Sometimes we get commissioned to do what we love. That is exactly what happened with Jake Sadovich and his amazing LEGO Dauntless 34′ Patrol Boat. Whoever commissioned Jake must be mighty pleased with the level of detail he has achieved here. The complex curve of the bow, the guardrails, the armament, the electronic gear on the mast, even the handsome stand makes this a stunning model to behold.
With many ship festivals and sailing events cancelled this year due to the ongoing pandemic, it is nice to be able to get my ship fix in via LEGO. Builder Lennart Cort certainly materializes the fine craftsmanship of a well-built sea vessel into the LEGO medium for viewers to enjoy in his build of the Dannebrog from 1852.
The Dannebrog is a “ship of the line,” which is a type of naval warship that was produced in the 17th century to the mid 19th century. Cort’s micro-scale Dannebrog certainly exhibits the details necessary for a military ship. One example is his utilization of multiple round 1×1 with bar and pin holder pieces as gun ports. The Dannebrog was specifically an armored frigate of the Royal Danish navy – in fact, the word Dannebrog is the given name of the Danish flag, and through this build we can see this connection via Cort’s use of two red streamer flags modified with what looks like white tape to form the white cross on the Danish flag. My favorite part of this build is actually the brick-built sails that Cort expertly executes using white wedge plates and tiles; he really does an excellent job at making brick-built sails look like the real deal. In my opinion, Cort’s brick-built sails are visually more appealing than the ones featured in the new Creator 3-in-1 pirate ship designed by LEGO. As a whole, Cort’s creation certainly is beauty and must look wonderful on display.
Before the battleship sailed the seven seas, before the dreadnought instilled terror across the globe, there was the ironclad. Creator Sunder_59 is a shipbuilder in his own right, having a history of both starship and naval vessel construction in his roster. His most recent digital build is the ironclad, father of all metal warships.
Every little detail is impressive. From the billowing of the sails to the curvature of the ship’s hull, the wood deck paneling to the various gun mounts, it’s all here. Everything was taken into account, even right down to the bronze propeller.
We hope to see more historical builds from Sunder_59 soon. Share your favorite part of this creation below!
Imagine being a pirate and looking along the horizon to see the flagship of the royal navy barreling your way. Say, Stephen Chao‘s Royal Guardian, for example. With more than enough canons to knock the wind out of anyone’s sails, it’s a sight to behold. To be honest, I like history but I’m not a huge history buff; yet I can’t imagine there was ever a pirate ship as formidable (except in movies). I suppose its only downfall would be the speed it would lose with the weight of those canons.
Logistics aside, this build is well detailed and impressive in more ways than one! It’s very busy but clean at the same time. And not only does it look realistic and have superb shaping, it’s also fully furnished. Because, go big or go home, right? The mammoth ship comes complete with captain’s quarters, a galley, a full arsenal, and more.
Like the kind of ships that sail upon the oceans blue? Check out this unique swashbuckler, or maybe another with a gorgeously sculpted stern.
With its distinctive inverted gullwings and gorgeous dark blue color scheme, the Vought F4U Corsair is easily my all-time favorite fighter plane. Produced throughout both World War II and the Korean War, the warplane also has the distinction of having the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter. While James Cherry may not be the most prolific LEGO builder — he shared his amazing 1/15-scale LEGO F-14A Tomcat jet fighter exactly two years ago — but each of his creations is well worth the wait. Built to the same scale as the Tomcat, James’s Corsair is deceptively huge; for a better sense of the scale, notice that the palm trees are built from stacked washtubs! We’ve estimated that this LEGO Corsair has a wingspan of over one hundred studs (over 32 inches or 82 cm), and it’s over 80 studs long from nose to tail (over 26″ / 67 cm).
In August 1946, the F8F-1 Bearcat led by Bob Clarke introduced the Diamond Formation, a formation of four or more aircraft where the elements of the group adopt the shape of a diamond, which is still considered the Blue Angels’ trademark formation today. Builder Greyson has a special place in his heart for the Angels after seeing them up close and wanted to honour and commemorate their historical significance.
![Blue Angels F8F-1 Bearcat [Main]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/44028078312_a1be27d240_c.jpg)
This wonderfully 1/45 scale aircraft features a spinning propeller, a tailwheel, and folding wingtips. The blue elements used for the build are bright and stunning, and the clean shapes best represent the swift speed of the angles cutting right through the clouds.
