Master MOCer VFracingteam returns to The Lego Car Blog today with a truly spectacular pair of tug boats. Each is a near-perfect replica of a real ship in the Iskes fleet, and they are unbelievably well detailed. You can see more photos, including some superb close-ups, on Flickr at the link above.
This incredible recreation of a 1960s tug boat, the ‘Smit Steenbank’, comes from nautical extraordinaire Konajra. Featuring some of the best detailing that you will ever see in Lego form and measuring 80cm long, Konajra’s latest ship shows just how far Lego can be taken as a modelling medium. We highly recommend visiting Konajra’s Flickr account to see all of the spectacular images – click the link to join us in astonishement.
We don’t often blog ships here at The Lego Car Blog, but when we do they’re big. This astonishing polar transport ship is the work of TLCB favourite Konajra, whose latest model has been commissioned by Red Box Energy.
Two of these heavy module ice-breakers are currently under construction for the company, and when complete they’ll be the widest Polar Class vessels in the world, capable of transporting 20,000 tons each.
Konajra’s Lego version is no less impressive; the display is almost a meter wide itself and 1.7 meters long. You can see all of the images on Flickr – click here to make the voyage.
Ever since they discovered this build by Tyler Sky on Flickr, the Elves have been splashing around in the TLCB Executive Jacuzzi, making engine noises. Inspired by his wife’s present of mini-figs and seagulls, Tyler has built a super-fast Octan catamaran. We can tell it’s fast, thanks to the brilliant, brick-built rooster tail which he has created. Click on the links to see more details, including which of the twin pilots isn’t enjoying the ride.
We don’t just do cars here at The Lego Car Blog. See, here’s a boat! You can see more of Konajra’s beautifully detailed Serco Marine SD tug boat by clicking here.
This astonishing ship comes from Flickr’s Konajra, who appeared here last week with this, and who has now reconstructed one of the world’s most iconic vessels in Lego form. It is of course, the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior.
This is Greenpeace’s third Rainbow Warrior ship and the first to be purpose-built for the charity. As you would expect (although certainly not the case with the ship’s predecessors), Rainbow Warrior III is one of the greenest ships afloat – and not just in colour. Launched in 2011 the ship mostly functions as a sailing yacht, with additional hybrid propulsion used when necessary. It dumps no waste water into the ocean and all components have been sustainably sourced where possible. Sounds like a good approach to building any ship to us.
Konajra’s Lego replica of the 190ft Rainbow Warrior III is actually mini-figure scale, which makes it simply enormous. Every conceivable detail has been finely recreated in Danish plastic and Konajra has uploaded a wealth of photography to his Flickr photostream to support the build – click here to visit the ship’s Flickr gallery.
Finally, whilst we don’t always agree with Greenpeace, if you’d like to check out what they do and why they need the Rainbow Warrior you can click here to visit their website.
This one is big. Like, really really big. Konajra has clicked approximately 100,000 LEGO pieces together to create this 3.25 meter long replica of the 1934 MS Jutlandia. It’s big enough that we lost more than a few Elves for several hours (you can come back any time Konajra). His latest commissioned piece is available to view now on MOCpages.
Today we’re calling upon the collective experience of the entire TLCB staff to bring you some top quality dating advice this valentines day, in Lego form.
First up is the beautiful classic yacht above, built by TLCB favourite ER0L. There’s nothing more romantic than a luxury boat, and if we were a mini-figure this would be our vehicle of choice with which to woo the limited supply of LEGO womenfolk. ER0L’s even added mood lighting by the way of Power Functions LEDs, and you can see more via the link above.
Our second love-inducing creation is probably at the other end of the romantic scale being, well – what looks like a hospital bed with a steering wheel. Still, it’s got some plastic flowers and there’s a camera to capture the ‘special’ moment, and that works for your Mom every time.
Billyburg is the builder and you can see more of his Lunar Love Buggy on Flickr.
Because millionaire mini-figures need to get from Long Island to Manhattan too.
JBIronWorks has built one of the more luxurious ways to commute to Wall Street with his beautiful recreation of the 1929 motor yacht ‘Mohican’, and it looks the perfect bath-toy for TLCB executive jacuzzi.
The real classic yacht is currently up for sale for a cool $1million, but if that’s a bit out of your reach you can pretend with JB on Flickr. Money can’t buy you happiness anyway. Although it can buy you a $1million motor yacht.
