As February comes to an end, it brings us the final rovers of FebRovery 2016. Jon Blackford has probably got the most stylish couple of rovers in the whole galaxy.
Although, the flatbed’s curves may get all the attention (which they undoubtedly deserve), be sure to have a look at the loader’s arms — a beautiful example of how to get an impressive result with just a few plain gray pieces.
Ryan Olsen has a whole fleet’s worth of space navy goodness standing by to defend the planet. These spacecraft have an impressive sense of scale despite the tiny size of the models, a trick accomplished by the extensive use of textured bricks, grilles and hollow studs. There’s good use of hinges and minifig “hose handles” to create cannons for the smallest of the ships.
The colors look realistic (if that’s even remotely sensible to talk about in terms of a space navy!) and the implementation of the scheme across the assorted craft looks great. Overall, these are nicely-built models coupled with classy photo-editing. Good stuff all round.
There is definitely no proven recipe for an awesome starship. Sometimes it’s all about huge size and sometimes the color scheme is what amazes people the most. But the latest NovaFire by TBB alum .Tromas somehow achieves a brilliant result by just putting the right pieces in the right places — otherwise, I can’t tell why this ship looks so cool.
![NovaFire [modified Seinar-FS SL-75e Logistics Mule]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/24859220750_1e8ccac8d9_z.png)
The modified Sienar-FS SL-75e Logistics Mule (as TR calls it) looks pretty heavy, but not overladen. This balance is particularly hard to maintain, and this time deserves applause.
Moreover, NovaFire includes a cargo pod which was modified to become a prison cell. This playability feature makes the model even more nifty. And I already know which minifigs I’d put inside to help them escape!
![NovaFire [modified Seinar-FS SL-75e Logistics Mule]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.brothers-brick.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/24528062453_895da532bd_z.png)
Thomas W. has built a ship; and not just any ship, but a heavily armed scouting ship called New Horizon. Thomas tells us that it is designed for long distance flights, so it has lots of propulsive power. But let’s not forget the importance of weapons to protect it from any naughty people. New Horizon has a nice, aggressively angled cockpit and a host of lovely details across the ship’s body work.
Thomas’ use of stickers is spot on, with just enough to give it identity markings but without distracting from the lovely shaping and greebles. It is definitely worth taking a look at the rear view to see the ‘horsepower’ behind this ship …deliciously ‘thrusty’ for such a compact design.
I’m just not sure where the lavatory is located for those essential breaks during long distance flights…
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is one of the main non-destructive techniques at the disposal of modern archaeologists. While Tyler Sky says that this crew of LEGO space scientists are on a geomorphology survey expedition, I like to imagine that they’re xenoarchaeologists hoping to discover buried alien civilizations. Built in realistic grey, the GPR vehicle evokes the retro-futuristic vibe of Classic Space LEGO, while the shape of the sensor array on the front appears to be eminently practical.
Every colorful rock band needs a colorful ride in which to clatter from gig to gig. There are few bands more colorful than this group of space rockers (though I miss my favorite green space man, who must have been relegated to be a roadie), imagined by the eccentric mind of Julius von Brunk, and Julius has built The Highway Stars an appropriately garish purple space jalopy.
While the band certainly provides an entertaining distraction, the real star here is their space car, The Astrosurfer, which has a detailed interior and even a brick-built engine under the hood.
Check out lots more groovy photos in Julius’ photoset on Flickr.
This ultra-heavy mech from Benjamin Cheh Ming Hann is just bristling with armor and weaponry. A minifig is concealed deep within the beast, and my favorite detail are the two miniature arms protruding below the body to allow the mech to handle more human-sized objects.
Take a look up at the night sky. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the International Space Station high above you. If you miss it, and don’t want to wait for their orbit to fly by again, you’re welcome to observe this lovely model from Jonas.
Frost is churning out a small army of new rovers for this year’s FebRovery challenge. He’s posted a new one each day this month and will, presumably, have created twenty-nine of them by the time FebRovery is over and done with. So far, his rovers have spanned several building styles and themes. His most recent build is a race rover with beautiful angles and a very impressive spoiler.
Frost’s other builds include forklift-style loading rover, several construction-themed rovers, and my favorite, a shark-controlled survey rover Check out all his rovers on Flickr.
It’s rare that I find LEGO Halo builds which deliberately stray from an exact replica of the source material. That’s one reason why I like what Stephan Niehoff created with his mash-up of Halo’s iconic Scorpion tank and LEGO’s own Blacktron II theme. Another reason: the mash-up works beautifully.
Stephan has also been working other Blacktron II creations, such as this great spaceship landing pad. See his Blacktron II series and more pictures of Scorpion II in this album.
Having been around for almost two decades and being one of the most popular LEGO themes means there’s no shortage of walkers stumbling around…Star Wars ones that is. Blacktron however, which debuted 29 years ago, is just stomping in now–and the wait was well worth it:
The BT-HIW, Blacktron Heavy Invasion Walker, is a glorious black and transparent-yellow sight to behold. Built by Rat Dude, this impressive walker manages to balance not only itself, but that classic space feel many builders strive for.
Inspired by the new Nexo Knights theme, Milan Sekiz has created a scene that, like the Nexo Knights theme itself, is half castle, half space, and complete awesomeness. The swirling portal door is beautifully designed and the premise of the build, the Nexo Knights’ firsts steps into a fantastical new world, is inspired.
Check out more photos on Flickr.