Spaceship Inspirations

In the ever-growing genre of spaceships, there are many different avenues that one can take.  Lego builder Random Vector from Flickr has some excellent examples of such a theme, invoking an unorthodox use of parts and unique construction.  Just take a look at some of these amazing MOCs!

The Kel Corona space station is a brilliant example of taking an avenue not often chosen.  From the shaping of the bricks to the superb photography, this build sure is an eye-catcher.  The cockpit on the front of the ship also is a separate module that is a self-sufficient vehicle.  Amazing craftsmanship can be further seen in the way that the circular rocket assembly is not only built, but also lit.

The Void Raven is another model that demonstrates a memorable form for a ship.  Its wide array of weaponry and stealth-looking angles make it an aggressive ship that would definitely be a force to be reckoned with.  Having gotten to see this particular model at BrickFair Virginia, I have a profound appreciation for all the engineering and parts usage that went into this model.

"There were a lot of explosions for two people blending in"

Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie of all time,* and one of the best scenes in the film is the battle on the planet Jedha. A mythical city home to ancient secrets of the Jedi and the Force comes under assault from Imperials and rebel insurgents alike, and amidst all the new characters and vehicles, the tried-and-true AT-ST still finds a place in the fight. I'm a fan of the official Jedha AT-ST set, but this midi-scale version by the Rogue Bantha himself, Tim Goddard, is equally fantastic. The use of myriad small elements that comprise the guns, joints, and armor show Tim's renowned skill for sci-fi building. 

*You heard what I said.

Arrival at Fornax K7

The good folks at the ABS Builder Challenge have wasted no time cleaning the arena floor from the Season 1 Finale and getting Season 2 all set up. Mark Erickson (Mark of Falworth) is one of the four contestants in Season 2's inaugural round, and he's setting a tough precedent: a lovely, whimsical alien-planet-landing scene that seems straight out of the Pikmin games. 

The minifigures have apparently landed in a human-scaled world, where flowers are tree-sized and pebbles are boulder-sized (but only to the little plastic dudes). The seed part is in fact the red bucket element, put to use very nicely in those flowers. And the whimsically positioned stems, leaves, and tufts of grass? It all looks terrific, as does the spaceship itself, with a Classic Space design and that nice bulbous moon-lander shape. 

Cute characters from a galaxy far, far away

A few Star Wars character builds have sprung up in my Flickr feed over the past few days, so I decided to compile them all in one post. 

The first is this Admiral Ackbar figure by Djokson, whose signature CCBS-pieces style lends itself to some fantastic part usage: 

The next two figures are both by Miro Dudas (Miro78), and both feature Princess Leia. First, here's Leia's disguise as the bounty hunter "Boushh" from Return of the Jedi: 

There's some excellent part use on this figure too, notably the "letter E" tiles on the mask, Technic pins to form the staff, and various ball joints, binoculars, and the like for greebles. The textured 1x2 bricks work great to provide texture to the pants. 

Also featuring this pants technique is Leia in her Hoth outfit from Empire Strikes Back: 

The rounded, smooth elements and lack of facial features give this figure a charming, inquisitive demeanor, almost non-LEGO. Character builds are always stunning when pulled off correctly, and these three are certainly well done. 

Ending NoVVember with a throwback

Remember M-Tron? I don't, considering I was born seven years after the theme's last set came out. But the space theme holds a place in the heart of many builders due to its campy aesthetic and red/black/trans-lime color scheme. 

Our last NoVVember post this year is an M-Tron inspired Viper from Genghis Don: 

The dark red is an interesting departure from the bright red of the official sets, but the trans-lime touches leave you with no doubt this is M-Tron. I really like the engine technique and the multiple fins/flaps. 

You... shall not... PASS!

NoVVember continues and the Vic Vipers keep coming. Here's a small and simple, yet very creative, design from Shamisenfred, a builder whom I hadn't heard of before but turns out to have some excellent sci-fi builds in his photostream. It looks so alien and otherwordly, and I love that eye-catching gold stripe down the front. 

Here are the specs, according to the builder:

Equipped with two heavy acid plasma throwers, BALROGs are low flying war machines with limited space capability. They are very efficient against infantry and vehicles depending on their armor as the glowing pink plasma they shoot burn through flesh and metal.

Seriously though, if you're a n00b like me and didn't know about Shamisenfred, go check out his photostream for some awesome alien-spaceship goodness. 

Guard those shins

Yep, those are CCBS shinguards (from the Star Wars buildable figures, I think) on this Vic Viper by F@bz. Don't they look fabulous?

This is a really unusual color scheme and F@bz pulled it off beautifully. I'm in love with that trans-lime windscreen, the design of the front prongs, and all those lovely greebles around the engines and guns. Everywhere you look there are innovative part uses and techniques - for example, I love the way the tailfin uses some SNOT to fit right into the slope of the rear canopy; the choice of dark gray "log bricks" as exhaust ports; the lime-and-blue "racing stripe" on one of the prongs... Some well-chosen stickers from official sets complete the model. A fantastic build and one of my personal favorite NoVVember builds I've seen! 

Star Wars goes micro

Cole Blaq, usually known for his creative abstract builds, has taken his building skills to the Star Wars universe to recreate the StarScavenger and the Eclipse from Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. I'm really impressed by how nicely they turned out at this scale - they may be even better than the minifig-scale official sets!

Spaceport on the dunes

We started off the month in a Castle mood and now we're finishing on a Space streak. This microscale space scene from Karf Oohlu gives off a great 50s/60s sci-fi vibe and I love the texture and color transition from the sand dunes to the sleek metal. 

Swooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

So, first of all, a great apology for not being very active on this blog,or Flickr in general. I'll try to blog more often from now on.

There are a lot of great Lego spaceships out there, but not a lot of them stand out. But This gorgeous Starfighter by Adrian Florea Is simply genius. The smooth transitions of the Dark Bluish Grey slopes and the amazing Stickerwork create a somewhat non-lego-aestetic, which is usually really hard to achieve which such simple shapes.

Apogee

apogee. [AP-uh-jee]. noun. the point in the orbit of a heavenly body, especially the moon, or of a man-made satellite at which it is farthest from the earth.

Or, the name of this awesome spaceship by F@bz:

I have no idea what pieces are used for the ridged section of hull, but I do know I love this ship's color scheme (the dash of red is great) and the generous amount of greebles. There are so many nice textures and designs on this thing.

Edit - Flickr user billyburg says those ridged pieces are battery packs (I assume from trains?), and adds that the background editing in this photo is quite nice - to which I agree.

Moon cheese miners

Anyone remember that Wallace and Gromit episode where they go to the moon and find out it's made of cheese? 

Maybe that's what inspired Galaktek to build this model of some intrepid space miners carving up the cheddary landscape:

They came prepared - they have a crane...

...a barge...

...and even some sort of rat alien thing...

I really love this MOC, and I haven't been building for a couple weeks but this inspired me to break out the bricks again. So kudos to Galaktek for that. 

You can check out even more images in the Flickr album!

Maximum horsepower

The most powerful horses in the world are foals in comparison with Sleipnir, the ultimate horse.

Nordic myth states that this eight-legged horse was born to Loki, god of mischief, when he disguised himself as a mare to distract the workhorse of a giant who was building a wall and was coming close to finishing, which would cause him to win a deal that the gods were not content to lose and prepared to further sabotage through the strategic placement of Thor's hammer Mjöllnir into the skull of the giant and blah blah boring fight scene etc etc

Long, weird, story short, Sleipnir is an awesome horse, and anything named after him better be equally powerful and cool.

This seems to check out. Joel Larsson is to thank for this vessel that holds-and is worthy of-such a significant name.

Beware of the Draygon

One of my favorite sci-fi builders, Tromas combines unorthodox, creative vehicle designs with a great cast of minifigures, as well as detailed descriptions and backstories. His latest is a prototype YB-81 "Draygon" Bomber from the Incom Corporation, the Star Wars manufacturer responsible for (among other things) the X-wing and the Snowspeeder. Although Tromas's build isn't a real Star Wars ship, it certainly seems like it could be one. 

We recommend that you check out more images (including underside and interior shots and some hints at the construction methods) in the Flickr album, and there's also a video - because this bomber lives up to its name! Also, take a look at that minifig: while not the main focus of the model, it really completes the look, combining some rare parts into an interesting and fitting character. 

Out-of-this world editing

There are so many things to like about the subject of this post. The build itself is by _Tiler - a nice Eta-2 Actis Jedi Interceptor. However, the idea for the build comes from Sydag, who has built an entire series of Eta-2s in this style. He also seems to have some serious photo-editing chops, because the thing that really sets this MOC apart is how it looks on the Star Wars background:

I do believe that's Coruscant down there, and I like the subtle color similarity between the planet and the astromech dome. The fitting together of slope bricks in the wings of the starfighter is also noteworthy. A great build and presentation, and a great partnership between two talented builders!

#olivepunk

"The CF-1008 is a ship that harkens back to the "American Muscle Car" of the long dead planet earth. Owner's of CF-1000s are forever tinkering and customizing their ships. This particular ship made the Kessel Run in 16 parsecs." 
-builder Gabe Umland

I hope "olivepunk" becomes a new trend. This thing is sweet.

Elite Imperial speeder bike

This little Star Wars-inspired speeder by Uspez has been sitting in my "to blog" folder for a while now. I keep getting drawn back to it, and every time, I notice something new. Check out the HERO FACTORY jumper part used on the hood, and the way those chrome pipes are nicely tucked into the speeder's body. 

(Wow, we've really been starting off the new year going a bit heavy on the sci-fi!)

Angle of approach

A few of us here have been meaning to post something by perig perig for a while now, I think. The angles and techniques used in his starfighters, star cruisers, space freighters, and other sci-fi MOCs are reminiscent of the great Nick Trotta (tardisblue), but perig has a more greebly, rough-hewn style that sets him apart. This scout ship is one of his sleeker models, but it still manages to convey a good sense of the builder's style: 

click to enlarge image

Something I always love in spaceship builds is asymmetry, and there's a solid dose of it here. But if you want some more sci-fi goodness, here's the link to the builder's Flickr stream for your viewing pleasure. 

Spaceships and robots

Let's kick off the new year with a nice bit of microscale SPACE! Specifically, this support carrier by Deltassius. The use of crates for hangar areas is inspired, and for such a small build there are some fairly complex angles in there. 

While I'm on this builder's Flickr page, enjoy these two nice little mecha, with a similar color scheme:

"GHF C213h"

"GHF Darter"

Happy new year from all of us here at The Brick Bucket!

New vehicle unlocked!

We featured the V-Galactic Racing "video game" imagined by Markus Rollbuhler ('rolli) a few months ago, but now the builder has another space-racer available to be unlocked: the Midnight Bolt X. 

This one's got a really nice color scheme - gotta love those azure pieces - and the overall presentation is absolutely amazing. I hope this series continues!