BrickJournal #78 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Issue 78 • March/April 2023

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Spring into Building!

LEGO® Builders:

Amado Pinlac James Zhan Instructions and more!

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Issue 78 • March/April 2023

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

People Alexander Harber’s Johnny 5..............................................................3 AC Pin: Still Blooming!...................................................7 Designing a Dome.......................................11 James Zhan’s Flower Gallery................................................13 Birgitte Jonsgard From Chapels to Flowers!.........................17

Building BrickNerd Instructions: Daffodil..............................................................23 Nathan Hake: Building BIG!...................................................28 Brian Costello:: Building Houston.........................................34 Pat Hough: Building a Story.............................................39 Dan Rubin’s P.A.C.H................................................................44 Jeff Schroeder’s Landing on Alpha Centauri.....................48 Minifigure Customization 101: Ugh, I smell like a human..........................52 You Can Build It: MINI Vakbeor Frigate..................................57

Community Bantha Bricks: Daniel Eisenhauer’s Starship Fleet........66 Last Word.............................................................79 Classic AFOLs.....................................................80

From the Editor: Hi! It’s spring here at BrickJournal, so we decided to pick some flowers! Flower builders AC Pin, Birgitte Jonsgard and James Zhan are here to show some neat botanical builds. We got some other stuff too, so if you want to read about a robot, for example, just look to the right.

March/April 2023 Issue 78 Publisher John Morrow

Editor in Chief Joe Meno Guest Editor Shelly Corbett

BrickNerd and Assistant Editor Dave Schefcik Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow

Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon

Bantha Bricks Correspondent Steven Smyth

Contributors: Jared Burks, Brian Costello, Christopher Deck, David Eisenhauer, Nathan Hake, Alexander Haber, Pat Hough, Birgitte Jonsgard, AC Pin, Dan Rubin, Jeff Schroeder, Steven Smyth, Inez Vasquez, Geoff Vlcek, James Zhan, and Greg Hyland. 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: AC Pin gives us a spring bouquet of flowers. About the Contents: Another flower from AC Pin!

Brick Rodeo, a LEGO fan event in Texas, is represented here, by more than a few builders. There’s also more amazing creations from Bantha Bricks and a couple of instructions that are really nice! So relax, take a look and get inspired. Have fun! Joe Meno, editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply. P.P.S... Yes, BrickJournal has a website — www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too — http://twitter.com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup — http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf. Or you can scan the bottom codes with a QR reader!

Website

Twitter

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)

Facebook

Subscriptions

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)

BrickJournalTM issue 78, March/April 2022 (ISSN 1941-2347) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BrickJournal, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Joe Meno, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BrickJournal Editorial Offices: 6701 Coachman Drive, Springfield, VA 22152, USA. E-mail: admin@brickjournal.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Six-issue subscriptions: $73 US, $111 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only, and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com. LEGO ®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm. All articles, photos, and art © BrickJournal Media, LLC, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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 of the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.

People

Alexander Harber’s

Johnny 5 Article and Photography by Alexander Harber

My name is Alexander Harber. I’m a Solutions Engineer that devises digital marketing strategies for industrial and manufacturing companies. I’ve been building with LEGO bricks on an uninterrupted basis since 1994, when I was five years old! For almost as long, I’ve also been a fan of science-fiction and fantasy stories, and they’ve been very influential on my writing and drawing hobbies, as well as on my LEGO creations. When I saw the science-fiction film Short Circuit during my bout with chicken pox in the second grade, I was amazed by the so-called “S.A.I.N.T.” (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) robots and their soul-given member, Number 5. Even though Number (later Johnny) 5 was just an elaborate movie prop, I wished that such a machine could be real, and in order to make that wish come true, I tried recreating Johnny 5 with LEGO bricks. In the mid-1990s, I lacked the skill and the right types of bricks to make even a serviceable rendition of the robot, so I turned to other LEGO projects. But I never forgot, and always kept “a large, functional LEGO model of Johnny 5” at the top of my MOC wish list. Fast forward 25 years and I finally got to the place where I surmised I had enough bricks and enough practice building other designs in LEGO to give Johnny 5 another try. I started with building the head, as that is the most distinctive aspect of the character, and what you see the most of in the movie whenever Johnny is onscreen. Johnny 5 ready for action!

Using just screenshots from the movie, I mocked up the head in random colors of bricks and tiles. Satisfied with how it captured both the look and personality of the character, I immediately went about re-building the head with the correct colors, and then moving onto the arms and treads. It was at that point that it became cumbersome to rely on screenshots from the film. Thankfully, I discovered a website created by fans of the movie that were actually trying to build a life-size Johnny 5 replica at inputinc.com. On the website is a gallery of CAD files and renderings of all the robot components and parts in addition to photographs of a disassembled prop Johnny 5 from the film production. These renderings and photographs turned out to be essential to capturing the right dimensions and pieces for the LEGO Johnny 5, as I would often place subassemblies built in LEGO (like the treads) up against different isometric views to get the shaping and geometries as close to perfect as possible. This was no small challenge, as the Johnny 5 robot prop is almost totally asymmetrical! Bricklink, naturally, became a dedicated resource for new parts I lacked in my current collection in order to make every one-off detail a reality. Different views of the robot.

Johnny 5’s laser activated.

Johnny 5 is Alive! After six months of dedicated work, my functional Johnny 5 was finally a reality! Along with eyebrow, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, finger, as well as upper and lower torso articulation, Johnny 5 has functions to match his onscreen counterpart. These include: 1.

A beam “laser” weapon that can be aimed forward and “fired” via a LEGO light brick

Multi-tool carriage that extends outward to deploy a number of different tools for repairs, lock-picking, and precise component manipulation

Opening panel on the upper torso to reveal various wires, circuit boards, and even a “heart of gold”

Opening panel on the lower torso to reveal his power activation and operating status screen

Technic treads powered by two Powered Up motors and a removable Hub for driving the model around

Observant fans of the film will notice that Johnny 5 looks different from the other four S.A.I.N.T. robots. This is due to him losing all of the armor casing that surrounds his face and head-mounted sensor array early in the film. To reflect this and give another option for display, I built two heads, each around a ball socket joint brick so that they could be easily swapped. The “Number 5” head has more tiles and panels covering up his lip lights and sensor array, while the “Johnny 5” head removes all of these pieces to reveal a friendlier face underneath. To date, my Johnny 5 model has only been shown at Brick Rodeo 2022 in Austin, Texas. In this age of massive sci-fi and fantasy franchises dominating the hearts and minds of most kids and adults, I didn’t expect more than a modest appreciation for Johnny 5, so I was pleasantly surprised when many people literally lit up when they saw Johnny 5 waving out to them. People adored him, with the bulk of them all recounting their memories of seeing the film and its sequel in theaters, quoting some of Johnny’s best lines (e.g. “Hey laser lips!”), and telling me they were going home to get their kids to watch the movie for the first time. Even after winning one of Brick Rodeo’s “Creations of Note” awards for Johnny 5, I would say meeting so many people and bonding over this funny little ’80s movie and its robotic star were the most memorable parts of the entire convention! Currently, I’m working out some ways to make the motorized tread assembly more robust so that it will be easier to drive Johnny 5 around. There are also variant arms and an all-purpose toolbox that Johnny 5 has in Short Circuit 2 that would give him a new look for future events. At any rate, Johnny 5 will be alive and definitely return for Brick Rodeo 2023 in Sugarland, Texas! Johnny 5 as seen at Brick Rodeo 2022 in Austin, Texas.

Johnny 5’s creator, Alexander Harber, with his creation.

Johnny 5’s torso and shoulders are seen here.

People

Hidden Garden Redux.

The greatest opportunity afforded to AFOLs to have their creations on exhibit at the LEGO House began in the year 2017 when the invites were sent out worldwide. The final count was thirty-four AFOLs, and I was one of them selected to bring my seven MOCs to The Home Of The Brick in September 2017, and had them displayed for a full year until September 2018. The selection process was different for year 2018 through the contest ‘Help Decorate The LEGO House’ hosted through LEGO Rebrick. I submitted several floral MOCs that were vastly different in design and concept from the previous seven MOCs on display. Five winning entries were installed in September 2018, and during the installation, the LEGO House design team requested that the Flower Box from the previous year be extended for another year, as they mentioned that the MOC had the most positive feedback from the staff and visitors alike.

AC Pin:

Still Blooming! Article and Photography by AC Pin

Mother’s Day blossoms.

Winter pinecones.

Before the end of the duration for the 2018 MOCs, I received from the LEGO House design team a request to donate at least one of the MOCs to The Home Of The Brick, which would remain in Billund permanently, to be displayed upon their discretion in one of their offices. The Jasmine Buds was my personal choice and has remained in residence after September 2019. The following year, 2020, due to COVID restrictions, I had to ship my winning entry for the contest ‘Help Decorate The LEGO House’ hosted through LEGO Ideas. The Hidden Garden was installed by the LEGO House design team on September 2020 at the Yellow Zone and was on exhibit until September 2021. As the end date approached, I received another request to have the MOC extended for another year, but this time it was going to be on exhibit at LEGOLand Billund where a new section for AFOLs was being developed and opened in April 2022. Since the twelve MOCs have been returned to me, I’ve brought them to various events/shows/exhibits to give the opportunity for more people to be able to see them in real bricks. I sometimes mention to attendees that I’ve saved them a couple of trips to The Home Of The Brick, as that would have been the only way for them to see these creations when they were on display at the LEGO House from September 2017 until September 2019. And so the legacy of my floral MOCs continues from the birthplace of the LEGO brick in Billund, Denmark to new locations across the USA, and hopefully to other countries in the future. Jasmine Buds. Tulip patch.

Even though I wasn’t participating anymore in the LEGO House contests, I did not stop creating floral creations, as any AFOL would admit that once you get the building bug, you just had to pursue it to completion. Whereas in the first year I built my floral creations based on actual flowers, in the second year I made good use of the bricks that were very organic in look, and it showed in the five winning entries for that year. As I continued to grow the number of floral creations (now at about 150+), I did them in various shapes, sizes, and colors befitting the design I’ve come up with. Not only did the number of floral creations grow, but also the vases and plant holders to display their uniqueness. I’d usually get my wife Marleth real flowers on occasions like Mother’s Day, her birthday, and our wedding anniversaries, until I realized I might as well just build more intricate floral arrangements to commemorate these special moments. These MOCs have grown in number over the years and only a few have actually been brought out to the public events/shows/exhibits.

Calla lilies.

AC Pin’s 40th anniversary bouquet. Hanging spider plants.

Marleth’s Pond.

Asian Virgins Bower.

Finally, the botanical MOC Marleth’s Pond laid out on eighteen 32x32 baseplates has been built exclusively for this article, featuring a serene backyard scene of aquatic blossoms inspired by Water Lilies, Lotus and others. It’s certainly the largest botanical creation I’ve built, as homage to my wife Marleth’s unconditional support for my hobby—without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. As much as Star Wars has been the theme that got me started and remembered for, the year 2017 beginning with the LEGO House creations will forever link me to the Botanical theme, and I’ll continue to pursue building MOCs in both genres for the foreseeable future. #BuildWhatInspiresYou Another view of Marleth’s Pond.

