Posted by
Dan
at
11:10 PM
| Created by employees of the LEGO company, rediscovered by 62 Bricks |
| Found at: http://62bricks.com/lego-revisits-the-tower-bridge/ |
Details: 
Long before LEGO announced the official Tower Bridge kit, they'd actually already designed a LEGO version of the tower bridge that could be built by anyone. Featured in an idea book in 1964, this actually pre-dates the LEGOLAND parks (which feature landmarks in a "miniland" scale, compared to the microscale of this design or the current kit). Sure, the color palette wasn't as broad in 1964, but the old design is larger and is surprisingly convincing considering that it only uses basic parts.
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| This is Friday's moment of the day |
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Posted by
Dan
at
6:53 PM
| Name of Model: One for the Road |
| Created by: legoloverman (Peter Reid) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38509565@N00/5029063347/ |
Details:  Maersk LEGO sets have never been easy to come by. Since a special color of LEGO brick is manufactured for use in these sets, they're highly prized among LEGO hobbyists - the slightly greenish shade of light blue is useful in a variety of settings. On those rare occasions when Maersk-colored parts are available to the public, they're quickly bought up for use in larger creations. The popularity of the bricks leads to extras of the stickers being available. Naturally, the challenge then becomes finding models to use the stickers. Microscale Maersk models have been done before, but this one seems particularly realistic and compelling. The builder has a nearly magic touch when it comes to greebling on very small space vehicles.
See also: the same builder's latest Maersk spaceship.
| | This is Thursday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:48 PM
| Name of Model: St. Basil's Cathedral |
| Created by: Arthur Gugick |
| Found at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/228643 |
Details:  20 inches by 20 inches (64 studs square) is a pretty small space, particularly if you're trying to build sprawling landmarks. It is, however, apparently enough space to capture the grandeur and distinctive architecture of St. Basil's Cathedral. Part of Moscow, Russia's Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, the cathedral was built in the 1500's and was secularized in the 1920's. The unusual domes - bulb-like shapes that look more like onions than anything you'd normally see on a building - are naturally difficult to capture in LEGO form (and their colors only add to the challenge). I have a feeling that the Dome Creator software wasn't able to handle this one.
Beyond the domes, there are also some great techniques used to create details on the sides of the building. The bottoms of plates show outwards so that their undersides can form the texture of the walls. Wheel wells do a surprisingly good job of providing the arch shape found on the smaller spires. Hinge plates give several places angles to create octagonal and round-looking spires. A row of plates with clips allows for fence elements to face two different directions and still be connected firmly to the structure. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
12:39 AM
| Name of Model: Containment - Rebuilt |
| Created by: Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/legohaulic/4951850724/ |
Details:  Remember the Containment layout that was unveiled at this year's BrickWorld? It's been re-done at a smaller scale. This was necessary in order to make that giant two-person layout fit comfortably on one person's shelf. Sadly, this meant removing some of the features - no lights, sound, or movement in this microscale version (yes - we seem to have found an application that would require a still smaller iPod ). In spite of that, though, a surprising amount of detail was able to be squeezed back in, and the layout is fairly recognizable. | | This is Saturday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:10 PM
| Name of Model: Ambassador build |
| Created by: MrGSnot / Gary McIntire (photo by monsterbrick / Matt Armstrong) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/monsterbrick/4939810838/ |
Details:  LEGOLAND master builder Gary McIntire designed this sand castle model as an exclusive for lifetime members of LEGOLAND California. Lifetime members get exclusive access to one model builder session per year - during which they get a personal "building lesson" with a master builder from the park and get an exclusive kit with rare or unreleased parts. LEGOLAND parks frequently have access to parts that are not available in kits so that their master builders don't have to worry about tracking down "rare" part/color combinations. This sand castle set includes some yet-to-be-released tan cheese slopes, as well as some larger tan slope elements that aren't available in any kit. Occasionally, you do see a part that was once LEGOLAND exclusive appear in later sets, but the lifetime member exclusive sets will always have some parts that haven't been available anywhere else yet.
Oh - did I mention that this is also a really nice model? Note the use of a flag element as a drawbridge, the use of 1x1 plates with teeth on the tallest tower, and the clever use of two different scales.
UPDATE 9/7: More photos of the ambassador class have now been uploaded to flickr by Mariann Asanuma
9/20: ...and now she's also blogged about it.
