As another SHIPtember comes to a close, there’s a ton of massive builds to marvel at. But Pascal reminds us that a spaceship doesn’t have to be massive to be impressive. This Narwhal Scout ship packs a ton of things to admire into a small space. Complex angles, just the right amount of greebling, and a sleek, stud-less hull can do the job when a significantly huge investment in parts isn’t on the table.
Throwing a Classic Space twist onto a concept design from Alien: Covenant sure is one way to do SHIPtember. Flickr Builder Space Kook brought their A-game this September with at least five different ships over 100-studs, either in length, width, or height. Jumping around between scales, Space Kook drew inspiration for their fourth build, the LSS Covenant. Taking design cues from early concept art of the USCSS Covenant Colony ship from the Alien movie, large solar panels flare out at the rear of the ship. Progressing further up the body, past the cargo holds, you’ll see a little fighter or drop ship peaking over the main hull of the colony vessel. Decked out in blue and yellow with white and black accents, the choice to craft this ship in Classic Space regalia allowed Space Kook a plethora of parts and design cues. Between the two references, it’s no wonder this creation has such a satisfying bow. The bumble bee stripes and yellow view screen complete the Classic Space homage while sensor arrays and directional boosters grab the eyes as satisfyingly accurate greebling.
This builder really went the extra mile during SHIPtember to accomplish the Herculean task of building not just one, but five massive 100-stud vessels. The techniques and parts used show off Space Kook’s ingenuity with the process across all five and it’s definitely worth checking out the other four ships that they created this year.
Classic Space and flying grey wedge shapes—name a more iconic duo! This LEGO ship by Sylvain Daunais may be pretty small as far as spaceships going, being just a single-seater, but it’s got all the right stuff for a Neo-Classic Space look, with clean lines, a transparent yellow cockpit, cool engine intakes, and red/green lights on the wingtips.
My favorite bit can only be seen from the back, though, where Sylvain has use the macaroni pieces to make some intertwined piping around the thruster. It’s a super simple bit of detailing that takes this ship up a few notches.
Pascal has created a vision of a truly terrifying dystopia. This may look like some neo-classic space robots helpfully planning the terraforming of a new, distant world, but look closer! This is a world devoid of mere mortals like minifigures. In this darkest of timelines, our new robot overlords spend their days playing God with the very Earth that sustains us. Rivers bend to their will. They literally move mountains. And we must acquiesce, as tiny figurines moved around on a Warhammer board, powerless to stop them. If only someone had a brick separator… Then we may be free of this torment that the machines call a game…
I love spaceships with unusual shapes, and Pascal has come up with a doozy in this regard. He has dubbed it the Sky Crane; presumably to reflect its role as a cargo-carrying craft, but perhaps also because the cockpit shape is reminiscent of a crane bird. The unique cockpit is a wonderful concept neatly executed, using the transparent yellow windshields from 10497 Galaxy Explorer. Speaking of which, this set didn’t include the moonbase that the original in 1979 had. If it had done, it could well have looked like the mobile habitat slung underneath the Sky Crane here!
Imagining what kind of cool new ships can be added to the classic LEGO Space theme is always fun. This spaceship from Shiu makes for an awesome addition to those imaginings! The shaping of the ship has a lot of fun lines and angles to catch the eye. There’s some excellent greebling going on throughout, including the evergreen minifig roller skate. Personally, I appreciate the texture the jet engine insert provides to the laser cannons. Another fine detail is the pilot’s harness. Usually builds don’t have the room for something like that. Now, something you might be wondering is why so much bulk in the wings? There could no doubt be a variety of answers to that question, but for this build the answer is transformational!
The star-fighter converts into a mech-fighter! The wings split into the arms and legs of a stylish, and spacefaring, mech. The nose of the ship swings down to allow for forward clearance, something it can do after the beast of a blaster is in the mech’s grip. Usually a space explorer has to leave their ship to adventure planet-side, but not with this ship! The whole thing can help scout out new locations and set up base camps. Truly an all-in-one spaceship.
Can’t you just hear the engines in action when you look at this build by OA KD? This unconventional quadruped cargo ship is a seriously cool take on the Classic Space theme. The exhaust coming out of the four landing pods definitely elevates this build to a new level, but we also have to give bonus points for the wonderfully integrated Duplo windscreen that looks right at home with the regular system bricks.
