Category Archives: town

LEGO baby delivered in style

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Angela Chung has made great use of the new baby minifig in an excellent hospital scene depicting the arrival of a new baby. Sometimes “obvious parts usage” makes for the best models.

Welcome a new life

The details of the delivery room surrounding the central action are nicely done with a variety of mobile medical machinery at the ready. I particularly like the incubator trolley with it’s little heat lamp waiting to keep the new arrival cosy. However, close attention to the scene does raise one troubling question…what is the screwdriver for? Regardless, this is a lovely model, and is all the more refreshing for depicting the sort of real-life events we don’t often see “in the brick”.

Then & Now with Doris the aging minifig

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TBB contributor Elspeth De Montes has been working on a fantastic series of scenes contrasting the life of a woman named Doris in 1966 and later in her life today, in 2016. Originally built for and published in Bricks magazine, Elspeth’s scenes are not only well-built LEGO creations, but also poignant and funny. She describes her Doris series thus: “On the left it is 1966 and she is a young vibrant lady in touch with the latest fashion, technology and trends. On the right, time has passed and it is 2016 and Doris has to cope with new technology, innovation and the changes in society.”

In Elspeth’s first scene, Doris happily tosses her rubbish out in 1966, but struggles to sort her recyclables in 2016. What impresses me most about this scene is how many LEGO trash cans in various colors Elspeth owns!

Taking Out The Trash 1966 vs 2016

 

“Reception” has gained a very different meaning in our technological lives over the past 50 years.

Reception Issues 1966 vs 2016

I’m totally with Doris on this one. Segways are for giant nerds and drones are for jackasses.

Playing in the Park 1966 vs 2016

I’m going to posit that Doris’s weight loss regimen is much more effective in 2016 (with Wii Sports) than it was back in 1966 (with one of those jiggly band things that actually didn’t do anything).

The Latest Exercise Fad 1966 vs 2016

A full English breakfast in 1966 consisted of a side of bacon, eight sausages, a dozen eggs, one loaf of bread with a jar of marmalade and another loaf with a can of Heinz beans, plus some mushrooms and tomatoes. And tea with whole milk, and sugar, of course. I’m not sure what’s going on in 2016, but I’m as terrified as Doris seems to be…

The Healthy Life 1966 vs 2016

In Elspeth’s final scene, in which Doris gets her oats, we see our protagonist finding love in both 1966 and 2016.

Blind Date Woes 1966 vs 2016

This roof is driving me bananas!

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In yet another repudiation of the idea that LEGO pieces are only good for the purpose originally intended by their designers, alego alego has built a yellow thatched roof made entirely of LEGO bananas. And the cabin itself is built almost completely from brown Technic connectors. The base of this treehouse is also quite lovely, with a stone pathway, well, and lovely little bushes.

Maison d'Assurancetourix

My only critique is that a lovely LEGO creation like this feels a little underpopulated without some characters to enjoy the scenery.

Building hot rods at the local parts shop

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This street scene in what looks like sunny California by sanellukovic certainly doesn’t lack for local color. My eye was immediately drawn to the excellent brick-built lettering that spells “PARTS” on the garage, as well as the realistic palm trees with leaves in varying colors, but it’s the little scenes peppered throughout the larger diorama that kept me looking. The engine on a dolly inside the shop is great, but my favorite mini-scene is the old lady picking up after her chihuahua who’s just done some business on the grass.

Parts Shop

The builder has also shared this excellent 1929 Ford Model A Sedan “rat rod,” with a highly detailed engine and a body in a rusty-looking “dark nougat.”

1929 Ford Model A Sedan Rat Rod

Life’s a LEGO beach

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Michael Jasper has pulled off a difficult trick with this image. I’m not normally a fan of minifigs and models appearing in the natural environment in photos. Having real foliage or objects tends to destroy any impression of scale within the models, making it obvious how small they really are. However, this beach scene is enhanced by the sandy setting. It obviously helps that the beach chair model is a sweet little build, and don’t miss Michael’s inspired parts-usage for the bikini top…

life's a LEGO beach

Rosenwald Apartments are impressive and tiny

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Microscale is challenging in its own right, despite it’s tiny tiny size. Rocco Buttliere is a master of this impressive scale, and we’ve featured his work before, notably with his Houses of Parliament and 40 Wall Street.

This newest addition to his tiny empire is certainly more understated than what we’ve featured before and no less impressive. The Rosenwald Apartments, named after former president of Sears and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, feature lovely landscaping and the tiniest art deco I’ve ever seen. I particularly love the use of the grill tile, held in place presumably by sheer will, that gives the impression of tiny windows. It’s very effective!

Carousel! Carousel! CAROUSEL!

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Justin Winn‘s spacemen have been tirelessly going about their day-to-day jobs and even studying for advanced space degrees. So it’s good to see these hard-working minifigs take down their hair and have fun from time to time. Justin spacified Set 10196: The Grand Carousel and his new version is awesome. It has a ton of spacey details but my favorite bits are those custom printed space logo sails that form the carousel roof. They’d look pretty sweet on a space ship too, right?

10196 Grand Carousel - Classic Space Redux

Vintage fire truck wails to the rescue

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I love a good fire engine. While I cringe a bit at seeing a fire truck called “vintage” when it’s from an era I remember well — I clearly recall watching big fire engines go by during the 1979 4th of July parade in Freeport, Maine — this hook and ladder truck by Glaktek is gorgeous to behold. A new take on one of his earlier builds, both builds also fit within the scale, parts selection, and basic building techniques of official LEGO sets, which makes its unique shape all the more beautiful.

Vintage Open Cab Fire Truck