Dumbledore's Office

Thinking back to all the schools I attended (we moved around a bit, I went to many) absolutely none of them were anywhere even remotely as cool as Hogwarts. I mean not by a long shot. And while is only though the words of JK Rowling and the production design of the films that we get to imagine what it would have been like, they have been so well done that they feel distant but real. So this recreation by builder Legopard is a historical reproduction in my imagination, and it’s perfect.

Dumbledore's Office

Whistle Of Wind, Wisps Of Cloud

I know I was on vacation last week (Disney cruise, it was awesome) but I came back to a delivery push on a film gig and have worked crazy hours this week, so I find myself in need of another vacation. This place looks so tranquil and inviting, I think I’d like to go there. Just imagine it, arriving by air boat to dwell among the clouds, sounds like a dream. How about it qi_tah, can I visit? I’ll bring my own pillow.

Sky Islands - my contribution

BR 80 Steam Engine

Just last Sunday I spent most of the day aboard a train. Of course it was a modern Amtrak train, but I did spend a moment thinking about the heyday of locomotive transportation, imagining myself crossing the country in the 1800’s. While I can’t speak with much authority on trains (what can I say, I just don’t know much about them), I can say I like the looks of this one by builder holgermatthes. And if you do too there’s great news, Holger has shared the instructions so you can build your own!

By the way, if you’re into trains, and you want to be a blogger, clearly we have need for an expert in the ranks.

LEGO BR 80 steam engine

Full Steam

This is presentation taken to the next level. Builder Markus "madstopper78" Ronge has not only crafted some amazing builds, he’s imagined an entire mini universe, Full Steam. It’s like LEGO plus fan fiction, but not just a backstory, a whole…thing! Tune into an imaginary network to watch an imaginary series featuring amazing builds, it’s brilliant. And this ship plus the display around it are just stunning. I’m not a huge Ninjago fan, but I think I’d watch this.

"Full Steam" S. 1/ Ep. 4 "The Last Raid of the Sky Pirates"
"Full Steam" S. 1/ Ep. 4 "The Last Raid Of The Sky Pirates"
"Full Steam" S. 1/ Ep. 4 "The Last Raid Of The Sky Pirates"

Torpedo Bombers at 5 O'clock High

I love a good airplane model, especially biplanes. In freshman engineering I built a biplane for a project that I was told no one had built a biplane for, and the professor wasn’t sure it would work. It flew wonderfully. Prolific LEGO aircraft builder John Lamarck has posted a beautiful Blackburn B-6 Shark. Like many aircraft developed in the interwar years it did not have a long service life as developments happened rapidly in aviation in that time period. My only quibble is the inter-wing struts should be on an angle in the front view and not vertical, but that is likely driven more by the scale and medium.

Three Tiny Brothers

One of the most jaw-dropping works of animation I’ve ever seen is the tale of Three Brothers from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it’s a masterpiece of production design, lighting and animation. Builder Nuju Metro stunned us all earlier this year with his Three Brothers build, inspired by that animation, and now he’s back with a micro scale version of that MOC. Even small enough to fit in your hand it’s absolutely amazing.

The Tale of the Three (Little) Brothers

That Others May Live

Fun fact, I once nearly died in a Black Hawk. True story. Good times. Equally fun fact, I do volunteer search and rescue (SAR) work. So when I came upon Robsom M's beautiful build of a USCG MH-60T Jayhawk, well, all my boxes were checked.

A variant of the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk, the MH-60T is the venerable workhorse of USCG SAR. Many people owe their lives to the brave men and women of USCG aviation that put it all on the line to save others and this MOC is a perfect tribute to all those Coasties.

MH-60T - Jayhawk

Horror At Mangrove Swamp

I love how crazy talented some of my friends are. I don’t know what inspired what, and which came first, but builder Lino M not only built this exceptional diorama with a dark back story, he also painted the cover of a pulp novel of that very story. It seems that the folks of this swamp have been keeping the rest of us safe, but at a terrible price.

Horror at Mangrove Swamp
Horror at Mangrove Swamp

The Giap Towers

Welcome to the Giap Towers, watch that first step. Builder MarcelV was inspired by the whimsical and exceptional art of Chong Fei Giap, for which this wonderful MOC takes it’s name. According to the builder this is the culmination of 10 months of planning, building, rebuilding and photography, and it shows. You can’t rush art, it always dictates it’s own speed, and it’s always worth the wait.

The Giap-Towers

NALSAR

There are very few things that are more American than NASCAR races. Hopping on the couch with a soda in one hand and the remote in the other, watching grown men drive cars in loops, one left turn after another, and secretly hoping to see a highly entertaining car wreck. But replace those cars with speeders and now you’re onto something! PigletCiamek has created NALSAR which is sure to satisfy your desire for speed and danger. Now THIS is podracing!

01 Landspeeder Polie

Filia's Bakery Is A Feast For The Eyes

Since those very early days when people figured out mixing crushed wheat with water and getting it hot made for a pretty good snack humans have been baking. And it wasn’t long after that the art was perfected and the baker was born. Fast forward to medieval times and we meet Filia, star baker of the nine kingdoms, built by roΙΙi, and making me crave some pastries.

Filia's Bakery

Starman And His Roadster

This is officially the first SHIPtember 2018 build we’ve featured on BrickNerd. Now I know what you’re thinking, “hey, that’s a car, not a spaceship”. But take another look, this is Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman, who is presently cruising through our solar system. Assuming the battery is still good we can assume he’s still listening to Space Oddity too. Nice build brickfrenzy.

roadster 01
roadster 07

I Thought They Were Supposed To Be GOOD For Your Eyesight!

I don’t care much for carrots. When I eat a chicken pot pie, I usually pull them out and set them aside for corgi consumption (you can be assured they are watching me eat said pie, like they are watching me eat biscuits with my tea right now). This MOC by Legohaulic is doing nothing for my aversion to them either, and I’m guessing that bunny is also no longer a fan.

Healthy Snack

A New Challenger Approaches

I have lots of memories of playing F-ZERO X on the Nintendo 64 with my brothers. While I never much cared for Captain Falcon and his Blue Falcon rendered fantastically in micro scale by Angka, I generally went for lighter higher acceleration racers. What I like the most about this is it is built on a pullback racer frame, so Captain Falcon can show you his moves on the straights as this build rockets down the table.

F-Zero

Now Departing From Platform 9 3/4

While the notion of boarding a train to be taken off to a far away school is absolutely foreign to me, it sure seems pretty nifty. I don’t know if 11 year old me would have thought so, but then again I’m only a muggle. This micro scale of the famous Hogwarts Express by vitreolum boasts some of the coolest micro mountains I’ve ever seen (and the train is pretty spiffy too).

Hogwarts Express