 claws make a beautiful mane and the I really like the minifigure crutch as stirrups. The award for best part use, however, must go to the implementation of Samurai helmets as hooves. If it looks like it’s defying gravity, that’s because it is! The horse was originally held up with transparent bricks which were then quickly removed for the photograph, and luckily it all remained intact.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The Link figure captures the character perfectly and his clothes are nicely rendered, with special modifications for riding versus standing. The use of car hoods for the hips of his tunic while riding and unicorn horns for his hair wisps are both great touches. As a Legend of Zelda fan, I really appreciate all the attention to Link’s equipment. The details on The Master Sword and in particular, The Hylian Shield, are beautiful. The builder even goes so far as giving him a tiny Shiekah Slate hooked to his belt with an Elves goblin eye tile to finish it all off. Now you may ask, “But, where is this Zelda we keep hearing about?” to which I shall answer “It’s a secret to everybody.”

Awesome LEGO makeover series of Sweden’s Dala horse

A Dalacarlian horse, also known as a Dala horse, is a common trinket in Sweden that’s almost become a national symbol. The history of these tiny carved wood sculptures dates back to the 1600s, and they’re often decorated with a wide variety of colors and patterns. Builder Mark Anderson built a cute little version out of LEGO, with a body only six studs long.

The original horse features traditional decorations with a bold main color and careful ornamentation.

LEGO Dala Horse - Blue

However, after building a few Dala horses featuring the traditional markings, Mark decided to mix things up and expand the decorations to more contemporary themes, which is where they get really fun. Here’s Mark’s Batman Dala horse.

LEGO Dala Horse - Batman

Click to see more Dala horses in other costumes!

Sculpting an elegant monochrome unicorn

As we all know, building with LEGO isn’t just about creating cool things, it’s also a fantastic art medium. Not only that, it’s a wonderful outlet for self-expression. One builder and incredible artist, Ekow Nimako, is a master of gorgeous monochrome sculptures.  This white unicorn is just one of his many creations.

It turns out that he has built a similar piece in almost all black. Also, it sounds like he is considering building a large-scale version of this creation, with a child on its back. If he does, I’m sure it will be incredible! Ekow has many amazing builds, so keep an eye out for future coverage!

Majestic mount

It’s easy to glance at this statuesque horse and mistake it for something sculpted in clay, stone or metal, but Grantmasters has created this wonderfully modeled LEGO warhorse using a surprising  collection of straight, angled and curved elements more commonly found in the hands of soldiers.

War Horse