BrickJournal #65 by TwoMorrows Publishing

The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages! Issue 65 • January 2021

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ZIO Chao’s Brick Figures

Koen Zwanenburg’s Creations

INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!

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Issue 65 • January 2021

Contents From the Editor....................................................2

People ZIO Chao: Character Builder!...............................................3 Pieter Dennison: Building the Dunedin Railway Station......6 David Koudys: Moonbase Master!..........................................12

Building Aukbricks: Brick Architect!...............................................21 To the Stars and Beyond: Building Microscale Near-Future Space.......................................26

Ben Pitchford: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!...............30 Wing Yew: Temple, Toy and Room Creator!.............34 You Can Build It: Holiday Build Holiday Train...................................................39 Koen Zwanenburg: From Holidays to History!.........................43 Victor Leparc: Building Towers, Manors and More!.....48 Kang Jun Lee: Bird Builder!.....................................................52 You Can Build It: AT-XMas............................................................56

Minifigure Customization 101: Dadadadadadadadadadadadad adadada — SANTA BAT!............................62

Community Bantha Bricks Files: Mirko Soppelsa’ s K2-SO...............................66 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79 AFOLs....................................................................80

From the Editor: Hi! Still stir crazy, but getting used to it. Hope all of you are staying safe and well!

January 2021 Issue 65

In one of the few times the Editor (me) paid attention to printing schedules, we are doing something of a Holiday issue, but not a normal one. There’s some holiday builds and a couple of things you can build that are holiday oriented, but don’t look for a Christmas card article here.

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 Bantha Bricks Correspondent Steven Smyth Contributors: Aukbricks, Jared Burks, ZIO Chao, Christopher Deck, Pieter Dennison, Kung Jun Lee, Victor Leparc, Chris Malloy, Ben Pitchford, Mirko Soppelsa, Wing Yew, Koen Zwanenburg, and Greg Hyland.

No, there’s some great builders that happen to have some Santa builds and Christmas scenes built. You’ll see Santa built by three different builders, including ZIO over there to the right. You’ll aslo see some great architectural builders in this issue too! And now we have a regular column from Bantha Bricks showcasing the many Star Wars builders out there—welcome Steven Smyth to the staff! I’m looking forward to seeing who he interviews each issue! So sit back and relax. You’re welcome here. Joe Meno 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!

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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: ZIO Chao’s Santa has a list on the cover of this issue. Photography by ZIO Chao. About the Contents: Ben Pitchford’s New York City layout glows at night. Photograph by Ben Pitchford. 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 $67 Economy US, $79 Expedited US, $101 International, or $27 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

ZIO Chao:

Character Builder!

Article and Photography by ZIO Chao

Santa in a dog sleigh?!?

It can take an unusual thing to get started in the LEGO hobby. For ZIO Chao, now a LEGO educator, it took a TV show: the Japanese show TV Champion—King of LEGO.

Hi, Santa!

This show has several amazing LEGO adult builders using their skills and creativity to build topics revealed in the competition. What impressed ZIO were the builds: one builder made a large ring-shaped space station with different facilities and various minifigure scenes in each chamber. Another competitor built a mega-animal amusement park with many cute and funny animal sculptures. Before seeing the show, ZIO couldn’t imagine LEGO could be built like that. Since then, he got addicted to this LEGO world. In his childhood, ZIO was always attracted by LEGO commercials, with a special love for Castle and Pirate themes. These times were full of adventures, and like roleplaying games that he could play with all day long. When he became a teenager, he was fascinated by Star Wars and sci-fi movies. When he learned that LEGO also produced Star Wars sets at the same time he got into building, he crazily bought a lot of Star Wars sets.

When ZIO began his AFOL journey, he initially bought a lot of sets and enjoyed building them. However, he found the finished sets were not as detailed as he liked, so he began to modify them and add more functions to them. Eventually, he began to build things without using instructions and combining the parts from several sets. ZIO was inspired by seeing other builders build Santa. ZIO had seen a lot of other great Santa builds and wanted to build a Santa of his own. On Christmas Eve 2018, he held a LEGO competition themed to Christmas and built a Santa mascot for the contest. When he built his mascot, ZIO drew a draft, using a multitude of Santa photos on Google. He also reviewed all the LEGO Santas built by other builders, however he was looking and reviewing to avoid building like theirs. He wanted to build Santa in his style and in a size that could be held in a person’s hand.

Santa with his bag of presents.

For ZIO, the hardest part of a build is the beginning. When he wants to start a new creation, he considers what pieces he has or needs to buy, and then figures out which pieces are suitable for shape and style. In this case, he started with Santa’s face, as it shows the soul of the model. Common eyes, a big nose, and full cheeks were assembled. The most difficult part to build was the beard around his mouth. He tried a couple of different pieces to make the beard and found that the feather pieces matched the best.

A close-up of Santa’s face.

A dog in his house.

Corgis!

Santa’s head is also the part ZIO is most proud of. He always enjoys new techniques in building things, such as Santa’s hat. The hat was built at its end a 45 degree angle inclined to the side. Santa is also very solid and can do many different poses, such as carrying his big present bag and standing without support. All of this is done with only LEGO bricks and elements, even Santa’s bag. ZIO’s building technique is building directly, seldom drawing draft plans. Only big projects are drawn beforehand, as he feels it is hard to follow his initial designs. In the process of building, he figures what pieces he has, what color and how he can use them the perfect way. Sometimes the parts determine the size and style of creations. For example, the special arm pieces of Santa came from the large snake monster from a Ninjago set. When ZIO found these pieces, he thought they were perfect for Santa and built the rest of the model to the scale of the arm pieces. By following his building instincts, he has developed his projects by the pieces he has.

ZIO’s Super Mario figures.

ZIO builds things inspired by movies, anime, or games. He makes characters, then changes them with different postures to recreate a scene he saw in a movie or game. He also likes the challenge of building an accurate replica. It may be impossible to build a perfect replica, but LEGO elements brings a different aesthetic to a model. For advice, ZIO has this: The process of building is not always smooth and without modification. If he finds the build is not quite right, he stops building and stares at the unfinished work to think about how to modify it best. The modification step can be repeated several times until he is satisfied, or runs out of time. This can be frustrating, but the truest always persevere, and the result is usually worth the effort. So his message is: “Don’t be afraid to feel frustrated, just build.” ZIO’s Duel of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Princess Peach.

Luigi, Mario and a toadstool take a stand.

People

Pieter Dennison:

Building the Dunedin Railway Station Article by Joe Meno Photography by Pieter Dennison

Pieter Dennison started building when he got his first LEGO set, King Leo’s Castle (6091) at the young age of 4. He discovered that building was his favorite hobby and in only a couple of years he was constantly building new creations. 14 years later, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, Pieter had the time to devote to building during lockdown. As he notes, “It’s not been the greatest time to find a new job currently, though it has given me plenty of time to build, which is positive.” When asked about what got him to start building beyond the LEGO sets, Pieter replied, “I like building something that no one has ever done before and packing in as much detail as I can. Also, I enjoy the problem-solving aspect:

The build and the builder.

trying to make my builds look as realistic as possible, playing with angles, and working with new techniques and ways to create something from nothing.” His latest project, the Dunedin Railway Station, was the result of years of planning and building. Pieter displayed the main building of the Railway Station when he attended his first Brickshow in 2015. From there, he was inspired to complete the model. “Getting to watch people admire your work and meeting others who share your interest is a huge motivator for me. I really enjoy the community aspect of being an AFOL,” he explains.

Part of the garden.

A closer look at the front.

The rear of the station.

Trying to catch a cat.

Pieter’s inspiration for the Dunedin Railway Station is pretty simple: it’s in his hometown. He always had an interest in and admiration for the architecture of the city. Growing up, he would visit the station with his parents and go to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday Mornings. The beauty and the detail of the buildings always impressed and inspired him. Building the Rail Station started in March 2015. By July, he was able to present the main building at his first display at Brickshow in Newcastle. The model was far from complete, though, and many changes were made as Pieter learned new techniques and developed his building skills. During the next couple of years, he was studying, working, building, and making other smaller scaled projects. In 2018, he returned to the Rail Station, improving the existing structure and adding the back of the building and eventually the gardens and surrounding grounds. Pieter designed and redesigned the build from the ground up, using reference photos as a guide along with many visits to the station. The biggest challenge on the build was scaling the gardens and roads accurately to the building. As a result, though, the road design became the part of the model that he is most proud of. Using SNOT to create the smooth texture allowed Pieter to build in the markings for the parking spots and arrows. On the curved sections, he used old LEGO stickers to create the curved markings. Windows were also a challenge that Pieter had to deal with. With all the different versions of windows were different details, which made window building one of the most tedious and time-consuming factors of the build. The Rail Station has a multitude of varied windows, and Pieter wanted each window to resemble their reallife counterpart. After so much time working on the station, Pieter is happy and relieved to say the Dunedin Rail Station is finally complete. He’s now ready to move his

focus to building some creations from his favorite theme: The Lord of the Rings. He hopes to see some LEGO sets based on the upcoming TV series. Pieter usually draws small sketches before he builds, but that wasn’t the case with Rail Station. For him, the final product typically does not end up the same as the original sketch or idea—that’s part of the building process. He’s also a professional procrastinator, so most of his building is done in the weeks leading up to Brickshow. In spite of the procrastination, building is very therapeutic for Pieter. He loves listening to music and seeing his builds come to life. His mother, Henni, is also an avid AFOL, and for him, it’s cool that he can share the hobby with her. They help each other out when either is struggling to work out how to execute an idea. An example of that in the Rail Station would be the little benches in the garden—they were Henni’s creation. There are other projects vying for Pieter’s attention now. A small Star Wars ship awaits completion, and in the planning stages is a MOC based on Helm’s Deep— which he has wanted to do since he started building.

A look at the road and turret. Another look at the front looking at the windows.

Other builds by Pieter: a mill...

Pieter’s advice for builders is: “Keep your bricks organized and easy to find. It can get out of control pretty quickly if you aren’t organizing as you go. Constantly experiment with your bricks. You may find that an element can be used in a variety of ways. Finally, attend local shows and compete in online competitions, meet new people, and find new and creative ways to build. The LEGO fan community is a great one and taking full advantage of the knowledge you can gain from these connections is also incredibly important in building your skill and range.”

...and a cottage.

MONSTER MASH

The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972 Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once Frankenstein and fiends infiltrated TV in 1957, an avalanche of monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic books crashed upon an unsuspecting public. This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (SHOCK THEATRE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS, and DARK SHADOWS), “MARS ATTACKS” trading cards, EERIE PUBLICATIONS, PLANET OF THE APES, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host ZACHERLEY, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by MARK VOGER (author of “The Dark Age”). (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-064-9 • Diamond Order Code: MAR151564

GROOVY

When Flower Power Bloomed In Pop Culture

GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated HARDCOVER BOOK, in PSYCHEDELIC COLOR, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like THE MONKEES, LAUGH-IN and THE BRADY BUNCH. By MARK VOGER. (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-080-9 Digital Edition: $13.99 • Diamond Order Code: JUL172227

LOU SCHEIMER CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION

Final copies, with bookplate autographed by Lou Scheimer & Andy Mangels! Hailed as one of the fathers of Saturday morning television, LOU SCHEIMER was the co-founder of FILMATION STUDIOS, which for over 25 years provided animated excitement for TV and film. Always at the forefront, Scheimer’s company created the first DC cartoons with SUPERMAN, BATMAN, and AQUAMAN, ruled the song charts with THE ARCHIES, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES, taught morals with FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS, and swung into high adventure with TARZAN, THE LONE RANGER, ZORRO, HE-MAN, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, live-action shows SHAZAM!, THE SECRETS OF ISIS, JASON OF STAR COMMAND and others. Now, LOU SCHEIMER tells the entire story to best-selling author (and RETROFAN columnist) ANDY MANGELS, including how his father decked ADOLF HITLER, memories of the comics of the Golden Age, schooling with ANDY WARHOL, and what it meant to lead the last all-American animation company through nearly thirty years of innovation and fun! Profusely illustrated with PHOTOS, MODEL SHEETS, STORYBOARDS, PRESENTATION ART, looks at RARE AND UNPRODUCED SERIES, and more—plus stories from TOP ANIMATION INSIDERS about Scheimer and the story behind Filmation’s stories! STANDARD EDITION IS SOLD OUT! THESE FINAL COPIES CONTAIN A BOOKPLATE AUTOGRAPHED BY LOU SCHEIMER & RETROFAN'S ANDY MANGELS! (288-page trade paperback, AUTOGRAPHED BY LOU SCHEIMER & ANDY MANGELS) $49.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.95

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People

David Koudys:

Moonbase Master Article by David Koudys Photography by David Koudys and Calum Tsang The current moonbase layout.

Hi! My name is Dave. I am the primary builder of the Ontario Brick Builder’s Classic Space Layout, or OBBCSL for short. I may be the primary builder now, but the OBBCSL started as a collaboration between Jeff van Winden and myself. A brief history of me before getting into the evolution of the OBBCSL: I’ve been a fan of the LEGO brick (just like many of you reading this) my entire life, and my appreciation of our LEGO hobby doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon. My earliest childhood memories are of me sitting in the middle of big piles of LEGO bricks— it’s the good bit of being the youngest brother and one of the youngest cousins in my family; the collections were already started before I showed up. :-) Around age 14, while my friends were putting away their LEGO

collection, I started making ‘frame by frame’ animated movies with a Betamax camcorder using my already extensive LEGO Classic Space collection. I also started acquiring ‘second-hand’ LEGO collections from those friends who would rather have spending money than LEGO. When I bought my first home computer (the Commodore 64), I built an interface card to control the LEGO 4.5 volt motors that were coming out in the early Technic sets. This was a great time for me because I got to program and diagnose software/hardware issues at the same time! My Classic Space movie making and the Technic ‘Robot building’ using my computer had me ‘playing with LEGO bricks’ through high school and into college. In my early adulthood, a few friends and I rented a house and my (ever-growing) LEGO collection moved in with me. There’s nothing quite like 15-20 of my friends on a Sunday after church—dressed in our ‘Sunday best’—all sitting on the living room floor and building with my LEGO collection. I determined that if you made it into your twenties without giving up your LEGO collection, chances are you’re weren’t going to give it up in the future, either. I was around 30 when the RCX was released on the market. I saw it for the first time in a store when I was browsing the LEGO aisle and I bought it immediately. I didn’t know a thing about the RCX besides what was on the box, but I knew it was made for me. The RCX was possibly the single best product that the LEGO Company ever released (as far as I was concerned). Not only because of what it could do, but that single purchase led me straight into the LEGO ‘worldwide’ online community. (I know this article is supposed to be about the OBBCSL, but there is a direct line from the RCX to that—I’m getting there!) I needed to get more information regarding the RCX so I went online. This is when I ‘discovered’ LUGNET. LUGNET is (or at least was ‘back in the day’) the best ‘fan-based’ resource that I ever came across for our LEGO hobby. Seriously, every part of the LEGO hobby. If you wanted to know about any piece, any historical fact, any ‘build technique’, LUGNET was the place to go. Nothing has ever come close to the volume of ideas, of discussions, even of people, that I experienced on LUGNET.

David Koudys.

From LUGNET, I found rtlToronto. This LUG is gone now, but back then, rtlToronto was full of awesome AFOLs. Before rtlToronto, I was one guy in my thirties, building LEGO in my home by myself. When I joined rtlToronto, I became part of a large group of like-minded people who all had a love and appreciation for the brick. We went to monthly dinners, chatted about what we were building, planned shows, and just had so much fun! For my first few years in rtlToronto, all our shows were focused on RCX robot competitions. After a few years, those of us in rtlToronto thought it would be interesting to do a LEGO Train show instead. We tried it and loved it! We were then invited to attend ‘display only’ shows like Hobby Shows, and other model railroad shows. Our LEGO displays were usually a big draw at these shows and the other hobby communities (the Meccano guys and model railroaders) welcomed us! A good time was had by all! At one of these shows, Greg Hyland showed up with his Classic Space display.

Peter Reid’s Onyasis Landing Platform. Layout inspiration from a LEGO catalog.

David’s first layout.

The largest layout made by David and Jeff van Winden.

Below: The first formatted Moonbase layout.

He recreated the Classic Space center page from the 1980 brochure with actual sets. I’ve been a fan of the Space theme since 1978 and Greg’s display was beautiful! Until then, I hadn’t even considered doing a Classic Space display, but Greg inspired me. With this in mind, at one of our shows in 2007, I showed up with a space layout. It was very limited with nothing much beyond crater and landing plates and some classic space sets from ’78-’82. I had one monorail loop and my friend, Jeff van Winden, built a phenomenal Classic Space train. People liked it. More importantly, I realized that I liked doing it! Jeff and I began planning different layouts for the shows that followed. Building MOCs started to appear, and we added more ‘spacey’ details. The size of the layouts expanded too, as well as the complexity of monorail loops as we did more shows. One of our last ‘ad hoc’ layouts had six separate monorail loops. I will say that after doing so many ‘weekend’ shows during this time (3-4 per year), I quickly realized what worked (for me) and what didn’t work. The long set-up times were a huge negative, and the ‘breakage’ of MOCS during transport/storage was also a critical issue. I wanted to continue bringing a Classic Space layout, but I wanted to have a more consistent ‘design’ or ‘look’ to it. Each previous layout was always different than the others, and I thought if we worked from a basic design that was consistent from one show to the next, this would aid in reducing set-up time. Around 2010 we started with our new ‘smaller but more efficient’ display. Because of this ‘new’ idea of layout consistency, we could start designing buildings for specific locations in the layout. This was when I started building the OBBCSL Space Tower. The first iteration of the tower was only three levels high, but it was where it needed to be. If anyone notes a passing similarity between Peter Reid’s Onyasis Landing Platform that he posted at around the same time as I started building the Classic Space

The Command Centre.

David’s first tower build.

Tower, the coincidence is purely intentional!

Developing the Centre...

Seriously, I saw Peter’s micro tower and fell in love with it instantly. And my first real thought was, ‘Someone should make this in minifig scale’. So I tried. My first attempt was a valiant effort, but ultimately unsuccessful—it did not look at all pleasing to my eyes. I decided to make it better for the first LEGO Fan convention in Canada: BrickFete 2011. I had a year, so I had some time! I extensively reworked the tower continuously over that year. I don’t think I’ve ever ‘worked’ so hard on one MOC for so long. During this build, I had no clear idea as to what the final look would be, but I made a list of things that were a ‘must have’: I wanted to have landing pads ‘high up’ (like Peter Reid’s tower), and I wanted ‘operation/command level’ decks and ‘observation’ areas for my space figs (see, it’s all about the space figs!). I also wanted the monorail track to be integrated into the building (the space figs needed to get around), and I needed to use as much trans-yellow as I possibly could. Yes, that was actually in the list.

...and adding a tunnel.

A month before Brickfete, I had a finished tower. The difficult bit was combining what I wanted with structural stability, especially considering the location and the weight of the landing platforms. They had to be ‘out from’ the main tower for the ‘cool’ factor. The result was, well, less than spectacular. Let’s be honest—it was really ugly. So ugly that I wouldn’t display it in public. The good bit? I managed to fill my list, and I saw what I wanted to keep and expand on. Now I knew where it was going and what I had to do. The foundation was very good. The monorail layers were where I wanted them. The symmetry of the landing platforms? Excellent. To me, the tower looked like it just stopped too abruptly. I liked what I started to call the ‘command centre’ at the top made with 16 trans-yellow 4x6x2 canopies in a circle. I wanted to save that part, but it was too low. It needed to go, well, higher.

Adding track levels...

I built an ‘Observation Deck’, directly inspired by the space station in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was even thinking about leaving it partially unbuilt to mirror the ‘incomplete’ space station in the movie. Couldn’t pull that off though. Building that level allowed me to move the Command Centre up and add a little communication array on the top.

...and supports.

Landing bays added.

Moonbase still progressing.

The tower and the entire layout went over extremely well at BrickFete 2011. Janey, the person running BrickFete, saved a spot on the stage just for the layout, and the tower could be seen from across the room. Jeff van Winden’s air station and Classic Space Monorail/Train station were also incorporated into this layout. People asked if they could bring their classic space MOCs and put them in the layout for the duration of the convention, and the answer was always ‘absolutely!’

Observation deck.

Landing pad.

Around this time, a good friend of mine—Rob Hendrix—came up with a third party lighting ‘add-on’ for LEGO displays and MOCs: LifeLites.com. I worked at lighting the tower bit—rebuilding it from the baseplates to the top to get the wiring done. The job was extensive, but thankfully easy! Rob’s system made adding lighting to the ships, buildings and the layout so easy. Going forward, I created some ‘easy’ rules for any modification or addition to the CSL: easily transported, easily set up, and easily maintained. I made the tower easier to transport by redesigning it in ‘smaller’ sections. I made the landing pads removable, and got to incorporate an inspiration from another obscure space movie: The Empire Strikes Back. Specifically I remembered really appreciating the landing pads in Cloud City. I wanted the landing pads to be ‘extended away’ from the main building and have a walkway connecting them together, giving the landing pads the appearance of ‘floating’. I couldn’t extend them too far because, even using layers of Technic beams and plates as reinforcing, they would sag. In the end, the landing pads were built to the point where they could be removed easily but not far enough to droop. All the other buildings I made also had to adhere to these rules, too. The good bit is the other buildings were less intensive and took far less time to build and modify. They have the added benefit of being mostly one solid build, instead of, say, the tower, which was 13 separate parts. So that’s the layout. The one single biggest point of failure left for a layout of this size is the ‘cardboard box smash’ during transportation/storage. Too many times I arrive at a show, only to have a damaged MOC and trying to remember its construction while rebuilding it.

To solve this problem, I worked out a plan and built storage/transport boxes out of half-inch plywood. I based the interior dimensions on 2 baseplates by 2 baseplates, or 20 inches by 20 inches. I added a little ‘wiggle room’ as some of my baseplates would have train track, and those tracks have the protruding Left: A lit tower.

connection pieces. I then taped the baseplates—craters and landing pads—to the wooden modules. The tape is not permanent—I can remove baseplates when I want. But this allows me to leave doodads, greebles, and even minifigs on the baseplates. Instead of an hour+ to set up the baseplates, it now takes me less than two minutes—I just put out nine modules and they’re already detailed. I also built wooden boxes to hold the space ships, monorail track, and the miscellaneous pieces around the layout. The boxes hold the entire layout! Storage and transportation became so much better.

Moonbase sockets under construction.

But wait, there’s more! For all of the shows I attended, I was either setting up the display on the floor (because the tower was so high) or on tables provided by the venue—which were notoriously not level. I wanted to eliminate both. I created my own ‘display platform’. I used 1x8 hobby lumber as the outer frame, and your basic home building 2x4 for the ‘joists’. I went with 15-inch ‘on center’ as the modules are 30 inches wide. To take this platform apart quickly and easily, I used ‘bed rail’ joiners for the frame, and just made ‘slots’ for the 2x4s to sit in. I’ve set this up at a few shows thus far and I couldn’t be happier The entire layout and platform all fit into the back of my minivan, with room for family and luggage, in case we want to bring the classic space layout to a show somewhere far away. Doing shows and attending LEGO conventions is a big part of my joy for our chosen hobby. Talking with the public is something I love and I’m continuously amazed when I’m at a show that it’s the parents—more than the kids—that find awe in our displays. Specifically with regards to Classic Space (and stop me if you’ve heard this one before), ‘Oh! I had that set when I was 12! Oh, and that one too!’ ‘Dad’ wants to talk about his childhood memories with his Classic Space sets with me whilst ‘the kids’ are trying to drag him somewhere else. People often ask why I made this layout. I always reply that I had Classic Space sets when I was a kid, but always wanted and imagined a place for my ‘Space People’ to work, to eat, to sleep, to live! My childhood was the initial inspiration for the OBBCSL. However, as you can plainly see, during the ever-evolving builds through the years, other inspiration came from a variety of sources: from movies, from discussions, from third party vendors, and from other AFOLs. Did I imagine this layout as it is today? No—I didn’t even have this particular layout in mind three years ago and it’s probably going to change in another few years. Sometimes small and subtle, sometimes grand in scale. It’s always changed—each and every show. Which brings up the point about ‘building style’. I’m pretty ‘old school.’ The CSL tower itself, even at 5.5 feet tall, is, really, in the end, just composed mostly of basic bricks, plates and slopes. Yes, there’s an ‘occasional’ trans-yellow dome and some modified plates thrown in for good measure, but the great majority of the structure is composed of the same basic bricks that I spent my time playing with in my childhood. Obviously I didn’t have 1000+ blue 3x4x1 slopes in my childhood, but I did have some. I can guarantee some of my blue slopes from back then are incorporated into this layout right now.

A lower view of the tower.

Storing the layout.

This is part of my ‘happy zone’ when it comes to my LEGO creations. I build with my bricks and make what I want. I’m not very good at ‘greebling’ or ‘SNOT’ techniques and I am constantly amazed by the builds from people who are. But that’s their style, and this is my style. And my style isn’t your style.

Which brings me to my final point. We are all part of the one hobby where the only consistency is change. The truly good bit about this—each one of us the the architect of that change ourselves. We can change as little, or as much as we want, and we can do it whenever we want. Don’t get discouraged because ‘other people’ are better builders. That’s not true at all.

Dave capping the layout.

Build something small or build something tall. Build with a few pieces, or thousands of pieces. The size of your build or the quantity of pieces doesn’t matter one bit. If you don’t like it? Do it again. If you enjoy it, then you’re already farther ahead than most other people. Don’t worry about anything else. This is the joy of the hobby—as with the almost limitless building possibilities with the bricks themselves, there are so many possibilities for you to explore what you want, and so many possible ways for you to build the way you want. Just have fun doing it.

Space Transports wait for pilots. The full display with the cases as a base.

A lunar train is on the ground level.

Another lower view of the tower.

There’s a lot of activity at the Moonbase.

You can see video of the Moonbase here: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Sparky1701 You can see photos in Dave’s Flickr feed: https://www.flickr.com/ photos/sparky1701/albums

Moonbase and Monorails! I was 20 when the LEGO Company released the 6990 Monorail set. I bought it that year. When LEGO released the accessory sets later, I bought those as well. Over my life, I acquired lots of monorail track, motors, etc. because monorail is awesome! All the buildings in the Ontario Brick Builders Classic Space Layout were designed as their primarily function to support the LEGO monorail track. My favourite building in the OBBCSL is the Monorail Station. This station was designed solely to support three monorail tracks that were ‘routed’ through that one area. However, I also wanted to have fun with it. One of my favourite LEGO pieces is the 2x2x3 (and the 1x2x3) slope. Seriously, I love this piece. I wanted this piece to be a main design feature in this building. I think it turned out pretty nifty! One of the main highlights of this building, besides the cool shape and design on it, is the Classic Space Logo inscribed across 15 6x5x1 trans-yellow glass windows that I ordered from JealousPanda.com. I made sure that at least one Monorail loop was in every single space layout since our first display. One of our layouts had seven monorail loops and trains moving around. I still use Track Designer to this day to design my layouts because of the monorail track feature, and I try to come up with interesting ways to work with the monorail track and the monorail motors/baseplates.

Monorail station.

Monorail track plan. Monorail station interior.

One of the ‘inventive’ ways of modifying a monorail train is to just extend the number of cars in the train. Many people have done it, and I like the idea. This requires no ‘modifications’ of LEGO pieces—just use the 1x4 modified plates with ball and sockets to connect the monorail baseplates. You can extend the train as long as the motor can pull it. This train works on ramps, switches, and curves. I also wanted to make my own monorail train ‘bases’. Pretty easy—just remove the monorail bogey from a

monorail base and connect the bogey to a 2xN Technic plate. Now you can build whatever you want around that 2xN Technic plate with bogey. If you want to connect this to the monorail motor itself, you will need to modify LEGO pieces. I cut off the connection point from the monorail base and now I can just use that monorail motor connector to these new ‘brick built’ monorail bases.

One monorail.

Making my own monorail train bases and monorail motor connectors allowed me to build the motor right into a monorail train car. I used a 2 x 2 turntable on the top of the monorail motor to allow it to swivel on curved tracks. But I think my favourite of all my modified monorail trains is my ‘Individual Passenger’ monorail. I had to work out a way to hide the motor and the battery. More mods were needed to get this to work. The monorail motor connectors (as described above) were used, and I had to eliminate the 9-volt battery box. I soldered a 9-volt battery connector to a LEGO power connector. This works surprisingly well—the 9-volt battery is slightly thicker than two studs and fits snugly in the second blue covered car.

Another monorail.

One thing I’ve been working on for a long while is trying to eliminate the battery box all together. I’ve used copper tape on the monorail track pieces and power pick-ups on the monorail trains. It works very well— when it wants to. There are still issues that I’m trying to resolve so it’s not really ‘Show Ready’.

A third monorail—the Individual Passenger Monorail.

Powering the Individual Passenger Monorail.

Building

A Christmas scene from Aukbricks.

The builder known as Aukbricks hit the scene this year with some outstanding builds. Concentrating on architecture, her builds have deep detail, innovative design, and also happen to be digital. BrickJournal chatted with her online to find out a little bit about her LEGO creations.

Aukbricks:

As with most other builders, Aukbricks (who prefers to keep her anonymity) started the hobby when she was young. She started playing with LEGO as a child but found other interests when growing up and had a Dark Age. When her son was old enough to not try eating the LEGO bricks, she got out of her Dark Age to start building together. Soon after, about four years ago, she built her first MOC.

Article by Joe Meno Renderings by Aukbricks

Brick Architect!

Aukbrick’s favorite theme reflects her interest in architecture—her favorite is LEGO Architecture while also enjoying LEGO Expert Creator and LEGO Ninjago. LEGO’s launch of their Architecture Skylines, in fact, was what led her to start building her own creations. She was thrilled by the launch but wanted to build the skyline of her hometown. From there, she expanded her building in skill and scale.

Aukbrick’s ideas for building come from small details that she thinks would be nice to recreate in LEGO. She also loves to browse architectural photography on websites such as Instagram. A lot of inspiration is gathered there. She starts by working on the design of an inspiring detail and building the rest of the model around it. There’s no planning on paper because Aukbricks has no drawing skills—she uses her building skills. She just opens LEGO Digital Designer and starts building! Often the build will stay as a small build on her computer but sometimes, when she is happy with the result, she will render images of the MOC. Her models start in LDD or Mecabricks (which is another digital building program), but then are exported to Blender with an add-on from Mecabricks to make renders. For Aukbricks, it is always nice to build and see a model designed with real bricks, but she thinks building digitally has many advantages. First of all, one is not limited to what bricks are owned or are affordable. For her, building digitally is also much faster. One doesn’t have to constantly look for that specific brick and one’s not limited to build strictly from the bottom to the top. A builder can really try out techniques and design a model at no cost and when completed, they can either get the elements needed or export the model file and make a render of what was built. A look at the building rear showing the diagonals of the staircases.

F-Town Building

There is a LEGO modular of the F-town Building located in Sendai, Japan by architect Atelier Hitoshi Abe—about 8500 bricks of which over 3000 are white 1x1 plates. (Computer rendering, but only existing bricks were used.) A streetlevel view.

For Aukbricks, LEGO building is a way to relax and think about other things than all that is going on in life. Most of the time she likes to create replicas of buildings, but A view of the front.

other times, she likes to use LEGO to express a thought or feeling. Such is the case with the creation she is most proud of. Titled Longing, this creation was inspired by the time that Aukbricks spent in Japan. While it was a short visit, she hasn’t had the opportunity to return. Going back has become a dream for her, and with the MOC she tried to

capture the beauty of a Japanese garden in contrast to its high-tech cities, all enclosed in a suitcase that represents hers desire to travel again to the beautiful country of Japan.

A bridge is also a gate to the garden.

A lantern gives a scene of peace.

Aukbrick’s next projects are many—she always has a lot of MOCs that she is working on at the same time. Right now, a couple of modern homes are waiting to be finished. She’s also trying to recreate some old photos using LEGO. Hopefully she will also be able to finish a LEGO Ideas project she has been working on for a while.

Building the House

Her advice for other builders? “If you don’t have all the bricks you want, try building digitally!” You can see more of Aukbricks’ work at www.aukbricks.com or you can scan the QR code here!

Tree in the House

A modern tree house inspired by a house by A.Masow Architects. About 4500 bricks. (Computer rendering, but only existing bricks/colors were used.)

The house was built as a layer of pie pieces, using 2x4 wing plates and hinge plates to attach on the corners of the pieces (see the hinge base at the front left corner). The outer edge has a 1x6x5 transparent panel for the wall. Furniture is placed on the studs, with the bed being placed on a set of 1x1 round plates. Supports are placed to keep the floor from drooping.

The top level of the house.

The second level has the bedroom.

The bottom level has a dining room.

The bottom level also has a bathroom.

Building

To the Stars and Beyond: Building Microscale Near-Future Space

The I.E.A. Vanguard.

By Chris Malloy

A version of this article was originally published on The Brothers Brick (www.brothers-brick.com).

The forward end of the Vanguard, with the micro-asteroid shield.

As a longtime LEGO space builder, I found I was ready for a bit of a change. After years of building Star Wars and video-game inspired spaceships, I wanted to try my hand at building a spaceship that is, paradoxically, a little more down to earth. Rather than ships bristling with big guns or outfitted with wings, I decided to take my visual cues from movies like Interstellar, The Martian, and of course, NASA’s own designs. Several years ago I built a small vignette of a space shuttle launch system in this theme, and since then I’ve been working on a couple of spacecraft. The first ship I built was the Vanguard, part of my own fictional Interplanetary Expedition Alliance, mankind’s first attempt at visiting nearby planets and their orbiting bodies. I built it as a series of discrete modules, and then strung the modules together to create the larger spacecraft. I’m fond of this technique because it lets me play with small structures of a few dozen elements at a time, which also results in a look similar to the real International Space Station’s modular design, cobbled together by numerous agencies over a period of decades. This also allows me to try out a lot of unusual elements, such as the Ninjago spinner for the micro-asteroid shield on the ship’s front. If you’re familiar with the Ninjago spinners, you may be wondering how I got it to stay in place, since they’re filled with a cast-iron weight. But the earliest Ninjago spinners have screws holding the two plastic clamshells together, so I was able to disassemble the spinner and remove the weight without damaging the pieces (sadly, later spinners are riveted).

Another part that sat in my unused bin for way too long before finding a home aboard this craft is the Buzz Lightyear wing. I combined a pair with just two other elements and some custom stickers (trimmed from the leftovers of official LEGO sticker sheets) to create an auxiliary shuttle. As I built each core module, I tried to make sure it could support a Technic axle through its center, and the majority of the modules allow this. Once I had all the modules created, I used some very long Technic axles to string them together, and then mounted the ship on a display stand. Although it sounds pretty straightforward, it’s a lot of trial and error, because not all of the modules work well next to each other, both from aesthetic and engineering standpoints. I ended up with a handful of leftover modules that just didn’t fit the look I wanted on this ship. The finished model is about 89 studs long, putting me just shy of the 100-stud length that LEGO space builders venerate. 100-plus stud LEGO spaceships are known by the acronym SHIP, which stands for Seriously Huge Investment in Parts, an apropos term to be sure. I’d never built a SHIP, so I knew I had to go for it and those leftover modules were the perfect starting point.

Chris’ take on a shuttle of the near future, the Indefatigable.

A look at the auxiliary shuttle.

The I.E.A. Discovery.

A few months later I set about building another ship and employing some of the techniques I’d learned and adding others, resulting in the I.E.A. Discovery, which rings in at 120 studs. One of the main things I wanted change was the color scheme. Although the solid black-and-white motif (with just a few tiny pops of color) that I’d used on the Vanguard is very classic NASA, I was trying to build a spaceship of the future, so perhaps a little more color was in order. My two chosen highlight colors were sand green and flame yellowish orange (or bright light orange, if you prefer Bricklink’s nomenclature). Both are vibrant and bold, while still capturing the vintage space-race color palette I wanted. A look at the solar panels and rear details of the Discovery.

You can see more of Chris’ MOCs at his Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/porschecm2/ or by scanning the QR code here.

I continued to play around with ring shapes, with the first being a disk near the ship’s center made of sand green astromech droid bodies, connected with a piece of flex tube strung through the leg holes. Chrome gold 2x2 radar dishes imitate the gold foil often used in spacecraft (the gold foil is actually multi-layer insulation consisting mostly of aluminum). Another key addition are the solar panels, thanks to LEGO’s fantastic printed dark blue 1×4 tile. LEGO has since released even more solar panel variants on the 21321 Ideas International Space Station set, and I’m eagerly anticipating incorporating them into my next model.

The rear of the ship showing the drive thrusters.

One of the modules that was left over from the Vanguard was the hydroponics module, created with garage door panels arranged as a cylinder. Above it is my favorite module, the habitat cube. One of my favorite things to do with LEGO is to find uses for obscure elements, so the cube is a six-sided die from the LEGO Games theme, covered in 2×2 triangle tiles with rubber bands around the edges. A repeating feature throughout the model is the accordion covers for docking ports, made with minifigure ruffles. Look closely and you can spot a black pen bead.

The hydroponics module can be seen center bottom, while the habitat cube is directly above.

Like the previous ship, this spacecraft also has a habitat ring and a micro-asteroid shield, though both have vastly different designs this time. The habitat ring began life as an attempt at using the 2×2 triangle tiles to build a full geodesic half-dome, but I found the geometry too finicky at this scale. I may revisit the idea at some point, but for now I’ve repurposed the ring for this ship. As you journey into space with your own creations, remember to give a second look at the weird, crazy pieces in your collection. You don’t have to have it all planned out from the start; just pick a few colors and see what interesting shapes you can find and how they might fit together. You’ll be amazed how far you can go.

A different version of a micro-meteoroid shield.

Building

Ben Pitchford:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Article and Photography by Ben Pitchford

Ben Pitchford has been featured before in BrickJournal (issue #43, Building the Samurai Code) with a large layout, and since then he built another, this time themed to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Instead of a natural layout dominated by a mountain, this new layout is a manmade landscape of New York City and is dominated above by buildings and below by the sewers and waterways of the city. BrickJournal talked to Ben about his creation and got a tour of the layout. It took Ben a little over six months to build the layout, and was motivated by his three kids—they thought it would be a fun build. Since they already had the minifigures

Building Legend Here’s a directory of rooms in each building.

1 (from bottom floor to top) Pizza shop and grocery store, gun shop.

2 Joe’s Plumbing shop and bar, ice cream shop, April O’Neil’s studio apartment.

TCRI Building: Office and Labs, Krang’s Laboratory.

Car repair garage, MMA gym, office, Newsstand 5 studio.

from the original wave of LEGO sets, it wasn’t much of a jump to build something for the figures. Ben set off to get thirty or so Foot Soldiers and customize Casey Jones, Bebop and Rocksteady through numerous online orders. His goal was to show the underground lair connecting to the aboveground city via sewers. This also gave him an opportunity to redo the classic scene from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie where Michaelangelo orders a pizza and exchanges the money for it through the sewer grate: “Wise man say, forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.” From starting in August 2018 to January 2019, Ben and his family worked on the layout. The layout was started from the bottom with the Turtle’s sewer lair, but Ben knew that he wanted a subway section with a train loop above it, so he laid out the track to make sure it would fit inside the footprint he planned above the lair. A lot of planning was needed for the location of the stairway to the subway so it matched up with the city sidewalk, and not where his buildings or roads would be located.

“Wise man say...”

Ben really enjoyed customizing the city modular buildings both inside and out, but the sewer was his favorite part of the build because it was his interpretation of what the sewer lair could be on a grand scale. I added lots of LED lights, Power Functions motors for training equipment, and even his Samsung S7 phone for the television which just played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon theme song or old TV episodes 24/7. The biggest challenge was figuring a way to build a floor for the subway and city that would span the entire width of the sewer. The floor also had to support the heavy modular buildings at the top. After some trial and error, Ben ended up turning mostly 2x4 bricks sideways and covering both floors that way. It turned out surprisingly sturdy, covering a width of 122 studs.

There are a total of 12 interior rooms that were built into the buildings: the TCRI office, auto repair shop, Brazilian Jiujitsu school, office, TV station, pizza parlor, grocery store, plumbing shop, bar, ice cream shop, April O’Neil’s studio loft, and gun shop. Most of the rooms have swinging doors to open for viewing. Loactions to these room can be seen on the photo on the previous page. Pizza shop (above) with adjoining grocery store (below).

1 This building has a pizza parlor and a grocery store

Above these is a gun shop with weaponry of all types from guns to lightsabers and batarangs. Ben ran out of ideas for shops so he made the gun shop from the weapons he bought at Brickworld. The grocery store is loaded with every type of food, and the corner pizza parlor has dining tables as well as a pizza oven and stand.

2 On the same street is Joe’s plumbing shop and a bar

with a pool table and albums on the wall. Above the bar is an ice cream shop with tables and a bunch of desserts to choose from. Above the ice cream shop is April O’Neil’s apartment, a small one-bedroom. Gun shop with some uncommon weapons.

3 Across the street and on the corner is Newsstand

5, where April works on the top floor in the news studio. There are two offices on the floor below (the third floor), with halls and a copier between. The second floor is a favorite for Ben, MMA gym with an octagonal ring and people sparring. Beside the ring is a Brazilian jiujitsu school. On the first floor is an auto repair shop and garage, full of tools and car parts.

4 The TCRI (Techno Cosmic Research institute) is

a scientific corporation/organization in multiple versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a large, impressive, mysterious and imposing facility in New York City. However, the ground floor of the building is a fake office and laboratory meant to trick anyone from knowing the happenings going on upstairs… in Krang’s hideout. Bar.

Ice cream shop.

April’s apartment with guests!

Subway.

Krang’s chamber is a multi-floor chamber, with Krang working on producing more Ooze with his henchman. Lining the walls are vats of Ooze, and a portal machine is on the floor. There’s also a computer running the equipment. The subway has a train on a loop and has stairs to the street above. The subway has graffiti on it, as well as some of the walls, and, like the floor below, is illuminated. All of the buildings are also lit so the shops and rooms can be seen in the dark. The sewer lair is on the bottom, and has motorized weapons for defense. On the back are the rooms for the Turtles, which have different colored lights. Details include arcade machines and a skateboarding half-pipe. A wide screen TV is in the back that is actually a smartphone. Lining one wall are the weapons the Turtles use.

Car repair garage.

When displayed, the public was blown away by the scale and details. Ben got a lot of questions on the structure. His family cosplayed the Turtles and Shredder for Brickworld Chicago 2019, so it was a fun day for everyone. The display also received the Best City Layout Award from the Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club. Since then, the display got torn down to make way for another build, this time a medieval diorama. It will be complete by April 2020. April’s news studio.

TCRI’s office (above) and Krang’s lab above (below).

Office floor.

MMA gym. The Turtle lair.

Building

Wing Yew:

Temple, Toy and Room Creator!! Article and Photography by Wing Yew 34

Wing Yew is a mechanical engineer that has been a LEGO builder for seven years. His beginning in the LEGO hobby was seeing the Collectible Minifigure Series 8 released at the end of 2012. The unique minifigures in that series got his attention and he fell in love with the series and the bricks. His favorite themes became the Creator Expert and City themed sets, and he eventually collected all the Collectible Minifigure series, Creator/Modular and Creator winter sets. Other sets and polybags were bought occasionally, but Creator Expert and City were always first. It took some time, but Wing realized that LEGO sets couldn’t fulfill his temptation of building, so he started to try and build something new from his dismantled sets. He did a lot of online research and at other resources that were related to creating and building cool LEGO creations, which led to his MOC building journey in the brick world. A couple of views of Kee Lok Si.

Wing, for the most part, builds just to create, and he enjoys the process of designing and creating something new with the bricks. Using his own style, he describes, crafts and builds something by his own definition. He will first imagine and visualize how a model would be if he transforms what he sees, whether it be an object or an environment, and into LEGO bricks. He will then build it up by using different scales (Minifig, micro, 1:1 scale) to find the best building option. He also tends to build things which are not commonly seen in the LEGO MOC world, so it gives other AFOLs another perspective and inspiration to build something unique.Wing also participates in competitions as well as local LEGO fan events and displays. Out of all the builds Wing has done, the one he is most proud of is a replica of Kee Lok Si, a temple which is situated in the island of Penang, Malaysia and is one of the largest and finest temple complexes in Southeast Asia. For him, the temple has been his most challenging and toughest model he has ever built, but it has also been the most satisfying build he has ever done. It took him 3.5 months to build this replica from the idea phase to planning, detail scaling, bricks and color selection, and actual building. The most challenging part of building the temple was determining the scale of the model. He spent almost 2-3 weeks just thinking about how he should scale the model. Due to the unique design and location of the temple, he had to make sure the scaling was right not only on the temple building, but also on the landscaping where the temple is located. It wasn’t affordable to build the model in minifigure scale as it was too large and Wing didn’t have enough bricks to complete it, so he considered building in microscale. However, if he built the temple in microscale, the end product might end up being too small and not something he was looking for. After some thought,

Wing decide to go with a scale that is not commonly used by AFOLs, which falls between the minifigure and the microscale: the monument scale (a term coined by website BrickNerd). From there, he started to make some calculations and look for the right elements to kick off his build. Just like most builders experience, along the way there were some problems finding the right pieces and colors to replicate the details of the actual temple. Currently, Wing is spending his time on building his Youtube channel, where he showcases step-by-step videos on how he built his creations to the public. Through these, he hopes to inspire more people to be creative and start building their own creations. That’s his advice to builders old and new: “Don’t be afraid to be creative. Creative builds come from trial and error. So keep trying to craft, design, and use different building methods to beautify and perfect your build until you are fully satisfied. Pay attention to every single tiny detail on your build.”

Another look at Kee Lok Si. Wing’s Star Wars room model.

BrickJournal talked to Wing about a couple of his builds. Here are his comments: Star Wars Room: “The Force is Strong With This One” BrickJournal: What was the inspiration behind this model? Wing Yew: Back in 2016, I was participating in a Star Wars Day MOC competition which was organized by LEGOLand Malaysia, and this was the build that I made for this competition. Since the day I decided to join this competition, I’ve been constantly brainstorming ideas on what I should build in order to stand out from the crowd. Then I try to do some detailed research and take a look at what has been built by other builders on the Star Wars theme (as you know, there are thousands of thousands of them out there) and see if there is anything which rarely has been done, or has yet to be done by others. On one fine day, I’m trying to imagine, “If I’m a Star Wars fan, what will be my dream Star Wars stuff, gadget, toy or display, that I’m dying for?” Then suddenly the “Ahha” moment struck my head: “A dream Star Wars themed bedroom”! A bedroom which is full of Star Wars collections, decorations, toys, and everything related to it—that’s definitely a space that every fan would dream to have, I told myself. After the idea was firm, I started to do some scaling, draft and plan out all the little details to include into this dream space. So this is how the build was born.

Wing’s model lit.

How long did it take to complete? From the idea generation till it was completed, it took me about 1.5 months. As it is built for the competition, I have to put extra effort and time to ensure it was completed on time. Did you design the builds beforehand? No, I design it while building from the actual bricks. What was the hardest part of the build? I would say the hardest part of the build is to convert all the furniture, room decoration and wall details into Star Wars related stuff. For instance, the bed is designed with the base of the Millennium Falcon, the door is created from a R2D2 portrait, X-Wing as the base of the table, and lightsaber as the shelf. After that to build those room details with the correct scale is also a big challenge as well. Because on one hand I am trying to squeeze in as much detail as possible, whilst on the other hand I have to make sure the build was correctly scaled from the bricks which I have. If the scaling of the stuff in the room is not taken care of very carefully, then it very likely will ruin the entire feeling of the build. So this also gives me some hard times on it.

