Dive into the chilly waters of the far north with this adorable LEGO build by seb71. This build features a host of micro-scale fauna for you to enjoy. The whale is made from a pair of balloon panels, and the extremely lost penguin is mostly made of black and orange teeth. The local Inuit is using a wand to fish for supper under the watchful eyes of a walrus and polar bear. I sure hope they have a plan to get back to their igloo; that polar bear looks hungry!
Sometimes a LEGO piece is so iconic that it reminds you of only one specific theme. I am talking about the Roll Cage part from Rock Raiders. As far as I know, it has only been used in the Rock Raiders theme. Seb71 recreated this iconic part on a much bigger scale for their 4980 revival. Because their rendition of the part looks so spot on, you might get confused about the sheer size of this creation. But let me tell you, it is big! All this creation needs is a couple more minifigures and it could hit the shelves. I’d dare to bet that this would sell like hotcakes.
The Black Falcon faction has their hands full trying to combat Yzur, the Fireheart in this scene by seb71. The color scheme on this mythical beastie is en fuego! The blocking of red, dark red, black, yellow, and gold feels organic without being monotonous. And the sculpting on the limbs and tail is downright perfect, making the build feel complete. Even the dragon’s fire breath is a wonderful blocky construction, much to the chagrin of our mounted knight. I particularly like the sculpting of Yzur’s face, with excellent use of the Brickheadz eye piece. Even without the cryptozoological wonder, the background stands up on its own. Check out that delicate wispy pine behind our crimson menace!
Back in “the olden days”, if a town had a brewery or distillery, chances are it also had its own cooperage. The craft of barrel-making is now much less prevalent — even in a place like Scotland, which boasts hundreds of whisky distilleries, there are only a small handful of cooperages left. seb71‘s LEGO version of a medieval cooper’s workshop was always going to capture my attention for its subject matter, but the building techniques and styling mean it’s also a lovely model. The wooden beams are nicely done, and the jagged stonework of the walls and arched doorway create an eye-catching depth of texture. However it’s the smaller touches of additional detail which make all the difference — don’t miss the weathered effect created by the dark tan plates used for the wall under the eaves, and the wonderful shaping of the base.
Even better, this medieval model includes a detailed interior, visible from the open-sided rear. The ground floor is the cooper’s workshop, including the scorching of a barrel, and the family’s accommodation above…
Spaceship! I will always react that way to any swooshable model starcraft. Builders love to show off their knowledge of the LEGO system by the way they mold and craft the shapes of their starships. In addition, the eye-catching detail, or greeble, they add shows off some of their brick collection as well as their ingenuity in representing the elements of a spaceship. In this wonderful model, Starfighter Intrepid, builder seb71 shows off some of their skill.
Having a history of well-crafted spaceships, seb71 has brought us an eye-catching, sand-green design highlighted with white plates and tiles built cleverly into the wings and body. If you look at the structure of the Intrepid closely, you can see the various orientations the builder used to achieve their desired design. The stickers seb71 used add just the right amount of extra detail. I love the large white slopes in the wings, often used in the Imperial Shuttle sets. They work perfectly with the structure as well as the color-blocking.
I think Khan said it best: “Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in space.” Yes, in addition to being the final frontier, space is also pretty darn nippy. Builder Seb71 celebrates that icy perspective with the clean and crisp lines of Siberia. The subtle curves on the edges and wings keep things from feeling boxy, even with decoration that is very angular. And let’s talk about that deco work! The choice to keep things greyscale gives the stripes at the front great contrast to the white of the hull. The technique used to make the stripes is worth a closer look, too. Clever use of multi-directional building is used to align cheese slope tiles to get those sharp angles.
The real treat, though, is the blocky gradient on the rear wings. It’s a tiny mosaic that gives a lovely fade from black to white, blending the colors used elsewhere on the ship into a harmonious whole. And it just looks so swooshable…
I love spaceships. I might not be Benny the 1980-Something Space Guy, but I was born in the 1980s and my name is Benjamin. I used to build spaceships all the time from my modest LEGO collection, mostly small, single-seat fighters. This spaceship, built by seb71, hits all the things I love about spaceships. It has elegant lines, attractive curves, a coherent color scheme, enough greebly texture to be believable, and massive propulsion units; it looks perfect for picking up and swooshing around while making engine vrooms and blaster pew-pews and running around the living room. I mean, everyone does that with a spaceship when they are done building it, right?
In addition, it has great striping, lovely integration of sloped bricks and different angles, and the single-seat cockpit that brings me back. Of course, this is way bigger and way better than anything I built as a kid. While smaller elements give satisfying greebles, like the gear rack and the macaroni tube, the real star of the show is the hot air balloon piece as a reactor cover. It works perfectly. I love that the reactor is still visible underneath the housing, too. The twin-pronged fuselage gives the ship a distinct Vic Viper feel, making me hope that we’ll see more from seb71 around NoVVember.
