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.

I thought it was just a teal spaceship, but it’s actually better

When I saw this spaceship build by Elven Ranger, a certain colour caught my eye. Everyone knows I am a lover of teal, and any LEGO creation with that colour wins my heart. But upon a second glance, I realised that it is a different shade of green, just the lighting is different. “My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.”

Nevertheless, this grey-and-green spaceship features enough details for its small size to feast my eyes. The angular wings contain layers of plates resembling hull panels, enhanced by a few masonry bricks and minifigure ingots. This adds to a great balance of smooth surfaces and more textured elements. Similarly, the two colours balance each other, making sure that the dark green does not overshadow the light green. Stickers provide extra decorative piping and paneling to give this ship a subtle, yet rugged look. And if anything other than teal that wins my heart, it’s greebles.

If you want more, take a look at our spaceship archives. There is plenty of greebling, and even some teal!

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Containment breach

There’s been a slew of stunning LEGO builds recently that is based on the work of conceptual artists and I, for one, am thrilled. My case in point; this neat creation by Bart De Dobbelaer is called Containment Breach and is inspired by the work of Francesco Lorenzetti. Here is the specific reference material. Bart makes great use of color and composition to replicate the unsettling feel of Francesco’s piece. The fearsome red creature is nestled in the shadows and stands out in stark contrast against gray, white, and black. As one commenter on his Flickr stream puts it, “This is classic Bart” and well…I have to agree. Here’s another recent creation by Bart to show you what they mean.

Who says science fiction has to be futuristic?

According to legend, Wan Hu was the first man in space. How? By strapping dozens of rockets to his chair and then going for the ride of a lifetime. Well, he made it to space in some versions of the legend, anyway. In a lot of them, the chair (and presumably Wan Hu) just explode on the ground. But no matter which retelling sounds the most likely to you, you have to admire this brilliant LEGO recreation by Bert Van Raemdonck. I particularly like the way that the curved bricks in the robe create a sense of rushing wind. On the explosive edge, the billowing smoke formed by 4×4 domes in white work really well, as do the 1×1 cone bricks in red as the tips of the rockets. Wan Hu himself is just as expressive, with quarter-circle tile and curved slope brick creating the perfect expression of “maybe I didn’t think this through all the way.”

I’d love to see this sort of myth adapted in more creations. We could be on the verge of a complete re-imagining of Classic Space!

LEGO Halo fan spends 5 years designing & building 7-foot UNSC heavy frigate from 25,000 bricks [Exclusive]

For the past several years, my friend Steve Witt has been collecting the necessary LEGO bricks and fiddling with his design to produce a 7-foot-long (2.1 meter) recreation of a Paris-class UNSC heavy frigate from the Halo video game universe that he’s dubbed the Katara. After following his work-in-progress photos on Facebook and Flickr for five years, I’m very pleased to share this closer look at the finished ship, exclusive to The Brothers Brick.

We’ll take a closer look at the details and share some of the build’s history in a moment, but let’s pause and take in just how massive a LEGO ship 7 feet long really is, with this photo of the builder working on it.

See detailed photos and learn more about this massive Halo ship

The Heimdall is a lesson in color-blocking

Sometimes a LEGO creation comes along that needs a double or even a triple take to really appreciate it. Such is the case with this Heimdall built by Lech Kulina. At first glance, does it take inspiration from a whale? A stingray? A bird? Maybe all three. One thing for sure is this ship is built with a whopping 7441 pieces and took Lech five months to design. He tells us the project is inspired by the imaginative art of Michal Kus, likely this piece. The biggest takeaway from Michal’s work is his use of color-blocking. This is a technique that uses colors that are opposites on the color wheel and pairs them together to make interesting and complementary color combinations. Often this is associated with fashion, but LEGO builders also utilize this technique with equal flair.

Click here to take a closer look

No two ways about it, you can count on this spaceship

There’s something familiar about the shape of this latest spaceship from Dave Kaleta and son. Those curves look too recognizable, suggesting a meaning beyond the utility of the shape itself. I’m sure it’ll come to me. In the meantime, I can enjoy the unusual colors. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a purple and lavender hull, and the extensive use of transparent neon-green lightsaber blades and radar dishes really makes things come alive. This beauty also has cool action features like an opening cockpit, adjustable engines, and firing missiles. (You can see them in action in Dave’s Instagram post.) It really adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

I’m still at a loss as to what this shape means, though. Maybe I’ll go looking at the other ships in Dave’s growing fleet for a clue.

Operation space-goat teleportation

Space is the place for ground-breaking science like figuring out how to teleport rare pieces of your LEGO collection from one place to another. Andreas Leander is here conducting the research in his latest diorama. It follows the everyday lives of Sven and his crew at Epsilon IV as a part of Andreas’ ongoing series of cinematic Classic Space builds. This time, the crew is trying out a new contraption to teleport a space-goat, but rest assured, none have been harmed in the process.

