Happy Veteran’s Day!

(albeit, I made this originally for Memorial Day previously, hence the World War 2 theme)

Please note: The British soldier also includes Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India. The Soviet soldier also includes Romania, Finland, and the Baltic States.

Also please note: These photos were taken with my old crappy camera and with bad light settings, which is why the colors look bleached and muddy. This was long, long before my new Sony 16 megapixel was bought!

Projects built during August-October 2009, article published on August 18, 2011

Way back in my days of dwelling in a tiny, cramped 1.5 bedroom apartment in Lancaster, I had an entire spare mini room devoted to hopefully building a small medieval city from LEGO bricks. This was of course, when I was in the mindset of living in that place longterm, and merely dreaming about moving elsewhere—let alone to a whole new state [New York]. With that said, I used my large Home Depot plastic folding tables to break ground for my proposed Brunkland town, which was never fully built, but remains partially intact despite relocating.

The pictures you’ll see here are in sequence, starting with the first planned house, that was soon demolished, and then a few more units which were completed or partially completed. All of which were intended to mimic 16th century style German archetecture, some of which turned out great, some of which turned out not as planned. We’ll start first with the original windmill house, which had its base set up, only to be broken apart and used for better looking houses:

This houses was expected to be quite large and monumental, however, poor planning and several miscalculations forced me to dismantle it.

Notice the checkered floor and red roof: This was a precursor to the eventual giant windmill house soon to come!

The above image is about as far as I got before I abandoned the house, and decided to work on a few other ideas before possibly going back. Next you’ll see a few small peasant cottages whhich incorporated a likewise building style, only with a different color scheme:

And below, we see the roof not quite entirely connected yet…

The next house was intended to be a giant 3-story restaurant/pub modeled somewhat after a bar in Lancaster, only with a medieval twist to it (as well as armed bouncers in battle attire)!

Note: Many of these images were originally taken for a now defunct Facebook album, therefore a lot of the work in progress images of the cottages and restaurant were never added due to the fact that I was displeased with the outcome of most of the houses. Otherwise, in its final stages, the bar/restaurant eventually had a wood floor built with colored tiles.

And finally, when all was said and done, I decided to make a brand-new custom home for my little Baron von Brunk knight minifig, and chose to create for him a giant multi-story villa with a pointless decorative windmill on the peak of the roof! To create this unit, I dismantled the original windmill house and recycled the white panels to mimic a Tudor-style appearance.

Yes, the staircaise actually serves its purpose!

The house folds in half, like a dollhouse.

Now comes the rooftoop and side annex…

Below: The door to the top penthouse area is accessible by the small steps on the right, which align with the door’s steps when the houses is folded together in its closed state.

Going up?

- Baron von Brunk

A Southern style barbecue!

Project and article originally created on 8/6/2008, migrated to Tumblr on 10/16/2011

Click on thumbnails to enlarge…

General William Sherman was a crazy motherfucker who deserves to be LEGOed. For this awesome diorama, I depict his infamous march to the sea, in which he and his Union troops burned down Atlanta, Georgia during the autumn of 1864. In this scene, Sherman is the wild bearded guy with the sword and revolver (as seen in the picture above, he’s standing next to two infantrymen and a dead Johnny Reb).

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Ok, the real blazing town probably didn’t resemble this in any way, but hey, it’s made out of toys! My highly exaggerated Birth of a Nation-esque epic portrayal is much more interesting, afterall. And the scared faces from the new Castle sets make perfect screaming civilians who try to flee from Sherman’s flames of destruction! I’ve even got the terrified housewife and her fried chicken.

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Back in the mid-late 1990s, there was a short lived wild west theme for LEGO, where I was able to scrounge up the old blue army uniforms.

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Oh, by the way; ignore the dustiness and or dirtiness on many of the pieces. I actually built this diorama like a month before I got pictures taken, thus by the time they could be photographed, nature took its course in coating everything with a fine layer of dust.

Above: Check out the dead body in the right corner!

General Sherman: To hell with all of these rednecks, boys! Kill ‘em dead! Eat their babies and tear off their testicles!

War is hell!

Although, I don’t think there’s a whole hell of a lot of jungle foliage in Georgia (nor 16th century Tudor architecure), the burning trees make an awesome touch if you ask me. That, and the screaming prospectors with their mining gear!

LEGO Anzac Day vignette!

Project built on 4/25/2008, and migrated to Tumblr on 10/16/2011