Tag Archives: Oshi

A fistful of LEGO bricks

The creak of rusted metal. The faint groan of boardwalk underfoot. The whine of the wind. All these sounds come to mind when I look at this atmospheric LEGO Western scene by Oshi (called “The Frontier”). Violence is about to break out on the streets of this dusty town, with the sheriff and his two deputies keeping their eyes on the outlaw and their guns at the ready.

The Frontier

While the scene is clean and detailed, the build itself is simple enough without many flashy elements, at least until you notice the way the siding on the building is slanted subtly outward to give it a realistic texture. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look. See if you can spot how the builder accomplished the effect:

The Frontier - Behind the scenes

SNOT to the rescue!

I’ve built a lot of LEGO creations over the years, but I rarely build recreations of contemporary, real-world vehicles. However, I have tremendous respect for those who do, because it’s a daunting task, especially if you want to get all the little details right, like this amazing minifigure-scale New York City Fire Department firetruck by Oshi. There are no stickers used to create the stripes and numbers on the truck’s livery, just clever engineering via SNOT. Check out that half-plate white stripe, or the way the number 2 is made with a pair of white brackets!

New York’s Bravest

Storming the gates

So often in LEGO castle creations, the focus is on the large keep in the middle. But in a refreshing change of pace, has–literally, as well as figuratively–shifted the focus away from the big structures and to an often overlooked one by centering their build on the gate, with the rest of the castle in the background. It’s not immediately obvious, but Oshi has also employed forced perspective, as the back buildings are not quite minifigure scale.

War Footing