This compact asteroid prospecting ship, made of LEGO by Jan Woźnica, would fit in very well in the universe of The Expanse, with structural supports and a engine-as-down design common among the working class “belters” spacecrafts. The overall shape even reminds me a bit of an asteroid, with an almost ovoid shape. The small maneuvering thrusters at the back and sides are a nice detail, and that airlock is perfectly placed for any needed spacewalks.
What does it take to succeed in the Iron Forge? Well, I don’t exactly have any experience to draw on, but you can be sure that a bit of ingenuity and outside-the-box thinking will go a long way. Exhibit A: Nate Chiles‘ latest effort. In this early phase of the contest, the seed parts are not always as prescriptive as in the Iron Builder finals, so the ongoing second round challenges builders to use any LEGO piece tagged as a cup or goblet. And that does technically include the actual LEGO mug that forms the engine of this spaceship. Or at least, we’re assuming that’s what’s going on here. The alternative explanation is that this is a standard minifigure mug, and Nate has a shrink ray. Are they even allowed in this competition? Can we get a ruling on this please?!
Space Jam contestants, beware. Ted Andes is done with being a judge as of this year, and he’s getting involved in the LEGO building competition instead! It’s not just Ted you need to be wary of, though. His “Ravager” looks as deadly as it sounds. It has a touch of the “HR Giger”s about it – which is appropriate, given it’s entered in the Bio-Mechanical Fusion category (Giger was a pioneer of the biomechanical art style). But it’s even more apt that this look is achieved using a host of Bionicle parts. Bio-Mechanical, indeed!
f
Sometimes, one can forget that LEGO is more than just studs, tubes, and minifigures. There are so many other connections available to the savvy constructor. And there are few as savvy as TBB alum Mansur Soeleman (lamborghiniwafflesauce), as we can see in his space-y creation titled The Mirrorheim. Featuring so many twisting tubes and clipped panels, his model is a paragon of micro space construction. And while I can’t speak to its fragility based solely on these pictures, the desire to “swoosh” this teeny starfighter all over the room is irrefutable.
Swooshable is a word thrown around in the LEGO community that means the model is easily picked up and swooshed around the room without parts breaking off and probably while making fun spaceship noises. Don’t act like you haven’t done it! Martin.with.bricks gets extra kudos points from us for not only making this craft look awesome but also highly “swooshable.” The two are not always obtainable together. I mean; go ahead and try to swoosh your Hulkbuster set around the room and see what happens. Martin tells us the white with orange trim is his favorite color scheme and I’m inclined to think it’s mine too. Maybe it’s time to dust off my white leisure suit with orange belt and platform shoes. While you’re soaking in that mouth-watering visual check out our Martin.with.bricks archives for s’more LEGO goodness.
If you’re going to be a baddie, you need to look the part. Rubblemaker‘s take on evil spacecraft is an exercise in just that. The colour scheme is a big part of the bad guy brand, and Classic Space villains Blacktron has got that nailed. Stealth black, with pops of yellow and translucent red highlighting all the dangerous bits as a show of strength. But a good livery (bad livery? Good but bad… You know what I mean. Anyway) will fall flat if it’s not used right. Luckily, this Mohawk spacecraft looks positively furious. Pointy wings, big guns at the front, even bigger engines at the back. You don’t even need to do anything particularly nefarious in it, flying this around will have everyone quaking in their moon-boots at the mere sight of it!
Ah, the Vic Viper. A spaceship design that has seen so many LEGO iterations, and yet every single year we get new and fresh ones for Novvember. Aside from inspiring a slightly forced alliterative title, there’s a lot to love about Tommy Frost‘s take on the subject. For one, it’s a super clean design. Those curves and tiles coupled with the new trans-black windscreen are silky smooth – there’s not a stud to be seen. And there’s juuust enough greebling to keep the “sci” in sci-fi. Vic Vipers are inherently swooshable, but this one looks especially so.
Who among us hasn’t spent time daydreaming and doodling during those particularly boring days in school? It’s a fair bet that Maxx Davidson certainly did, because this school supply spaceship is a perfect homage to those classroom fantasies. The notebook paper wings are loaded up with pencil missiles and highlighter engines. The push pin lasers mounted to the rulers help keep boredom at bay. And the whole thing is structured around a pencil case cockpit with a LEGO built zipper that we grade as an A+. The pilot is even sitting on an eraser seat!
You may recall Scott Wilhelm’s LEGO Iron Horse spaceship we’ve featured last month. We were thrilled to learn that it brought along a few of its friends and, as impressive as it is on its own, the aforementioned Iron Horse isn’t even the showstopper. Scott brings the same striking color scheme and meticulous attention to detail to an entire fleet he calls The Q’Endar Alliance.
Click to discover the entire fleet
You ever look at a LEGO creation, and feel your brain going into overdrive trying to figure out how it was made? That’s what’s happening with Caleb Ricks‘ Dragonfly Interceptor here. For starters, the unusual colour scheme – primarily light aqua – almost makes it look like a digital build. But no, this one is fully 100% real. Which means Caleb must have somehow figured out a way to make all of these mad angles match up while accounting for pesky physics. And he’s worked that cockpit piece in around three 6×6 inverted cone pieces! The whole design is really unique. Maybe it’s best just to appreciate its beauty without thinking about the internals, though. I need a lie down after trying that!
Every AFOL has what I call their ‘white whale’ set. One that they longed for as a kid (and probably still do as a grown-up), but never owned. For me, that’s 7665 Republic Cruiser. In hindsight, it’s perhaps not the finest recreation of the Radiant VII. But when I was staring longingly at it in the pages of Argos catalogues, it looked as good as Fuku Saku‘s 1:250 scale model does! The subtle curves of the conical pod at the front look great; the way it meshes with the angles elsewhere is so satisfying. To be fair, the same could be said of the whole build. This ship did get a mostly grey militarised variant in the Clone Wars, but I much prefer its diplomatic livery from the opening scene of The Phantom Menace. It looks resplendent in red and white. You could even say it looks… Radiant!
In a LEGO Star Wars world of Millennium Falcons and X-Wing Fighters, it’s always nice when someone shows some love for the lesser-known starships. While the ZH-40 Tribune-class light freighter is a real thing in Star Wars canon, The Cobalt Thorn is, as far as I can tell, a product of Wami Delthorn’s imagination. It is the first of his Teal Squadron, implying there might be more teal-goodness coming at some point. With the cleverly built cockpit window, subtle asymmetry, cool greebling, and color scheme I, for one, look forward to what else the teal Squadron might have in store.
Wami doesn’t provide their names but we have a smattering of humans, a Mon Calamari, an Ugnaught, and a gonk and protocol droid; all in blue uniforms, except for the droids who go naked but that would be weird otherwise. I can just imagine the hijinks a crew like that may have in deep space. Click our archives to see what other space hijinks Wami Delthorn might get himself into and, while you’re at it clickity-click on the blue Star Wars link for a deep dive into a galaxy far, far away.