The bed and toys...

...and the desk, which is designed like something familiar.

Christmas Series What was the inspiration behind your Christmas series creations?

Some Christmas models done by Wing.

During the Christmas season in 2015, I’m looking for something for a gift exchange with my friends. At that time I was thinking of getting a relatively small LEGO set as a gift exchange and trying to search for it in the local LEGO store here. But somehow I couldn’t find any sets which fit the size that I’m looking for. In my mind I’m thinking of having something which is not as big as the Winter series, but it should be big enough to use as a gift to others, and most importantly the person who received this can use it as a decoration/display around his/her office or house during this festive season. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything that fit this criteria. Then I started to think that, why not create one for my friends as a gift exchange present? So from there I started to gather some ideas of what kind of design I can build by using LEGO bricks, and slowly creating them out one-by-one, as what you can see here. How long did it take to build all of them? I started off with the four models in 2015, which are the train, Christmas tree, gingerbread house, and sleigh. From idea generation till the final product, it took me about one month to complete. Then I created another three more models in the following year, which took me about the same time as well. Did you design the builds beforehand? Yes, not on paper, but on LEGO Digital Designer software instead. What was the hardest part of the builds? I think the hardest part of the builds is trying to design something on this small scale/size, and yet I have to maintain those Christmas elements in each of the builds. So the bricks selection is crucial. If I use a relatively big piece, then it may not be able to bring out some details of the build which is supposed to be there.

Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

Qty Part Color Description 2 56902.dat Light Bluish Grey Wheel Rim 8 x 18 with Deep Centre Groove and Peghole 4 30027d.dat Light Bluish Grey Wheel Rim 8 x 8 Notched Hole, One Slot, Recessed Cross, for Wheel Holding Pin 1 2432.dat Light Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 2 with Handle 2 4600.dat Light Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 2 with Wheel Holders 1 3022.dat Light Bluish Grey Plate 2 x 2 1 3023.dat Light Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 2 2458.dat Light Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 2 with Pin 1 99781.dat Light Bluish Grey Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Down 2 60592.dat Black Window 1 x 2 x 2 without Sill 4 4070.dat Black Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight 1 3020.dat Green Plate 2 x 4 1 3023.dat Green Plate 1 x 2 1 3004.dat Green Brick 1 x 2 2 54200.dat Pearl Gold Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 5 6141.dat Pearl Gold Plate 1 x 1 Round 1 59900.dat Pearl Gold Cone 1 x 1 with Stop 3 3068b.dat Red Tile 2 x 2 with Groove 1 3069b.dat Red Tile 1 x 2 with Groove 4 11477.dat Red Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 4032b.dat Red Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Type 2 1 6141.dat Red Plate 1 x 1 Round 2 6143.dat Red Brick 2 x 2 Round Type 2 1 3034.dat White Plate 2 x 8 1 3020.dat White Plate 2 x 4 5 3022.dat White Plate 2 x 2 3 2540.dat White Plate 1 x 2 with Handle 2 32028.dat White Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail 1 3023.dat White Plate 1 x 2 1 6266.dat White Minifig Skeleton Leg 1 4740.dat White Dish 2 x 2 Inverted 1 99207.dat White Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 Up

You Can Build It Holiday Build

Holiday Train Design by Wing Yew Instructions by Joe Meno

Here’s a Christmas model you can make for yourself, from Wing Yew. With only a handful of parts, he made a Christmas locomotive that fits in the palm of your hand. Have fun building!

Building

Koen Zwanenburg:

From Holidays to History!

Article and Photography by Koen Zwanenburg

Do you want to build a snowman? Koen did!

Koen Zwanenburg, a builder from the Netherlands, has been a lifelong builder. As a kid, he played a lot with LEGO bricks, especially with castle- and pirate-themed sets. He rediscovered LEGO about ten years ago when he wanted to have a model of a ship on top of his bookcase. At the time, he found a LEGO set of Queen Anne’s Revenge (from Pirates of the Caribbean) and started building. He was surprised to see all the new shapes and colors that LEGO made. Enthusiastically, he soon purchased the other Pirates of the Caribbean sets and a pile of second-hand LEGO. That’s when he stated building his own creations. His first big creation was another aged ship for his bookcase. Apart from building his own creations, he also buys sets from time to time. He especially likes the Harry Potter and Star Wars themes nowadays. Every year, Koen tries to build a Christmas MOC ranging from a gingerbread house to a toy soldier or snowman. For the last two years, The LEGO Group has been running a campaign called BuildtoGive in which the company donates sets to children in hospitals. Every Christmas MOC posted online with the hashtag #BuildToGive results in a donated set. This gives Koen evermore reason to continue to build Christmas MOCs. Koen’s best known Christmas builds are of a gingerbread house and a train. The house got 10,000 supports on LEGO Ideas and the train won first place in a train building competition on LEGO Rebrick (a LEGO website that was merged with LEGO Ideas). Both builds we also displayed in the Masterpiece Gallery in the LEGO House and were shown as part of its Christmas exhibitions. Previous Page: Koen’s gingerbread house.

Some of Koen’s cuddly toys. The award-winning Gingerbread Train.

Another favorite building theme for Koen is Disney. His interest is focused on building microscale models of attractions in Disneyland, such as the Main Street Train Station or Cinderella Castle. Currently, he is working on a microscale version of Sleeping Beauty Castle from Disneyland Paris, which has turned out to be surprisingly complex. He also builds Disney characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, and from Pixar, Tin Toy. For Koen, they are fun to build. Looking at the finished models always gives him a smile. Building a model can vary. Some models can take just an hour to build, like a small cuddly toy. Medium-sized models (those that can fit on a baseplate) take Koen between one to three months to design, and a bit more time to gather all the parts to build. Big MOCs like Minas Tirith the People Laaf (from the Efteling theme park) and Tutankhamun take six months or even longer to finish. It basically depends on size and the complexity of the build. Almost every MOC Koen makes, he initially designs digitally, using Bricklink stud.io. He also builds while designing, especially to test if a technique is possible, or to make an initial build of a complex shape which he can finetune later digitally. For existing objects he wants to make in LEGO bricks, he always uses blueprints and side views to measure out the proportions of the brick version.

Cinderella Castle.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Main Street Train Station, Disneyland.

Daisy and Donald Duck.

Tin Toy.

Koen built his Tutankhamen because of his great interest in history. Old civilizations are a particularly fascinating subject to him. Building the mask has been on his mind for several years, even collecting parts without knowing what scale he was going to build or even how to built it. He just knew it would take a lot of golden parts! This is Koen’s masterpiece—it was a joy to design and build and the model he is most proud of. When the photos of Tutankhamen were posted, Koen got a large response that was great to see. People enjoyed looking at it as much as he enjoyed building it. King Tutankhamen’s mask.

Koen’s MOC building is still a hobby, so there is no time schedule. He just builds whenever he likes and wherever he likes until he’s finished. For him, designing and building are both relaxing and challenging. What’s more, it’s a bit like mindfulness: it helps him to focus and relax. Currently, Koen is working on some smaller builds, including one from an old Space Theme. He is also planning on remaking his Jewelled Egg Collection and expanding it with new eggs. Koen expects them to be done by the next Easter season. He also will probably start with a new big project soon. Regardless of what he builds, it will be a masterpiece! Koen with the mask.

Some other views of King Tutankhamen’s mask.

You can see more of Koen’s work at his Flicker gallery: https://www.flickr.com/ photos/66389707@N08/ with/50086744667/ or you can scan the QR code here!

Building

Victor Leparc:

Building Towers, Manors and More! Article and Renders by Victor Leparc Views of the Hollywood Tower, the ride building for Disney’s Tower of Terror attraction.

Sometimes building a model can become a daunting challenge. Making a place or building in minifigure scale can be nearly impossible to do because of size or expense. Reducing the scale may decrease price and part count, but presents new problems. Digital building has been around for a decade or so, and with it has come a new group of LEGO builders. One of those builders is Victor Leparc, who has done a variety of large-scale LEGO landscapes. Victor is a builder that has been building for almost 22 years, which is pretty much all of his life—he’s only 25. He’s also a law student preparing for his Law School entry examination. While he has been building since childhood, he lost interest in playable sets. He wanted his passion for LEGO to become more challenging. He didn’t want just to build what someone else designed before anymore; he wanted to be the designer. He also liked to create things that could be displayed with a lot of detail. Victor builds what comes to his mind, so he really doesn’t have a favorite theme—unless one calls micro-dioramas a theme. If he suddenly has an idea that he thinks can be turned into a LEGO creation, he just jumps into building. Inspiration comes from all the things Victor likes and that have influenced his life. He is a man of many passions, having lived his life through them: music, history, video games, trips, the United States, Disney parks. All are good themes to pick ideas from.

An overhead view of the Tower.

The front courtyard.

Inspiration shouldn’t be mistaken for imagination, though. Victor always builds from pre-existing things. Once he gets seriously interested in an idea and it becomes something he can’t get out of his mind, he starts to work on turning it into a LEGO model. Looking at his Disney park attraction models as examples, he likes to upgrade them and give them the feeling that they could be real authentic buildings. This completes the micro-dioramas and brings them to life. One upgrade can be seen in the parking lot Victor added to his Tower of Terror diorama. Another enhancement can be seen in his rendition of Disneyland Paris’ Phantom Manor, where he replaced the cover terrace of the original attraction with a carriage house. When he builds historic buildings, he tries to rebuild them in their original appearance. For Victor, that means doing a lot of historical research while building. These are his personal touches to the models. Victor’s timeframe for a model is actually short—around two weeks. Some models might take longer: this was the case for his Phantom Manor and his Elvis mosaic, which each took around three weeks. In terms of hours, though, it’s much harder for him to count. He can only say he spends a few hours a day building. His time is spent on the computer—he doesn’t draw any plans beforehand or use real bricks. For Victor, working on software is very

The parking lot, which is an addition by Victor.

Miss Tilly for Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World.

Disneyland Paris’ Phantom Manor, as built by Victor.

helpful. He wouldn’t be able to build without the unlimited amount of bricks he has in the computer. In terms of the building and design process, he just starts building until he is finished. Sometime when a model takes a long time to build, he starts another project alongside it. The hardest build Victor has done was his Elvis mosaic. Made of 50,000 1x1 plates, the mosaic is almost as tall as Elvis himself! Victor cropped and enlarged a photo to a proportional size and spent hours selecting the right color for each 1x1 plate. It was painful and certainly the most challenging model he has done, but the result was worth it. Many people think he used a program to make the mosaic, but he did it by hand because he likes challenges.

Victor’s carriage house addition.

A challenge Victor doesn’t want to confront is actually building his models. As a student, he doesn’t have the money or space in his tiny apartment to make and store his creations. However, if Disney, Elvis Presley Enterprises or the Palace of Versailles (his current microdiorama project) are willing to let him build his models for them, he would be happy and honored to do so! Besides the Palace of Versailles, which is the biggest micro diorama he has planned, he is also working on a World War II minifigure scale layout using German and Russian tanks he designed. Once these are done, he will make a microscale diorama of World of Warcraft’s Icecrown Citadel.

Victor’s advice for builders is the following: “We have all been beginners. My advice is philosophical and applies to LEGO as much as any other thing in life. Follow your inspiration, as nothing in life or in LEGO can work without passion and perseverance. LEGO offers so many building possibilities that one can’t go wrong; one can only improve. With enough motivation, anyone can be creative and develop their building and design technique.

The Palace of Versailles (a work in progress).

One has to believe they can do anything and that anything they want to reach is reachable. One should never underestimate themselves; they are as good as any other person, if not better.” “Life is like a full box of LEGO bricks. We all have bricks and we try to build our life with them. If a build doesn’t work, don’t give up—there are many other ways to build to a goal!”

German Tiger II tank.

Victor’s Elvis mosaic.

German Tiger and Jagdtiger tank—a tank destroyer.

The World War II diorama: Tiger Ambush.

Victor Leparc.

Building

Kang Jun Lee:

Bird Builder

Article by Joe Meno Photography by Kang Jun Lee Kang Jun Lee is a 20-year-old LEGO fan that has been building since 2016. It was then that he made his first appearance at a LEGO exhibition and got out of his Dark Age he had been in for four years. Before then, he built and played with the bricks, since, as he says in an online chat with BrickJournal, “I was too young.” Now, his favorite hobby is building. During his Dark Age, Kang was feeding another interest: raising a bird. His love of nature and birds became part of his building and his favorite building subjects. He reflects: “There’s nothing more beautiful than making nature out of LEGO.” Kang turned to building birds when he noticed that he had rarely seen real birds built out of LEGO. Being a person who likes to build original models, he built two birds: a peacock and an eagle. Kang has built other models of a variety of subjects and themes, but it’s when he builds birds that his skills take flight. Building the birds was a challenge, as both models had two assemblies: the body and the base. The body was built first, and the base had to be built to support and secure the body. Making both assemblies stable took many redesigns, and Kang built and rebuilt them many times.

Of the birds themselves, the peacock was the harder of the two. Kang described the main challenge of the peacock: “The tail was the most difficult part when making peacocks. I found a way to build a pattern in the tail while making a curve. Everything was just like a puzzle.” Building is a process for Kang, where he first looks and memorizes all the LEGO parts he has. After thinking about his build for a few days, he sorts out his parts and lists the parts he doesn’t have. The parts he needs are ordered online, while he sets aside the parts he already has for building and builds what he can. When the ordered parts arrive, he completes his building, usually on the same day.

Making a Peacock’s Feathers The peacock’s tail feathers are made by making a texture of alternating 1x1 round plates and 1x2 plates as seen here. The rows are offset by 1 stud, which creates a surface that can be flexed into a curve. Different colored plates create a visual pattern. The ‘eyes’ are a separate assembly using a 2x2 plate with one center stud, a 1x1 plate with an in-line tooth, and a 1x1 round plate. These are set into place with a 1x1 bracket.

A closer look at the eagle. Peacock and eagle.

A look at the peacock’s head.

Another look at the eagle’s dive.

Kang’s concert creation!

An audience level look.

When asked about advice for builders, Kang answers: “It is important to always try to make your model neat and simple. When I was young, I used to put on cool parts, but now the work depends on how I use the parts I have, cool or not.”

Korean Incense burner.

Iron Man’s IGOR. Kang’s rendition of the Paris Opera House.

Burner with stand.

A closer look at the burner.

Kang isn’t picky about his building and has built other models besides the birds. After watching the band Queen’s performance on LIVE AID, he built the concert. He also built a relic of Korea (where he lives), a gilt-bronze incense burner. With its golden egg shape, it’s the most beautiful shape that he has built in LEGO. He also built an Iron Man suit, the Igor suit that was seen in Iron Man 3.

ALTER EGO #167

ALTER EGO #168

ALTER EGO #169

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #24 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #25

Salute to Golden & Silver Age artist SYD SHORES as he’s remembered by daughter NANCY SHORES KARLEBACH, fellow artist ALLEN BELLMAN, DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO, and interviewer RICHARD ARNDT. Plus: mid-1940s “Green Turtle” artist/creator CHU HING profiled by ALEX JAY, JOHN BROOME, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster on MORT WEISINGER Part Two, and more!

Two RICHARD ARNDT interviews revealing the wartime life of Aquaman artist/co-creator PAUL NORRIS (with a Golden/Silver Age art gallery)—plus the story of WILLIE ITO, who endured the WWII Japanese-American relocation centers to become a Disney & Warner Bros. animator and comics artist. Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more, behind a NORRIS cover!

Spotlight on Groovy GARY FRIEDRICH— co-creator of Marvel’s Ghost Rider! ROY THOMAS on their six-decade friendship, wife JEAN FRIEDRICH and nephew ROBERT HIGGERSOM on his later years, PETER NORMANTON on GF’s horror/ mystery comics, art by PLOOG, TRIMPE, ROMITA, THE SEVERINS, AYERS, et al.! FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster, and more! MIKE PLOOG cover!

TIMOTHY TRUMAN discusses his start at the Kubert School, Grimjack writer JOHN OSTRANDER, and current collaborations with son Benjamin. SCOTT SHAW! talks about early San Diego Comic-Cons and friendship with JACK KIRBY, Captain Carrot, and Flintstones work! Also PATRICK McDONNELL’s favorite MUTTS comic book pastiches, letterer JANICE CHIANG profiled, HEMBECK, and more! TIM TRUMAN cover.

BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH discusses his new graphic novel MONSTERS, its origin as a 1980s Hulk story, and its evolution into his 300-page magnum opus (includes a gallery of outtakes). Plus part two of our SCOTT SHAW! interview about HannaBarbera licensing material and work with ROY THOMAS on Captain Carrot, KEN MEYER, JR. looks at the great fanzines of 40 years ago, HEMBECK, and more!

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WORLD OF TWOMORROWS

BACK ISSUE #124

BACK ISSUE #125

BACK ISSUE #126

BACK ISSUE #127

Celebrate our 25th anniversary with this retrospective by publisher JOHN MORROW and Comic Book Creator magazine’s JON B. COOKE! Go behind-the-scenes with MICHAEL EURY, ROY THOMAS, GEORGE KHOURY, and a host of other TwoMorrows contributors! Introduction by MARK EVANIER, Foreword by ALEX ROSS, Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ, and a new cover by TOM McWEENEY!

HORRIFIC HEROES! With Bronze Age histories of Man-Thing, the Demon, and the Creeper, Atlas/Seaboard’s horrifying heroes, and Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) rides again! Featuring the work of CHRIS CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, ERNIE COLON, MICHAEL GOLDEN, JACK KIRBY, MIKE PLOOG, JAVIER SALTARES, MARK TEXIERA, and more. Man-Thing cover by RUDY NEBRES.

CREATOR-OWNED COMICS! Featuring in-depth histories of MATT WAGNER’s Mage and Grendel. Plus other indie sensations of the Bronze Age, including COLLEEN DORAN’s A Distant Soil, STAN SAKAI’s Usagi Yojimbo, STEVE PURCELL’s Sam & Max, JAMES DEAN SMITH’s Boris the Bear, and LARRY WELZ’s Cherry Poptart! With a fabulous Grendel cover by MATT WAGNER.

“Legacy” issue! Wally West Flash, BRANDON ROUTH Superman interview, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Scott Lang/ Ant-Man, Infinity Inc., Reign of the Supermen, JOHN ROMITA SR. and JR. “Rough Stuff,” plus CONWAY, FRACTION, JURGENS, MESSNER-LOEBS, MICHELINIE, ORDWAY, SLOTT, ROY THOMAS, MARK WAID, and more. WIERINGO/MARZAN JR. cover!

“Soldiers” issue! Sgt. Rock revivals, General Thunderbolt Ross, Beetle Bailey in comics, DC’s Blitzkrieg, War is Hell’s John Kowalski, Atlas’ savage soldiers, The ’Nam, Nth the Ultimate Ninja, and CONWAY and GARCIA-LOPEZ’s Cinder and Ashe. Featuring CLAREMONT, DAVID, DIXON, GOLDEN, HAMA, KUBERT, LOEB, DON LOMAX, DOUG MURRAY, TUCCI, and more. BRIAN BOLLAND cover!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #79

See “THE BIG PICTURE” of how Kirby fits into the grand scheme of things! His creations’ lasting legacy, how his work fights illiteracy, a RARE KIRBY INTERVIEW, inconsistencies in his 1960s MARVEL WORK, editorial changes in his comics, big concepts in OMAC, best DOUBLE-PAGE SPREADS, MARK EVANIER’s 2019 Kirby Tribute Panel, PENCIL ART GALLERY, and a new cover based on OMAC #1! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #81

BRICKJOURNAL #66

“Kirby: Beta!” Jack’s experimental ideas, characters, and series (Fighting American, Jimmy Olsen, Kamandi, and others), Kirby interview, inspirations for his many “secret societies” (The Project, Habitat, Wakanda), non-superhero genres he explored, 2019 Heroes Con panel (with MARK EVANIER, MIKE ROYER, JIM AMASH, and RAND HOPPE), a pencil art gallery, UNUSED JIMMY OLSEN #141 COVER, and more!

YUANSHENG HE’s breathtaking LEGO® brick art photography (and how he creates it), the many models of TOM FROST, and the intricate Star Wars builds of Bantha Brick’s STEVEN SMYTH! Plus: “Bricks in the Middle” by KEVIN HINKLE and MATTHEW KAY, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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You Can Build It MINI Build

Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

AT-X-Mas Body

Qty Color Part 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 60476.dat 3 1 1 1 4 8

Light-Bluish-Gray 3004.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3004.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3622.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3010.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 4740.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 63868.dat

4 Dark-Bluish-Gray 2540.dat 12 Light-Bluish-Gray 60478.dat 4 Dark-Bluish-Gray 18674.dat

Imperial AT-XMas Transport Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck Hello everyone, and welcome to our holiday building session! Let me take this as an opportunity for saying thank you to all of you for going through so many building sessions with me so far! I hope you have enjoyed the many models we already built together and will stay tuned for more in the future! Another big thank you to our chief editor Joe Meno for giving us this wonderful platform for our building sessions. It’s an honor to share my building ideas and techniques with all of you! So here’s the Empire’s latest addition to the All-Terrain Transport series: The AT-X-Mas Transport, usually employed on cold ice worlds to lead Imperial convoys through severe snow storms. After the holidays, you may simply remove the antlers (they only sit on a jumper plate) and the red nose (including the jumper plate, then replace it with a 1x2 trans-red grille tile) to obtain the standard Imperial AT-AT. Happy holidays to you and your family! Have a good time, stay safe, and see you next year!

1 2 6 2 1 3 4

Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 11212.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 4286.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3665.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3038.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 60481.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3678b.dat

Dark-Bluish-Gray 2555.dat

AT-X-Mas Head

Qty Color Part 2 White 87695.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 36841.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 30162.dat 4 White 2 White

53451.dat 53989.dat

2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 2540.dat 1 White 2540.dat 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 3839b.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3660.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 30602.dat 1 Red 32474.dat

Description Brick 1 x 1 with Clip Horizontal (Thick C-Clip) Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 3 Brick 1 x 4 Dish 2 x 2 Inverted Plate 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on End (Thick C-Clip) Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End Plate 2 x 2 Round with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 3 Plate 3 x 3 Slope Brick 33 3 x 1 Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Inverted Slope Brick 45 2 x 3 Slope Brick 65 2 x 1 x 2 Slope Brick 65 2 x 2 x 2 with Centre Tube Tile 1 x 1 with Clip Description Animal Cattlehorns Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Down Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Minifig Binoculars with Round Eyepiece Minifig Helmet Viking Horn Minifig Mechanical Arm with Clip and Rod Hole Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Plate 1 x 2 with Handles Type 2 Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Inverted Slope Brick Curved Top 2 x 2 x 1 Technic Ball Joint with Axlehole Blind

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Building

Minifig Customization 101:

Dadadadadadada dadadadadada dadadada SANTA BAT! Article and Photography by Jared Burks

Hopefully the title has the correct theme song running through everyone’s head now. If not, merely reflect back on Adam West’s Batman TV show and replace the last bit, and let’s create some Christmas in July (the month I’m writing this). During this Christmas season the naughty list doesn’t merely get a lump of coal in the stockings, they may get a lump or two added to the top of their head from Santa Bat and Elf Robin. Perhaps the Santa Bat may be the most feared Krampus of all times. Naughty list beware! There have been many reasons pointed out that Batman may in fact be Santa Claus. For starters, what does Santa Claus do the other 364 nights of the year? Has anyone ever seen Batman and Santa Claus together? How is it possible to track a naughty list of 7 billion people? It would require the skills of a master detective using the best super computer on the planet. Who, other than Bruce Wayne, would have these resources available? Speaking of resources, Christmas presents cost money. There aren’t sweatshops full of elves building all those presents. Wayne Enterprises really needs the annual tax write-offs and purchases them. Clearly Batman likes disguises and a Santa Suit is merely another disguise. Also, how on earth does Santa circumnavigate the globe so quickly without

cutting edge technology coming out of Wayne Enterprises R&D? How does he fit down those chimneys? He doesn’t merely picks the locks and walks in the front door. Therefore, Batman is Santa Claus, and who better to perpetuate the myth of elves than Robin the Boy Wonder?! For this article I am going to finally create the real Santa Bat and Elf Robin. To do so I had to examine the available LEGO parts to help support these characters. This started with breaking down what I thought Santa Batman and Elf Robin should really look like. I wanted to go a bit differently than the typical direction of a red-suited Batman; this is expected. We all know Batman is always prepared and if anyone would convert the Santa Suit into a set of body armor, it would be Batman. Therefore, I went with using the Mr. Incredible minifigure with a few modifications. Specifically, I removed the Incredibles logo, changed the hands to white, changed the hips to black, and added a blank white head. For Elf Robin it was a bit more piecemeal in the creation. I started with the Hat as I wanted him to be an elf. The hat was a unique bright green, so this meant I needed a matching bright green torso. I then used Vacation Robin’s arms to get the classic Robin short sleeves and rounded the figure with short “stubbie” red legs. If LEGO ever makes the “teen” legs (short bendable) in red, Elf Robin will get an upgrade. These are the perfect blank canvases to create Santa Batman and Elf Robin.

