Tag Archives: SHIPtember

The LEGO Star Wars GR-75 Transport is away

Adding to an impressive line-up of spacecraft for SHIPtember 2018 is Anders Horvath with his LEGO replica of a GR-75 Medium Transport from The Empire Strikes Back. Choosing to build a Star Wars spacecraft so iconic and recognizable is challenging, but Anders nailed it with excellent contrast between the cargo containers, central greebling, and relatively slick hull panels. Best yet, it’s even got an interior.

GR-75 Medium Transport 01

The layered elliptic paneling of the hull is built beautifully. The original seen on screen is segmented unevenly, and this is reflected well in the LEGO rendition. The layering of tiles create the divisions between panels and suggests curvature down the length. Continue reading

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One Stellar LEGO SHIP

As the month of September draws closer to an end, so too, the month-long annual epic that is SHIPtember. The challenge of building a spacecraft that measures at least 100 studs in any direction (AKA a SHIP) in a single month is no easy accomplishment. One of the most critical aspects of a good SHIP is its structural frame, requiring careful crafting to keep the vessel from falling apart under its own weight without looking too bulky or boxy. This ship by Chris Perron is a great example of this balance, combining form with industrial function. Another hallmark of the SHIPtember shipyard comes from making use of parts not typically thought of as spaceship parts, like the trapezoidal orange dump truck ends so expertly used by Chris to form the hexagonal sections along the fuselage. Another great detail are the flat gold flanges in front formed by angled tiles.

Antigona Class Light Frigate

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LEGO Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman prepared for launch

In February 2018, an impressive test launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket was conducted with Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster as the payload. For SHIPtember each year, LEGO builders challenge each other to build a LEGO spaceship (in which “SHIP” means “Significantly Huge Investment in Parts”) at least one hundred studs long. Adrian Drake took up the challenge to construct an impressive LEGO model of Musk’s roadster and its dummy pilot “Starman.” Whether it counts as a spacecraft for SHIPtember is debatable (we believe it does count!), but it hits the 100-stud-long mark (about 31.5 inches) and is shaped and sculpted rather well at this scale.

roadster 03

The fully detailed cabin interior is worth a closer look.

roadster 15

See more photos of Adrian’s Tesla Roadster and Starman on Flickr.

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Wherever you are, no one can hear you scream if you are a giant fish

They say space is full of stuff of all sorts — Death Stars, teapots orbiting the Sun and even a red roadster. Sheo. explores some of the most distant corners of the outer space to find an interstellar… fish. Yes, he calls his latest LEGO creation a giant space fish, and it’s hard to argue since we have no idea what else can be floating up there! The real highlight of the creation is, of course, a gray sphere right in the middle of the body secured with some crazy amount of red tentacles. Does this creature look intimidating? Absolutely. But can a lonely traveller escape its attraction..?

Space Fish

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LEGO Exodus Black from Destiny 2 stands nearly 3 feet tall

It’s that time of year again for SHIPtember — one month to build a spacecraft over one hundred LEGO studs in length (approximately 31.5 inches). I haven’t participated successfully since 2014, when I built UNSC Savannah from Halo: Reach. 2018’s build worked out much better, so I present my LEGO model of Exodus Black, a colony ship from Destiny 2.

Colony Ship "Exodus Black" - Destiny 2

See more photos of Nick’s Exodus Black after the jump

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The Valzaleer spacecraft has a beautiful veneer

This incredible spaceship by AdNorrel features distinctive profile shapes and smartly integrated LEGO pieces. The lovely bits of filled-in details within the crevasses and armored surfaces of the starship are great examples of greebling done well. Not too out of place, not too overshadowed — there’s some real inspirational craftsmanship here.

The Valzaleer

I don’t want all of my articles to become running checklists of parts, but see if you can spot the messenger pouches, croissants, and frying pans. It’s a really fun scavenger hunt kind of model.

