You know some space stuff for a space blog

Courtesy of Kyle's and Jerac's photostreams. Jerac does wonderful things with wedge plates, and the use of a pair of 3787 mudguards as a laserport is inspired. 

Flight of the wedges

I've always enjoyed Legodrome's creations. They're made of fairly austere geometry, but the builder uses the large surfaces of his starships and aircraft as a canvas for thoughtful detailing. I particularly like the trio of bulbs made by the cockpit and the four wedges on either side just behind it. I think it's neat that both the older 6069 and the newer 64225 are used; the combination of straight and curved slopes suggests a tear-drop shape.

Mark Stafford's space freighter is based on a Peter Elson illustration. It's actually an old creation, he originally posted in back in 2006. It's still has vivid as it was when I viewed it as a MOCpages lurker, so check it out.

We're gonna take a break from life's demands and give a well-deserved shoutout to Jeremy's tight little mecha:

Not bionicle

Some of the more creative part use action I've seen in some time comes from Jerac. There is an interesting fusion of organic shapes and mechanical details; the end result could be nightmarish but the models still retain a whimsical look. Many LEGO-brand elements, such as the parrot from the Pirate line, have an iconic look to them. But when used out of context, the familiarity is lost, and very un-LEGO-like appearences is possible. Jerac seams to have figured this out and uses familiar parts to surprise us, the minifigure arms prolifically so in this case.
 

(olive) Green machines

  There is yet only a small selection of parts available in LEGO's new olive green color. It lends itself well to military-themed creations, although anyone who follows my own creations elsewhere knows that I could care less for realistic drab color schemes. Above, Fredo does a nice quadruped. I like the cylindrical shape he has made with the 1 x 4 curved double slopes. Given the squareness characteristic of the medium, the model's curves seem surprising although it is is hardly a departure from with Fredo's previous work. Below, Carter uses the new color for a landmate. It has good feet. I can imagine the little auxiliary arms reloading the bullpup-style weapon. 
Here's another quadruped/humanoid mecha combo with a relating color scheme, via Curtis and Pate:

Blok-head

Aaron Williams is fast becoming my favorite mecha builder. His textures are superb, as are the destails. He's really found a way to make LEGO elements look functional.

Post-Bloc

Here's one of those instances where size is something to be appreciated. I normally find small weapons on large ships tacky, and I was about to overlook the Hephaestus' armaments, but their integration into the hull with 1 x 6 x 2 arches is quite a feat. The textures Nathaniel puts to uses are smart, too:

This blue guy by Danny Rice is one of the best examples of large-scale LEGO spaceship-building. See it on Brickshelf. Notice how both these ships are a color other than grey! Colors, folks!

At Young Spacers, we love racers. This space racer is another great model by Nathaniel. The bubble canopies on both of Nathaniel's works featured here are a nice nod to the PCS and Eastern Bloc .SPACE factions of yesteryear.

Where've ya been

. I recognize Brian Kescenovitz's style has being characteristically "chunky", but his latest mecha looks to have a lot of air between its panels and plates. I think it's great—thanks to the low volume-weight ratio, the model can bear an intimidating silhouette while looking nimble.

Time for tanks

Aleksander Stein is a favorite on this blog; I think you would be hard-pressed to find a more authentic LEGO military modeller. His models forgo artistic embellishment, focusing realism and functionality. The vehicles themselves are extrapolations of specific present day combat vehicles. Some of the examples in the following photos are near-future derivatives the Leopard 2 Main Battle Tank and the Stridsfordon 90 Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

I like to judge things over content rather presentation, but Aleks has graduated from the plain poster board school and has stepped up with digital backdrops for his models. This isn't always done well, but I like how Aleks has done well not to make any post-photography additions look to obtrusive; it is clear that the focus is on the models.   

Camouflage is not easy to do with LEGO parts, but Aleks pulls off convincing enough patterns.


This blog supports modularity!


This isn't a photo re-color, each of the four models here is a unique construction.

This is pretty much just a mecha blog, now.

I started following Waka's mechs sometime last year. His style is reminiscent of the work of  Monday Noodle (Brian Kescenovitz), who has been out of the picture for a while.
 
I like the shapes on Waka's most recent mech; normally I find that too many slopes kills form but Waka's model is large enough that it still looks pleasing. In the same way that I judge people by their footwear, I've taken to judging LEGO mecha by their feet. The separated heel and toes totally satisfying. The arched form looks like it actually handles shifting weight; there's something anatomical about it. The largeness allots for a good amount of detail, check out the ammunition belt and fuel hose:

In addition to  his Flickr photostream he has a Japanese website. Also, Catbus!