Everyone knows that in store visits, the first place I usually head towards is the Pick And Build wall. It’s always fascinating to find unusual pieces in quantity that wouldn’t break the bank like when ordered online. That’s why, like any blue-blooded AFOL, I’ll take advantage of the supply to get these pieces which can be used for future builds. Every now and then I’ll use the PAB piece in experimental builds to see how it can be utilized. The piece (Round 1 x 2 with Open Studs) in dark tan was the latest find and it didn’t take me long to build several MOCs that showcased its versatility. From my experience as I build more with the same piece, new ideas come to fruition. In this case, while building the flower, it made me realize that in the shaping of the petals, the same technique can be used for another MOC.

Building

Designing a Dome Article and Photography by AC Pin

One of the toughest shapes to build with the bricks is a dome, and the usual outcome for it looks like typical rough brick work. The new piece made me realize that I can do better shaping with the dome. So to put the theory to work, I made a prototype dome using bricks at my disposal, which were in different colors. The color scheme is not important at this point, as what matters most is the viability of the design. The tricky part was connecting the rounded plates to the bricks that are at a different orientation. Fortunately I got the small brackets to do the main connection, utilizing additional tiles and plates to adjust the level of attachment. Eight sections similar to the petals connected them together with a modified plate (2 x 2 with Bar Frame Octagonal, Reinforced, Completely Round Studs). Then it was just a matter of making adjustments to the sections as they were assembled together to complete A closer look at the flower.

From many parts comes a flower (below center).

the dome. As I’d usually post work in progress builds, it came as a surprise to me that nobody else has actually done it before, after I posted about it on my social media platforms. Though still not perfect by any means, and it would require some tweaking, I went ahead and ordered the pieces in the correct colors that I wanted the completed build to be. After a couple of weeks of waiting for the orders to be delivered, I started building the final design. A few more tweaks to the connection between the plates and the bricks was made to fill in the gaps. Each of the eight sections has at least 150 pieces, and all in the light bluish gray color, with the exception of the windows in white. An added unexpected bonus to my dome’s design is that the interior is just as smooth as the exterior.

The initial version of the dome. The top of the dome.

“Give credit where credit is due,” as I’m pretty sure that AFOLs would steal this unique design. I truly believe that the ACPin’s Dome can open up better builds for AFOLs who can make use of it in their creations. I can’t stop anybody from copying it, but please show the appreciation for the hard work I’ve done and use #ACPinsDome when you complete and share your copy.

Top view.

Lastly, I’ll finally be able to continue my work on the Pisamban Maragul creation, as this design has answered all my prayers for the centerpiece dome of the main altar. But that’s another storyline for the future... #BuildWhatInspiresYou

A look inside the dome, showing how the sections meet together.

A close-up of the center showing how the sections clip to the center.

The final version of the dome.

People

James Zhan’s

Flower Gallery

Article and Photography by James Zhan James Zhan was in our last issue as a mecha builder, but he builds more than robots. Another specialty he has is building flowers. Here’s a gallery of his flowers, along with James’ commentary.

Orchid James’ comments: The elegant orchid has always been a model that I wanted to build. This version was completed in 2018 and ended up being displayed in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery.

Orchid 2.0 James’ comments: In 2022, I revised the design, using new types of elements and solving weight and balance issues found in the initial model. The vase design uses enlarged versions of 2 x 2 bricks. This model was submitted to LEGO Ideas, where it gained 10,000 votes to be considered for production. A mini-version of the orchid was also designed, as seen below.

Flower and Zen James’ comments: This was an attempt to create a Zen-inspired design with a Japanese flowering apricot and flower arrangement.

Wedding Bouquet James’ comments: A friend requested a special build for his wedding proposal. I used some basic parts to create this bouquet, and it ended up helping his friend’s proposal.

Tomorrow Will be Fine James’ comments: A beautiful flower was completed at the beginning of 2021 using the Shoulder Shell W.3.20 Connector. This was designed in the style of Japanese flora design (ikebana) and with the hope that we will all be better in the new year.

Walking Iris James’ comments: The Brazilian Iris is a beautiful and elegant flower with a faint fragrance. It blooms from spring to summer and has a growth cycle (flowering to growing small seedlings that extend forward under the flower to growing new plants) that make the flower appear like it is walking. As a result, the Brazilian Iris has the nickname of Walking Iris in its native land.

People

Birgitte Jonsgard:

From Chapels to Flowers! Article by Joe Meno Photography by Birgitte Jonsgard

Birgitte Jonsgard, a high school biology teacher, has a LEGO story like so many other builders. In childhood, she loved building her own things. For her, LEGO has always been about building your own things. She remembers very few sets from her childhood, as she would rapidly ‘set free’ the bricks from their sets and be used over and over for her creations. She left the bricks behind when she became a teenager. However, in 2011, she came across some photos of MOCs online. These were models of well-known buildings in Oslo built by members of the Norwegian LUG Brikkelauget. She had no idea LEGO was used by adults in such advanced ways, and for her it was a revelation: “Liking LEGO and making models—this is the perfect hobby!” Her building interests include all kinds of things, but she keeps returning to architecture in different scales.

Birgitte’s Borgund stave church model.

Birgitte’s coastal landscape layout.

When asked about where her ideas come from, Birgitte has no clear answer, even after time and consideration. It seems her ideas are recycled and recombined visual impressions. They can be anything, like random shapes, color combination, patterns, and objects. The time it takes for Birgitte to build a model can vary from ten minutes to two years. A small thing, well-planned and with all bricks within reach, can be done very quickly. Other models just keep growing. Some years ago, she started a coastal landscape in minifigure scale. New ideas kept coming, and she added more and more islands, buildings and scenes. After two years, it had become a monster, and even now there are still details to add. Birgitte’s time is usually spent more on planning a model than actually building it. Since the planning is focused on the visual design of the model, she draws out what she wants to build. When she is ready, building is started, solving practical building problems as she goes along. The design of the model may be adjusted to bricks available, but other times, Birgitte doesn’t want to compromise her original design. When that happens, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the exact right bricks in the right color. Birgitte’s hardest build was a model of Borgund stave church. It was a rather atypical build for her, as it was a rendition of a specific building, and it was crucial that the proportions and angles of the roofs were constructed correctly. It turns out that Borgund stave church has some very LEGO unfriendly angles, so joining the sloping roofs on the corners was a nightmare.

A look at the entrance of Birgitte’s stave church.

Inspiration and...

The Jan van Hutsun painting that launched a MOC. The many flowers made for the bouquet.

...Creation

The elements of the still life MOC—the vase and different flower models.

For some models, the initial idea can be traced back to specific visual impressions. The flower MOC is one of those. It’s supposed to look like the lush flower bouquets on old classic still life paintings. Because of this, the flower MOC was designed in a different way. Birgitte made lots of flowers with different colors and shapes and then spent a considerable amount of time moving them around to get a good composition. It was really hard to make something with a random and irregular look that was visually balanced. The final build. Other views of the final build.

Hugin (left) and Munin, as built by Birgitte.

As an AFOL, Birgitte is childishly proud of a lot of models, but if she had to pick one favorite, it has to be Hugin. Hugin (Thought) and Munin (Memory) are the two ravens of Odin in Norse mythology. She gave them different attitudes, with Munin being extroverted and confident, and Hugin being an introverted thinker. Both can be transformed to a flying posture just by moving the hinged parts and a few bricks. Hugin transforms best and has a good shape in both standing and flying position. She is also happy with the different textures in the models: large shiny pieces for the feathers, smaller pieces and studs on other parts. Hugin and Munin flying. Hugin (above) and Munin (below).

Birgitte builds for many reasons; she simply likes imagining things and turning them into objects. Some of her models are replicas of something specific, like microscale architecture models, but most of them are just fun, like invented animal species. She also enjoys making models in certain styles, like buildings from a specific time period or within an architectural style. She tries to find the essence of it and put it in a new building. The flower MOC is an example of this—it is an attempt to make something that looks like classic flower bouquet still life paintings. In general she likes to create things that are visually appealing. Birgitte wants to look at a finished model from every angle and think, “Yeah, that’s gorgeous!” Also, she gets a kick from solving three-dimensional problems and creating shapes. With LEGO, she gets to do all of this. Breakdowns of the crocuses.

A springtime bouquet with some narcissus and crocuses.

Right now, Birgitte doesn’t have any models in progress on her desk, just the normal mess of unsorted bricks. Maybe new ideas will appear while doing some serious sorting and organizing. Until that happens, she offers this advice to fellow builders: “Do your own things with confidence. You will learn as you go along. Focus on the joy of creating.” A breakdown of a narcissus.

Parts List

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

Qty Part Color Description 2 15712.dat Sand Green Tile 1 x 1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) 3 44861.dat Sand Green Plate 1 x 2 with Single Clip on Top (Thick C-Clip) 1 2431.dat Dark Green Tile 1 x 4 with Groove 1 3623.dat Dark Green Plate 1 x 3 1 11477.dat Dark Green Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 60478.dat Dark Green Plate 1 x 2 with Handle on End 6 2654a.dat Green Dish 2 x 2 with Rim 3 3022.dat Green Plate 2 x 2 2 15068.dat Green Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 5 48336.dat Green Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Type 2 3 60470a.dat Green Plate 1 x 2 with 2 Clips Horizontal (Thick U-Clips) 3 87079.dat Green Tile 2 x 4 with Groove 6 37762.dat Bright Green Cylinder 1 x 1.333 with 0.5L Bar and Bar Hole 6 3024.dat Yellow Plate 1 x 1 1 4728.dat Yellow Plant Flower 2 x 2 with Hollow Stud 6 11477.dat Yellow Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 6 24201.dat Yellow Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Inverted 1 30088.dat Yellow Minifig Speargun 6 60897.dat Yellow Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical (Thick C-Clip) 1 85861.dat Trans Orange Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud 8 3023.dat Orange Plate 1 x 2 2 3024.dat Orange Plate 1 x 1 2 15573.dat Orange Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud 4 6141.dat Trans Clear Plate 1 x 1 Round 1 4733.dat White Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides 1 11213.dat White Plate 6 x 6 Round with Hole and Snapstud 1 11477.dat White Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 35480.dat White Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs 1 49307.dat White Brick 1 x 1 x 0.667 with Curved Top BrickNerd is your place for all things LEGO and the LEGO fan community. Spearheaded by Dave Schefcik and some of the best LEGO builders in the world, the site’s mission is to showcase the best of the AFOL community by highlighting builds, interviews and in-depth articles. BrickJournal is proud to continue its partnership with BrickNerd. You can go to the BrickNerd website by typing: https://bricknerd.com/ on your browser or by scanning this QR code!

