Saturday, January 31, 2009
St. Basil's
Draugaer used LDD to make St. Basil's Cathedral from Moscow. It's up on LEGO Factory, so you can buy your own if you want.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Naval
Nagatomikasa made some nice ships, a battleship and cruiser. I just wanted to point out that while these are really nice MOCs, the presentation hurts them here.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The whoville navy
Joe Meno made this Aircraft carrier. He writes: "This was done as a possible instruction set for BrickJournal when it had an article on Malle Hawking's model of the Harry S. Truman. Instructions may end up as an extra in the second BrickJournal Compendium."
Monday, January 26, 2009
Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.
Christopher Deck has added a new section to his site devoted to creations from 2001, a Brick Odyssee (instructions, too, so you can make your own).
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Salesmanship
I see that Adam Reed Tucker's two newest LEGO Architecture sets have come out: the Space Needle and the Empire State Building.
I should note while I'm here that Sean Kenney offered his own souvenir Empire State Building models for sale when he displayed his much larger, but still microscale version. This gets me thinking - what is the market for such sets? I don't really think it's the AFOL world. Yes, it is cool to get an official product designed by someone you know through the hobby and support our own, but these Architecture sets are things that any of us could recreate with the bricks at our disposal (aside from the custom printed tiles, of course).* At $50 for the pair I don't think that kids are the audience either. My understanding was that the first two (John Hancock and Sears) were sold in places like souvenir stands and museum shops, so I'm guessing adults with some nostalgia for LEGO get them and put them on their desks at work. Okay, then, I wonder what sort of market there is for this sort of thing. I've got a couple of my favorite vigs sitting on my desk; could I produce sets for sale? Or I would bet that people would have snapped up those miniland Barrack Obamas if they were on sale in DC this week (I went to the inauguration - people were selling all kinds of posters, t-shirts, buttons). Total kudos to Adam for this, especially if it raises the visibility of the hobby. I wonder what other MOCs could be turned into souvenir sets. Maybe Arthur Gugick should start thinking about this. Or any of us - I'm sure everyone has one or two small creations that we're proud of. Anyway, just some random babbling, I suppose. How much of this sort of thing do you think the market would bear?
*Please don't misunderstand. I'm not knocking these as creations at all. They are quite cool micro MOCs by Adam. I'm just saying that as sets these don't offer me much, since I pretty much buy for the pieces and part sets out pretty quickly after an initial build of the official design.
I should note while I'm here that Sean Kenney offered his own souvenir Empire State Building models for sale when he displayed his much larger, but still microscale version. This gets me thinking - what is the market for such sets? I don't really think it's the AFOL world. Yes, it is cool to get an official product designed by someone you know through the hobby and support our own, but these Architecture sets are things that any of us could recreate with the bricks at our disposal (aside from the custom printed tiles, of course).* At $50 for the pair I don't think that kids are the audience either. My understanding was that the first two (John Hancock and Sears) were sold in places like souvenir stands and museum shops, so I'm guessing adults with some nostalgia for LEGO get them and put them on their desks at work. Okay, then, I wonder what sort of market there is for this sort of thing. I've got a couple of my favorite vigs sitting on my desk; could I produce sets for sale? Or I would bet that people would have snapped up those miniland Barrack Obamas if they were on sale in DC this week (I went to the inauguration - people were selling all kinds of posters, t-shirts, buttons). Total kudos to Adam for this, especially if it raises the visibility of the hobby. I wonder what other MOCs could be turned into souvenir sets. Maybe Arthur Gugick should start thinking about this. Or any of us - I'm sure everyone has one or two small creations that we're proud of. Anyway, just some random babbling, I suppose. How much of this sort of thing do you think the market would bear?
