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’m picking up an anomaly in Lab 2 – or it’s picking me up

Soil contamination can spell disaster when you are growing crops to feed hungry colonists, and it looks like trouble may be growing in this dimly lit laboratory. But the more I look at this lovely scene by Jon Blackford, I find myself wondering, is the lavender-colored plant with the tentacle the anomaly? Or are they supposed to look like that, and it’s the rest of the plants in this bed that are wrong.

One of my favorite features of this scene, aside from the lighting, which really sets the mood, is the rear wall of the lab, with pipes to deliver water, or whatever it is that these plants need to thrive, and the drains along the base, for easy clean-up. And don’t miss the subtle detail of the cheese slopes along the lower edge of the scene.

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Space elephant shines in silver brick

All hail the mighty space elephant! Created by Demetrius Gaouette, this sci-fi war beast is decked out in dazzling silver armor. The use of silver elements is what sets this elephant apart as something from the future. I’m a big fan of the lack of curvature to the elephant’s ears and legs, allowing the viewer to focus on other design aspects like the armor and troops. Next time Blacktron goes to war, they’d definitely want a dozen of these in battle.

Demetrius’ model is a digital render, with some parts not yet commercially available in certain colors illustrated.

All orange, all the time

If you have been even a marginal LEGO buyer these past few years, you might be familiar with the ubiquitous Brick Separator. I have dozens of them myself. They come with nearly every set nowadays, mostly in orange, however they have made some rare appearances in green and now in dark turquoise. But what can you use them for besides prying up that pesky 1×4 plate? If you answered “build Torrac’s Race Bike with them”, then you might be a builder who goes by the name Inthert.

Every angle of this futuristic hover bike is expertly crafted, proving that with a bit of imagination, you can find inspiration beyond an obvious purpose. Even with the humble Brick Separator.

And a-roving, a-roving, a-roving I’ll go

See Mars the scenic way! Take a ride in Guido Brandis‘ fabulous All-Terrain Mobile Laboratory Rover. Its big fat wheels will stop you sinking into the dust, and its large solar panels should provide more than enough power for your journey plus any little experiments you might want to complete on the way. For a one-colour model, this manages to have remarkable visual impact, and that’s down to the density of the detail applied to every surface. This thing is greeble-tastic, with functional-looking elements applied everywhere — piping, antennae, comms dishes, and paneling. The presentation of the model is also excellent (nice work on the shadows in particular), making the vehicle look properly embedded in its environment. I’d love to hit Valles Marineris in this bad boy–those Martians, they see me rollin’ and they be hatin’.

Blacktron returns with the Lucky Wolf

When it comes to collecting vintage LEGO Space subthemes, Blacktron I has a strong following. LEGO’s first intergalactic villain faction has been reborn in the form of Spaceruner’s Lucky Wolf, clad in the classic Blacktron I colors of black, yellow, and trans red. One source of inspiration was set 6894 Invader, released in 1987. They have even gone so far as to create their own robot. By utilizing both vintage and modern parts, the end-result is a model that’s out of this world.

If you love Blacktron I, you might also enjoy this Blacktronesque laser mining vehicle we featured on April 16th.

Effortlessly graceful speederbike

A good LEGO speederbike looks futuristic and “swooshable”, but the very best also carry with them a functional design — a sense of realism allowing you to suspend disbelief in the same way the bike suspends the normal rules of gravity. This beautiful model by GoIPlaysWithLego certainly looks the part, with hints of a Tron-style future in its colour scheme and curves, but it also has that elusive realistic look. The trans-blue steering fins at the front, the whips used as power cables, the shaped panelling around the cockpit seat — all add to the functional feel. And as for that black spike element underneath — I’ve no idea what it does, but I don’t doubt that without it this bike would be unable to fly.

On a more prosaic note, the model’s stand continues the impressive design, enhancing the presentation without distracting attention from the central subject.

Loading on the power

LEGO mech suits generally come in one of two varieties — combat hulks clad in armour plating, or civilian-role rigs, stripped back to their mechanical bones. Andreas Lenander‘s Powerloader Exo Suit is a great example of the latter style — its frame festooned in greebles and mechanical-looking details. All-grey creations can lack impact, but the impressive depth of texture more than makes up for the lack of colour. There’s an obvious nod to Peter Reid’s classic Exo Suit design, but Andreas makes this version all his own with cogs broadening the shoulders, and a fearsome pair of toothed grippers for moving stuff around. Although this isn’t a military mech, you get the impression it wouldn’t do too badly if things turned nasty in the cargo bay.

