Issue 78 • March/April 2023
10.95
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Spring into Building!
LEGO® Builders:
Amado Pinlac James Zhan Instructions and more!
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Issue 78 • March/April 2023
Contents From the Editor....................................................2
People Alexander Harber’s Johnny 5..............................................................3 AC Pin: Still Blooming!...................................................7 Designing a Dome.......................................11 James Zhan’s Flower Gallery................................................13 Birgitte Jonsgard From Chapels to Flowers!.........................17
Building BrickNerd Instructions: Daffodil..............................................................23 Nathan Hake: Building BIG!...................................................28 Brian Costello:: Building Houston.........................................34 Pat Hough: Building a Story.............................................39 Dan Rubin’s P.A.C.H................................................................44 Jeff Schroeder’s Landing on Alpha Centauri.....................48 Minifigure Customization 101: Ugh, I smell like a human..........................52 You Can Build It: MINI Vakbeor Frigate..................................57
Community Bantha Bricks: Daniel Eisenhauer’s Starship Fleet........66 Last Word.............................................................79 Classic AFOLs.....................................................80
People
Alexander Harber’s
Johnny 5 Article and Photography by Alexander Harber
My name is Alexander Harber. I’m a Solutions Engineer that devises digital marketing strategies for industrial and manufacturing companies. I’ve been building with LEGO bricks on an uninterrupted basis since 1994, when I was five years old! For almost as long, I’ve also been a fan of science-fiction and fantasy stories, and they’ve been very influential on my writing and drawing hobbies, as well as on my LEGO creations. When I saw the science-fiction film Short Circuit during my bout with chicken pox in the second grade, I was amazed by the so-called “S.A.I.N.T.” (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) robots and their soul-given member, Number 5. Even though Number (later Johnny) 5 was just an elaborate movie prop, I wished that such a machine could be real, and in order to make that wish come true, I tried recreating Johnny 5 with LEGO bricks. In the mid-1990s, I lacked the skill and the right types of bricks to make even a serviceable rendition of the robot, so I turned to other LEGO projects. But I never forgot, and always kept “a large, functional LEGO model of Johnny 5” at the top of my MOC wish list. Fast forward 25 years and I finally got to the place where I surmised I had enough bricks and enough practice building other designs in LEGO to give Johnny 5 another try. I started with building the head, as that is the most distinctive aspect of the character, and what you see the most of in the movie whenever Johnny is onscreen. Johnny 5 ready for action!
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Using just screenshots from the movie, I mocked up the head in random colors of bricks and tiles. Satisfied with how it captured both the look and personality of the character, I immediately went about re-building the head with the correct colors, and then moving onto the arms and treads. It was at that point that it became cumbersome to rely on screenshots from the film. Thankfully, I discovered a website created by fans of the movie that were actually trying to build a life-size Johnny 5 replica at inputinc.com. On the website is a gallery of CAD files and renderings of all the robot components and parts in addition to photographs of a disassembled prop Johnny 5 from the film production. These renderings and photographs turned out to be essential to capturing the right dimensions and pieces for the LEGO Johnny 5, as I would often place subassemblies built in LEGO (like the treads) up against different isometric views to get the shaping and geometries as close to perfect as possible. This was no small challenge, as the Johnny 5 robot prop is almost totally asymmetrical! Bricklink, naturally, became a dedicated resource for new parts I lacked in my current collection in order to make every one-off detail a reality. Different views of the robot.
Johnny 5’s laser activated.
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People
Hidden Garden Redux.
The greatest opportunity afforded to AFOLs to have their creations on exhibit at the LEGO House began in the year 2017 when the invites were sent out worldwide. The final count was thirty-four AFOLs, and I was one of them selected to bring my seven MOCs to The Home Of The Brick in September 2017, and had them displayed for a full year until September 2018. The selection process was different for year 2018 through the contest ‘Help Decorate The LEGO House’ hosted through LEGO Rebrick. I submitted several floral MOCs that were vastly different in design and concept from the previous seven MOCs on display. Five winning entries were installed in September 2018, and during the installation, the LEGO House design team requested that the Flower Box from the previous year be extended for another year, as they mentioned that the MOC had the most positive feedback from the staff and visitors alike.