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:49 PM
| Name of Model: Gamble House |
| Created by: The Brick Scho |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50502540@N08/tags/gamblehouse/ |
Details:  This gorgeous microscale rendition of the Gamble house in Pasadena, California, USA is fantastic. While the source material is an exciting bit of architecture, this LEGO version actually looks even better - the brighter shades of tan and reddish brown really pop, and the dark green here looks phenomenal. The balance of techniques is just right - the windows are flashy enough to stand out but still fairly faithful to the source material. When trying to capture a landmark in microscale, you sometimes need to make a bit of a caricature by emphasizing certain features. In this case, I think that the details where picked out as well as can be at this scale.
Please check out the builder's flickr photostream for additional photos of this model and other spectacular microscale models of real buildings. I tried to add the tag "Gamble House" to all of these photos to make them easier to see here, but for some reason that option wasn't available on a few photos of this model - including one of the better overview shots and the photo showing how the roof sections line up.
From the builder:
Built: 1908 Architects: Brothers Henry & Charles Greene Pasadena, CA
I hope that this has captured the look and feel of the Gamble House.
The Gambles considered selling it, but soon changed their minds when prospective buyers spoke of painting the interior teak and mahogany woodwork white! The Gambles realized the artistic importance of the house and it remained in the Gamble family until 1966, when it was deeded to the city of Pasadena and University. Enjoy! |
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Posted by
Dan
at
9:52 AM
| Name of Model: White House |
| Created by: Adam Reed Tucker for the LEGO Architecture line |
| Found at: My photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dp3/sets/72157624442686586/ To purchase: LEGO Shop @ Home |
Details:  Recently, LEGO released a new kit - 21006 White House. Coming in at $49.99 for 560 pieces, this is the best value yet in the LEGO Architecture series (and since this is the first one under the almighty 10-cents-per-piece line, it's also the first one I've actually bought). A decent model of the life-size White House in Washington DC, this captures the general look in microscale on a snazzy base featuring dark green shrubbery, black tiles on the edges, and even a printed tile with "The White House" on it. The build was relatively challenging, with most of the pieces being very small and needing to be lined up just right. There was only one technique that I think an experienced builder (which I'm assuming anyone building this kit - recommended for people age 12 and up - would be) would find surprising, but there were some great offset effects achieved using jumper plates (which this has 64 of) as well. If you're interested in some "spoilers", have a look at my photos of the set, which include build photos, unboxing, and the set inventory. I've also added comments to each photo on that photo's flickr page.
One way I like to judge LEGO kits of landmarks is to compare the official version to hobbyist-designed versions. I'm having trouble finding a fair comparison to this one, though, in terms of scale. Neither of the two I've previously featured are at a similar scale, and Arthur Gugick's other model of the White House is much larger. While the columns here look a bit spindly (they're the lightsaber blade element in white), it's hard to critique fairly without knowing if something better can be achieved at a similar scale.
This set was designed by Adam Reed Tucker, who has been creating model versions of landmarks since long before his LEGO Architecture line came into being. Some of his other LEGO works are now on display in the National Building Museum's LEGO® Architecture: Towering Ambition exhibtion. That display goes from July 3rd, 2010 to September 5th, 2011 - so if you're planning on making the trip to BrickFair in 2010 or 2011, you can make this part of the same trip to the DC area.
Since we usually try to share a little bit of interesting background information here when covering landmarks, here's the official background on the kit:
There are few structures in the United States with the history and reverence of The White House, designed by James Hoban. On July 16, 1792, President George Washington chose this James Hoban design from six competing designs from renowned architects. This six-story Sandstone structure was meant to command respect for the nation from citizens and foreign visitors. Construction took place from 1792 - 1800 and it was rebuilt by Hoban following the fire of 1814. The assembled White House model stands 9" (22 cm) wide on a base with printed name label and includes a booklet with facts about the building, its construction and its history.
