Details: Since Star Wars builders tend to re-build the same scenes and vehicles over and over again with different scales, colors, and techniques, we don't tend to feature them too often here. If you're not that excited about Star Wars, there's really only so many times you can get excited at seeing yet another model based on the same source material. However, today I'm directing you towards a round-up someone has compiled of top-notch recreations of TIE Fighters. They're all great, even though they cover two different types of Star Wars ship and a variety of scales.
Built by: Models built by eclipsegrafx, Tim (Tim's son Spencer built a model as well), notenoughbricks and my wife and parents even helped build the boat models!, model designs by the LEGO company
Details: I've previously written a bit about the LEGO store ribbon models, and since new stores are continuing to open, more are being built. The links above point to a gallery with 29 photos of ribbon models just after they were built. It's usually easier to get a good look at the models before they've been installed in the LEGO store, since the windows at the stores don't give you a particularly broad view.
This weekend, there will be a Grand Opening and a Master Builder Event at the new store in Elmhurst, New York (that's what today's models were built for). Last weekend's events at Rockefeller Center were fairly epic, and I'm still updating the blog post about them with additional links to photos and other coverage of the weekend. Next week, LEGO will expand their newfound retail store empire further by opening their first brand retail store in Canada.
Here's the full list of upcoming store openings from the official website (not sure why they haven't given more details or dates on these yet):
-Houston Galleria, Houston, TX
-Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City, NY
-Queens Center, Elmhurst, NY
-Rockefeller Center, New York City, NY
-Aventura Mall, Miami, FL
-Wiesbaden, Germany
-Chinook Centre, Calgary, AB, Canada
Most new stores have a soft opening between when the ribbon models are assembled and when the grand opening actually takes place. If you're in town a week or two before a "grand opening", chances are you can go to the store and browse anyway.
Details: When the 6242 Soldiers' Fort set came out, it introduced a new building standard for modular minifig-scale models. That standard, known as the "Soldier's Fort" standard or the "Three and Ten" standard, was hailed, documented, and supported by LEGO Pirate fan sites, but sadly did not catch on. While having LEGO kits that follow a standard can help that standard gain popularity (note the Cafe Corner standard, which started with one set and is now used forothersets and nearly every original creation blogged at Brick Town Talk), not all official standards really catch on. Even some great modular systems, like the old Blacktron spaceship modularity, often just don't stick. While the fort standard seems to be destined for the unsorted-parts bin of history, this model matches the standard and fits in with the style of the Prince of Persia sets. Putting a rocky surface where the dock/water line was originally works surprisingly well to make this standard work away from water.
Perhaps this will inspire more people to try building small modules in this standard that can be part of a larger fort layout.
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 previouslyfeatured 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.
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.
Details: This parrot (a type of macaw) is made largely with Technic parts. While some of the parts are Bionicle specific, most of this is more Technic than Bionicle. Considering the unusual color palettes that LEGO makes Technic pieces in, this is actually a pretty impressive bird. Part of the reason most large Technic creations are black, red, yellow, or colored like a Mindstorms set is that LEGO hasn't made it terribly easy to get parts in some colors. While licensed sets (such as Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, Indiana Jones, Thomas the Tank Engine, Toy Story, etc) tend to drive LEGO to manufacture parts in unusual colors, the Technic line hasn't benefited from this nearly as much, making colors like the green and dark blue seen here all too had to find. LEGO recently reached out to LEGO fans about what colors certain parts should be available in, so perhaps we'll see a better selection of colors for more Technic parts in the future. In the meantime, this is an impressively distinctive structure even without needing to cut the builder slack for color choices. The tail, wings, and beak are nice and clear and even the eyes came out well.
Details: This batch of semi-autonomous NXT androids was also at this year's FANABRIQUES event. It's pretty common for LEGO conventions to have "themes" that are very loose and only attract a handful of theme-specific models. This year's FANABRIQUES theme was Space (which actually happens to be a popular theme that people tend to build in anyway). Taking up the challenge to bring the theme to the NXT, Matthias Paul Scholz built these two cute "astronauts" with one Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit each. You can see in the video both a remote control mode (probably implemented via Bluetooth) and an automatic mode that passes out pamphlets.
Details: During the weekend of June 26th and 27th, the French LEGO fan community had their big convention. Since European countries are close together and travel is more accessible there (compared to in the United States), this ends up being another big international shindig. I've previously covered one of their Great Ball Contraption layouts - they generally have one of the world's best GBC layouts. Below are some links to photos and other coverage of the event. Francophone LEGO fans - we need your help digging up more photos and coverage of this year's FANA'BRIQUES event. Send in your links to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com
Details: This big apple (a play on New York's nickname) will be on display through next Tuesday at New York’s Rockefeller Center. The sculpture was built to commemorate the opening of a brand new LEGO store, which is open now. The store is a "flagship" store, which seems to be like the "Imagination Centers" we've seen sprout up elsewhere. Several smaller sculptures are in the store as permanent fixtures. There are more photos of the shop and sculpture at the recap linked above, alternately you can check out the official webpage for the new store (which has the location details so you can plan your trip).
Details: Based on the Magma Mech set, this model takes the idea and removes the goofy colors and over-the-top arm features. The off-kilter look is enhanced through a more interesting and technically advanced construction for various limbs that can really do some damage underground. Sure, it won't get past a focus group of little kids, but this looks more like something that'd actually get used underground. The new color scheme looks great (even if it's not as eye-catching as the original lime/orange/blue scheme) - in addition to black, there's also a bit of sand green from a Green Grocer kit. The use of the large Power Miners wheels as feet and joints works wonderfully, and all of the transitions work even though we see disparate Bionicle and seemingly single-use parts thrown in left and right.
Details: This microscale model of the Citigroup Center in New York (more specifically, downtown midtown Manhattan) is surprisingly recognizable for its small size. The scale of this model is actually smaller than the micropolis standard - in the LEGO world, a term like "microscale" is really a blanket term to describe a variety of sizes that are very small.
Since Star Wars builders tend to re-build the same scenes and vehicles over and over again with different scales, colors, and techniques, we don't tend to feature them too often here. If you're not that excited about Star Wars, there's really only so many times you can get excited at seeing yet another model based on the same source material. However, today I'm directing you towards a round-up someone has compiled of top-notch recreations of TIE Fighters. They're all great, even though they cover two different types of Star Wars ship and a variety of scales. 