*Please don't misunderstand. I'm not knocking these as creations at all. They are quite cool micro MOCs by Adam. I'm just saying that as sets these don't offer me much, since I pretty much buy for the pieces and part sets out pretty quickly after an initial build of the official design.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mini that set
Two more entries for the contest on Forum 0937 challenging people to miniaturize official sets: Lumiosa's 7627 Temple of Akator and Luis Baixinho's 6701 Space Mini-Figures pack.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A cafe in the hand is worth two on the corner
Forum 0937 is holding a contest to miniaturize official sets, and Marcos Bessa has taken on the Cafe Corner.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Hail to the Chief
Later today, President Obama will be moving into the White House. Back in November, KenobiwanX posted a microscale version of the famous residence. I guess this was also available through LEGO Factory, along with a still smaller version. Thanks to Dan of Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day for the heads-up on this.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Maybe episode 1 wasn't so lame after all
At least not if it could inspire this Trade Federation Droid Control Ship by Thomas Benedikt. I particularly like the lit-up picture.
Monday, January 12, 2009
For auld MOC be forgot - 2008 in review
Hey all,
I know, I need to get back to blogging regularly, and I have a huge backlog of MOCs to post. Before we go there, let's take a little trip down memory lane:
Past
Since I'm a castle guy at heart, one of my highlights of each year is the Mini Castle Contest. The movement category was won by Luis Baixinho's Argo and the castle category by Wobnam's Kazalaeam Castle. Check the contest for many great MOCs.
Not part of the Mini Castle contest, but I can't pass by Jojo's Wartburg Castle built as part of his annual Martin Luther MOC.
Other favorites from this year include Michael Japser's Cologne Cathedral and T-Brick's Taj Mahal.
Present
Arthur Gugick can always be counted on to make great small architectural creations, and this year was no exception. Some of his creations in 2008 included the Dome of the Rock (this graced the cover of an issue of BrickJournal) and the Salisbury Cathedral.
Spencer Rezkalla is another master at microscale architecture. He created a number of new works this year and brought many of his skyscrapers to Brickworld in June.
In addition to showing off his own micro skyscrapers alongside Arthur and Spencer at Brickworld, Adam Reed Tucker had an exciting year. He partnered with LEGO to release a LEGO Architecture line, with structures like the Sears Tower.
Arthur Gugick once noted that LEGO Master Builder Kazuyoshi Naoe was a major influeence on him. Naoe's great creations continued to be displayed throughout 2008 around Japan as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Exhibit.
Chiukeung has been slowly creating a library of micro versions of Hong Kong landmarks and official LEGO sets. His Mini Town contains several of these last.
Every year the ClickBrick LEGO stores in Japan hold a contest with a 16x16 footprint limit. The limited size can inspire microscale building, such as Mumu's Mont St. Michel.
Sean Kenney's masterful Empire State Building went on display inside the real Empire State Building this year.
It seems that every few months I'm blogging Shannon Young's Shannonia as it continues to grow.
Members of TwinLUG have collaborated on a micro city that has been growing throughout 2008. They've shown this at various events and in their Window on the Community, with new components added each time.
One of the most striking micro MOCs I saw this year was Fragty's Atonium, based on a structure in Brussels.
Future
Back at the start of 2008, the Classic-Space Fanboy Cover Contest had spacers building micro versions of other spacers' MOCs. This inspired many great entries, like Keith Goldman's Container Shuttle Craft inspired by a Dan Hamman design. The prizes ultimately went to Zachmoe's Porphyrion (based on Danny Rice) and Adrian Drake's Armageddon (based on Nannan), though my personal favorite was Chieflug's oMICROn weekend, inspired by the Keithlug original.
Rogue Bantha continues to create great micro Star Wars MOCs and was blogged regularly this last year, including his Mustaneer and his Sail Barge.
There are too many great microspace MOCs out there to list, so I'll just point you to the microspacetopia Flickr group and pick Martinbb's Sobol-class Fleet Carrier and Jerrec's L.C.B Freighter Gesha as representatives. Spook and Lukas developed some rules for microspace wargaming inspired many of the fleets we've seen. Here's a sample fleet by Soren, the Grand Harmony Defense Force.
