Bill Vollbrecht: Building Models and More Jordan Maucotel:

Micro Master

People

An Emperor ironclad warship.

Sunder_59 is an 3-D modeler who returned to LEGO building about a decade ago, when he saw an old box of LEGO from his childhood. His models are of different themes, but his favorite builds are of space stuff and spaceships. He found his inspiration a long time ago in his childhood when he got a copy of the Homeworld computer game. At the time, he didn’t understand anything, as it was in English and he is Russian. However, he fell in love with the spaceships, and from there he found (and still finds) inspiration everywhere, including games, books, and films. Building his creations can vary. Sometimes he can build something in an hour, sometimes it can take months. On average, though, it takes him several evenings to build a model.

Sunder_59 builds organically and rarely has a plan. He just keeps a general idea in mind and lets his imagination flow. Often the model concept changes a lot during the process of building. As a result, the design changes into something completely different. When he builds large projects, such as the spaceships that LEGO space builders build in September (SHIPtember), or if he has something particular in mind, he makes rough 3-D models. Sometimes, his smaller models become bigger as he changes their design.

Sunder_59: Building SpaceSHIPs!

Article and Photography by Sunder_59

A paddlewheel drive for the steamship below.

Building

Article and Photography by Nick Trotta

Nick Trotta: Building the Shape of Space!

I’m an avid designer of LEGO spaceships, and most weekends you’ll find me at home (in San Francisco) working on a new creation. As constants across my builds, I enjoy interesting shaping and fun geometries. I love color work, blocking and harmonies and contrasts. I aspire for my work to feel “polished,” clean from the exterior and thoughtfully-engineered from the inside. And I relish the tactile “click” of physical parts, which I find extremely relaxing. There is one other common theme: I’m slow! Oh so slow! When I restarted the hobby in 2011, I was producing only about four ships a year. Flashing forward

a decade, the production rate has further declined: I invest just as much time at the LEGO desk, but lately I only complete about one ship every five months. I feel quite honored to be invited to be featured in BrickJournal, and I thought I’d use the space to share my personal construction process, and some tips, should you want to try out my particular (perhaps crazy) approach.

My Building Style

In a nutshell, the building approach I use is “Outside-In” design. (Thanks to Are Heiseldal who I believe coined that for me!) I first focus on the exterior to confirm feasibility, then translate the “possible” into a real creation, and then polish and improve. Each of those steps balance out to about one-third of the build time. So: