Construction Vehicles We Can All Dig

You can almost hear the squeaking, whirling, grinding, and scraping of the construction vehicles below and wonder what they might be working on. Builder Y Akimeshi has built what I consider a cross between the LEGO brand design concepts and the hyper-detailed builds we tend to focus on and to be honest the results are just plain fun.

Sukhoi Su-30

Air power changed the face of war as we know it starting with WWI. Since then the world's superpowers have competed with each other to create the world's fastest and most maneuverable fighter jets to achieve air superiority over their enemies. While the United States has dominated in the development and production of fighters, Russia has never been that far behind. Development of the Su-30 may have began in communist Russia, but it wasn't officially put into service until 1996, years after the Soviet Union had been dissolved. New builder Tino Poutiainen has treated us with a detailed microscale version of the Su-30. Let us all hope that this is just the first in a series of unique airplane builds from him.

Cairo Fight Scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark

The LEGO Group may have only produced official Indiana Jones sets for two years (2008-2009), but we continue to receive great MOCs like this one from the theme. Builder Lego Fjotten has recreated the the Cairo Fight scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark with some clean but detailed design.

Brickworld 2017

Another year of Brickworld has come and gone, but the memories and photos remain for us to share with you. The BrickNerd crew had another showing this year at what is one of the largest if not the largest LEGO convention in North America.

There was a little something for everyone at this year's convention including a massive WWII battleship, an abandoned amusement park, some very cool life-sized video game replicas, and even a mecha Duplo bunny.

If you ever have the chance to attend I highly recommend you do so, because you will have the chance to meet some truly friendly and, quirky LEGO fans from around the world who really make the event what it is, fun.

Micro Scale Castle in a Glass Dome

I've always had great respect for builders who build in micro scale. While their builds are (typically) small, the part selection, and piece usage has to be very intentional to convey a specific idea(s) while only taking up a very small space. As an added level of difficulty builder Peter Ilmrud also restricted himself to a specific dimension, in this case an IKEA glass dome. The result is stunning and makes for a beautifil desk decoration.

Railway Snow Plow

Love it or hate it snow sure does get in the way of life. We Northerns have all this fancy equipment for removing snow from all sorts of places, including railroads. For those living in the southern regions of this planet you might think it silly to have a train dedicated to snow removal. But, snow is a fickle thing and it is better to be over prepared for those few days of year when you get multiple feet of the "cold white stuff". Builder Maciej Drwięga seems to think the people of LEGOland are in need of snow removal as well, and as such has presented us with a cool (haha, snow pun!) PKP 411S-121 snow plow.

A New Year, A New Hope

Fun fact, it wasn't until late high school that I first saw Star Wars and then it was on a very loud charter bus on one of those old-school tiny overhead CRT screens. Despite the terrible viewing environment I was drawn into the Star Wars universe and have been a fan since. One of the first scenes that drew me in and got me hooked was the one where Leia despite all the chaos around her is uploading the secret Death Star Plans to R2-D2. To this day I cannot explain why I love this scene so much, but I would like to thank builder Miro Dudas for taking me back down memory lane.

Secret Cottage in Farnor Forest

I believe that the secret in Farnor Forest is not actually the cottage, but the forest itself. Upon first glance the trees of the forest look to be standard fare, but look again and you will notice some very cool new designs. Realistic looking tree trunks have always been difficult to pull off and over the years many new techniques have been added to the collective design base. Builder Ben Tritschler has a shared a few new concepts with us including some some Ben 10 parts for the trunks of the larger trees and the mini shooters for the smaller ones.

Pyke Castle

We here at BrickNerd like to fashion ourselves as both fans of LEGO and Nerd culture, but every once-in-a-while there is a gap in our individual Nerdiness, in my case that gap is Game of Thrones. As guilty as I am for not enjoying GoT, I do enjoy a good castle and Pyke Castle by builder Anu Pehrson is simply phenomenal. The rock work is like nothing I have ever seen before and is what really makes this castle stand out for me.

Le Garage

There are a few things in life that I really geek out about, the first being LEGO, of course, the second being automobiles. When you put the two together and add a little bit (or in this case, a lot) of charm you have me hook, line and sinker. The charm is in this case that builder brickbink didn't just create another auto shop, but he created an old French auto shop. The details are just perfectly French, from the building and automobile design, to the baguette on the work bench, and finally the mustachioed mechanic.

The Room of Requirement

"Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs" - Dobby the House-elf.

Builder Wookieewarrior captures the look and feel of the famously elusive non-existent/existent Hogwarts room from the Harry Potter series of books. Look closely and you will find items of significance from the books scattered about the room including the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw.
Now if only I could get this room to appear with a desk full of sorted LEGO bricks for when I start my next project.

Abernathy Farm

The Fallout series and world has always intrigued me. I've often wondered what a world after a large extinction level event would look like and the Fallout series of games offers just such a window into that world. WookieeWarrior (how does he build with such large furry hands?!) has created a very authentic vignette of the Abernathy farm for us to stare at and attempt to find all the little details that go along with a ruined world.

Neo Classic Speeders

Mankind has been destined for space-travel ever since we first gazed up into the stars and wondered what was out there. The problem is that not everyone likes the exploring and science side of space, some of us just want to race on other planets. That is where builder Sad Brick (aww, cheer up buddy!) has stepped in and imaged what it would be like to race on another planet with one of our best space-buddies.
As a side note, this build is proof that you don't need a lot of LEGO bricks to come up with something cool and interesting.

Brickworld 2016

Another Brickworld is in the bag, and boy was it a brick-tastic few days! We saw a phenomenal amount of new and creative MOCs, and are continually impressed with how the community pushes the medium forward.
If you've never attended a convention before and live in the U.S. Midwest (or anywhere in the world really) I highly recommend that you visit this convention at least once in your lifetime. Brickworld is traditionally held over a long Father's day weekend in June. The convention offers multiple ways to attend including public viewing days however, we do suggest going as a registered attendee for the full experience.

-Bart, Mel, and Philip

Frozen Shack

First off, everyone look at the front door of this shack and acknowledge the NPU. I mean, seriously, a boat for a front door it doesn't get much better than that folks! I'm also loving all the angles, so many unnaturally delicious ways jaapxaap has put this house together yet made it look congruent. I am, however, a little disappointed in the lack of murder(?) in this scene, though I am hoping we will see that in part 2 of this build.

Buccaneer Brawl

If I got to pick any "job" in history it would definitely be that of a swashbuckler. I mean think about all the cool things pirates get to do - sword fight, ride on ships, drink rum, visit cool places, watch the sunset over the ocean, etc. I mean, yeah, life expectancy wasn't that great and I don't even want to think of all the diseases a pirate had to deal with. But hey why not have a little fun before you leave this earth, am I right? The great scene below by Brother Steven and his brother Mark is exactly what I'd expect the life of a pirate to be.

Orc Fort

Orcs are a very misunderstood creature, often thought of in lore as evil, dirty, and generally not all that nice! But just because they prefer the freeness of loin cloth over a nice pair of pants doesn't make them evil. Sure they pillage the villages of the various, hapless, fantasy realms from time to time and maybe they enjoy "man-flesh" a little bit too much. And who knows what do-gooder they captured this fort, created by builder Christophe, from? In the end maybe these "evil" deeds are just a cry for help. So, the next time you run across a pillaging orc in your village, go ahead and give him a nice big hug, just watch out for the spiky armor.

The Schirrmeisterei

The Brick Time team continues to add beautiful structures to their fictional town of Dunholmincluding their latest creation, the Schirrmeisterei. I'll admit that I had no idea what a Schirrmeisterei was, I naturally assumed that it was some sort of horse stable, but thanks to the magic of the interwebs I was able to clear up that misconception quickly. Turns out a Schirrmeisterei is a military supply office of sorts. This supply office makes a great use of the one of my favorite LEGO color combinations, dark stone grey, reddish brown, dark brown on a sand yellow base.