I always knew LEGO could be sharp (underfoot), but this ship from Tim Goddard really shows off how sharp! There’s not a curve to be seen, outside of the canopy, on this interceptor, giving it the intended sharp-edged appearance. The ship looks like to could cut through anything as it speeds along on its mission. It possesses the style choices of the classic LEGO Space theme–always a welcome sight! Even the canopy is in the color scheme of the theme, but that’s not where it comes from… The canopy is the only curve in the build, and it comes from that most excellent Lightyear 76832 XL-15 Spaceship set. It’s the perfect canopy for this build, lending itself well to that tapering wedge of the nose. I also really appreciate the sloping where the wings join the body. The use of wedge slopes with hinges isn’t a new technique, but it’s one that works really well for filling and adding definition.
Taking a look beneath the ship reveals the full arrowhead-like shape of the interceptor. It also reveals some cool detailing, like the laser cannons mounted under the wings, done with brackets, round plates, and lightsaber hilts. However, my favorite detail on the underside are those brackets running down the midsection of the nose. They create a neat effect I just can’t get over, especially when paired with the other textures around them. Not to mention, these no doubt add some dynamism and choice when it comes to a display stand. They offer plenty of connection points for an angled display scene.
LEGO’s 90th anniversary sets have pushed the fandom’s collective nostalgia into hyperspace, prompting all kinds of throwback builds. This tiny spacecraft by Pascal is a perfect example of old-school styling and modern construction. The blue and gray color scheme recalls the classic sets of yesteryear, but the studless construction and greebling details put this squarely in the “modern marvel” category.
Everyone builds at their own pace. Some builders crank out builds every day, others will go months or sometimes years between creations – which, to be clear, is completely fine! In the case of Drew Hamilton (Wami Delthorn), it’s been over a year since he last posted one of his spectacular spaceship designs. It’s been worth the wait though, as he has reinvented one of his older Classic Space designs into this LL-528 Rapier MkII. It has all the hallmarks of what is now known as Neo Classic Space: clean lines of blue and light grey, with plenty of texturing and the signature black-and-yellow bumblebee stripes.
The design itself is very cool. With starships, it’s often tempting to make them sleek, speedy-looking machines. And with a name like Rapier, you’d be forgiven for thinking this would look the same. But I love how bulky it is! The rear of the vessel is dominated by that great hulking thruster, which blends nicely into the stubby wings thanks to some neat use of angles. It’s all broken up with subtle asymmetric panel detailing to give it quite a realistic feel.
The only thing I would question is the choice of co-pilot. Surely a control panel full of flashing lights is a poor mix with a space-going cat…
It all comes full circle. Builder Dana Knudson pays homage to the Classic Space theme with this recolored adaptation of the XL-15 Spaceship from Disney-Pixar’s Lightyear. Director Angus MacLane is an ecstatic fan of LEGO and, like many AFOLs, falls into the space-nerd camp. In fact while working on the designs and story of Lightyear he frequently turned to his bricks to sketch out the concepts, even choosing to make the canopies for all the ships yellow just so LEGO would be forced to make a new yellow canopy again. So it was destined that we would eventually see the ships from that film adapted with Classic Space regalia as Dana Knudson has done here. Much of the ship is practically the same as the XL-15 but Dana did have to come up with a SNOT brick and cheese slope solution near the pilot’s seat. Since the roof tiles used in the original design aren’t (yet) available in blue, Dana had to come up with a different way to mimic their structure.
Not a technically new design but a satisfying homage worth celebrating none the less, I know we can expect more space-themed redesigns of this iconic ship.
LEGO’s iconic Classic Space style has been reinterpreted in many forms over the years, typically rounded up in what fans call Neo-Classic Space (NCS) and we’ve seen everything from spaceships to tanks wearing that beloved blue, grey, and transparent-yellow color scheme. But there’s always room for breaking the mold a bit more while still adhering to the basic style. Enter Rubblemaker and the Manta Ray, an NCS vessel that can go places no Classic Spaceship has gone before: underwater! Bearing a strikingly unique shape and just the perfect amount of greebles, this cool design now has me wanting to do a crossover mashup with Aquazone.
Of course, it can’t really be Classic “Space” unless there’s some space involved, and the Manta Ray is only too happy to oblige, as it’s versatile enough to traverse the cold depths of outer space as easily as the ocean.
