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.

Microscale spacecraft explores white space

The latest creation from Tim Goddard (aka roguebantha) is a beautiful microscale space exploration vehicle. It’s a great model with a real sense of heft – you can just imagine it pushing its bulk out into the cosmos, the crew peering out from the stubby bridge.

The build features a load of Tim’s signature greebles, the fiddly grey machinery details which do so much to suggest the model is much bigger than it is. Alongside those, the azure striping is an obvious treat against the relatively blank canvas of the white hull. The way the stripe continues back around the domes and the little disc at the rear is just clean and classy building. Tim says this model was an exploration in broadening his use of color. It’s a success as far as I’m concerned.

But away from the colors, what I’m enjoying most is the little gaps in the main body, offering glimpses of machinery within. All too often spaceship models can look as if they’re just tombstones of bricks strapped sideways onto a hollow shell. The gaps here suggest there’s actual stuff going on inside that pretty hull – a really nice little touch.

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Screw hoverboards, we want these hoverbikes

In October it was “Back to the Future Day”, the day irresponsible time travelers Marty McFly and Doc Brown caught up with the future. Now that we’ve reached and passed that time, we’re all a bit disappointed that we’re not scooting around on floating skateboards. What would be even better though, are these nifty little scooters from nobu_tary. The green one reminds us of the hovercars from Dragonball Z.

Slicing through the stars

While cruising through the myriad of new LEGO uploads on Flickr, I spotted this beautiful but deadly looking starfighter from Adam Dodge.

The high-contrast color scheme quickly caught my attention. But then, I read the name Switchblade. It is aptly titled because this craft can open and close much like its namesake.

The builder describes how the poseable wings provided quite an engineering challenge to fasten on securely. It must have been an intriguing task. It looks great in the final product and the flexibility really makes this starfighter stand out.

This creation was build for the long running Starfighter Telephone Game. The point of the game is to build a spaceship off of the design of the previous person in the line. I think Adam did a great job incorporating some of the style and flair of John Matz’ earlier starfighter (on the left below).

Lacking the V, but still an awesome spaceship

Since it is NoVVember, and it has become tradition, people are making (and we are posting) a lot of Vic Vipers. To shake it up a bit and still get your required dose of interstellar machines, here’s a build called “Gravitator I3” by David Steeves. Proving that one of the best aspects of flying around in space is that you don’t need to worry about pesky air resistance, this starfighter has some outrageous curves and shapes, and we love it. This is definitely one of those models that could easily be mistaken for a regular model that isn’t made of LEGO.

70816 Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! 24% off from Amazon

If you missed it at 25% off a couple months ago, 70816 Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! from The LEGO Movie is on sale again from Amazon, available at $75.95 instead of $99.99 (about 24% off).

You can read our review of this fantastic set here on The Brothers Brick.

A fair number of other LEGO sets are on sale for 20% or more off, including 75052 Mos Eisley Cantina, which is $15 off.

As always, a portion of the proceeds from any sale on Amazon goes to support The Brothers Brick, without any additional cost to you.

Take care of that ship, Guardian

The spacecraft of Destiny are as much an inspiration to LEGO builders as its its weaponry. Here are two jumpship models that would make the Tower’s shipwright proud.

Jake is back with a follow-up to his Phaeton-class jumpship. His CX-20 Spindle Demon is just as stunning.

Otto Blees built an equally impressive model of the LRV3 Javelin jumpship.

Starfighter really earns its stripes

Novvember, the annual month of starfighter building, continues apace. And here’s a belter of a build from Flavio. The golden cockpit is a nice touch, and the striping brings a 90s-era gaming glow to my heart – it’s very F-Zero or Wipeout. But it’s the level of detailing, particularly around the engines, which really makes this model for me.

Textured bricks break up the surfaces and add depth and intricacy, and along with the use of minifig accessories, like claws and ice skates, these touches make the model look much bigger than it really is. I’d like to swoosh this around the room making rocket thruster and pew-pew blaster noises.

Flavio’s Flickr photostream is a treasure trove of spaceships and cute little mechs. I might have found a new favourite builder…

Capturing the queen in Novvember

We’re less than a week into Novvember and already flickr is awash with vic vipers. David Roberts has started the event off strong with this stunning viper. It’s packed full of interesting details while still maintaining an overall clean appearance. But the real standout features of this build are the dramatic blue and yellow checkerboard-patterned tail and wings which evoke the art of Chris Foss. (If you’re unfamiliar with Foss’s work, check it out here for a some inspiration while you’re working on your own vic vipers this month.)

And if you, like myself, are new to Novvember be sure to read the late nnenn’s instructions on how to build the standard vic viper.

In space, no one can hear you freeze

Nexo Knights, in its theme-bending audacity, has got a lot of people thinking about one of the Classic Space subthemes, Ice Planet 2002. The 1994 subtheme, while not nearly as popular as stuff like Blacktron or Space Police, certainly had its charm with its striking colour scheme that it seems to share with Nexo Knights. Now Ilya T. brings back ice Planet with a model that would fit right into the bygone subtheme. Many, many extra points must be given to the background here, which could have easily been mistaken for actual boxart. We wonder if the piece count is accurate…

Speaking of Nexo Knights, I’m personally extremely excited for it. Knights? Elements of Classic Space? Mechs and robots? Effing floating robo-horses? Get outta here, LEGO, you can’t make a theme specifically for one person.

Don’t judge a spaceship by its greebling

Although SHIPtember is already over, some great creations are still reaching our planet. This time it’s a massive 127-studs-long battlecruiser by art_xxx13.

Simplicity (in the best sense of the word) is what I love about this ship. You won’t find much greebling or large solid panels here. Still the contour of cruiser looks diverse – thanks to regular slopes which, for instance, create the main command tower’s rather complex shape. Additionally, there are only three basic colors – light bluish grey, black and a couple of touches of dark red. And they are what make the battlecruiser realistic and credible; I do believe that this is what heavy ships in deep space look like.

Moreover, the spaceship has an impressive prototype. Take a minute to appreciate how accurate the brick-built model is to its concept.

Starship bridge shows all the right controls

Neo-Classic Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of a very nice-looking starship…

This control room scene is the latest creation from Pete Reid, one of my favourite builders. He’s famous for his Exo Suit, but for me, it’s his depictions of everyday life in space which define his style – it’s rarely blasters and aliens, usually just regular space folks at work.

The model has some lovely touches, such as the consoles, the ceiling details, and the use of ingots as chair cushions. But what I really like is the way the stripped-back use of a single color allows lighting to create the mood, and makes the bright shades of the crew uniforms pop against the backdrop. This is a great example of a nice model, elevated to another level through smart composition and a restrained use of color.

Now I want to see the rest of the ship…

Furrowing the space with style

The video game Destiny brought us quite a number of smooth and polished starfighters. Without copying any particular spaceship David Steeves did a great job of capturing all the main distinctive features of those fighters, complementing them with a couple of nice building techniques. I love how neat and solid his Disruptor XC2 looks, not to mention a not so ordinary choice of color for the cockpit windscreen.