Tag Archives: Spaceships

To boldly research where no one’s researched before

We’re going far away from civilization into the cold reaches of space with this LEGO ship by Chris Perron. But it’s not for fame or glory — no, this ship has a more noble goal: to research! Even Chris admits he’s not quite sure what it’s researching, but one thing is clear: it looks awesome outfitted with highly scientific doodads and whatsits. And there are lots of interesting techniques, from the mix of struts holding up the large side-mounted instruments to the cheese slopes crammed into the front of the ship’s long probe.

The one thing that worries me, though, is that the ship doesn’t look big enough for an airlock, which might be bad news for the astroscientist doing an EVA.

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Smooth sleek spaceship soars the solar system

Give me a sleek looking ship in black and white any day and I’ll fall for it – just like the Ranger from Interstellar or the classic NASA Space Shuttle. This build by Oscar Cederwall stands out strikingly with some red highlights over a classic black-and-white design. I really love the effort of the arrowhead detail at the front of the ship, formed so perfectly with cheese slopes. Hardcore LEGO fans would also notice two very rare parts – the red X-pod lids on the wings and the extremely long boat hulls that appeared only once in a LEGO Speedboat set.

Here’s another look at the ship without special effects added to the scene.

The intergalactic arm of the law

Turning his attention from his recent Blacktron builds, builder CK-MCMLXXXI has joined the right side of the law with his new Space Police 2 build. The Starmaster mkII has a brilliant spacey shape. It’s a simple dart form made from complicated LEGO slab arrangements, which hint at all manner of vents and inner workings. It’s complemented by smart printed piece usage, the Doctor Who K9 tile being a really neat touch (just behind the cockpit on the starboard–right–side). All spaceships deserve a lovely rear: check out those thrusters!

A bit of a switcheroo

Although it’s not clear if builder Jay Bramhall just liked the bright colors (or maybe M-Tron), given the time of year I prefer to think that he got into Christmas spirit with this colorful Vic Viper. The ship conceals a sweet feature, namely the sweeping wings which are geared together and activated by turning the engine. The clean color blocking brings a nice pop of color to the drab regions of space, and Jay incorporates both old and new shades of dark grey to give a hint of the weatherworn nature of this craft.

Hell yes: the fearsome Lucifer-class Vic Viper drone

Marcin Grabowski is back with another angular starship- his latest creation looks like a scrapheap reject ready to take on the world.

Marcin’s starkly yellow and gray tubular creation was a contribution to the annual “Novvember” celebration of all things Vic Viper-related from the old Gradius series of video games (something of a rite of passage for LEGO space builders that just celebrated its 10th year). Up close this model looks like a gigantic mess, but when you zoom out and take in the whole drone fighter, the cobbled-together bits mesh together into a terrifying machine. I like the engine thrusters pointed off haphazardly in the shot below. I don’t know why Marcin named it Lucifer, but I’d be flying like hell away from it.

This starship is another in an impressive series of aggressive, spiny sci-fi models that Marcin has shared online. One of my favorites is his Naga-class light starfighter.

One seriously funky starfighter

Like real-world automobiles, it is to be assumed that spaceship design will go through eras where particular colours and shapes go in and out of fashion. Well, according to Cole Blaq‘s latest LEGO starfighter, brown will definitely be cool again in the future. The rich chocolate tones of this creation offer the perfect contrast to the trans-yellow canopy, and the stripes at the rear add a nice little splash of brightness. Couple the striking colour scheme with some sweet curves and effective greebly details at the front and you’ve got a wonderful design which manages to look both futuristic and retro at the same time.

Defending the grey depths of space

In space, enemies can come from any side. And so rigorous armor is needed in addition to heavy armaments. Enter Patrick Massey‘s UNN-717 Olympia, replete with rows of chunky armor paneling and heavy turrets and a subtle submarine vibe (complete with rudder and diving planes). The nearly unbroken grey of the ship’s hull lends weight and scale to the model, helping it convey the ship’s monstrous size. And speaking of size, the LEGO model is no slouch either, ringing in around 3 feet in length.

Take a luxury cruise straight into the enemy fleet

The latest creation from Quy Chau is an intense and visceral spaceship with an interesting backstory of a luxury cruiser redesigned into a military spaceship. While I do appreciate the imagination, this begs the question of why anyone would perform such a refit.

There are so many insane angles on this vertical spaceship, achieved with slopes and wedge slopes oriented in all sorts of ways. The builder leaves many technic elements exposed, which feels very realistic and dirty, without a trace of a luxury cruiser design mentioned in the builder’s description. The vertical shape and cylindrical parts pointing in all directions are an especially welcome breath of fresh air in a world (in a universe?) full of needlesly aerodynamic spacecraft.

A spaceship that resonates with us

Space builder Nick Trotta is one of the undisputed masters of minifigure-scale LEGO spacecraft. A fastidious perfectionist, Nick builds and rebuilds each of his models, tweaking every detail before finally letting the world see the finished result. It’s always worth the wait, however, as this new spaceship evidences.

The simple geometric shapes belie the ridiculous amount of engineering needed to achieve them. The technique that always grabs my attention (Nick has used it before) is the use of panels to create the white leading edge on the wings, cleverly hiding any unsightly joints and gaps. Plus, there’s the awesomely retro color scheme, with my favorite detail being the “health” bar on the ship’s nose beneath the cockpit.

Huge LEGO Daedalus from Stargate: who needs spaceships when another world is right through the gate?

With the immense popularity of the Stargate franchise in its golden age, one would imagine it penetrating deeper into the popular culture and consequently the LEGO fan community. However, it is very rare we see a creation like Rat Dude‘s Stargate SG 1 F304 Daedalus. The spaceship is a product of the later seasons of the Stargate: SG1, when the show matured into a classic sci-fi series instead of the earlier “soldiers versus aliens” approach.

There is a wonderfully military aesthetic to the Daedalus’ design, which Rat Dude has captured perfectly. All sorts of angles still come together in a boxy utilitarian design, captured in LEGO with slopes and wedge plates. Even the numerous studs do not look out of place, adding a texture where most builders would try to hide them. My favourite part is the stripe down the middle-back segment, made out of inverted 1×1 bricks, creating a unique texture.

A ship of LEGO odds and ends

Anyone who’s been following the adult LEGO builder community for a while knows that one of the things we love best is making novel use of seemingly “useless” pieces. And as far as these clever uses go, the more unusual the element is, the better. Vince Toulouse has dug deep into the bins of useless pieces and come forth with a striking spaceship made almost entirely of these oddities–a tugboat with a rugged utilitarian aesthetic. Vince points out a few of the more unusual elements for us, including the steering compartment made of a Fabuland caravan shell. We also spy a slew of other elements from the quirky Fabuland theme, as well as many other difficult-to-use elements like the skateboard ramp, elephant ear, and even the whole elephant head. See how many more oddities you can spot in Vince’s ship.

The ship isn’t just a vehicle for fun techniques, though. It’s also a great design, and the inside is marvelously detailed.

Click to see more of this ship

Classic Space is all grown up

Neo Classic Space has existed for some time as a modern interpretation of the nostalgic grey and blue theme from the early official LEGO space sets of the late 70s into the 80s. But builder AFOL anon is stepping up the game with the sleek space cruiser. The SHIP (easily clocking in the 100-stud length for a SHIPtember entry) retains the styling of its smaller cousins, with an arrowhead shape, side-mounted blasters, and spoiler, while simultaneously smoothing out the hard edges.

I particularly love the shaping from the rear, where it gives off faint vibes of a Super Star Destroyer in classic space livery.