Ski feet and rocket car

Exceedingly handsome mecha by Ryuhei Kawai. Also, a cute rocket rover by Bartosz:

Talk too much but not enough its a real cool thing a real cool thing yeah

There are many good things going on with Stefan's latest starfighter. Of note is a great balance between curved and angular wedge pieces; the form doesn't come across first as bulbous or edged. The obnoxious transparent neon colors that I grew up with in previous decades were of hues difficult on the eyes; they have been phased out, thankfully, and Stefan employs a trans-orange canopy of recent production. It works better than anything with the sand blue and dark tan colors.

The incorporation of the unforgiving canopy element is also a success. Some might stray from using it and others like it because of their unfamiliar contours and the lacking aesthetics of their accompanying molds. I think Stephan's success is due in part to the notching on the long blue slope pieces. The notches allow compatibility with parts that might otherwise have intersecting studs. At first they might seem to hinder aesthetics, although here, visible from the front view, they break up the straightness of the wedge just enough to permit a transition from a strait edge to a curved one.


The rear view reveals simpler geometry, which lends itself to being interpreted as serving mechanical function.The angles of the four auxiliary do good to echo the four wings. When viewed from the rear, faces of the angular dark tans wedges form four triangular shapes, highlighted here by the lighting. The longest legs of these seem to come close to tangent to the round thrusters and near parallel to the fins of 47456, forming an imaginary diamond. The triad slits in the sockets Stefan uses for thrusters also hint at this geometry. The one thing that stands out of form are the 8 square insets of 41862.


The cockpit canopy protrudes from the fuselage, visible in the profiles. The orange shape is complemented by a similarly shaped protrusion on the underside. The detail is barely noticeable but it is enough to suggest  symmetry.

Loads of fun, Stefan.

October is Ma.K-tober

Spreading word here of Tromas' Lego Maschinen Krieger building challenge. The parameters of last year's starfighter contest have opened up to include just about anything appropriate for Kow Yokoyama's imagined universe.

This is a fantastic start, I love the presentation:
Tromas' announcement on TBB
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"Ma.K bricks", the Lego Maschinen Krieger flickr group.

Shoot them before they shoot you

Both the design and the rendering, executed by Genghis Don, are superb. It looks like an elongated version of this fighter craft seen in Cowboy Bebop:





More Mobile Frame Zero designs from Malcom Craig. This one is delightfully chunky.


The two-tone, patchwork color scheme on flickr user imaginationDUCK's mech works well to inspire urban camouflage. It definitely calls to mind Spook's work, who has been prolific as of late.

Concept-inspired LEGO design

Flickr user Drywall created this dropship. His LEGO rendering is inspired by artwork done by Ukitamkumuki on deviantArt for a Role Playing Game, called "Space Vagabonds", in 2009.

There's a lot of good things going on with Drywall's model. The exposed studs do good to break up the awkward texture created by the slightly beveled edges of tiles. The three color rule is used with some reservations. The aesthetics of the source artwork really comes through, even if the LEGO model is a bit boxier. Fun details include the believably minimal chin and tail armaments, as well as the landing gear.

Gotta love his choice of coloring on the figures as well. The cardboard backdrop is actually pretty effective.


These armored suits, also part of Ukitakumuki's Space Vagabonds series, remind me of the biosuits from a Niell Blomkamp short that saw popularity during the time that District 9 was being hyped. Twee Affect, on that.   

So that's what that feels like

Brickshelf user Tiler has created both these figure-scale and mini "Tumblers" as seen in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Click the pictures for the corresponding galleries, as well as instructions. Check them out!

Brickworld 2012 AFV round-up

This year's BrickWorld saw an extensice lineup of especially well-crafted LEGO Armored Fighting Vehicles. The "cyberpunk" setting allotted these guys some creative license, there are enough flashy futuristic bits to make them stand out from the run-of-the-mill stuff that occupies much of the near-future military genre.
Ignacio Bernaldez Carter Baldwin Peter Anderson (Shadow Viking) Forest King (KingBrick)

Here's the same vehicles participating in a brikwars game, the venue is the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group.







Carter and Forest put together this gritty diorama, I took a moment to pose one of my Verticals for a good show.