LEGO STAR WARS MILLENNIUM FALCON TIME-LAPSE BUILD

THIS IS LEGO-AND-A-HALF or maybe a galaxy-and-a-half for Star Wars fans.

AMAZING LEGO TRAIN RUNS IN THE HOUSE AND OUT INTO THE GARDEN

HERE'S A NIFTY FOUR MINUTES of fun, in which YouTuber 'TrainGuy659' has mounted a video camera on a Lego train.

LEGO DEATH STAR STOP-FRAME ANIMATED BUILD

HERE'S SOME FASCINATING VIEWING for you: Bart van Dijk's beautifully smooth animation of building a Lego Death Star. In Bart's build, 4016 individual Lego pieces come together as if by magic.

EXCITING AVENGER - THE LEGO SHIELD HELICARRIER

LEGO HAS LINKED UP with Marvel Comics to create a brick-version of the huge SHIELD Helicarrier from The Avengers movies.

MARS ON YOUR TABLETOP: LEGO CURIOSITY ROVER ON SALE AT ONLINE STORE

The LEGO NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover has landed, and is now online to order direct.

SOVIET LK LUNAR LANDER: NIFTY LEGO VERSION

We recently mentioned the upcoming 1:48 scale Soviet lunar lander from Fantastic Plastic, and now here’s another blast from the past, with the same spacecraft made out of Lego bricks.

LEGO FELIX BAUMGARTNER MAKES A JUMP

Well, it just had to happen - a LEGO replay of Felix Baumgartner's supersonic high jump.

We're not quite sure what scale this model is, as estimates of LEGO's manikins range from around 1:30 to 1:40. Whatever, this is a fun piece of video making to promote the Austrian Model Maker's Fair.

Great stuff!

DOWN IN THE UBER-COOL LEGO BAT CAVE...

SMN REPORT

The LEGO name derives from the Danish words leg godt, meaning ‘play well’, which is an apt title, but in the 63 years since manufacturing started, LEGO has far outgrown its ‘kids-only’ beginnings. Here we have an amazing 20,000-brick Bat Cave, built by adult enthusiasts, Wayne Hussey and Carlyle Livingstone.

AMAZING LEGO LAND ROVER

SMN REPORT:

The Spanish Lego fan Sheepo 2012 doesn’t seem to be too worried about the financial ups and downs of the Eurozone, maybe because he’s been hard at work building this 1:8.5 scale Land Rover Defender 110. 

LEGO IN SPACE - ASTRONAUT BUILDS MODEL ISS IN ORBIT

SMN report:

After posting news on LEGO’s upcoming R2D2 last week, we were sent a link to LEGO in space, for real this time. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recently assembled a one-off model as part of an education linkup between the space agency NASA and the Danish LEGO company.

STAR WARS R2D2 - LEGO MEGA-MODEL COMING SOON

SMN update:

Here’s the LEGO take on the company’s upcoming Star Wars release: “Presenting the iconic R2-D2 as you've never seen him before! Everyone's favorite droid from the Star Wars galaxy is now part of the Ultimate Collector Series and features fantastic detailing, such as retractable third leg, front panels that open to reveal a universal computer interface arm and a circular saw, rotating head...”

MAD PHYSICIST MAKES MIND-BOGGLING MODELS FROM LEGO

SMN report:

LEGO builders number in their legions, but we've just come across someone who has blown our socks off, a Dutchman titled the ‘Mad Physicist.’

VOLKSWAGEN CAMPER VAN - BULLI IS GO, LEGO MAKING KIT OF THE CLASSIC SPLIT-SCREEN

SMN report:

Great news for Volkswagen fans as it’s been confirmed that VW will produce a petrol/diesel version of the Bulli electric MPV concept in a couple of years - or maybe less. The VW Bulli was first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2011, drawing applause for being an MPV that people might actually want to buy - in other words, a compact people-mover with some sense of style. It has to be said that not everyone was moved instantly - some VW fans muttered that the Bulli wasn’t dramatic enough, but our view a few months later is that it’s pretty OK. 

Nice one - hefty box for the LEGO Camper Van.

JUNO MISSION TO JUPITER - LEGO ASTRONAUTS ABOARD

SMN report:

The NASA Juno spacecraft blasted off on Friday, its aim, to discover more about the biggest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter. The Juno mission is uncrewed, but there are astronauts aboard, even if they are a non-human trio of 38 mm (1.5 in) high LEGO minifigures. 

Classical Minifigure set

The little-finger sized mascots represent the Roman goddess Juno, her husband Jupiter, and Galileo Galilei, the Renaissance astronomer who was first to spot Jupiter’s four biggest moons. To recognize his achievements, LEGO’s diminutive Galileo carries a telescope and Jupiter globe, which includes detail such as the cloud belts and the famed Great Red Spot. Juno carries a magnifying glass, while Jupiter holds a lightning bolt, as befits his status as god of sky and thunder. The figures are not made of the usual LEGO plastic though - instead, they are cast in durable aluminium.

Juno will use triple rows of solar cells for onboard power.

HALLOWEEN HORROR'S EVE GREETINGS TO ALL MODEL FANS

Yes, it’s that time of year again, with ghosties, ghoulies and things that go *bump* in the night. And for model makers a chance to use a chunkier knife, and dispense with the airbrush, paint, filler, cement and scalpel.

So here’s a science-fictional quartet of pumpkins for your delectation. Have a good one tonight!

Note that one of the pumpkins is a steampunk creation, so just to let you know that the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, UK, has an amazing show running until February 21, 2010. If you have even a smidgeon of interest in the genre, and can possibly get to Oxford, do go - it’s just amazing. Visit the Museum here.

The pictures above show:
1 Cylon pumpkin, from Battlestar Galactica.
2 Death Star pumpkin, from Star Wars.
3 Steampunk pumpkin.
4 Mobile pumpkin, motorized with Lego.

SMN thanks the pumpkin creators - imagination runs rampant in the spectral model making community!

MIGHTY MODELS FROM THE MOC ZONE

The neat acronym MOC - My Own Creation - is used by LEGO builders to describe their efforts. And there’s a thriving MOC site that caters to the enthusiasm of the worldwide plastic brick-building community.

Now LEGO is not really a ‘scale’ activity, mainly because of the coarse nature of the basic bricks. However, viewed from a little way away, a LEGO creation can certainly look much like the real thing. And even when LEGOness is obvious, you can usually admire technical aspects of the construction.

This P-38 Lightning (top pictures above) is an example - the outline is recognizable enough, but it’s not exactly a competitor to even a tiny Corgi offering (bottom picture). But no matter: it looks good in its own way, and you have to admire the way the builder, ‘Masterchief 1’, has allowed for the droopiness of LEGO wings by building in a pair of support struts between the fuselage pod and engines.

The online MOC community was started by keen LEGO builder Sean Kenney in 2003, although it is not affiliated with LEGO in any way. Today, Sean is the MOC pages leader and offers his services on the web as a portrait artist - making them in LEGO of course!

You can visit MOC pages here, and Sean Kenney’s portrait site here.