Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Advent
Sorry I've been away from blogging lately. At least now we can look at all of the entries in MisaQa's great Advent calendar. I'm hoping she'll do a combined shot like she did two years ago, but in the meantime here are a few of my favorites from this year:
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Some buildings wriggle like a fish
Mainman's micro blocky building reminded me of Phillip Isaacson's terrific book, Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle Like a Fish.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Pentastar
MisaQa's Advent Calendar project continues. Pentastar features a great technique for building a roof and spire that captures the feel of the Chrysler Building.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sears Tower
I haven't blogged anything by Ersh in two years, since his Manhattan. Let's correct that oversight with his new Sears Tower.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
A Tear in Time
Flickr user Tito0o0o was inspired by the movie, Land of the Lost, to create a scene with objects representing different time periods. The mechanical sun is a great touch. The microscale tree appears to be made using this minifigure head.
Friday, December 04, 2009
MCC Entry Review Part III
Way, way late in coming, but this is my third and final review of entries into the Mini Castle Contest. There are more than I reviewed of course, but some of them were already posted here, and you can always check out the thread if you want to see them all.
I'm going to finish it off with mentioned two of the honourable mentions that while I linked to, I didn't get a chance to discuss here. First off, Chris Wunz's Micro Castle.
The most obvious feature about it is of course the extreme micro scale of it all. You can't denine that this is probably about as small as you can build a castle and still reconize it as such. The little path added to it, as well as the use of the grill brick to create a field gives the ground some nice texture. Add to that a well thought out beach, and the nice use of clear bricks to show the surf, and you get a great micro castle.
The other one I will mention here is mahj's collapsible temple.
Of course, the thing that everyone's eye is immediatly drawn to is the fact that it is collapsible. Seriously, that very cool, and very well done. The creation looks complete when fully together, and completely hidden when collapsed. He also has some great detailing done with the tooth pieces and the technic collums. Also cleverly done is the how he stringed the leave pieces together so that when the temple emerges, it has vines over it.
Like I said before, there are many more entries, but I think it is way too late to continue doing more, so enjoy and I'll see you again next year.
I'm going to finish it off with mentioned two of the honourable mentions that while I linked to, I didn't get a chance to discuss here. First off, Chris Wunz's Micro Castle.
The most obvious feature about it is of course the extreme micro scale of it all. You can't denine that this is probably about as small as you can build a castle and still reconize it as such. The little path added to it, as well as the use of the grill brick to create a field gives the ground some nice texture. Add to that a well thought out beach, and the nice use of clear bricks to show the surf, and you get a great micro castle.
The other one I will mention here is mahj's collapsible temple.
Of course, the thing that everyone's eye is immediatly drawn to is the fact that it is collapsible. Seriously, that very cool, and very well done. The creation looks complete when fully together, and completely hidden when collapsed. He also has some great detailing done with the tooth pieces and the technic collums. Also cleverly done is the how he stringed the leave pieces together so that when the temple emerges, it has vines over it.
Like I said before, there are many more entries, but I think it is way too late to continue doing more, so enjoy and I'll see you again next year.
MisaQa
MisaQa continues her advent calendar, including a sweet shop and two buildings from the science college.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Blocktropolis expansion
Flickr user Tom Neumo posted this photo of the buildings that will be part of an expansion of his micro city, Blocktropolis.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Advent calendar
Every year, MisaQa presents an Advent Calendar project, with one new MOC for each day of December leading up to Christmas. A couple of years ago she did a microscale town and she has returned to this scale again with her 2009 Advent Calendar. Her first two offerings are the Twins Tower (reminiscent of the Petronas Towers) and her Science College.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
MCC Entry Review Part II
Continuing on my review of entries in the Mini Castle Contest, I go on to Brickshelf user Legostein aka Chris Deck entered a micro version of set 6074 Black Falcon's Fortress:
Instantly recognizable to all castle fans, Chris captures the set's look with the use of the 1x1 tile as a flag, and the yellow window frame as the entry arch. An excedingly small creation, but very obvious as to what it is.
We move on to bartosza6m's entry, which won the mini set category, 6081 King's Mountain Fortress.
A personal favorite of mine, this incorporates many cool ideas. From the simple 1x1 grey plates that make up the printing on the baseplate, to excellent tree on the corner, to the use of a cheese slope as the ghost, this little creation is excellently done. Very detailed, and very recognizable.
Instantly recognizable to all castle fans, Chris captures the set's look with the use of the 1x1 tile as a flag, and the yellow window frame as the entry arch. An excedingly small creation, but very obvious as to what it is.
We move on to bartosza6m's entry, which won the mini set category, 6081 King's Mountain Fortress.
