BrickJournal #84 Preview

Issue 84 • March/April 2024

60+ Builders, One Build:

Welcome to New Hashima!

INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!

$10.95 US $12.95 CAN

Issue 84 • March/April 2024

Contents From the Editor....................................................2

People Ralph Savelsberg: Japanese Car Models from Kei Cars to Kaido Racers.................................................3

Building

59 Hours, 60 Builders, 1,000,000 LEGO B ricks, 1 New Hashima: Assembling a Massive Collaboration...............................8 New Hashima Sector 08: The Origins of New Hashima and Sector 08.................................................13 New Hashima Sector 02: Inner City.........17 New Hashima Sector 04: Old City............25 New Hashima Sector 06: Chip off the Old Docks...............................29

A Cyber-Slice of Life: Photographing New Hashima...............36 Music and LEGO: Crafting the Sonic Landscape of New Hashima (abridged)....................41 BrickNerd Instructions: New Hashima Spinner Speeder.............47 Minifigure Customization 101: The Return of the Ocelotl, part 2...........51 You Can Build It MINI Diorama: Ezra Bridger’s Tower.....56

Community

IdahoLUG: Building Pandora..........................................62 Bantha Bricks: Simon Jarry’s Hoth Echo Base Diorama.................................................68 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79

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People

Ralph Savelsberg’s

Japanese Car Models from Kei Cars to Kaido Racers!

Article and Photography by Ralph Savelsberg For years I have been building LEGO cars. Very few of them were Japanese, because I tended to think of those as somewhat boring and uninteresting. That changed, however, when I visited Tokyo on a work trip in 2017.

As expected, I saw plenty of boring vehicles, but also many that were interesting and quirky. So, in 2019, when I decided to visit Japan BrickFest in Kobe, I built a few Japanese cars to display there. And, inspired by the cars I saw on that second trip, I have built more since.

My main aim when building a car model is to make it recognisable as a particular make and model. This is made easier by building them at a scale of roughly 1/22, which is much larger than cars suitable for LEGO minifigures. This allows adding more details. To add a little life to the models, instead of minifigures, I use my own brick-built figures to go with them, inspired by figures used in LEGOLand parks. Still, even at this larger scale, building a recognisable car is not always easy, particularly if the car I’m trying to build looks a

bit dull. Building something interesting and quirky is both a lot easier and more fun. So, let’s take a closer look at my Japanese LEGO cars and what makes them different.

Kei cars Kei cars are a specifically Japanese type of vehicle rarely seen outside of the country. The Japanese government originally introduced them as part of a reconstruction program after the second World War. The cars’ width, height and length are restricted, and so is their engine displacement. In return, their owners pay a reduced road tax and, in some parts of Japan, where you must have a parking space when buying a car, Kei cars are exempt. As a result, these little cars are very popular, making up roughly one third of Japanese domestic car sales. Because their size is restricted, most Kei cars are almost comically boxy to maximise space inside.

I have built three of them. The Suzuki Every Wagon is a van that almost completely maxes out the available volume. Thanks to its high roof and front seats that sit quite far forward, it can seat four people and still have decent cargo space in the rear. The oddly-named Honda N-Box Slash is a supposedly sportier alternative, with a more car-like appearance due to a much lower roofline. Finally, the Daihatsu Move Canbus has retro styling inspired by the classic VW microbus. It is aimed at an oddly specific group of buyers: single women in their thirties. Fewer Japanese people are getting married and apparently this is a sizeable group.

They also often still live with their parents, so the car is intended to be practical, with good access through sliding doors, whilst also looking cute, with a smiling front end and headlights that look a bit like eyes. These cars all are boxy, but as you can see, there is quite a bit of variation, and each one has enough features to make it recognizable.

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Kei cars, from left to right: Suzuki Every Wagon, Honda N-Box Slash, and Daihatsu Move Canbus.

Emergency Vehicles

A Toyota Crown police car pulling over a Mazda RX-8.

When it comes to being recognizable, it is hard to beat emergency vehicles.

I found them fascinating when I was a boy, and since Japan BrickFest would undoubtedly be visited by families with little boys, the LEGO vehicles I took there in 2019 were a police car, an ambulance, and a fire engine. I originally built a Mazda RX-8 patrol car for the show, but later replaced it with a Toyota Crown.

Much like the American Ford Crown Victoria, which was commonly used as a police patrol car or taxi in the US, the Toyota Crown is a traditional four-door sedan. The civilian version looks like pretty much any other Japanese sedan, but the police version has a neat black and white livery, influenced by US police cars. And it also has a funky light bar that can be raised, to increase visibility when it is used for traffic duties. When I built this Toyota, I rebuilt the Mazda in red, as a vehicle suitable for a speeding driver.

My Japanese ambulance is a Toyota HiMedic. This is a specialised version of the Toyota HiAce van. Van-based ambulances are used all over the world and HiAce vans are quite common outside of Japan. The HiMedic ambulance is particularly futuristic, though. It very much reminds me of a Star Trek shuttlecraft. Crucial for A Toyota HiMedic ambulance used by the Tokyo Fire Department. its look are the large red emergency lights, the tinted windows, and its tapered sides, which I angled using hinges.

My Japanese fire engine, an Isuzu Elf, looks quite similar to fire engines in the rest of the world, at least at a first glance. It is red, obviously, and has all the equipment you would expect on a fire engine, such as hoses, lights, and ladders.

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My Ninjago City build as seen at BrickFair Virginia 2022.

Completing it took all three days of set-up.

59 Hours, 60 Builders, 1,000,000 LEGO Bricks, 1 New Hashima:

Assembling a Massive Collaboration Article by Daniel Zimmerman Photos by Chris Edwards, Jordan Wolfman, Tyler Newman, and Simon Liu

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After seven years of displaying at fifteen LEGO fan conventions, I consider myself someone with a decent amount of experience setting up a MOC at a LEGO fan convention. I have set up with LUGs to create modular city layouts and I have done a large city based on Ninjago on my own. Both were exciting and challenging tasks in their own right, but nowhere close to the monster that was New Hashima at Brickworld Chicago 2023. I was approached to join the collaborative build at BrickFair Virginia in August of 2022 after Stefan Formentano saw my work on my Ninjago City build. It was also here that I was introduced to the idea of New Hashima and the other collaborators of our growing group. It wasn’t long after that we quickly got to planning this massive build we all wanted to see made.

Fast forward to June 2023—60 collaborators from seven different countries pooled into the Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center with approximately one million LEGO bricks in tow, with one goal in mind. We were all extremely excited and expressed it to one another, but I think we were all internally dreading and fearing this final task we had in front of us, which was setting up New Hashima. I think it is safe to say we look upon these 59plus hours of setting up as a fond and beloved memory, but in the moment it was daunting. Upon my arrival at the Renaissance Hotel on Tuesday night, I was greeted by the amusing sight of a group of AFOLs and boxes of bricks. These were my fellow New Hashima collaborators, and as soon as I checked in and placed my luggage away in my room, I headed back in to join them in our early prep for set-up.

We started by helping each other bring in our towers from our vehicles so that we could set up the following afternoon when the convention hall opened for set-up at

1:00 p.m. Some of us helped by making small assemblies that would be used to tie the city together, such as the many sidewalks with railings. Some of us began reassembling our cubes and towers that were damaged in transport. Others began testing the strength of our builds so we could rest assured that the city would not collapse in on itself. It was a fun start to the long set-up ahead of us—we chatted, ate dinner, drank, laughed, and built LEGO. It doesn’t get better than that.

After a good night’s rest, we spent the morning unloading and preparing for the convention hall doors to open at 1:00 p.m. When the time came, Stefan pulled his trailer up to one of the rolling doors in the convention hall and we unloaded the custom wooden tables he had constructed for New Hashima. In total, four tables held up the city, each one consisting of multiple parts so it could be broken down for transportation. Once all four tables were assembled, we got to work putting the builds onto them. We kept all four tables separated at the start so the collaborators could walk around each one and assemble without having to reach over other tables. Thanks to the genius of Stefan, Simon, Michael, and Mason, each sector of the city was broken down into sectioned standard builds of cubes and toppers. This simplified the order of set-up for the builds for us eighty different collaborators.

We just had to follow the master plan for each sector that was broken down layer by layer, and spots labeled for each collaborator.

The collaborators building in the hotel lounge area. Photo by Simon Liu.

My cubes and toppers were located towards the top of Sector 02—The Inner City, meaning there was some time before my contributions would be placed. So I made sure to help Stefan and the other collaborators where I could. It was important that while we assembled each sector, we were feeding wires through each cube so that everyone could turn on their lights. The Inner City was an interesting sector, as unlike the other three square-shaped

The collaborators stashing their builds in their hotel rooms.

Photos by Simon Liu.

Simon testing the stability of his tower. Photo by Simon Liu.

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People

Sector 08, an integral part of the vibrant city of New Hashima, showcases a captivating blend of corporate prowess and residential living. The district’s skyline is adorned with sleek corporate towers symbolizing economic dominance, while the residential buildings offer a humble refuge for the city’s inhabitants.

These functional residential towers reflect the tenacity and resourcefulness of the residents in finding solace amidst the challenges of urban life in Sector 08.

Sector 08 Skyline. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

The Origins of New Hashima and Sector 08 Sector 08 is where New Hashima began: A dream sitting in my mind for years, and my attempt to replicate the vision started by the BroLUG group in their 2013 Cyberpocalypse display. Having seen what was possible when I first saw this picture making the rounds online, I could hardly understand what I was looking at. I wasn’t a huge proponent of the cyberpunk genre and had never built in the style, but I knew someday I would jump in.

When I began work on Sector 08 in 2019, I wanted to follow in the BroLug Cyberpocalypse Display. Photo by footsteps of the BroLUG group, Chris Edwards. and knew this was going to become a collaborative effort. I went to work, with help from my LUG mate Peter Bradberry, and began laying the groundwork for the shared vision that would become Sector 08, and eventually the New Hashima Cyberpunk Project. Little did I know that this decision would change my LEGO hobby forever. Peter and I built our first iteration of our cyber city for BrickFair Alabama in 2020, and then a new iteration again for BrickFair Alabama 2022.

(Thanks, Covid, for the extra year of building time.)

Photos of Peter’s and my display began making the rounds online and were eventually noticed by Simon Liu, who reached out to me to discuss the build and show support for the revival of the BroLUG cyberpunk project.

I was so excited to hear that my build had been seen and admired by the original crew who I had taken so much inspiration from. They weren’t just impressed, though; they were planning a ten year reunion build in 2023 and

Article by Stefan Formentano Photos by Chris Edwards, Jordan Wolfman, Ted Andes, Brendan Mauro, and Carter Baldwin

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In the heart of New Hashima lies Sector 02: the Inner City. The picture-perfect cyberpunk lifestyle reins strongest here, with a skyline dominated by immense superstructures made up of luxurious housing, high-end shopping districts, and extravagant entertainment venues. Highranking elites enjoy the finest amenities that money can buy, high above the city streets. Beneath this beautiful skyline lies the darker control of the city by the district’s wealthiest patrons, profiting through every means necessary.

Inner City’s magnificent highrises, towering above New Hashima. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Three megastructures dominate the Inner City in a triangular fashion, looming over their surrounding districts. Tower 1, 2, and 3 are each made up of different programs, linking the districts they lead into toward this central metropolis. With culture entering the Inner City from every direction, law enforcement and private security agencies ensure its safety from not only other district uprisings, but also from within the city’s own lower levels.

After all, everyone wants a piece of the wealth.

The infrastructure to support the Inner City is a two-tiered custom, triangle-shaped wooden table. The lower tier supports the base level of each tower where a highway runs beneath them. New Hashima is after all

Article by Stefan Formentano Photos by Casey McCoy and Kevin Murney

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finished off with toppers. Builder coordination primarily focused on what sides they wanted to have displayed. Each builder was allowed to choose the program for their own cube, and area for their topper. The loose rule of staying within your own boundary (32x32 studs) was the primary guideline; however, neighbors were very able to coordinate about colliding builds if need be. Toppers followed the same rule, yet had more freedom, especially in terms of height.

Sector 02 is not only the tallest section of the city, but also serves the city as a connection hub between the surrounding sectors. A highway follows the perimeter of the city in its sublevel, along with a railway moving imported goods, maybe even some contraband, from Sector 06, or a metro running through the Old City. The highly populated city sits atop these modes of circulation, all of which circle back into the center of New Hashima’s three towers.

Tower 1’s U-shaped plan opened into Sector 08: Corporations. The tower is four levels high, with contributions from six builders. Modular pod living surrounded by luxury shopping venues, nightclubs and food courts galore dominate the tower’s understory. As is with a dense population, the spacious living pods provided the bare minimum living requirements for their occupants, stacking together in dense fashion. Above the dense layers rose five towers, making up Tower 1’s megastructure.

Early on in the process, I met with my two counterparts to coordinate the overhang of our three toppers on one side of Tower 1. Lyra Peacock, Kevin Murney, and myself made sure that if our towers did overhang into one another’s area, that their build could either receive the overhang, or rotate a topper to minimize any overhang. Lyra and I had towers right next to one another, and performed a quick fix while setting up this section at the convention. Even though each topper was quite heavy, the weight was not a concern with the sturdy cube modules beneath, yet each builder still aimed for their topper to be as light as possible while capturing all of the desired detail.

Kevin Murney took a different approach to designing within the cyberpunk genre for his topper and two cubes. Having not built for ten years, he focused on two guiding principles: contrast and nostalgia.

Kevin stated that “contrast was selected as a guiding principle to add emphasis between elements.”

Mixing older LEGO bricks and colors with new elements was able to give his tower a unique language among the skyline. “...There was contrast between the clean lines of the white office upper portion of the tower versus the gritty dense medium-nougat/coral masonry apartments at the base walkway level. Further contrast exists

Towers by Kevin Murney, Lyra Peacock, and Ben Grayson (from left to right).

Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Kevin Murney’s tower during World of Lights, glowing in all sorts of new ways.

Photograph by Kevin Murney.

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The docks of New Hashima.

Sector 06: A bustling waterfront district, serving as a vital hub for industry and transport. It accommodates various modes of transport, such as inter-solar SHIPs, hovercrafts, railways, and automobiles, facilitating the movement of cargo throughout the city. The district’s vibrant atmosphere is a melting pot of cultures attracting seafarers, traders and immigrants.

Amidst the busy activities, the shadow of the docks harbor a thriving black market, smuggling operations, and clandestine opportunities.

Chip Off the Old Docks:

or Does Simon Dream of Electric Sheep?

It may seem professional, but the neighboring text was thrown together last minute with AI generated text—a tonally fitting way to “write” about our dystopian, cyberpunk world. A bit meta, I know. But with a little luck, our sector managed to exceed the AI description’s vision for our final build—a monstrously big LEGO display with a vibrant atmosphere of seafarers, traders, and immigrants. That, of course, couldn’t be done without a whole lot of planning and last minute panicking as everything fell into place. (Editor’s note: the original submission of this article was created entirely from AI and subsequently rejected by the publisher.) Personally, it was the most challenging LEGO project I have been involved in since joining the LEGO community. But how did we get to the finish line? Well, to tell the full story, we need to start at the beginning: the BroLUG CyberCity collaboration from ten years before. This fresh, mind-blowing concept would sow the seeds for the true vision of a LEGO Cyberpunk world come to life in New Hashima.

The Original For me, it was a dream to be able to join and build with BroLUG by contributing something to the first Cyber City in 2013 at BrickFair Virginia. Having seen their previous collab and the first iteration of Cyber City, I knew that this was the start of something special. For my contribution, I built a drone recharging station with a robo-nightclub sitting on top. The drone recharging station was a very subtle reference to the book: Do Androids dream of Electric

Article by Simon Liu Photos by Blake Foster, Jordan Wolfman, Tyler Newman, and Simon Liu

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A Cyber-Slice of Life:

Photographing New Hashima Article and Photos

by Michael Willhoit

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The beauty of a display like New Hashima is that there is no one way to correctly look at and appreciate it. Some MOCs are intended to be viewed from only one angle; others can be viewed from many. In the case of New Hashima, how do you approach photographing a display that not only can, but must be viewed from every angle to fully take it in?

With a project as massive, yet as ephemeral as New Hashima, there were a lot of things to consider when approaching the photography.

Displays like this are what inspire

the community and move the hobby forward, so properly documenting them to share with others in the community—particularly when there is no certainty that they may ever be displayed in the same capacity again—is important. Heck, Stefan even cites being inspired by BroLUG’s Cyberpocalypse collaborations at BrickFairs 2013 and 2014 as one of the reasons he chose to start New Hashima in the first place. What we share with the community has a profound impact on the LEGO landscape, and photography is a core part of that process.

When I took photos for the BrickFair 2022 iteration of New Hashima, I spent almost eight hours straight trying to take as many pictures as I could, knowing that this was a uniquely special display that the world needed to see. I captured just about every detail I could point a lens at, and was left with thousands of photos. However, at Brickworld 2023, with a display at least three times the size, I knew that we would need a different approach. Fortunately, there were many others in the group that brought their cameras this time, and in the end we had plenty of photos (and videos, thanks TJ!) between all of us.

Because we had so many more people dedicating their time to taking photos at Brickworld, I got to dedicate more of my own to capturing a lot of unique and

artistic angles to really emphasize the details of the display; the kind of photography I like the most. Don’t get me wrong, clear overview shots of whole displays are important and necessary, but what’s really exciting to me is framing shots that completely immerse you in the environment that’s been created, free of people walking by in the background, the convention hall, and anything not built out of LEGO. I loved finding the cinematic scenes in the larger city, and with New Hashima, shots like this were absolutely everywhere. With dozens of individuals who all packed their own incredible details into their sections of the display, there was no shortage of inspiration to be had; everywhere I looked, there were amazing little cyber-slices of life to capture, and I had a blast doing it.

In a more general sense, one of the biggest challenges to taking photos of any MOC in a convention hall is lighting. The ceilings are typically high at large 37 LEGO conventions

Building

Music and LEGO: New Hashima at night. Photo by Tyler Newman.

Prologue: The Mistakes of my Youth

I was a budding, young TFOL embarking on an ambitious collaboration with my best friend for Brickworld 2013—Hershel’s Farmhouse from The Walking Dead Season 2. Somewhere along our many build sessions set to Ed Sheeran’s LEGO House, the idea was hatched to play The Walking Dead’s title theme alongside our homestead, projecting from the inside out. Seemed logical enough: set the tone for our build and grabbed the attention of our audience.

Only one problem in hindsight: we looped a 1 minute and 40 second song.

Crafting the Sonic Landscape of New Hashima (abridged) Article by Casey McCoy Originally published on BrickNerd.com on 7/21/23 Photos by Casey McCoy and Tyler Newman

Herschel’s Farmhouse, from the second season of The Walking Dead. Photo by Casey McCoy.

We left that title song on repeat for nearly four days straight. Our kind, GBCtroubleshooting, neighboring AFOLs never said anything throughout the duration of the show, but in hindsight, I can’t imagine they ever wanted to hear that tune or look at a zombie ever again. Despite being a decade ago, the cringe never goes away. Time does not heal all wounds.

Lesson Learned: If you have a sonic component looping for your build that’s not purely ambiance (clapping, cheering, sound effects, etc.), have a musical loop of at least over ten minutes. This is for the sanity of yourself, your fellow builders, and the public attendees. Turn it off when you leave the hall for the night. Too much of a good thing and you’ll be sick of it eventually. That begs the question: why add music to your build at all? How do you do it right?

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Spinner Speeder Parts List

(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color Description 1 3024.dat Black Plate 1 x 1 1 26047.dat Black Plate 1 x 1 Round with Horizontal Handle on Side 2 32802.dat Black Slope Brick 45 4 x 1 Double Inverted with Open Centre 1 47905.dat Black Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Opposite Sides 5 54200.dat Black Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 1 93609.dat Black Arm Skeleton with Horizontal Clip Bent 56.31 2 96910.dat Black Tile 1 x 2 Chamfered with 2 Top Indentations 1 3069b.dat Trans-Black Tile 1 x 2 with Groove 1 96910.dat Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 2 Chamfered with 2 Top Indentations 1 3024.dat Trans-Red Plate 1 x 1 4 3023.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 2 3069b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 2 with Groove 1 3070b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 with Groove 2 3679.dat Lt Bluish Grey Turntable 2 x 2 Plate Top 2 4733.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides 3 11477.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 15068.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 1 15712.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 with Clip (Thick) 6 25269.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round 2 26047.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 Round with Horizontal Handle on Side 1 30031.dat Lt Bluish Grey Minifig Handlebars 1 35480.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs 2 35787.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 2 x 2 Triangular 1 48729b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Bar 1.5L with Clip with Truncated Sides and Hole in Shaft 1 61409.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille 1 92946.dat Light Bluish Grey Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1

New Hashima Spinner Speeder Design by Jordan Jivkov from BrickNerd

For the New Hashima collab, I wasn’t able to participate and send any LEGO builds physically, so I wanted to create a design for something small that anyone could build and populate in their cubes to add life to the vibrant cyberpunk city. That’s when I came up with the spinner speeder idea: a bike template that could be changed into whatever color was needed.

I packed the speeder with as much detail as I could in a small space, utilizing every stud and only 47 pieces (including the stand). One of my favorite parts of the build is using two 3679 turntable plates to create the iconic spinner front resembling a wheel.

Finally, remember to customize your minifigure to match your bike! I chose minifigure parts with a cyberpunk vibe and goggles, imagining him to be speeding throughout the city to make a delivery in Sector 02, then stop in the Old City for a nefarious meeting, then back home for a sushi dinner.

This speeder bike was so much fun to design, and I hope you’ll enjoy building this model to bring a little part of New Hashima home with you.

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ANNOUNCER: We take you now to Canalitos, Guatemala.

(CROWD NOISES . . . POLICE SIRENS)

Building

BURKS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jared Burks again, at a farm in Canalitos, Guatemala. Professor Smith and myself made the eleven miles from Guatemala in ten minutes. Well, I... I hardly know where to begin, to paint for you a word picture of the strange scene before my eyes, like something out of a modern “Arabian Nights.” Well, I just got here.

I haven’t had a chance to look around yet. I guess that’s it. Yes, I guess that’s the... thing, directly in front of me, half buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force. The ground is covered with splinters of a tree it must have struck on its way down. What I can see of the... object itself doesn’t look very much like a meteor, at least not the meteors I’ve seen. It looks more like a huge cylinder. It has a diameter of... what would you say, Professor Smith?

SMITH (OFF-MIKE): What’s that?

BURKS: What would you say... what is the diameter?

n 101: io t a iz m o t s u Minifigure C ks

Jared Bur y b y h p a r g o SMITH: About Photthirty meters.

Article and

BURKS: About thirty meters... The metal on the sheath is... well, I’ve never seen anything like it. The color is sort of yellowish-green. Curious spectators now are pressing close to the object in spite of the efforts of the police to keep them back. They’re getting in front of my line of vision. Would you mind standing to one side, please?

POLICEMAN: One side, there, one side.

BURKS: While the policemen are pushing the crowd back, I will recount what locals have told me, as I am unable to get them to the microphone while the police are performing crowd control. Locals describe hearing something long before seeing anything. A hissing sound. Like this: sssssss... then multiple people claim to have seen a kinda greenish streak and then zingo! Somethin’ smacked the ground. Shaking them from their chairs! Locals state they were more riled than frightened. I wish I could convey the atmosphere... the background of this... fantastic scene. Hundreds are arriving with flashlights in a field in back of us. Police are trying to rope off the roadway leading to the farm. But it’s no use. They’re breaking right through. Everyone is pointing flashlights towards the enormous spot on the pit where the object’s half buried. Some of the more daring souls are now venturing near the edge.

Their silhouettes stand out against the metal sheen.

(FAINT HUMMING SOUND)

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One man wants to touch the thing... he’s having an argument with a policeman. The policeman wins....

Now, ladies and gentlemen, there’s something I haven’t mentioned in all this excitement, but now it’s becoming more distinct. Perhaps you’ve caught it already on your radio. Listen: (LONG PAUSE)...

Do you hear it? It’s a curious humming sound that seems to come from inside the object. I’ll move the microphone nearer.

(PAUSE) Now we’re not more then twenty-five feet away. Can you hear it now? Oh, Professor Smith!

SMITH: Yes, Mr. Burks?

BURKS: Can you tell us the meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing?

SMITH: Possibly the unequal cooling of its surface.

BURKS: I see, do you still think it’s a meteor, Professor?

SMITH: I don’t know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extraterrestrial... not found on this earth. Friction with the earth’s atmosphere usually tears holes in a meteorite. This thing is smooth and, as you can see, of cylindrical shape.

BURKS: Just a minute! Something’s happening!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific! This end of the thing is beginning to flake off! The top is beginning to rotate like a screw! The thing must be hollow!

VOICES: She’s movin’! Look, the darn thing’s unscrewing! Keep back, there! Keep back, I tell you!

Maybe there’s men in it trying to escape! It’s red hot, they’ll burn to a cinder! Keep back there. Keep those idiots back!

(SUDDENLY THE CLANKING SOUND OF A HUGE PIECE OF FALLING METAL) BURKS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed... Wait a minute! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top.

Someone or... something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous blue disks... are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be...

(SHOUT OF AWE FROM THE CROWD)

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BURKS: Good heavens, something’s wriggling out of the shadow like a humanoid feline, black as night. Now it’s another one, and another. One has an orange head, oh, another greenish yellow head. They look like jaguars to me. There, I can see the thing’s body. It’s large, large as a bear and it glistens like wet black leather. It is removing what appears to be a helmet, but that face, it... ladies and gentlemen, it’s indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it is so terrifying. The eyes are electric blue and nearly glow in the darkened field. The mouth is filled with sharp teeth with saliva dripping from them that seems to quiver and pulsate. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move. It seems weighed down by... possibly gravity or something.

You Can Build It MINI Build MINI Diorama:

Ezra Bridger’s Tower Design and Instructions

by Christopher Deck

Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

Baseplate

Qty Color 14 Olive-Green 1 Tan

Part 15279.dat 89523.dat

Base Cone First Shell

Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 36841.dat 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 41682.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 30395.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3623.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3795.dat 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 61409.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 45301.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 2413.dat

Base Cone Second Shell

Hello everybody! I am glad to be back for another great building session with you! We are back within the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels for this issue, as there are still so many new things to discover. One of the first scenes we see of the series is a view of the wide grassy plains of the planet Lothal. And from these plains, Ezra’s tower rises up steeply into the skies. This tower is a recurring element throughout the entire series.

Although it looks pretty simple and straightforward, its construction holds some challenges for us! The base cone shape is very long-drawn, making it difficult to find suitable bricks. Fortunately we have those really long 16x4 triple wedge pieces (part number 45301). Using two of them as outer shells with some SNOT-work in the inside creates a perfect long-drawn cone.

To stabilize the construction, we use 1x1 brackets (part number 36841) connected by normal jumper plates (for example part number 3794b). The round top section with the habitation unit is built studs-down with a 6x6 dish (part number 44375a). This will give us a perfect railing around the platform.

I hope you will enjoy building this iconic scene from the series! Have fun, and see you next time!

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Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 36841.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 61409.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 32000.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 45301.dat

Top and Tips

Qty Color Part 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 2569.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 6222.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3960.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 44375a.dat 1 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 64644.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat

1

Dark-Bluish-Gray 24482.dat

1

Black

32062.dat

Description Plant Grass Stem Plate 10 x 10 Octagonal with Hole and Snapstud Description Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Down Bracket 2 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up Centred Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Hook with Towball Plate 1 x 3 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 6 Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Wedge 4 x 16 Triple Curved Wing 4 x 9 Description Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Down Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Plate 1 x 2 Plate 2 x 3 Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Holes Wedge 4 x 16 Triple Curved Description Antenna 8H Whip Brick 4 x 4 Round with Holes Dish 4 x 4 Inverted Dish 6 x 6 Inverted with Hollow Studs Minifig Telescope Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Spike2.4L with 4 Fins with Bar 0.4L Technic Axle 2 Notched Tip

Community

IdahoLUG:

Building Pandora!

IdahoLUG’s Pandora layout.

Article and Photography by Greg Fastabend and Shawn Denowh

In July 2022, the LEGO Group made a call to the LEGO Fan community to submit ideas for an Avatar-themed display.

The call was posted on the LEGO Ambassadors Network to all member organizations, and IdahoLUG’s Ambassador, Greg Fastabend, contacted his club to brainstorm ideas.

A group was gathered who were interested in the project, which decided that their submission would be a fivesquare-foot diorama of Pandora, the moon that Avatar is set on. A proposal explaining what the club wanted to accomplish with their build and where they would display it was also drafted.

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Some details of the layout.

A month later, after some revisions based on requests from the LEGO Group, IdahoLUG was selected from other applications to create an Avatar build! Design ideas and parts lists were to be submitted in one month, which required the club to quickly organize and plan the diorama.

A message was sent to all of the ILUG members, asking them to design plants and animals that would be at home on Pandora. From there, a team was made to supervise and lead the design and build processes. As designs came in, they were evaluated for part availability and build stability in Stud.io (a LEGO building app).

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Simon Jarry’s

echo base hoth

Hoth Echo Base Diorama

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Simon Jarry with his layout.

Article by Eloi Parizeau, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Simon Jarry Galactic greetings! We are Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. As administrators of the best LEGO Star Wars-themed group on Facebook, Eloi Parizeau, David Strenzler and Frank Averstegge witness amazingly creative builds by Star Wars fans worldwide on a nearly daily basis.

This time, we are glad to introduce another talented MOC builder from Canada: Simon Jarry. It was a pleasure to speak to Simon about his latest design: Hoth Echo Base diorama.

Eloi Parizeau: How is it going Simon? The LEGO Star Wars community has known you for some time through the Bantha Bricks Facebook group, where you amazed us with your skilled Star Wars-inspired designs.

Could you please introduce yourself and what you do?

Simon Jarry: Hello, it’s going really well today, thank you Eloi. My name is Simon Jarry (jarrybrick), and I am the father of two young children. Ever since I was six years old, I’ve been a huge LEGO fan. I started with the LEGO Pirates and Castle. However, my passion for Star Wars only started when I was 30 years old. One day, while looking on Marketplace, I saw someone who wanted to trade a large part of their Star Wars collection for LEGO Pirates and ships. It was the trade of my life, ha-ha. Since that moment, I collect this theme and take good care of my loose pieces to create my own creations (MOCs).

Would you say that Star Wars is your favorite theme, or are there others that we might not expect?

Yes, currently my main interest is in the Star Wars theme.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Star Wars Expanded Universe, its iconic characters and captivating spaceships.

The ability to recreate iconic scenes and explore new stories through LEGO construction excites me immensely.

In addition to my interest in Star Wars, I also have a very large and organized inventory of LEGO bricks. I took the time to sort my pieces according to their shapes, colors

Data File: Echo Base Echo Base was the facility established by the Rebel Alliance on the frigid planet of Hoth in the wake of the Battle of Yavin, so named due to its strange acoustics.

Within a month of its establishment, the base was discovered by the Galactic Empire, which quickly invaded Hoth, forcing the Rebels to evacuate.

Source: Wookiepedia.com

A view of the base hangar.

and sizes. It allows me to have an inventory at my fingertips when I want to bring my ideas to life.

Why do you choose the LEGO brick as your medium of self-expression? What makes LEGO so special for you?

From an early age, creating with LEGO became an essenpart of THIS my artistic development and my passion for IF YOUtial ENJOYED PREVIEW, CLICK THE LINK LEGO TO ORDER THIS building. bricks were my first tools to explore my ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL creativity and turn FORMAT! my ideas into something concrete.

Your latest build of a Hoth Echo Base diorama was remarkable. What inspired you to build that particular Hoth Echo Base diorama?

I’m glad my creation of the Hoth Echo Base diorama got your interest. This achievement is the result of my passion for the Star Wars universe and a long-standing desire to bring this scene to life. The inspiration behind this creation goes back to one of my favorite moments in the Star Wars saga: the battle on the frozen planet of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.

Can you tell us a bit about the construction of your build?

BRICKJOURNAL Did you use any#84 special techniques?

STEFAN FORMENTANO masterminds the enormous LEGO city NEW HASHIMA, one of the biggest LEGO Fan community My wasLIU, very builds ever done!

Plus model builds by SIMON BLAKElong FOSTER,and wide, which meant that durand others! Also: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, BANTHA period, I had to keep in mind its ing the whole construction BRICKS: Fans of LEGO Star Wars, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure portability.

One ofand the remarkable features of my creation Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

was the presence of an electric element: a snowspeeder

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 equipped with (Digital Edition) $4.99a train engine. I installed a train engine https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_78&products_id=1779

An overhead look at the layout.

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