Tag Archives: Lighthouse

Nice Parts Use: the guiding light of microscale LEGO builds

Great parts use can really elevate a LEGO microscale build. It’s an adage that is almost as old as microscale building itself, and is surely imprinted on the minds of tiny builders. Builders that build tiny things, obviously, not actually tiny builders. Dicken Liu is one such creator (we don’t know how tall he is), and has delivered a doozy to remind us of this important principle. Where do we start here? There’s the roller skate cars, the energy burst waterfall, and not just one but two wheels in the lighthouse. And best of all, the slightly meta lifeboard re-purposed into a small boat. One has to assume this would be the coastguard!

Lighthouse-1

LEGO Ideas 21335 Motorized Lighthouse – a beacon of brick-built class... and cost [Review]

During the COVID lockdown, thousands of people all over the globe found themselves with a significant amount of extra free time and the ability to create wonderful builds. The LEGO Ideas page was overwhelmed with submissions, with an unprecedented number of builds being approved for production. Many of these have been officially licensed products like the Fender Stratocaster, Home Alone, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

While licensed LEGO sets can be very cool, it is always nice to see the LEGO Ideas team approve projects that are wholly original and appeal to a wider range of people. Often these sets don’t have the extra cost associated with licensing, but sometimes they do – as is the case for the newest addition: LEGO Ideas 21335 Motorized Lighthouse. This 2065 piece set will be available September 1st and retail for US $299.99 | CAN $379.99 | UK £259.99. Join us as we take a closer look and see if that high price tag is worth it.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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Surprisingly, this squid is not attacking the lighthouse

Based on the drawing of a child, this fascinating LEGO build has been cleverly constructed by Ben Cossy. The original drawing describes a squid taking on the role of a lighthouse and inking boats which are going by too fast. The squid build uses multiple tentacle pieces from the Gargantos Showdown set while blending different shades of green together in the formation of the body. The ships are miniature in their size with quarter circle tiles portraying sails. Looks like one has already been caught speeding!

The South Mole Squid

There is also an informative video that demonstrates some of the techniques used in creating this scene.

A lighthouse that warns of more than rocks

I think it would be best to admire this beautiful LEGO BioCup 2022 build by Eero Okkonen from afar. After all, kaiju can be very dangerous up-close. The moth monster is absolutely the star of the show here, with so much intricate feathering on its legs, abdomen, and antennae. But the lighthouse is no slouch either, with brilliant details like the little gray staircase leading up to its door. I also especially like the use of the Constraction torso pieces in white as rocks at the base of the structure.

A Bright Light over the Dark Sea Attracts More Than Ships Looking for a Safe Passage

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…

I’ll take mine on the rocks, please

There are some LEGO builders that I would just love to hate, since they seem to be living the perfect LEGO life, and Markus Rollbühler would be at the top of my list; he’s one of the most talented builders out there with about a billion social followers, he has an enormous and perfectly organized collection, and he even works as a set designer for LEGO, the (pipe) dream job of every aspiring LEGO talent. But Markus is impossible to hate, because he is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, super humble, always offering advice and help when asked, and available to even the most rookie builder. How could I hate a guy like that? I can’t. Instead, I admit that he’s one of my personal favorite builders, regardless of what genre he tries his hand at. In this case, it is a delightful little lighthouse.

Coastal Guardian

Markus shows of his skills by building a compactly small round tower out of tiles, pairing that with a ramshackle hut with a teal roof (got to love teal, right?). Markus is famous for his cheese slope roofs, and really his ability to make a roof out of virtually any piece (see Ninjago City Gardens, a set he designed, if you doubt the truth of the statement). He is also well known for his foliage, and this tree made from yellow feathers does not disappoint. The color scheme is just about perfect, as is the composition, and the building techniques are on point…in short, it’s enough to make one green (or even teal) with envy, except that the builder is just too darn nice.

