Tag Archives: Space

From giant space carriers to starfighters, moon bases to moon buggies, whether you love LEGO models inspired by real-world space programs or science-fiction, you’re in the right place.

One of Pluto – An experiment in uncontrolled building.

As LEGO builders we each find our own style in which we create. For myself I have always concentrated on the aspects of playability, so as a result tend to sacrifice aesthetics for function in many cases. LEGO has and always will be a toy for me. I wish I could categorize myself as a LEGO artist like many builders out there, but who am I kidding, I build this stuff to play with. Another side effect of this mindset is the tendency to disregard certain pieces of inspiration if I think the resulting model would be too fragile to play with. I can now use my sons as an excuse to perpetuate this habit, but honestly they do not impact my thought process because I want to swoosh and zoom my models just as much as they do.

Which leads me to One of Pluto, a piece of Maschinen Krieger concept art that I first saw years ago while perusing the internet for all things Ma.K (shortly after first being introduced to the genre by Tim’s early Ma.K stuff). The design completely intrigued me. It was so vastly different than anything else in the universe but somehow still fit in perfectly. Like all cool pieces of concept art I immediately contemplated the possibility of building it with LEGO. However, quickly dismissed the idea due to the clearly un-LEGO friendly shape.

Well that was 6 or 7 years ago, and over that time I got up the nerve to take a crack at it. It was in fact during last Ma.Ktoberfest that I intended on building this, but real life got in the way and I never ended up starting anything. I still had my bag of dark grey boulders, which I ordered specifically for the project, set aside. So about a week ago I start fiddling with the parts. But I soon discovered that I had my mind too set within a controlled and symmetrical style of building. If I was going to be successful I had to completely change the way I normally build. Those that know me, know that my collection is in dire need of sorting, but for this project I think that fact actually helped. Because instead of going through a bin of parts looking for a specific piece, I simply rummaged through the bin and collected an assortment of pieces that I thought could work. So my starting point was a large pile of random dark grey bits and bobs (& my boulders). I knew that if I could get the general configuration of the bulbous abdomen figured out the rest would fall in place relatively easily. I experimented with several internal structures to get the right general shape with boulders, but again found myself concentrating too much on playability…I needed to admit to myself that this was going to be a display model only. Once I decided that, I quickly found a set up for the abdomen that gave me the right shape. But what totally surprised me was that once I used the assorted strings, hoses and rubber bands to add the detailing, they in fact held the boulders in place so well that it became super robust and easily swooshable. The upper ‘torso’ and head took a few tries as well, but were certainly simpler than the abdomen. I am super happy with the end result both in terms of aesthetics and playability. This will definitely be sitting on the ol’ LEGO shelf for quite some time.

In the end this build has made me realize that stepping back and looking at a project from a different perspective can be hugely beneficial. I took a fresh approach and actually ended up with familiar results.

Happy Ma.Ktoberfest everyone.

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Salt on a wound

Those of you lucky enough to be at BrickCon will be seeing a sci-fi collaboration known as HUB 14. I have only seen a few teaser images on flickr but judging by who is involved I know it will be of epic proportions. For those of us unlucky enough to not be at BrickCon, Evan (Lego Junkie) was nice enough to rub it in and show us this brilliant little TurtleDove Spacecraft ahead of time. So thanks Evan for reminding us of all the cool stuff we are missing.

I want two of these on the second day of Christmas…and a partridge in a pear tree.

ULTARAN CUSTOMS OFFICER CORVETTE

As Chris mentioned in the previous post, there have been numerous high quality SHIPs built for the SHIPtember challenge. One such example is this stunning model by TBB regular Pierre E Fieschi. As per Pierre’s usual repertoire, there are plenty of wondrous details to find when you view the creation in full size. My particular favourite is the repetitive use of minifig headgear throughout.

SHIPtember is over; SHIPs abound, get swooshed

As some of you may be aware, a group of fans dubbed the month of September “SHIPtember” and challenged builders around the world to create SHIPs (Seriously Huge Investment in Parts, aka a spaceship over 100 studs in length). We’ve been highlighting a few of the best SHIPs as they’ve come out, and we’ll continue to do so as we see ones that catch our fancy. Some builders, however, decided that mere photographs couldn’t suffice to show the awesomeness of their SHIPs, and just had to swoosh them around. Swooshing is the science of picking up your creation and zooming it around making engine noises. It’s a highly technical and very serious business, and serves the purpose of demonstrating how sturdy your construction is. Laser sound effects are optional. SHIPs, due to their size, require extraordinary engineering to be lifted in such a manner. Check out these great demonstrations by Jacob Unterreiner (4estFeller) and our very own Tromas. You can also browse through the 95 SHIPs built by fans in the last month–a ridiculous number of top-notch models.

