Posted by
Dan
at
12:06 AM
| Name of Model: Ormurvík Space Superiority Racer |
| Created by: Patuara |
| Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=474910 |
Details:  This beautiful mix of Technic, Bionicle, and "System" elements makes a startlingly convincing vic viper. You can sort of tell where parts begin and end (with how much you can spot likely being a direct function of your level of Bionicle knowledge), but the parts gel together in a way we rarely see with elements that don't usually connect seamlessly. In those few places where a piece would normally create it's own gap, smaller pieces are used to fill those gaps. Don't miss the underside, which shows more traditional elements holding the craft together, providing greebling, and giving us sturdy landing gear. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
1:04 AM
| Name of Model: Mining Ship Class A |
| Created by: LUKY'S 1987 LEGO CREATIONS (Lukáš Šógor) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57490753@N05/sets/72157625992002739/with/5470769844/ |
Details:  Another example of the mega-microscale genre, this spaceship would have been considered large even if it were at minifig scale. The color scheme is very well chosen. While many people have complained about the merits of the newer shade of grey versus the old one, surprisingly few have embraced the fact that the bluish grey colors actually look great next to blue and dark blue. Throw in a realistic amount of greebling and texture, and it's a plausible design for a real spaceship. | | This is Saturday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:14 PM
| Name of Model: Dark Turquoise Space Truck |
| Created by: notenoughbricks |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/notenoughbricks/tags/teal/ |
Details:  Dark turquoise is one of the more unappreciated rare colors. OK, sure, it's more widely used than Salmon, but not by much. It's used well here, although the custom stickers dampen the boldness of the color. I'll forgive the inaccurate use of fire in space (a crime against scientific accuracy that LEGO has committed as well) since this is otherwise such a well-assembled craft. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:33 PM
| Name of Model: LGM Flying Saucer |
| Created by: Repoort / Adam Hally |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repoort/sets/72157625187222592/with/5092238094/ |
Details:  A little green man needs a flying saucer. As far as I know, the little green men from Toy Story don't really have flying saucers, but this design seems like it would be perfect. From above, it looks like a claw picking up the alien, just like in the movie. The skid plates on the rim (not to mention the Robo-Attack cockpit) give this a charming retro-futurist look. Then there's the technique for making this round - although it's just a simple click-hinge approach, this is one of those rare places where that actually looks good. The gaps between the 16 sides add a believable amount of texture to the ship - and the sections actually come close enough together by the cockpit. Since the cockpit appears to actually be closed, it's believable that this could contain an atmosphere for the alien to breathe while he's travelling in space. I know that LEGO doesn't prioritize that in official sets, but it really is a sign of a spaceship designed to travel (open cockpit vessels just can't get you that far - no matter how good your classic space air tanks are).
On a related note, the builder also has compiled a buyer's guide for use in keeping track of set prices and price-per-part. My printout of it comes in handy when browsing in places that sell LEGO sets for above the regular price (yes, I know there's an app for that, but some of us are too cheap for that - and for us, the buyer's guide is a godsend).
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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
4:21 PM
| Name of Model: Containment |
| Created by: Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) and Nannan Zhang (Nannan Z.) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1407088@N25/pool/ |
Details:  This epic model was built for Brickworld, which is going on right now and continues tomorrow in Chicago, Illinois. I'm afraid I've taken too long to post this for anyone to head over there during public hours today, but this (and hundreds of other fantastic LEGO models) will also be on display tomorrow (Sunday) from 10 AM to 3 PM. This model includes many interesting features, any one of which would have qualified as a blog-worthy on their own. Sand green soccer field plates are used sideways to create the walls of the buildings in the complex. One corner features a spectacular crashed spaceship diorama, curved nicely (probably with click hinges) and surrounded by a crater. An obscene amount of bricks with grooves on them make up- most of the track for a motorized monorail. Inside a few of the towers, there's a simple ball contraption - one tower brings Bionicle Zamor spheres up an elevator, and ramps bring the spheres back and forth. A carefully assembled scrap pile sits in front of a conveyor belt that looks like it's unloading pieces onto the pile (the belt is motorized, but the pieces are stuck to the belt). The buildings features large dark tan roadways connecting them, and elsewhere we see a Bionicle canister lid and two Pick-a-Brick cups used as part of the building. They also made up a storyline for the minifigures in this diorama, which is hinted at in "teaser" photos. There's also a video where you can see some of the motorized bits in action and hear the music from the iPod built into the base. Oh, did I even mention that this thing is in sand green and dark tan? |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: LL1005-31 Tortoon |
| Created by: T.Oechsner |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toechsner/tags/ncs/ |
Details:  The world of neo-Classic Space is alive and well, and people are still building new spaceships for it on a regular basis. Believe it or not, people are still coming up with original ideas to work with the limited amount of trans-yellow cockpits out there. This model in particular makes great use of greebling techniques. The "wings" are another fairly unusual feature - they're not solid, and are built entirely out of hinges and greebling. The overall effect is an imposing presence even with a fairly small body to the spacecraft itself. The links above include a larger gallery of 140+ photos of various neo-classic space models in addition to the four photos of today's model. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:46 PM
| Name of Model: Pigstorm Fighter |
| Created by: brainbike.rider |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brainbikerider/sets/72157606032597253/ |
Details:
 The first thing I noticed here was the excellent techniques used. Lots of fun parts, lots of clever studs-not-on-top stuff going on. It turns out that this actually wasn't an intentional thing - the parts selection was set by building out of exactly too sets - kits 7991 and 7990. OK, so the minifig comes from elsewhere, but is that really a problem? This is just an excellent spaceship. I, for one, would love to see building instructions to figure out just how some of the angles were done.
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Sean and Steph Mayo are rapidly becoming the most talked about couple in the AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO) community. We could do an entire round-up of just the recent models from these prolific builders. When they're not winning awards at LEGO conventions for our favorite models, they're busy making goofy inverted models (and then inverting them, they're stacking parts sideways instead of connecting them, and they're experimenting with MegaBloks for just long enough to see how well they burn. To continue showing up the rest of us, they're now making great desktop models for friends and coworkers. This one was for a friend who got a job at NASA. As usual, there are some stunning uses of unexpected parts: a knight's helmet for the top of the fuel tank, a support beam for the launch tower, minifig hands to get the shape of the wings, and round plates for tufts of smoke. It's a stunning amount of detail in just a 4 stud by 6 stud footprint.
). The way the slopes for the nose are combined is already surprisingly sleek, but then you notice that 
, including the classic Enterprise NCC-1701 (shown above), the 