Daffodil

Design and Instructions by Inez Vasquez

Spring has sprung and we’ve got a little build to welcome the season! Daffodils belong to the genus Narcissus and are characterized as perennial bulbs with conspicuous flowers. The central cup-like corona is surrounded by six petals with flower colors ranging from white, yellow, orange, and even pink. The central piece for this build is the 2x2 flower open stud (part number 4728) from all the way back in the 1980s, which forms the core for the flower. Yes, we used a flower to build another flower! The petals and corona may also be customized using various colors. Daffodils are the birth flower of March, symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings. After months of snow and gray skies, the daffodil’s bright and cheery flowers signal the changing of seasons. We hope you’ll build one or two of these daffodils to celebrate Spring!

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Building

Nathan Hake:

Building

BIG!

Bio-Research Station 22 Commander’s Log:

For the past few years, this station could have been called a quiet or even dull backwater post. The projects we have worked on have had their share of successes and failures, but nothing unusual happened here until last night. Our sensors detected seismic activity that was too low for anyone to feel in the past month. We couldn’t pinpoint the source of the activity as it appeared to be moving. Readings were contradictory: there would be one source, or multiple sources. The Science Department had been analyzing the readings, until yesterday when we discovered the anomalies. A number of alien creatures had appeared that seem to be attacking the native flora and fauna. These creatures appear to correspond with the seismic activity and are breaking down the soil at a structural level. We are concerned with the rate of growth of the structures, and also if they will weaken the grounds supporting the station. Science and Engineering are studying the phenomena.

Building has been something Nathan Hake has been doing since childhood. He got his first LEGO set at the age of three, and 21 years later, hasn’t stopped. His creativity started at about the same time, with the LEGO sets he got growing up never staying together very long. It got to the point that his dad started gluing the sets together, but Nathan’s little fingers still managed to break them apart. He would spend hours looking through LEGO magazines just trying to figure out how sets were made and trying to replicate play features. He was always building something: cars, spaceships, buildings, Bionicles—anything, really. Whenever he got inspiration, he would just build. Bio-Research Station 22 is one of many creations by Nathan, a builder in New Zealand. Displayed at the 2022 Christchurch Brick show, the base of the layout was 2 meters by 1.2 meters. The tower stood at 1.3 meters high, making this the tallest build Nathan has done, as well as one of his largest. Nathan used one M (medium) motor for the black alien creatures to make them appear to be breathing. To completely light the layout, he used ten LEGO Power Functions LEDs, one classic LEGO LED unit for the flashing lights on the cargo ship, and seven LEGO Power Functions extension cables. All of this is powered by one Power Functions battery unit. One challenge Nathan enjoyed was hiding the components and keeping them easy to access, such as using a hidden button for the power and a hidden drawer for battery access. On display.

The size of the layout is seen here.

Nathan had only a year to build the entire layout to display at Christchurch. At the beginning, he wanted something that looked very alien with lots of vibrant colors and an acidic river flowing through the terrain.

The station’s command center.

A rough outline was drawn of the tower including its curved supports and a circular dish for the top. The legs were made from train track to make a solid support structure and allow for many options to build around. Once the skeleton of the legs were made, he started stress testing them by piling drawers of LEGO on them until Nathan was happy with how they held up. There wasn’t a really a plan for the top either, so a lot of the build process was just holding up parts and making different shapes until Nathan was happy with how it looked.

The landing bay ready for use. A nighttime landing.

The opposite bay, housing labs and botanical specimens.

The alien landscape and fauna, with a black creature growing.

There are many other parts on the build that Nathan is proud of: the curved windows on the control tower, the solar panels, the lights, and the subtle motorized movement of the alien creatures breathing. His favorite has to be the acid river, as he really enjoyed figuring out the best ways to make all the curves, and experimenting with different ways to get the toxic green of the river. Using dark tan, tan, and white plates, he showed depth with a layer of transparent yellow on top and a layer of transparent blue on top of the yellow to give it a nice vibrant green. Walking around the build, glimpses of blue can be seen in the green, which gives the river a very unique effect.

The river and other creatures appearing.

Another view of the grounds.

Heading toward the temple.

The Forgotten Temple

Nathan is proudest of his hardest build so far, The Forgotten Temple. The build is of the mentioned temple on a floating mountain suspended by waterfalls. To make something so big and be able to hold about 20 kilograms of weight just on three legs was a huge challenge. For Nathan, it was a lot of fun having full creative liberty to design the entire build from scratch, with very loose inspiration from various games and movies. He also added little things to help people make up their own story about this temple. While the build was displayed, it was nice for Nathan to hear questions from people like, “Who is the guy in the boat?” “What killed the dragon?” “Was the dragon a friend or foe?” “Why was a minifigure sacrificed?” and his personal favorite, “Why is the hermit crab making sand castles?” Why IS the hermit crab making sand castles?

Entrance to the temple.

Nathan builds with LEGO because it is limited and limitless at the same time. A builder is limited by the types of parts LEGO produces, but there are so many ways of combining those parts to get so many different results. When one has limits, that’s when one finds all the interesting and odd solutions to the problems that come up. The thought “This is what I have, how do I make this work?” is always present and makes LEGO building a good hobby if one wants to concentrate on something for a little while. For advice, Nathan offers the following: “Just build. It’s like learning to draw: the more you do it, the better you get. For every build I post online, there are about four to five that get put to the side or even just scrapped. It’s very rare you get the result you want the first time. I spend hours just tweaking little details and trying different parts and how they go together. Don’t be afraid to remake things too. It’s LEGO, it’s made to come apart.” Encountering a sacrifice.

On display. A shrine at the temple remains.

A dragon skeleton lies on the sands of a nearby island.

Building

Building microscale is always a challenge, but the results can be really impressive. Such is the case with Brian Costello’s growing Houston cityscape. Seen at Brick Rodeo 2022 in Austin, Texas, the layout was a great display of the skyline that came to life when lit for the event’s lights out time. BrickJournal talked to Brian about his build.

A rendering of Houston.

Brian Costello:

Building Houston

Interview by Joe Meno Photography by Brian Costello, Joe Meno The built version of the city.

BrickJournal: Tell us about yourself. What do you do? Brian Costello: I’m an engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. I’ve had a few different jobs there over the years, but I’m currently a Visiting Vehicle Engineer in the ISS Program Office. Basically, that means that I help decide which cargo goes on which rocket going to the International Space Station, and I help make sure that all of the paperwork is complete and correct.

How long have you been building? I’ve been building my whole life. The first set I remember is the Forestman Crossing. But I still have a bucket with M-Tron and Blacktron 2 and other parts from my ’90s era sets. What got you into building as an adult? I hit adulthood right around when the modular city and UCS Star Wars sets started coming out, and I definitely have a few of the early versions of those. What’s your favorite theme? NASA models. I have them up above my desk right now: 10266, 10283, 10213, 21312, 21321, 21309. What inspired you to start building MOCs?

Brian’s mosaic of Hyrule.

I wanted to do something myself. I like figuring things out. My first real MOC was a six-foot mosaic/map of Hyrule from the original Legend of Zelda. It had been done before, but I wanted to put my own spin on it. What are the inspirations behind your builds? I moved to Houston in 2005, and I generally really liked living there. It’s the fourth biggest city in the country, but it feels like it gets no attention. They won’t even put our baseball team’s playoff games in prime time! I’ve seen all kinds of builds of more popular places around the country, so I wanted to show Houston some love.

A render of the Houston Central Library.

PNC Stadium, with lighting and miniature LED video screen.

How long can it take to build a MOC? My Houston “MOC” is modular, so it could be considered 33 separate “MOCs” if you take each building by itself. The simpler ones can take as little as a week. The stadiums have taken me a couple of months to figure out. How do you build? Do you plan your builds or just start building til you’re finished? I build everything out in Bricklink Studio before I do the actual build. I don’t have a huge stockpile of most pieces, so I usually have to order what I need. I also haven’t been taking the buildings apart, so I keep having to feed the monster more plastic.

An aerial view of the cityscape.

What was the hardest build you have done? The hardest one I’ve completed was probably the Houston soccer stadium (currently named PNC stadium). It was the first building I designed to have lighting, and it also has a weird angular shape. But I’m really happy with the way it turned out! My next Houston building is turning into an even more difficult mountain to climb, but we’ll have to wait to see if I can conquer that one. What’s a build you are most proud of? Are there any other parts of your build that you want to focus on? I’m really proud of the stadiums. I feel like they are some of the most iconic landmarks we have in Houston. But it’s always super exciting to me when I’m at a show, and someone comes up to tell me “I work in that building” or “I live in that building.” If the people who really live their lives there can recognize it, then I must have done a good job. Why do you build? Do you build because you want to make a replica of something? Or just want to create? Or something else entirely? I like figuring things out. I don’t consider myself super creative. I’ve always struggled with a blank canvas. I can even remember in grade school being stuck for hours trying to start an essay because I had no idea what to write down. Scaling these buildings down is still a challenge, and it still takes engineering; but it alleviates some of that pressure of coming up with the original idea.

The Astrodome.

Another view.

What other projects are you working on? When I first built my Downtown Houston buildings, I didn’t have any lights in them—or any plans for lights. But when I brought it to its first con (Brick Rodeo 2021), I saw other people with lights, and it just made everything better. So I’m going back through my existing Houston buildings and adding lights. I got about halfway through by Brick Rodeo 2022. Then I ended up moving to central Texas this summer for my wife’s new job. So, I’ve just started unboxing it to get more lighting done. I am also working on another Houston building that I’m going to try to get done by Brick Rodeo 2023 in Houston. But I’m not sure if I’m ready to fully announce that one yet. I’ve been building Houston stuff for about three years now, so I’m looking forward to taking a break from that and working on something different. I have a couple other projects in mind/Studio, but I’m not sure when I’ll really start putting bricks into those. I grew up with model trains, so a couple of the ideas could hopefully find their way into the TBRR (Texas Brick RailRoad) layout someday. What advice would you give to beginning builders? Build what you enjoy building. It is a toy, after all. It’s supposed to be fun. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Micro Houston at Night

Building

Pat Hough, an AFOL from Texas, displayed an untitled layout at Brick Rodeo 2022. While the creation was nameless, it was still pretty impressive, so I took a few moments to talk to Pat about the layout. Joe Meno: What are the inspirations behind your build? Pat Hough: The lava in my BR2022 MOC came from an observation that you don’t see too much red in a ‘typical’ (if that word can be applied) Classic Space MOC, with of course the exception of the red CS minifigs. Since I have a lot of red elements in my collection, I decided that lava would be the way to go. I began scouring the internet for pictures of MOCs with lava in them, in order to see what passed for molten rock in the eyes of other builders. After that, the MOC kind of built itself, inasmuch as I’m a bit of a logical-minded builder. I asked myself questions like “What color is the surrounding ground—the land without lava on it?” Here I decided upon tan (another unorthodox color for a Classic Space MOC), since I wanted to save mass use of light gray or LBG (light blue gray) for human-made objects like roads, buildings, and vehicles. The second question I asked myself was, “If there’s lots of lava around, what would the vegetation—if any—be like?” I gave myself some leeway here, since it was an alien planet. I decided on a rough ‘no-man’s land’ of about two to three inches from the edge of the lava crevasses, in indication of the intense heat which would prevent most vegetative growth. Further away than that, I started with olive green ‘clumps’, followed by lime and regular green bushes (6064) which were furthest away. I had planned to add both dark tan bushes and light-bluish gray three-leaf plants (30176) closer to the lava, but I couldn’t locate them

Pat Hough:

Building a Story Interview by Joe Meno Photography by Pat Hough

in time, and my BrickLink budget was limited in any case. At my sister’s suggestion, I added bits of DBG (dark blue gray) brick ‘piles’ here and there in indication of igneous rock formations that matched the color of the crevasse banks. Actually, I’m surprised that I didn’t think of this myself.