The very best Lego vehicles in the world feature here at The Lego Car Blog. But the quality isn’t limited to just the build – the standard of presentation must be exceptional too. If you’re here wondering ‘How do I get my stuff to look that good?’, Flickr’s Konajra gives us an insight into the easiest and most accessible way to make your creations look the business.
Konajra’s behind-the-scenes shot above reveals the secret. Simple huh? A plain coloured background – often white but any contrasting colour will do – and curved to remove the shadows in the corners, is all you need to make your Lego creation look like something from The LEGO Group themselves.
Some builders add proper photography lighting to their set-up, but natural light is actually the best way to illuminate your model – so wait for sunny day!
Once you’ve got your shots upload them into any one of the variety of image editing tools, such as Gimp, Photoshop, iPhoto and even Microsoft Paint. Many builders will spend days perfecting their images, but a quick crop, auto-enhance and watermark (if you’re protective) is all that it takes to make a big difference.
Once you’re happy with how your images look you’re ready to upload them to your chosen creation-sharing website, however it’s worth noting that the quality of your images can be constrained by the site uploader. As such we recommend uploading to Flickr, and then using the embed function to transfer your images to your other online accounts.
Follow the above steps and you should end up with photos like Konajra’s ‘Zwarte Zee’ below, and they’ll be good enough to appear on one of the major Lego blogs, maybe even this one!
If you’ve discovered a creation that you think qualifies to appear here at The Lego Car Blog you can check its suitability by visiting our Submission Guidelines page – if it meets our requirements then let us know!
This enchantingly beautiful Vietnamese fishing boat is not our usual blogging fodder. However, in parts of Asia the boat is the car, so we’re bending the rules a bit! Either way, Hoang Dang‘s creation is one of the greatest we’ve seen this year. See more of his incredible vessel on Flickr by heading over via the link above.
Following yesterday‘s RNLI Land Rover, previous TLCB bloggee pitrex contacted us with his own Technic life guard build. Featuring a host of Technic functions, piterx’s quad and jet-ski combo includes; Power Functions RC drive, working steering and suspension (quad), controllable impeller (jet-ski), and a working winch on the trailer. About as good as an official LEGO Technic set then! Join the discussion on Eurobricks via the link above.
The Lego Car Blog’s home nation has a close relationship with the sea. An island dependent upon the dangerous waters surrounding it for trade, Britain has pioneered sea travel for hundreds of years.
Sadly this means that countless lives have been lost over the centuries to the waters, piracy and the cold. In 1824 an organisation was established to save those in peril. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has operated in the waters around Great Britain since its creation almost 200 years ago and today has over 400 boats stationed in over 200 rescue centres. An average of 22 people are rescued every day, with over 140,000 lives saved since the charity’s foundation.
Ralph Savelsberg has built one of their most recognisable tools in Lego, the Land Rover Defender tow car and mobile RIB rescue boat. You can see all his photos on Flickr here, and read more about the work of the RNLI at their website.
We’re coming to the end of a ridiculously busy week here at TLCB. Originally when we started this humble website we envisaged an average of a post a day, but the last week has seen so many brilliant models uploaded that we’ve been publishing around three times this. Some of the more successful Elves are even starting to look a bit portly…
So, before we slow it down a bit next week we thought we’d wrap up our busiest week so far with something a bit special; VFracingteams‘ astonishing Technic ship, the SL Gabon.
‘SHIP’ is slang in the LEGO Community for a ‘Seriously Huge Investment in Parts’, and it’s safe to say the SL Gabon fulfils this, being one of the largest models we’ve ever publicised.
VFracingteam also very kindly agreed to an interview by TLCB, and he becomes the third builder to feature in our ‘Master MOCer’ series. You can read all about his Lego journey and the amazing SL Gabon ship in his interview here, or by hovering over the ‘Interviews’ tab of the main menu.
This Lego DUKW World War II amphibious truck is certainly more fun than a yellow bath toy, although it probably doesn’t float. The real thing does though, hence the ‘Duck’ nickname. Over 21,000 were produced for the Allies during the Second World War for use in the Pacific and during the D-Day Landings, with many surviving today as tourist and leisure craft on our cities’ rivers. Daniel Siskind has built the Lego version we have here, and you can see more of it and his other Lego creations via Flickr.