The source minifigures for Santa Bat and Elf Robin.

The first step was to create the art work for their torso designs, front and back, and faces, which only Robin will need. I started by looking at the classic designs for Batman and Robin. I didn’t really want to make these guys look too rough, so I kept it very basic. I also looked at the classic LEGO Santa Claus design so I could merge these two designs together. It was as simple as convert the logo to white and dark green, add the muscles, and then create a fur lined collar and top of the jacket. As for Robin, it was much easier, merely take an existing Robin design and converting the colors with white muscle patterns and change some colors around to work with a green torso. The biggest change was to convert its classic black or green mask to red. The next modification is to create the head pieces for Santa Batman and Elf Robin. For Batman I have chosen to modify the Batgirl cowl for use with Batman. The main reason for choosing Batgirl’s cowl is that it tucks nicely into the LEGO beard commonly used for Santa Claus. This means I needed to alter the hair and recolor it when finished. Santa Claus commonly has hair protruding from the back of his cap and I am envisioning this as an older version of Batman, so white hair works with the Santa Bat! I used a rotary tool with a cut off wheel to remove the excess hair. I followed this using metal files to separate the hair from each other to create an irregular edge, making this appear that it has always been this way. Finally, I polished the hair back to a smooth finish with MicroMesh sanding pads. I debated adding the classic Santa cap to the cowl but thought this was a step Batman would not go for, so I left him with his pointy ears exposed to the elements.

Torso art for Elf Robin.

Working on the Batgirl cowl to become Santa Bat.

For Elf Robin, the modification is a touch easier. It is merely recoloring the hair on the Peter Pan headpiece. Robin has been long known for his black hair. I started by coloring the hair black with an Industrial Sharpie. I used an industrial Sharpie as it is chemically resistant and doesn’t wear off easily. I then used a small paint brush and some black paint to clean up the edges and reach into areas the Sharpie was unable to penetrate.

Santa Bat in progress.

The next element to modify is Batman’s utility belt, which merely needed to be painted white. Using a can of spray paint designed for plastic, a few quick light coats is all it took. Likewise, Robin needed an equally quickly painted element in his Candy Cane Bo Staff. I cut a strip of painter’s tape and applied it in a spiral fashion to a white LEGO bar element and continued the tape off the end of the bar, allowing it to attach to a stick. This let me hold the element while spray painting it with a can of red vinyl dye. This created his Candy Cane Bo Staff. The next elements needed were capes. Santa Batman departed from white or red to go with forest green matching his bat logo. I debated long and hard about creating a scallop at the bottom, but ultimately did not go for this option. I also debated making the edge appear more like a Christmas tree, but thought that would be a bit too much—maybe for a future figure. Elf Robin required a much easier option and merely a traditional yellow cape for a short fig.

Making a Candy Cane staff.

Elf Robin without hair color decals for face and torso.

Robin Elf.

This just left us needing to give Santa Batman his ultimate bag. This clearly needed to be a big red bag for him to deliver toys to all on the good list and lumps to all on the naughty list. Luckily LEGO has created a big red bag, so Santa Bat was easily outfitted for his needs. So now we have a Santa Bat featuring a modified and painted cowl, custom decals, custom cape, painted utility belt, big red bag, and a unique color scheme. Elf Robin features much of the same with a painted headpiece, custom color torso, stubby legs, yellow cape, custom decals, and a painted Candy Cane Bo Staff. Ho, Ho, oh! Naughty list beware.

The completed Christmas Duo!

You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http://www.fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!

Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization! 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).

Bantha Bricks Files:

Mirko Soppelsa’s

Bantha Bricks Files

K2-SO

Article by Steven Smyth, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Mirko Soppelsa

Galactic greetings! I’m Steven Smyth from Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. Since the community’s founding in 2016, on an almost daily basis, I have witnessed amazing and creative Star Wars builds in the best Star Wars-themed building brick group on Facebook. Mirko Soppelsa is a well-known custom Star Wars set builder and designer from Italy. I thought it would be great to learn more about this talented builder and his latest custom Star Wars droid build of K-2SO. Steven Smyth: How’s it going Mirko? I know you have quite a following on social media and everyone in Bantha Bricks has been in awe over your amazing Star Wars brick builds, but for the uninitiated, please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do. Mirko Soppelsa: Hi Steven, I’m really happy and proud that my MOCs are appreciated. I am 47 years old and in life I deal with structural design in the field of renovation and restoration of buildings. I am married and have a 12-yearold son with whom I share this great passion. Would you say Star Wars is your favorite theme? Or do you have a surprise theme for us? For sure Star Wars is my favorite theme. You should know that the first film in the series was released in Italy in late 1977 when I was not yet 5 years old. My father, a great science-fiction enthusiast, took me to the cinema and I was so fascinated by the film that I still remember the place where I was sitting in the room. At the time, however, I lived in a mountain village where it was almost impossible to find gadgets and merchandising for films. It was here that I made the effort to build my LEGO bricks into the spaceships that I saw in the film and that I could never have. You can say that my passion for LEGO Star Wars was born that way. Another series I’m very attached to is LEGO Technic; from the first creations I was captured by its new “technology”, the innovative fixing systems and its new references allowed me to explore new constructive horizons. I still remember my first gift, a red tractor series 851. Even today, after more than 40 years, the only LEGO sets I purchase are the Star Wars and Technic series. K2-SO’s head articulation can be seen here.

The droid on his stand.

Some views of the rear of the shoulders and head.

Why do you choose the LEGO brick as your medium to express yourself? For me LEGO was the system to be able to build everything I could not have such as the Star Wars spaceships seen at the cinema, the great cartoon robots of the 1980s, and so on. Although the number of references at the time was very limited, I remember spending whole afternoons on the carpet at home building and engineering myself on how to get the games I wanted. In this way, however, without realizing it, technique and imagination began to develop and be a valid support for realizing my small “projects”. The thing that has always amused me, made me passionate and fascinated with LEGO, is that everything is possible. There is nothing that cannot be reproduced. The real fun for me, now as then, is in designing, in finding the right and appropriate technical solutions. Just about everyone I have spoken to loves Rogue One; is that why you’ve chosen to build K-2SO? Rogue One is a film that I love. It has a different spirit than the classic and more mature trilogies; it’s sad, realistic and with a design that integrates perfectly with Episode IV: A New Hope. Even before the film was released, I had already decided to make the U-Wing MOC in UCS scale, based only on the material I found online. In fact, I had been thinking about building a droid for some time and when I saw K-2SO for the first time, it struck me immediately. K-2SO is not only well characterized, but its design indicates that a great study has been done. For my part, I have only tried to find the essence. Can you tell us a bit about the construction, any special techniques you used? I wanted to build K-2SO in scale with the official LEGO 10225 R2-D2 and LEGO 75187 BB-8 sets to add to my collection. K-2SO is a character that I thought deserved a UCS scale. In technical terms, however, the real challenge was that the MOC was poseable and without any external support to keep it in balance. The coexistence of these two characteristics is not at all simple because the droid has very tapered and thin limbs and therefore it is difficult to keep in balance. In the end, after an in-depth study, I decided to make the lower part fixed, very robust, stable, which would guarantee an excellent balance and solidity to the entire MOC. The upper part is poseable, its torso rotates about 180 degrees, the arms and the head are fully articulated and the hands are prehensile. However, the point that got me the most involved was the design and construction of the arms. Being very long, I had to invent a complex internal mechanism of gears that generated the right friction necessary to keep the arms in the air without the risk of them falling because of their weight. My passion when I design and build is to never start with predefined ideas or techniques, but to experiment and invent.

What are your favorite design elements you created for the build? I am very proud of how the head and the connection between the pelvis and the torso came. For these elements I worked a lot on them and I made many versions before finding the right balance. Another element that required a lot of energy were the hands, as I wanted to reach and at the same time have tapered and elegant fingers. Did you freestyle build this or did you use a computer design program to lay it out first? My construction and design method is related to “old school”. I start to design my MOCs by building the prototypes with the bricks I have at home. I have more than a million bricks, and do not worry about the colors I use. This is the way I build my prototypes and I can evaluate the build if the techniques adopted are the best for the project. I evaluate interlocking, tightness of the structure and proportions. Finally, once the “beta” version of the MOC has been created and built, I use software that I need to reconstruct the model virtually, useful for creating the list of pieces and instructions.

A lower view of the back, showing the waist and hip joints of the droid.

Were there any moments in this build where you felt like, aww man, I’m stuck! If so, how did you overcome that obstacle? MS: When I build, a strange thing happens to me, after finding the right inspiration, it is like being struck by lightning! Within a month I usually design and complete the MOC. This is where the critical phases will arise, but also the most stimulating ones. I work mainly in the evening and when I go to sleep my brain starts thinking and reviewing the techniques used. I rework the project and think of alternative solutions. The next day I dedicate myself to modification or improvement and I must say that it is true: “The night brings good advice.”

A look at one of the hands.

What would be your advice to anyone looking to build a Star Wars droid on their own? I don’t know if I can give good advice. In my opinion, each of us has an innate creativity and in this LEGO is an excellent vehicle to express it. My opinion is that there are two important things when building a MOC: The first is to observe and study reality well, understand its details and grasp its essence. The second is to respect the proportions; whether it is a droid, a spaceship, a car, a building or anything else. Applying the right proportions to a MOC allows you to obtain excellent results.

A close-up of the waist.

You usually have instructions available for people to follow along and build the amazing things you design. How would our readers go about finding these and purchasing them? They can contact me by sending me an email directly from my website www.starbricks.net. Any final ideas or things you would like to add? During the quarantine period due to the COVID-19 emergency, I made my new Star Wars themed MOC. I can anticipate that it is composed of about 6000 pieces and that it will take a lot of Dark Bluish Gray elements. The release date is set for February 7, 2021.

To see more amazing builds, cool contests and giveaways and family-friendly discussion about everything Star Wars brick, check out the Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Facebook group at: http://www.facebook.com/ groups/starwarsLEGOgroup or banthabricks.com or scan the QR code here!

You can visit Star Bricks at https://www.starbricks.com or by scanning the QR code!

The base of the model.

K2’s blaster.

K2-SO broken down.

Holding his blaster.

Community

Eagan, Minnesota Robotics teams helping assemble design kits for the kids who were in the areas affected by the recent unrest in Minneapolis.

Young Builders and Designers Program Article and Photography by Brian Kelley, Young Builders and Designers Program

Young Builders and Designers is a program that started because of the need to bring back career readiness in the design/build trades. I started creating opportunities for kids to learn about the careers out there by hosting activities and workshops for kids to build and design projects relative to history, architecture, inventing and the arts. Many other organizations have partnered including the LEGO® Store in the Mall of America, The University of Minnesota Design School, the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, Washburn Library in Minneapolis, as well as a host of other businesses, organizations and schools. Our program hosts workshops where kids learn about the design and building trades. We incorporate fun but are focused on delivering high quality experiences for youth to develop their understanding of what careers are out there. We have special competitions where kids will have a specific project where they work on a team and compete. In addition we host competitions where kids are able to work independently. Each of the competitions have their own workshop to prepare youth for the competition. Some of the workshops and competitions over the years have been our affordable housing competition where kids are able to learn more about what is currently happening in our landscape of housing, and we have hosted an inventions competition where kids get to dream up an invention. We have also hosted family history competitions where young people are able to research their own family history and present their projects. Our program is located in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota) where recently riots broke out in response to George Floyd being murdered by four police officers. As a response, our program raised money to create design kits for kids in the affected neighborhoods of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We were successful in distributing the kits and had many volunteers involved in helping with the initiative. Prizes were donated and kids were able to compete against each other in a micro architecture competition focused on what

4 by 3 foot mosaic of the Puerto Rican flag from the Puerto Rican Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

the rebuild of the neighborhoods of Minneapolis and Saint Paul would look like through the eyes of young designer. The community was involved in helping put together the design kits which comprised of ten different projects for youth to complete.

Model of Sir David Adjaye’s Sugarhill Development building in Harlem, New York.

Summertime is fabulous because we get to do a diversity in design workshop with the University of Minnesota! Abimbola Asojo, PhD, AIA. IDEC, LEED AP, NCIDQ, NOMA is the Associate Dean for Research, Creative Scholarship and Engagement and Professor in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota and has been an amazing partner for many years. This year we held an online summer camp for kids to learn about design. Past years events included building a LEGO Model of Sir David Adjaye’s Sugar Hill Development (collaborating with fellow AFOL Steve Demlow, a computer engineer who has been in the hobby for 30 years!) in Harlem, New York, as well as a variety of other building projects. With the current distance learning environment, our program has joined forces with designers and professionals worldwide to provide online competitions for kids to win prizes! We are going to be hosting a “get one, give one” effort where families can purchase a workshop, and a kid who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to participate would be given a monthly competition package. We are currently hosting competitions and kids can learn more by visiting our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/youngbuildersanddesigners

Washburn Water Tower from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

We have been committed to seeing that youth of all backgrounds and economic abilities have access to learning about design. We have made inroads with other career exploration opportunities and have partnered with another program that does entrepreneurship training for youth. Our program is expanding nationally and internationally with our online competitions and people from throughout the world are getting involved. We are looking forward to continuing providing opportunities for youth to learn about designing and building. You can find out more about the program by going to the link above or scanning this QR code!

Young Builders and Designers quarterly design competition held at the LEGO(R) Store in the Mall of America.

WHATEVER YOU’RE INTO, BUILD IT WITH

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BRICKJOURNAL #66

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YUANSHENG HE’s breathtaking LEGO® brick art photography, the many models of TOM FROST, and the intricate Star Wars builds of Bantha Brick’s STEVEN SMYTH! Plus: “Bricks in the Middle” by KEVIN HINKLE and MATTHEW KAY, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Classic LEGO themes re-imagined! PIET NIEDERHAUSEN’s creations based on the Classic Yellow Castle, CHRIS GIDDENS (originator of Neo-Classic Space theme), and tour the Masterpiece Gallery at Denmark’s LEGO House! Plus: “Bricks in the Middle” by HINKLE and KAY, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

UNDERSEA LEGO BUILDING! RYAN VAN DUZOR’s Coral Reef, the many creations of COLIN HEMMEN’s Brickiverse, plus a look at JOHN KLAPHEKE’s scenes from the Indiana Jones movies! Also: “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

LEGO TRAINS! CALE LEIPHART’s Blue Comet, GLENN HOLLAND introduces us to the L-Gauge Modular Building Standard, a look at PennLUG’s Train Roundhouse, and many other train-related surprises! Plus a “Bricks in the Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

LEGO FIGURE BUILDING! JAE WON LEE’s historical and legendary characters, EERO OKKONEN’s stunning mythic figures, ANDREA (“Norton74”) LATTANZIO’s new ultra-realistic builds (including classic food stands and gas stations), “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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BRICKJOURNAL #60

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MYSTERIOUS, SPOOKY LEGO BUILDING! FLYNN DeMARCO’s motorized Treasure of the Snake Queen, Laika’s MISSING LINK by HOLLY WEBSTER, STACY STERLING’s HAUNTED MANSION, “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

STAR WARSTM THEMED BUILDERS! Travel to a galaxy far, far away with JACOB NEIL CARPENTER’S DEATH STAR, the galactic work of MIRI DUDAS, and the LEGO® Star Wars-inspired photography of JAMES PHILIPPART! Plus “You Can Build It” instructions, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

LEGO WARBIRDS, PAST AND PRESENT! JEFF CHERRY’S WWII and modern fighters (P-51 Mustang and F-14 Tomcat), RALPH SAVELSBURG’S BrickJournal exclusive X-plane, MICHAEL BROWN’S F-14 Tomcat “Vandy One”, step-by-step LEGO instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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 “You Can Build It” LEGO instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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!

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BRICKJOURNAL #55

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BRICKJOURNAL #51

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, step-by-step instructions, BrickNerd, & more!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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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!

MECHA

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 #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!

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!

GAMING

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 #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!

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-bystep “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!

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!

STAR WARS™

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 #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!

OUTER SPACE & UNDERSEA

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!

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!

DINOSAURS

TwoMorrows TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

store@twomorrows.com

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!

Order online at twomorrows.com

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.

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Last Word By the time you get to this part of the mag, it should be December. I’m typing this in August. It’s not snowing. It’s not even cold. And there aren’t thoughts of gift-giving yet. But think about giving more this year. More gifts to those around you. More money to the causes you believe in. And more time with the people you care for. We love to watch movies and read books to watch the heroes win the day. We become heroes by giving ourselves to others, beginning with our children. Share your time with them, and if you want, share this magazine with them. Build with them, and explore with them. This holiday season, make it a priority to give. You don’t have to give that much either—a word shared with a neighbor or a smile given to a stranger could be a ray of light they needed. And it’s a light that grows brighter when used.

Yes, the Empire did outfit walkers with holiday winter gear.

So be a hero to someone this holiday season—and Happy Holidays! See you next issue! That Joe Meno Guy

RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, editor MICHAEL EURY’s latest magazine is just for you!

RETROFAN #11

HALLOWEEN ISSUE! Interviews with DARK SHADOWS’ Quentin Collins, DAVID SELBY, and the niece of movie Frankenstein GLENN STRANGE, JULIE ANN REAMS. Plus: KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER, ROD SERLING retrospective, CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, TV’s Adventures of Superman, Superman’s pal JIMMY OLSEN, QUISP and QUAKE cereals, the DRAK PAK AND THE MONSTER SQUAD, scratch model customs, and more fun, fab features! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

RETROFAN #6

RETROFAN #7

RETROFAN #12

Hollywood interviewer CHRIS MANN goes behind the scenes of TV’s sexy sitcom THREE’S COMPANY—and NANCY MORGAN RITTER, first wife of JOHN RITTER, shares stories about the TV funnyman. Plus: RICK GOLDSCHMIDT’s making of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, RONNIE SCHELL interview, Sheena Queen of the TV Jungle, Dr. Seuss toys, Popeye cartoons, DOCTOR WHO’s 1960s U.S. invasion, and more fun, fab features! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping! Look for #13 in February 2021!

RETROFAN #8

RETROFAN #9

RETROFAN #10

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!

With a JACLYN SMITH interview, as we reopen the Charlie’s Angels Casebook, and visit the Guinness World Records’ largest Charlie’s Angels collection. Plus: interview with LARRY STORCH, The Lone Ranger in Hollywood, The Dick Van Dyke Show, a vintage interview with Jonny Quest creator DOUG WILDEY, a visit to the Land of Oz, the ultra-rare Marvel World superhero playset, and more!

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!

NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with ’70s’ Captain America REB BROWN, and Captain Nice (and Knight Rider’s KITT) WILLIAM DANIELS with wife BONNIE BARTLETT! Plus: Coloring Books, Fall Previews for Saturday morning cartoons, The Cyclops movie, actors behind your favorite TV commercial characters, BENNY HILL, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, 8-track tapes, and more!

NOW BI-MONTHLY! Celebrating fifty years of SHAFT, interviews with FAMILY AFFAIR’s KATHY GARVER and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour’s GERI “FAKE JAN” REISCHL, ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH, rare GODZILLA merchandise, Spaghetti Westerns, Saturday morning cartoon preview specials, fake presidential candidates, Spider-Man/The Spider parallels, Stuckey’s, and more fun, fab features!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

RETROFAN #1

RETROFAN #2

RETROFAN #3

RETROFAN #4

RETROFAN #5

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!

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!

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/Batman memorabilia, & more!

Interviews with 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!

Interviews with MARK HAMILL & Greatest American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND! Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR CULTURE! Plus: “The First Time I Met Tarzan,” MAJOR MATT MASON, MOON LANDING MANIA, SNUFFY SMITH AT 100 with cartoonist JOHN ROSE, TV Dinners, Celebrity Crushes, and more fun, fab features!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

RetroFan: 2021 Issues!

RETROFAN #13

RETROFAN #14

RETROFAN #15

RETROFAN #16

RETROFAN #17

Holy backstage pass! See rare, behind-thescenes photos of many of your favorite Sixties TV shows! Plus: an unpublished interview with Green Hornet VAN WILLIAMS, Bigfoot on Saturday morning television, TV’s Zoorama and the San Diego Zoo, The Saint, the lean years of Star Trek fandom, the WrestleFest video game, TV tie-in toys no kid would want, and more fun, fab features!

Sixties teen idol RICKY NELSON remembered by his son MATTHEW NELSON, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rural sitcom purge, EVEL KNIEVEL toys, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Saturday morning’s Super 7, The Muppet Show, behind-the-scenes photos of Sixties movies, an interview with The Sound of Music’s heartthrob-turnedbad guy DANIEL “Rolf” TRUHITTE, and more fun, fab features!

An exclusive interview with Logan’s Run star MICHAEL YORK, plus Logan’s Run novelist WILLIAM F. NOLAN and vehicle customizer DEAN JEFFRIES. Plus: the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons of 1966, H. R. Pufnstuf, Leave It to Beaver’s SUE “Miss Landers” RANDALL, WOLFMAN JACK, drive-in theaters, My Weekly Reader, DAVID MANDEL’s super collection of comic book art, and more!

Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Feb. 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships April 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships August 2021

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Oct. 2021

2021

Exclusive interviews with Lost in Space’s MARK GODDARD and MARTA KRISTEN, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Hogan’s Heroes’ BOB CRANE, a history of WhamO’s Frisbee, Twilight Zone and other TV sci-fi anthologies, Who Created Archie Andrews?, oddities from the San Diego Zoo, lava lamps, and more with FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY!

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CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS POP CULTURE!

Break out the candy canes! HOLLY JOLLY is a colorful sleigh ride through the history of Christmas, from its religious origins to its emergence as a multimedia phenomenon. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER explores movies (Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life), music (White Christmas, Little St. Nick), TV (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), books (Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), decor (1950s silver aluminum trees), comics (super-heroes meet Santa), and more! Featuring interviews with CHARLES M. SCHULZ (A Charlie Brown Christmas), ANDY WILLIAMS (TV’s “Mr. Christmas”) and others, the story behind DARLENE LOVE’s perennial hit song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), and even more holiday memories! Written and designed by MARK VOGER (author of the TwoMorrows’ books MONSTER MASH and GROOVY), the profusely illustrated HOLLY JOLLY takes readers on a time-trip to Christmases past that you will cherish all year long!

NOW SHIPPING! THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-097-7

TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA