Tag Archives: Julius Kanand

Seeing the world on rose-tinted terrain

No need to adjust your glasses. Everything’s looking rosy in this darling LEGO FebRovery build by Julius Kanand. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the jewel piece put to such excellent use as to create the ground in this diorama. Add in the mass of red crystal behind the rover, as well as the occasional bump and crag from the LEGO crystal part, and it’s hard to tear my eyes away from the background. But when I do, I’m greeted with an astonishing white rover, reminiscent of NASA’s best work! Each gray tube and bit of texture tagged onto this beauty provides a level of realism betrayed by its fantastical location.

Crystal Hopper

Beware Captain Kraken! No one is safe from his reach

This LEGO pirate ship build from Julius Kanand brings a whole new level of fear to the phrase “beware the kraken”! Captain Kraken and his roving band of Marauding Mollusks aren’t taking guff from anyone. They roam the seas, hunting for unfortunate ships to prey upon. Even those who think there’s a path to escape lose hope and limb to the terrible tentacles of Kraken’s ship. Some say the ship is a living organism, others that it’s just a lot of mechanisms. The truth can be found aboard the ship, but none have returned to speak of it! The skeleton of the ship is based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ship the Silent Mary, but the rest of it is from Julius’s mind.

Pirate Squid

The squid-like shape of the ship is really cool! You’ve got the point of the head with the extension coming off the stern. Then, there’s the bow of the ship where the squid comes to life with big eyes and a bigger maw! Using some technic pieces, the ship’s tentacles reach out and grab the soon-to-be-eaten ships it preys upon. Taking a closer look at the mouth reveals rows and rows of sharp teeth ready to feast! Built in about two months, this ship is mighty impressive. Just, you know, be careful around it or it’ll eat you.

Pirate Squid_Attack

Hello, Dolly!

With this brilliant-looking robot, Julius Kanand pays tribute to M-Tron. The black, red, and trans-neon green pieces are all used in perfect proportion to each other to recall the color scheme of LEGO’s old, much-beloved and/or maligned space theme.

M-Tron Robot_Front

There’s some really nice parts usage, too; from the six-sided, rubber-framed dice at the shoulders to the socket wrench-as-antennae. But what I think works best is the minifigure dolly cart used as the shins and feet. The back of the dolly provides a natural vent effect, and the dolly cart is so stable that this robot can stand on one foot! It’s definitely an impressive engineering feet.

M-Tron Robot_Balance

Rugged rover vibes abound

We’re halfway through FebRovery and the models keep coming. Stand-outs can be hard to find but LEGO builder Julius Kanand has provided us with a near-future gem worth gushing about. A collection of old and new parts, the builder certainly had fun figuring out the finer details in this model. The suspension, which looks a lot like a Coilover suspension in each arm, is full of functioning parts, including the spring suspensions used near the central body. This is a pretty smart way to usefully integrate the suspension so that the body stays relatively still as the arms move up and down to respond to the terrain. Those big, classic wheels provide plenty of clearance under the body along a retro-future vibe to match the Classic Space planet logo used in the tailpiece. There is a ton of nice parts usage in this build, including the skateboard communications array, along with the storable helper bot that the green spacemen must be unloading here.

Rover 2

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A flying Flying V? That’s unexpected.

The Cyber Metal 2, a speeder bike with some highly unusual styling, is a fun creation from Julius Kanand.  Sure, you’ve probably heard of Flying V guitars, but how do you like this flying Flying V? I’m particularly fond of the transparent bright green accents, the speaker cones that double as thrusters, and the use of 1×1 round speaker tiles. Part Doof Wagon, part Star Wars, this build is music to our ears.

Cyber Metal 2
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