A personal favorite of mine, this incorporates many cool ideas. From the simple 1x1 grey plates that make up the printing on the baseplate, to excellent tree on the corner, to the use of a cheese slope as the ghost, this little creation is excellently done. Very detailed, and very recognizable.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Henry Ford Museum
Spencer Rezkalla has a display of his microscale skyscrapers that will be running at the Henry Ford Museum near Detroit through January 3. For close-up pictures of each of these, be sure to check his Brickshelf and MOCpage sites. Congratulations, Spencer, on this great venue.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Zoids in Space
For the past month or so, Flickr user roguebantha_1138 has been posting a lot of great micro space pics. His latest creations are a mash up of LEGO Space and Zoids.
Here's the zrk1.
Here's the zrk1.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Nakagin Capsule Tower
The Nakagin Capsule Tower already looks like it was made of LEGO elements. Flickr user SPACE, TIME & REALITY figured out how to build it in microscale.
Included in the photoset is this helpful photo showing how each capsule was made.
A tip of the hat to Andrew for highlighting this over at The Brothers Brick.
Included in the photoset is this helpful photo showing how each capsule was made.
A tip of the hat to Andrew for highlighting this over at The Brothers Brick.
Friday, November 13, 2009
MCC Entry Review Part I
Alright, lets get down to highlighting some of the entries in the MCC. I'm going to highlight one of the winners I mentioned earlier, followed by a different entry.
Lets start with 2 Much Caffeine's entry, which won third place, Kingdom in a Box.
Obviously, the uniqueness of having been made to fit within this box is what makes this MOC what it is. Other points of note to micro fans are the scale of it. On average, most micro creations are of a larger scale than this. Obviously the small the scale, the harder the build. The use of the tooth bricks as trees is an outstanding idea. The waterfall as well is a beauty to look at, and it is so simple, but it's those small things that make the MOC great. The way the road and the water continue into the drawers is also a nice touch.
Now, a new MOC. NewRight's Floating Castle.
New to the field of micro, NewRight never the less made a bold stab at it. The use of the plumes on top of the towers is both a brilliantly effective, and to the best of my knowledge, unique. The 1x1 round plates, while the simplest of pieces, is used well to give the castle the effect of pillars. I also enjoy the somewhat jumbled appearance of the towers on the castle, its makes for a nice break from the typically uniform look most micro castles get.
More to come.
Lets start with 2 Much Caffeine's entry, which won third place, Kingdom in a Box.
Obviously, the uniqueness of having been made to fit within this box is what makes this MOC what it is. Other points of note to micro fans are the scale of it. On average, most micro creations are of a larger scale than this. Obviously the small the scale, the harder the build. The use of the tooth bricks as trees is an outstanding idea. The waterfall as well is a beauty to look at, and it is so simple, but it's those small things that make the MOC great. The way the road and the water continue into the drawers is also a nice touch.
Now, a new MOC. NewRight's Floating Castle.
New to the field of micro, NewRight never the less made a bold stab at it. The use of the plumes on top of the towers is both a brilliantly effective, and to the best of my knowledge, unique. The 1x1 round plates, while the simplest of pieces, is used well to give the castle the effect of pillars. I also enjoy the somewhat jumbled appearance of the towers on the castle, its makes for a nice break from the typically uniform look most micro castles get.
More to come.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Veterans Day
To honor Veterans Day, Brickmania is offering a 10% discount on certain military-themed custom kits, including this micro armor. It's one day only, so check it out now if you are interested.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Retrospect in Micro.
With the conclusion of the Mini Castle Contest V, with prizes soon to be on their way, and threads soon to pulled down, I though it might be interesting to go back and look at the last five years of micro building.
In 2005 I started a thread for a small little contest (yes, pun very much intended) and was pleasantly surprised by the six-page affair it turned into. Granted, the first page or two was just people trying to get their heads around just what micro was exactly. I’d like to think that after five annual contests, castle micro is a bit more understandable, and with any luck, has helped people uncover a new area of creativity. The five contests have been relatively close in amount of entries, but I think I can say the average level of skill rose with each year.
The entries for each year are as follows:
MCC - 2005: 19 entries.
MCC II - 2006: 14 entries.
MCC III - 2007: 23 entries.
MCC IV - 2008: 23 entries.
MCC V - 2009: 23 entries.
Getting a little scary isn't it?
The winners of each year were as follows:
MCC - Sir Nelson
MCC II - engineerio
MCC III - jedimasterwagner
MCC IV - wobnam
MCC V - Weasel47
So in total, there has been 102 MOCs built for this contest, plus a special category the last two years. And with winners from all corners of the globe (I know cause my wallet screamed every time I had to go and mail out the prize).
So that’s a brief synopsis of the past contests. I am curious though where people would you like to see the MCC go from here. Is there anything they feel needs to be changed; a particular rule they think doesn't apply anymore? Do they think the judging is fair? That the time slot is the best? That the length of the contest is adequate?
Some specific questions that have come to mind over the last little while, which some feedback on would great.
Do you think the different special category is a good idea?
Would you rather see several specific categories every year, or none at all?
Do you feel having the contest right before the CCC affects it at all?
