The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages! Issue 54 • December 2018
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Builder Dossier:
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Issue 54 • December 2018
Contents
From the Editor............................................... 2
People
Creating Life-Size LEGO Models with Emily Corl...................................................... 3 Builder Profile: LEGO7................................... 8 You Can Build It: Microscale Bus..........................................13 Daniel Olvera: A Builder for All Seasons.......................16 Nathaniel Stoner: A Real Hero Factory!...............................20 Presenting the Real Champions of Speed: 12 Hours of Sebring.................24 Worlds Under Glass: Peter Ilmrud..........28 Mike Nieves: LEGO is Life!.........................36
Building
You Can Build It: Rebel Snowspeeder...............................41 BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art: Tricorder......................................................46
Minifigure Customization 101: Making a Voltron Minifigure...............50 Michael Brown’s F-18 Hornet...................56
Community
Scott Bowman: Launching a STEM Moon Shot...........58 Photo Gallery: Tudor Times......................64 Set Review: Rough Terrain Crane...........68 Ryan McNaught: Australia’s Brickman!..............................72 Community Ads............................................78 Last Word.........................................................79 AFOLs................................................................80
From the Editor: So what are you building? One of the things that is a real challenge is keeping up with builders and their creations. It used to be that a person could go to a few events and get an idea of what is going on in terms of building fads and creations.
December 2018 Issue 54 Publisher John Morrow
Editor in Chief Joe Meno
Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow
Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Todd Kubo Ashley Glennon
LEGO Ideas Correspondent Glen Wadleigh
Contributors: Scott Bowman, Micheal Brown, Jared Burks, Hsinwei Chi, Emily Corl, Christopher Deck, Geoffrey Gabriel, Geoff Gray, Kevin Hall, Peter Ilmrud, Stephan Lewis, Ryan McNaught, Mike Nieves, Daniel Olvera, Nathaniel Stoner, Tommy Williamson, and Greg Hyland.
That’s not true anymore. The many communities online have made it nearly impossible to keep track overall of the community. There are dozens of MOCs posted online on Flickr and Facebook every day. That’s a lot of data to go through daily. The most impressive thing now is that the community is skewing younger now—a 14-year old builder can now build as well as the older, experienced builders. That’s impressive and also a little scary. This issue shows off some builders who build a little of everything and are part of the young guns. You’ll see their building styles are different, but hopefully inspiring. 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! P.P.P.S. If you want to subscribe, go to http://bit.ly/BrickJournalSub or scan below! Website
Subscriptions
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: Some of the models and creations made by LEGO7. Photos by LEGO7.
About the Contents: Peter Ilmrud’s latest model seen without its protective bulb. Photo provided by Peter Ilmrud
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)
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)
LEGO®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. All articles, photos, and art are copyright BrickJournal Media, LLC 2011, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Subscriptions are $60 Economy US, $72 Expedited US, $94 International, or $24 Digital Only and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com or payment sent to: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. The editorial/advertising office address for BrickJournal is: BrickJournal Editor, 5610 Briar Oak Lane #510, Raleigh, NC 27612 USA or admin@brickjournal.com. First Printing. Printed in China. ISSN 1941-2347. 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
Creating Life-Size LEGO® Models with Emily Corl Walking around Emily Corl’s house, you need to always do a double-take when looking at certain objects, as all is not what it seems! You may not be able to change the channel on the television, or the blender might not blend so well. That is because these amazing items are created out of LEGO bricks.
Emily Corl with her bass guitar.
Brick ponies.
Emily has always been creating with LEGO as far back as she can remember; it is a passion of hers that runs deep. Being a very creative person, LEGO has always been one of the mediums that she works with, among others. To Emily, anything can be used to create wonderful pieces of art, but the humble LEGO brick is her favorite. Originally just building for her own enjoyment, Emily now runs her own business, “Emily’s Creations,” where she takes on commission pieces, as well as holds workshops and parties. She also does live builds online; you can normally see her putting together something amazing on her Facebook page or Instagram. Even though Emily can pretty much create almost any topic thrown at her, the models that she loves producing the most are life-size objects that you will find in your everyday life. Whether it is a television, blender, or
Article by Kevin Hall Photography courtesy of Emily Corl
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People
Voltron’s Yellow Lion springs into action!
Builder Profile:
LEGO7 Article by Joe Meno Photography by Hsinwei Chi
Hsinwei Chi (known as LEGO7 on Flickr) is a LEGO builder from Taiwan. He’s a graphic designer and illustrator who has been involved in the magazine industry for more than ten years. He’s been in the hobby for only three years (starting when he bought LEGO sets for his daughter), but his creations have been seen by people worldwide. His work goes in all directions, from whimsical car racers to Star Wars creatures and characters. His character models come alive, thanks to the detail that Chi adds to them. With Star Wars and Harry Potter as his favorite themes, he loves building fantastic storytelling LEGO creations and making them into living flesh and blood. His creations are built to capture a single frame from a movie or capture a moment in time. Inspiration for Chi comes from a number of sources: He spent most of his childhood watching TV, reading comic books, and playing video games. Another influence on his building is Japanese anime. Some of this can be seen in some of the older mecha models Chi has built—and also in one of the more recent builds he has done, where he built the secret base to Voltron’s Yellow Lion (from the LEGO Ideas set).
Some examples of Chi’s mecha-based models.
Chi’s favorite creations are figures of pirates, Hellboy (from the Mike Mignola comic book of the same name), and Heisenberg from the TV show Breaking Bad. These are a unique scale that is larger that miniland scale—more like buildable figure scale. At this size, the detailing on a three-stud-wide face can be exquisite and can show a character’s personality. Because of that, Chi has built and will be building more figures in this scale. His most recognizable have been a series of Star Wars stormtroopers and sandtroopers. Hellboy TM & © Mike Mignola. Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm. Breaking Bad TM & © AMC.
Sandtroopers.
Heisenberg.
Hellboy.
Sandtroopers with a dewback.
David with his Mk II arm.
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People
Daniel’s Bionicle creations at BrickFair Virginia 2018.
Daniel Olvera:
A Builder for all Seasons! Article and Photography by Joe Meno
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One of the outstanding builders in the Bionicle area at BrickFair Virginia this year built figures of all types—from superheroes to dinosaurs. Working full-time at a cabinet shop as a carpenter of sorts (interior remodeling, kitchens and other jobs), Chicago native Daniel Olvera spends his off-time building LEGO creatures or figures. With his display at BrickFair Virginia, Daniel showed off his skills, and he took the time to talk to BrickJournal. BrickJournal: When did you start building? Daniel Olvera: Well, around age 5, I got a red bucket of play brick on Christmas, and that started it all. However, growing up I was in and out of it till about 2005. When I received a Bionicle set, Toa Inika Nuparu—from then on it was mostly Bionicle, but I had my selection of System on hand. And so here I am, a decent builder of both realms. Did you have a Dark Age? Dark Age? What’s that? Haven’t had one yet; my mind is always overflowing with ideas and not enough time to do them all. What’s your favorite theme? I can’t really pick just one; it’s a tie between Bionicle, Ninjago, and Unikitty. Honestly, I love good color selection, and who doesn’t love ninjas? But Bionicle just runs deep in my history of building. What are your inspirations for building? Mike Nieves. His work and place in the Bionicle world was top-of-the-game. I always had a desire to get to that level, and I’d say I’m slowly on my way. It truly helps when you meet your icon, and they actually praise your work, give advice and tricks, and challenge you to pursue those greater heights. Most of my material comes from pop culture, but I also have a large stash of concept art, and my own art ideas I have to work with.
Berserk Fury, based on the ZOIDS mecha line.
When did you start making characters? Bionicle kind of opens up that world of character building, and with CCBS (Character and Creature Building System) being a huge hit, characters have always been on my list. However, only until lately have I been more leaning towards recognizable pop culture icons, such as Joker or Loki. But I’ve always wanted to be different and take the approach of creature builds as well, so my range is very wide in regards to character and creature building. What’s your favorite MOC? I haven’t made it yet. It’s like asking to pick a favorite child. I love most of my builds; there’s may be a top 15, but to put one at the peak is just hard, and I’m always challenging myself to improve. What are the challenges you run into while building? Parts that don’t exist in the color you
Overwatch’s D.Va, autographed by D.Va’s voice actress Charlet Chung.
The Hulk in battle gear. From Thor: Ragnarok. Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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People
Flash and Reverse-Flash.
Nathaniel Stoner:
A Real Hero Factory! Article and Photography by Joe Meno Super-heroes shown TM & © DC Comics.
BrickFair Virginia 2018 had many builders from across the nation coming together to display and meet. One of them was Nathaniel Stoner, a college student studying for a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. As an Eagle Scout, he was introduced to first aid and other medical training, and he knew he wanted to do it as a career. When he’s not busy studying, though, he builds characters with LEGO bricks! Nathaniel’s background with LEGO is a bit different than most—he actually hated LEGO as a kid. He got a few sets for birthdays, but could never put them together without becoming frustrated. Then randomly one day when he was 15, he dumped all the pieces he owned out on the floor and built one large fortress. Ever since then, he has been addicted. So, while he hasn’t been involved with LEGO nearly as long as others, he’s been told he catches on quickly! How quick? He first joined the online community at the end of 2014, having only starting to build a short time before that. At the end of this year (2018), Nathaniel will have been building for just four years!
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When asked about favorite themes, his reply is, “Handsdown, I have to say Star Wars. Of course, that’s probably because I am a massive fan of the franchise. Other themes I really appreciate are Lord of the RIngs/The Hobbit and superheroes (naturally)!” From there, his main inspiration for building was the DC television shows that are currently airing, such as The Flash and Arrow. Eight out of the ten characters he made are directly from the TV series themselves. Nathaniel explains, “When I first began LEGO building, I only built medieval MOCs, and in 2016 I began to mix things up by tapping into other themes. By 2017 I didn’t consider myself a builder for any single theme. I wanted to produce unique models, and building full body brickbuilt characters felt like a unique challenge that I wanted to undertake after being inspired by several builds I’d seen online.” “My two collections of characters (the heroes from 2017 and the villains from this year) were both created for BrickFair Virginia, meaning that all of them would need to be transported and then displayed for viewers over several days. If I were building these only to display at home, I might have been able to use some more fragile techniques, but my main challenge was capturing the likeness and detailing of each character individually, and then making sure they were all strong enough to stand on their own, even if bumped. After some stressful experimentation, I was able to accomplish my goal.” Captain Cold, or Leonard Snart. Nightwing.
Vibe.
People
T
imes sure have changed! I grew up on LEGO; the Galaxy Explorer was my favorite set. As the decades went by, I forgot about those “toys,” and didn’t touch one until a little over a year ago. In my forties I instantly became hooked on the Modular series, and from there I was re-educated to the finest, most creative hobby ever devised. I was officially an AFOL. But I needed to create something myself, with the only instructions being in my mind.
Racers fly by the bystanders!
Presenting the Real Champions of Speed:
12 Hours of Sebring! Article and Photography by Geoffrey Gabriel
Some looks at the details in the layout.
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I
’ve been a motor racing fan for most of my life. When LEGO announced the Speed Champions series, I was ecstatic—many of the models were cars currently racing on the IMSA circuit, which includes races at venues like Daytona, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca... and Sebring. Located in south-central Florida and built on an old World War II bomber base, Sebring International Raceway has been home to the most prestigious endurance race in North America since 1950—the 12 Hours of Sebring. Held annually in March, the event sports 50 cars in three different classes. They compete on an unforgiving, rough track. And for the fans, often numbering over 150,000, it is a week-long campout—a party with RVs, campers and tents. Many fans build ramshackle platforms to view the race from above. There is always plenty of food and drinks, and the after-hours activities are the stuff of legend.
Another view.
An overhead view shows the walkover bridge and graphic work needed to make the layout come to life.
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People
Building a diorama can be a challenge. An average full LEGO layout can be the size of a table, or can be the size of an 8x8 plate (a vignette). Each size has a common problem: How does a builder keep their models and layouts dust-free? A Swedish builder found an answer. Peter Ilmud (known as Zilmrud on Flickr), a father of two kids and a wonderfully supporting wife, began building in early 2016, when he met a member of the Swedish RLUG (Recognized LEGO User Group) at a Toys ’R’ Us sale. Stunned by the fantasy creations he saw, Peter began to build his own creations. A few months later, he showed his first creations at an exhibition. After that, he began devoting time to this art form. He now builds most of his models to show at exhibitions. Because of his building, Peter views himself more of a ‘parts monkey’ than a collector. Most of the sets he buys are for sorting out parts for his MOCs. When he was a kid, he loved Space Police I and had the Spy-Trak I set (#6895) and the Galactic Peace Keeper (#6886). With those, he played and created MOCs. Using bell jars for display came from Peter wanting to build the rose from the movie Beauty and the Beast. He bought a glass dome, where it stood on a shelf. He didn’t build a rose, but when he started at his current job, he wanted to create something small to put on his desk to use as an ‘icebreaker’ when people visited his office. His first creation using this was his Microscale Castle in Glass Dome. Peter didn’t plan to photograph the model, as he wasn’t planning to take it to exhibitions. The day before his first workday, he thought it would be nice to have pictures in case the jar broke.