A spaceman crosses a lava trench.

Walkways and roadways cross over the lava.

One of the many vehicles traveling through.

As for the non-natural features, the roads themselves were my first real foray into SNOT (studs not on top). I remember that, back when the LBG and DBG colors first emerged, there was a hefty resistance in the AFOL community to mixing the ‘old’ grays and the ‘new’ ones. I have found, however, that mixing them into the same MOC yields very realistic-looking, even weathered results; my SNOT roads are my prime example. I took inspiration for the roads from Peter Reid’s microbuild MOC, Onyasis Tower (such greeble!); although his road is black while mine are LG-LBG. I never thought about using square containers (61780) to make a habitable building until I came across several on Google Images. Numbering the buildings—36 for the dark gray building, 33 for the radar tower—is straight from my few years in the US Navy; on most US bases they tend to number every edifice. I had planned to number the landing pad as well but didn’t have the time. As for the walkways, I have long since been using the 8x8 modified plate (4151b) for this purpose. I only recently learned that the ladder with side supports (11299) made an excellent pedestrian bridge for short distances (less than 16 studs), as the piece can be firmly secured using studs between the rungs. I used four of these on this MOC, but if I’d had more, I probably would have employed them too. In order to make the network of trenches as ‘natural’ looking as possible, I closed my eyes and then drew a series of crooked lines on a large piece of cardboard. My MOC adheres to these random lines as closely as possible.

How long did it take to build this? One of my favorite questions to answer. The terrain by itself—which I define to be solely the lava trenches up to the tan plate surface and nothing above it—consists of twelve 48x48 stud baseplates arranged in a 3x4 formation, with each baseplate numbered on the bottom so that I know in what order to lay them down. These twelve terrain baseplates took me three months to build. The two SNOT roads then took me an additional two weeks. Everything else on the MOC—including the vehicles, the buildings, and the walkways—was done in the final three weeks prior to Brick Rodeo 2022. I was consistently and utterly unsatisfied with the MOC’s progress for a time, and over a five-month period, I tore the entire thing down to the terrain and restarted five times. What you see in the photos is the sixth build. So all-in-all , it took me about 65 hours over a period of 17 weeks to crank this out. Do you plan your builds or just start building til you’re finished? A little bit of both. I think about the overall theme of the build some days before I snap the first two elements together. However, I find that I don’t do well in the longrange planning of minute details, so that’s when I tend to drift into spontaneity. This would explain why I tore the MOC down five times before finally settling on a design. Besides, I like to take time in the final stretch in case I happen across ideas and inspiration that I’d still like to incorporate. What are you most proud of in this build?

The radar tower at work.

For this (BR2022) build, my favorites are split between the terrain (lava and crevasse banks) and what you refer to as the rover (aka ‘lava sucker’). Talk about the inspirations behind the layout and its building challenges. For this MOC, the most formidable challenges were arriving at my vision of a lava-ridden planet and making the lava look ‘real’. I was sorely tempted to use a ton of red 2x2 and 2x4 bricks to speed up the building process, but as most of us know, your audience can tell if you’ve cut corners in a hasty effort to achieve a certain look. I finally Building 36—the barracks and mess hall.

Spacemen busy at work.

The natives, unnoticed by the spacemen.

settled on relatively few 2x2 and 2x4 red bricks, and a ton of 1x1 bricks in varying hues—red, dark red, orange, dark orange, trans-red, trans-orange, and a little bit of yellow here and there. I started out with 1x1 black bricks, but I later cut those out. The abundant use of both 1x1 bricks and random varying of different DBG slopes was the main reason why the terrain took three months to achieve. Having eschewed the use of monorail from this MOC—a rare exclusion for me—I decided that I still would like to have at least one moving feature. So that’s what inspired me to build the working radar tower. Bless TLG for having the 32-stud axle! I have already gone over the inspiration for the ‘trash can’ building (Bldg 36), but to that I would add that the base personnel needed a place to sleep and eat (barracks and mess hall), so that’s what I decided that the building’s purpose was. As for the big vehicle (the rover or ‘lava sucker’), that idea came to me while I was reading an article on the web about cockroaches with their segmented bodies—thus, a segmented vehicle held together by hinges. (More on this thing below.) The only other real challenge that I neglected to mention was one of time. With only a few days left before Brick Rodeo 2022, I still had not constructed any vehicles (other than the rover) or decided on the placement or number of minifigs. I knew that I could only address these issues during MOC set-up at Brick Rodeo, and hope that I could achieve some degree of finality before the first public viewing on Saturday, July 2. Thus, every vehicle you see on the MOC other than the rover was built between June 30 and June 2 during MOC set-up. Off-road roaming.

Elsewhere, the samples are being taken of the plant life.

Taking a break.

Another spaceman heads down to the surface.

What about the rover? For this thing, I had come up with the very nerdy title of “Magma Extractor”, but it was an eight-year-old observer who came up with the more realistic moniker of ‘Lava Sucker’. Why not? It’s hard to argue with that kind of down-to-Earth honesty. I decided to make use of the aerotubes from the Life on Mars set (7317-1) to use as the actual conveyors of molten rock. Filling the tubes with tiny red elements achieved two goals: 1) it made it look like the rover was actually doing its job of sucking up lava, and 2) it gave added weight to the tubes, making the ends easier to anchor into the lava bed. For that task I employed two black radar dishes and two round 1x1 LBG bricks. The rover was also the first anything on the MOC that I employed a minifig in/on. I recently acquired a number of all-orange Classic Space minifigs, so I decided that the rover’s driver would be an ‘orangie’. Why do you build? Do you build because you want to make a replica of something, or just want to create? Or something else entirely?

Sucking the lava.

I mainly build in order to tell some kind of story. Like most of my MOCs centered around minifigs, this MOC was intended to be a ‘screenshot in time’. At this particular moment on the unnamed lava planet, a rover/lava sucker is busy mining the magma while a variety of other vehicles are being driven here and there on specific tasks. One vehicle has just begun to clear the debris away from around a staircase. Another has just made a left turn from one road onto another. And in one corner, four rather annoyed locals have happened onto the scene, intent on finding out what business these humans have on their planet. I want my audience to look closely at my MOC for other story elements, such as a single light gray space fig sitting in a corner, drink in hand. On the landing pad, a member of the base team is shaking hands in welcome with the pilot of the spacecraft. What advice would you give to beginning builders? In a nutshell: Have a vision. You don’t necessarily need a detailed plan in order to reach what you want to build, but you should be maintaining some kind of image in your head that tells you what the final output of your efforts is going to look like. This image is naturally subject to change, as you happen across other inspiration and discard unwanted details. When I started on this MOC, my initial thoughts went something like “A sci-fi base of a Classic Space nature. It has to look like the crew arrived quite recently, as evidenced by the lack of structures, but it must also look busy. The purpose of the base being there must be obvious (in this case, to mine magma and minerals from a river of lava, so the scene doesn’t initially suggest a military operation). Some nice-to-have features might include: at least one ‘dramatic’-looking vehicle or ship, a moving radar dish, and the presence of some hostile-looking aliens, which none of the base personnel has noticed yet.” If you’re the type of person who has difficulty maintaining a specific idea in your head over time, then jot the details down. You may also wish to consider bouncing the idea for your MOC off other AFOLs, experienced or not.

A higher view of the lava sucker.

The lava sucker driver.

Building

Dan Rubin’s Article and Photography by Dan Rubin

Dan Rubin is an AFOL based in the Washington, DC area who has been displaying at LEGO fan events such as Brickfair Virginia. His specialty is Space-oriented builds and layouts. For his latest set of models, he had an unlikely source of inspiration. Dan tells the story: As soon as I saw the new elephant head piece, I knew I wanted to build these MOCs. I just instantly wanted to see them as warrior elephant people. I ordered the heads from LEGO customer support. After a few months of waiting on orders (turns out, while they’re pre-bagged, the bag does not include the trunk!), I had these heads and started building. I initially envisioned one with an elephant gun (turning the tables on big game hunters). While I didn’t end up building that weapon, the concept of turning the tables on hunters/poachers remained. Of course, I had to make a pun with the name, so I decided to call them the P.A.C.H. as a acronym—they became the Poacher Assault Containment Herd. Their backstory is that they’re genetically engineered to be the ultimate protectors of endangered species from the poachers of the future—suited to the environment, gentle with the animals, ferocious defenders, and perfect memories.

Sarge is the first member of the herd that I built. Originally, it was going to be the only one, but I couldn’t resist “squading up.” Sarge is a veteran NCO who has seen her share of combat and injuries (hence the gold tusk). She’s always accompanied by the “L.T. Bird.”

Harry is another long-time combat veteran. He was not engineered from modern elephant stock, but from recovered Wooly Mammoth DNA. He is unmatched in hand to tusk combat.

Goldie and Dumbo are both shock and awe specialists. Both are equipped with jet packs for short flights to get behind or above hunter emplacements and stop them in their tracks. Goldie’s armor is in traditional savannah summer colors, while Dumbo is equipped for marsh and grassland combat.

Slim is one of the heavy weapons specialists. His weapon of choice is the minigun, for dealing with poachers who have adapted to use armored vehicles in their aggressive hit and run hunting tactics.

Doc is the team’s medic. He carries a modern medical kit, as well as a large assortment of medical gear in his backpack. He’s also not afraid to use traditional remedies when needed, which is why he carries some live frog buddies in his backpack as well.

Babar came about from my desire to keep expanding the squad. I got some of the new dark green Lotus Speed Champions sets, and had to use them for another member of the P.A.C.H. The green color matched well with the character I remember from my childhood. This also may mean that I’ll need to build some rhino troops in the future.

As I was building the first one of these, I realized that I could swap in a triceratops head, and it looked awesome. I showed a handful of friends, and Mark Sandlin suggested Triceracop, from the movie Kung Fury. I hadn’t seen the movie, but the clip of the character looked perfect, and thus this one was born. Once I’d built Triceracop, I decided I wanted to do a triceratops version better matching the military style of the elephant crew. The new Jurassic World sets came out, with a new triceratops that wasn’t as expensive as the last one was running on Bricklink. Plus, it had that scar over one eye, perfect for the grizzled look.

Building

Jeff Schroeder’s

Landing on Alpha Centauri

Article and Photography by Jeff Schroeder and Joe Meno

A visitor.

An overview of the layout.

One of the builds at Brick Rodeo, a LEGO fan event in Austin, Texas, was an alien landscape. Titled Landing on Alpha Centauri, the landscape had a monorail winding through alien plants and trees. When the lights went out to show the lighted models and layouts, it became a place that was, well, alien.

Jeff Schroeder was inspired by the movie Avatar to build this model, or rather, layout. Instead of a single model, Jeff built an entire environment that looks otherworldly in daylight. When the lights are turned off, his landscape becomes a neon-colored landscape, just like night time Pandora as seen by Jake in Avatar.

The landscape wasn’t an overnight effort, taking about three weeks to build, working eight hours a day to complete. Jeff had gotten back into building much earlier from a 12-year Dark Age. He restarted building at the age of 26, when Star Wars came out. He had figured certain parts had a phosphorous glow to them. These parts had colors like Transparent Neon Yellow, Transparent Neon Green, Transparent Medium Blue, Transparent Neon Orange, Coral, and now the new Neon Yellow. Jeff thought it might be cool to have a MOC that looked one way in normal light and totally different when the lights are out, which led him to think of Pandora.

Building the layout was an organic process. Jeff had a paper sketch of the basic layout he wanted. As a free-form builder, Jeff figured out things as he went. The lava flow was the first thing built, followed by the mountains and the monorail track. The hardest part of the layout was getting the trees and the lava flow to look the way Jeff envisioned. He had to spend a lot of time working with the trees to make sure they were transportable and didn’t fall apart as he moved the layout.

The monorail under blacklight... Some space flowers.

...and under normal light.

Looking at the completed landscape, Jeff really liked how the bug came out of the build. He also liked how he stacked the coral pieces together to get neat alien plant structures. For him, the build is just amazing to look at when all the lights are off; it really stands out. He had never seen anyone do a build like this, so he thought it was a unique approach to a lights out night at Brick Rodeo. When asked about why he builds, Jeff explains, “I build to create. I love to create new things in the old classic space theme. I really like finding new uses for parts and creative ways to build creations that look like it would match with the classic space theme. My favorite things are when I display my MOC and hide little Easter eggs in it and people find them. I love taking the time to hide things and have people spend hours looking at my display trying to find all the little hidden details.”

Regarding the classic space theme, Jeff has another project that has been seen on Beyond the Brick, a video blog. Built for Brick Fiesta (the event that predated Brick Rodeo), this is a large classic space build that is 12 feet long and 15 feet wide. Set-up for the display takes Jeff 12 hours, and he is adding new MOCs to it. He hopes to add another layer of work to this display by the next Brick Rodeo in July 2023. For advice, Jeff states, “My advice to beginning builders is not to build large at first. When you go to a show and see a huge display, it can be a very tough task as your first MOC. Instead, understand that a large display is 30 small MOCs all put together. Build a LEGO set and modify it as your first try at creating a MOC, then try taking a built LEGO set and build something around it. The next thing you know, you will be building a custom MOC with terrain around it, which makes a display. Once you have a display, think what will go well with it to plan your next part of the display. Start small and build a little each day if you can.” Jeff’s Classic Space layout.

Preparing for a mission. Blacklight test for the layout.

The layout under construction in normal light.

Building Minifig Customization 101:

LEGO figures. There is no room for error in this issue’s custom figures, and it is for this reason I am splitting the work over two issues. I have gone big with the two main characters and a few supporting characters from one of the most critical pieces of anime film, Princess Mononoke. Don’t take my word for it, check out what Roger Ebert had to say on his website: www.rogerebert. com/reviews/princess-mononoke-1999. In short: It is not a simplistic tale of good and evil, but the story of how humans, forest animals and nature gods all fight for their share of the new emerging order. It is one of the most visually inventive films I have ever seen. – Roger Ebert Summarizing Wikipedia and the BBC: Princess Mononoke is set during the 14th Century, the Muromachi period of Japan. Princess Mononoke tells the story of Ashitaka, a young prince cursed by the hatred of a dying boar god. The boar was corrupted by being shot with an iron ball, which lodged in his body. “Hear me loathsome humans,” the boar says. “You shall know my agony and my hatred.” Ashitaka seeks a cure for this curse transferred to him by the boar god by traveling the land, hoping to find the Shishigami, a deer-like forest spirit with the power to bring life and death.

Ugh, I smell like a human. Article and Photography by Jared Burks

I hope everyone is well, for today I am going to dive right in as I have another two-part article. I have long wanted to tackle some more intricate designs that would require additional elements. After creating Monty Oum’s team RWBY and Genshin Impact’s Hu Tao character, I have tackled quite a few accessories in recent history and have been sharpening my skill set at not only getting the parts created, but making them mesh with the 52

During his travels, Ashitaka discovers a world out of balance. The ironworks community of Tatara, run by the enigmatic Lady Eboshi, is ravaging the nearby forest for resources, provoking the wrath of ferocious wolf god Moro and her feral human daughter San (the titular Mononoke, which roughly translates to specter or wraith). Ashitaka is caught in the middle and he must figure out how to navigate this difficult world with “eyes unclouded.” The film was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli. It was dubbed into English with a script by Neil Gaiman—yup, the one from Coraline and Sandman fame. Princess Mononoke was released in Japan in 1997 by Toho, and in the United States in 1999. It was a critical and commercial blockbuster, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan, and also held Japan’s box office record for domestic films until 2001’s Spirited Away, another Miyazaki film. The film greatly increased Ghibli’s popularity and influence outside Japan and is still widely popular today for the strength written into leading female roles. This film became 25 years old in July of this year and remains a visually amazing film with a story line well ahead of its time.

I am going to attempt to create a complex version of San, and two of her siblings, Ichi and Nii, as well as Ashitaka and Yakul, his giant serow mount. I have avoided Moro, San’s mother, because she would need to be larger than the siblings and I don’t have a way to create her currently. One of these days, I will try. I have also avoided a few other characters, but perhaps one day I will add them as well, as there are great visuals and a stunning story in this film. Here are the figures and list of items I need to create:

Wolves (Moro, Ichi, & Nii) Moro (Mother Wolf) - Not Made Ichi & Nii (Minor Mod to Warg) • LEGO Wargs • Primitive Saddle – White • Blacken Nose • Remove Eye added detailing

As you can tell, just to create Moro’s daughter—who she refers to as “my poor, ugly, beautiful daughter is neither human nor wolf”—I need eleven custom elements to go on top of a LEGO figure base. For Ashitaka I need eleven as well, but get to use either LEGO or aftermarket elements, limiting the need to create them from scratch, saving some time and effort. There is also Ichi and Nii, San’s wolf siblings, which I believe are their names. Their names are never mentioned in the film and I had to dig fairly deep into the dark depths of the web to come up with Ichi and Nii; I hope they are correct. I also have Yakul and the bonus items. So lots to be done here, and while the siblings are fairly easy, as I am reusing Lord of the Rings” Wargs, I still want to modify them slightly and will need a custom saddle for a wolf as well as Yakul. I could have cut, sanded, and polished a LEGO saddle to get what I wanted, but decided to do this in 3-D programs in order to 3-D print the needed parts. I also had a tall task of modifying a LEGO reindeer to create Yakul.

San • Hair – Modified LEGO • Fur Cape & Necklace • Fur Hood & Mask • Spear • Dagger • Necklace • Figure Art • Crystal Dagger ? • Earrings ?

Ashitaka • Hair - LEGO Element 36762 or 25412 or Custom • Quiver – LEGO Element 4498 – Vinyl Dye Tan • Bow - LEGO Element 93231 or Unstrung Bow • Sword • Scabbard (hip attach) • Hood - Maybe Arealight or LEGO Element 30668pb02 (Little Red Riding Hood) • Figure Art • Bandana? LEGO Element 15619 • Cape? Tan (MMCB?) • Bowl? • Arm Demon ??? Yakul (Ashitaka’s Mount) Saddle (Primitive) Horns Added Fur (Vinyl Stickers) Neck Top of head Ears Belly Reins? Posts? 86059

For this article I will go through some of the parts creations and save the painting and figure design work for the next article. So we will have shapes, but not finished parts. Let’s start where I did with Yakul. For Yakul, the main change needs to be in the horns, as he is not a reindeer. According to the web, he is a Giant Serow. I had to remove the LEGO reindeer horns and to do this I merely pulled, twisted, and stretched until the horns released from the LEGO animal. This left the animal with a hole in its head that I needed to fill with new and correct horns. To me Yakul resembles a gazelle more than a serow, so I started searching the web for files so I could 3-D print gazelle horns. I finally ran across MorphoSource, a repository of high resolution museum scans of actual animal bones. I was fortunate enough to find a scan of Gazella spekei skull with horns, a perfect example of Yakul’s horns (www.morphosource. org/concern/media/000351277?locale=en). I now had horns, but they weren’t LEGO scale and didn’t have the feel I needed, so I took this model into Meshmixer to modify them for my needs. I cut the right horn from the skull with a simple plane cut. I then angled out the horn a bit more as Yakul’s horns form a V and these were more parallel to each other. After angling it out, I mirrored the horn on the centerline to make the left horn at the same angle as the right. This gave me a pair of horns, but they were very pointy and sharp. I extruded the horns to take out some of the insane detail and soften their points. From here I needed to mount them to a block that would fit inside the hole left in the LEGO animal’s head. I sketched up the block from some measurements using Fusion 360, imported the block into Meshmixer (I am sure there was an easier way), and mounted the horns to the block. All that was left was to print them out. As my block was marginally off, I sanded it down a touch to get it to fit the hole and I am delighted with the fit achieved. With this one adjustment, I have a pretty good version of Yakul, so let’s make him a great version.

Removing the reindeer horns.

Gazella spekei skull.

Modifying the horns.

First result.

Revising the horns.

Horns in place.

Yakul completed.

The next step is what I am referring to as the primitive saddle. The LEGO saddle is very much a western saddle with a horn and clips to hold all sorts of things, but Ashitaka only has a blanket and a brown saddle. Using LEOCad, I downloaded an object file of the LEGO saddle and set to work modifying it to remove the horn, but also to take off the clips and to mirror all the details that change. I cut off the horn and removed the back area with a simple plane cut. I then created a rectangular mesh and subtracted it from the back to get a rounded corner shape (again, I am sure there is an easier way). I cut this down and used it to round the curves on the front of the saddle, and as you can see, I have some things to fix where I cut away the clip.

Modifying the saddle.

From here I used another mesh to create a template of the good side of the saddle and I cut it from the saddle, mirrored, and then used this to cut the other side. These changes make it look like a very basic saddle, which I can use on both Yakul in brown and on the wolves in white for San, so I knocked two items off the list above with this one project.

Primitive saddle on one of the wolves.

Now to Ashitaka, he needs a sword and a scabbard, as I am using LEGO or the aftermarket for his quiver and bow and hood. I will circle back to these items later, but for now I jumped over to Fusion 360 to create his sword and scabbard. I am still working on an attachment for the scabbard as I need to figure out how to allow him to wear it while on Yakul, but I digress. Ashitaka’s sword and scabbard were made from just a handful of sketches, very quickly and easily. I am showing these in an angle to allow you to see multiple planes in the design; I merely turned the canvas and created them in the needed plane. Once created, I extruded the sketch, added fillets or chamfers (chamfers print better), and tapered areas that connect. I did use a press-pull command to widen the inside of the scabbard, which was created originally by subtracting the blade from the long rectangular tube. If I left this as exact, the blade would never fit, as there is always shrinkage and resin is a bit think, which will cause it to stay in this area. So for better drainage, I widened it and added a small hole at the end of the scabbard (tricks for better printing). Following this example, I used the same style to create San’s dagger and spear, but won’t present those here for brevity reasons.

Making Ashitaka’s sword.

Adding the scabbard.

Testing the sword and scabbard.

Modifying San’s hair.

Making San’s necklace for the cape.

The last three pieces today took me back to Meshmixer, and I think they have the greatest impact and were fairly easy to create. I started with two LEGO hair pieces that I downloaded from LEOCad part number 92746 and 20595. Let’s start with the easier modification of the two, and that was for San’s hair. I could have used 92746 with only mild modifications, as she wears a cape and I would need to shorten this hair style. However, if you notice, the hair is a bit long and her hair is more windswept and shorter. I decided to use a plane cut to remove the excess hair and leave hers more pushed up and out. I clipped these areas, added some texture, and then added a circle with her little round medallion on it, and then cut a LEGO head out of the circle. By cutting the circle, this allows the hair to fit on the LEGO head.

San riding.

Next I created the cape and hood that San wears, by using 20595 as a base. I scaled it up fairly significantly as I thought it resembled the wolf fur or animal fur she wears. I used many of the same techniques as I used in the saddle and her hair piece. I then added the ears, necklace, and mask that I created in Fusion 360 (again, there has to be an easier way). I drew out the fur accent, as I wanted this to be bold in the 3-D print and was worried about losing the detail, so it looks bold in the Meshmixer images.

Making San’s cape and mask. The completed but unpainted mask and cape.

With these parts, I have a solid foundation to create these two figures and three animals from the film Princess Mononoke. In the next article, I will paint all the parts and design the art for the figures, completing all of the figures. Now it is time for quite a bit of 3-D printing. Here is hoping it all turns out as great as it looks in the 3-D programs.

Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization! You can see Jared’s webpage by going to http://www.fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!

Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Color Part 7 Light-Bluish-Gray 99563.dat 1 8 1

Dark-Bluish-Gray 30374.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 47905.dat

Light-Bluish-Gray 22885.dat

1 2

Light-Bluish-Gray 3003.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 58176.dat

Light-Bluish-Gray 577b.dat

2 1 6 4 14 1 2 2 2

Dark-Bluish-Gray 55298.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Black 6141.dat Trans-Light-Blue 6141.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 32028.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 32028.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat

Dark-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat

Black

Light-Bluish-Gray 35480.dat

2 4 2 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 3710.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 92593.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3022.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 18674.dat

Light-Bluish-Gray 87580.dat

Light-Bluish-Gray 99206.dat

1 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat Light-Bluish-Gray u8200.dat

1 1 2

Light-Bluish-Gray 2445.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3176.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 50948.dat

2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Dark-Bluish-Gray 61409.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3665.dat Yellow 3665.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 11477.dat Yellow 11477.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 29120.dat

Light-Bluish-Gray 29119.dat

1 1 1 4 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 32803.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 32000.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 4274.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 75535.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 12825.dat

1 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 3070b.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3070b.dat

35480.dat

Description Tile 1 x 2 Chamfered with 2 Top Indentations Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Opposite Sides Brick 1 x 2 x 1.667 with Studs on 1 Side Brick 2 x 2 Cylinder Domed 1 x 1 x 1.667 with Bar Minifig Lightsaber Hilt with Bottom Ring Minifig Tool Screwdriver Plate 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 1 Round Plate 1 x 1 Round Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs Plate 1 x 4 Plate 1 x 4 with Two Studs Plate 2 x 2 Plate 2 x 2 Round with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 x 0.667 with Two Studs On Side and Two Raised Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 4 with Square Underside Studholes Plate 2 x 12 Plate 3 x 2 with Hole Slope Brick 3 x 4 x 0.667 Curved with 2 x 2 Cutout Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Inverted Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 Inverted Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 with Cutout Left Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 with Cutout Right Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 Inverted Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Holes Technic Pin 1/2 Technic Pin Joiner Round Tile 1 x 1 with Clip with Rounded Tips Tile 1 x 1 with Groove Tile 1 x 1 with Groove

You Can Build It MINI Build

MINI Vakbeor Frigate

Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck Hello everybody, and welcome to one of our highly coveted classic Star Wars mini model building sessions! Today we have prepared a spot-on capital ship from one of the latest Star Wars movies: the Vakbeor-class Frigate from Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. It was among the four capital ships of the Resistance seen during the long starfleet chase sequence in the movie. The ship’s front section consists of a very greebly core surrounded by rounded hull plating. It is connected to a bulky engine block by a narrow and more fragile looking beam. These design elements are similar to those of a Nebulon-B Frigate. While the Vakbeor Frigate is missing the Nebulon-B’s comb-like structure below the front part, it has a large fin below the rear part with additional engines. In order to include as many details and unique shape elements that enable a high recognition value of the frigate, the resulting mini model reaches a piece count of more than 170 parts. There is an inverted stud on the underside that allows for a balanced attachment of a display stand. I hope you will enjoy building this ship! Stay tuned for more mini models, and have a great time until our next building session!

Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 33909.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 26603.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 87079.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 22385.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 43721.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 43720.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 4855.dat 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 43713.dat

Description Tile 2 x 2 with Studs on Edge Tile 2 x 3 Tile 2 x 4 with Groove Tile 3 x 2 with Angled End Wedge 4 x 2 Sloped Left Wedge 4 x 2 Sloped Right Wedge 4 x 4 Triple Inverted without Ribs between Studs Wedge 6 x 4 Triple Curved Inverted

Side panels and fin) Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 36840.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 99780.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 4588.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 4733.dat 2 2

Trans-Light-Blue u8300.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3626c.dat

6 2

Trans-Light-Blue 6141.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat

2 2 2 4 6 2 2 2 4 2

Light-Bluish-Gray 3623.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3710.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 50950.dat Yellow 50950.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 32523.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 6541.dat Yellow 3069b.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 3464.dat

Description Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Up Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up Brick 1 x 1 Round with Fins Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides Clikits Ring Minifig Head with Closed Hollow Stud Plate 1 x 1 Round Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 1 x 3 Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 3 Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick Curved 3 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 3 x 1 Technic Beam 3 Technic Brick 1 x 1 with Hole Tile 1 x 2 with Groove Wheel Centre with Stub Axles

1 2 3

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Arquitens cruiser

Raider

Gozanti Transport TIE Fighters

Lambda Shuttle

starship fleet

Imperial Fleet

Daniel Eisenhauer’s

Starship Fleet

Article by Steven Smyth, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by David Eisenhauer Galactic greetings! I’m Steven Smyth from Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. Since the community’s founding in 2016, on an almost daily basis, I have witnessed amazing and creative Star Wars builds in the best Star Wars themed building brick group on Facebook. Daniel Eisenhauer is one such builder with a unique UCS Star Destroyer scale collection of ships. I thought it would be fun to spend a little time checking out his builds and getting to know the person behind this awesome ship collection!

Steven Smyth: How’s it going, Daniel? I know you have quite a following with the members of the Bantha Bricks group, you have shared some amazing MOCs (My Own Creations), but for the uninitiated, please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do. Daniel Eisenhauer: Hi, I am 24 years old, from Atlanta, and have been into LEGO Star Wars since I was nine. I am a relative newcomer to the Bantha Bricks group, but I have been part of the LEGO Star Wars community over on the Eurobricks forums for the better part of a decade now. I have been building and playing with LEGO sets since I was a toddler, but until recently I mostly just collected official sets without engaging much with the MOC building side of the hobby. Starting in early 2021, I began publishing a series of models of Star Wars vehicles built to scale with 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer, which specifically is 1:1455, or 11.64 meters per stud. So far, I have designed around two hundred models for this project, and I am adding more all the time. Jawa Sandcrawler.

Would you say Star Wars is your favorite theme? Or do you have a shocker for us? No surprises here, I have built a lot of other sets at various times, but Star Wars has always been my first love. I am a huge fan of Star Wars even outside the LEGO space; I am a member of the 501st Legion costuming group and have been a volunteer for the Star Wars track at Dragon Con since 2011. Besides my MOC building, I am a fairly dedicated collector as well; I have around 650 Star Wars sets totaling roughly 300,000 bricks. Why do you choose the LEGO brick as your medium to express yourself? This is going to be an atypical answer to this question, but I do not feel that I am expressing myself through my LEGO building. Of course, literally everything that anyone does can be taken to be a form of self-expression to some degree, but I am not trying to say anything about myself here. My only goal with these models is to be as accurate to the scale and source material as possible. I am far more comfortable thinking of myself as an engineer rather than an artist. With larger models it makes sense to talk about building styles, preferences for tiles or plates, and so forth in ways that require more of what I would consider artistic intent, but that is harder when the design constraints are this narrow. If my goal is to

get an accurate model of something that is less than, say, three studs long, there are often only a limited number of possible combinations of parts to achieve a given shape, and I tend to view the model more as a 3-D puzzle than anything else. On models where I do have more options, I try to stick to the official style LEGO used for 75252. If I am doing it right, the style should be replicable by any other MOC designer who is familiar with the official UCS sets, such that my models could be mixed seamlessly with theirs or with official builds. What made you choose the UCS Star Destroyer scale, or 1:1455 scale, to build in? I have always loved the idea of scale models. In my eyes, any individual model may be interesting enough, but there is far more value in having a whole group of them that all match each other. 75252 UCS Star Destroyer is easily my all-time favorite set, and probably my favorite feature of it is the scale model of the Tantive IV that it comes with. I wanted to extend that to other ships, and two hundred models later, here we find ourselves! I do not know whether 1:1455 specifically had any meaning to LEGO when they designed the UCS ISD or if that is just how big it ended up being—it is kind of an arbitrary number, so I suspect the latter, but it turns out to be a very convenient scale. It is a nice middle ground, small enough that even very large ships translate into reasonably sized

Rebel Fleet

Nebulon-B Frigate

Braha’tok Ghost

Hammerhead cruiser

DAVID EISENHAUER’S STARFLEET

Phoenix Squadron, with 3 CR90 corvettes around the Phoenix Home, a Pelta-class frigate.

models, if you consider the UCS ISD reasonably sized, anyway, but still large enough that it is, barely, possible to make models of individual starfighters as well. Can you tell us a bit about your construction for ships this size—any special techniques you use? I try to match the visual style used in 75252 as much as possible, but of course that gets hard to define when most of the models only have a few dozen pieces. I use a lot of fairly dense SNOT techniques, because that is typically the only way to get enough detail to make a small ship recognizable at this scale. I always need more 1x1 brackets! What are your favorite design elements and/or specific ships you created in the 1:1455 scale? The single design element that I am proudest of is definitely the engine block of the Imperial Arquitens-class cruiser. It is a relatively simple shape, just a couple of cylinders and a diamond-shaped central section, but it is a pretty tight space and the angles do not correspond well to any existing LEGO pieces. Quite a few other people have published Arquitens models at approximately this scale, and as far as I know I am the first person to have come up with a way to attach odd-angled panels there to get the actual correct shape rather than approximating it with slope bricks. That would be a prime example of what I mean by treating these builds as 3-D puzzles. I knew I needed 3x3 plates to attach at an angle on both the top and bottom of a space roughly two studs tall, with the only available connection point at one corner of it, and I also needed to run a rod through the 70

middle of the whole assembly to support the engine at the back; so it was a question of hitting on a combination of pieces that would put studs where I needed them while also fitting in those space constraints. Did you freestyle build these or did you use a computer design program to lay it out first? Whenever possible, I start by taking a blueprint or good orthogonal image of the ship and overlaying a grid to work out the stud dimensions of each section. It is much easier to keep to the right scale and proportions when I can have the model roughly blocked out in advance before I even start building. In several cases I have been able to extract 3-D models from games so I can take exact measurements of each part of the ship and ensure my proportions are as accurate as possible. In some cases, for the larger ships, this phase also includes working out some of the angles on paper so I can go into the build already knowing how everything will need to line up. I do most of the design work in Stud.io, but I also regularly test-build individual sections with physical bricks to make sure the connections are sturdy enough and that things will work out in real life the same as they do digitally. That goes the other way, too; Stud.io can trick you with structures that may be technically connected but collapse immediately in real life, but it is also sometimes more conservative about collisions than it needs to be. The UCS Star Destroyer itself cannot be assembled in Stud.io without internal collisions, for example, but obviously it works fine in practice. Stud.io is an extremely useful tool, and I find it often to be faster than building with physical

pieces, but real bricks are always the ultimate arbiter of what you can get away with. Were there any moments in this build where you felt like, “Aww man, I’m stuck!” If so, how did you overcome that obstacle? All the time! I just put the model down and work on something else. That is a perk of having a virtually infinite number of Star Wars ships to choose from! I try not to commit to schedules for any of these, since if whatever I am doing does not work out, I will often just wait until I happen to wake up with a better idea sometime down the line. With so many ships I could be building, I do not feel like there is any good reason for me to be banging my head against any specific one. Now, sometimes that works out and sometimes it does not. I have been nominally working on a model of the Rebels version of the Dreadnaught since, like, April of last year, because I still have not come up with a great solution to all the awkward angled panels in the back half of the ship. I am sure one exists, and someday I will think of it, but in the meantime, there are thousands of other ships out there.

The Arquitens-class cruiser.

What would be your advice to anyone looking to build a custom Star Wars ship on their own? Go for it. Stud.io is free and easy to use. Physical bricks are not free, but given that you are reading a LEGO magazine, you probably already have some of them, and they are even easier to use. There is no trick to designing MOCs; you can just do it. You can pick up useful building techniques by looking at official sets or other peoples’ MOCs, but you do not even need to do that; a lot of the fun is in figuring out engineering challenges for yourself.

Nebulon-B escort frigate.

Do you have intentions to release instructions on these builds? If so, can you tell us more about those plans? Absolutely. I have posted full step-by-step instructions for all my models for free on Rebrickable (rebrickable. com/users/Kdapt-Preacher/mocs/), and I intend to continue doing so in the future, although of course for many of the smallest ones you do not really need instructions! I fully support MOC designers who sell their instructions, but I have chosen to release all of mine for free because I would rather keep my LEGO building solely a hobby rather than a business. Can you tell us a bit about your favorite Star Wars ship lore? That may be too big a topic to easily address here! I think it is fair to say that I know a lot of Star Wars lore. I have been writing the questions for the annual Star Wars trivia contest at Dragon Con since 2011, and while I have not read every Star Wars book ever published, I am not missing that many. As a result, it is hard to narrow it down to any specific favorite. I am a big fan of the old Expanded Universe, and I have made a lot of pretty obscure ships from those older sources. The whole Star Destroyer design family, taken as a whole, is my favorite group of ships in all of science-fiction. I have not built models of many of them because they are mostly very large, but I am working on changing that!

Hammerhead-class cruiser.

Eta-class transport passing through the Scarif shield.

What can we expect to see from you in the future design-wise?

Imperial fleet with Star Destroyers and other capital ships.

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!

I have every Star Wars vehicle encyclopedia ever published and very grand ambitions. In the short term, I am going to continue building whatever ships happen to catch my attention. I have a dozen or so models in various stages of development at the moment. The most notable one is a Venator-class Star Destroyer, which when it is finished will be the largest model I have made so far. Recently I have also partnered with ultimatecollectorstickers.co.uk to produce UCS plaques in the same style as official LEGO sets for some of my larger models, and I am looking forward to expanding on that in the future. In the long term, well—there is only one logical endpoint for this project. A model of Executor at this scale would be about 12 feet wide and 43 feet long. That actually would fit in my garage, I measured it, but obviously there are some serious logistical issues there. This idea is still at the stage where I am mostly doing math rather than working with bricks at all, and I am not sure how well Stud.io’s going to be able to handle it. After a few hundred thousand pieces the program slows to the point that it is not really usable, so designing the model would be very difficult for reasons even beyond the simple fact that it is forty feet long. I have a vision for it, though; I do believe that it could be done. Am I going to do it? Maybe. No promises. But we will see.

WHATEVER YOU’RE INTO, BUILD IT WITH

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BRICKJOURNAL magazine (edited by Joe Meno) spotlights all aspects of the LEGO® Fan Community, showcasing events, BRICKJOURNAL #79 people, and models every issue, with Brick Art with builders ANDREAS contributions and how-to articles by top Create LELANDER and JACK ENGLAND! Learn builders worldwide, new product intros, how to build mosaics and sculptures with SHEN and some of the best LEGO and more. Available in both FULL-COLOR DEEP builders around the world! Plus: AFOLs print and digital editions. Print subscribers by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by get the digital version FREE!

SUBSCRIBE! Six issues: 73 in the US $ 111 International • $29 Digital Only $

BRICKJOURNAL #76

BRICKJOURNAL #75

BRICKJOURNAL #78

BRICKJOURNAL #77

CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Celebrate Spring with AMADO PINLAC and JAMES ZHAN’s botanical LEGO® builds! Learn how to grow a brick garden of your own with some of the best builders in the LEGO community! Plus: AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

LEGO® PHOTOGRAPHY, with guest editor SHELLY CORBETT! SCOTT MURPHY on how he brings his whimsical ideas to life, WENDY VERBOOM photographs LEGO minifigures meeting nature, and ARVIN COLOMA shows how to photograph LEGO in unexpected places! Plus BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, building instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and JARED K. BURKS’ Minifigure Customization!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships April 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #74

BRICKJOURNAL #73

BRICKJOURNAL #72

Visit the BRICK ANIMAL KINGDOM with with KEN ITO’s amazing ocean creatures, fascinating woodland creatures by MIRO DUDAS, and the animal creations of FILBRICK! Plus: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

The fast-changing world of MECHA! Learn how to build mechs with some of the best mecha builders in the world: BENJAMIN CHEH, KELVIN LOW, LU SIM, and SAM CHEUNG! Plus: AFOLs (“Adult Fans of LEGO”) by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable by JÜRGEN WITTNER, Starkiller Base by JHAELON EDWARDS, and more from STEVEN SMYTH and Bantha Bricks! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK (including a LEGO BB-8), and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

Board ANTOINE HUGUERRE’s Big Thunder Mountain! Go to Monstropolis to help Sully find Mike Wazowski in BRANDON JAMES’ Monsters, Inc factory! Plus, more intricate STAR WARS creations by builder LEE GOLDMAN, nerding Out with BrickNerd, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

LEGO® COLOR! A mosaic by Bricknerd’s DAVE SCHEFCIK, CAZ MOCKETT and her monocolor habitats, flowers and other creations by INEZ VAQUEZ, STEVEN SMYTH’s intricate Star Wars builds, “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #71

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BRICKJOURNAL #69

LEGO® photography with Toy Photographers Blog founder SHELLY CORBETT, and photographers ASTRID HEYLAND, NATASJA VOS, and MARCO ZANCONI offer their favorite tips and tricks to make your creations look great! Plus, STEVEN SMYTH’s Star Wars builds, instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

LEGO® brick-built Edwards Island by DALE HARRIS of HarrisBricks! The hot rods of PAUL SLUITERS! Rocket to outer space with SCOTT BOWMAN and JOE CHAMBERS’ Space Shuttle Discovery set! Plus, Star Wars builds with STEVEN SMYTH of Bantha Bricks, BrickNerd, step-by-step building instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

Starship builders NICK TROTTA and ATTILA GALLIK, TIM GODDARD’s space builds which have been featured online and showcased in the book LEGO Space: Building the Future, STEVEN SMYTH’s intricate Star Wars builds, “AFOLs” by Greg Hyland, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, and more!

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

BRICKJOURNAL #68

ALICE FINCH’s art/architectural models, the WOMEN’S BRICK INITIATIVE and the BRICK ALLIANCE (bringing more builders to the community), the WOMEN OF PHILIPPINES LUG (LEGO Users Group) and their creations, STEVEN SMYTH’s intricate Star Wars builds, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #67

Get an introduction to TOM GERARDIN’s LEGO best friends Billy and Charlie, tour Disneyland Paris’ Sleeping Beauty Castle in bricks with DARIO DEL FRATES, and visit more theme parks LEGO-style with BILL VOLLBRECHT! Plus: “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, and more!! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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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, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

BrickJournal celebrates the holidays with acclaimed brick sculptor ZIO CHAO, takes a offbeat look at Christmas with our minifigure customizer/columnist JARED K. BURKS, and decks the halls with the holiday creations of KOEN ZWANENBURG! Plus: “AFOLs” by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, 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!

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

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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!

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!

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

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

BRICKJOURNAL #56

LIFE-SIZE LEGO and what it takes to build them (besides a ton of LEGO brick)! HELEN SHAM’s sculptures of giant everyday items, MAGNUS LAUGHLO’s GI Joe®-inspired models, military builds by ERIC ONG, plus “Bricks In The Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, & more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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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, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #52

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!

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

BRICKJOURNAL #51

STEAMPUNK, with builder GUY HIMBER! PAUL HETHERINGTON talks about his cover model “Unchain My Heart,” ROD GILLIES’ latest Steampunk work, and a look at the creations of other top Steampunk builders! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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BRICKJOURNAL #46

40th ANNIVERSARY OF LEGO TECHNIC! 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!

THE WORLD OF LEGO MECHA! Learn the 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!