The contest has gone on for five years, and with luck, it'll go on for at least that many more, but I'd like to make sure the contest is something you people enjoy.
Thank you all, especially the people who donated the prizes, and the management of Classic-Castle, it's been a great five years!
In the next few days I will be highlighting some of the entries for this year's contest, both the winners and those not yet shown here.
In 2005 I started a thread for a small little contest (yes, pun very much intended) and was pleasantly surprised by the six-page affair it turned into. Granted, the first page or two was just people trying to get their heads around just what micro was exactly. I’d like to think that after five annual contests, castle micro is a bit more understandable, and with any luck, has helped people uncover a new area of creativity. The five contests have been relatively close in amount of entries, but I think I can say the average level of skill rose with each year.
The entries for each year are as follows:
MCC - 2005: 19 entries.
MCC II - 2006: 14 entries.
MCC III - 2007: 23 entries.
MCC IV - 2008: 23 entries.
MCC V - 2009: 23 entries.
Getting a little scary isn't it?
The winners of each year were as follows:
MCC - Sir Nelson
MCC II - engineerio
MCC III - jedimasterwagner
MCC IV - wobnam
MCC V - Weasel47
So in total, there has been 102 MOCs built for this contest, plus a special category the last two years. And with winners from all corners of the globe (I know cause my wallet screamed every time I had to go and mail out the prize).
So that’s a brief synopsis of the past contests. I am curious though where people would you like to see the MCC go from here. Is there anything they feel needs to be changed; a particular rule they think doesn't apply anymore? Do they think the judging is fair? That the time slot is the best? That the length of the contest is adequate?
Some specific questions that have come to mind over the last little while, which some feedback on would great.
Do you think the different special category is a good idea?
Would you rather see several specific categories every year, or none at all?
Do you feel having the contest right before the CCC affects it at all?
The contest has gone on for five years, and with luck, it'll go on for at least that many more, but I'd like to make sure the contest is something you people enjoy.
Thank you all, especially the people who donated the prizes, and the management of Classic-Castle, it's been a great five years!
In the next few days I will be highlighting some of the entries for this year's contest, both the winners and those not yet shown here.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
MCC Winners!
Well I finally got around to judging the Mini Castle Contest. The entries, some of which have already been shown here were just incredible.
Okay, so here is the list of winners.
In the Miniature Set category, the two runner-ups were:
Nanuck95 with his version of 6073 - Knights Castle.
Griffon with his version of 6080 - King's Castle.
And the winner of the category was Bartosza6m with his version of 6081 - King's Mountain Fortress.
For the main category, the runner-ups were:
Marcosbessa with his Running up that Hill:
Wunztwice with his Micro Lego Castle:
Mahj with his Temple:
Third place went to TooMuchCaffeine with his Kingdom in a Box:
Second place went to Darkspawn with his Firbolg Keep:
And First place went to Weasel47 with his Castle on the Lake:
Once again the contest was a sound success with many great entries. There were also many other great MOCs entered, be sure to check them out at the contest page. I look forward to next years.
Okay, so here is the list of winners.
In the Miniature Set category, the two runner-ups were:
Nanuck95 with his version of 6073 - Knights Castle.
Griffon with his version of 6080 - King's Castle.
And the winner of the category was Bartosza6m with his version of 6081 - King's Mountain Fortress.
For the main category, the runner-ups were:
Marcosbessa with his Running up that Hill:
Wunztwice with his Micro Lego Castle:
Mahj with his Temple:
Third place went to TooMuchCaffeine with his Kingdom in a Box:
Second place went to Darkspawn with his Firbolg Keep:
And First place went to Weasel47 with his Castle on the Lake:
Once again the contest was a sound success with many great entries. There were also many other great MOCs entered, be sure to check them out at the contest page. I look forward to next years.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
LEGO Book
DK Publishers recently released a boxed set: The LEGO Book, all about the hobby and another about minifigs (celebrating their 30th anniversary). There is a lot of great information about the company, the various sets, the Legoland parks, and more. Perhaps coolest of all is the inclusion of (a few) fan MOCs. From the MicroBricks viewpoint, they include pictures of the line of LEGO Architecture sets designed by Adam Reed Tucker and also a discussion of the 2005 contest that started off the LEGO Factory line. They challenged fans to design microscale MOCs and the winners were released as official sets.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Futuron City
I've got to remember to check MOCpages more often. Alex Fojtik presents this Futuron City with a very George-Jetson vibe.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Aztec Temple by HeavyWeather
Amber "HeavyWeather" Arts has made this awesome microscale Aztec Temple.
Be sure to check out the whole folder for more views!
Be sure to check out the whole folder for more views!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Space Battleship Yamato
Max Braun, aka Bisonfuehrer, built a large microscale version of Space Battleship Yamato for the October TwinLUG meeting.
City
Igorlando has posted a city experiment, incorporating some non-LEGO elements into a cityscape that will be the backdrop for a Brickfilm.
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