How the West was really won

Paddy Bricksplitter asserts, “Many historians state that the continued expansion of the western frontier was driven by two main factors . The Acquisition of land and the widespread domestication and utilization of Dinosaurs.” Who am I to question history? These gentlemen have tamed themselves a pair of velociraptors, hitched one to their buckboard, and are headed across the vast deserts for greener lands.

How The West Was Won

The minifigs look to be amusing fellows, the buckboard itself is quite well-built, but it’s the placement of the whole scene on a brick-built base that sets apart this pseudo-historical vignette.

Western Trainset

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Western Train

In the past I’ve designed and made instructions for a Wild West playset as Christmas gifts to the community. This year the Spaghetti Western contest at Eurobricks encouraged me to build one for myself. I wanted it to look like a cool toy train that a kid might get for Christmas or a birthday. Hopefully I achieved what I set out to do.

The Carnival is in town!

Matija Grguric takes us back to the Wild West with this fun carnival scene. But the crown jewel of this diorama isn’t the crowded carnival atmosphere, the bank robbers or the western buildings, though all of those are very nice. What really makes it stand out is the fact that it is powered. Who doesn’t like motorized dancing girls?

Western Carnival

The West Just Got Settled!

Western Market Street
Courtesy Western Market Street by Matija Grguric
The old-fashioned look is well brought out in this layout. It makes me happy to see a  western-themed model again. Plus, you know it’s an awesome model when you see a fence made out of droid legs and arms.
Of course, he built a church to go along with it. But wait! There’s more!

 

Western Countyside
Courtesy Western Countryside by Matija Grguric

Smoke signals

Croatian LEGO fan Matija Grguric has been on a Wild West building spree lately. His most recent diorama captured the look of the American West better than any American builder has (to my knowledge), complete with the banded colors of the Badlands.

Western Countyside

Matija is building all of his Western creations — from the Black Cat Saloon to Market Street — for an upcoming Club Kockice exhibit.

That little mesa is worth a closer look:

Western Countyside

A story of synergistic collaboration (and how a tree was built)

Gum tree Attempt 2 - With Gamborts changes

Aaron Amatnieks (akama1_lego) and I were spending a productive day in a LEGO chatroom yesterday when he showed me a tree he’d been working on. I absolutely loved the concept and went off to build one for myself.

I’ve been thinking about gum trees a bit lately so had some ideas to try out showing Azz the pictures and getting his feedback at each stage. We then both went off building and not saying much until resurfacing with much improved gum trees. And gave ourselves a pat on the back.

Today I posted some more refinements and a breakdown and Azz just featured his latest in an amusing diorama (warning! may offend the easily offended). This sharing is one thing I love about the LEGO community. Bouncing ideas from one another to make it all better.

Thus ends my story.

Ghost Gum sketch V