Posted by
Dan
at
8:38 PM
| Name of Model: IMG_9532 |
| Created by: Dan (yours truly) |
| Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dp3/15424910239/in/set-72157627265274741 |
Details:  Here's a quick look at one of my own recent builds - a microscale Pirate ship (or more accurately, an imperial galleon for the pirates to attack). The original idea was to create a ship that looked good, but was small enough to animate for Mini LEGO Con. That didn't work out so well, but the finished model was nice enough to add a stand (with water). At 8 x 16 studs, it fits into a Mini Con display, but is slightly larger than one of the BrickFair-styled tables.
This was actually a very humbling model, since I ended up using quite a few pieces that I dismissed as unnecessary when they first came out. The base of the ship is a Bionicle Visorak foot - an "action figure part" you'll never use in-system, right? Two of the sails use a 1 x 2 plate with 2 clips (you'd think 2 1 x 1 plates with clips would do the trick, but this is actually sturdier). One of the sails uses a 2 x 2 tile with one stud in the center, which I remember saying was the equivalent of 3 jumper plates, but a plate shorter. Finally, a 1 x 1 round plate with hole (a part once exclusive to LEGOLAND for metal bracing and wiring) connects the tallest mast to the 1 x 1 round brick below it.
Kids, don't try this at home. You would not believe how difficult it is to connect a plate clip into the bottom of a 2 x 3 plate that already has two 1 x 2 tiles wedged into it. At least it looks good, but LEGO rightly considers that to be an illegal connection.
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:12 PM
| Name of Model: SS Dogbone |
| Created by: strandee (Eric Strand) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16302109@N08/sets/72157626132088613/ |
Details:  Over the years, a number of display models have been used to promote general LEGO building. In the 1960's, this frequently meant large boats using large quantities of the fairly basic elements available at the time. These early models were glued and frequently made of cellulose acetate plastic. LEGO stop used that plastic in the 60's, after it became clear that it can warp in some conditions. That warping problem makes original models rare (few were kept in good condition, and nobody at the time expected that they wouldn't last terribly well), but many Adult-Fans-Of-LEGO reproduce the old design using parts as close to the originals as possible. Here, you can spot windows with a large ledge (that prevent them from sitting flat on a baseplate) on every deck of the ship. This particular boat was copied from a model found in the Toy and Plastic Brick Museum in Bellaire, Ohio, USA. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
12:33 AM
| Name of Model: Sunset-on-a-dirigible |
| Created by: Balamorgineas |
| Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=459637 |
Details:  Every once in a while, you come across a model that rewards close inspection but can't be photographed well from a distance. Trust me - this model is one of them. This airship (in a loosely "steampunk" tradition) features some spectacular techniques and part usages. One thing you can see in many of the photos is a choppy, water-ish texture (perhaps it's supposed to be a cloud) created by dozens of minifig legs. The balloon-shaped bit hear the top is made entirely out of 2x2 round plates - and that's attached cleverly with hooks, chains, and skis! The front hull is a pair of sideways staircases, with click hinge sections attached. That hinge element reappears in quite a few other places, somehow feeling like an intentional motif instead of an overly-available part. Minifig telescopes make nice railings on the sides, and an unusual open cabin rounds things out - with the fins in the back being an entertaining nod to proper ship steering. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:16 PM
| Name of Model: Intermodal Container Port |
| Created by: Shuppiluliumas and other members of PennLUG |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34338074@N06/sets/72157624564108457/ |
Details:  If you've really waded through all of the thousands of photos from this past year's Brickfair, you've seen this beauty before. Had any part of this model been registered on its own instead of as part of the PennLUG town/train layout, it would have won one of the convention's awards. There's too much here to do an in-depth look at the details fairly, and it's connected to the rest of the layout in a way that makes it difficult to tell where various people's contributions start and end. A few striking things should not be missed: the large amounts of shipping containers, the enormous dark blue boat, the trans-green water (built with tiles in something of a mosaic style), the docks, the cranes. This was so much of a show-stopper that you could be forgiven for not knowing that the PennLUG is generally more well known for trains! |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: H.M.S Imperial Shark |
| Created by: mattbliss83 |
| Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=420890 |
Details:
 Building ships can pose a bit of a challenge - building hulls from scratch can quickly get parts intensive (and thus expensive), but using the large hull elements from the various boat kits makes it difficult to expand the size of the boat. Sure, you could just buy more copies of the kit to make the boat longer, but eventually the proportions just get a bit too out of whack (and realistically, buying multiples of the same Pirate ship just for hull mid-sections can quickly get very expensive). This model strikes an interest balance - there's definitely hull sections from more than one kit, but extra height keeps the proportions in check. The front section shows an excellent use of slopes and sideways plates to expand the shape of the ship. Extravagant detail work makes the ship look elegant enough to be an important part of the imperial fleet. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: PTV2- When fishing goes wrong. |
| Created by: Guss |
| Found at: http://guss.teammu.com/modules/extgallery/public-album.php?id=156 |
Details:
 It's not easy to build a great Pirate ship. Generally speaking, if you build only part of a ship, you're going to disappoint people. Not this time, though - the brick-built sails, water, boat hull and shark (according to this EuroBricks thread it was originally intended to be a whale but morphed into something fairly original that the builder is calling a Giant Sharkiguss) look spectacular and anchor (see what I did there?) the whole model. Not content to stop there, though, Guss has also added in some details and vignettes both inside and outside of the ship. You can spot a sleeping pirate, a captain with a fishing rod, and even barrels of ballast in the bottom of the ship. |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
9:15 PM
| Name of Model: Lion Of Lübuck | | Created by: maydayartist | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=396195 | Details:
 Take a moment to let that image sink in. I try to be agnostic towards photo quality - as someone who tends to take very bad pictures, I hardly feel fair judging other people's pictures. It's also up for debate whether or not photoshopped pictures of models should really count. This is just a striking image, a true work of art. If it weren't for a few distinct LEGO pieces still being visible, you could think this had been painted by a master landscape painter in centuries gone by.