The teleportation device is made with a variety of tubes running along a simple frame. The tubes feed into a stack of different-sized radars and a Harley Davidson wheel that hovers ominously over the test subject. Alternating long wedge plates and 1×2 rounded plates surround a single space-goat, totally oblivious of what’s to come. The platform construction is super captivating to look at and the blue lighting at its center creates a gorgeous atmospheric glow throughout the build. I’m also loving the details scattered around the scene. An old mech makes an appearance in the background, which we assume is used for transporting the space-goat from pod to platform. If you look even closer, you might see that the pods each have a single plant piece for the space-goats to munch on as they wait for their turn. All this talk of space-goat teleportation has many of us wondering when these space-goats will start arriving into our LEGO rooms. We can’t guarantee any goats, but do keep an eye out!

In the meantime, check out some more Neo-Classic Space creations from our archives!

A sleek homage to a timeless spaceship, spaceship, SPACESHIP!

In 1979, LEGO launched their first ever space theme, with it the Galaxy Explorer flagship that inspired generations of fans. Amongst them, builders like to recreate these classic spaceships with new pieces and designs. Tim Goddard, the co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future, has presented us with his take on this iconic piece of LEGO history. While staying true to the original ship, Tim’s LL-928 flies with a perfect balance of smooth grey wings and a greebly hull. Through a great transparent yellow canopy, spacemen sit in a detailed cockpit complete with controls, cabinets, and cup of tea.

Though he is an experienced builder, Tim perfected his craft by implementing various advanced building techniques. He has angled the wings with slope bricks that transition perfectly between each section. In addition, the smooth wings have a curved edge that is reminiscent of modern aircraft wings. The curved nature of the wings carries over to the rear section which conveys a bit of the rounded 1960’s sci-fi design. Last but not least, Tim stepped out of his comfort zone by engineering a working landing gear using functional Technic parts.

See some more modern takes on LEGO Classic Space, and check out more of Tim’s builds here.

The lovechild of Star Wars ship designs

When certain design elements dictate the look of the gritty Star Wars universe, it is best to stay within those constraints when designing new and different ships. That doesn’t mean make them same-y and boring, but rather different and unique enough to make sense. LEGO builder Librarian-Bot has struck the perfect balance (literally!) with a hybrid of the Millennium Falcon, the Ghost, and the Resistance Bomber. The Raging Comet flies with a unique wedge shape that combines the bulky nature of the freighters mentioned above. Despite a top-heavy structure, this ship balances on its tip by a stand or a singular landing gear. To achieve this feat, Librarian-Bot built this freighter with an airy but detailed interior to reduce the weight.

Many details also add to the characteristics of a starship from a galaxy far, far away. Starting from the top, there is an oversized sensor dish and on either side, familiar circular docking rings. In the front, a cockpit with an iconic conical shape, and lots of intricate angles and greebling between it all. These are a great homage to the Millennium Falcon, which set the standard for Star Wars ship designs. Four engines in the rear are different from what you would expect, but they do not look out of place. The entry hatch further down includes a foldable boarding ramp that some might find excessively long, its superfluous nature just screams “Star Wars!” Red highlights break up the monochrome greys, and a black and yellow checkerboard pattern give the impression of the Raging Comet being a fast smuggler ship.

The stars align for a classic space nova

Bionicle Day, 8/10 (810nicle), is behind us, and we’re catching up by celebrating some builds that incorporate the popular buildable figure elements from LEGO’s past. Blake Foster found inspiration to use Bionicle elements such as Macku‘s helmet and Hero Factory feet (ball and socket configuration) for the side of the hull. The standard blue LEGO Classic Space hue is an obvious homage to the 1986 LEGO Cosmic Fleet Voyager. Just don’t expect to see Benny fit into this space fighter, because it is micro-scale. After some quick research on novae, I get why Blake Foster named it “Nova Class.” It is akin to nova, the astronomical event where new stars form and explode, shining bright and slowly fading, just as Blake described how the build constantly came apart during its construction. For now, bask in its glow.

Groundbreaking hovertank seems to defy gravity

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, this hovertank is indeed hovering! Space enthusiast Ben Smith has created a floating hovertank inspired by the fan-favourite Galaxy Patrol from the LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 7, that not only looks awesome with a rugged colour scheme, but breaks the laws of physics. The boarding ramp is the only point of contact with the sand blue terrain, which raises the question: How is a ramp on the front of the vehicle able to actually hold it up and not collapse?

Find out more about how it floats!

Black and Yellow

Black and Yellow, you know what it is – the 1980s LEGO Space theme “Blacktron” featuring a color scheme with heavy usage of black and yellow. In Nagisa’s build aficionados can get the best of two worlds – Star Wars and Blacktron as this design is a mashup of the two themes. Fusions of LEGO space themes with pop cultural icons are pretty common among fan-builders, but they are always refreshing to see nonetheless. Here we have the landspeeder from Solo: A Star Wars Story film which was already translated well into LEGO in set 75209, revamped in the style of Blacktron. Nagisa uses vintage control panel printed tiles and a newer curved yellow trans-clear 3x6x1 windshield to accomplish the signature aesthetic of the Blacktron faction. Of course, two fully decked out Blacktron minifigures accompany the speeder as pilots.

Nagisa offers a few configurations of the speeder which utilize different elements as thrusters – each offering a slightly varied look all of which are pretty sleek. Overall Nagisa does a great job of displaying creativity and ingenuity while still retaining the original concept of the vehicle from the Star Wars film.