It’s been way too long since Mladen Pejic posted a new mecha but he tells me he hopes it’ll be less time until his next one. In the meantime we have his latest Mobile Platform “Orca” to ogle, and, given many readers may not be aware of Mladen’s stuff his mecha back catalogue and all the rest.
Ralph Savelsberg (Mad physicist) recently completed his P-61 night-fighter and decided to show it off with its German counterpart. Although if looks won wars I’d have my money on the Axis.
Those who’ve been around the LEGO community for a while may know I’ve been planning a LEGO version of the Ghost in the Shell tank (from the movie) for quite some time. In fact I posted my first CAD version 5 years ago after starting it nine months before that.
I won’t say it’s finished now (because I doubt I’ll ever consider it finished) but, after nearly six years from starting it, I think it’s ready to share in the brick. It’s close to fully articulated although the middle legs don’t move left/right (to improve strength). The torso is on a ball joint as is the head for maximal poseability.
As most LEGO builders do, I’ve been through several non-building funks over the course of the last 10 years or so. Andrew Lee suggested to me once that a good way to get going again is to try building a little microspace fleet. Fearing I wouldn’t get unblocked before BrickCon in just a few short weeks, I did just that. Turns out Andrew gives very good advice.
My “Expeditionary Strike Group” consists of an Escort Carrier, Destroyer, and Gunboat. I set out to build them with a fairly utilitarian aesthetic, but in retrospect it’s clear I’ve spent quite a bit of time immersed in the BSG / Halo / Star Wars universes. I’ve tried building a space carrier in microscale several times, but this is my first completed vessel.
The carrier was built around the weird engines on the back, while the Destroyer mimics the shape of the Carrier:
More photos on Flickr.
I love non-combatant variants of military vehicles. Thomas Coleman (Malravion) designed his Short Horn APC a while back, and recently posted this new version.
The shaping of the underlying vehicle is nice, with great angles and lovely light-gray highlights, but the crane, cargo net, and bulldozer blade add even more visual interest.
Thanks for the tip, Evan!
Another BrickFair has passed (Nannan posted a nice wrapup), and that means another joint science fiction display by 3LUG. For those who aren’t aware, 3LUG is made up of myself and Nick Kappatos. This year, we once again made use of an utter abundance of green bricks (one shouldn’t let such resources go to waste). We also tried to move away from our growing trend of crashed space ships.
This display was only complete for a couple of days during BrickFair, and the components have since retired to our separate homes. Hopefully, the diorama is as fun to look at as it was to build. We tried to add enough details and action to keep kids entertained when viewing the display, because their reactions make it worthwhile.
There’s a special place in my heart for Army ambulances built from LEGO. Andrew Somers has been posting variants of his Humvee-like Bulldog for a little while, but my favorite is the Medical Evacuation Variant. This beefy vehicle sports working suspension and opening doors. 10-wide isn’t my preferred scale for a vehicle in a world populated by minifigs, but they are pretty wide little people, so this scale allows Andrew to fit four minifigs in the cab plus two stretchers in the back.
Andrew’s Bulldog MEV follows his brilliant Python tank
Tommy ([Strange]) sets his sights on the future of military hardware with the TAURUS MBT. The splashes of blue and yellow printed tiles add the kind of believable labeling that appears on many military vehicles, and also breaks up the dark gray.
Tommy’s photo is also an interesting lesson in presentation that I think is worth sharing. Reader Vedad sent us a link to Tommy’s original photo, but the angle at which the model was photographed (and the contrast) didn’t really do the tank justice. Tommy retook the photo, and now details like the gun are much more visible. Here’s the photo above again, alongside the original:
While others may have been more impressed by Karf Oohlu‘s recent armored vehicle, I’m a sucker for his weaponized LEGO animals. Hilarious, yes, but the “Cowabanger assault bovine and Rashbacon support pig” are actually rather well built, with some interesting techniques and parts usages, especially on the cow’s smaller porcine companion.
Andrew Somers shows off his skills with his latest build, the Python. With this tank, he is ready to take on the world.
Karf Oohlu just rolled out this bad boy and it is covered in greebly goodness. While I really like the use of the dump truck bed as the armored shell, it is all the bits on the top that make this something special.