Disclosure: I received a free awesome little Spaceman magnet when I bought this, and you can too buy spending $75 at LEGO Brand Retail this July, while supplies last. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Deep Space 9 |
| Created by: sjaacko |
| Found at: http://binarybricks.nl/voorbeelden/ds9.html |
Details:
 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was cancelled 11 years ago today. As with most of the Star Trek franchise, the show has maintained a lively following over the years that hasn't let go of the series. This is the main space station from the series, in microscale. Want to build your own? You're in luck! The builder has posted various in-progress photos on Brickshelf, and you can also download instructions in LDraw (MLCAD) and PDF format. Although most of the links above show computer renderings of this design (I'm pretty sure that the snazzy photo I've used for this post is actually just an exceptionally good digital render - but I didn't even notice at first glance!), a photo of one physically built with honest-to-goodness bricks can be found on Brickshelf. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:34 PM
| Name of Model: Furball Bullseye 190, 31 |
| Created by: -Mainman- |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainman/4653947426/ |
Details:  Forced perspective is a difficult thing to truly do right in LEGO. This photo is how it's done. There's just the one picture of this model, but it's so perfect that you don't really need a second photo (and there's likely an issue with the model not looking as good from other angles anyway). The idea behind the forced perspective technique is to mix scales in a way that makes some things look further away. In this case, we see a cockpit that is built at about half of actual size, with microscale planes and missiles in the distance that are about one hundredth of regular size. The mountains on the backing mosaic are at even smaller scale. Even though the different parts of this model are very close together, they look like they're fairly far apart. More importantly, this looks more realistic than most first-person plane-driving video games. The illusion of screens is created by using old dark grey inlays inside of frames built in the newer dark bluish grey color. Additional studs-not-on-top trickery with small lime plates creates the details on the screens. A similar technique is used for the mountains in the background - the snowy mountaintops are surprisingly complex, and the rows of peaks in the front are brought out by using an older shade of grey, and some brown in front of that. Even the dark green plates for foliage turns out to be spot-on. Most of the techniques have already been picked apart in notes on flickr, so if you're still curious, check out the link above (you can also "embiggen" further). |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Brookings Hall |
| Created by: Nannan Z. |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nannanz/4621429701/ |
Details:  As part of a series of gifts to people who work for his alma mater, Nannan Z. created this microscale rendition of Brookings Hall, a distinctive structure on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. While this is a rather simple model by construction, the colors used make it a challenging thing to try building - the main color here is that new color that only appears in the Prince of Persia kits so far. Since only 14 parts have ever been sold in that color, it can be quite a challenge to figure out how to get the desired shape. Throw in two more fairly rare colors - sand green for the roof and dark tan for the ground - and suddenly this becomes a bit more challenging to try to create. Fortunately, the end result is a fairly accurate likeness.
If you look a few photos back in Nannan's flickr photostream, you can see the other four photos of this model and also take a look at some of the other models he has recently made as teacher gifts (most of which make great use of custom engraving to personalize LEGO bricks). |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Mont St. Michel |
| Created by: Arthur Gugick "torgugick" |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10321180@N08/tags/france/ |
Details:
 The Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France is one of seven landmarks that Arthur Gugick deemed unbuildable. In spite of that, though, he has built it and it came out well (and quite small). The technique for the water is closer to what he's done for mosaics before - round pieces on a solid background to allow for more color. The village in the front features a surprising amount of variety at this scale - lots of little roof pieces make the distinctive roof lines. On the cathedral itself, we see large amounts of hinge pieces used for the architectural details. There are only 4 photos of this model (which comes in at a mere 64-studs square at the base, and is only 20 bricks tall), but they're all worth a look - even with little space and relatively simple techniques, there's a surprising amount of detail snuck into this model. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Brick-City Waterfront 3.0 |
| Created by: Tim M. |
| Found at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/156687 |
Details:
 We've previously blogged about Shannonia, TwinLUG Micropolis and LowLug Micropolis. There are, of course, plenty of other microscale cities out there (and there's nothing stopping you from building your own). This one is interesting in how it attempts to show part of the countryside along with the the small city. A landscaped cliff with rocks, a castle, and a small cave stands out, as does the water made entirely out of trans-dark-blue 2x2 bricks. The bridge leading out to where another waterfront city could be build is a clever touch too. Did I mention that there's also a city here with lots of microscale goodness? |
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For once, I've decided to go with multiple models on a Saturday (because it's a long weekend for many of us in the US - yeah, that's the ticket!) instead of waiting for a Sunday to open up. Follow the links above for 40 great photos of microscale starships from Star Trek: The Original Series
, including the classic Enterprise NCC-1701 (shown above), the Romulan Warbird and the Klingon Bird of Prey. Some interesting, upside-down, wedge-based mosaic techniques were used for the bottom of the Romulan Warbird. The angles and stands here look great - these are all great example of how much easier it is to get these distinctive shapes with the various hinges we've seen pop up everywhere in the past decade or so (why yes, I'm still bitter that it was nearly impossible to build decent spaceships when I was little. Why do you ask?) 
