Simon Liu has been having some fun with blacklights and transparent LEGO pieces, and to great effect. This space portal glows ominously as it prepares to engulf a ship. This is different sort of example of what Andrew was talking about the other day with adding more variety and interest to models via means other than simply the construction itself. Here, for instance, the blacklight (and good photography to capture its effect) makes all the difference, taking this model up a huge notch.
I’ve seen some wonderful collaborations between talented LEGO builders and photo editors over the years, and though I certainly can’t claim to be either, I included a note in my description of the Aldrin Mars Cycler I posted yesterday saying that I wouldn’t mind if somebody felt like Photoshopping it onto a cool space photo. halfbeak left me a comment offering to help, and we were soon exchanging ideas in email.
I wouldn’t normally post one of my own LEGO models twice, but I’ve learned a few things along the way that I thought I’d share.
After nearly 10 years of posting my LEGO models online, I find myself pretty locked in to the “Dorling-Kindersley aesthetic” of LEGO photography and presentation — a three-quarters view of the LEGO model on a neutral (usually white) background. (I know Chris has strong opinions about this, too.) Even as I was envisioning something flashier than my unedited photo in my head, it was still basically the same thing, except with Mars in the background. Halfbeak combined views of Earth and Mars with the NASA logo and some text to create something that looks a lot like the publicity photos NASA releases for its missions. Way cool.
I also have a tendency to let the LEGO model take over the whole photo, but halfbeak scaled it down in several of his edits to really emphasize how tiny a human creation is on the cosmic stage.
In many of his edits, he changed the orientation of the spacecraft from my original photo, turning it on its side and even upside down — after all, there is no “up” or “down” in space.
One of my favorite edits is this vertically oriented photo, with Mars hanging above the minuscule ship. This one is now the wallpaper on my phone.
Ultimately, my Aldrin Mars Cycler isn’t necessarily the favorite among the things I’ve built, but these photos demonstrate how stellar presentation can take a fun but fairly middle-of-the-road model to a whole new level. These are now easily my favorite photos of something I’ve built. I’ve also learned to look beyond how I’ve photographed the model in thinking about how best to present it.
Huge thanks to halfbeak for truly awesome work! It’s amazing what variety he’s created from just one original photo.
See all twelve photos on Flickr.
The MDI.12 “Huski” by m_o_n_k_e_y has forced me to take a brief break from my current obsession with historical and near-future spacecraft rendered in LEGO. The Huski appears to have independent suspension on its balloon tires, an airlock/hatch, and some sort of cannon (which I’ll assume tracks and shoots errant meteors and not aliens, since this is an exploration vehicle).
I’m also currently obsessed with excellent presentation, and something as simple as combining multiple pictures from multiple angles can make a LEGO model pop.
Dave & John Xandegar continue their space-themed LEGO models with this Gemini capsule, with astronaut Ed White performing the first American spacewalk. I love how Dave & John built the underside of the capsule. Ed White is suspended above the capsule not by zero gravity but by a wire inside the yellow LEGO tether.
More photos on Flickr. (Via The Living Brick.)
I watched a show on the Science Channel called “Tank on the Moon” last night, about the USSR’s Lunokhod robotic rover program, and learned just how much today’s rovers on Mars owe a debt to these Soviet lunar rovers. Built during the 1960s in secret, Lunokhod 1 landed on the moon in 1970 and operated for four months. The feat of launching, landing, and successfully operating a remotely operated rover on another celestial body wouldn’t be repeated again for nearly 30 years, with the Sojourner rover on Mars.
After watching the show, I felt like my own collection of LEGO rovers was incomplete, and felt inspired to build one. However, I soon remembered a wonderful LEGO version of Lunokhod 1 by Japanese builder Kei-Kei over on CUUSOO.
(Kei-Kei’s presentation is even what I would’ve done myself, with the Classic Space baseplate and Star Wars planet standing in for Earth in the background. I may still build one of my own, but this one’s too good to not highlight here on TBB.)
Head on over to CUUSOO to support this excellent project.
Halfbeak has offered to ‘shop my Aldrin Mars Cycler onto a lovely spacey background, so it only seems fair that I highlight some of his great presentation work while I wait. He uses both a schematic and an edited background to showcase his latest LEGO model.
The model itself is a fun little build with lots of cool details (like the cockpit that splits open), but what really sets it apart is these two complementary presentations of the model.
Having immersed myself quite deeply in both the recent news from Mars and as a judge of the Real World Starfighter Contest, I felt compelled to do a bit of building to scratch that space itch. I’d already built Stephen Pakbaz’s Curiosity, so just had to build Sojourner (landed 1997) and Opportunity (landed 2004 and still operational) in approximately the same scale.
There’s nothing functional about my LEGO Sojourner, but Opportunity has working rocker-bogie suspension (which I struggled mightily to build, since the design is different from Curiosity’s, and I couldn’t simply scale down Stephen’s LEGO version). I plan to build the lander at some point, too.
