Tag Archives: Spaceships

SHIPtember’s never over, we just get SHIPtober

Although they call it SHIPtember, the nature of the beast means we often get enormous LEGO spaceships popping up well into October. Building one is one thing, photographing such large creations is a whole challenge unto itself! SweStar has risen to both challenges in admirable fashion. I love the muted colours on this freighter; the sand green and blue coupled with those pops of yellow and orange looks really good. I really love the fact that they’ve expanded the scene beyond just the Seriously Huge Investment in Parts (SHIP) too. The containers, ground crew, and that adorable orange loader all add a charming extra touch.

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Benny and his spaceship pretzel, Pretzel, PRETZEL!

If you’re like me, you didn’t know you’d go gaga over a LEGO pretzel spaceship flying over a character-strewn beach today, and yet here we are. Pretzels have been my lifelong favorite snack so naturally I’m glad to see that Pascal Hetzel and I are on the same wavelength. I must admit that even I didn’t expect to be cheering for Benny and his delicious spaceship today. It checks all the boxes of stuff I’d be into: beefy engines, sick exhaust pipes, tropical islands, Iron Man, The Mandalorian, Benny, sharks, Darth Vader, Batman, Santa Claus, and PRETZELS! Heck yes! What is it; my birthday? This piece begs the question; how can I love something but still not know what the heck is going on? That’s the story of my life, really.

In case you haven’t yet experienced a delicious salty-good overload, here’s a close-up shot of the pretzel ship in action. Love that sweet rooster tail, bro!

This striking LEGO Blacktron Striker strikes a chord

We here at TBB are no stranger to the space-tastic LEGO creations of Chris Perron. And his latest, featuring the canopy from Buzz Lightyear’s XL-15 is a spectacular representation of Blacktron building! The trans-red “wings” jutting out to the sides are wonderful, reminding me of an energy field kind of like that generated by NCC-1701’s warp nacelles. All of the sharp, cutting angles feel right at home with LEGO Space of the late 80’s, though the parts utilized include some more-recent offerings. For instance, there’s the 4-wide brick separator included in mosaic sets. I’ll give you a minute to spot where it’s hiding.

How do you say awesome LEGO starship in Mando’a?

It’s a good job – and a happy coincidence – that the Star Wars universe has such a good proficiency in English (or Basic, as it’s known). Otherwise, we’d end up having to learn things like Binary or Huttese to have any idea of what’s going on. Thankfully, if you’ve watched The Mandalorian, you’ll know how to pronounce the name of Simon Wild‘s epic LEGO starfighter. Bo-Katan calls it a Kom’rk-class fighter transport, otherwise known as the Gauntlet. Simon’s model features a shade under 3,000 pieces and is apparently faithful to minifigure scale, putting it firmly in Ultimate Collector Series (UCS)-scale territory. The SNOT and wedge plates used to create the pattern on the wings look great. It’s all the more impressive when you consider how structurally awkward this ship is, with everything connected at one end only. Building it must have been nearly as hard as learning Shyriiwook!

In the future, navy ships will all be 100 studs long and made of LEGO

I have a friend who used to live near a big naval base, and by virtue of having a view of the sea, he became something of an expert on all the various ships that would sail past. Fast-forward a couple hundred years, and with a space-side apartment, he might have seen ships like Ryan Olsen‘s LEGO frigate fly past instead. Ryan has given this ship a detailed backstory befitting its enormous size. It’s purportedly part of a Space Navy, and it’s easy to see the inspiration behind this behemoth. The grey, angular paneling and bridge surrounded by masts and sensor arrays are nice nods to the navies we know now. But for me, the giveaway was the big numbers on the side. It’s a great detail that makes this spaceship that little bit more believable.

This dinky destroyer takes to the skies in a big way

When I first set eyes on this dieselpunk-esque destroyer from Sunder_59, I assumed it was a 100-stud long LEGO brick-built behemoth. (‘Tis the season, after all.) In the end that’s wrong on two counts: this clocks in a fair bit short of 100 studs, and it’s built using virtual LEGO bricks, not real ones. But it’s no less a terrific design for it! The fact I thought it was bigger than it actually was tells me that Sunder has done a great job conveying the heft of a giant spaceship in microscale. That’s a result of both careful parts use, and a really clean design. I like the unconventional colour scheme as well. Always a bonus of working in the digital realm, without its pesky limitation of having to use bricks that actually exist!

In truth, I think the reason I fell for it is because I’m a sucker for dieselpunk. This won’t be the last time we feature some, and it’s certainly not the first. Have a look at the LEGO dieselpunk builds we’ve featured before.

Will we ever stop exploring LEGO’s Galaxy Explorer?

When it first debuted in 1978, this most infamous LEGO theme was known as Space. But after a while, factions later, we started referring to it as Classic Space. And after the shade of light gray changed and more curves became available, it morphed into Neo-Classic Space. But now, after the Galaxy Explorer set has hit store shelves, I think we’ve hit the start of the Neo-Neo-Classic Space age. That’s certainly what it feels like in Alec Hole‘s stellar (and interstellar) Explorer Mk 4. Bursting with all kinds of sci-fi textures, this blue and gray starship represents yet another point in Space’s evolutionary timeline. The double cockpit, done up in the traditional trans-yellow, is a superb choice. And I quite like all the light gray gear bits worked in throughout the wings.

Check out more of this Classic Space creation below

Star Wars, but make it Blacktron

A spacecraft with black wings and a bubble cockpit? Easy – that can only be a TIE fighter. But hang on, these were also defining features of LEGO’s Blacktron II theme… So what is it? Well, it’s both! Gerard Joosten AKA Elephant-Knight has a bit of a knack for builds within the Blacktron II aesthetic, and he’s turned to the Star Wars universe for his latest creation. The TIE Defender is one of the more outlandish TIE variants, and as a result it fits very nicely into the design language of my personal favourite LEGO space villains. Does this mean Darth Vader gets a neon-green lightsaber…?

Strap in for a long, torturous ride

This new LEGO creation by Rubblemaker is called Symbiosis. If you recall your grade school science classes, symbiosis is where two organisms share a mutually beneficial relationship. I’m not entirely sure if this is mutually beneficial; that poor clod in the cockpit may or may not be this ship’s pilot but it is most definitely its fuel source. If this ship moves as fast as Voyager II, it would take this suffering fool 9.5 years to get to Uranus. Plus you couldn’t even land there because science journals, as well as my grade school self, will tell us that Uranus is a gaseous, smelly giant. It’s likely you’d have to keep going for another few decades to reach a land-able rock and even then it’s no guarantee the locals will be friendly. Space travel sucks!

“Luke, you switched off your Power Functions! What’s wrong?”

LEGO Star Wars did have a brief flirtation with the Technic brand at its inception, but while we’ve seen everything from supercars to Unimogs in Technic since, we haven’t seen even a single starfighter. Rather a shame, don’t you think? Thankfully Dyens Creations is on hand to fill that hole. This X-wing is an impressive model in and of itself. But where can you find the parts to build one? Why, they all come from 42145 Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter! That added parts limitation really makes this model impressive. And being a Technic creation, it naturally comes with some motorised functionality: the wings fold, the landing gear retracts, the canopy opens and the targeting computer can be adjusted. Most impressive.

Alternate builds are an art unto themselves – so why not see what else people have turned their LEGO sets into in our alternate builds archives?

A spaceship of a different color

Like the old saying, “a horse of a different color,” this LEGO spaceship by Dwalin Forkbeard is quite unique. Not only is it fairly uncommon for spaceships to be brown, most spaceships don’t have wings such as these either. With all the ships out there, it’s refreshing to see one that is distinctly different. The brown spaceman provides the perfect opportunity to build a ship that suits him, and this does it so well. The angles, landing gear, and barrel booster are all pleasing to the eye.

If you enjoy this model, check out other builds by Dwalin Forbeard. And while you’re at it, take a look at all of the space builds in our archives.

The Cascade Fighter fights for cascade freedom-or something

Oregonian LEGO builder Jason Ruff hits us in the nostalgic feels and takes us to a simpler, more innocent time before mortgage payments and restraining orders. He’s built the Cascade Fighter Mk II (Mk I allegedly lost in the ether) in a lovely Classic Space motif. It’s part manta ray, part F-14 Tomcat, and all Classic Space goodness. I particularly like the curved leading edge of the wings as well as the smaller stabilizing wings up front. The missiles are also charming but then again I’d say that about all missiles. If you like Classic Space as much as we do, then please check out our archives in which you can dork out about Classic Space ad nauseam. Which explains all the restraining orders, then.

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