Click to see even more of the Valzaleer

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Frigates of mass destruction never looked so good

As September looms nearer by the day, seems like builder noblebun is already flexing his muscles for the upcoming SHIPtember event where fans of LEGO battle to outdo one another creating huge ships. Sounds simple? The challenge rules just say the SHIP needs to be 100 studs or longer (also known as a Seriously Huge Investment in Parts). This digital build is outstanding for the seriously smooth texture that makes it feel like the lines are all actually part of a futuristic design and not the signs of LEGO elements pieced together. I seriously love how the microfigures were used as part of the centerline texture and greebling effects.

Munsin Class Escort Frigate

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The Y axis is an important dimension of space

If you think about it, it is absurd that spaceship designs are very long 99% of the time and in the worst case, not very high or wide. It is logical that people have associations with naval ships and aeroplanes, even contemporary spacecraft – but even the latter are designed as they are because they need to launch into space through atmosphere. It is 2018 and it is about time we start living in the future and open our minds to more ways to think of a spaceship – like this vertical design by Daniel Church.

Roulfe Technologies - Terraforming Cruiser

Besides the obvious main feature of the unique vertical design, I love the translucent sections, from the gently curved lines spanning across the whole spacecraft.  to the three hollow hexagonal constructions. The blue is balanced by larger less detailed sections of gray and black. If you do not look at it closely enough, you just might miss the grilled ends at the top and bottom, which look great and finish off the creation beautifully. The builder also reveals that photography was a great challenge; so great in fact, that even though the spaceship was built and completed for the SHIPtember project four months ago, but the pictures were only done recently. Well worth the wait, if you ask me!

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Move over Saturn V, meet the Jupiter V

We are now fully entrenched in October, but SHIPtember is still with us with this late entry by Tim Schwalfenberg. Living away from his home (and his LEGO collection), but still wanting to participate, Tim was convinced by a friend to construct an alt-build of the LEGO Saturn V and voila we have the Jupiter V. Making good use of printed elements Tim has created a sleek molded body using most of the Apollo launch vehicle, even using the stand as a kind of outrigger for a necessary splash of colour. Combine all this with some fancy editing skills and the Jupiter V looks quite capable of boldly going to a galaxy far, far away.

Jupiter V

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Against all probability, a sperm whale is called into existence above the surface of an alien planet

SHIPtember may be over, but there’s still plenty more spacecraft measuring over 100 studs in length left in the sea. Feast your eyes on Christian Benito‘s fin-tastic, Spelljammer-inspired SHIP. In addition to a snazzy design, this beast has an articulated tail, exposed “rivet-style” studs, crystallization along the head, and a heavy-duty turret gun. What else could a space whale SHIP ask for?

Yris' Vengence

For more photos of Benito’s creation (including several interior and work-in-progress shots) check out his Flickr page.

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SHIPtempber is over and it looks like we may have a winner!

SHIPtemper is by far my favourite month of the LEGO building calendar — we get to see inside the imaginations of the most talented builders and see what they envision for the future of humanity. This year, when friends Sean Mayo and Tyler Clites got together, not only did they create two of the most beautiful SHIPs to enter cyberspace this year, they also filmed a time-lapse of their build so we can see into their process.

Sean’s Kel Corona is a deep space scanning station that’s 110 studs long. Creating curves in LEGO is always a challenge, but the payoff is spectacular — the lines, the colours and the small touches all contribute to make this SHIP spectacular.

Kel Corona

Meanwhile, Tyler’s Bishop is seen here on its voyage to the Yens galaxy. The color choices are brilliant, the dark blue and vibrant LEGO yellow contrasting against the grey. The angled protruding air intakes on the side are sublime and I am loving the use of the new squared macaroni pieces as the company logo.

The Bishop

Click more to see more pictures and the video

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Cruise around the galaxy in sleek style

Spaceships can come in all shapes and sizes, and this build by Inthert manages to capture an unusual form with brilliant brickwork. Its organic shape makes it stand out — a beautifully curved structure, something challenging to achieve in LEGO. The key in making a great spaceship model is making one believe what it can potentially do. What sells this is not only its aerodynamic shape and the depth of functional-looking details, but enough bulk and build around the engines that it genuinely feels like it could have sufficient thrust to make warp speed.

EC21-Cruiser - 'Ellipsis' (2)

The side profile certainly gives you a sense of how curved and elegant the model looks…

EC21-Cruiser - 'Ellipsis' (Poster shot)

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