Nnenn continues to create space MOCs at an amazing rate, including his November series of Vic Vipers, many of which were at microscale.
The moonbase group displays are a highlight of fan conventions. At BrickCon, Andrew Lee and Sly420 collaborated on a micro moonbase.
There were so many great micro MOCs this year. If I tried to list them all in this post I'd end up repeating my last year's worth of blogging. I've got a backlog of things to put up, and I'm looking forward to all of the new MOCs we'll see in 2009.
I know, I need to get back to blogging regularly, and I have a huge backlog of MOCs to post. Before we go there, let's take a little trip down memory lane:
Past
Since I'm a castle guy at heart, one of my highlights of each year is the Mini Castle Contest. The movement category was won by Luis Baixinho's Argo and the castle category by Wobnam's Kazalaeam Castle. Check the contest for many great MOCs.
Not part of the Mini Castle contest, but I can't pass by Jojo's Wartburg Castle built as part of his annual Martin Luther MOC.
Other favorites from this year include Michael Japser's Cologne Cathedral and T-Brick's Taj Mahal.
Present
Arthur Gugick can always be counted on to make great small architectural creations, and this year was no exception. Some of his creations in 2008 included the Dome of the Rock (this graced the cover of an issue of BrickJournal) and the Salisbury Cathedral.
Spencer Rezkalla is another master at microscale architecture. He created a number of new works this year and brought many of his skyscrapers to Brickworld in June.
In addition to showing off his own micro skyscrapers alongside Arthur and Spencer at Brickworld, Adam Reed Tucker had an exciting year. He partnered with LEGO to release a LEGO Architecture line, with structures like the Sears Tower.
Arthur Gugick once noted that LEGO Master Builder Kazuyoshi Naoe was a major influeence on him. Naoe's great creations continued to be displayed throughout 2008 around Japan as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Exhibit.
Chiukeung has been slowly creating a library of micro versions of Hong Kong landmarks and official LEGO sets. His Mini Town contains several of these last.
Every year the ClickBrick LEGO stores in Japan hold a contest with a 16x16 footprint limit. The limited size can inspire microscale building, such as Mumu's Mont St. Michel.
Sean Kenney's masterful Empire State Building went on display inside the real Empire State Building this year.
It seems that every few months I'm blogging Shannon Young's Shannonia as it continues to grow.
Members of TwinLUG have collaborated on a micro city that has been growing throughout 2008. They've shown this at various events and in their Window on the Community, with new components added each time.
One of the most striking micro MOCs I saw this year was Fragty's Atonium, based on a structure in Brussels.
Future
Back at the start of 2008, the Classic-Space Fanboy Cover Contest had spacers building micro versions of other spacers' MOCs. This inspired many great entries, like Keith Goldman's Container Shuttle Craft inspired by a Dan Hamman design. The prizes ultimately went to Zachmoe's Porphyrion (based on Danny Rice) and Adrian Drake's Armageddon (based on Nannan), though my personal favorite was Chieflug's oMICROn weekend, inspired by the Keithlug original.
Rogue Bantha continues to create great micro Star Wars MOCs and was blogged regularly this last year, including his Mustaneer and his Sail Barge.
There are too many great microspace MOCs out there to list, so I'll just point you to the microspacetopia Flickr group and pick Martinbb's Sobol-class Fleet Carrier and Jerrec's L.C.B Freighter Gesha as representatives. Spook and Lukas developed some rules for microspace wargaming inspired many of the fleets we've seen. Here's a sample fleet by Soren, the Grand Harmony Defense Force.
Nnenn continues to create space MOCs at an amazing rate, including his November series of Vic Vipers, many of which were at microscale.
The moonbase group displays are a highlight of fan conventions. At BrickCon, Andrew Lee and Sly420 collaborated on a micro moonbase.
There were so many great micro MOCs this year. If I tried to list them all in this post I'd end up repeating my last year's worth of blogging. I've got a backlog of things to put up, and I'm looking forward to all of the new MOCs we'll see in 2009.
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