Tokyo is a beautiful city: a blend of sleek modern technology and tranquil nature. Past and future blend together here like nowhere else, and this has been replicated wonderfully by Cecilie Fritzvold (cecilihf) in her MOC of the Japanese capital:
From left to right, the buildings displayed are Meiji Tower, Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace, the Tokyo Skytree, and Senso-ji.
There are some lovely building techniques used in this microscale MOC. The one that I noticed first was the many minifig hands used on the taller buildings, but a zoom-in on Flickr revealed many more exciting intricacies: an interesting pattern on Tokyo Tower achieved with 1x2 grilles and rubber bands; precariously connected clips at the base of that same tower; a laptop and some tiny tank treads on the Imperial Palace; and what I'm pretty sure are some Resistance Trooper helmets used to make the bridge.
The architectural choices are spot-on, showcasing that blend of past and future I mentioned above. The presentation also looks great - just a sleek, solid black background, simple and elegant just like the city. This is just a great build and I can't say enough about it.
EDIT: by complete coincidence (seriously, I didn't notice until after I posted!), this build features a microscale tree very similar to the one I showed Sheo's tutorial for in the previous post! I wonder if there's a connection...
Paul Trach (Disco86) built his workplace, the Stadtwerk Mainz (a services company in Germany) in a LEGO Architecture style for his LUG. The result is very clean and professional, and would fit right in with the real Architecture line.
Check out this close-up to see the innovative construction of the trees and the front entryway.
*Just trucks this time
We're constantly praising microscale builders here because of the difficulty of creating an appealing, recognizable model from just a handful of pieces. The latest micro masterpieces I've found are these trucks by Robert Heim (Robiwan_Kenobi). Check out some of the part uses and, more interestingly, the ways these builds fit together. There are some great techniques used to achieve the necessary angles:
I've been putting off blogging it for a while but the truth is this ABS Builder Challenge entry from Faron* deserves to be featured!
The seed part, the lime green telephone, does find its way in there a lot but there are plenty of other things to like, my favorite detail being those "bamboo" shades. Plus I just like the bright, nature-inspired color scheme.
Grantmasters has been creating a whole bunch of builds that revolve around the Belville shoe element. His fantastic astronaut and game console have been deservedly featured on The Brothers Brick, but this little vignette seems to have evaded blog coverage thus far:
The Exo-Force hair as cabbages is not a new technique - in fact, it's been employed by LEGO in at least one official set - but its cartoonish style works well here in combination with the battle droid-arm fence and those simple yet effective rabbits. Only a handful of pieces and they're still so cute!
I say this almost every round, but... this round of Iron Builder is looking like one of the best yet. If you read this blog regularly you'll have seen that almost all of our posts this month have been about IB, and for good reason: Iron Builder Tim Schwalfenberg (One More Brick) and challenger Legopard have been churning out some amazing models. In all seriousness, in terms of overall quality, quantity, and sheer size and detail of builds, this could be the greatest round yet.
So many great models have been built in the last few days that I've decided to just compile all the ones I want to share into this one post, so without further ado:
Church Organ by Legopard:
The seed part, the silver Technic connector, was used a whopping 153 times in this build, which could be an IB record. I love how creative Legopard was with the part, turning it both around at the base of the pipes and making use of the little slit in the side. There are other nice part uses as well, including bucket handles in the chair, and sword sheaths and a Viking shield for decoration.
London Eye by Legopard:
The seed part gets a lot of uses here too, connected to the main structure via minifig hook-hands! The microscale building looks great as well.
District 9 Exosuit by Legopard:
Interestingly enough, Legopard also uses the hook-hand pieces in this creation - but there are a boatload of other greebles as well. Exposed studs, orange elements, and of course the seed part add some excellent details to this mech.
Fire truck by Tim:
Maybe we owe Tim a bit of an apology, since we've mostly been covering Legopard's models (which have blown us away, to be fair). To fix that somewhat, here's this antique fire truck, which is every bit as good as Legopard's models. It's in the style of LEGO's own "Advanced Model" vehicle sets like the Mini Cooper, which works in its favor.
These are all amazing builds, and no less amazing is the very short time in which they are all created. This round of IB began on February 1st and the builders are already nearing twenty apiece in terms of model count! It's a testament to the skill and creativity of LEGO hobbyists that they are so successful.
So what do you readers think... will Iron Builder Tim be dethroned by his challenger, or will he continue to secure his throne? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
This microscale construction site by Galaktek has a very simple, uncluttered look that I like. The vehicles have smooth lines and basic color schemes, making this seem almost like a classic LEGO Town playset. Check out this Flickr album for closer images.
