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.

Remember to stay hydrated, even when exploring Mars

How many glasses of water have you had today? I bet, fewer than you you should! Instead of yet another boring reminder, I’d rather share with you this fantastic water extractor built by BobDeQuatre. Named Poseidon, this machine is much more advanced than your ordinary LEGO rover. According to the description, this thing can melt extraterrestrial ice and lift water up to the surface. I cannot confirm if this is true, but I can totally confirm some great part usage in the rover’s design. The cockpit reminds me about the 31107 Space Rover Explorer set which uses the same combination of pieces; although, the Poseidon is much more massive and impressive. Now, go and get yourself another glass of water..!

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Super fast speeder zips on by

Do you feel a need for speed? Are your competitors feeling hungry? Fix that speed craving and make your rivals eat your dust as you speed along in Oscar Cederwall‘s LEGO skitter vig.

Look at this speeder zip through the desert! It’s always great to see what sort of science fiction vehicles can be created, and this is no different. Using large blue pieces from buildable action figures was a clever idea, as was the decision to do an open cockpit. We’re able to see the figure, giving us a sense of scale with the dust clouds. Which, by the way, is probably my favorite part of this whole creation. I’m seeing how fast the driver is going and what kind of environment he’s in. This definitely shows Oscar’s talent!

Round and round she goes

TBB alumn Nannan Zhang has always had a penchant for fishing out the oddball pieces that clutter the bottom of most of our parts bins, and making something clean and elegant with them. This time he’s really found a true oddball, though, because the centerpieces of this spaceship are giant teal Duplo balls, sitting as what I presume are reactor spheres. The third sphere on the triangular ship is one of the clear tourist spheres from the Jurassic World sets. It all comes together neatly to make a delightfully alien ship design.

A round of remarkable rovers

February is behind us, and so another Febrovery also comes to an end. The month-long tribute to the classic space rover brought us many charming and clever space rovers, but there are still rovers trickling in and I couldn’t let these gems by Andreas Lenander go unsung.

A good rover is not just about the vehicle, but the terrain it is built to traverse, and this one features a fractured surface filled with glittering jewels. But as Andreas says in the title of this model, it is all about the wheels, and these built wheels have bite. I’m talking about the tooth element used along the inner edge of the rims.

And speaking of wheels, this rover comes with double wheels in front and enough ground clearance to deal with the most rugged ground the universe can dish out. The stark black and white colors and the lights make me think Interstellar.

Dropship to the rescue!

Reinforcements have arrived! Whether you are deploying soldiers to the battlefront or supplies in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, Anders Sinding’s dropship is the LEGO vehicle needed to get the job done.

This build looks like it arrives screaming down from the skies. It’s clear this dropship is capable of anything. I’m way impressed with the decision to not use transparent pieces for the cockpit, going instead with sloped bricks angled in a way to have the same jutting windscreen vibe. The engines are just as incredible, using not one, not two, but three fan intakes.

I like the clear blue piece on the nose. I’m sure it’s part of the dropship’s sensor equipment, helping sweep the landing area for obstacles or threats before deploying. As far as color goes, I really admire the choice to stick with red with white and blue accents.

Overall, I would be more than happy to see this ship coming to the rescue if I was in a tough spot.

Working telescope built from LEGO

LEGO is truly beautiful in the way that it allows people to recreate real-world objects with both form and function. LEGO themselves have made working models of a grand piano and a Nintendo Entertainment System. Builder Victor continues the trend by creating a working telescope in the same style, though slightly smaller than life-size. Needless to say, it is welcome to see such objects completely remade from LEGO bricks, especially ones that function.

This model telescope works the same way as a real life one – peeking through the eyepiece lets one see the stars and planets, though not the real ones. Victor solves this problem with pictures printed on small window pieces backlit by a light brick. This imitates LEGO’s light projection techniques in their official sets like the Stranger Things: Upside Down and the Haunted House. Victor also provides four separate interchangeable prints, one of them being an easter egg reference to LEGO’s own Bionicle theme.