Worlds Under Glass:
Peter Ilmrud
Article and Photography by Peter Ilmrud
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After that, he continued to build new models—the glass dome was a great way to show a creation without it getting covered with dust. As a result, the only things he has on display at home are in glass domes. Here are some of the models he has built in glass domes, with comments from Peter.
Microscale Castle in Glass Dome As Peter notes, “It’s always nice to have something other than work to talk about in a new workplace.” The castle was built as a conversation starter at his office, “and I was so happy with the finished build, I decided to build another version!”
The castle without the glass.
The castle without the glass.
Some of the details of the model.
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Community
Scott Bowman:
Launching a
chnology Engineering Math Event Article and Photos by Joe Meno February 3, 2018 Art by Scott Bowman
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Scott Bowman: Rocket man.
Scott Bowman is an retired engineer surrounded by boxes at his display space at BrickSlopes, a LEGO fan event in Orem, Utah. The venue is an events center at a local college, and the display floor is the basketball arena. It’s a day before the public days (June 29 and 30, 2018), and the floor is covered with tables and assorted boxes with LEGO models of one type or another.
SATURDAY
February 3, 2018 9am-4pm BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
Scott has a group of tables in a U-shaped pattern. At the open end clustered around the table are boxes containing parts of his main model: A Saturn V rocket. He didn’t build it originally, but he starts to tell the story of its construction as he sets up its base and anchor weights. It turns out that he had a group of helpers build the rocket, which was christened the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Moon Shot. And the rocket’s first construction site? Boise State University on February 3, 2018. Scott begins his story as he’s building by talking about his inspiration behind the rocket, which goes far beyond the build itself. “STEM, or really STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) has always been a passion of mine. For my entire career, I have been volunteering for STEM-related activities and have been doing presentations about engineering as a career. Over 30 years ago, I started working with the Program for Women in Science and Engineering at Iowa State University, volunteering on their board and periodically being the chair. I did that for over 25 years until I had left the state.”
STEM Moon Shot is set to be an engaging and creative event designed for kids of all ages to become excited about Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) using a central theme of LEGO and space exploration.
Help build an
11.5 FOOT TALL model of the
Saturn V Moon Rocket!
Actual sketch as concept before design Thank you to our sponsors
“When looking to hire new engineers, and I hired a lot over my career, I was always looking for leaders and communicators. I was looking for ‘engineers that had a life.’ Art and creative endeavors like photography and writing are super ways to be more The Core of the Saturn V connected with our environment and Like the real rocket, Scott’s model our community.” stands on its own. Unlike the real By this time, Scott had set up the Saturn V, though, the model has to be base and placed in the first stage stable enough to stay up for an entire nozzles on the core armature. While weekend with the risk of a person the model is brick-built, there is an bumping and tipping it over. aluminum core shaft in the center Scott solved this problem by making of the model that will maintain the an aluminum armature that secured model’s stability as it grows taller and the rocket to its stand. The diagram taller. This also is designed to keep the for the stand is below, with photos on rocket from falling if it gets bumped. the right showing the rocket segments During BrickSlopes, the rocket will inserted. be cordoned off by a stantion to keep people from touching it. However, the core is an insurance policy against the Saturn V falling. Even with just the very bottom of the model set up, the techniques seen are pretty impressive.
PART OF THE BSU ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE FESTIVAL
FREE parking available at the Lincoln Parking Garage, on the corner of University and Lincoln. Pre-register online, and plan your day in advance by visiting http://coen.boisestate.edu/STEMExploration or Contact Leandra Aburusa-Lete at (208) 426-4432, laburusa@boisestate.edu See the event page STEM Moon Shot on Facebook.
Scott points out some of the construction methods on the Saturn V: The exterior of the rocket resembles a pixillated circle—since the bricks are not curved, they are built to mimic a curve as best as possible. The cones for the rocket engines and fairings are also done the same way with bricks, approximating the slope and curve of the various parts. A close look makes
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