(don’t try this at home, kids)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65992320@N05/10022597675/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tromas/9928883514/

Bring out the big guns

This futuristic military gunship by Tyler (Legohaulic) is quite an eye-catcher. It has attention-grabbing details in both the complementary colors and the individualized components that feature some uncommonly used parts like tipper beds and hockey shooters. No matter which part your eyes drift to, there’s always something interesting to see.

S20 Vulture

Let’s get some fresh blood in here, the master demands it. As some of you veterans of the hobby know, Brother Becraft is a nosferatu and he’s grown so old that he’s got to feed twice a week to maintain his youthful glow. He claims that new blood is the best blood. Today’s featured victim is newcomer Taylor Walker MaverickDengo who would like to share his “S20 Vulture Starfighter” with you. The model is presented in both digital and brick-built formats for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks to constant reader Jacob for calling in the tip on the request line, it does indeed deserve a bit more exposure.

Lego Curiosity Rover, in Chalk

Apparently, there are some Lego CUUSOO fans in the chalk art world. Check out this amazing rendition of the Curiosity Rover (recently announced to be an upcoming CUUSOO set) on the sidewalk. Thanks to Stephen Pakbaz for the heads up!

“The albatross begins with its vengeance”

Come fly with me, constant reader, before the weekend draws to a close and the Monday factory whistle blows. Our conveyance is provided by the always impressive David Roberts and his “Albatross“, while the soundtrack is provided by Iron Maiden, who I had the great fortune to see recently on tour here in Vegas. Rock on David, way to bring the clean lines, bold colors and snappy presentation. I’ll see the rest of you next Friday at the fights.

Drifting Shield and friends

Anto-nio returns to the Brothership by appealing to my love of all things VTOL, but this time he doesn’t have to share a roundup style posting. Not only is the “Drifting Shield” VTOL quite pleasing to the eye with its broadly sloping surfaces and groovy textures, but the builder has also included a couple of ground vehicles at no extra charge. The jeep is especially nice but the effect of all three is more than the sum of its parts. It almost looks like an entire toy-line based on a summer blockbuster. I would say it looks like an official Lego theme, but there is no incarceration facility or tiny diorama with some kind of trap-door.

Friday Night Fights (Round 21)

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another heart-stopping edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout features two hungry SHIPwrights caught in the digital nets of Simon Liu’s month long challenge known as SHIPtember. Let’s go to the tale of the tape:

Fighting out of the red corner, from Dutch Moonbase Mission Control…”Psycho” sky4walker and his “Proteus“.

And fighting out of the blue corner, from somewhere between heaven and hell…”Dangerous” Disco86 and his “FB 21 – Freighter Class Botany”

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the battle of minimalism, David Alexander Smith dispatched his opponent with a score of 4-2. Tune in next week for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights!

Orange capital SHIP ahoy

I think Guss De Blöd accidentally spilled a little Novvember in his SHIPtember. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, well, don’t worry about it. For several years, the LEGO flickr community has enjoyed doing themed monthly build challenges, and this year they’ve become particularly pervasive, with Marchikoma, SHIPtember, Maktober, and Novvember just off the top of my head. We’re currently in the middle of SHIPtember, and flickr is awash in SHIPs (that’s Super Huge Investment in Parts, aka capital ships). Even if it does seem to get a little bandwagon-y at times, the themes challenge a lot of people to build outside their normal comfort zones, and get some people to just build at all. And so, back to Guss’s orange machine, which appears to be a mash-up of two themed challenges. Regardless of any of that, though, it’s a lovely spacecraft, and the orange highlights are very striking.

The mech from the deep

Indonesian builder Toto Hermanto‘s latest mech is this super cool blue and grey machine. With those split legs, this mech brings a bit of a different aesthetic from many of the mechs I see, which is refreshing, and Toto’s added some great greebles to it.