LEGO GOES UNDERSEA! Builder MITSURU NIKAIDO shows us his undersea creatures and organic builds! Then jump aboard MARCELLO DeCICCO’s minifigure-scale warships! And see amazing architectural creations by PEDRO NASCIMENTO! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

LEGO TRAINS! Spotlight on train builder CALE LEIPHART, a look at the train layouts and models from the PENNSYLVANIA LEGO Users Group (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!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

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FEMALE LEGO BUILDERS! US Architectural builder ANURADHA PEHRSON, British Microscale builder FERNANDA RIMINI, US Bionicle builder BREANN SLEDGE, and Norwegian Town builder BIRGITTE JONSGARD discuss their work and inspirations! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

THEME PARK ISSUE! ERIK JONES’ custom LEGO version of Cinderella Castle, STÉPHANE DELY’s Disneyland Paris Sleeping Beauty Castle, and JOHN RUDY’s brick-built versions of your favorite theme park rides! Plus: Step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons and more!

LEGO GAMING! 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, MINDSTORMS robotics and more!

LEGO EDUCATION! See 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 LEGO MINDSTORMS to the next level! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

OUT OF THIS WORLD LEGO! Spacethemed LEGO creations of LIA CHAN, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Orion space plane by NICK DEAN, and Pre-Classic Space builder CHRIS GIDDENS! Plus: Orbit the LEGO community with JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

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LEGO MECHA! 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, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons, and more!

LEGO DINOSAURS! Builder 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, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons, and more!

LEGO COOL CARS AND HOT RODS! 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, and more!

STAR WARS! Amazing 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, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

MICROSCALE BUILDING! JUSTIN McMILLAN’s micro house, 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-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

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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, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

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, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

LEGO ROBOTS! A talk with MINDSTORMS EV3 builders MARC-ANDRE BAZERGUI and ANDY MILLUZZI, designer LEE MAGPILI, CHRIS GIDDENS with his amazing robot sculptures, plus Minifigure 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!

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 by CHRISTOPHER DECK, MINDSTORMS building, and more!

Building LEGO bricks WITH character, with IAIN HEATH and TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Manga-inspired creations of MIKE DUNG, sculptures by Taiwanese Brick Artist YO YO CHEN, Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS building, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

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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, MINDSTORMS building with DAMIEN KEE, and more!

Technic hot rod builder PAUL BORATKO and editor JOE MENO diagram instructions on adding functions to your models, shop-talk with LEGO Technic designers, and more surprises to keep your creations moving at top speed! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

Learn what went into the making of The LEGO Movie and other brickfilms with moviemaker DAVID PAGANO, chat with brickfilmers The Brotherhood Workshop, sit in on a talk with the makers of LEGO: A Brickumentary, a look at MINDSTORMS building, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, & more!

GUY HIMBER takes you to the IRON BUILDER CONTEST, which showcases the top LEGO® builders in the world! Cover by LEGO magazine and comic artist PAUL LEE, amazing custom models by LINO MARTINS, TYLER CLITES, BRUCE LOWELL, COLE BLAQ and others, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, & more!

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL with builders SEAN and STEPHANIE MAYO (known online as Siercon and Coral), other custom animal models from BrickJournal editor JOE MENO, LEGO DINOSAURS with WILL PUGH, plus more minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

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

BRICKJOURNAL #25

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BRICKJOURNAL #22

MEDIEVAL CASTLE BUILDING! Top LEGO® Castle builders present their creations, including BOB CARNEY’s amazingly detailed model of Neuschwanstein Castle, plus others, along with articles on building and detailing castles of your own! Also: JARED BURKS on minifigure customization, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!

LEGO TRAINS! Builder CALE LEIPHART shows how to get started building trains and train layouts, with instructions on building microscale trains by editor JOE MENO, building layouts with the members of the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group (PennLUG), fan-built LEGO monorails minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, microscale building by CHRISTOPHER DECK, “You Can Build It”, and more!

STAR WARS issue, with 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 our regular features on minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

LEGO PLANE BUILDING! Top builder RALPH SAVELSBERG takes off with his custom LEGO fighter models, there’s a squadron of articles on Sky-Fi planes by FRADEL GONZALES and COLE MARTIN, find instructions to build a Sky-Fi plane, plus our regular feature on minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, other step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $3.00 (Digital Edition) $2.99

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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 And it’s another issue wrapped up. You saw a lot of BrickRodeo this issue, and you’ll probably see some stuff from other events next issue! It’s always fun to show off the creations that have been displayed and getting to talk to the builders. All of them are different, but have the same common interest in building. I love learning about building and builders, and I hope you enjoyed this issue. There will be more coming in the next issue, themed toward art! Til then, build on! That Joe Meno Guy

We got a new proofreader! And I think he found a typo...

Classics

In RetroFan #25

(should you decide to accept it...) In RETROFAN #25 meet Mission: Impossible’s LYNDA DAY GEORGE in an exclusive interview! And celebrate RAMBO’s 50th birthday with his creator, novelist DAVID MORRELL! Plus: TV faves WKRP IN CINCINNATI and SPACE: 1999, Fleisher’s and Filmation’s SUPERMAN CARTOONS, commercial jingles, JERRY LEWIS and BOB HOPE comic books, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY. NOW SHIPPING!

RETROFAN #26

The saga of Saturday morning’s Super Friends, Part One! Plus: A history of MR. T, TV’s AVENGERS (Steed and Mrs. Peel), Daktari’s CHERYL MILLER, Mexican movie monsters, John and Yoko’s nation of Nutopia, ELIZABETH SHEPHERD (the actress who almost played Emma Peel), and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER, & MICHAEL EURY. SHIPS APRIL 2023! (84-page magazines) $10.95 • (Digital Editions) $4.99

RETROFAN #20

RETROFAN #21

RETROFAN #22

RETROFAN #23

RETROFAN #24

MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, singer B. J. THOMAS in one of his final interviews, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Surf’s up as SIXTIES BEACH MOVIES make a RetroFan splash! Plus: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ZORRO’s Saturday morning cartoon, TV’s THE WILD, WILD WEST, CARtoons and other drag-mags, VALSPEAK, and more fun, fab features! Like, totally! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the stars behind the Black Lagoon: RICOU BROWNING, BEN CHAPMAN, JULIE ADAMS, and LORI NELSON! Plus SHADOW CHASERS, featuring show creator KENNETH JOHNSON. Also: THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE, FLASH GORDON cartoons, TV’s cult classic THE PRISONER and kid’s show ZOOM, COLORFORMS, M&Ms, and more fun, fab features! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Interviews with Lost in Space’s ANGELA CARTWRIGHT and BILL MUMY, and Land of the Lost’s WESLEY EURE! Revisit Leave It to Beaver with JERRY MATHERS, TONY DOW, and KEN OSMOND! Plus: UNDERDOG, Rankin-Bass’ stop-motion classic THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY, Christmas gifts you didn’t want, the CABBAGE PATCH KIDS fad, and more! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

RETROFAN #15

RETROFAN #16

RETROFAN #17

RETROFAN #18

RETROFAN #19

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.

Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.

Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!

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

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

Go to www.twomorrows.com to preview and order, including RetroFan #1-14!

New from TwoMorrows!

BACK ISSUE #142

BACK ISSUE #143

BACK ISSUE #144

SUPER ISSUE! Superboy’s Bronze Age adventures, and interviews with GERARD CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK of the Superboy live-action TV series. Plus: Super Goof, Super Richie (Rich), Super-Dagwood, Super Mario Bros., Frank Thorne’s Far Out Green Super Cool, NICK MEGLIN and JACK DAVIS’ Superfan, and more! Featuring a Superboy and Krypto cover by DAVE COCKRUM! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

A special tribute issue to NEAL ADAMS (1941–2022), celebrating his Bronze Age DC Comics contributions! In-depth Batman and Superman interviews, ‘Green Lantern/Green Arrow’—Fifty Years Later, Neal Adams—Under the Radar, Continuity Associates, a ‘Rough Stuff’ pencil art gallery, Power Records, and more! Re-presenting Adams’ iconic cover art to BATMAN #227. (Plus: See ALTER EGO #181!)

BRONZE AGE SAVAGE LANDS, starring Ka-Zar in the 1970s! Plus: Turok—Dinosaur Hunter, DON GLUT’s Dagar and Tragg, Annihilus and the Negative Zone, Planet of Vampires, Pat Mills’s Flesh (from 2000AD), and WALTER SIMONSON and MIKE MIGNOLA’s Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure. With CONWAY, GULACY, HAMA, NICIEZA, SEARS, THOMAS, and more! JOHN BUSCEMA cover!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships April 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships March 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships May 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2023

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #30

KIRBY COLLECTOR #86

KIRBY COLLECTOR #87

RETROFAN #27

Canadian comic book artist, illustrator, and graphic novelist MICHAEL CHO in a careerspanning interview and art gallery, a 1974 look at JACK ADLER and the DC Comics production department’s process of reprinting Golden Age material, color newspaper tabloid THE FUNNY PAGES examined in depth by its editor RON BARRETT, plus CBC’s usual columns and features, including HEMBECK! Edited by JON B. COOKE.

VISUAL COMPARISONS! Analysis of unused vs. known Kirby covers and art, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH on his stylizations in Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, Kirby’s incorporation of real-life images in his work, WILL MURRAY’s conversations with top pros just after Jack’s passing, unused Mister Miracle cover inked by WALTER SIMONSON, and more! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

LAW & ORDER! Kirby’s lawmen from the Newsboy Legion’s Jim Harper and “Terrible” Turpin, to Western gunfighters, and even future policemen like OMAC and Captain Victory! Also: how a Marvel cop led to the creation of Funky Flashman! Justice Traps The Guilty and Headline Comics! Plus MARK EVANIER moderating 2022’s Kirby Tribute Panel (with Sin City’s FRANK MILLER). MACHLAN cover inks.

Interview with Captain Kangaroo BOB KEESHAN, The ROCKFORD FILES, teen monster movies, the Kung Fu and BRUCE LEE crazes, JACK KIRBY’s comedy comics, DON DRYSDALE’s TV drop-ins, outrageous toys, Challenge of the Super Friends, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Spring 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Summer 2023

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2023

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Explores when America went wild in the ’60s for All Things British! MOVIES (A Hard Day’s Night, Having a Wild Weekend), TV (The Ed Sullivan Show), COLLECTIBLES (toys, games, trading cards, lunch boxes), COMICS (real-life Brits in DC and Marvel Universes) MUSIC (features interviews with members of the BEATLES, the ROLLING STONES, THE WHO, HERMAN’S HERMITS, the YARDBIRDS, the ANIMALS, the HOLLIES), & more! By MARK VOGER. (192-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN 978-1-60549-115-8 • Now shipping!

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ALTER EGO #182

An FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) special, behind a breathtaking JERRY ORDWAY cover! Features on Uncle Marvel and the Fawcett Family by P.C. HAMERLINCK, ACG artist KENNETH LANDAU (Commander Battle and The Atomic Sub), and writer LEE GOLDSMITH (Golden Age Green Lantern, Flash, and others). Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

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ALTER EGO #181

Special NEAL ADAMS ISSUE, featuring indepth interviews with Neal by HOWARD CHAYKIN, BRYAN STROUD, and RICHARD ARNDT. Also: a “lost” ADAMS BRAVE & THE BOLD COVER with Batman and Green Arrow, and unseen Adams art and artifacts. Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (Plus: See BACK ISSUE #143!)