Taking stargazing to the next level

Free from light pollution and smog, this observation deck would be perfect for spotting a planetary conjunction. But there’s certainly a greater spectacle in this vibrant LEGO creation. The Galaxy Cliff Lighthouse by Pete Strege offers an incredible, up-close view of a spiraling galaxy. This Ferris-wheel-like galaxy is motorized, which is quite an engineering feat for its unique shape and scale. Its free-standing tail overarches the entire model, making this build an event of a lifetime.

Galaxy Cliff Lighthouse

Click here to see more views of the Galaxy Cliff Lighthouse

On the back of a dewy mountain

I love single-use LEGO elements, those pieces that are so specialized that they can only be used to make the one thing they were designed to build. Take, for example the head of a dewback from Star Wars. It’s very useful for building, well, a dewback, but not much else in the hands of an average builder. But in the hands of a master, like Simon Hundsbichler, that same piece becomes a mossy hill in a microscale creation. Add in one of the hip assemblies from the same creature, a video camera as a tower, a Bionicle leg as a coniferous tree, a werewolf head as a cliff, and about thirty other pieces, and you have a miniature masterpiece.

Lonely Lighthouse

A peaceful oasis in troubled times

While lighthouses used to serve a very valuable purpose, with all the advances in technology it seems like these days they are more likely closed and abandoned. But in this pastoral scene by Anthony Wilson, four friends are enjoying the peace and quiet to do a bit of fishing, and to gaze out to sea. There are lots of great details from the curvy whitecapped made from a variety of unique parts to the old truck and the weathered boat. But my favorite part is the rocky shore, which uses some long sloped parts more often used in spaceships.

Somewhere in New England

More LEGO Friends Summer 2019 sets revealed featuring an ocean of new cute animals, a lighthouse and more [News]

We revealed the first half of the upcoming LEGO Friends Summer 2019 wave yesterday, and today we have four more upcoming Friends sets showcasing an ocean theme packed with new animals like seahorses, baby turtles, fish and even a narwhal. Standouts sets in the Friends Ocean wave include a lighthouse, lifeboat and and a seabed floor full of life.

The sets were revealed by Dutch retailer MisterBricks. As with some of the other recently revealed sets, we don’t have the exact release date for these, but we are able to provide approximate US prices thanks to the Euro prices listed by the retailer.

Don’t miss the rest of the LEGO summer 2019 sets reveals, and be sure to check out the new Toy Story 4Spider-Man, and The LEGO Movie 2 sets that just went sale a few days ago:

LEGO Architecture
LEGO Batman
LEGO City
LEGO City Space
LEGO Creator
LEGO Friends
LEGO Friends Ocean
LEGO Harry Potter
LEGO Jurassic World
LEGO Ninjago
LEGO Star Wars

Click to check out more images of the new Friends ocean-themed sets

The moment the sea becomes the sky

There is something primal about the feeling one gets when they look out at the ocean. It’s the great expanse of the unknown that inspires profound curiosity. While the sea fascinates us, it also humbles and reminds us just how small we are. This beautiful and terrifying build by Ralph Langer is a snapshot of that reminder.

New Wave

Built with lots of hinged parts, this tsunami swell perfectly captures the moment before disaster strikes. Just imagine how ominous it would look photographed against a dark backdrop! We cringe at the thought of being the people in that ship at the wave’s crest. But let’s not forget how awesome the little microscale lighthouse and village are! It’s a perfectly crafted landscape and a clever use of parts!

A beauty in a technical sense

If you take too quick a look, you could actually miss this unique placement of elements. Allow your eyes to relax a little and your minds to open and you’ll start to see a lighthouse on a cliff with a boat, perhaps lost at sea. I wonder if David Zambito started out with the intention in mind, or did a bunch of elements on the table almost randomly placed give him the inspiration for this tiny wonder. Does art inspire life, or life inspire art? It’s always something to ponder about.

Lighthouse