Tag Archives: Starship

Santana starship is a smooth addition to the Star Wars fan canon

While Star Wars fans eagerly await more reveals of the next season of Andor, over in the Factions role-play community, LEGO builders are busy adding new stories and ships to that galaxy far, far away. Simulterious introduces the Santana light freighter, a ship built for speedy hauls and avoiding Imperials. Based on concept art from the artist Spacegoose,  the Santana features smooth teal curves and four impressive ion turbine engines. Simulterious incorporates chain links for a ring of greebly texture, a technique also used in their brilliant take on the classic B-Wing Starfighter.

The Santana

 

The latest in interstellar LEGO tech-quila

LEGO builder Pico van Grootveld toasts the end of SHIPtember (a month of creating spacecraft that are 100 studs or longer) with an agave-inspired hauler clad in an appropriate shade of green. Including features like a warp drive, anti-asteroid lasers, and fuel extension vats, this 139-stud starship is the preferred method for hauling limes, salt, and spirits from one side of the solar system to the other. The shaping here is beautiful, with well-crafted stabilizing fins along the sides and a technical-looking front hatch for quick loading and unloading. It’s just the thing for those late night runs to the triple sec nebula!

Tequilatron Trans-stellar hauler - SHIPtember 2023

Giant Quarian Cruiser from Mass Effect built from LEGO is 68 inches long!

Canadian LEGO builder Jason Corlett says that this LEGO Quarian Cruiser from the Mass Effect franchise is the largest ship he’s ever built. And while that’s not hard to believe given the sheer immensity of this vessel, the real skill is how Jason has packed all 68″ with excellent detail and shaping. I look at this ship in its entirety and I see all the small choices made by Jason during construction: the fit of the beveled ring into the other parts of the Cruiser, the pockets of detailed textural work in specific corners, the decision to cover a stud with a tile or leave the stud exposed, even the determination of whether a part should be light or dark gray. All 68 inches of the model feel consistent and deliberate. And, trust me, that’s hard enough to do for even the smallest builds!

Quarian Cruiser

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Picking up Picard in a LEGO La Sirena

Okay, Star Trek fans, yours truly (Christopher Burden) here with something fresh! For the last few years my best friend Capn.Brickard and I have been exchanging custom models for birthdays and holidays. We love giving each other a challenge, and this year I had my work cut out for me. Out of three options that he gave, I chose to take on La Sirena from the 2020 Star Trek spin-off Picard. Honestly, as soon as it was revealed, I wanted to build it, but at the time, I wasn’t quite ready to take it on — all the different angles and slopes, not to mention that accursed command deck.

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Forget flying pigs, this one is interstellar.

This hulking beast of a starship is the T-37 Spayspigg by builder InterBrick. Inspired by the intense models created by Noblebun, Interbrick set out on an ambitious journey to create this greebly digital monster. Creative parts usage stands out at this scale with repetition being the name of the game. The nacelles to the side and bottom all share the same design with tubes, dishes, hoses, and minifigure legs creating the mechanical details of exposed engines sections. My eyes are drawn all over this model, noticing the various different techniques InterBrick used, but my favorite little detail of the nacelles has to be the white cowboy hats.

T-37 Spayspigg

Riddled with super detailed engines, this ship could be a formidable racer or a frightening bomber. Either way, you’re sure to be left in the dust. The power of having hundreds of minifigure accessories is exemplified in these engines. Three styles of nozzles adorn the nacelles and main body of the ship. They share some interesting parts such as flippers, telephones, and snowshoes while more tubes, bars, and scuba tanks are used as part of the propulsion systems. The large central engines are a bit bulkier with ice skates lining the interior of the nozzles.

T-37 Spayspigg

A truly monumental feat from InterBrick, the T-37 Spayspigg is an amazing build worthy of praise. It was great seeing that Noblebun even helped with the renders for this digital model. I love seeing the community work together!

Thinking outside the box can take you out of this world

The LEGO VIDIYO line has introduced some notably interesting minifigure DJs and a ton of printed tiles, or BeatBits, that interact with the accompanying music video creation app. As far as parts go, we’ll see what the future VIDIYO sets hold for us, but for now, we have the BeatBoxes. They’re curved cubes with clear bodies that attach to a large, 8×8 modified brick. Inside, a special element holds two hinged plates that display the BeatBits and a fixed horizontal stand for the minifigure. Recently these elements have gained some popularity and builders are showing off what they can do with them. Builder martin.with.bricks elevated his BeatBox out of this world, cleverly using it as the cockpit for a spaceship dubbed the VIDI-1. Bricks are stacked in various orientations to attach to the cube element and wrap around it. The lime green of the BeatBox base is accented by patterns built into the wings as well as vents on the sides and guns on top.

VIDI-1

Inside the clear section of the BeatBox, Martin has used brackets, clips, and rounded 2×1 plates to create a seat, display, and controls for the Alien DJ. Representing “Extra Terrestrial Dance Music” according to the promotional images, this is a great minifigure design from the VIDIYO line. Continue reading →

A race to the Moon? Challenge accepted.

Noblebun is one of the best sci-fi LEGO builders out there, proving that title with his newest creation, the V-X Vera.

V-X Vera

“Roaring into the spaceport was the most beautiful ship I’ve ever seen in all my days. With a lean white bow and gleaming engines, she settled down into my docking bay. I thought I was lucky to just catch a glimpse of her, but now she could be mine to care for,” — Rhys Wheelright, chief of maintenance, Colony One.
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Blast through the blockade with the Crimson Raptor!

If you’re a galactic outlaw in need of the ultimate blockade buster, look no further than Darth Bjorn’s Crimson Raptor.

The Crimson Raptor

Racing out of the Outer Rim, this modified YT-1144 Corellian transport is an incredible build. Darth Bjorn nailed the Star Wars cargo ship look while putting heavy amounts of his flair to it. In particular, I admire the communication equipment placed on the hull as a cluster of antennae instead of a single radar dish.

The Crimson Raptor

The interior of the Crimson Raptor is just as impressive. The main corridor connects the cargo bay to the highly-detailed engine room and other locations, all on a scale that is fully playable with LEGO figures. That right there might be my favorite aspect of this creation: it’s not just a shelf model. I could pick this up an swoosh it around the room without fear of it falling apart.

The lovechild of Star Wars ship designs

When certain design elements dictate the look of the gritty Star Wars universe, it is best to stay within those constraints when designing new and different ships. That doesn’t mean make them same-y and boring, but rather different and unique enough to make sense. LEGO builder Librarian-Bot has struck the perfect balance (literally!) with a hybrid of the Millennium Falcon, the Ghost, and the Resistance Bomber. The Raging Comet flies with a unique wedge shape that combines the bulky nature of the freighters mentioned above. Despite a top-heavy structure, this ship balances on its tip by a stand or a singular landing gear. To achieve this feat, Librarian-Bot built this freighter with an airy but detailed interior to reduce the weight.

Many details also add to the characteristics of a starship from a galaxy far, far away. Starting from the top, there is an oversized sensor dish and on either side, familiar circular docking rings. In the front, a cockpit with an iconic conical shape, and lots of intricate angles and greebling between it all. These are a great homage to the Millennium Falcon, which set the standard for Star Wars ship designs. Four engines in the rear are different from what you would expect, but they do not look out of place. The entry hatch further down includes a foldable boarding ramp that some might find excessively long, its superfluous nature just screams “Star Wars!” Red highlights break up the monochrome greys, and a black and yellow checkerboard pattern give the impression of the Raging Comet being a fast smuggler ship.

At more than 6 feet long, this giant LEGO Enterprise built from 30,000 bricks is ready for its five-year mission

Star Trek creations are seen all too infrequently in the LEGO fan community (compared to other sci-fi worlds, say, from a galaxy far, far away). Another LEGO fan once told me it was impossible to build a convincing Enterprise. Perhaps he just wasn’t bold enough to go there, because that’s exactly what Chris Melby has done. This model is huge – 6 feet long and almost 3 feet wide. It’s so big that he built a custom aluminum stand for it.

LEGO U.S.S. Enterprise (Refit) NCC - 1701

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Massive Star Wars Resistance Bomber built from over 5,000 LEGO pieces is ready to unload on the First Order Dreadnaught

One of the best things about highlighting the best fan-built LEGO creations is the numerous occasions to watch and re-watch the most spectacular movie scenes. Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi treated us to a whole bunch of fascinating battle scenes and visual effects, but I’ve totally forgotten how good the opening scene is. A great thank you to Mirko Soppelsa for giving us an unscheduled reason to enjoy the heroic deeds of Poe and Rose with this jaw-dropping model of an MG-100 StarFortress bomber. The build counts almost 5200 LEGO pieces and stands over 25 in/64 cm high. What a monster!

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