Have A Fabuland-ous Valentine's Day

Name of Model: Happy Valentine's Day

Created by: Schneider Chung ("Schfio")

Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/schfio/32898475325/

Details: Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. This is the most adorable thing you will see this Valentine's Day. The characters here are Fabuland figures - but here, the original Elton Elephant and Bonnie Bunny are only used as "gifts" that the larger, sculpted versions of the characters are giving each other. As cute as Elton and Bonnie are, the details of this model only make it more captivating. Note that the arms get thicker further away from the body to capture the curvature correctly - the "top" of each arm (actually built sideways) is made from rows of headlight bricks with 1 x 1 tiles connected to their fronts. The curved effect this creates is subtle, but an excellent use of the half-plate-thick offset you can get from a headlight brick. Clip plates hold the bunny's eyes in place and also form her eyelashes. Plates with rails fill some (roughly) half-stud-wide spaces that otherwise wouldn't look as round. The elephant's ears even achieve the difficult "cupped" effect by carefully weaving plates together in different directions - and I still can't tell how his eyes are attached. Bonnie's mouth is exquisite - a minifig cap sits on top of a precise jumper plate construction that conceals part of a set of whiskers built as a studs-up mosaic. Schneider Chung hadn't posted on Flickr for a while before this, but he remains one of the best at building in his signature studs-not-on-top style. I highly recommend that you explore the rest of his photostream. We've previously featured a few of his adorable Easter-themed animals.

Baymax from Big Hero 6

Name of Model: Baymax

Created by: lisqr

Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/43699326@N00/15801224498/

Details: lisqr recently built Baymax as he appears in Disney's adaptation of Big Hero 6. The studs-out technique for building sculptures has gotten more popular lately - I still usually associate it with Schfio, one of the best builders currently working in that style, but it seems like everyone is trying their hand at it now that you can get travis bricks on the Pick-A-Brick wall at LEGO stores (and LEGO seems to be putting out more exciting studs-not-on-top elements in sets as well). Bruce Lowell is also rather famous for this style of building, and the head on this model is an obvious riff on his classic Lowell sphere (have I really not written about any of Bruce's models since 2007? Time flies). The arms here are actually made from a great use of a different sculpture technique - loosely matching up various sizes of slopes and wedges. I believe I spy (please correct me if you think I'm wrong) a 2 x 1 curved slope, a 1 x 2 tile, and a 10 x 1 curved slope on each front edge, with a pair of 12 x 3 wedge slopes making the top and bottom of each arm. Even with all those slopes, it looks like the front and back edges are angled in further to get it to look just right. ...and I didn't even mention the great use of string on the robot's face yet.

Miniature Husky Sculpture

Name of Model: Miniature Husky

Created by: Quy Chau

Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nxtquy/sets/72157644934079871

Details: This is one of those rare models that is technically interesting, aesthetically pleasing, and documented in freely available instructions. While the availability of specific small pieces and studs-not-on-top elements has meant that most people can't easily attempt this style of building, the reality is that it can be quite tricky to get the geometry to work out just right - it isn't easy even with all the right pieces handy. Having instructions (for something more complex than a Lowell sphere) is a great place to start, and should get more people trying this out (even if only to build other dog breeds). There are some other nice details in the model as well. Note the use of 1x1 plates with teeth as claws and Bionicle ball joints as eyes. The "SNIR" (Studs-Not-In-a-Row) approach to the eyebrows is a clever way of filling in a gap that requires getting away from 90 degree angles, and a similar problem with the ears is solved by having them attached to Technic half-pins (which have a stud on one side and will allow anything attached to that stud to swing loosely). While a bit simpler, I'm a fan of the collar as well - it's a detail that makes the finished result more believable, and the studs-not-on-top geometry makes the cheese slopes look perfectly believable as a round surface.

Modular Buildings

Name of Model: Modular Buildings

Created by: Daniel Z

Found at: Flickr

Details: I took one look at these two lovely buildings and said "oh yeah". Wonderful proportioning is used throughout the whole creation. Some very subtle details add alot to the overall appearance. I'm particularly fond of the 1x2 bley plates stuck between the studs to give a grill effect on the top of the tan/bley building. Check out Daniel's photostream on Flickr for more of his wonderful creations.

Uh oh!

Name of Model: Uh oh!

Created by: Afro Engineer

Found at: Flickr

Details: Uh oh! is right, it would seem that squidman is in fact just a regular [theif] guy, not the alien we all though he was... A mixture of perfect figure placement and parts usage really makes this vignette stand out from all the rest. Just a hilarious little comedic scene, very appropriate for a Friday, I'm thinking.

Cockpit Box

Name of Model: Cockpit Box

Created by: Nnenn

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnenn/3418787940/

Details: At first blush this model may not blow you away. But take some consideration and a second look. Nnenn, who is far and away a builder of starfighters, describes in notes on his post at Flickr what he's up to. The image below represents a concept to aid of builders of starships, or just about anything else for that matter. If you have an initial template, a framework to start with, in this case a "Cockpit box," it gives you a good starting point from which to (pun intended) build on. Often builders might have an idea of what they want to build, but don't know where to start. But if you start with a template like this Cockpit Box, it gets your fingers moving, gives your mind a minute to warm up while you snap things together, and then it's a lot easier to start creatively figuring out what to add on to the rest of it. Do you typically start by building a wing? Work on a nose. Do you generally start with finishing off the cockpit? Derive an unusual landing mechanism, or a new prototype weapon. Even before publishing this Cockpit Box concept, Nnenn has proven that there are an infinite number of ways to build a fascinating LEGO starfighter. Take a look at his long list of existing starfighters and other assorted space-themed stuff. You probably won't get to where he is overnight, but now he's offered you a little extra help in getting there. Why not take advantage of it? Go build yourself a starfighter. :)

Steven Marshall's Mirror

Name of Model: Mirror

Created by: Steven Marshall

Found at: MOCPages & Flickr

Details: Found this recent creation by Steven Marshall, already well-known in the AFOL community for his "studless" vehicles (i.e. he builds cars & trucks with a goal to leave no studs showing which results in a very smooth creation that makes you say, "Whoah, that's made out of LEGO???"). In keeping with his typical "studless" creations Steven here presents a beautiful castle scene amplified by the use of a mirror to create a "castle on the lake" effect. Very well done! Mixing the Greys A few years ago LEGO began changing the colors of its common light grey and dark grey. For the castle walls here, it looks like Steven is using the new light grey, but for the rocks on under the castle and on the edge of the lake, it looks like he's got a very effective mix of old and new dark grey. Technic 1x2 beams Am I mistaken or is he using a pile of Technic 1x2 beams to get this beautiful rounded brick look on his castle walls? That looks like a very useful technique I'll have to remember ... right after I find the money to invest in a pile of those 1x2 beams! Lots of SNOT and Cheese Okay, that might sound gross, but that's what going on here. For all you LEGO newbies, SNOT stands for "studs not on top" and is a technique that builders use to create different effects. And cheese are those tiny little 30° 1x1 slopes that come in awful handy for a lot of things, especially when you're building jagged rock edges next to a lake. :) The Frog And the frog has got to be my absolute favorite LEGO piece, so a plus 25 points to Steven for his use of a frog here. Be sure to follow the links through to Flickr and check out the rest of the pictures Steven has of this creation.

Studs-Not-On-Top Spaceship

Name of Model: aav271

Created by: Dukes654

Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=302211

Details: Here's another studs-not-on-top tour-de-force. There are no studs showing on the outside of the model, but the gray bar is probably the most immediately surprising studs-not-on-top effect. I'm pretty sure that the gray bar uses 1x1 studs-not-on-top bricks in the places where it's covered by the white parts. There's a lot to take in here - I'm still not sure how some parts of it were done.