Tag Archives: Sandro Damiano

A hidden outpost with hidden treasure

In the forest, beside the waterfall, the forest folk maintain an outpost to keep an eye out for the local villages – as depicted in this LEGO model by Sandro Damiano. There’s plenty to love in this model: the birds are out in force, along with a squirrel, a bunny, and even a hidden spider! There’s a huge variety of parts that went into making the characteristic black trees of the local forest, while the waterfall mostly consist of windscreens in two sizes.

Outpost in the forest

From the back of the model, you can see the details of the hidden outpost. Beyond the bunk beds, dining hall, and armory, there’s a hidden path behind a moveable dresser that leads to a tunnel below the waterfall to where the secret treasure is hidden! Are these forest folk friend or foe to the local villagers? Do they even realize they are there?

Outpost in the forest

A portion of medieval village that has us eager for more

We see a lot of enormous collaborative LEGO dioramas here on TBB, albeit often through the individual modules that make them up. At first glance, this serene windmill scene by Sandro Damiano might seem like one such module. There are some conspicuous holes to connect to other parts of the diorama, and after all, it is referred to as “Module #2”. But the only person Sandro is collaborating with on this particular project is… Himself! He has taken on the construction of an entire medieval village. This section is already pretty big, so this could end up being very impressive once finished!

Medieval bridge and water mill

Not only that – if the other modules are as well-built as this one (and with Sandro’s skill, there’s no reason to doubt they will be), it could be pretty stunning too. Take a look at the river flowing over the weir here, for instance. Using trans-light-blue cockpit is the perfect way to capture the movement of the water! We can’t wait to see more, Sandro…

Medieval bridge and water mill

Feast your eyes upon this castle from a classic Studio Ghibli film

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a Studio Ghibli film which is often overlooked, so it’s great to see this fantastic build of the main structure in the film by Sandro Damiano. Created in microscale, the castle rests upon a beautifully formed lake with different shades of colour placed underneath transparent blue tiles, representing the variety of depths in the water. A long walkway links the castle to a clock tower which is placed upon a crumbling wall. The castle has been lovingly built with accurate tall blue spires and roofing details. Headlight pieces are heavily featured across the castle, portraying large windows.

Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro

Round the back you can really get a sense of how the castle is built upon a rocky surface with the use of dark grey bricks. There are also some clever uses of parts, such as the ends of grille pieces as tiny windows, and some of the arches are represented by rounded plates with bar handles. It’s a fantastic build that really captures the sense of awe and mystery surrounding the castle.

Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro

Classic Castle or Modern Town?

In the last few decades, two of the most popular themes for LEGO creations are Castle and Town. Sandro Damiano has built a scene that could fall into either. Usually, it’s pretty easy to categorize a creation as one or the other, but at what point does a castle creation become a town creation? Is it a town creation simply because it is clearly in the modern day? Couldn’t we have a medieval village and still call categorize it as Town? Is an abundance of grey, brown, or tan required to be called a castle? Or maybe a protective perimeter wall?

Bavarian Town

The name of this beautiful creation does call it a Bavarian Town, but I’d argue it could fit into either theme. Replace the town minifigures and details with castle characters and details and – ta da – you’d get an amazing medieval Bavarian Town.