Issue 85 • May/June 2024
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Issue 85 • May/June 2024
Contents
From the Editor....................................................2
People Juan Rodriguez Lopez: Building the Beast’s Castle..........................3 Builder Profile: Kimberly Giffen................................................8 Shaun Sheepa: Remaking Figures........................................14
Building
Alberto Micheli: Building Maxifigures!..................................21
Building Your Own Sigfig.............................29 The Making of a Minifigure.........................32 Robert8: Mad about Minifigs! Chatting With a Custom CMF Concept Creator............................................37 BrickNerd Instructions: Builder’s Studio..............................................42 Minifigure Customization 101: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland........48 You Can Build It MINI Iron Talon...............................................56
Community AC Pin: Touring with Brick Convention 2023...............................60 Bantha Bricks: Christoph Baumann Building the Galactic Senate Chamber...........................................................66 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79 AFOLs....................................................................80
From the Editor: This issue was interesting to put together. Minifigures are an item that have their own history with the company. and were an addition that allowed builders young and old to be able to storytell with what they built.
May/June 2024 Issue 85 Publisher John Morrow
For LEGO fans, it was only logical to make figures of themselves to be a part of their builds—these became sigfigs, which are seen and exchanged at events.
Editor in Chief Joe Meno BrickNerd and Assistant Editor Dave Schefcik Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow
Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon
Bantha Bricks Correspondent David Strenzler
Contributors: Christoph Baumann, Jared Burks, Christopher Deck, Isaiah Durand, Kimberly Giffen, Juan Rodriguez Lopez, LEGO House, Alberto Micheli, AC Pin, Robert8, Shaun Sheepa, David Strenzler and Greg Hyland. Many thanks to the websites who have served as mirrors for BrickJournal:
www.LUGNET.com, www.Brickshelf.com, www.peeron.com, www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com
About the Cover: A minifig casts away at a event. Photo by Joe Meno. About the Contents: Boba Fett in Jabba’s throne. Built and photographed by Alberto Micheli.
The minifigure also opened up new creativity—some people wanted to build larger figures or figures that had more articulation. We meet with a couple of those builders in this issue. And we get a look at the design process behind making the Disney minifigures. So we go everywhere on this subject. I hope you enjoy the ride! Joe Meno, editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply.
P.P.S... Yes, BrickJournal has a website — www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too — http://twitter.com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup — http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf. Or you can scan the bottom codes with a QR reader!
Website
Glossary AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) AFFOL (Adult Female Fan of LEGO) TFFOL (Teen Female Fan of LEGO) NLSO (Non-LEGO Significant Other) MOC (My Own Creation) TLG (The LEGO Group) BURP (Big Ugly Rock Piece) LURP (Little Ugly Rock Piece) POOP (Pieces—that can be or should be made—Of Other Pieces)
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SNOT (Studs Not on Top) LUG (LEGO Users Group) LTC (LEGO Train Club) MECHA (a large armored robot on legs, typically controlled by a pilot seated inside) MECH (a large piloted combat robot) DARK AGES (usually teen years, when you drift away from building) STUDS OUT (building where the studs on bricks face the viewer)
BrickJournalTM issue 85, May/June 2024 (ISSN 1941-2347) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BrickJournal, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Joe Meno, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BrickJournal Editorial Offices: 6701 Coachman Drive, Springfield, VA 22152, USA. E-mail: admin@brickjournal.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Six-issue subscriptions: $73 US, $111 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only, and can be purchased at twomorrows.com. LEGO ®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. Star Wars, The Mandalorian TM & © Lucasfilm. All articles, photos, and art © BrickJournal Media, LLC, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.
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BrickJournal and its staff would like to thank the LDraw community for the software it makes available to the community, which we use for making all of the instructions and renderings in this magazine. We would especially like to thank Kevin Clague for his continued upgrades of the LPub tool that is a part of the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.
People
Juan Rodriguez Lopez:
Building the Beast’s Castle
3
People
Silver Pavilions.
