Issue 86 • August 2024
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Landscaping with LEGO® Bricks! Dragons Anu Pehrson’s White Wall
Building Environments to Enhance Your Creation Pirates of the Caribbean INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!
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Issue 86 • August 2024
Contents From the Editor....................................................2
People Temples of Worship for Alien Gods............3
Building
Thunderbirds are GO!.......................................8 Building a Hobby... and a Wall!..................12 Victor van den Berg: The Castle Lounge.......................................20 Joel and Jonathan Neuber: Building Pirates of the Caribbean.........26 BrickNerd Instructions: Upsized LEGO Pine Tree............................34
Minifigure Customization 101: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland II..................44 Life is All About Ease!.....................................50 Donny Chen’s Golden Dragon..................52 Celebrating the Year of the Dragon!.......56
Community
Bantha Bricks: Luca Scheller and Pande Kryopoulos: Brickz Lab.........................................................66 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79 AFOLs....................................................................80
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From the Editor: Landscapes? There’s some landscaping in this issue. But wow, there’s a lot of dragons too—for the Year of the Dragon, more than a few builders made incredible MOCs of the mythical creatures!
August 2024 Issue 86 Publisher John Morrow
There’s also a ride in this issue—the Pirates of the Caribbean! And this layout uses water to push the boats along the attraction... like the real thing! Yo, ho, a pirate’s life for you!
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: Jared Burks, Donny Chen, Kevin Copas, Christopher Deck, Branko Dijstra, Ian Hou, Pande Kyropoulos, Sean Kenney, Joey Klusnick, Ryan McNaught, Joel Neuber, Jonathan Neuber, Anu Pehrson, Robin Sather, Luca Scheller, Nick Tyler, Victor van den Burg, 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: The White Wall from Game of Thrones. Photo by Anu Pehrson.
About the Contents: A close-up of Donny Chen’s dragon. Photo by Donny Chen.
And interior decorating (it’s kinda landscaping) with a build of a lounge. A really beautiful lounge. Really. To wrap up, a Star Wars layout. This issue went all over the place. So sit back and relax or build a little... and see page 79 for why this issue (and next) are a month later than planned. We’re back to bi-monthly next issue! Joe Meno 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 86, August 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.
Temples of Worship for Alien Gods
People
Article and Photography by Nick Tyler (@captain.pigheart on Instagram) Nick Tyler has been LEGO building for as long as he can remember. His first true love was Fabuland, but he also liked LEGO Space and Blacktron, as well as his brother’s Castle sets. His initial building was with those and lots of random bricks. His family also visited the original LEGOLand sometime around 1986-87, which was a very exciting trip.
Nick Tyler with some of his builds.
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Building
Kevin Copas’ Thunderbirds collection.
Thunderbirds are GO! Article and Photography by Kevin Copas Kevin Copas has been building MOCs for seven years, but as a young child, he was always trying to recreate what he saw with bricks. He started building as an adult as he saw LEGO evolve and improve over the years. It got him thinking: What he used to build as a child in the ’80s—could he improve and build better as new parts and colors were introduced? For him, the answer turned out to be a positive one. Kevin’s main core of building is in military MOCs and TV-themed vehicles, but he’s happy to test his skills and try different things like animals and buildings, as they offer different challenges.
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While the evolution of LEGO got Kevin into MOC building, attending brick events all over the UK inspired him to do more MOCs and show the skill he has building LEGO, as well as to inspire adults and children that their imagination can go as far as they wish and can achieve the impossible. Patience and perseverance are a must, and his creations demonstrate this. For Kevin, the outside world has always been an inspiration for him to build. He’s always looking for
Building Thunderbird 2 Thunderbird 2 is the most iconic craft and was a challenge to build. Here’s a look at the steps behind the construction of Kevin’s model.
The fuselage starts to take shape.
Initial builds of the stabilizer and engine.
Landing struts are tested.
Thunderbird 1.
Exhausts and stabilizer are added.
something with a Wow Factor. For him, creating a real-life thing in brick form with a good representation sure is satisfying, but it can challenge him.
Some of his best known MOCs are based on a Gerry Anderson series: Thunderbirds. Since he was a child, Kevin was always recreating the Thunderbirds Tracey Island base in bricks. Back in the ’60s, it was a captivating series that showed a lot of imagination and good morals. He was inspired to create brick versions of the Thunderbird crafts as well as the pod vehicles from the show. When he was a kid, he built them with incorrect colors. He now had the opportunity to recreate and revise the vehicles in correct colors—and to add that Wow Factor, make them in a good large size. Already his Thunderbirds have attended two LEGO shows in 2024 so far. Thunderbird 2 is by far the fans’ favorite, which fed into another reason to build: wow the crowd. Building the Thunderbirds happened over a five-year period, with each vehicle being a year-long effort. It wasn’t planned out to be an annual thing.
Thunderbird 2’s cargo pod under construction. Thunderbird 2.
The shaping of the front nears completion. The support crafts are built to fit the cargo pod.
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Building Most children grow up with toys and books and movies, comics being part of books. Superman, Spider-Man, Darth Vader, or Spock are normal everyday characters in their lives— but why am I speaking of children? Pop culture is important to adults, too! This is something I learned much later in life. Growing up in India in a kind of traditional way, my exposure to comics and movies was limited. Think Asian Tiger Mom. Comics, movies, fictional books, and cartoons on TV were all a waste of time. I would love to read mysteries like Sherlock Holmes or Perry Mason, but had to do it after everyone was asleep, under the covers with a torchlight. Amar Chitra Katha were the only comics available to me to read, which did make me an expert in Akbar and Birbal stories. Fast-forward twenty or so years, and I moved to the USA and realized that pop culture references were everywhere! There wasn’t a day when I wasn’t completely lost during a normal conversation, because of a reference to something I didn’t know. Oh, I did know of Superman or Spider-Man, but if I was told, “These are not the droids you’re looking for,” I’m like, “What are droids?” and “No, I’m looking for my keys.”
My first build from Game of Thrones was Pyke Castle, as featured in BrickJounal #45.
Building a Hobby... and a Wall! Article and Photography by Anu Pehrson
Then the problem became more acute as an AFOL. LEGO and pop culture go hand-in-hand. It’s all good for a while if you’re building Architecture, Landscaping, and City, but a large part of LEGO sets and MOCs (my own creations) are based on some sort of pop culture. When I displayed at LEGO conventions, I realized that it was definitely sacrilege not knowing who Captain Kirk or ObiWan Kenobi were. Imagine what happened to me when I joined my local LUG (LEGO Users Group) to display at Comic-Con! This was a defining moment when I realized that I had to educate myself. A friend’s 8–9 year old son took me under his wing and began teaching me. I watched all the Star Wars movies, Spider-Man, and so many others. I finally understood the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek, but it was brutal! Honestly (and please don’t hate on me), some of it is just not interesting to me. I like Grogu now, if that helps. And Mickey Mouse and Tom & Jerry are the best! Master Yoda, like I do.
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Since I loved reading, I came across George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. That was an interesting story and very popular. It was the first time I was in-sync with current pop culture. I loved the story, but the descriptions of the locations and castles immediately sparked an interest in me as an AFOL to build scenes from it.
Another view of Pyke Castle.
I personally don’t believe in catering to the likes and wants of others. I feel I get the best result if I build things that are interesting to me. That said, the popularity of this MOC did point to the fact that building a genre where a larger number of people associate or identify with, does create more interest. If this genre is also interesting to me to build, then everything works out!
Case in point, I built Tiger’s Nest Monastery, which in my opinion in visually more interesting than Pyke, but since it’s not a well known place, it wasn’t as popular.
Tiger’s Nest Monastery.
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Building
Inez’ Raffesia leonardi.
Joel and Jonathan Neuber:
Building Pirates of the Caribbean!
Joel Neuber got his first set in 1985, building off and on for 39 years. His favorite theme is Pirates, and he was very disappointed with the official LEGO Black Pearl set in 2011. He thought, “I know I could do better,” so he bought two of the sets and a couple thousand black parts, and built his own ship based off the Black Pearl in the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean video game. His inspiration for building the entire Pirates of the Caribbean ride came from even earlier, when he went to Disneyland in 1990. He was 11, and the very first LEGO Pirates sets were released. After he rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, he was mesmerized! As soon as he got home, he recreated it as best as he could with his Pirate LEGO pieces. At the time, he didn’t have anywhere near the parts he needed to do the ride justice, but the dream was born to someday recreate it, water and all. The resulting layout was displayed at Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in Denmark in 2023, and was the result of two years of work. Between work and family, Joel didn’t have much building time, so it took much longer than most builders would probably take. Using water in the build forced Joel to design it completely before connecting the first two bricks. It took a month just to draw out a path that fit his available space and incorporated the features he wanted in the order he wanted. Once he set up the water canal path and built the table around it, there was no way to change the layout. Joel had considered other mechanical methods of moving the boats through the ride, such as rollercoaster track, train track, or conveyor belt, but none of them really recreated the experience of the actual ride. Boats and water tied so well with the theme of Pirates that he decided that it was worth the hassle of incorporating moving water. When Joel decided to go with water, he knew he had to have the “drop,” since it is such a memorable part of the ride.
The layout design.
Joel’s Black Pearl.
The layout table takes shape.
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After watching many YouTube videos of the rides at Disneyland and Walt Disney World for research, he combined his favorite elements from the Pirates ride at those parks as well as Disneyland Paris. Working with water added so many complexities and challenges. The table had to be perfectly flat and level (within 5mm). All motors and wiring had to be elevated, and the water flow had to be consistent with just the right volume. The lift mechanism had to start underwater, lift boats out of the water, and get the boats back in the water 14 inches higher up, and repeat it perfectly for an eighthour show. Since the lift mechanism was built inside the mountain, Joel couldn’t access it if something got stuck. For the ride to actually have water, though, required making a ride channel to accommodate the ride boats. The boats are from the LEGO 4+ Pirates sets, which turned out to be the best size to use for the layout. The boats allowed for seats, and three minifigures to ride. The ride channel was designed and built into the layout table, using pond liner to make the channel watertight. LEGO elements were then added over the liner as needed, mostly for guiding and moving the boats. A look at the foliage on the layout. The loading dock.
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The layout itself starts at a dock, which is based on the loading area at Walt Disney World. The boats are stopped and slowly launched using a conveyor belt built under the waterline. The boats then pass through a bayou, which references Disneyland’s version of the ride. Past the bayou is a entrance that leads to the first skeleton cave, in which resides the Helmsman, steering his doomed ship. After disappearing around a dark corner, the boats go up a lift that is run by a set of conveyor belts to the second skeleton cave, where several vignettes from the ride are displayed. Past the cave is a drop, inspired by the drop in the Disneyland ride. The boats stop at the edge of the drop until the water behind builds up to push them forward. From the outside, the boats launch out of a skull-shaped rock formation.
The bayou scene, with internal lighting.
From there, the boats follow the storyline of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World rides by landing in the middle of the bombardment of a fort by the Wicked Wench, the ship that becomes the Black Pearl in the movies. The Wicked Wench was built by Jonathan Neuber, Joel’s brother. However, since they lived seven time zones apart, Jonathan built the ship and cabin based on dimensions given by Joel. Jonathan built the ship with
The Helmsman.
Some more of the skeleton pirates.
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Other than the 2x4 brick, perhaps no single LEGO element is as instantly recognizable as the LEGO pine tree. At more than 50 years old, the large pine tree (also called a spruce tree) has only ever been produced in green and bright green with frosted tips—and it has only been included in 150 sets. Yet for how iconic the tree element is, it is shockingly “out of system” with an oversized circular base and no other standard connection points from top to bottom. Designing circular creations will always be a challenge, but especially when all those half circles emanate from a central column. Enter the Travis brick—a 1x1 SNOT brick with studs on all four sides—that forms the central core of the tree. While green versions of the Travis brick are nonproduction and quite expensive, they can easily be substituted for black for nearly the same effect. (Now all we have to do is wait for the 1 x 1 x 2/3rds brick in green as well, so then you can substitute the 1x1 plates and run a bar through the entire length of the tree for even more stability!) So enjoy building your upscaled tree, a quirky and longstanding part of LEGO’s arboreal history!
Tree Parts List
(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color Description
Upsized LEGO Pine Tree Design by Joey Klusnick 34
6 1
4733.dat 78258.dat
Black Black
25 10 43 22 14 8 2 16
3005.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3070b.dat 3623.dat 3710.dat 4032a.dat 15573.dat
Green Green Green Green Green Green Green Green
1
30367c.dat
Green
30 2 1 4 8 6 2
54200.dat 63864.dat 85861.dat 87087.dat 92946.dat 93273.dat 99780.dat
Green Green Green Green Green Green Green
Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides Bar 2L with Thick Stop and Pin Holes Brick 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 1 Tile 1 x 1 with Groove Plate 1 x 3 Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Cylinder 2 x 2 with Dome Top with Axle Hole and Hollow Stud Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Tile 1 x 3 Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1 Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Double Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up
1
2
3
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Building
Donny Chen’s Golden Dragon! Article and Photography by Donny Chen Donny Chen is known as the designer for the LEGO Ideas Grand Piano and other builds. He also is a piano teacher, tuner and technician. One of his most recent builds was a Chinese Dragon that was shown at Brickvention, a LEGO fan event in Australia earlier this year. Over six feet long, the model is made up of over 7000 pieces, of which 1300 were scales. Donny has been building for around 14 years now, getting hooked with Technic construction vehicles. The first set he bought was the 8297 Off-Roader. From there, he started to build on his own when he tried to add a gear box to his Off-Roader. He also slowly started building models that LEGO didn’t offer.
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Inspiration for Donny can come in real-life objects, or sometimes the shape of a certain LEGO brick. Building a creation can take a week to a few months, depending on its size. Most of the important parts of his models have been thought through, so he knows what sections can be done with LEGO bricks. Donny begins building digitally, as he doesn’t have a very large part collection. The digital build will give him a good idea of how many elements he will need to purchase for his model.
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Community
Celebrating the Year of the Dragon! Article by Joe Meno Photography by Sean Kenney, Robin Sather, Ryan McNaught, and Branko Dijkstra
The Chinese New Year is celebrated by festivals and celebrations worldwide. 2024 is the Year of the Dragon and started on February 10, 2024. Three professional brick artists celebrated the year by presenting LEGO-built dragons online. One dragon has been on display on a traveling exhibition, while the other two were publicly displayed. Here are the stories behind them.
Sean Kenney’s dragon.
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Sean Kenney is a brick artist that is based in Amsterdam, with studio spaces there and in New York City. His work has been seen on displays and exhibitions around the world, including the Nature Connects exhibition. For the 2017 Chinese premiere of the exhibit, Sean and his team built a dragon that was an upsized version of a dragon that was originally built as a gift for LEGO China. The smaller dragon was presented to the Beijing and Shanghai team in 2012. Some closer views of Sean’s dragon.
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