Minifig-Scale Chandelier

Name of Model: Chain Challenge 11: Swashbuckling!

Created by: Joe "joeseidon" Miller

Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96739476@N04/16220294503/

Details: In the past few years, there's been a proliferation of seed-part based challenges in the wake of the popular "Iron Builder" contest. I (Dan) did my part by finding a way to make such a game fit in at BrickFair, but most of these challenges revolve around Flickr. Sometimes, like in this case, it's just a couple of builders taking up the challenge for the fun of it. This particular challenge is based around the current small, 5-link chain element. Surely a silly piece, it's much too short to be useful and was originally used for Ninjago weaponry when it first came out. They've found plenty of clever uses for it, although some of them make use of the classic "everything is more useful in quantity" trick. Joe's entries so far have included this great chandelier, a microscale scene with a great truck, chairs and curtains, an octopus, and even a house. His competitor, Leopold "Legopold" Mao's entries so far include a roller coaster, a server room, a Micropolis prison complex, and a goblin family with a pet human. In a just world, I'd have blogged more of these models separately, but I've given up on that.

Second Annual Micropolis Building Challenge

Name of Contest: Second Annual Micropolis Building Challenge - The Sands of Time

Found at: http://www.reasonablyclever.com/?page_id=5181

Details: Remember last year's Bad Day for Micropolis contest? This year, TWINLUG and Reasonably Clever have teamed up again for another contest. The Second Annual Micropolis Building Challenge - The Sands of Time takes advantage of both the new Micropolis 1.1 standard and a Time Twisters theme to encourage people to build micropolis standard compliant models that are a bit different than what we're used to seeing. The new version of the standard includes rules for building waterfronts and bluffs - so now micropolis standard cities even have a sort of landscaping.

Triumphal Arch of Simple Techniques

Name of Model: built using simple bricks and plates. MOC for doublebrick.ru contest

Created by: CoolerTD

Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=422956

Details: Every once in a while, a fantastic model from somewhere else in the world reminds you of just how many great things you don't see because of language barriers. Sure, we all post photos to some of the same websites, but language barriers still prevent us from participating in certain contests or clearly communicating in words about various techniques. This particular contest (as explained by the builder in an English-language forum - the original contest was held on a Russian website, and as such info about this model is written in Russian) requires participants to design and build an original creation using only basic bricks and plates. At some level, it's pleasantly classic, going back to what people tend to think of as "pure" LEGO. On the other hand, it forces you to give up on many beloved building techniques. Or does it? - in this triumphal arch, we see bricks laid sideways (held in place only by friction and exact geometry), plates wedged between studs (with other small plates in between, only loosely attached), and plates partially connected on a curve to get that distinctive arch shape. This is extremely impressive for a model using only the most basic of LEGO elements!

This is Saturday's model of the day

Colossal Castle Contest VII - Winning Entries

I've featured my fair share of Castles (and even other entries from previous Colossal Castle Contests), but I barely touch most of the excellent castles out there. The latest Colossal Castle Contest brought some of the best castles I've seen yet. The categories are listed on that website, along with builders' credits and links to additional photos. This would easily be over a week's worth of "of the day" models here, but in the interest of not just establishing a backlog of phenomenal medieval creations, I'm featuring the winners as a group for today's Sunday edition.

The Slippery Eel

Name of Model: The Slippery Eel

Created by: -infomaniac-

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/-infomaniac-/tags/pillagethevillage/

Details: The whole "Pillage the Village" concept (which has been the basis for a few contests now) is to force Pirate builders back onto land to show us how the non-seafarers of the time lived - and what the Pirates could do to them. This village is a delightful mix of soldiers' fortifications and more civilian buildings, and also features plenty of Pirate action. Don't miss the rounded towers or the rocky landscaping. The pirate leaping into the water shows an interesting technique for the newer style of "fiber optic" cables LEGO has been using to allow the smaller lights to light up a larger area.

Bad Days For Micropolis

Name of Contest: Bad Day For Micropolis

Created by various contest entrants

Found at: http://www.reasonablyclever.com/lego/contest/badday/index.html

Details: One of the more interesting contests to have gone by recently was Reasonably Clever's "Bad Day For Micropolis". Based on the Micropolis Micro City Standard developed by TwinLUG (the LEGO Users Group for the Minneapolis / St. Paul region), the idea of the contest was to build a Micropolis module that was being destroyed in some way. The micropolis standard is already fun on it's own - it's a pretty straightforward standard, that's small enough to allow people with even fairly small collections to build interesting modules (the base is only 16 studs square). Many of the modules entered into the contest are exciting even without the "bad day" element - but add in a few alien attacks, construction fiascos, and natural disasters, and suddenly things go from adorably clever to fiendishly exciting.

Hong Kong Competition Finalists

In lieu of proper model coverage for today (and to help make up for the quiet weekend), here's a gallery of competition finalists from Hong Kong. They run the gamut of scales, themes, and techniques. While I would prefer to credit the individual builders, we're now reviving this blog's earlier practice of featuring larger galleries and group displays on Sundays. If you have more information about this competition or any of the specific models or builders involved, let us know by sending an e-mail to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com .

Castillo de Rojo (Classic-Castle's Colossal Castle Contest is Back!)

Name of Model: Castillo de Rojo

Created by: remyth

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyrondurknight/sets/72157611773604263/

Details: Every so often, it becomes time for another Colossal Castle Contest over on the classic-castle.com forums. Inevitably, this results in a rush of amazing castles, and I pick a few seemingly at random to feature here - the rest don't get featured just because there are too many awesome castles in the world. There are a few things I've come to expect (and I suspect that long-time readers have come to expect as well) in these castles. Landscaping is the biggest one - there's always hills, plants, dirt, and a realistic amount of texture and elevation. Realistic scale is another thing - sure, in a real LEGO set, it would be too expensive to have full ramparts, but in a "colossal castle" contest, you have to go all-out. Details and "easter egg" gags are also a must - which means every photo must be viewed individually. Tiling all of the ramparts and roofs with a mosaic complete with accents in dark red? That's a bit more unexpected - and awesome. Don't miss the waterwheel design on this one either. Tomorrow (the 31st) marks the end of the contest, so it might be a while before I start to see another flood of castles. Of course, there are always last-minute entries in these contests, so perhaps we'll see another one featured here soon...

Futuron Labs - A Town / Space Model

Name of Model: Futuron Labs

Created by: ME

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dp3/sets/72157607275256729/

Details: I'm a bit surprised that the other LEGO® fans blogging out there haven't pointed out the bizarre lack of properly shown models online coming from me. Well, at long last, you now get to meet me as a builder and not just a critic (although I, for one, think I am fascinating and reasonably clever). I started building the Futuron Labs building a little while ago, but I decided to properly put it into the Cafe Corner style and add some more vignettes to prepare it for the Reasonably Clever Brick Science Contest. The contest ends Monday morning at 3:14 AM EST. If you haven't been following LEGO for the last 22 years or so, you'll probably miss a few of the in-jokes I've put in the descriptions of the photos. I'll leave it up to you to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I did include a few set links to explain some late-80's Futuron references, but it's kind of hard to find just one link to explain some of the other things. Feel free to send me questions. There were a few neat techniques here, and I tried to give enough inside and partially-assembled shots to make them all obvious. Most of the studs-not-on-top stuff was pretty simple, but I don't think I've seen the large panels used this way before. I'm really happy with my microscale monorail, and I liked the street vendor with the "spaceships" that are really binoculars. I don't know if I'll use flickr to publish my models in the future, but I think that the "note" feature on there - which allows anyone with a flickr account to mark a section of the photo and leave a comment - will be useful for these photos. I really tried to pack tons of detail into this model - I highly recommend looking at all the photos, although I do have less of a impartial view on these photos than I usually do (I know my photography skills need work, at least...) By the way - I've decided to try to relaunch this site on October first. The break will give me a chance to catch up (primarily) on more high-priority things on my schedule. Also, I'm hoping to build up a buffer of models by using Scheduled Post Publishing more often. I don't know if/when we'll see another one of my models properly written up (or featured), but hey, at least I'm trying to get a little time in for LEGO fun. My internet connection remains a bit erratic, but getting off of a day-to-day schedule for this site should offset that (and of course, thanks to my friend Matthew, who caught me up on a few newer MOCs during a break on this past Monday).

30 Years of the Minifig

I'm a bit out-of-the-loop on this, but apparently today marks the 30th Anniversary of the minifig. I'm not sure how they're defining minifigs, or how they came up with today in particular, but quite a few sites are doing something for this and there's a new (official?) site up about it at http://www.gominimango.com/ . I've actually never heard the term "miniman" before, but I think it sounds like a great name for a potential minifig superhero. Of course, if you're on the GoMiniManGo website, you'll probably notice that their timeline is erratic (no Space sets between 85 and 92? Seriously? The Blacktron, M:Tron, Blacktron II, Space Police I, and Futuron themes really need to be represented there). There are also apparently some contests running on there - if I'm reading this correctly (and I really haven't put much time into it yet), there's a poster-making contest at The Brothers Brick and a video-making contest at Gizmodo. Let me know if you find any other information about this - it looks exciting but digging through the miniman website (where you have to scroll down to even see the other posts) isn't really the best use of my time right now.

Indiana Jones and the Awesome Klocki Contest

Name of Models: Klocki contest winners - Cart Ride, Steel Wishbone, and Flying Wing

Created by: Klocki readers (I know I'm slacking here, but the appropriate links are at the site listed above)

Found at: http://www.e-klocki.com/2008/08/07/indiana-jones-winners/

Details: Recently, Klocki ran a contest loosely based on the New LEGO® Indiana Jones™ Collection. There were a few different categories - "Indiana Jones and Memorable Scene" (a 16x16 vignette), "Indiana Jones and Forgotten Adventure" (a design-your-own story featuring Indiana Jones), and "Indiana Jones and the UCS Model" (UCS stands for "Ultimate Collector's Series" - an official series which has been expanded by fans to include other large and very detailed vehicles). All three winning entries are excellent - take a look!

Medieval Village Scene - Attacked by Goblins!

Name of Model: VillageAttack - A goblin invasion.

Created by: RebelRock

Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=306697

Details: This masterpiece was done as an entry to the Classic-Castle.com 2008 Battles Contest. Newer "goblin" minifigs are attacking villagers and Crown Knights - and there's an excellent detailed medieval village here too. Some highlights: Grey goblets are used in place of fences in the bridge. The smooth look of the water was achieved by putting blue bricks on their side. Complete landscaping - sculpted grass, slopes for rocks, and even a decent dirt trail leading up to all of the buildings. Just in front of the bridge, you can see someone who jumped headfirst into the water to escape a goblin White 2x2 round plates give a realistic smoke-from-a-chimney effect If you follow non-LEGO weaponry, you'll probably recognize some of the unusual weapons used in the battle (I'd call that cheating, but it's not too noticeable here...) A fire has started burning a building!

This is Friday's model of the day

Falcon of the Millennium

Name of Model: Falcon of the Millennium

Created by: ReasonablyClever

Found at: http://www.reasonablyclever.com/lego/falcon/index.html

Details: This startling motorized model is another steampunk Star Wars vehicle. FBTB is running a contest to build Star Wars themed Steampunk models out of LEGO® bricks. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a few more excellent entries from that appear here, but I'd be surprised if we see more motorized ones. Or more Millennium Falcons - it's not easy to build something on this scale with these sparse retro stylings. There are some great details and photos here, but make sure you get a chance to see the video of the propellers in motion.

This is Friday's model of the day