Builder Profile:
Kimberly Giffen Article and Photography by Kimberly Giffen 8
Kimberly Giffen is a builder that has made impressive builds that have been seen at BrickCon (a LEGO fan convention in Seattle, Washington). Her creations are notable for detail and size—and are award-winning. BrickJournal chatted with her about her builds and building. Kimberly has been building for over forty years. Back then, she had the LEGO Samsonite sets—and she didn’t get sets with instructions until she was nine. When she got her initial sets, she was always about the remix. For her, it was “build it, take it apart, and build a different variation.” As a huge fan of fantasy in general, the Castle has always taken her away to another world. As a mother of four, Kimberly realized quickly that when she would sit down to play with LEGO with them, they would tire of it, while Mom would continue building. As a result, she has blended her LEGO building into her work: she works for Bricks4KidZ as a STEM instructor. She also teaches LEGO camps in the summer and is a substitute teacher in her local school district. There are a number of influences behind her building. Architecture is her largest influence, as her childhood dream was to become an architect. She always
loved noticing little details in a building. Another source is other builders. Kimberly spent a weekend at Bricks Cascade (a LEGO fan event located in Portland, Oregon) with a giant Japanese architecture-based MOC and went home to start researching. She wanted to find that combination of well-known, moderate size layouts and models that hadn’t been overdone in LEGO before. After research, Kimberly’s builds start as rough sketches to get the scope and size of a build figured out. After that, she may start with elements that set the scale of the build. For example, if she knows a door is in her build, she can figure out other measurements from the door size. Sometime she will prototype challenging elements—for her, it’s often the roof line and how the slopes interact with each other. Stud.io (a LEGO building program available from Bricklink. com) is used by Kimberly to model out sections that she doesn’t have parts for on hand, which allows her to order the exact quantities needed. She tends to jump into building; however, she may have sections done in an unexpected order. She may start with a building’s roof, set it aside, and then go back and start the building itself.
Silver Pavilions’ koi pond.
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Building
Gandalf rides Gwaihir, a Great Eagle.
Shaun Sheepa:
Remaking Figures
Article and Photography by Shaun Sheepa
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If you have seen some incredible figures on Instagram, you might have seen the work of brick.sheepa. These are not minifigures, but built figures that use minifgure heads and helmets in a more realistic scale. His figures and creatures come from movies and video games, and he has made instructions for others to build and explore this scale. Brick.sheepa’s name is Shaun, and he works as a university researcher. His specialty is fluid mechanics—the science of air! This includes the aerodynamics of cars, trains and other vehicles. He also models weather phenomena such as tornadoes or hurricanes. By studying them, he hopes to better understand their behavior, so that we can reduce damage caused by these extreme events. Shaun started LEGO building when he was about seven years old. His first LEGO set was the 1999 Star Wars X-Wing (7140). After that, he made it clear to his parents that he
wanted to receive LEGO for Christmas and his birthday. Of course, LEGO was not cheap, so his parents didn’t like this new interest of Shaun’s. As a result, he only received LEGO on special occasions. As he grew into his teenage years, he saved most of his pocket money that he got from his parents for LEGO. Most of his sets did not stay intact for very long, as they were usually taken apart for his other MOCs. This went on for about ten years until he went to college. Since he did not bring his LEGO collection with him, he stopped LEGO building. He returned to building during the pandemic, when he got bored at home and bought the Empire State Building Architecture set. This reignited his interest in LEGO building, so after that, he bought the Millennium Falcon, then the X-Wing, then Luke’s landspeeder. These sets never stayed intact long, as he was building MOCs. Shaun also learned how to use BrickLink, so getting specific pieces became much easier, compared to buying an entire set like he previously did. It did take him a while to familiarize himself with all the new pieces that hadn’t existed since he stopped building almost a decade ago. Emperor Palpatine and his Crimson Guard in Shaun’s custom scale. Minifigure scale dewback with stormtroopers.
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Building Minifigure Customization 101:
Article and Photography by Jared K. Burks
This BrickJournal article has been written to address the deficit in the LEGO-verse where Alice in Wonderland, a.k.a. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” are concerned. LEGO has seen fit to create the following characters in Minifigure form: Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts. This deficit is no longer tolerable; several of the most beloved characters in the book and animated Disney Classic are just absent. This will stand no more. It is the intention of this author to rectify this issue in a series of articles for BrickJournal to create and share “how to create” the key missing characters, including the Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the brothers Tweedle, the King of Hearts, the March Hare, and the Dormouse. I encourage all readers to watch the animated Disney Classic “Alice in Wonderland,” which is available on Disney+. As with all literary works, I am behind schedule, so without further ado, let’s begin this journey.
I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!
I believe the chapter title will proclaim the figure we are constructing today; however, for those unfamiliar with the work, please revisit the animated classic. I am using the 1951 animated film as inspiration for these additional figures, as it is from this source that LEGO has released the three characters it has sought to create (Alice, Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts). The White Rabbit has two major outfits throughout the film, and he is clearly described by Alice in the original book, which is nearly identically transcribed into the film.
Oh, Dinah! It’s just a rabbit with a waistcoat… and a watch!
The White Rabbit hurries by Alice and her kitten Dinah on his way to wherever he is going. In order to create the White Rabbit, we need a list of parts that we can use from LEGO, and those which we will need to create.
Alice’s first encounter with the White Rabbit.
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so Bright light orange tor s arm d Re White hands Black umbrella m ht Lig bluish grey mediu legs (teen) s Red torso and red arm gle Bu
Cloth co Colla at r B Whit ow tie eR Pock et Wa abbit Hea d tch w ith C h R ain uff Whit e Clo th T with red H abard eart
The point of any series is to reuse elements to help tie the series together. For this one, the collar, bow tie, and waistcoat will be reused on multiple figures. This will make them appear from the same genre, and also make it easier to create so many custom figures. I could merely throw the white tabard over the completed figure, but the collar and ruff have to change between version 1 of the White Rabbit and version 2, so I am making them as separate figures. Version 1 is from the beginning of the film where he is in his waistcoat, and Version 2 we first see in his house that Alice accidentally destroys as she grows large and then small. Looking at our LEGO parts, these are fairly easy to gather together. There is quite a bit of design work to be done for the custom parts. We need a White Rabbit Head, Bow tie, Collar, Pocket Watch with chain, and Ruff (could have used the LEGO version, but it is fairly rare, and painting rubbery parts can be challenging). There are also two cloth elements that needed to be designed, the waistcoat and the white tabard with the red heart.
Inspiration art for the White Rabbit.
I designed some of these, and others I found sources for on Thangs.com and modified them for my needs. For example, an easy alteration to a LEGO part would be the LEGO Bugle which came with a clown. It has an air bulb honker at the end and we want this to look more like a Calvary bugle, so cutting the bulb in half will remedy this issue easily, and then a touch of paint will finalize the look.
When wanting to make something for a LEGO figure, you can design it from the ground up, modify a LEGO part, or find something on Thangs or Thingiverse to see what is available. For this article, I have used things I have found online and also designed from the ground-up. For the White Rabbit, there is a lovely head online available that “Reddadsteve” (https://www.thingiverse.com/reddadsteve/designs) has shared on Thingiverse. Specifically, the White Rabbit can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3043322. Reddadsteve has designed as a complete figure, and not for LEGO. This required some fairly major adjustments to the head to make it fit a LEGO torso, but also to give it correct dimensions to be in the proper scale. I use Meshmixer for these alterations, as I can cut and add things to the head to make it fit a touch better. As I iterated the design, I had to extend the neck to allow the ruff and collar to fit on the head properly. I also had to modify the glasses and some of the other smaller details.
Working on the 3-D sculpt in Meshmixer.
The finished 3-D print.
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Community
Brick Convention, an event founded by Greyson J. Riley, is like none other. Filled with interactive, creative, and educational activities for the whole family, there’s something for everyone to see. And then there is so much more, as there are vendors selling anything and everything LEGO, professional LEGO artists to meet and gain inspiration from, and building zones with thousands of LEGO bricks to build with. I’m one of the artists, and this is my story!
Preview
AC Pin:
Touring with Brick Convention 2023! Article and Photography by AC Pin
The year 2019 was quite a breakthrough in the brick conventions where I and my wife Marleth have been able to exhibit MOCs (My Own Creations). In addition to the usual events we’ve done on the East Coast, we went to Manama Bahrain, LEGO House, Skaerbaek Denmark, and the Philippines prior to the pandemic, which ground everything to a halt. As the year 2022 approached, the convention circuit restarted, and we’ve been able to do several events in Marlborough MA, Edison NJ, Landover MD, and Oaks PA. With the year 2023 looming, negotiations to exhibit outside the tri-state area from different sources were in progress in the third quarter. Finally, we decided in mid-December to go on the Brick Convention 2023 tour.
MOCs Brick Convention was an opportunity to exhibit MOCs at new locations, and gain a wider audience that has never seen or heard of ACPin. The choice was clear to bring out the very best of my iconic builds that have been the hallmarks/trademarks that are familiar to those who’ve followed my LEGO creations over the years.
LEGO House Baker’s Dozen
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These thirteen MOCs have all been displayed at The Home Of The Brick at various times from September 2017 until September 2022. There were no Botanical sets prior to the grand opening of the LEGO House in 2017. In addition to that, there weren’t any Botanical creations in brick conventions during the same time span. These MOCs represent the breakthrough in Botanical creations before anyone else built in the theme.
LEGO Star Wars My most iconic Star Wars MOCs over the years have been featured in various blogs/magazines/books. Before LEGO House came calling in 2017, these LEGO Star Wars creations put me on the map amongst AFOLs early on.
BrickJournal Spring Blossoms BrickJournal’s cover featured my flowers in a well-timed issue hitting the newsstands at the start of the tour in Orlando. All of the Botanical MOCs featured in the magazine were prepared, and a few more creations added to complete the trifecta.
Preparation Since all the MOCs would travel from event to event with the rest of the exhibits while we fly to each location, I’ve had to rethink the packing system to be able to support the tour. Every MOC had to be accounted for, and time is of the essence to locate each creation when setting up, which is just as important when packing up during the breakdown. The repacking of the MOCs to fit four large crates took about a month to accomplish, and the crates were then sent to the Brick Convention home base in North Carolina. All the crates with the individual MOCs in their appropriate boxes will then travel to the Brick Convention events.
Displays and layouts packed for travel.
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the galactic senate chamber 66
Christoph Baumann:
Building the Galactic Senate Chamber Article and Photography by David Strenzler, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars
Galactic greetings! We are Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. As administrators of one of the best LEGO Star Wars-themed groups on Facebook, David Strenzler, Frank Averstegge and Eloi Parizeau witness amazingly creative builds by Star Wars fans worldwide on a nearly daily basis. This time, we are more than happy to introduce an extraordinary MOC builder and Bantha Bricks community member from Germany: Christoph Baumann (Brickwolf), 2022 LEGO Masters Germany finalist. It was our pleasure to speak with Christoph about his latest, and so far biggest, project that he realized together with Tobias Nieder (BrickBob) from The Brick-Collective, Hendrik Bergmann and Philipp Thiel from JB Spielwaren, LEGO Certified Professional René Hoffmeister, Benedikt Ruhe from Brickstory, and the helping hands of the IDS Brickworld community: The Galactic Senate from Star Wars, made of nearly 500,000 LEGO bricks, with an impressive width of 4m and height of 2.6m!
The Galactic Senate.
David Strenzler: Hello Christoph. Welcome to the Bantha Bricks Files! The LEGO Star Wars community has been familiar with your skilled Star Wars-inspired designs for some time. Could you please introduce yourselves and what you do? Christoph Baumann: I’m Christoph, and I’m 34 years old. I’ve been back in the LEGO business for about six years. It has recently escalated from being a hobby to my main job. This has given me the opportunity to realize big visions, such as the Galactic Senate in LEGO.
My colleagues are Tobias, also known from The Brick Collective, who creates digital building instructions and offers an extra alternative when it comes to big LEGO Star Wars models. Benedikt is known for Brickstory, one of the most successful YouTube LEGO channels in Germany. My current employers at JB Spielwaren, Hendrik and Philipp, who are also good friends of mine, basically make it possible to realize such projects at all. The Senate was intended as a special attraction for the 2023 LEGO Star Wars Days at JB Spielwaren.
Would you say that Star Wars is your favorite theme, or are there others that we might not expect? When it comes to LEGO, of course, my interests fall into many other areas, whether it is medieval castles, pirate landscapes, or something really imaginative that has nothing to do with any franchise at all. But I have to say, that my childhood was shaped by Star Wars. From 1999 to 2004, I had every LEGO Star Wars set that ever existed. Afterwards, I took 67