I was lucky enough to see this model “in the brick” as Andreas and I installed models in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery. It looks even more impressive than in these photos, and if you make it to Billund this summer, I’d recommend you seek this out for a closer viewing.

A different kind of Thunderbird

Ted Andes says his latest LEGO spaceship was partly modelled on the Cosmo-class starfighters of anime series Space Battleship Yamato. Regardless of the original inspiration, this is an excellent model, packed full of interesting angles, nice integration of Technic panels along with the regular bricks, and strong colour blocking. The white and orange add a pleasing burst of colour against the military-grey styling, and the restrained use of stickers works well, adding touches of detail without distracting the eye from the overall shape.

LEGO City is going to outer space with 6 new sets for summer 2019 [News]

Today the new Toy Story 4, Spider-Man, and The LEGO Movie 2 sets go on sale, and we’re also getting our first official glimpse at LEGO’s new City sets for this summer, and they’re far out. The new line will see LEGO astronauts exploring space with near-future tech. Although the line isn’t branded by NASA as some previous sets have been, most famously the NASA Apollo Saturn V, they do include a lot things that are distinctly inspired by the space agency’s real plans. The line includes a Mars rover, a small space station, a futuristic space shuttle, and even a large rocket that bears a resemblance to NASA’s SLS rocket. And perhaps most interestingly, there’s also a new people pack that’s themed to the line, with loads of engineers, scientists, astronauts, and other support crew.

The sets were revealed by Dutch retailer KelCha Toys, and while we don’t have an exact release date for them yet, we are able to give approximate prices thanks to the listed Euro prices from the retailer.

Don’t miss the rest of the LEGO summer 2019 sets reveals, and be sure to check out the new Toy Story 4, Spider-Man, and The LEGO Movie 2 sets that just went sale a few days ago:

LEGO Architecture
LEGO Batman
LEGO City
LEGO City Space
LEGO Creator
LEGO Friends
LEGO Friends Ocean
LEGO Harry Potter
LEGO Jurassic World
LEGO Ninjago
LEGO Star Wars

Click to check out images of all 6 sets

A robust industrial spaceship for ironing space-time

Merging naval and space ship aesthetics has always been my soft spot, and Dwalin Forkbeard hit the nail on the head. I would make a point how a nickname taken from The Hobbit does not suit a space builder, but the ship is actually run by dwarves!

The ship has a wonderfully Brutalist aesthetic, with smoke stacks, tubes, grills and a large gray hull broken up by round windows and gunports. I particularly like the “colour” blocking on the middle bottom section, where a light gray and more textured section is exposed from underneath the armour. The builder also provides a handy image of the spacecraft viewed from multiple angles.

Historical black hole picture and ALMA observatory antenna accurately built in LEGO

Unless you have been living under a black hole, you have probably seen the historical picture of the supermassive black hole in the center of the M87 galaxy. Chilean builder Luis Peña was inspired by the results of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration to build this new icon of science and the ALMA observatory, located in his home country. Luis loves science, and we have previously featured another historical event in science built by him, the Apollo/Soyuz meeting.

The mosaic on the left displays the famous black hole radiowave picture, where the resolution of a 16×16 mosaic actually gives an accuracy almost comparable to the original. Speaking of accurate to the original, the dish of the radio antenna (one of 66 antennas in the observatory) is strikingly clean and parabolic, for the perfect focusing of captured light into the detector. The dish is stabilized by a white rigid hose, making a robust and accurate recreation.

Could Classic Space and Blacktron ever get along?

Looking at this Tracked Laser Mining Vehicle by Jon & Catherine Stead, the first thing that springs to mind is classic Blacktron. A few details seem out of place in this assumption and the description reveals no villainous intentions.

The yellow spacemen suggest this is in fact very much a peaceful vehicle. I particularly like the laser array, supported by strings going between pillars of translucent red 1×1 round plates. The ground is quite interesting as well, using an established technique and carrying us to a faraway moon or planet with its colours.