Tag Archives: Macroscale

A modern brick for modern times

Builder Aido Kessler wants the future of LEGO today with the brick of their dreams, as submitted to New Elementary’s Make a Wishbrick contest. While the idea presented, a headlight brick minus its foot, is something that’s been on my wish list for longer than I can remember, that’s actually not my favorite part of this build. In an effort to zhuzh up the design, Aido added a living quarters inside a technologically advanced brick. The vignette very much feels like a LEGO-themed take on The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, my favorite bit of science-fiction. I love the clean interior juxtaposed with the technological textures on the exterior, and the subtle hints of trans-light blue really drive home the space-age look. Now will our hero continue to inhabit his little brick-built cube, or will he break free with his new part and let his creativity run wild?

Wishbrick

Massive brick with a sick secret!

Large-scale LEGO bricks have been done many times in the past but this gigantic brick by Tommy Frost takes it to a whole new height. At a 22x scale, Tommy was able to achieve a high level of detail, going as far as adding the raised LEGO logo on the top stud and even the small slit below the side stud. This particular brick is referred to as a headlight brick (or sometimes Erling brick) and is one of the earliest elements that enables sideways building, called SNOT (studs not on top) building. A wonderful graffiti-style art on the side gives a hint as to the secret that this large brick holds.

Removing the LEGO logo on top reveals that this SNOT brick doubles as a tissue box! A wonderful play on words and a fantastic model! Check out more views below.
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Just a pile of parts? These giant LEGO pieces are the perfect illusion

Did you do a double take? Same here! If you’re still confused, zoom in. This is the most exceptional upscale of LEGO pieces I have ever seen. Prolific builder Inthert has pulled off a bit of genius with this latest creation. While every element is expertly crafted, a few stand out as top notch. Minifigure parts, for example, are one of the hardest things to build, but including one was a must. Yet among many piles of unsorted brick are not one but two torsos, and one’s even holding a lightsaber. These torsos are identifiable from both distance and up close, and Luke’s even incorporates string to finish the illusion. Moving on, there’s a cheeky tribute to the “brittle reddish-brown” epidemic, which couldn’t be more spot-on. (Rest in pieces, 1×3 plate!) But my most favorite detail has to be the black airtanks with the flexible hose “neck bracket” wrapped around a brick stud.

Scale It Up!

Something else to marvel: there is not a single exposed real top stud among the brick-built copycats. Now, if you’ve been bitten by the upscale bug, you can see more enlarged LEGO elements in our archives. You can also check out more builds from Inthert.

If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it

I’m not a watch guy. I mean, I have a watch, and I wear it every day, everywhere I go. It is even an analog watch, not one of those new-age digital ones (and don’t get me started on smart watches!). But I don’t go in for fancy watches. If I did, I would probably daydream about a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. I don’t make enough money to even begin to think about daydreaming about buying one, however. One of these timepieces new starts at over $12,000 (depending on your metal of choice), though Paul Newman’s 1968 Daytona sold a few years back for a record $17.8 million. Builder ZetoVince (George Panteleon) has solved the problem of price by building a Rolex Daytona out of LEGO bricks instead of buying it. And what a watch! The scale is deceptive, but this is a massive build; the face of the watch is almost 7 inches across (or 17 cm). With this on your wrist, you are sure to impress your colleagues.

Rolex Daytona

The yellow and light bluish grey do a good job of filling in for yellow gold and Oystersteel, one of the colorways of the Daytona (this one starts at just under $17,000, in case you were curious). The Technic gear rack, with its teeth and assorted pin holes, looks fairly comparable to the numbers and little hash marks around the outer rim of the real watch. Second only to the gear rack in inspired parts usage is the yellow flipper at the 12:00 mark that mimics the golden crown of the Rolex logo. The only thing that could have improved the watch is a black face, rather than just black dials; or else grey dials (okay, I confess, I have been doing some Rolex shopping while writing this article. Maybe I am a watch guy…). But what sets this build apart from any other is that box. Who has a giant watch box sitting around? Or perhaps it was built just for this LEGO creation, which is some serious dedication. Either way, it is time (get it?) to go buy a watch.

LEGO back-to-school supplies, just in time for the start of classes

It’s that time of year again, at least in the United States. Kids everywhere are getting to Target or Walmart and picking up folders, reams of loose-leaf paper, #2 pencils, pens, markers, crayons, Elmer’s glue, and everything else on the supplies list sent them by their new teacher. Builder H.Y. Leung brings us a timely series of builds, perfect for my kids to bring to their giant LEGO school. I say giant, because these are truly massive, despite how small they might seem at first glance. The ruler, for example, is not the mere 20cm that it indicates, but a whopping 195cm (or 77 inches – about three inches longer than I am tall)! Some clever studs-not-on-top (SNOT) work integrates the numbers and hash marks elegantly into the overall shape.

Lego Ruler

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