Here's an interesting twist on basing your models on historical reference photos: rather than directly try to build the Adler von Lübeck out of LEGO® parts, maydayartist decided to build a sister ship - and what a spectacular ship it is. The sails are made out of pillow cases, and look surprisingly good (usually the non-LEGO material of choice is canvas, which is stiffer, but doesn't allow for stowing away the rigging like we see in some of the other photos here). The sides of the ship are largely made out of sideways log elements. The rear cabin makes use of hinges to create 7 sides. Most great Pirate ship models impress us with their size or vignettes, but this one does it with style. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:02 AM
Name of Model:
RMS Olympic | | Created by: rh1985moc | | Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rh1985/sets/72157606319294253/ | Details:
 The RMS Olympic (a sister ship of the Titanic) has been rendered in microscale - with LED lights for nighttime viewing. I'm on my way out the door right now, but you can't wait on a ship like this. Trust me - check the photos and you'll be surprised to see clever uses for chains, robot arms, and a variety of other parts that generally have little to no use on a microscale ship. That's a ship for water, too - not a spaceship. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
2:59 AM
| Today's (Thursday's) model pick has been taken offline by the builder. Apologies for the inconvenience |
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Posted by
Dan
at
1:46 PM
| Name of Model: Alonso de Chaves | | Created by: joaquin | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=310799 | Details:
 If you're familiar with any of the official boat sets, you probably already know that they're not really to scale - most boats are much larger than that. Of course, building a fantastic ship out of LEGO® parts can be pretty difficult and expensive because of the sheer size of these things. Today's model uses a novel approach to get around this: only building half of a ship - and then using the open cross-section as a way to show off complete interiors. Rather than focus on building a huge exterior, joaquin did tons of details in the middle of the ship. I don't know if the engine room or workers' quarters are actually based on the life-size Spanish sea vessel or not, but they look pretty good. The rescue vessel that this ship was apparently based on was named for 16th century navigator/cosmographer Alonso de Chaves - but surprisingly, it's hard to find a good link to compare with. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:28 AM
| Name of Model: Pirates-Imperial Ship | | Created by: takamkt | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=297877 | Details:
 Wait, don't skip this one, it's NOT the set from the early 90's! At first glance, this model looks like one of the older Pirate Ships, and also a lot like the Imperial Flagship set. This isn't, though, and looking at the details makes that abundantly clear. This original model includes a full interior and hinged walls that allow you to look inside of it. A wide variety of parts were used in this model that weren't widely available when sets of this color scheme were available. Note the brown woodtones used to connect the sails, the lions on the back of the ship, and the fencing used on the balcony. Another useful feature is actual stairs and ladders for the minifigures (the official Pirates sets always seem to expect the people to get places by magic). I'm pretty sure this is the ship you want to be on when the head of the Armada tells you to travel to the new world. Those swiveling cannons ought to be able to protect you from the pirates. | | This is Tuesday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Dan
at
3:00 AM
| Name of Model: Pirate Ship | | Created by: Moko (for our readers that understand written Japanese: his blog) | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=237762 | Details:
 This beautiful microscale pirate ship features a number of unusual details. Note the binoculars used for cannons, and the way that plates are only loosely attached to form sales. A number of studs-not-on-top effects are used to add details to the ship's sides. Even the normally innocuous tubes on the bottom of plates are used for details - get a load of the way the rope ladders that lead to the sails are made.
If you've been following any of the other LEGO blogs out there, then you probably already know about this model and a few other brilliant models done by Moko. It should suffice to say that Moko is a genius and a browse through his/her Brickshelf gallery will be rather enjoyable, if you have the time for it. |
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