Functional Febrovery

Febrovery – the annual event where people build space rovers from LEGO. I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) couldn’t say no to building a wheeled space vehicle this month. However, I decided to take a different approach: make it move, make it work, and make it Technical. The result is the Horizon Chariot – a massive, greebly shuttle transporter in a LEGO Classic Space livery. On the outside, it looks like a jumble of layers and pipes, but it’s merely a shell for a complex Technic frame with a working four-wheel drive with a double V8 piston engine, working steering, and soft pendular suspension. My favourite feature turned out to be a working tipping flatbed which launches the small LL-64 Arcade Hopper.

The spaceship belonging to the Horizon Chariot was more of a distraction than an afterthought. I wanted to incorporate a NinjaGo arcade pod into the build as the blue airtight section of Classic Space vehicles. I found it was too small for a big vehicle so why not make a smaller vehicle as part of it? That’s how the aptly named LL-64 Arcade Hopper was born. I just couldn’t stop myself from building a spaceship! With swing-down wings and a smooth underside, it’s really a step away from my usually greebly builds, but it turned out to be a beautiful two-seater shuttle.

Check out the Flickr album to see more photos of the rover and the spaceship!

A plucky little space patrol craft

Flying through space is not at all like dusting crops, junior. While any self-respecting spaceship tasked with defending a planet wouldn’t be seen without a decent cannon, there are other dangers outside the safety of the atmosphere. Alvaro Gunawan knows about some of these dangers, like solar radiation, and maintaining full power at all times, so they equipped their patrol ship with shields, solar fins, and a couple of big engines. This craft even looks like something NASA or SpaceX might come up with… maybe we’ll live to see something like this sweeping the space around our little rock someday.

An intimidating armada responds to an alien invasion

If you are planning to respond to a garbled distress call involving aliens of unknown intent, it is wise to bring as much firepower as possible, as spaceship builder Ryan Olsen knows full well. Building a fleet that is recognizable as being part of a larger faction comes down to using certain design elements that can be repeated at different sizes to fit the design of ships with unique purposes, and Ryan pulls this off beautifully. Take the very back of each ship, which includes a blue stripe in the middle of a larger white stripe.

Repetition is another key building technique, and you can see several examples of a simple curved shape, or part, like the ski part used in several ships, and even re-created in brick form for the larger ship. In this close-up of one of the ships, you can also see how a simple part like the dark gray storage container (used as a thruster cowl), can add just the right amount of texture and visual interest.

A black and white ride for the Red Planet

Here’s a fun fact: while here, on Earth, we often design our vehicles to merge with the environment, on Mars, the more attention your rover gets, the better. And since the planet is red, even black and white will do. Cole Blaq knows how to make a rover remarkable with an unusual cockpit structure while keeping the rest basic. It has just the right amount of detailing, with neat headlights in the front and very suitable stickers in the back. And why would you need more when your rover has rims like these?

Load up and roll out

There’s always a ton of cool builds that show up in February thanks to various “Febrover” contests. This year was no different with Isaac Snyder’s (on Flickr as -soccerkid6) M-Tron rover and loading station.

First off, so many shields! It’s incredible to see so many of one piece used so well. The shield shape gives the base of this build a concrete look, very fitting for space-corporation LEGO design. I’m also a huge fan of the use of ladders as the frame. It feels like this whole build was taken right out of an industrial outpost controlled by M-Tron.

But the rover is the real star of the show. The wheels were installed backward so Isaac could use the grey disk as a detail effect, which is very clever. I totally dig the mini-crane on the back as well, with again a ladder being used, this time as the crane arm.

M-Tron should really make a comeback. If it does, I hope it looks like Isaac’s stuff!

Daaamn bro, check out this rover’s rims

With the Perseverance recently landing on Mars, rovers are all the rage again. And when you’re building a cool LEGO model like a rover, what better way to make it ice cold than to give it some giant rims, just like Andreas Lenander has.

While I’ve seen the 1×2 plate with rounded corners used as tiny rover tracks before, simply by flipping it up on its side, this rover puts them to work in an all new, spectacular way. By only pressing one side of the pieces together – leaving a gap on the opposite side – it’s quite possible to bend flat or square bricks to make curves and circles. This technique might not fly in an official set, but who says LEGO fans have to listen to any rules when they’re making their own creations. It may just be a simple looking little 1×2 plate with rounded corners, but I know tons of LEGO builders were excited when they first saw it. This is just another innovative use for it.