AC Pin:
Still Blooming! Article and Photography by AC Pin
Mother’s Day blossoms.
Winter pinecones.
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Before the end of the duration for the 2018 MOCs, I received from the LEGO House design team a request to donate at least one of the MOCs to The Home Of The Brick, which would remain in Billund permanently, to be displayed upon their discretion in one of their offices. The Jasmine Buds was my personal choice and has remained in residence after September 2019. The following year, 2020, due to COVID restrictions, I had to ship my winning entry for the contest ‘Help Decorate The LEGO House’ hosted through LEGO Ideas. The Hidden Garden was installed by the LEGO House design team on September 2020 at the Yellow Zone and was on exhibit until September 2021. As the end date approached, I received another request to have the MOC extended for another year, but this time it was going to be on exhibit at LEGOLand Billund where a new section for AFOLs was being developed and opened in April 2022. Since the twelve MOCs have been returned to me, I’ve brought them to various events/shows/exhibits to give the opportunity for more people to be able to see them in real bricks. I sometimes mention to attendees that I’ve saved them a couple of trips to The Home Of The Brick, as that would have been the only way for them to see these creations when they were on display at the LEGO House from September 2017 until September 2019. And so the legacy of my floral MOCs continues from the birthplace of the LEGO brick in Billund, Denmark to new locations across the USA, and hopefully to other countries in the future. Jasmine Buds. Tulip patch.
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Everyone knows that in store visits, the first place I usually head towards is the Pick And Build wall. It’s always fascinating to find unusual pieces in quantity that wouldn’t break the bank like when ordered online. That’s why, like any blue-blooded AFOL, I’ll take advantage of the supply to get these pieces which can be used for future builds. Every now and then I’ll use the PAB piece in experimental builds to see how it can be utilized. The piece (Round 1 x 2 with Open Studs) in dark tan was the latest find and it didn’t take me long to build several MOCs that showcased its versatility. From my experience as I build more with the same piece, new ideas come to fruition. In this case, while building the flower, it made me realize that in the shaping of the petals, the same technique can be used for another MOC.
Building
Designing a Dome Article and Photography by AC Pin
One of the toughest shapes to build with the bricks is a dome, and the usual outcome for it looks like typical rough brick work. The new piece made me realize that I can do better shaping with the dome. So to put the theory to work, I made a prototype dome using bricks at my disposal, which were in different colors. The color scheme is not important at this point, as what matters most is the viability of the design. The tricky part was connecting the rounded plates to the bricks that are at a different orientation. Fortunately I got the small brackets to do the main connection, utilizing additional tiles and plates to adjust the level of attachment. Eight sections similar to the petals connected them together with a modified plate (2 x 2 with Bar Frame Octagonal, Reinforced, Completely Round Studs). Then it was just a matter of making adjustments to the sections as they were assembled together to complete A closer look at the flower.
From many parts comes a flower (below center).
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People
James Zhan’s
Flower Gallery
Article and Photography by James Zhan James Zhan was in our last issue as a mecha builder, but he builds more than robots. Another specialty he has is building flowers. Here’s a gallery of his flowers, along with James’ commentary.
Orchid James’ comments: The elegant orchid has always been a model that I wanted to build. This version was completed in 2018 and ended up being displayed in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery.
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Wedding Bouquet James’ comments: A friend requested a special build for his wedding proposal. I used some basic parts to create this bouquet, and it ended up helping his friend’s proposal.
Tomorrow Will be Fine James’ comments: A beautiful flower was completed at the beginning of 2021 using the Shoulder Shell W.3.20 Connector. This was designed in the style of Japanese flora design (ikebana) and with the hope that we will all be better in the new year.
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People
Birgitte Jonsgard:
From Chapels to Flowers! Article by Joe Meno Photography by Birgitte Jonsgard
Birgitte Jonsgard, a high school biology teacher, has a LEGO story like so many other builders. In childhood, she loved building her own things. For her, LEGO has always been about building your own things. She remembers very few sets from her childhood, as she would rapidly ‘set free’ the bricks from their sets and be used over and over for her creations. She left the bricks behind when she became a teenager. However, in 2011, she came across some photos of MOCs online. These were models of well-known buildings in Oslo built by members of the Norwegian LUG Brikkelauget. She had no idea LEGO was used by adults in such advanced ways, and for her it was a revelation: “Liking LEGO and making models—this is the perfect hobby!” Her building interests include all kinds of things, but she keeps returning to architecture in different scales.
Birgitte’s Borgund stave church model.
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Parts List
(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)
Qty Part Color Description 2 15712.dat Sand Green Tile 1 x 1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) 3 44861.dat Sand Green Plate 1 x 2 with Single Clip on Top (Thick C-Clip) 1 2431.dat Dark Green Tile 1 x 4 with Groove 1 3623.dat Dark Green Plate 1 x 3 1 11477.dat Dark Green Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 60478.dat Dark Green Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End 6 2654a.dat Green Dish 2 x 2 with Rim 3 3022.dat Green Plate 2 x 2 2 15068.dat Green Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 5 48336.dat Green Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Type 2 3 60470a.dat Green Plate 1 x 2 with 2 Clips Horizontal (Thick U-Clips) 3 87079.dat Green Tile 2 x 4 with Groove 6 37762.dat Bright Green Cylinder 1 x 1.333 with 0.5L Bar and Bar Hole 6 3024.dat Yellow Plate 1 x 1 1 4728.dat Yellow Plant Flower 2 x 2 with Hollow Stud 6 11477.dat Yellow Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 6 24201.dat Yellow Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Inverted 1 30088.dat Yellow Minifig Speargun 6 60897.dat Yellow Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical (Thick C-Clip) 1 85861.dat Trans Orange Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud 8 3023.dat Orange Plate 1 x 2 2 3024.dat Orange Plate 1 x 1 2 15573.dat Orange Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud 4 6141.dat Trans Clear Plate 1 x 1 Round 1 4733.dat White Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides 1 11213.dat White Plate 6 x 6 Round with Hole and Snapstud 1 11477.dat White Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 35480.dat White Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs 1 49307.dat White Brick 1 x 1 x 0.667 with Curved Top BrickNerd is your place for all things LEGO and the LEGO fan community. Spearheaded by Dave Schefcik and some of the best LEGO builders in the world, the site’s mission is to showcase the best of the AFOL community by highlighting builds, interviews and in-depth articles. BrickJournal is proud to continue its partnership with BrickNerd. You can go to the BrickNerd website by typing: https://bricknerd.com/ on your browser or by scanning this QR code!
Daffodil
Design and Instructions by Inez Vasquez
Spring has sprung and we’ve got a little build to welcome the season! Daffodils belong to the genus Narcissus and are characterized as perennial bulbs with conspicuous flowers. The central cup-like corona is surrounded by six petals with flower colors ranging from white, yellow, orange, and even pink. The central piece for this build is the 2x2 flower open stud (part number 4728) from all the way back in the 1980s, which forms the core for the flower. Yes, we used a flower to build another flower! The petals and corona may also be customized using various colors. Daffodils are the birth flower of March, symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings. After months of snow and gray skies, the daffodil’s bright and cheery flowers signal the changing of seasons. We hope you’ll build one or two of these daffodils to celebrate Spring!
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Building
Nathan Hake:
Building
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BIG!
Bio-Research Station 22 Commander’s Log:
For the past few years, this station could have been called a quiet or even dull backwater post. The projects we have worked on have had their share of successes and failures, but nothing unusual happened here until last night. Our sensors detected seismic activity that was too low for anyone to feel in the past month. We couldn’t pinpoint the source of the activity as it appeared to be moving. Readings were contradictory: there would be one source, or multiple sources. The Science Department had been analyzing the readings, until yesterday when we discovered the anomalies. A number of alien creatures had appeared that seem to be attacking the native flora and fauna. These creatures appear to correspond with the seismic activity and are breaking down the soil at a structural level. We are concerned with the rate of growth of the structures, and also if they will weaken the grounds supporting the station. Science and Engineering are studying the phenomena.
Building has been something Nathan Hake has been doing since childhood. He got his first LEGO set at the age of three, and 21 years later, hasn’t stopped. His creativity started at about the same time, with the LEGO sets he got growing up never staying together very long. It got to the point that his dad started gluing the sets together, but Nathan’s little fingers still managed to break them apart. He would spend hours looking through LEGO magazines just trying to figure out how sets were made and trying to replicate play features. He was always building something: cars, spaceships, buildings, Bionicles—anything, really. Whenever he got inspiration, he would just build. Bio-Research Station 22 is one of many creations by Nathan, a builder in New Zealand. Displayed at the 2022 Christchurch Brick show, the base of the layout was 2 meters by 1.2 meters. The tower stood at 1.3 meters high, making this the tallest build Nathan has done, as well as one of his largest. Nathan used one M (medium) motor for the black alien creatures to make them appear to be breathing. To completely light the layout, he used ten LEGO Power Functions LEDs, one classic LEGO LED unit for the flashing lights on the cargo ship, and seven LEGO Power Functions extension cables. All of this is powered by one Power Functions battery unit. One challenge Nathan enjoyed was hiding the components and keeping them easy to access, such as using a hidden button for the power and a hidden drawer for battery access. On display.
The size of the layout is seen here.
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Building
Building microscale is always a challenge, but the results can be really impressive. Such is the case with Brian Costello’s growing Houston cityscape. Seen at Brick Rodeo 2022 in Austin, Texas, the layout was a great display of the skyline that came to life when lit for the event’s lights out time. BrickJournal talked to Brian about his build.
A rendering of Houston.
Brian Costello:
Building Houston
Interview by Joe Meno Photography by Brian Costello, Joe Meno The built version of the city.
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BrickJournal: Tell us about yourself. What do you do? Brian Costello: I’m an engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. I’ve had a few different jobs there over the years, but I’m currently a Visiting Vehicle Engineer in the ISS Program Office. Basically, that means that I help decide which cargo goes on which rocket going to the International Space Station, and I help make sure that all of the paperwork is complete and correct.
What was the hardest build you have done? The hardest one I’ve completed was probably the Houston soccer stadium (currently named PNC stadium). It was the first building I designed to have lighting, and it also has a weird angular shape. But I’m really happy with the way it turned out! My next Houston building is turning into an even more difficult mountain to climb, but we’ll have to wait to see if I can conquer that one. What’s a build you are most proud of? Are there any other parts of your build that you want to focus on? I’m really proud of the stadiums. I feel like they are some of the most iconic landmarks we have in Houston. But it’s always super exciting to me when I’m at a show, and someone comes up to tell me “I work in that building” or “I live in that building.” If the people who really live their lives there can recognize it, then I must have done a good job. Why do you build? Do you build because you want to make a replica of something? Or just want to create? Or something else entirely? I like figuring things out. I don’t consider myself super creative. I’ve always struggled with a blank canvas. I can even remember in grade school being stuck for hours trying to start an essay because I had no idea what to write down. Scaling these buildings down is still a challenge, and it still takes engineering; but it alleviates some of that pressure of coming up with the original idea.
The Astrodome.
Another view.
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Building
Dan Rubin’s Article and Photography by Dan Rubin
Dan Rubin is an AFOL based in the Washington, DC area who has been displaying at LEGO fan events such as Brickfair Virginia. His specialty is Space-oriented builds and layouts. For his latest set of models, he had an unlikely source of inspiration. Dan tells the story: As soon as I saw the new elephant head piece, I knew I wanted to build these MOCs. I just instantly wanted to see them as warrior elephant people. I ordered the heads from LEGO customer support. After a few months of waiting on orders (turns out, while they’re pre-bagged, the bag does not include the trunk!), I had these heads and started building. I initially envisioned one with an elephant gun (turning the tables on big game hunters). While I didn’t end up building that weapon, the concept of turning the tables on hunters/poachers remained. Of course, I had to make a pun with the name, so I decided to call them the P.A.C.H. as a acronym—they became the Poacher Assault Containment Herd. Their backstory is that they’re genetically engineered to be the ultimate protectors of endangered species from the poachers of the future—suited to the environment, gentle with the animals, ferocious defenders, and perfect memories.
Sarge is the first member of the herd that I built. Originally, it was going to be the only one, but I couldn’t resist “squading up.” Sarge is a veteran NCO who has seen her share of combat and injuries (hence the gold tusk). She’s always accompanied by the “L.T. Bird.”
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Building
Jeff Schroeder’s
Landing on Alpha Centauri
Article and Photography by Jeff Schroeder and Joe Meno
A visitor.
An overview of the layout.
One of the builds at Brick Rodeo, a LEGO fan event in Austin, Texas, was an alien landscape. Titled Landing on Alpha Centauri, the landscape had a monorail winding through alien plants and trees. When the lights went out to show the lighted models and layouts, it became a place that was, well, alien.
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Jeff Schroeder was inspired by the movie Avatar to build this model, or rather, layout. Instead of a single model, Jeff built an entire environment that looks otherworldly in daylight. When the lights are turned off, his landscape becomes a neon-colored landscape, just like night time Pandora as seen by Jake in Avatar.
Building Minifig Customization 101:
LEGO figures. There is no room for error in this issue’s custom figures, and it is for this reason I am splitting the work over two issues. I have gone big with the two main characters and a few supporting characters from one of the most critical pieces of anime film, Princess Mononoke. Don’t take my word for it, check out what Roger Ebert had to say on his website: www.rogerebert. com/reviews/princess-mononoke-1999. In short: It is not a simplistic tale of good and evil, but the story of how humans, forest animals and nature gods all fight for their share of the new emerging order. It is one of the most visually inventive films I have ever seen. – Roger Ebert Summarizing Wikipedia and the BBC: Princess Mononoke is set during the 14th Century, the Muromachi period of Japan. Princess Mononoke tells the story of Ashitaka, a young prince cursed by the hatred of a dying boar god. The boar was corrupted by being shot with an iron ball, which lodged in his body. “Hear me loathsome humans,” the boar says. “You shall know my agony and my hatred.” Ashitaka seeks a cure for this curse transferred to him by the boar god by traveling the land, hoping to find the Shishigami, a deer-like forest spirit with the power to bring life and death.
Ugh, I smell like a human. Article and Photography by Jared Burks
I hope everyone is well, for today I am going to dive right in as I have another two-part article. I have long wanted to tackle some more intricate designs that would require additional elements. After creating Monty Oum’s team RWBY and Genshin Impact’s Hu Tao character, I have tackled quite a few accessories in recent history and have been sharpening my skill set at not only getting the parts created, but making them mesh with the 52
During his travels, Ashitaka discovers a world out of balance. The ironworks community of Tatara, run by the enigmatic Lady Eboshi, is ravaging the nearby forest for resources, provoking the wrath of ferocious wolf god Moro and her feral human daughter San (the titular Mononoke, which roughly translates to specter or wraith). Ashitaka is caught in the middle and he must figure out how to navigate this difficult world with “eyes unclouded.” The film was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli. It was dubbed into English with a script by Neil Gaiman—yup, the one from Coraline and Sandman fame. Princess Mononoke was released in Japan in 1997 by Toho, and in the United States in 1999. It was a critical and commercial blockbuster, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan, and also held Japan’s box office record for domestic films until 2001’s Spirited Away, another Miyazaki film. The film greatly increased Ghibli’s popularity and influence outside Japan and is still widely popular today for the strength written into leading female roles. This film became 25 years old in July of this year and remains a visually amazing film with a story line well ahead of its time.
Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Color Part 7 Light-Bluish-Gray 99563.dat 1 8 1
Dark-Bluish-Gray 30374.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 47905.dat
1
Light-Bluish-Gray 22885.dat
1 2
Light-Bluish-Gray 3003.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 58176.dat
2
Light-Bluish-Gray 577b.dat
2 1 6 4 14 1 2 2 2
Dark-Bluish-Gray 55298.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Black 6141.dat Trans-Light-Blue 6141.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 32028.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 32028.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat
4
Dark-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat
3
Black
6
Light-Bluish-Gray 35480.dat
2 4 2 1
Light-Bluish-Gray 3710.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 92593.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3022.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 18674.dat
1
Light-Bluish-Gray 87580.dat
2
Light-Bluish-Gray 99206.dat
1 1
Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat Light-Bluish-Gray u8200.dat
1 1 2
Light-Bluish-Gray 2445.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3176.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 50948.dat
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Dark-Bluish-Gray 61409.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3665.dat Yellow 3665.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 11477.dat Yellow 11477.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 29120.dat
2
Light-Bluish-Gray 29119.dat
1 1 1 4 1
Light-Bluish-Gray 32803.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 32000.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 4274.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 75535.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 12825.dat
1 1
Light-Bluish-Gray 3070b.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3070b.dat
35480.dat
Description Tile 1 x 2 Chamfered with 2 Top Indentations Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Opposite Sides Brick 1 x 2 x 1.667 with Studs on 1 Side Brick 2 x 2 Cylinder Domed 1 x 1 x 1.667 with Bar Minifig Lightsaber Hilt with Bottom Ring Minifig Tool Screwdriver Plate 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 1 Round Plate 1 x 1 Round Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs Plate 1 x 4 Plate 1 x 4 with Two Studs Plate 2 x 2 Plate 2 x 2 Round with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 x 0.667 with Two Studs On Side and Two Raised Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 4 with Square Underside Studholes Plate 2 x 12 Plate 3 x 2 with Hole Slope Brick 3 x 4 x 0.667 Curved with 2 x 2 Cutout Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Inverted Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Inverted Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 with Cutout Left Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 with Cutout Right Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 Inverted Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Holes Technic Pin 1/2 Technic Pin Joiner Round Tile 1 x 1 with Clip with Rounded Tips Tile 1 x 1 with Groove Tile 1 x 1 with Groove
You Can Build It MINI Build
MINI Vakbeor Frigate
Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck Hello everybody, and welcome to one of our highly coveted classic Star Wars mini model building sessions! Today we have prepared a spot-on capital ship from one of the latest Star Wars movies: the Vakbeor-class Frigate from Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. It was among the four capital ships of the Resistance seen during the long starfleet chase sequence in the movie. The ship’s front section consists of a very greebly core surrounded by rounded hull plating. It is connected to a bulky engine block by a narrow and more fragile looking beam. These design elements are similar to those of a Nebulon-B Frigate. While the Vakbeor Frigate is missing the Nebulon-B’s comb-like structure below the front part, it has a large fin below the rear part with additional engines. In order to include as many details and unique shape elements that enable a high recognition value of the frigate, the resulting mini model reaches a piece count of more than 170 parts. There is an inverted stud on the underside that allows for a balanced attachment of a display stand. I hope you will enjoy building this ship! Stay tuned for more mini models, and have a great time until our next building session!
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Arquitens cruiser
Raider
Gozanti Transport TIE Fighters
Lambda Shuttle
starship fleet
Imperial Fleet
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Daniel Eisenhauer’s
Starship Fleet
Article by Steven Smyth, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by David Eisenhauer Galactic greetings! I’m Steven Smyth from Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. Since the community’s founding in 2016, on an almost daily basis, I have witnessed amazing and creative Star Wars builds in the best Star Wars themed building brick group on Facebook. Daniel Eisenhauer is one such builder with a unique UCS Star Destroyer scale collection of ships. I thought it would be fun to spend a little time checking out his builds and getting to know the person behind this awesome ship collection!
Steven Smyth: How’s it going, Daniel? I know you have quite a following with the members of the Bantha Bricks group, you have shared some amazing MOCs (My Own Creations), but for the uninitiated, please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do. Daniel Eisenhauer: Hi, I am 24 years old, from Atlanta, and have been into LEGO Star Wars since I was nine. I am a relative newcomer to the Bantha Bricks group, but I have been part of the LEGO Star Wars community over on the Eurobricks forums for the better part of a decade now. I have been building and playing with LEGO sets since I was a toddler, but until recently I mostly just collected official sets without engaging much with the MOC building side of the hobby. Starting in early 2021, I began publishing a series of models of Star Wars vehicles built to scale with 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer, which specifically is 1:1455, or 11.64 meters per stud. So far, I have designed around two hundred models for this project, and I am adding more all the time. Jawa Sandcrawler.
Would you say Star Wars is your favorite theme? Or do you have a shocker for us? No surprises here, I have built a lot of other sets at various times, but Star Wars has always been my first love. I am a huge fan of Star Wars even outside the LEGO space; I am a member of the 501st Legion costuming group and have been a volunteer for the Star Wars track at Dragon Con since 2011. Besides my MOC building, I am a fairly dedicated collector as well; I have around 650 Star Wars sets totaling roughly 300,000 bricks. Why do you choose the LEGO brick as your medium to express yourself? This is going to be an atypical answer to this question, but I do not feel that I am expressing myself through my LEGO building. Of course, literally everything that anyone does can be taken to be a form of self-expression to some degree, but I am not trying to say anything about myself here. My only goal with these models is to be as accurate to the scale and source material as possible. I am far more comfortable thinking of myself as an engineer rather than an artist. With larger models it makes sense to talk about building styles, preferences for tiles or plates, and so forth in ways that require more of what I would consider artistic intent, but that is harder when the design constraints are this narrow. If my goal is to
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get an accurate model of something that is less say, CLICK THE LINK TO than, ORDER THIS ISSUE PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! three studs long, there are oftenINonly a limited number of possible combinations of parts to achieve a given shape, and I tend to view the model more as a 3-D puzzle than anything else. On models where I do have more options, I try to stick to the official style LEGO used for 75252. If I am doing it right, the style should be replicable by any other MOC designer who is familiar with the official UCS sets, such that my models could be mixed seamlessly with theirs or with official builds. What made you choose the UCS Star Destroyer scale, or 1:1455 scale, to build in? I have always loved the idea of scale models. In my eyes, any individual model may be interesting enough, but BRICKJOURNAL #78 there is far more value in Celebrate having a whole group themZHAN’s Spring with AMADO PINLAC of and JAMES LEGO® builds! Learn how to grow a brick garden that all match each other. botanical 75252 UCS Star Destroyer is LEGO comof your own with some of the best builders in the AFOLs by cartoonistmy GREG favorite HYLAND, step-by easily my all-time favoritemunity! set, Plus: and probably step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, feature of it is the scale model ofDIY the IV that it with JARED BrickNerd’s FanTantive Art, Minifigure Customization K. BURKS, and more! by JOE MENO. and comes with. I wanted to extend that toEdited other ships, FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 two hundred models later, here (84-page we find ourselves! (Digital Edition) $4.99 I do https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_78&products_id=1686 not know whether 1:1455 specifically had any meaning to LEGO when they designed the UCS ISD or if that is just how big it ended up being—it is kind of an arbitrary number, so I suspect the latter, but it turns out to be a very convenient scale. It is a nice middle ground, small enough that even very large ships translate into reasonably sized
Rebel Fleet
Nebulon-B Frigate
Braha’tok Ghost
Hammerhead cruiser
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