Joriel “Joz” Jimenez (MOCPages) has been hard at work updating his Flickr photostream lately. I keep bookmarking stuff to blog, and then he posts something even cooler.
With squad after squad of great minifigs, Joz is clearly a man after my own heart. Unlike too many “army builders,” he peppers his multitudes with unique units like this pair of “Jump Jet Instructors”:
Here are my favorites:
Oh, and yes, that is a kangaroo in the CPKF Insignia. Nice.
At BrickCon in October, I learned about the Halo-inspired weapons and the M1 Garand rifle that Will Chapman of BrickArms was working on at the time (see First look at new BrickArms weapons).
Last week, I received my shipment of new 2008 BrickArms weapons, and I’ve been eagerly building and waiting for a break in the snow (!) to take pictures.
Aside from much improved polish, the BA-M5 rifles and BA-M6 pistols aren’t substantially different from the prototypes I highlighted in October, as seen here with a trio of UNSC Marines from Halo:
In addition to the BA-M5 and BA-M6, the latest batch of BrickArms weapons includes two more weapons inspired by science fiction. The PKD2019 Replicant Blaster takes its inspiration from Blade Runner, so I whipped up a custom Rick Deckard to “retire” my minifig androids:
The final M1 Garand rifle is slightly larger than the prototype. Regardless, a minifig can hold the rifle at several points, as demonstrated below by a custom WW2 US Army Sergeant minifig you can also buy from BrickArms:
My favorite new BrickArms weapon is the Mk48 Machine Gun. Bundled with a bipod and monopod, the Mk48 resembles the M240 and M249 families of modern machine guns (at least at minifig scale). Other additions to the contemporary arsenal are the MP7 PDW and M84 Stun Grenade (aka “flashbang”):
The Bipod from the Mk48 can attach wherever a minifig hand can attach, including other BrickArms weapons, such as the PSG1 Sniper Rifle (with S.W.A.T. sniper below). A Monopod can convert your M1 Garand into an M14 (with Marine, circa 1965):
The other sci-fi-inspired weapon is the Auto-9, from RoboCop (below):
The priciest thing I picked up this time from BrickArms was the Medkit ($8). The Medkit includes a syringe, scalpel, and bag. Although BrickArms sold a limited run of 30 World War II medic minifigs a while back, I missed them when they were $25, and the final minifig went for $162.50 (!) on eBay.
So I made my own (mostly), using the new Medkit, an Indiana Jones bag, and bits of the Sergeant:
As I said last February in my first BrickArms review, BrickArms weapons compare well to official LEGO elements on both price (on the secondary market) and quality. This certainly holds true for the 2008 weapons, which continue to extend the building possibilities provided by our favorite little plastic bricks.
For more photos of the new weapons and accessories, see my BrickArms photoset on Flickr.
Also check out our previous coverage of BrickArms here on The Brothers Brick:
Brian Kescenovitz (mondayn00dle) is one of the few builders who usually doesn’t put much color into their models, sometimes conveying the iron/steel utility. Unlike his bulkier mechs, Brian’s latest work is a spindly scout walker called the Sandpiper, constructed with focus to fine detailing mechanisms rather than heavy armor.
Magnus Lauglo adds some serious hardware to his semi-futuristic military with a pair of Jaguar A1 main battle tanks (above — love the arctic camo!) and Dragon helicopter gunship (below).
Brickarms, the popular provider of quality custom minifig guns has recently released new designs available for purchase.
In addition:
-New weapons are available in silver.
-The BrickArms Medkit is also available
-Check out new BrickArms t-shirts
Via BrickJournal for more detailed descriptions.
The diversly talented Shannon Young builds whatever he wants, gets whatever he wants, and certainly destroys whatever he wants. This is Shannon’s demonstration of his power, to put a random nameless city to rubbles. He quotes Machiavelli that “whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself.”
Tyler (Legohaulic) constructed an accurate model of the UH-60 Black Hawk. This is the first time Tyler produced a work based on a model in real life in a few years, but the result looks like he’s been rendering models in LEGO for his life.
Jarek‘s Swiss forces now has a powerful ground vehicle in its military dispersal called the Jormangund battle tank. The construction of this model is so articulate, as is Jarek’s style in general. The tank accomodates two minifig operators.
Ralph Savelsberg (Flickr) may live somewhere in southern England, but that doesn’t mean he can’t join us on the highway to a KOA hookup somewhere south of Yosemite — at least in spirit.
Check out his Ford F-150 pickup and Winnebago RV:
Don’t miss the bike rack and lots of other great details in Ralph’s Wheels photoset.
As always, a bonus airplane — a US Navy Lockheed S-3B Viking:
