The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages! Issue 59 • October 2019
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The Builders Strike Back! Star Wars and all related characters and properties TM & © Lucasfilm
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Issue 59 • October 2019
Contents
From the Editor....................................................2
People
Justin Gates: Building Spaceships!......................................3 Amado Pinlac (AC Pin): Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars............................................8 Evan Ridpath: Building Star Tours and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge............................11 Konrad Aksinowicz: Making a Scene!............................................16 Rui Miguel Anacleto: Making Astromechs and Microships!.............................................21
Building
Daryl Ng: Making Speeders and Blasters!.................25 Steve Peterson: Sith and Jedi Holocrons.............................28 James Philippart: Cooking up LEGO Photography!...........30 Jacob Neil Carpenter: That’s no Moon... ..........................................34 Simon Wild: Building Bridges (and other Star Wars Places)....................40 Miro Dudas: Star Wars Character Builder!....................47
You Can Build It: Midiscale Leia.................................................51 Mini TIE Echelon............................................60 Minifigure Customization 101: One Magical Hat...........................................66
Community
Mark Mancuso: Making an Iconic Mosaic!.........................70 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79 Classic AFOLs.....................................................80
From the Editor: A long time ago, in a galaxy far away... a great adventure took place.
October 2019 Issue 59 Publisher John Morrow
Editor in Chief Joe Meno
Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow
Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon
LEGO Ideas Correspondent Glen Wadleigh Contributors: Konrad Aksinowicz, Rui Miguel Anacleto, Jared Burks, Jacob Neil Carpenter, Christopher Deck, Miro Dudas, Justin Gates, Mark Mancuso, Daryl Ng, Steve Peterson, James Philippart, Amado Pinlac, Evan Ridpath, Simon Wild, and Greg Hyland.
So started Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977. It took over two decades, but LEGO began selling LEGO Star Wars in 1999. It was a LEGO Star Wars set that got me back into building—the very first X-Wing set (7140). I built the set, and tore it down and made a different spaceship that I uploaded photos of to the newly-found website Brickshelf. I joined LUGNET and posted on the webpage... ...and 20 years later there have been many changes to the community. LUGNET has made way for other websites like Facebook, and Brickshelf became quaint when compared to Flickr. However, those old sites are a record of the beginnings of the LEGO Fan community. Many of the events that are now large, started small on LUGNET as an idea. Many of the expert builders started showing their work on Brickshelf and announced it on LUGNET. So if you have some free time online, check out LUGNET and see how the LEGO community started. It started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... And it’s still a great adventure! Joe Meno, Editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply. P.P.S... Yes, BrickJournal has a website — www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too — http://twitter. com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup — http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf. Or you can scan the bottom codes with a QR reader! P.P.P.S. If you want info on a subscription, you can go to www.twomorrows.com or scan below!
Website
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Many thanks to the websites who have served as mirrors for BrickJournal:
www.LUGNET.com, www.Brickshelf.com, www.peeron.com, www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com
About the Cover: Luke’s homestead with his droids are perfectly captured in this photo by James Philippart. About the Contents: So who shot first? Photo provided by Miro Dudas. Star Wars and all related characters and properties TM & © Lucasfilm.
Glossary AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) AFFOL (Adult Female Fan of LEGO) TFFOL (Teen Female Fan of LEGO) NLSO (Non-LEGO Significant Other) MOC (My Own Creation) TLG (The LEGO Group) BURP (Big Ugly Rock Piece) LURP (Little Ugly Rock Piece) POOP (Pieces—that can be or should be made—Of Other Pieces)
SNOT (Studs Not on Top) LUG (LEGO Users Group) LTC (LEGO Train Club) MECHA (a large armored robot on legs, typically controlled by a pilot seated inside) MECH (a large piloted combat robot) DARK AGES (usually teen years, when you drift away from building) STUDS OUT (building where the studs on bricks face the viewer)
LEGO®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. All articles, photos, and art are copyright BrickJournal Media, LLC 2011, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Subscriptions are $62 Economy US, $74 Expedited US, $96 International, or $24 Digital Only and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com or payment sent to: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. The editorial/advertising office address for BrickJournal is: BrickJournal Editor, 9001 Barb Anne Court, Springfield, VA 22152, USA or admin@brickjournal.com. First Printing. Printed in China. ISSN 1941-2347. BrickJournal and its staff would like to thank the LDraw community for the software it makes available to the community, which we use for making all of the instructions and renderings in this magazine. We would especially like to thank Kevin Clague for his continued upgrades of the LPub tool that is a part of2the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.
People
Justin’s version of the Lunar Lander.
Earlier this year, the LEGO Group released a set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing: the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle. Right before the set was released, a fan builder presented his own version that turned out to be as detailed as the LEGO Set! Justin Gates (known online as Akula Bricks) is the 22-year-old builder behind the model. He’s been a builder since earlier than he can remember, but remembers that LEGO was something that was always there in his life. Whether it was his own collection of parts or a friend’s, it was always fun to play around with it and create different things. Justin started LEGO building when he realized that he was fascinated with model-making and miniatures, but never really had the skills or resources to make any of his own. For him, LEGO was a media which wasn’t as intimidating to get into, had no painting or gluing, and if he didn’t like the way something turned out, he could easily change it.
Justin Gates:
Building Spaceships! Article and Photography by Justin Gates
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His favorite LEGO line was the Discovery Space line from 2003. The Lunar Lander was one of the first space-themed sets he had and the Saturn V set brought back a lot of fond memories of it. Other favorite themes included were Rock Raiders, Life on Mars, and Alpha Team. LEGO building for Justin was a hobby until 2010, when his family moved and he had less space for his collection of parts. Feeling that he had grown out of the hobby, he sold the majority of the collection. Seven years later, the LEGO Ideas Saturn V set was released, which instantly reignited his interest. From there he started to think about making his own creations and started learning all sorts of new building techniques he never would have thought of before.
A look at the top of the lander. The rear of the lander.
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The idea for his first space model after his re-entry into the hobby came from rewatching 2001: A Space Odyssey in mid2018. There’s a brief scene in which the viewer sees various weapons satellites orbiting the Earth—all of the designs were very interesting. Right away he thought about how cool it would be to have a model of one, and from there he just started experimenting with different parts until he came up with a fairly nice model of the German satellite. After
that, all sorts of ideas came to mind, some of which he’s already built and some that he’s still planning to build. Out of the models he has built, his favorite is his Lunar Module. When he started building, he set out to use as much Pearl Gold as possible to properly replicate the look of the real thing. This was something that he had not seen anyone else do at the time, especially in minifig scale or larger. The final model was made with roughly 900 parts, of which 200 were in Pearl Gold. He also used Flat Silver and other metallic colors for different bits of the build, all of which really stand out and make for a very fun model to look at.
Justin’s first build: A weapons platform from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Justin’s approach to building a model is organic. Once he decides he wants to replicate a specific object like a spacecraft, he starts looking at what parts might be a close match to different shapes on the object, and checking if they’re available in the necessary color. In a way, it’s a trial and error process. There’s many designs that he has had to scrap because the parts he would like to use are only available in a small amount of colors. Sometimes, though, he’ll see a specific part and the idea for something to build will come from that, which was the case with his Retro Space Capsule. He saw the Star Wars Resistance Bomber set and was reminded of a Mercury space capsule toy he had as a kid. Justin’s retro space capsule, with Mercury astronaut inside!
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From there, it is a matter of time to complete a model. It can take anywhere from an hour to several months to finish one. Justin’s Lunar Lander was the result of over six months of frequent design changes, while his Retro Space Capsule only took about an hour of playing around with different parts. Building is a process where Justin will think he is finished with a model, then take a second look a week later and think to himself, “Hmm. I wonder if this part might look better here instead?”
Justin’s open retro space capsule, with Mercury astronaut inside!
For new builders, Justin offers this advice: “Don’t be afraid to start over. Sometimes you’ll get stuck into building a certain way and it can be very frustrating if it doesn’t work out. The original design for my Lunar Module left a lot to be desired, and after spending hours trying to solve the problems I had with it, I just decided to scrap it and start again. The second version came out significantly better, and from there I was able to make more subtle improvements to it over time. Often it’s very liberating to try again from a new angle, explore new techniques, and come up with a better design than you had originally started with.”
The open space capsule, showing the interior detail.
The Mercury astronaut, holding a model space capsule.
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People
Amado Pinlac with his Star Wars diorama.
Amado Pinlac (AC Pin):
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars! Article and Photos by Amado Pinlac The diorama without the commemorative minifigures.
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A few days after the sets containing the five commemorative minifigs were officially announced for the 20th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars, the Rockefeller LEGO Store management asked if I’d be interested in doing a display that would be appropriate for the occasion. Honored to have been tasked for this commission, a meeting ensued a couple of days later to discuss the details and logistics for the MOC. The outcome of the meeting left me with full control on the design aspects of the build that would include the five commemorative minifigs (Leia, Luke, Han, Vader and Lando) and size restrictions for it to fit the large display case. The display had to be ready for installation onsite the weekend before the release of the sets on Monday April 1, 2019, giving me less than two months to complete it. This was easier said than done as it took me a couple of weeks to come up with the design concept for the whole display. Trying to find a specific scene with all five characters together was an impossible task as Leia, Luke and Han were together in a lot of scenes, Vader in some, but Lando was the wildcard as he wasn’t even in the first movie. Scenes within the Death Star, Cloud City, and Rebel ships were considered until it finally dawned on me that there wasn’t one scene that would fit the required creation. The interplay of the dark versus the light side concept inspired the idea of doing two vignettes, and I finally settled on a very iconic scene to bring everything together. The Yavin IV A New Hope award ceremony I had done several years ago was resurrected and rebuilt to accommodate the two vignettes. The whole creation was divided into two sections: The base which included the dark versus light vignettes with the Death Star light panels all around and with the LSW 20 at the back, then the top for the ANH awards
ceremony. Another two weeks passed to complete the build, and the Rockefeller store management approved the final layout design. The model was installed in a live build on Saturday, March 30, 2019 and remains on exhibit through the rest of the year 2019. It’s never an easy job to make sure the MOC is packed securely for a trip. It’s even harder when using public transportation to get to the venue. Final system checks to get all the pieces fit were done the night before. I woke up early for a park-and-ride bus to Manhattan that took an hour and then finally spent another half-hour negotiating the NYC subway to get to the store location. Luckily that weekend, there were no schedule changes for the trains that we needed. As the doors opened at 10:00 AM, visitors were treated to the live build of the MOC. I couldn’t help but overhear their comments as I went about working as people lingered, witnessing firsthand the build in-progress. As soon as the pillars came up, a lot of them guessed correctly about the awards ceremony, but didn’t realize the significance of the whole montage since the five commemorative minifigs were filled in with different minifigs. It can be quite unnerving doing a live build, but I’ve had a lot of practice in over ten years of doing shows/events. Plus, it also helps to have a system/script in place when building the MOCs at a public venue. The live build was completed in about two hours without a hitch, with the great support from store manager Chad and staff. The final touch of replacing the five minifigs with the commemorative minifigs was done Monday, April 1, 2019 when the new sets were officially released. A look at the side of the display.
Setting up the diorama.
Placing minifigures.
On the left side of the layout is the light saber duel between Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader.
On the right side is a meeting with Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar.
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A close-up of the award ceremony.
Finally, I got invited fittingly on Saturday, May The Fourth to spice up the event at the Rockefeller LEGO Store for a Meet & Greet with the builder. It was so gratifying to see the feedback, comments, and reactions from the visitors, including their amazement meeting in person ACPin, the man who built this MOC. May The Force Be With You! An overall view of the diorama.
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People
Evan and his Star Tours layout.
Evan Ridpath is a Star Wars builder whose specialty is a niche in the Star Wars theme. He built a model based on the Star Tours ride at the Disney Resorts, and also built a microscale version of the new Galaxy’s Edge park at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. He’s only 23, but has built for the past 20 years with no sign of stopping. His first set was a Duplo set when he was three years old. Since then, his parents have supported his creative endeavors, and LEGO was always seen as a good creative product to invest in for that. He also grew up down the street from LEGOLand California, which turned out to be a great place to visit and explore as a kid. As he grew older, he had a sort of Dark Age, as during his four years studying film at Chapman University, he built less since he left his LEGO bricks at home. He was still involved with the online LEGO community and was always brainstorming ideas for what he wanted to build as soon as he got home for break.
Evan Ridpath:
Building Star Tours and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Article and Photography by Evan Ridpath
Evan builds the most in the Star Wars theme, but he also enjoys Harry Potter, Disney, Castle, Lord of the Rings, and the Modular Creator buildings which line his family’s dining room. While this might be a throwback to some, the Adventurers series with Johnny Thunder was a favorite part of his childhood building as well! Evan got his first Star Wars set, the first AT-ST (7127) when he was five years old because he thought the Chewbacca minifigure looked cool. His parents had seen Star Wars:
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A New Hope, but didn’t regard themselves as fans. Regardless of this, they introduced him to the movies when he asked what Star Wars was, and he was instantly captivated! Even at such a young age, Evan was amazed by the storytelling, music, and effects, and this introduced him to the other films of George Lucas and many other well-known directors and filmmakers of that time. Evan will always credit Star Wars for igniting his passion for film, as well as being an important theme in his LEGO building.
The Star Tours control station, with Mon Calamari officer.
Stormtroopers and a probe droid looking for a spy.
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Evan’s favorite model that he’s built would be his Star Tours display, based on the Disney theme park attraction. He’s a huge fan of the Disney parks and Imagineering, so it felt like a natural model to build, combining his love of LEGO, Star Wars, and Disney. His first iteration of the attraction and the Starspeeder 3000 was built in 2010. Since then, over the years, he has improved upon the design and attraction to its current version—the Starspeeder 1000 of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. He also started making plans over time to build the complete Star Tours hangar bay to display the Starspeeder as seen in the queue of the Disneyland attraction. This design also changed several times,
A security droid watches over the visiting beings and creatures at Star Tours.
The Starspeeder 1000.
as Evan’s building techniques advanced and his collection of pieces grew, to its current version which he completed in 2016. The Star Tours attraction is known for its Easter eggs and hidden details which he loves to incorporate into his builds, so he tried to pay tribute to as many and he could in the design, even including a couple of surprises of his own. Creating those surprises and models has always involved a lot of trial and error for Evan, but he enjoys the experimentation process when he can step from a design after he finds the right pieces and can say, “That’s it!” If he’s building a recreation of something, such as the scenes on the Star Tours display, he definitely likes to research before he builds, and looks at any reference photos, videos, or images which he can find that give him any bit of inspiration. In the case of Star Tours, or any of his Disney theme park-inspired builds,
Threepio checks on the Starspeeder’s systems.
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A closer look at the display, showing the security droid, boarding area, and droid repair bay at the bottom.
frequent visits to the Disney parks themselves to see the subjects he’s recreating in LEGO don’t hurt either! He also studies the original concept art to see where some of the design influences of his favorite things come from—his Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge miniature model was based on the original overhead concept art that Disney released when they announced the new land for Disneyland. He looks forward to building more minifigure-scale models based on Galaxy’s Edge and the world of Batuu now that the land is officially open. Building these models takes time, and for Evan, the amount of time needed to build can vary depending on the size and scope of the model. An ambitious project like the Star Tours model, which includes the Starspeeder and related vignettes, took years of development and restructuring to get to the current iteration it is at now, whereas the much smaller Galaxy’s Edge model was built in a day.
Rex, the pilot droid for the previous version of Star Tours, has been retired.
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Galaxy’s Edge in nanoscale.
For a beginning builder, Evan’s models and creations may seem challenging, but they are the result of learning and experimenting. His advice to them is: “Build what you love and never be afraid to experiment! What I’ve always appreciated about LEGO is that if an ‘official’ set of something you care about doesn’t exist, build your own model instead! It’s often times more rewarding than following any set instructions anyway, because you can always look back on it and see where your personal touches and designs carried through.”
The Millennium Falcon at its docking bay.
A model of one of the ride vehicles in the Rise of the Resistance attraction in Galaxy’s Edge. One of the entrances from Critter Country at Disneyland.
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People
Konrad’s rendition of ILM during the production of The Empire Strikes Back.
Konrad Aksinowicz:
Making a Scene! Article and Photography by Konrad Aksinowicz 16
Konrad Aksinowicz has been building for a while—over thirty-five years, in fact. Considering he is a forty-year-old filmmaker, his building time has taken a majority of his life. It has always annoyed him that people compare the passion of LEGO building to playing with a children’s toy. He doesn’t agree with them and is convinced that LEGO building is an adult hobby such as snowboarding, cooking, painting, and composing music. For Konrad, building is yet another form of artistic expression that has not yet been accepted by the majority, but it’s only a matter of time.
He received his first LEGO set in 1983 from his grandmother. Living in communist Poland, Konrad was shocked because there were no such toys available. The set he received, the Black Falcon Castle (6073), changed his life. He was five years old and now could build anything he wanted. Over the many years that Konrad has built, LEGO building was a part of the day until he turned fifteen. Even after then, he built, though not as much. When he emigrated from Poland to Sydney, Australia, his LEGO sets went with him.
The scene he built here is as old as he is. Forty years ago, talented people from Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) worked on the AT-AT sequence for the movie The Empire Strikes Back, part of the Star Wars trilogy of films created by George Lucas. The moviemakers introduced a special type of camera that could be controlled by computer and
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The stage’s work area, with tools and a few props from the Star Wars movies.
frame by frame animated this unique sequence for the Battle of Hoth. Konrad built the LEGO diorama to honor this anniversary. As a fan of Empire, Konrad was fascinated by the story of the making of the film. With a book about the making of The Empire Strikes Back by JW Rinzler, he started work on his diorama. Building it took exactly five days. The first day, he chose the right scale for the AT-AT and the table it was filmed on. The next day was spent building the motion control camera, and the rest were used building the walls and accessories. Sometimes he took apart parts that did not fit and built them over.
A cameraman at his station.
The camera monitor showing footage in progress.
As a filmmaker, he was extremely impressed with the work of the ILM staff to achieve the final results in The Empire Strikes Back. When he approached his diorama project, it was very important for him to find the right scale for his model, so the details could be consistent. The prop that determined the scale was the AT-AT. The AT-AT also Another view of the camera work being done.
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A closer look at the stop-motion stage. The black bars are references for leg and body movements of the AT-AT.
Below are some storyboards, art, and notes posted on the stage bulletin board.
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determined the overall look of the entire studio. The first version of the AT-AT was built at a scale too big to build the rest of the studio, so the model had to be reduced to a smaller size. He had to strike a balance between size and look, as the smaller models did not look like the original AT-AT. Once he made the right scale and look, he could fill out the table and continue building. The scale fit the scale of LEGO Technic figures, which were added to the diorama. The next step was to design the motion-control camera. While maintaining details, he used the original photos from ILM at the time of filming The Empire Strikes Back. With those photos, Konrad got even more insight of how it was at the studio—it was chaos! He wanted to capture the disorder in the studio itself as a contrast to the final AT-AT sequence in the film. For Konrad, it seems a bit paradoxical, but it’s also a reflection of the actual production. For his filmmaking, LEGO helps him a lot in film direction. Building helps him in setting the right scale of a project, focusing his attention on consistency in color selection and setting certain visual aesthetics. For this diorama, for example, there was a point where there was too much chaos, so he rearranged the layout a little. Konrad with his model.
An overhead view of the model.
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Konrad offers this advice for beginning builders: “Keep on building until you achieve the effect you want. Creating the studio was a very important lesson in building and rebuilding.”
People
Rui’s models of R2-D2 and BB-8.
Rui Miguel Anacleto has been building all of his life, since he was little. He was never satisfied with the original sets and always tried to either improve them or make them his own creations. In his young adulthood years he kind of forgot the “LEGO life” and didn’t pick it up again until about three-anda-half years ago. Now 38 years old, he builds Star Wars-inspired models, including droids. For him, building is a great hobby, as he always loved arts in general, and as a graphic designer, he’s always eager for new creative challenges. He’s always had a bit of a creative side and building LEGO models was almost a natural step for him. Star Wars is his favorite theme, but he loves some oldies too, like Classic Space or Castle, as well as the big vehicle models that came from the old Model Team series and Creative Expert vehicle models.
Rui Miguel Anacleto:
Building Astromechs and Microships! Article by Joe Meno Photos by Rui Miguel Anacleto
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Star Wars inspired Rui’s building even before the theme was launched by LEGO. As a youngster, he built Star Wars-inspired spaceships and used antenna pieces to make minifigure light sabers. In fact, the set that restarted his building was the General Grievious buildable figure (75112). From then on he just started collecting Star Wars sets, but as he said before, he is never satisfied with the original models, so he started modifying some of the sets, and from there, creating his own models. The model he is most proud of is his R2-D2 midiscale model because of all the small details it has and the fun he had building it! Other models he has built include a BB-8 droid and an assortment of microscale Rebel spacecraft.
BB-8 with arms and manipulators extended.
A look at R2-D2.
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R2-D2 amd BB-8 with arms and manipulators extended.
He built his R2 unit like he builds his other models. He doesn’t prepare, but he does have an idea of the build in his head. He is very good at visualizing in 3D, so he uses LEGO Digital Designer to start the project. From the digital build, he buys the parts and then builds and starts improving it. For Rui, it’s a constant process of buillding and rebuilding and trying different methods to improve the model. It’s very difficult for him to regard his models as completed, because they are always works in progress. Because of this, it can take days, weeks, months, or even years to complete a model.
Some views of Rui’s microscale version of the Republic Bomber.
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Rui Miguel Anacleto with his robots and collection. Docked.
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Rui’s Jedi Starfighter and hyperspace ring.
For beginning builders, Rui offers the following advice: “Nowadays with all social media, it seems that getting noticed—getting the most comments or likes—is all that matters, and I think that’s probably a rookie mistake: To focus on that specific objective to become viral. For me, the most important part is to do something that I really love. When we do things we love, we tend to show the best part of us, and for me that’s the way to get really noticed. So my advice is: Don’t build something just because it’s a new trend, build it for the pleasure of doing it! Have fun and others will join!”
Building
Daryl’s rendition of the speeder Obi-Wan and Anakin drove in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.
Daryl Ng has been actively building for the past four years—his LEGO building was rekindled when his girlfriend bought him a LEGO set. Since then, he has been building vehicles and props from the Star Wars universe, including a model of Han Solo’s blaster and landspeeders from all of the movies. He started building as an outlet for creativity. Daryl has never considered himself that creative a person and felt that LEGO building was a good way to be creative. To him, he hasn’t built that much—he’s only built about 25 models. He has done more designing, with more than 140 Star Wars models designed. He prefers digital design as it’s less time consuming than actually building; he can do it anywhere with his laptop, and he never runs out of bricks! Having grown up with the movies and the accompanying toys, it wasn’t hard for Daryl to get inspired to build them. He enjoyed the vast amount of vehicles, ships, and models. With such a expansive library of subject matter in the films and cartoons, he started building and hasn’t stopped.
Daryl Ng:
Making Speeders and Blasters! Article by Joe Meno Photos by Daryl Ng
To prove this point, the model he is most proud of is his first Star Wars custom model—Rey’s speeder, seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s the only model he has revisited over the years and improved. The current model is his 12th or 13th version, where he added an interior engine display. His building process starts with a paper sketch to get a feel for general dimensions. From the sketch, he notes the key areas that he thinks will be challenging and starts visualizing how to go about building. From there, he starts digitally building. He started his building with LEGO Digital Designer, but now uses Stud.io (a digital building tool by Bricklink) or MLCAD, a PC LEGO building program.
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Rey’s speeder.
Other views of the speeder.
Opened to show the interior engine detail.
With the LEGO assortment of parts being so vast, it took some time before Daryl became familiar with the parts available. There are still areas on his designs where he is not sure of the model’s structure, as the programs connect parts, but don’t indicate the overall stability of the actual build. For that reason, he will usually have two to four versions of the model designed in case his primary design doesn’t hold up with physical bricks. He doesn’t order bricks until he is 99% confident of the design, but he orders about twice the brick amount the final digital model has to accommodate any errors in the design. He hates not having enough bricks to build and having to stop mid-build.
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D/O, a new droid that will be in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
R2 and Daryl’s landspeeder model, based on Luke’s landspeeder in Star Wars: A New Hope.
Stormtrooper blaster.
Physically building a model doesn’t take too long. For Daryl, a 1000 to 2000 piece model can be done in a day—it’s the design process that takes up all the time. Daryl has these words for those just starting to build: “I honestly believe that if I can do it, anyone can. I don’t come from a traditional creative background academically or professionally, so really anyone can have a go at it. Experience in my opinion makes up for this. So just get started on something and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how it turns out, I promise you.
BB-8 and D/O.
Han Solo’s blaster. Zam Wessel’s speeder, seen in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.
Building
Steve Peterson’s Jedi (left) and Sith (right) holocrons.
Steve Peterson:
Sith and Jedi Holocrons Article and Photography by Steve Peterson
I’m Steve Peterson; I’m an insurance agent and also co-admin the Facebook group LEGO Star Wars Fans (which can be a full-time gig in itself!). At the time this is written, LEGO Star Wars Fans has about 25,200 members worldwide and counting! Like many out there I had LEGO as a kid, and went into a Dark Age of sorts, returning to LEGO in 2015. In early 2017 I created my first MOC and there was no looking back. If you hadn’t already guessed, I primarily build Star Wars LEGO creations. I’m a huge fan of the Clone Wars and Rebels series, and when I saw the Holocrons featured in Star Wars Rebels I knew that I had to try it.
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I start out all my MOCs in digital form. Deciding to start with the Sith Holocron, I quickly learned the challenges of building a LEGO pyramid shape that also hinges open and closed, and also build them as close to 1:1 scale as I could. I set that aside for a bit and went onto the Jedi.
I knew from the start that I wanted to add lighting and have the cube open, so designing the internal structure using mostly trans-blue parts was tough. Thankfully the pearl gold tile adds rigidity to the edges. I ended up adding a lot more LEDs before World of Lights at Brickworld Chicago this year. It was totally worth it. At the convention, it was a lot of fun to let the public pick it up, and watch their reactions! I went through a couple designs for the Sith Holocron. It began about 26 studs tall, but that was quickly scrapped. The sides were the most challenging part. I wanted to fit in all the trans-red and pearl gold detailing and still allow them to open/hinge. All the added weight proved to be problematic; I ended up using 1x2 and 2x2 jumpers to reinforce the hinges from the inside.
A digital draft of the Sith holocron.
All in all I’m very happy with them. I plan to build hands at some point to permanently display them being held. May the Force be With You!
The interior of the Jedi holocron. The completed Jedi holocron...
...and the Jedi holocron lit.
Holocrons on display.
(Check out LEGO Star Wars Fans at https://www.facebook.com/ groups/starwarslegogroup/ or by scanning the code to the left! We’re family-friendly and have the best members on Facebook!)
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Building
A speeder biker aims a shot...
James Philippart:
Cooking up LEGO Photography! Article by Joe Meno Photos by James Philippart ...as does Han and Chewbacca.
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The photos all seen here were taken by a French chef. James Philippart creates these tableaus and photographs as a hobby, as well as photographing car races. He has been doing sports photography for five years, and LEGO photos for three years. His treatments on both subjects are dynamic and realistic. His LEGO scenes use minifigures and settings he has built. He’s a big fan of LEGO Star Wars and Harry Potter, and has been a lifelong builder. While he has made many Star Wars-inspired photos, he has also done a growing number of Harry Potter-based photos. A photograph may seem like an easy thing to do, but James plans and thinks about every element. When he watches a movie and is inspired by a particular scene, he imagines the picture he wants and how he’s going to do it. Technically, he uses a DSLR (digital singlelens reflex) camera—a Nikon D5200 set up to take macro photos. The macro setting gives him a small area of focus, which is good to give depth to the photo. To keep the camera stable, he uses a tripod at photo sessions and at events.
His LEGO room faces the sun during the day, so he doesn’t depend on flash photography, just a pleasant day. Photo sessions are set up and taken with natural lighting between noon and 3:00 pm. Most of the photos are done with practical effects—there is very little use of photo editing programs for enhancing. For his Indiana Jones photo, he used a match, and for his Star Wars Inferno Squad photo, he used real fireworks to create the flame effects. At a session, James takes hundreds of photos. For every 50 frames taken, only five are good photos. James’ old photo of Diagon Alley.
Taking the Shot For his Tatooine-based photo (seen on this issue’s cover) he used a monitor for the background and placed the other elements on a tabletop in front of a monitor with a desert background. With a macro lens to blur the background, the shot is taken!
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After the session, James checks and edits his photos. Some of his photos have wire used to suspend elements— at this point, he digitally erases the wire to create the illusion that an item is floating. Usually James doesn’t use Photoshop extensively, but for the photo of a speeder bike, he added a motion blur to the background.
Indiana Jones and Mutt looking for treasure.
Taking Another Shot For this photo, James went outside and set up the minifigure and the rocks, ‘floating’ them with wire. After the shot was taken, the wires were removed with Photoshop.
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After editing and fine-tuning his pictures, he uploads them to Facebook and Instagram on his accounts. After starting with Star Wars and Harry Potter photos, he has recently added pics from Stranger Things and Games of Thrones. Next, James plans to rebuild his Diagon Alley to make a new series of photos.
Harry Potter getting his mail. The tight focus really makes a difference in conveying a sense of realism to this photo.
Left: Darth Vader’s recovery room. Above: James’ model used for the Vader shoot.
Left: Inferno Squad under fire! Above: James Philippart.
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Building Jacob’s Death Star.
Jacob Neil Carpenter:
That’s no Moon... Article and Photos by Jacob Neil Carpenter The Orbital Battle Station, DS-1 Death Star project started in early summer of 2013, while I was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Since I was on a well-established Forward Operating Base (FOB), I was able to spend what free time I had building with LEGO. I acquired my sets from either ordering online or asking my wife Jennifer to send them to me. In this case I asked her to send me two of my 10188 Death Stars from home, with the intent to kit-bash the sets together. “Kit-bash” is a term used by some in which multiple sets are combined together to make one big one. When I received the two Death Stars, I started putting them together roughly using the instruction manual. During the early stages of the build I found I would need more pieces, which I requested through my wife. Due to job requirements, the 34 Death Star only got about a quarter of the way
done. So when it came time to redeploy back to the United States, I broke down what I had completed to ship everything back home. When I returned stateside in the early months of 2017, I knew I wanted to build a big MOC (My Own Creation), but did not know what to build. I initially entertained building another bigger and more detailed Imperial Star Destroyer than the last one I built, which was featured in the April 2013 BrickJournal issue #23. I also entertained the thought of building a Super Star Destroyer, but after some thought I decided my next MOC would be the Death Star. This was decided as I was not able to complete the kit-bashed Death Star I started in Afghanistan. I knew it would be a challenge since spheres are not an easy feat, especially a large one and one that would have a detailed mini-figured interior. I knew it would be a long journey and an expensive one, but figured the outcome would be worth the effort and the cost. I decided to build the first Death Star, from Star Wars: A New Hope, with the intent to create all of the major scenes from that movie. That being said, not everything on the Death Star was shown in the movie, so I knew a lot of it would be
open to imagination. During the course of the build I found a book called the Death Star Haynes Manual, which ended up providing an excellent source of information and pictures that were not in the movie. First, I had to decide how big I wanted to build it, which ended up being roughly 40 inches x 40 inches. So I built a 40-inch tower out of 1x16, 1x12, and other various sized LEGO Technic beams. Then using more Technic beams with Technic lift arms to act as a hinge and 6x16 plates, I created an outside shell in what was close to a circular shape. I did the shell from top to bottom on two of the four sides. I had to do two sides so the weight would be centered; if not, the tower would have fallen over with only one side being constructed. Once that was done I figured out how tall I wanted each level to be, and that was done by sketching it out on graph paper. I initially ended up with ten total levels: six levels being six bricks high, two levels being ten bricks high, and two levels being 14 bricks high. Once that was decided, I then used 2x2 and 2x3 brick slopes and inverted brick slopes to get as close to that outside shell as possible using the heights that I decided on for each level. The idea was if I could get close to that outside shell, it should represent a rounded shape of a sphere once complete.
The Death Star under construction, showing the tractor beam controls in the center.
Next, the floor planning began. That was done by drawing out various sized circles to represent each of the ten levels and then writing which bay/room I wanted to put on each of those ten levels. Once that was done I started with the base level and worked my way up. I designed it so each level was modular, meaning each level could be lifted off one another. This was achieved by using tile plates on the top of each of the levels, creating a smooth surface for the next level to sit on. Using the modular design was critical so I would be able to take it to shows and also move it around. A major obstacle I encountered was lighting. I knew when I took the MOC to shows I would need lighting so people could see into the Death Star; as the levels got bigger, so would the bays, and hallways would get longer—which meant everything would get darker. I knew I was going to use the brick light bar effect, but did not know if I wanted to use the white plates to simulate the light, or use clear plates and put a light source behind the light bar, just as they were in the movie. This approach was mastered by a very talented AFOL, Mark Borlase, aka Brickplumber. He used the latter approach on his Death Star layout, in which the end result was amazing! Due to the size constraints on my MOC and having to use one brick width walls, I realized that approach would not work. Additionally it would require soldering my own LEDs, and I lack solder skills. So now I had two issues: One, I had to come up with an alternate lighting design and two, where I would get the lights from. The first issue was resolved fairly easy as I decided to just install the lights in the ceiling, and run the wires in-between the floors, since the smaller levels would be three plates thick and the larger levels would be two plates and one brick thick. The second issue took some researching before being resolved. I knew the lights would have to be LEDs and in a strip configuration to provide adequate lighting in the bays. I also knew the wires would have to be small enough to route through the floors, but still be able to carry enough current to provide adequate brightness. I ended up finding a small, but well known company
Another construction view. Scout Trooper Speeder Bike Bay.
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called BrickStuff that made products that met my requirements for LED strips, wiring, connecting (jumper) boards, and power source. The owner and craftsman, Rob Klingburg, provided not only awesome products, but customer service as well. I initially built the first couple of levels with the intent to go back and re-rip the bottom of the floors up to install the LED strips. I quickly realized this would not work and I would have to install the lighting as I built each level.
Stormtrooper Maneuver Training Bay.
Overbridge.
Medical bay, with Bacta bay in background.
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Once the lighting was figured out, the rest of the build was, for the most part, straightforward—but I quickly realized it was turning into a project that required a lot more LEGO pieces, time, and money. As the building of the levels progressed, there were of course setbacks, as I would build a certain part and then think of a better way to build it. So I had to go back, tear it down, and then rebuild it. Some of these rebuilds where quick and easy fixes, but others were more complex, and still others were not caught until after an entire level was built. One such area was the detention center; I had to move it to the next higher level so that I could put the trash compactor underneath it, just like it was in the movie. The build was slow as I only really worked on it one day a week due to work. About six months into the build, I made a pledge to myself that any LEGO Star Wars sets that I would buy from here on out, I would not build until the Death Star was complete. This would keep me motivated and on track in getting the Death Star done in time for BrickFair Alabama (2017). It worked, for the most part. As BrickFair approached, I realized it would not be completely done, but decided to take it anyway. One of the things I was able to get done in time, which was a challenge for me to build, was the main laser dish. I had found pictures of builders that had done a large size dish, with Brickplumber being one of them, but it was still a challenge to find the right building technique to make it realistic looking. After a few failed attempts I was quite pleased with the outcome. I took the uncompleted Death Star to BrickFair Alabama where it was well received by the attendees. Beyond the Brick was gracious enough to take the time to do a video of it, where I walked them through each level... obviously. The video was later posted on their YouTube channel, where it received mixed reviews. A lot of the comments were about how it was oval in shape, and how it resembled a Death Egg. With it being the first show, I encountered issues. One issue was my lighting which was powered by battery boxes. This ended up being a mistake based on the large amount of LED strips. The lights would stay lit for maybe 10 minutes, and I also noticed a lot of the LEDs were dim and not as bright as they should be. Once the show was over I compiled a “to do list” of things I would have to try and fix. This included the lighting and completely finishing the MOC. Once BrickFair was done I was burned out on building, and so I didn’t touch it until August of 2017 in preparation for Brick Universe in Knoxville, Tennessee. The only thing I did in preparation for the show was minor cosmetic work, which consisted of finishing the tiling of all the floors, and rewired the lighting to run a hard-wired power source from BrickStuff in an attempt to fix the dimming issue. Unfortunately, despite using two hard-wired power sources—one for the top half of the Death Star and one for the bottom half —I was still having major dimming issues. The show was
still a great time and attendees thought it was a cool MOC. During the show I approached two of my Tennessee Valley LEGO Club (TNVLC) members—Pete Campbell, TNVLC President and designer and builder of the Henley Street Bridge MOC; and Doug Johnson, an expert castle MOCer— both were experts in the MOC lighting department. After explaining how I ran my lighting, both told me that I had too many LEDs connected together all at once, a term referred to as daisy-chaining. They said if I would break up the LED strips, it should increase the brightness. This was later codified when I contacted Rob Klingburg about the problem, who recommended I break up the daisy-chain pattern to no more than three to four LED strips. Once Brick Universe was complete, I didn’t touch it for over a year, and when I did it was in preparation for BrickFair Alabama 2019. At that time Rob had just come up with a new lighting product called a Vertical Power Connector (VPC), which ended up being a lifesaver as they are power connectors that are used in modular type building/ structure MOCs. It negated me having to run wires from each level down the center of the Death Star to a connector board. So I went from having to run ten wires to having to run only two wires. I also took the time to rip all floor bottoms up to rewire all the LEDs so no more than four LED strips where daisy-chained together. I also ripped out the floor above the Death Star Overbridge to make it taller, just like it is in the movie.
Darth Vader’s meditation chamber.
The other major project was to figure out how to make it appear more round. I ended up using the 2x2 and 2x3 slopes and inverted slope bricks to fill in the gap. Then I tiled the outside plate pieces and attached tiled plates to the sides to cover the rest of the gap. The end result was definitely more aesthetically appealing than before. BrickFair Alabama was a great success and it was admired by many of the attendees. The VPCs definitely made set-up easier and the rewiring, for the most part, fixed the LED strip dimming. After BrickFair Alabama, the next preparation was for Brickworld Chicago 2019, although not much was really done to prepare for it, as at that point the Death Star was pretty much done. The only thing I wanted to do was to light the green translucent 1x1 round bricks used to simulate the main laser dish firing. I again reached out to Rob to see if he had any ideas, and he said he could come up with something in time for Brickworld. Rob came through and handed me a new lighting module when I arrived in Chicago. The new module would cause each laser to light up at different times and also pulsate. It took a few hours to get everything installed and hooked up. The end result was amazing, especially at the World of Lights Saturday night. The Death Star received a Nomination for Best Individual Display Award, which was a great honor considering the amount of talented AFOLS, TFOLS, and KFOLS that attend the show. As far as future shows go, the intent is to take the Death Star to local shows, with the next big venue hopefully being a Star Wars Celebration. Overall it was an awesome MOC to design and build. One disclaimer, the TIE Interceptor you see in the pictures was designed by Matt Benner, aka Raskolnikov, who is an incredible MOCer who specializes in Star Wars spacecraft. Matt gave me his permission to use his design and provided instructions on how to build the TIEs. So thank you Matt and also thanks to Mark Borlase,
Obi-Wan Kenobi shutting down the tractor beam on the Millennium Falcon.
Amado Canlas Pinlac (aka ACPin), and other Star Wars AFOLS. Also, thanks go out to my very understanding wife Jennifer, to my Dad and Mom, Chuck and Kathy Carpenter for buying me my first LEGO set as a child, to God, and last but not least to all those who provided support, encouragement, advice, and inspiration throughout the build!
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Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Level 8 Level 9 Level 10
Death Star Level Description Level 1: Turbolift Bay, Grand Moff Tarkin’s Living Quarters, and Turbo Laser Bay. Level 2: Turbolift Bay, Taim and Bak D6 Turbolaser Battery, Officer Living Quarters, and Officer Mess Bay. Level 3: Turbolift Bay, Taim and Bak D6 Turbolaser Battery, Death Star Overbridge, Annex Bay, and Overbridge Meeting Room. Level 4: Turbolift Bay, Darth Vader Chambers, TIE Fighter Pilot Living Quarters, 2 SB 920 Laser Cannons, Death Star Super Laser Control Center Bay, and Super Laser Bay. Level 5: Turbolift Bay, Stormtrooper Living Quarters, TIE Fighter Bay, Flight Control Bay, Main Hanger Bay, and 2 Taim and Bak D6 Turbolaser Batteries.
Level 7: Turbolift Bay, Medical Bay, Scout Trooper Speeder Bike Bay, Imperial Probe Droid Storage and Maintenance Bay. Level 8: Turbolift Bay, Taim and Bak D6 Turbolaser Battery, Annex Bay, Enlisted Crew Mess Bay, Armament Storage and Maintenance Bay. Level 9:Turbolift Bay, Annex Bay, Enlisted Crew Cantina, and 2 Supply Bays. Level 10: Turbolift Bay, Droid Maintenance Bay, and 2 Annex Bays. Section of Level 3-5: Turbolift Bay, in Open Bay (The Swing). Section of Level 6-8: Tractor Beam Controls in Open Bay.
Level 6: Turbolift Bay, Scout Trooper Living Quarters, Physical Fitness Bay, Maneuver Training Bay, Taim and Bak D6 Turbolaser Battery, and Detention Center. Stormtrooper living quarters.
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TIE Fighter Bay.
The superlaser lights up!
The superlaser control room.
Death Star Specifications: Craft: Mk. 1 Deep-space Mobile Battle Station. Manufacturer: Imperial Department of Military Research/ Sienar Fleet Systems. Diameter: Over 40 Inches. Hyperdrive: Class 4. Shielding: Equipped. Navigation System: Navicomputer.
SB 920 laser cannons.
Armament: 1 Superlaser, 7 Taim and Bak D6 Turbolaster Batteries, and 2 SB 920 Laser Cannons. Crew: 39 Officers, 26 Death Star Crewmembers; 25 Death Star Gunners; 105 Stormtroopers; 18 Scout Troopers; Techs: 3 Maintenance, 2 Medical, 2 Entertainment, and 5 Food Service; 4 Deathtroopers; 2 Royal Guards; Droids: 3 Protocol, 11 Astromech, 1 K2, 3 Medical, and 4 Mouse. 192 Crewmembers and 22 Droids. Rebels: No one is supposed to know, but 13 plus 3 prisoners. Cost: Estimated 5 figures. LEGO Piece Count: Estimated over 100,000 pieces. Time to Build: Over 2 years. Interesting Facts: Consists a total of 12 levels, all accessible by Turbo Lifts. All hallways are accessible and interconnecting, no dead ends. All doors are functional. No metal supports. Each level is modular, and separates for transport. The goal was to capture all the main scenes from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Easter Eggs: The symbols on the Medical Bay floor are the Red Cross emblems for that time era. If you notice, the garbage chute/trash compactor is under the Detention Center. You can see Chewbacca diving into the trash compactor from the Detention corridor.
Detention Center. Main Hangar Bay.
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Building
Poe Dameron’s X-Wing being readied at a Resistance hangar.
Simon Wild:
Building Bridges (and other Star Wars Places) Article and Photography by Simon Wild
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Simon Wild, a 24-year-old builder, has built a few Star Wars-oriented builds, but his best work is with bridges. What do the Star Wars movies have to do with bridges? Nothing really, unless you are looking at the starship command centers—command bridges. Simon built the bridges to two different ships: a Rebel cruiser and an Imperial Star Destroyer. Simon has been building since he was a child, but had a short Dark Age in his teenage years. Fortunately, he never got rid of his LEGO so he could just continue with building and collecting. The LEGO Star Wars releases of 2008-2009 are the reason why he got back into building, and LEGO in general. It goes without saying that Simon’s favorite LEGO them is LEGO Star Wars. He’s also a big fan of the Star Wars films and the Expanded Star Wars Universe (books, games, etc.) Looking at LEGO’s early Star Wars models inspired him to recreate Star Wars ships and vehicles of his own as a kid. The Star Wars universe allows a lot of creative freedom—with unique character and an interesting and instantly recognizable aesthetic. Simon’s design methods depend on the project. Sometimes he just gets his bricks out and starts building and experimenting. With other projects, he likes to build the model in LEGO Digital Designer or Bricklink Studio first, and order parts to build everything in one session. Having some sketches is quite helpful to get an idea of size, shape and features. In terms of building, Simon also builds spaceships. For him, while spaceships are certainly the most exciting part of Star Wars, he finds dioramas more interesting to
Another look at the hangar, with General Organa and Dameron at the right.
build. They are a great way to employ lots of different building techniques and to display favorite minifigures and vehicles. A favorite model that Simon built is the Imperial Star Destroyer bridge. He designed the model completely digitally (along with custom sticker illustrations) and placed orders for all of the parts later. This made it a lot easier to build up complex shapes, and provided him with a relaxing building experience when he constructed it with actual bricks. One of the highlights of the Star Destroyer bridge is the big windows. Their rather complex construction as well as the crew pits are subjects Simon always finds visually interesting. For the model, he tried to use lots of SNOT—Studs (continued on page 46)
A peek at the interior of the hillside bunker by the hangar.
A look at two bridges: Imperial at left, Rebellion at right.
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Grand Admiral Thrawn (in white) and his officers survey the bridge.
Imperial Star Destroyer Bridge
The Imperial Star Destroyer bridge is clean and clearly delineates the officers and the lower officers with the walkway and window bays. Commanders have open views of the area in front of the ship and also have access to the deck officers and crewmen manning the important functions of the ship. To make many of the angles of the windows, Simon had to use hinges and sideways building techniques. Fortunately, since the Imperial ship is primarily light bluish grey, useful parts were pretty easy to find.
A look at the bridge model.
The side of the bridge display is adorned with greebles—assemblies and parts that add detail to the model.
Exterior view of one of the windows showing the hinges used for angling the supports.
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The three sections of the bridge: The windows, the walkway, and the lower deck.
An overhead view of the bridge.
A look inside one of the lower decks.
A detail view of the side windows.
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The command section of the bridge.
Rebel Alliance Ship Bridge
The Rebel bridge is different in design, with no levels separating command from other personnel. In this design, the forward area has command chairs forward, with a meeting area behind with display table for status reports and briefings. The color is also different—the overall look is white with red accents and gray flooring and doors. The red visually gives some definition to the walls.
A look at the area behind the command section of the bridge.
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Looking from the rear to the front of the bridge.
Details of the bridge walls. An overview of the bridge model.
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Simon’s version of the AT-Hauler.
A look at the underside of the AT-Hauler.
Inside the AT-Hauler cockpit.
The rear of the AT-Hauler.
(continued from page 41) Not On Top—techniques to achieve smooth surfaces that contrast well with the detailed area of the build. Building these models are only the beginning for Simon. He has built several digital models that only exist as an LDD (LEGO Digital Designer) file. For him it would be nice to have some of them in physical form. He’s also quite certain that there will be lots of new inspiration coming with Star Wars movie and game releases later in the year. Simon’s also trying out other themes—he’s playing with the idea of building a Harry Potter-themed creation, for instance. For the budding builder, Simon has the following advice: “I would recommend not to overthink it—nothing has to look perfect, and you don‘t need all the right parts all the time. Worrying about such things frustrated me a great deal when I was younger, but it probably also improved my building skills since you have to be creative to overcome the limitations.
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“The great thing about LEGO is that you can always change your builds or even completely reuse them for other projects. So just have fun. Taking photos of your MOCs is also helpful for later reference and inspiration for shapes, techniques, part usage etc.”
Building
C-3PO, R2-D2, Princess Leia, and R5-D4.
Miro Dudas got his first LEGO set 36 years ago and began as an adult builder in 2012. Now 41 years young, he has made a name for himself with his LEGO creations. His work has been displayed at the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark as well as at displays and shows in California. A lot of his most outstanding work has been with Star Wars-inspired builds, so BrickJournal chatted with him about LEGO building. BrickJournal: What got you started into building? Miros Duda: During my adulthood, I would play with my son’s LEGO and I would browse on the iPad for inspirations for LEGO castles. Castles was one of my childhood staple themes that I loved (late ’80s/’90s era) and I ended up finding the MOCPages website. There I would find builders such as Emerald Knight with massive LEGO castles. I would then gather up all the pieces I could, eventually I found Bricklink, ordered more parts, and tried my hand at it. I ended up building my son a giant blue/yellow Castle with multiple floors that he could play with. That started it all. Interestingly, I have not built another castle since then, as I found other themes through Flickr LEGO groups. Did you have a Dark Age? If so, what got you out of it? Despite the medieval era often being referred to as the Dark Ages, in fact it is the LEGO Castle theme that actually brought me out of the Dark Ages. Having been inspired by Castle builders on MOCPages, I started looking into collecting some ’80s/’90s era Castle figures and pieces. I found a website called Bricklink in June of 2012 and as an impulse bought a little old vintage Castle set 6049 (Viking Voyage) as I love those era Castle figures. Shortly after that I bought some secondhand ’80s era Castle Sets, and as they say, the rest is history.
Miro Dudas:
Star Wars Character Builder! Interview by Joe Meno Photos by Miro Dudas
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Miro’s rendition of an iconic scene. Another view of the diorama.
What are your favorite themes? Despite Castle being one of the themes I grew up and brought me back from my Dark Age, it was not the theme that I dabbled in much, because it quickly became apparent that I did not have enough parts. I started building smaller things, like characters and Star Wars. Our LUG participated in the LEGOLand Star Wars days, so Star Wars was a fun theme to build with. What inspired you to start building Star Wars models? I remember going to the Star Wars Days events at LEGOLand with my son and I would see amazing Star Wars creations by the Southern California local LUGs. I specifically recall seeing the amazing giant dioramas built by BrickPlumber (Mark B.), which at that time was the Endor Forest, and from that point I knew that Star Wars was going to be a fun theme for me as well. Soon after I joined the San Diego LEGO Users Group (SanDLUG) and I would build Star Wars builds for the following year’s Star Wars Days events. The event became my favorite LEGO event to build towards.
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Which model are you most proud of? I would have to say the Woodland Creatures Red Fox I am most proud of. It’s a small build that measures no more than 5-6 inches in height, but it quickly became my defining moment of my LEGO building. I have built bigger builds, but this one shot up to the most “likes,” blogs and visibility. It was on display along with other animals that followed at the opening of The LEGO House in Billund and it defined my building style as a character builder. When you decide on a model to build, how do you prepare? Do you make plans to build, or do you just start building until you get it right? Building for me these days starts with a motivator, whether it be a theme for an event or an inspiration from a recent movie I just saw, or what have you. From there, I have to decide on the scale which is decided upon by the details I want to capture, the expression I want it to convey, and the audience it would be presented to, and lastly my brick collection limits the size. When building anything, I tend to gravitate towards as small as possible and still getting the details I want it to show. With characters, I strive to give it a pose, to create an expression and presence, which if done right will pull the viewer in.
Miro’s fox with cardinal.
Often times there is a catalyst part that sparks the build and sets the scale. For example, the snout of the Red Fox set the scale for the head and the rest follows. It’s a very organic way for me to build. With the Star Wars MidiFigures, I wanted to emulate a LEGO minifigure but upscaled to as closely in proportions as I could without going too big, since I knew I wanted to build a collection of them, and knowing if others wanted to build them in the future, I wanted to keep the total parts as low as possible. Boush as a figure.
A microscale TIE Striker. More droids: R5-D4 (modified from R2-D2), BB-8, and C-3PO as a big figure.
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Leia and Han from The Empire Strikes Back as figures.
A brighter view of an iconic pose.
How long does it take you to build a model? The scale of the build generally sets the time frame, but not always. Some small builds can take longer than big builds, because they require just the right parts. Part variety is very important for small builds, and because of that, small builds can linger for a long time until the right part comes along. I try to finish the builds within a couple of weeks, but I often take breaks and come back to them weeks later with a fresh perspective. This often results in redoing sections of the builds with a refreshed perspective. If I start getting fatigue in building something, I find it best to take a pause, because rushed building often results in substandard finished build. What advice would you give a beginning builder? Don’t get discouraged with your initial results, whether it be due to your technique, parts limitation or your final outcome. As with any art, practice makes perfect and try to learn something from every build. Study what other builders whose work you admire do, and try to emulate those techniques, colors and whatnot. The LEGO community on the web and conventions is responsible for the amazing builds you see. It was a collective result of people inspiring and teaching each other with their creations and propelling the LEGO building standards and abilities to where they are today. Ultimately you will settle into your own preferred style and theme. Most important of all, have fun building.
Leia and Wicket.
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You Can Build It Midiscale Leia Design and Instructions by Miro Dudas
Miro Dudas’ work in LEGO building includes models and creations in almost every scale, from microscale vehicles to figures that are larger than miniland scale (the scale used at LEGOLand parks). Each of his works are a balance of detail and scale, where the small scale requires minimizing faces and hands, for example. Miro’s Leia figure is a good example of creating small amounts of detail to define items and form. Leia’s pistol is only a barrel, but it conveys the weapon effectively. Here, you can build the figure and see what other methods Miro uses to make Leia a recognizable character in this scale. It’s a complex but rewarding build, so have fun!
Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part 2 2420.dat 2 2429.dat 2 2430.dat 10 3002.dat 7 3004.dat 1 3005.dat 2 3010.dat 3 3020.dat 1 3021.dat 3 3022.dat 9 3023.dat 6 3024.dat 1 3039.dat
Color White White White White White White White White White White White White White
Description Plate 2 x 2 Corner Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Base Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Top Brick 2 x 3 Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 1 Brick 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 4 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 1 Slope Brick 45 2 x 2
Qty Part 1 3040b.dat 4 3045.dat 7 3069b.dat 2 3070b.dat 4 3623.dat 1 3660.dat 3 3678b.dat
Color White White White White White White White
3
3684c.dat White
3
3685.dat
White
3 1 2 2
3710.dat 3795.dat 4286.dat 4733.dat
White White White White
1
4865a.dat White
2
6091.dat
White
3 4 2 1 1 1 3 2 1 2
11215.dat 11477.dat 15068.dat 18653.dat 24299.dat 24307.dat 30099.dat 43722.dat 43723.dat 47457.dat
White White White White White White White White White White
4 2 1 2 1 2 2
50746.dat 60478.dat 60481.dat 61678.dat 63864.dat 87087.dat 87580.dat
White White White White White White White
1 1 1 3 2 3 6 1 2
93273.dat 93606.dat 3020.dat 3021.dat 3022.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3710.dat 3794a.dat
White White Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Reddish Brown
2
4032a.dat Reddish Brown
8
4070.dat
Reddish Brown
2 6
4073.dat 6091.dat
Reddish Brown Reddish Brown
8 2
11477.dat Reddish Brown 14769.dat Reddish Brown
Description Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Double Convex Tile 1 x 2 with Groove Tile 1 x 1 with Groove Plate 1 x 3 Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Inverted Slope Brick 65 2 x 2 x 2 with Centre Tube Slope Brick 75 2 x 2 x 3 with Solid Studs Slope Brick 75 2 x 2 x 3 Double Convex Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 6 Slope Brick 33 3 x 1 Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides Panel 1 x 2 x 1 with Square Corners Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Bracket 5 x 2 x 1.333 Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 Arch 1 x 3 x 2 Inverted Wing 2 x 2 Left Wing 2 x 2 Right Arch 1 x 5 x 4 Inverted Wing 2 x 3 Right Wing 2 x 3 Left Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 2/3 Triple with Two Top Studs Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Slope Brick 65 2 x 1 x 2 Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Tile 1 x 3 with Groove Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double Slope Brick Curved 4 x 2 Plate 2 x 4 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 4 Plate 1 x 2 without Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Type 1 Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight ~Moved to 6141 Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Tile 2 x 2 Round with Round Underside Stud
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Qty Part 2 25269.dat 1 85984.dat 4 93273.dat 2 2420.dat 2 3022.dat 6 3023.dat 2 3070b.dat 4 6091.dat
Color Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Reddish Brown Tan Tan Tan Tan Tan
2
11211.dat
Tan
2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
44728.dat 14417.dat 2780.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3957a.dat 4070.dat 4595.dat
Tan Dk Bluish Grey Black Black Black Black Black Black
1 2 2 1
59900.dat 4070.dat 4274.dat 14704.dat
Black Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey
2
18677.dat Lt Bluish Grey
2 2
32000.dat Lt Bluish Grey 48729a.dat Lt Bluish Grey
1
93273.dat Lt Bluish Grey
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Description Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double Plate 2 x 2 Corner Plate 2 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 Tile 1 x 1 with Groove Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Ball Joint-8 on Side Technic Pin with Friction and Slots Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 1 Antenna 4H with Rounded Top Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Brick 1 x 2 x 0.667 with Studs on Sides Cone 1 x 1 with Stop Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Technic Pin 1/2 Plate 1 x 2 with Socket Joint-8 with Friction Centre Plate 1 x 2 with Offset Peghole on Underside Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Holes Bar 1.5L with Clip without Hole in Shaft Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double
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Remove the 1x1 Technic bricks with hole on the waist, insert pins into them and reattach to waist.
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You Can Build It
Mini TIE Echelon
Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck
Hello everybody, and welcome to another mini model building session! In accordance with the special Star Wars issue of BrickJournal, we will develop a special Star Wars model on the following pages: The TIE Echelon. This hybrid of a TIE Starfighter and a space transport is part of Disney’s theme “Galaxy’s Edge.” It also appears in the related comic series with the same name. The ship’s shape shares similarities with transports like the Zeta-class shuttle as seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and TIE fighter characteristics like the typical solar panels. The sleek looking craft features a lot of SNOT techniques which make the following instructions a real pleasure to build. The inner spine of the ship consists of four old SNOT bricks which are around for almost 35 years. Piece 4595 is often used for space guns, robots or cameras and allows attachments from all sides. It is also flat enough to align two of them side by side, which is not possible with the standard SNOT 1x1 brick with studs on four sides (part 4733). Another highlight is the inverted cockpit using a large 3x4 wedge piece attached studs-down. It is covered with inverted tiles to camouflage its orientation. We can now add a thin cockpit glass and a 1x2x2/3 slope studs-down to obtain a cockpit tapering from three directions. For the solar panels you will need the newer 2x2 and 4x6 wedge plates besides the common 2x3 and 3x6 ones. With that, you should be able to complete your own TIE Echelon! I wish you happy building and will hopefully see you next time!
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Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)
TIE Echelon Main Body Qty Color
Part
1 2 1 4 4
Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray
99780.dat 87087.dat 3004.dat 2877.dat 4595.dat
4 2 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 1 1
Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Trans-Lt-Blue Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Trans-Black Lt-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray
2 1 1 2 1 2 1 14 2 4 2 2 2 1
Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray
1 2
Lt-Bluish-Gray Dk-Bluish-Gray
TIE Echelon Wings
Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 2 with Grille Brick 1 x 2 x 0.667 with Studs on Sides 3010.dat Brick 1 x 4 3009.dat Brick 1 x 6 u8300.dat Clikits Ring 30367c.dat Cylinder 2 x 2 with Dome Top 3024.dat Plate 1 x 1 6019.dat Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Horizontal 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 60470a.dat Plate 1 x 2 with 2 Clips Horizontal 3839b.dat Plate 1 x 2 with Handles Type 2 3794b.dat Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud 3022.dat Plate 2 x 2 3021.dat Plate 2 x 3 3795.dat Plate 2 x 6 61409.dat Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille 85984.dat Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 4286.dat Slope Brick 33 3 x 1 3298.dat Slope Brick 33 3 x 2 92946.dat Slope Plate 45 2 x 1 3070b.dat Tile 1 x 1 with Groove 24246.dat Tile 1 x 1 with Rounded End 3069b.dat Tile 1 x 2 with Groove 3068b.dat Tile 2 x 2 with Groove 11203.dat Tile 2 x 2 Inverted with Groove 4150.dat Tile 2 x 2 Round with Cross Underside Stud 50373.dat Wedge 3 x 4 with Stud Notches 45677.dat Wedge 4 x 4 x 0.667 Curved
Qty Color 4 Lt-Bluish-Gray
Part 577b.dat
12 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2540.dat 3666.dat 3020.dat 3795.dat 24299.dat 24307.dat 43723.dat 43722.dat 54384.dat 54383.dat 48208.dat 48205.dat
Lt-Bluish-Gray Lt-Bluish-Gray Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black Black
Description
Description Minifig Ltsaber Hilt with Bottom Ring Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Plate 1 x 6 Plate 2 x 4 Plate 2 x 6 Wing 2 x 2 Left Wing 2 x 2 Right Wing 2 x 3 Left Wing 2 x 3 Right Wing 3 x 6 Left Wing 3 x 6 Right Wing 4 x 6 Left Wing 4 x 6 Right
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Building Minifigure Customization 101:
One Magical Hat
Article and Photography by Jared K. Burks
Inspirational art for Mickey. Mickey Mouse TM & © Disney.
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A custom figure comes from many inspirations, but on occasion it is as simple as the correct accessory, in this case a magical hat. I was digging through the Build-A-Figure in the Houston Galleria LEGO store looking for rare hair pieces. Yes, most target the Pick-A-Brick (PAB) wall, but I target the Build-A-Figure. This is when I stumbled across several pieces in dark blue, specifically a wizard hat, torso, and the new lower body skirt. I knew instantly who this was supposed to be: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” From my research, specifically Wiki, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was released in 1940, and represented Walt Disney’s boldest experiment to date, bringing to life Walt Disney’s vision of blending animated imagery with classical music. This film was designed to enhance Mickey Mouse, who had declined in popularity, and created a unique film in the history of animation. As Walt Disney settled on the film’s concept, production costs grew higher than what the film could earn. Thus Walt Disney decided to include the short in a feature-length film with other segments set to classical pieces. The soundtrack was recorded using multiple audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound, a pioneering sound reproduction
system that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereophonic sound. We all remember the film Fantasia from the Fantasound, and each short feature title, specifically “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Fantasia is the 23rd highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. when adjusted for inflation, according to Wikipedia. The Fantasia franchise has grown to include video games, Disneyland attractions, and a live concert. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, coproduced by Roy E. Disney, was released in 1999. Fantasia has grown in reputation over the years and is now widely acclaimed even though it was an initial financial failure. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 58th greatest American film in their 100 Years... 100 Movies list and the fifth greatest animated film in their Top 10 list.
Hat Cut study to determine the best fit for Mickey’s head.
As a child, I recall watching this movie multiple times, but this is where my memory failed me. Specifically, I was definitively sure Mickey’s Apprentice character wore a dark blue outfit in the film. While my memory was dead on for the hat, while researching for this figure I found his outfit was in fact red and the Sorcerer wore blue. This was something fairly easy to rectify, especially as the new lower body skirt has recently been added in red. So I had my Mickey, I merely needed to make the hat fit a mouse and I would have the foundation for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Fitting the hat to Mickey’s ears appears easy in concept, but I found it much harder than I initially thought. Luckily, Krystal of the Baybrook LEGO store just south of Houston was able to help me find several additional hats to practice on cutting them to fit Mickey. This is where I created a small parts study to understand how the hat should fit Mickey. When one starts a project by cutting LEGO parts, I always recommend safety and use of a saw or sandpaper over a knife when possible. In addition, I advise the use of a Kevlar cutting glove to protect your hand holding the LEGO element you are trying to cut. These can be found online or at carving stores inexpensively when compared to the price of stitches. I ended up cutting five hats to get the one I was after. Each are cut slightly differently and the best advice I can offer is to look at the part lines on the LEGO elements. LEGO most often places mold part lines right along the midpoint of most elements. This makes finding the center and making symmetrical cuts easier. Once I had the hat fitting Mickey, I had to develop the art for Mickey’s figure to make him resemble the film a bit closer. He is clearly wearing a wizards/apprentice robe and had a blue shirt, black pants, and brown shoes on under the robe. The robe gathers at the neck and is tied at the waist with a piece of brown rope. I opened up Corel Draw and quickly created a decal for Mickey and set to work bringing my fried decal printer back to life. Amazingly, I was able to get it up and running, but unable to get the computer that I have to use to send print commands fixed in time for this article. Therefore, for today I will apply the decal to the figure digitally and print the decal when my computer’s power supply is replaced.
Finding the part line for the Sorcerers’s Hat.
Digital decal application of art to Mickey.
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I could easily stop; I have a complete custom figure and could wrap up the article here, but anyone that has seen Fantasia knows there is another main character in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Mickey created/animated a broom to perform his task of cleaning the Sorcerer’s casting dungeon. Mickey realizes early on he has screwed up and hacks apart the animated broom, but this merely multiplies his problems. To create the Brooms I used the following parts: • Bar 6L with Stop Ring in Dark Tan
• Minifigure, Utensil Cleaning Mop in Tan
• 2x Container, Bucket 1 x 1 x 1 in Reddish Brown The animated Broom.
• 2x Container, Bucket 1 x 1 x 1 Handle / Scooter Stand in Dark Bluish Grey
Painting the broom arms.
• 2x Arm Skeleton, Bent with Clips at 90 degrees (Vertical Grip)
I quickly grabbed a can of Rust-Oleum Universal Spray Paint in Matte Burlap; while not the perfect dark tan to match the broomstick, it is close enough in a pinch. I also cut small pieces of 1/8 inch styrene rod and placed it in the hands of the Skeleton arms. I did not want paint inside the grip portion as it would wear off and smear on the bucket handle. By placing the styrene in the hands, I can perfectly mask this region from paint. As the styrene bar is an English measured product, it is ever slightly smaller than LEGO items and this makes it slightly easier to remove. After the paint dries, it is easy to assemble these animated Brooms. I will ultimately add metal strap details to the buckets to make them more film-accurate, but time did not permit this addition here.
The completed Broom.
Seeing triple.
The final figure to make is the actual sorcerer Yen Sid, which is really the hardest figure to make in scale to Mickey, as he should be 2-3 times taller than Mickey. I choose to use the parts from the Build-a-Figure and add a beard and long hair, since Mickey has his hat. This still left me with a figure that is much too small a scale compared to Mickey. This is where some creativity in the display I quickly constructed helped with scale. I placed the Sorcerer at the top of the stairs he descends in the film. He descends to scold Mickey and fix his mess. By placing him above and behind Mickey, he would be further away and appear smaller than Mickey, so I am using a perception trick to address the scale variance. I will ultimately build a much larger staircase to further this illusion later on. You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http://www.fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!
Sorcerer inspiration.
Yen Sid figures.
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For the base I merely used Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Masonry Profile in light bluish grey. I want to build this out of Dark Flesh to be more screen-accurate, but did not have the staircase parts on hand in this color to create the whole thing from these tones. The Dark Flesh color contains more red hues, which will better bring the color of the display together. I also want to add the surplus of water the animated Brooms are spilling all over the room to the display. Notice Mickey has a bucket in his hand, and the axe lies on the floor where he has clearly failed to contain the mess. While this is not a direct film scene recreation, this vignette captures many of the film’s elements. I hope everyone enjoys this custom figure—all of this sparked from a simple recognition of a hat, when found while digging through Build-A-Figure. Truly, that is one Magical Hat.
The finished diorama.
Don’t miss Jared K. Burks’ two books Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! and its sequel Minifigure Customization: Why Live In The Box? (available now at www.twomorrows.com)
Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization!
Community
Mark Mancuso:
Making an Iconic Mosiac!
7x Blue 8 6 4 k c 28738x Bla 89x White 6 m Blue iu d e M 641x Red x 6 8 29 Flesh e k r g a n a D r O m Article by Joe Meno x iu 6 d 49 876x Me h s le F t h Dark Blue 1996x Lig x e Photography and Art ht O8ra 4 g 7 n 3 right Lig by Michael 1x BKanemoto and Blue S 43 x 8 9 6 3 and3Mark Dark Red 1 17xMancuso Orange k r a D x 7 6 3
LEGO displays have been at sci-fi conventions for a few years now. While the biggest presence for LEGO is at Comic-Con International: San Diego, with lifesize (and sometimes largerthan-life) sculptures, other events have let LEGO fan groups display and participate. One of these conventions is the Denver Pop Culture Con, held annually in Colorado. This year, volunteers from the Colorado/Wyoming LEGO Users Group (COWLUG) and Denver LEGO Users Group (DENLUG) assisted in a community build designed by Mark Mancuso.
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The original poster was converted into a mosaic using a combination of various computer software, utilizing a color palette from available LEGO colors. From there, the design was generated and LEGO brick-sourced.
The build was a mosaic rendition of the Star Wars poster painted by the Hildebrandt Brothers. Made up of 216 individual 16 stud x 16 stud plates, the mosaic took up 55,296 1x1 bricks
The completed mosaic.
4 11 Medium Blue Blue Black h ue esBl Flrk Light Flesh Medium DarkDa Sand Blue
124 / 216 Attendees who participated in the build got a sheet like the one above and a 16x16 baseplate to build. The colored bricks were at stations in bins. After completion, the plates were put in the mosaic frame seen below. COWLUG and DENLUG volunteers helped out the builders and maintained the building area.
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to complete. Attendees of the event took part in building the mosaic, which happened during the public hours of the convention. What happened before the event was a lot of preparation and planning. The 2018 community build for the convention was a rendering of the Denver skyline, but it was later thought to be boring. It was decided that the design for the 2019 Denver Pop Culture Con would be something more aligned with the pop culture aspects of the convention. Initially, ideas about using an iconic movie poster were mulled, but it wasn’t until January 2019 that Mark proposed doing the iconic Star Wars poster. However, he wanted to use the Hildebrandt version, as opposed to the more commonly known Tom Solie version, which was actually used as the movie lobby poster and known for the “leggy” Princess Leia. Using a combination of computer programs—LEGO Designer Digital Mosaic Creator (LDDMC), Bricksaic, and Mike’s LEGO Computer Aided Design (MLCAD)—Mark designed the Star Wars mosaic. Both LDDMC and Bricksaic were used for turning the image to a mosaic, and MLCAD was used to clean up some unwanted shading and touch-up the final piece. The total time to complete the mosaic design was 50-60 hours over a twomonth period. For the convention, the mosaic was set up on a base level of baseplates with brick platforms built to support the 16x16 stud mosiac plates. For strength, the base level was held together by Technic axles in adjoining brick platforms. This system of plating is used for terrain and layouts as well as mosaics, and is called the Modular Integrated Landscaping System (MILS). In this case, the modules reinforce the foundation and allow for a grid for the plates that the attendees would build. The modules were then laid in an A-frame for all the mosaic to be displayed upright when completed. The size of the mosaic was 60 inches x 90 inches (or 6 x 9 32-stud baseplates).
About the Designer Mark Mancuso is an Information Technology (IT) professional who always had a passion for art and architecture, which probably explains his obsession with the LEGO brick medium. He got his first set when he was four years old, and being 53, has never had a Dark Age away from building. He’s had plenty of different phases over the years: Space, Trains, Castle, and in recent years, the Architecture Series of sets. Through the many phases he has gone through, there has always been one common theme with him: His passion for building MOCs. In recent years Mark has been looking at different techniques to build largescale mosaics and different art effects. Over the past few years he has created some other artpieces for what was formerly Denver Comic-Con, now known as Denver Pop Culture Con.
Mark (at right) with his brother, Michael Mancuso. Created in 2013 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Action Comics #1 and Superman, this mosaic was co-designed by Joel Hoornbeek of COWLUG and Mark Mancuso, then built by Mark, wife Tina and daughter Mia. Yoda as wall art, designed by Mark in 2016.
Wonder Woman/Superman lenticular mosaic designed by Mark in 2018. Made up of 1x1 ‘cheese’ wedges, this mosaic shows either hero, depending on the angle the viewer is using. Characters TM & © DC Comics.
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WHATEVER YOU’RE INTO, BUILD IT WITH
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YOU CAN BUILD IT is a series of instruction books on the art of LEGO® custom building, from the producers of BRICKJOURNAL magazine! These FULL-COLOR books are loaded with nothing but STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS by some of the top custom builders in the LEGO fan community. BOOK ONE is for beginning-to-intermediate builders, with instructions for custom creations including Miniland figures, a fire engine, a tulip, a spacefighter, a street vignette, plus miniscale models from “a galaxy far, far away,” and more! BOOK TWO has even more detailed projects to tackle, including advanced Miniland figures, a miniscale yellow castle, a deep sea scene, a mini USS Constitution, and more! So if you’re ready to go beyond the standard LEGO sets available in stores and move into custom building with the bricks you already own, this ongoing series will quickly take you from novice to expert builder, teaching you key building techniques along the way! (84-page FULL-COLOR Trade Paperbacks) $9.95 (Digital Editions) $4.95
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BrickJournal columnist Jared K. Burks’ two books—Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! and the sequel Minifigure Customization2: Why Live In The Box?—show a wide range of techniques you can use to alter the lovable LEGO® Minifigure! •V irtual customization, and designing decals •C ustom part modification and creation •3 -D printing and painting techniques • L ighting with LEDs or EL wire • I deas on displays and digital photography •P lus a custom gallery with tips & tricks! (84-page FULL-COLOR Trade Paperbacks) $10.95 (Digital Editions) $4.95
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STEAMPUNK
BRICKJOURNAL #51
STEAMPUNK, with builder GUY HIMBER! PAUL HETHERINGTON talks about his cover model “Unchain My Heart,” ROD GILLIES’ latest Steampunk work, and a look at the creations of other top Steampunk builders! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
BRICKJOURNAL #57
MICROSCALE LEGO BUILDING! Tour WAYNE TYLER’S National Mall (Washington, DC) layout, skyscrapers from ROCCO BUTTLIERE, BLAKE FOSTER’s Ugly Duckling spaceship, step-by-step LEGO instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! NOW SHIPPING!
OUTER SPACE
BRICKJOURNAL #17
LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S ALIEN CONQUEST SETS, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #41
Space-themed LEGO creations of LIA CHAN, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Orion space plane by NICK DEAN, and Pre-Classic Space builder CHRIS GIDDENS! Plus: JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics by DAMIEN KEE, and more!
TRAINS
BRICKJOURNAL #24
Builder CALE LEIPHART shows how to get started building trains and train layouts, instructions on building microscale trains by editor JOE MENO, building layouts with the members of the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group, fan-built LEGO monorails minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, microscale building by CHRISTOPHER DECK, “You Can Build It”, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #46
More with train builder CALE LEIPHART, updated train layouts and models from the PENNLug, BRICK MODEL RAILROADER (a new LEGO Train fan website that launched this year), and more locomotive action! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!
BRICKJOURNAL #56
LIFE-SIZE LEGO and what it takes to build them (besides a ton of LEGO brick)! HELEN SHAM’s sculptures of giant everyday items, MAGNUS LAUGHLO’s GI Joe®-inspired models, military builds by ERIC ONG, plus “Bricks In The Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, & more! NOW SHIPPING!
BRICKJOURNAL #55
LEGO HEADS & TAILS: FELIX JAENSCH’s remarkable LEGO sculptures, from realistic animals to the human skull and amazing face masks! BRYAN BENSON’s detailed Kermorvan Lighthouse and how he built it from LEGO bricks. A spectacular Winter layout by DAVE SCHEFCIK! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd, & more! NOW SHIPPING!
STAR WARS™
BRICKJOURNAL #23
Custom creations from a long time ago and far, far away! JACOB CARPENTER’s Imperial Star Destroyer, MARK KELSO’s Invisible Hand, interview with SIMON MACDONALD about building Star Wars costume props with LEGO elements, history of the LEGO X-Wing, plus minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #37
Custom ships by ERIC DRUON, incredible galactic layouts by builder AC PIN, a look at the many droid creations built by LEGO fans—truly, the LEGO Force has awakened! Plus JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, & more!
MECHA
BRICKJOURNAL #15
Feature editor NATHAN BRYAN spotlights mecha builders such as SAITO YOSHIKAZU, TAKAYUKI TORII, SUKYU and others! Also, a talk with BRIAN COOPER and MARK NEUMANN about their mecha creations, mecha building instructions by SAITO YOSHIKAZU, our regular columns on minifigure customization, building, event reports, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #40
Build giant robots and mechs with BENJAMIN CHEH MING HANN and KELVIN LOW, and SETH HIGGINS shows us his amazing transforming LEGO robots! And even cyborgs love Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #48
Secrets and tricks of building mechs with some of the best mecca builders in the world! Interviews with BENJAMIN CHEH, KELVIN LOW, LU SIM, FREDDY TAM, DAVID LIU, and SAM CHEUNG! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
CARS
BRICKJOURNAL #11
“Racers” theme issue, with building tips on race cars by the ARVO BROTHERS, interview with LEGO RACERS designer ANDREW WOODMAN, LEGO FORMULA ONE RACING, TECHNIC SPORTS CAR building, event reports, MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION by JARED K. BURKS, MICRO BUILDING, builder spotlights, LEGO HISTORY, and more!
BRICKFILMS
BRICKJOURNAL #28
Learn what went into making The LEGO Movie and other brickfilms with moviemaker DAVID PAGANO, chat with brickfilmers The Brotherhood Workshop, talk with the makers of LEGO: A Brickumentary, MINDSTORMS building, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!
TECHNIC
BRICKJOURNAL #21
LINO MARTINS & NATHAN PROUDLOVE of LUGNuts share secrets behind their LEGO car creations, and present TECHNIC SUPER-CAR MODELS by PAUL BORATKO III and other top builders! Plus custom instructions by TIM GOULD & CHRISTOPHER DECK, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” section, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #38
LEGO car builders STEPHAN SANDER, JORDANIAN FIRAS ABU-JABER, and ANDREA LATTANZIO! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd Pop Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, & more!
DISNEY®
BRICKJOURNAL #9
LEGO® DISNEY SETS, with features on the Disney LEGO sets of the past (MICKEY and MINNIE) and present (TOY STORY and PRINCE OF PERSIA)! We also present Disney models built by LEGO fans, and a look at the newest Master Build model at WALT DISNEY WORLD, plus articles and instructions on building and customization, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #44
THEME PARK ISSUE! ERIK JONES’ custom LEGO version of Cinderella Castle, STÉPHANE DELY’s Disneyland Paris Sleeping Beauty Castle, and JOHN RUDY’s brick versions of your favorite theme park rides! Plus “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #29
PAUL BORATKO and editor JOE MENO diagram instructions on adding functions to your models, shop-talk with LEGO Technic designers, and more creations moving at top speed! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #49
GEOFF GRAY explores Technic history, JOE MENO interviews former LEGO Set Designer SØREN HOLM about the classic Technic Space Shuttle, MICHAEL BROWN shows off his Technic-scale AH-64, and more! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
CASTLES
BRICKJOURNAL #25
MEDIEVAL CASTLES! Top LEGO® Castle builders present their creations, including BOB CARNEY’s detailed Neuschwanstein Castle, plus articles on building and detailing castles of your own! Also: JARED BURKS on minifigure customization, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #45
FEMALE LEGO BUILDERS! US Architectural builder ANURADHA PEHRSON, British Microscale builder FERNANDA RIMINI, US Bionicle builder BREANN SLEDGE, and Norwegian Town builder BIRGITTE JONSGARD! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!
SCULPTURE
BRICKJOURNAL #12
Back-to-school sculptures by NATHAN SAWAYA, LEGO builder MARCOS BESSA’s creations, ANGUS MACLANE’s CubeDudes, a Nepali Diorama by JORDAN SCHWARTZ, instructions to build a school bus, MINIFIG CUSTOMIZATION by JARED K. BURKS, how a POWER MINERS model became one for ATLANTIS, building standards, and much more!
BRICKJOURNAL #18
Two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #31
Building LEGO bricks WITH character, with IAIN HEATH and TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Manga-inspired creations of MIKE DUNG, sculptures by Taiwanese Brick Artist YO YO CHEN, Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #52
Russian builder TIMOFEY TKACHEV, plus what it takes to become a LEGO Certified Professional (an elite group of builders officially recognized by LEGO), with New York’s SEAN KENNEY and Australian RYAN McNAUGHT! Also: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
BRICKJOURNAL #54
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: HSINWEI CHI and his revolutionary LEGO animals and giant robots! We also declassify other top LEGO builders’ creations, including MICHAEL BROWN’s Technic-scale F-18 Hornet! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
LEGO®, the Minifigure, and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group of Companies. BrickJournal is not affiliated with The LEGO Group. All characters shown are TM & © their respective owners.
SUPER-HEROES
BRICKJOURNAL #20
Behind-the-scenes of the DC and Marvel Comics sets, plus a feature on GREG HYLAND, the artist of the superhero comic books in each box! Also, other superhero work by ALEX SCHRANZ and our cover artist OLIVIER CURTO. Plus, JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customization, building tips, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #32
LEGO ARTISTRY with builder/photographer CHRIS McVEIGH; mosaic builders BRIAN KORTE, DAVE WARE and DAVE SHADDIX; and sculptors SEAN KENNEY (about his nature models) and ED DIMENT (about a full-size bus stop built with LEGO bricks)! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!
GAMING
BRICKJOURNAL #34
TOMMY WILLIAMSON on the making of his YouTube sensation BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, BRANDON GRIFFITH’S COMICBRICKS PROJECT recreates iconic comic book covers out of LEGO, JARED BURKS and his custom Agents of SHIELD minifigs, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, and more!
MINDSTORMS & ROBOTICS
BRICKJOURNAL #5
MINDSTORMS 10th ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS, Pixar’s ANGUS MACLANE on LEGO in filmmaking, the LEGO Group’s past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO’S IDEA HOUSE, event reports, how SEAN KENNEY’s LEGO creations ended up on NBC’S 30 ROCK television show, instructions and spotlights on builders, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #33
MINDSTORMS EV3 builders MARCANDRE BAZERGUI and ANDY MILLUZZI, designer LEE MAGPILI, CHRIS GIDDENS with his amazing robot sculptures, Minifig Customization by JARED BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, other looks at MINDSTORMS building, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #42
How schools and AFOLs build with the new WeDo, FIRST LEGO LEAGUE’s 2016 season explored (with national competitions at LEGOLand California), and robotics builders the Seshan Brothers take MINDSTORMS to the next level! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!
ARCHITECTURE & MICROSCALE
BRICKJOURNAL #43
IMAGINE RIGNEY’s Bioshock builds, NICK JENSEN’s characters and props from HALO and other video games, and GamerLUG member SIMON LIU builds LEGO versions of video game characters, spaceships and more! Plus: “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #53
TYLER CLITES and SEAN MAYO show you LEGO hacks to twink and juice your creations! Also, see big bad game-inspired models by BARON VON BRUNK, and Pokemon-inspired models by LI LI! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
UNDERSEA
BRICKJOURNAL #10
Looks at the creation of LEGO’S ATLANTIS sets, plus a spotlight on a fan-created underwater theme, the SEA MONKEYS, with builder FELIX GRECO! Also, a report on the LEGO WORLD convention in the NETHERLANDS, builder spotlights, stepby-step building instructions, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, LEGO history, and more!
DINOSAURS
BRICKJOURNAL #47
Builder MITSURU NIKAIDO shows us undersea creatures and organic builds! Then jump aboard MARCELLO DeCICCO’s minifigure-scale warships! See PEDRO NASCIMENTO’s amazing architectural creations! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
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TwoMorrows. BRICKJOURNAL #30
LEGO ARCHITECTURE with JONATHAN LOPES, a microscale model of Copenhagen by ULRIK HANSEN, and a look at the LEGO MUSEUM being constructed in Denmark! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #35
HISTORY IN LEGO BRICKS! LEGO pro RYAN McNAUGHT on his LEGO Pompeii and other projects, military builder DAN SISKIND on his BrickMania creations, and LASSE VESTERGARD about his historical building, JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #36
JUSTIN McMILLAN’s micro house and other buildings, a look at the MICROSCALE Standard by TwinLUG, and featuring some of the best microscopic LEGO work from around the world, plus JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, and more!
BRICKJOURNAL #39
WILLIAM PUGH discusses building prehistoric creatures, a LEGO Jurassic World by DIEGO MAXIMINO PRIETO ALVAREZ, and dino bones by MATT SAILORS! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!
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Last Word By the time this issue is out it will be only a few weeks before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is released. Disney+ will have launched on TV, bringing with it the TV series The Mandalorian, as well as some of the animated series. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will have opened at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Yeah, sometimes I feel like this...
With so many new things happening, the LEGO Star Wars community will have many more inspirations to build from. It’s exciting to think about the new creations that we have yet to see. What do you want to see? A new spaceship? A lightsaber? A new droid? And what do you want to build? You don’t need a movie to be inspired. Til next issue, build on! That Joe Meno Guy
...and sometimes I feel like this.
Classic
80
All characters TM & © their respective owners.
BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING
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THE MLJ COMPANION
Documents the complete history of ARCHIE COMICS’ super-heroes known as the “Mighty Crusaders”, with in-depth examinations of each era of the characters’ history: The GOLDEN AGE (beginning with the Shield, the first patriotic super-hero), the SILVER AGE (spotlighting the campy Mighty Comics issues, and The Fly and Jaguar), the BRONZE AGE (the Red Circle line, and the !mpact imprint published by DC Comics), up to the MODERN AGE, with its Dark Circle imprint! (288-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $34.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0
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KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID!
The creators of the Marvel Universe’s own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and TV interviews, painting a picture of JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s relationship— why it succeeded, where it deteriorated, and when it eventually failed. Includes a study of their solo careers after 1970, and recollections from STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD, & JOHN ROMITA SR. (176-page trade paperback) $26.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-094-6
MIKE GRELL:
LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER
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JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE
In 1978, DC Comics implemented its “DC Explosion” with many creative new titles, but just weeks after its launch, they pulled the plug, leaving stacks of completed comic book stories unpublished. This book marks the 40th Anniversary of “The DC Implosion”, one of the most notorious events in comics, with an exhaustive oral history from the creators involved (JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, and others), plus detailed analysis of how it changed the landscape of comics forever! (136-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $10.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-085-4
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TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.
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Relive The Pop Culture You Grew Up With In RetroFan! If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, editor MICHAEL EURY’s latest magazine is just for you!
RETROFAN #7
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RETROFAN #6
NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with the ’60s grooviest family band THE COWSILLS, and TV’s coolest mom JUNE LOCKHART! Mars Attacks!, MAD Magazine in the ’70s, Flintstones turn 60, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Honey West, Max Headroom, Popeye Picnic, the Smiley Face fad, & more! With MICHAEL EURY, ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, and SCOTT SHAW!
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RETROFAN #1
RETROFAN #2
RETROFAN #3
RETROFAN #8
Interviews with MeTV’s crazy creepster SVENGOOLIE and Eddie Munster himself, BUTCH PATRICK! Call on the original Saturday Morning GHOST BUSTERS, with BOB BURNS! Uncover the nutty NAUGAS! Plus: “My Life in the Twilight Zone,” “I Was a Teenage James Bond,” “My Letters to Famous People,” the ARCHIE-DOBIE GILLIS connection, Pinball Hall of Fame, Alien action figures, Rubik’s Cube & more!
RETROFAN #4
RETROFAN #5
THE CRAZY, COOL CULTURE WE GREW UP WITH! LOU FERRIGNO interview, The Phantom in Hollywood, Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon, “How I Met Lon Chaney, Jr.”, goofy comic Zody the Mod Rob, Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy, RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC (the real-life Mayberry), interview with BETTY LYNN (“Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show), TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles, and Mr. Microphone!
HALLOWEEN! Horror-hosts ZACHERLEY, VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and an interview with our cover-featured ELVIRA! THE GROOVIE GOOLIES, BEWITCHED, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS! The long-buried Dinosaur Land amusement park! History of BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES, character lunchboxes, superhero VIEW-MASTERS, SINDY (the British Barbie), and more!
40th Anniversary interview with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and Seventies, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Superman Celebration), SEA-MONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages, Superman and Batman memorabilia, & more!
Interviews with the SHAZAM! TV show’s JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray, the GREEN HORNET in Hollywood, remembering monster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN, the way-out Santa Monica Pacific Ocean Amusement Park, a Star Trek Set Tour, SAM J. JONES on the Spirit movie pilot, British sci-fi TV classic THUNDERBIRDS, Casper & Richie Rich museum, the KING TUT fad, and more!
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Featuring a JACLYN SMITH interview, as we reopen the Charlie’s Angels Casebook, and visit the Guinness World Records’ largest Charlie’s Angels collection. Plus: an exclusive interview with funnyman LARRY STORCH, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Captain Action—the original super-hero action figure, a vintage interview with Jonny Quest creator DOUG WILDEY, a visit to the Land of Oz, the ultrarare Marvel World superhero playset, & more!