After he landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong, astronaut Buzz Aldrin came up with an idea for a craft that would cycle back and forth between the Earth and Mars, providing significantly greater comfort for astronauts during the five-month journey. With the cancellation of the Constellation program, the dream of regular travel to and from the Moon and Mars seems even farther away. Nevertheless, I still find the idea inspiring, and built my own rendition of an “Aldrin Mars Cycler”.
Those of you that have been around the community long enough, may remember a contest that ran many moons ago… :P
Well after some very lengthy deliberation, we have finally narrowed down the entries to declare the 3 winners!
1st Place
Shannon Ocean’s Boeing C-15 "Strike Eagle" with a score of 175/200
2nd Place
Mainman’s Project HAVE SHIVER with a score of 169/200
3rd Place
Pierre E Fieschi’s 1973 ‘HERCULES’ Nuke Platform with a score of 168/200
We scored a total of 11 entries in our semi-finalist round. These were the other 8 semi-finalists:
4th- Halfbeak’s Moonrock 1 with 157/200
5th- Ted Andes’ Gladius with 156/200
6th- Fernald’s Solid Fuel Starfighter with 155/200
7th- xiei22’s Pilum with 153/200
8th Brainbikerider’s Chernobog with 152/200
9th Lego Junkie’s Soyuz 7-K12 with 150/200
10th madLEGOman’s Spaceghost with 149/200
11th bloei’s ISF Zodiac with 143/200
To say that the judges were impressed with both the quantity, but more importantly the QUALITY of the entries is an understatement. You didn’t make it easy on any of us to judge, but you also all made it extremely fun to watch!
So a huge CONGRATS to the winners, and also to all that participated! Also a giant thank you to all the judges, and especially Stijn and More Bricks for the prize sponsorship!
Peter and I have already talked about this becoming a recurring contest…it was just an absolute hoot to be a part of!
Three days ago, astronaut Neil Armstrong died of complications after heart surgery. For a blog full of space-themed LEGO models (and recently obsessed with NASA’s latest adventures on Mars), it would be wrong to ignore this major news story. Neil Armstrong’s achievements, alongside all the other astronauts and cosmonauts of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and today, have inspired many of our contributors and the builders we highlight here every day.
McWii of customBRICKS posted this a couple weeks ago to honor the anniversary of the moon landing in July. It’s only fitting that we highlight it here to honor the man who left so many footprints like this one on the moon (though the famous photograph is actually one of Buzz Aldrin’s footprints).
Oh wait that was the Mongols wasn’t it??
Regardless, if a group of these Mongrels came stomping into town I would surely be headed for the hills!
Once again, m_o_n_k_e_y proves that he is a master at building large scale mecha with an absurd amount of detail. This thing looks like the mechanics are fully functional. And that colouring is just so fantastic!
UPDATE (June 14, 2013): LEGO MSL Curiosity Rover is go for launch!
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Back on August 5th when I first highlighted the excellent Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover project by Stephen Pakbaz (Perijove) on LEGO CUUSOO, the project had been online for about eight months and had accumulated about 1,300 votes.
In a sign that timing is everything (with a little help from a few friends on the web), Stephen’s Curiosity project hit 10,000 supporters this weekend. In fact, the project gained its final 5,000 supporters in less than 24 hours.
(I wanted to use a picture of the model we haven’t already used several times here on the blog. Stephen’s proposed model for the project doesn’t include the skycrane, but how awesome would that be?!)
I used Stephen’s instructions to build the rover myself yesterday, and it’s a really excellent model. The build itself was very enjoyable, and I even learned a few SNOT techniques I hadn’t seen before. The final model includes so much detail and functionality it’s really fun to play with, in addition to being just shy of fully functional (with working “rocker bogie” suspension, stowable mast & arm, and little details like forward and rear haz-cams).
However, Stephen’s rover does include a handful of unusual parts, and parts in quantities or colors that I don’t have (especially the Technic parts for a mainly SYSTEM builder like me). Even with my substantial, relatively well-sorted collection, it took me the better part of an afternoon to dig around and gather all the parts, and I still had to place a couple small Bricklink orders to replace parts I don’t have at all in the right colors.
All of this is to say that an official set will be a great way to easily get all of the necessary building materials for a reasonable price — as I’m sure LEGO won’t be charging $2 for the white bracket (of which the model requires two), for example.
Congratulations to Stephen, and I can’t wait to see how LEGO handles this particular project. Specifically, I’d love to see LEGO accelerate the approval of this project, given LEGO’s existing partnership with NASA, the clear educational value of the model, and the current “space fever” gripping the world.
Finally, in case you missed it last week, be sure to check out our interview with Stephen Pakbaz (who worked at JPL as an engineer on the Curiosity project) right here on TBB.
The Death Glider from Stargate is a challenging ship to build due to its curved shape, but Kevin Walter convincingly replicated it in Lego. The brick-built canopy looks very good.