![Blue Angels F8F-1 Bearcat [Tail]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/44076537151_e5b233a89f_c.jpg)
In the last year or so, I have been steadily building a collection of classic US Navy aircraft. The latest addition is the A-3B Skywarrior, a twin-engined carrier-based jet bomber.
Back in the late forties nuclear weapons were large and heavy. According to the US Navy, a jet built to deliver one over a meaningful distance would have to weigh about 45 tons and be the size of a small airliner. Given that they wanted to operate their nuclear bombers from aircraft carriers, where space is at a premium, this posed an obvious problem. To add insult to injury, the first of a new generation of super-large aircraft carriers intended to operate these bombers was cancelled within a week after its keel had been laid. So, when the brilliant designer Ed Heinemann, also known for the A-1 Skyraider, proposed that Douglas Aviation build a bomber of about 30 tons that could fly from existing aircraft carriers, he definitely caught the Navy’s interest.
The resulting aircraft entered service in the mid fifties as the A-3 Skywarrior. It was still a big beast. It was the heaviest aircraft to routinely fly from aircraft carriers, which earned it the nickname “Whale”. The LEGO model is a pretty big beast too. At my usual scale of 1/36, it is about 78 studs long.
Read more about Ralph’s latest airplane, including the design process
The destruction of Allied shipping by German U-boats was a spectacular and tragic feature of both World Wars I and II. Luis Peña has recreated the much-dreaded underwater menace and scourge of Allied sailors at 1:50 scale with U-Boat VIIc, the most common class of German submarine.
What happens when an English frigate faces a French 64-gun battle ship? Well much as we all love to support the underdog, it seems that the English captain may be regretting his bold move against the larger vessel. Sebeus and Rick Bewier have built a LEGO scene full of action as the French guns fire upon the English frigate as it broadsides causing fire, destruction and death. The ships have been really well crafted with lots of attention to detail, but I love the atmospheric smoke, giving a sense of action to the whole scene.
A close up look at the damage to the frigate shows some deck hands frantically fighting fires while one sailor appears to be jumping ship into the blue water far below.
Looks like the English are going for an early bath.
This mini fleet has sailed under orders from Thomas of Tortuga. I love how such a small number of parts evokes the mass and bulk of fleet. Plus the nearly chibi aspect makes them simply adorable.
We have featured a fair few trains built by Carl Greatrix (bricktrix) in the past. More recently he turned his attention to cars. Apparently there isn’t much that he cannot do, as he has now built an F-4B Phantom II jet fighter and it is gorgeous. I have been following his work-in-progress pictures for weeks, eagerly looking forward to the finished model.
In the sixties and early seventies, the Phantom was the premier fighter aircraft in the US armed forces, serving with the Navy, Marine Corps and the Air Force. Carl’s model wears flamboyant markings typical for US Navy Phantoms. The markings of VF-161 Chargers, which was home-based in Japan as part of the Air wing assigned to USS Midway, were some of the most attractive ever to grace a Phantom and I applaud Carl for choosing this squadron. The model isn’t just good-looking, but has a lot of functionality too. It has opening cockpits, for instance, as well as a retractable undercarriage and moveable control surfaces. Although I actually like studs on a model and prefer my own aircraft models to be somewhat less reliant on stickers, it’s interesting to see Carl apply his typical style to this subject. The result is phabulous.
During WW2, the Grumman Corporation was the main builder of fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. At the start of the war, they built the classic F4F Wildcat. This was only the second US Navy fighter with then novel features such as a fully enclosed cockpit and a retractable undercarriage, but it was outperformed by the Japanese Navy’s A6M Zero. To counter this threat, the Wildcat was followed by the larger and more powerful F6F Hellcat.
Sydag has now built the ultimate Grumman prop fighter: the F8F Bearcat. For this Grumman fitted the Hellcat’s R2800 Double Wasp engine to a much lighter and smaller airframe. The result was a bit of a hot rod, with far superior performance. The aircraft also incorporated a bubble canopy, greatly improving the pilot’s view to the rear. Bearcats entered service too late to see combat in WW2 and, with the advent of jet aircraft, they were transferred to the US Navy Reserve, where they received the orange fuselage stripe visible on Sydag’s model. The aircraft were retired from US service in the fifties, but their performance made them an attractive choice for air racing and Rare Bear, a much-modified Bearcat, still holds several world records for propeller-powered aircraft. I obviously like the aircraft, but I like how it is presented even more, with part of a hangar as the backdrop and surrounded by maintenance equipment and aircraft parts, including a spare engine. The classic hot rod (the kind with wheels) is the proverbial cherry on top.
