In Memory

Jens Nygaard Knudsen passed away. You may not recognize his name, but if you’re reading this blog you know his work. Jens was initially a designer at LEGO and quickly became Chief Designer from 1968 until 2000.  He designed early town sets and was Mr. Space having his hand in the Space lines from the Classic era up to M-Tron and what started as Sea-Tron which later became Aquanauts. Also he is credited with inventing the Minifigure! Mark Stafford posted his article (Brick Journal #6 2009) we he talks to Jens and Designer Niels Milan Pedersen on his flickr stream in memory (page 1, page 2, & page 3). The article has many pictures of concept models that Jens and Niels created. Mark will be forwarding comments on the flickr pages to Jens family and has started #NygaardMemorialFleet for anyone who wants to build a memorial spaceship.

Image from Mark Stafford’s flickr stream, original published Brick Journal #6

Starfighter!

John C. Lamarck , aircraft builder extraordinaire has once again found his way into our Nerdy hearts. He has built an excellent rendition of Lockheed’s F-104 . For those uninitiated into the world of aircraft geekery let me give you the quick tour. The F-104 was designed by Kelly Johnson’s design team in the 1950’s (Johnson is most known for working on the P-38 Lightning, U-2, and SR-71 Blackbird). Known as the “Missile with a Man in it” the 104 was design as a supersonic interceptor design to intercept and destroy soviet fighters and bombers. Starfighters were in service in the USAF, allied air forces and NASA from 1958 until late 2004 (USAF retirement was significantly early). The 104 set several aviation records mostly in climb to altitude speed. Seen here is an excellent rendition of the CF-104 built under license by Canadair for the Royal Canadian Air Force. John captures the curves and the sleekness of the Starfighter amazing well. I love the use of the classic tire to capture the exhaust cone, the air inlets are rendered very well at this scale and the custom decals are fantastic. The one limitation of this scale is the biconvex airfoil cannot be captured. The leading edges came to such a knife edge that unware ground personnel often received very bad cuts on their heads when bumping into the wing.

Please Dress Appropriately for Tonight’s Invasion

This is one of those pieces that got me with the shear whimsy of it.  I’m sure Umbra-Manis is not the first person to pun on “TIE” in this manor, but did so in a way that brought a big smile to my face on a day when I needed it. The use of the wavy castle flags (4495) for intakes is clever, as they are uncommon in sci-fi builds and adds a bit of a cloth like texture to the bowtie. Next time you need your star fighters to be dressed to impress, Umbra-Manis’ Osiris Fleet Systems are the folks to call.

Roger Roger

The Star Wars franchise knows how to provide cannon fodder for the good guys. Tie fighters and Stromtroopers from the original trilogy and to a degree so far the sequel trilogy. The prequels gave us battle droids, who also attempted to provide a bit of humor. Hachiroku24 has built excellent renditions of the standard battle droid. Best of all video instructions are provided on YouTube! The droid uses mostly common pieces, and has a ton of articulation. My favorite part is the minifig scale battle droid arm as a neck.

I’ve Seen This One it Doesn’t Turn Out Well for the Coyote

The Road Runner and Coyote, two of the classic cartoon foils. Chris Goddard has succeeded where Wile E. never did, by capturing the Road Runner in brick form. Also Wile E Coyote, and a back drop straight out of a classic Merry Melodies short. The classic elements are there: the Road Runner about to set off something the Coyote attempted earlier and failed, the Coyote’s later over complicated attempted to snag the Road Runner, a fantastic American Southwest backdrop, and the Road Runner’s knowing look to the audience just before the Coyote, with his bulging eyes gets his comeuppance. The only thing missing is the painted tunnel that turns into a real tunnel later, but that would likely crowd the scene.

All Aboard!

I love a well-executed train scene. It’s likely from growing up at with my dad fairly active in the NMRR, and going to lots of train shows. Allan Corbeil’s “Going West” is an excellent diorama of a 4-6-0 steam engine chugging through the woods. The engine is well executed with a billowing cloud of coal smoke. The choice of using the old 9V powered track gives the rails a metallic shininess. I’d love to go on about the train but the vegetation is equally impressive! The simple cat’s tails in the pond are great, and add to the forest’s undergrowth well. There are 4 different style trees with a variety of greens for the foliage colors which adds to the realism in the build. This excellent build captures the Age of Steam well, I can hear the hiss of steam, the smell of coal smoke, and feel the earth rumble as the train chugs along.

Look What the Time Cruisers Have Returned With!

As much as I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I didn’t read many of the classics until I was an adult. Honestly there are still areas I haven’t delved as deep into as I would like. Short fiction is really where both genres shine (Horror too, but I’ve read far less of that). There’s so much that can be explored in a short story! Some of the most memorable SF/F works for me are short works as opposed to the multi-volume epics. Alan Mann was inspired by Frank R. Paul’s classic ‘Zine covers, for this lovely creation. The editing to get the look of a vintage cover is fantastic! The whimsy and creepiness of the alien are fantastic. Then there is the strangeness of the StarBeard in the background. (Check out Alan’s flickr for pics of the builds) The brick-punning of the names of the classic authors is fantastically done and not as forced as some combinations could be. (Likely why my favorite Ray Bradbury isn’t on there. That one would be a bit harder to pull off as well as Alan did.) I wonder what stories are in this issue. Maybe one of my favorites: “Brick Fall” by Asamoc, “The Nine Billion Bricks of God” by Arthur C. Clutch, “All You MiniFigs” by Robrick Heinlein “Do Minifigs Dream of Brick Sheep?” by Philip K. Brick, or “The Bricking of the Strange Orchid” by H. G. Playwells.

The One Wheel

There is something about mono-wheels that I find irresistible. This is despite two engineering degrees and years of professional experience that screams, “Not Practical!”, “It would have a giant turning radius!”, “There are reasons why unicycles are only seen at circuses!”, among other things.  I think my appreciation is because the mono-wheel is the distillation of a vehicle down to the fewest components: a wheel, a seat, and an engine. Daniel Church has provided an excellent mono-wheel.  The wheel is constructed from the new roller-coaster track and detailed with light grey and black Nexo shield tiles. The boiler behind the driver is well constructed as is the piston assembly.  The best part by far is that Daniel motorized the whole thing, the mono-wheel in motion with the chain drive running and the piston pumping really sells the steampunk design.