Bat-rules are made to be broken

We all know Batman only builds in black, and sometimes in very, very dark grey. But it seems like he’s made an exception to his rule, and it turned out pretty sweet. We have to thank Lucas for giving the Batmobile from Dawn of Justice a new shade — even if the light grey sees it remains at the darker end of the spectrum. A little something special for Comish Gordon too — a redesigned Bat-Signal in the same hue.

A Darker Knight

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Vintage hot rod en route

Master car-builder Andrea Lattanzio‘s latest is a brilliant hot rod. The car itself is a great little model, but — as ever — any LEGO creation looks even cooler when a builder spends quality time on presentation. Andrea’s road scene is a cracker — custom signage and telegraph poles combine with classic desert elements like a cactus and cow skull to create a quintessential Route 66 diorama. Yep, this setup is packed with cliches, but who cares when it looks this good?

Route 66 and Ford "T" Roadster

Scenery aside, it’s worth taking a proper squint at the hot rod. Don’t miss the chromed exhaust pipes and the wiring around the exposed engine. Just looking at this thing makes me do vroom-vroom noises in my head.

'23 Ford Model T roadster pick up: from SoCal to Oslo.

Money may not buy happiness, but I’d rather cry in a Ferrari than on a bus

Everything I know about expensive sports cars can fit into a single Duplo treasure chest (with a bit of room to spare). But I can appreciate the beauty of these two Ferraris, especially since they have been transformed into stunning LEGO mosaics by Ryan Link.

The mosaic above features the Enzo Ferrari and is 60 studs wide and 27 bricks tall, while the mosaic below is the Ferrari 625 TRC which is 50 studs wide and 16 bricks tall. Ryan used a “studs not on top” (SNOT) building technique with both horizontal and vertical plates to achieve these high-resolution mosaics. The end result is so beautiful that I may become a classic sports car fan after all (Just don’t try to make me drive stick shift).

Sky high tide

The fantastic sky boats of Ian McQue continue to inspire LEGO builders far and wide. This latest iteration from Dwalin Forkbeard freshens the style by using different angles than we’ve seen before. The bow of the craft uses long slopes at an angle that resembles a Viking ship — a motif that is reinforced by the tires hanging off the sides like rune-covered Norse shields. Meanwhile, the cabin of the ship has a jaunty lean, reminding us that this style is just as much fiction as science. And of course the mechanical details are great throughout. Plus, it doesn’t smell like rotting fish.

Cloud Catcher

When you can’t find the sports car of your dreams, you build it yourself

Malte Dorowski, who is a huge fan of Porsche sports cars, rolls out a magnificent copy of Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Despite being built out of System bricks, it looks much more complicated than its bigger brother from the Technic Technic Porsche 911 set. From the very first sight you know that this little beauty is much more complicated on the inside than on the outside.

LEGO Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991 2016)

Malte builds his cars with astonishing level of detail, including elaborate inner workings in his models. It’s not only about the interior, but about all the nodes and joints. I had no idea how all these parts could be assembled into one car, but the longer you observe the dismantled vehicle, the better you see some truly mind-blowing solutions Malte used to keep the tiniest of slopes and tiles together.

LEGO Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991 2016)

Gorgeous fan-built LEGO Technic Porsche 919, the 2015 Le Mans winner

Manuel Nascimento built this incredible LEGO Technic Porsche 919 after watching the real-life car win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015. Not content to simply recreate the stunning shape out of LEGO, Manuel also decorated his car like the real one, saying, “I had too much fun decorating the car but at the same time I also had a lot of work because all stickers were hand made.” Check out more of this beautiful racecar below, including the working functions.

LEGO Technic - Porsche 919 - Le Mans 2015 v.

LEGO Technic - Porsche 919 - Le Mans 2015 v.

 

Several of the car’s functions really work, including an opening hood, doors, and engine compartment.

LEGO Technic - Porsche 919 - Le Mans 2015 v.

The lights work too, thanks to LEGO Power Functions.

LEGO Technic - Porsche 919 - Le Mans 2015 v.

And if you want to see the car in full 360°, check out this video. Manuel’s car is also featured in Issue 15 of Bricks Magazine.

The future of luxury is now

For my latest creation I wanted to use the unique canopies from the UCS Slave I set. They formed a nice bubble so I decided to build a futuristic bubble boat. The initial photos taken against a standard poster board backdrop didn’t do the model justice, so I decided to photograph using real water dyed with food coloring.

Bubble Boat

Collaboration breeds a fine set of rovers

Jason Briscoe has shared an excellent space rover featuring multiple trailers. It was part of a collaborative display at the recent Portugal fan weekend, with many of the attendees bringing along a trailer design based on the common chassis. I was lucky enough to see Jason’s contribution “in the brick” at the Bricktastic show and they’re lovely little models.

Parades De Rover

Miguel Reizinho came up with the original design for the trailers. It’s a smart little build and clearly made for a good solid base for the participants to riff on. Nice work. I love when little collaborations spring up like this — especially ones that cross borders. It reminds me our hobby is an international one, and that plastic bricks speak their own language.

Untitled

The hardest part of space travel is getting off the planet

I’ve been inspired lately to build some near-future space vehicles, and so I’ve got at least a couple of vessels in the works. But the first step of space travel is always getting off the planet. This space shuttle, the Indefatigable, is designed to carry payloads to orbit, where they can be assembled into a much larger craft. The shuttle is designed for undergoing the rigors of liftoff, while a vessel capable of interplanetary travel may not be.

Space Shuttle Indefatigable

I generally avoid using stickers, often not even applying them to official models. However, this model really needed a tiny detail for the cockpit, and there’s no way to achieve that with bricks, since the area is just too small. So, a few carefully cut official LEGO stickers work well to mimic cockpit windows.

Space Shuttle Indefatigable

All are not supercars that are called Porsche

…Unless a vintage tractor is a supercar for you. DB_Kit Fisto entered the latest Build the Porsche of your Dreams contest not at full speed, but definitely with class. His massive tractor is a scaled replica of the Porsche Super from 1960s. That was the time of truly beautiful agricultural machinery, much more elegant than the modern!

Porsche Super

The design of this vehicle is simply fantastic thanks to amazing combinations and connections of System and Technic pieces. My favorite part is that small technic corner panel above the front axle placed right among regular plates and slopes. This is how you build a Super tractor!