2/5
Appearance - 1/5
Construction - 1/5
Pieces - 4/5
Playability - 2/5
Minifigs/accessories - 4/5
Value for money - 4/5
One of two $9.99 City "Starter Sets" released in summer 2015, 60077 Space Starter Set contains 107 pieces, for a CPP of 9.34 cents/piece.
Verdict: A refreshingly good price for a City set, and there are some great pieces and minifigures for your money. I recommend this set to MOC builders and City collectors. For most collectors, or kids looking for a cheap, entertaining set, there are far better options.
Go give Heikki Mattila a helping hand - he's got only 20 Flickr followers at the time of this post, but he deserves more! This nautical-themed kitchen MOC is very well built. It's the little things (electrical outlets, cookbook shelf, decorative sea-themed elements) that make it stand out.
Judging by the fact that my Summer 2015 Set Analysis post is now The Brick Bucket's third-most popular post all-time, readers seem to like when I analyze upcoming sets to look at interesting minifigures, pieces, and techniques and just offer some interesting commentary on the sets. Now that we're getting the official images of some of this year's summer sets, I want to look at the ones that I'm most excited about: the new City subtheme, Deep Sea Explorers.
One of my uncles used to work on a tugboat, and I have a lot of respect for these small but powerful little boats. Konajra's MOC gets the style exactly right and crams in some great details as well, all while using difficult SNOT and curve-building techniques to shape the hull. Great build, and instead of just linking to the Flickr album I might as well stuff this post with photos from every angle:
We return to the venerable Brick Bucket garage (formerly the Brickology garage) to take a look at Norton74's shiny new '23 Ford T-Bucket. The car is of course very well built but the MOC wouldn't be the same without the detailed and carefully designed backdrop and accessories. The overall look is very similar to that of a real garage - nice work.
More photos on Flickr here.
While "indestructible sprocket" and "self balancing suspension rods" don't mean much to me, I get the sense this Liebherr LR 634 loader model by LimitlessBricks is pretty darn realistic. And it's in 1:13 scale. Also: those are a lot of trans-light-blue plates.
There are loads more images in this Flickr album, including some shots that show the building process- great if you want to build something like this yourself. You can also visit the builder's website, limitlessbricks.com.
Now that I have a Flickr account I'm trying to get more involved in building contests and putting my own LEGO creations on the web. This morning I wanted a little inspiration for Marchikoma, and upon clicking over to my Flickr feed I was pleased to see this great build by .Tromas:
This is a refreshing change from the more typical war machines and creepy mechanoids usually seen during the upcoming theme month, and I think it's built especially well. But it means I've got stiff competition to face when I upload my own think tank. Better go start building...
Some unofficial images of summer 2015 sets are starting to appear online, and I haven't seen them posted on any major LEGO blogs yet, so I figured I'd do a write-up here on Brickology. Imgur user Scarilian created an album of images from around the web; I'm using those images in this post for my own analysis of the sets. You can view the original album here.
In this image we see the Ultra Agents set 71068 Drillex Diamond Job, which will be available soon (if it isn't already). However, in the background we can see part of another set, which seems to be some sort of ocean/dock structure (I'm thinking maybe an oil rig). A new villain minifigure can be seen, as well as what appears to be a new shark design. This set could be 70173 Ultra Agents Ocean HQ, which will go for $79.99 according to The Brick Fan's London Toy Fair 2015 report.
It's been a great round of Iron Builder so far- as expected when Sean and Steph Mayo (Siercon and Coral) are battling Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) and Nannan Zhang. In the past few days, Tyler has posted what I think are his best models of the contest- maybe the best on both sides. They definitely have all the character and charm that we expect from Legohaulic!
"One Giant Bounce for Mankind":
"Youngsters":
"ZapRay 9000":
This behemoth of a bulldozer was built by Lego Tobi, and it is awesome. There's a ton of detail on this thing that you can't take in from just one photo, so go check out this Flickr album to see more.
Wasp nests popping up on your property are never good, but this LEGO version by Sean and Steph Mayo (Siercon and Coral) is fantastic. Those bees are built from yellow Technic bushings, rubber bands, and... LEGO polybags?! It may not be technically purist but it's a great part use in yet another great Iron Builder entry.
Pieter Dennison (P-Denny) says he's never had one of his MOCs blogged before... so I'm here to change that. I don't know much about Spider-Man but I know a good MOC when I see one. This scene has some nice techniques that give it a worn-down, inner-city feel, like the brick detailing, broken walls, and exposed pipes down at the bottom.
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