SHIPtember is in the air, which means you get the best of the best (space)ships from the LEGO fan community being churned out all month long. You could almost smell the fumes from the fuel of competition out there. This elegantly elongated wingspan of a build by lokiloki29 is aesthetically pleasing in shape, and almost looks like an orbital satellite of sorts. Thinking of ships, I’m starting to wonder why I see more space(ships) instead of actual floating ships of the sea.
Intergalactic space is getting busy with SHIPtember traffic as the number of large LEGO spaceships begins to rocket. Here’s another fine looking vessel called the ZC Lapsadle. Built by TBB alumnus Simon Liu, it definitely meets the longer-than-100-studs criteria to be a SHIP. The flashes of Bright Light Orange are a standout feature along with the interesting two-prong shape of the bow. I love the central launch bays on either side — dark and deep enough to generate some intriguing shadows.
Do you think Simon actually built two of these ships or are we seeing some artistic jiggery-pokery at work?
What does September mean to you? Perhaps it signals the end of summer, when the days are noticeable shorter and leaves start to change colour. For a significant number of LEGO builders, September is SHIPtember when the aim is to build a large spaceship of at least 100 studs in length. Marcin Grabowski completed this huge dropship on 10 Sept after 29 days of building. His DragonFLY class dropship is certainly eye-catching with its lime and yellow hull. I love those central wings with the ball of complex machinery, wiring and ducts at the connection point.
Sometimes is is hard to get a sense of scale with this type of large model. I am happy to report that Marcin did exactly what any self-respecting LEGO SHIP builder should do…he swooshed it!
Fans of the TV show The Expanse will recognize this sleek vessel. Named by James Holden after Don Quixote’s horse, described in the book as a “stubby black wedge of metal” and visualized in the show as a lean, mean fighting machine, the Rocinante is a former MCRN Corvette Class ship previously known as the Tachi. Julie vanderMeulen had been mulling over building a LEGO version since seeing the show earlier this year. She decided to go with 2/3 minifig-scale to make it a nice, even 100 studs long.
As a proof of concept, she built the drive cone and then shelved it for a while. When she finally decided to give it a go, it just so happened to be the same day SHIPtember 2017 was announced, so she ended up speed building the whole model — and it is gorgeous! Julie has captured the Roci in all her glory, heavily armored and heavily armed — every detail has been stunningly sculpted in LEGO.
In the words of James Holden, “As long as we’re living and breathing, there’s more we can do. We just have to be strong enough.”
Deep into Ma.Ktober and with Novvember almost upon us, we’re still not quite done with SHIPtember yet! Most of the giant LEGO spaceships we’ve featured over the last few weeks have been lengthy, horizontal ships. LEGOLIZE IT MAN goes in a completely different direction with this huge vertically oriented spaceship mounted on docking clamps. I love the repeated circular motifs in white, along with the angled black section at the rear.
Note the minifigs for scale. This is actually a vertically oriented, minifig-scale starfighter rather than the typical microscale battlecruiser. Very cool indeed.
We get so used to bulky LEGO spaceships, often with realistically muted color palettes, that it can be hard to know what to make of something wholly and totally different. A Plastic Infinity has posted a bright green alien spaceship, with “propulsive flagellum” and claws for weapons. The repeated circular shapes and black spikes give the craft an insectoid feeling, tapping into our darkest fears.
The builder has also created a small group of escort ships that match the design of the mothership. I really don’t want to know what that forward probe does…
When preparing for a long-range mission in deep space, it is essential to have the best ship for the journey. That includes space for crew, supplies, and a lovely color scheme. This eye-catching ship by scottadges has all the right greebles. The color scheme works very well, and really helps all the detail work pop. It manages to be detailed, yet not busy, which is a delicate balance.
I’m not sure whether or not this ship by Gilcelio Chagas fits in the Halo universe, but what I do know is that it’s awesome. The blue and yellow stripes are lovely, evoking Neo-Classic Space more than Halo. And the adorable little microships look like they’d fit perfectly in the hangar.
Many large-scale LEGO spaceships use a complex Technic framework on the inside, so it’s noteworthy that Gilcelio has built his ship around a fairly straightforward core of plates and bricks, proving that you don’t always need the most complex techniques to achieve an outstanding result.
One of the stranger vessels to emerge from this year’s SHIPtember build challenge is this bulbous oddity by F@bz. At 112 studs long, this is a proper SHIP. The builder says he built the underlying frame early in the month, and then it sat there for two weeks before he started adding the structure around it, with nothing more in mind about the end result than that he wanted to use stripes. What’s particularly striking about this spaceship is the contrast in textures along the interior sandwiched between the upper and lower hulls — from a mass of greebles to two large domes and then a smooth section. Reminiscent of the rebel transports that escaped Hoth, the stripes evoke sci-fi artist Chris Foss.
We’ve grown used to seeing precarious cottages and luxurious modern architecture from talented Portuguese builder César Soares, but a large-scale spaceship was not something I expected to see in his photostream — even during SHIPtember. César has built a near-future interstellar colonization ship full of believable details — all pulled together with a great schematic that points them out.
See more photos of this great LEGO spaceship
This SHIPtember Avari-class carrier by Pierre E Fieschi is incredible. Without resorting to a wacky shape or an extreme color palette, Pierre has managed to create a stunningly detailed and realistic-looking sci-fi vessel. It’s got an awesome military green paint job, an open hangar bay, and a cargo bay filled with futuristic semi-truck containers. However, some of our readers may be horrified to learn that this build features a large amount of Mega Bloks and 3D printed parts.
Now before you start flipping tables, just hear me out. Some of these Mega Blok pieces are downright snazzy! The wedge tiles, in particular, contribute to this ship’s clean lines and dynamic design. While I’m not suggesting everyone run out and buy Mega Blok, I do think some healthy competition between name brands can’t hurt.
Over the past week we have focused on the amazing builders who decided to build a SHIP within a month. We’ve looked at pop culture SHIPs, original and very unconventional SHIPs, realistic and near future SHIPs, the super fun minifigure scaled SHIPs, and finally SHIPs based off of one of the most influential games for SHIP buliders: Homeworld.
But before we dive in, I want to congratulate every single builder that participated in this year’s SHIPtember (even those who were too ambitious to complete their SHIPs). It’s an incredibly fun month of building and sharing your work in progress with everyone. You make SHIPtember special.
Today we wrap up our Week of Wonders: SHIPtember edition by revealing the overall best SHIPs, as chosen by the judges, and also the people’s choice.
Again, we have a great prize, thanks to several of members the development team from Homeworld Remastered who have generously signed and donated a copy of the Homeworld Remastered game to the builder of SHIPtember 2015’s Best SHIP – which tradition also dictates will be immortalized as SHIPtember’s 2016 poster boy (much like the 2014 and 2013 winners) and also be featured on next year’s event brick.
SHIPtember 2015 Best SHIP
This year’s Best SHIP goes to the infinitely talented Jonas (LEGOLIZE IT MAN) for his M.U.LLA Battle cruiser:
This SHIP is just a perfect combination of elegant piece usage. Jonas manages to add just the right amount of detail, while keeping it clean and stylized. Or as one judge put it: “This thing has the perfect balance of texture, clean lines, and just perfect color blocking”. And Jonas is not only gifted in the art of LEGO building, but is also quite the doodler and even pre-sketeched his award-winning SHIP.
Our runner-up for Best SHIP this year is Josh Derksen (armoredgear7) with his mammoth Demon’s Maw. It not only looks like some kind of demonic claw, but also has lights and motorized features!
