If you’re traveling through Northern Italy, you might encounter the picturesque city of Lecco. In his latest masterpiece, “Memories of Lecco”, Dario Minisini chose to model a representation of the city’s renowned waterfront architecture. I really enjoy the overall composition of this model, which has made an excellent use of color. The brown and lavender buildings make for an excellent contrast to one another, and the mixing of old light yellowish-gray and light blueish-gray bricks creates a vintage-looking patina that feels authentic. There is certainly no shortage of charm here. What makes Dario’s model so memorable is the amount of thought and effort that went into incorporating so much detail. A look at the tree with half its leaves missing suggests Fall must be right around the corner. Weathered-looking roof shingles are made possible with parts such as the boat oar, and the benches utilize classic Fabuland fences to great effect. The...

This rustic gas station was built by Markus Rollbühler. He started things off with the Ford tow truck, which then served as the inspiration behind the surrounding architecture and landscaping. According to Markus, he’s “not much of a car builder,” but I can’t help but be impressed by the intricate-looking towing mechanism on the back of his vibrant, bright-light-orange truck. Thanks to the excellent use of darker colors, Markus’ gas station really looks like something you might find while cruising down Route 66. There are plenty of little details to enjoy, including the building’s tilted siding, the custom-built outdoor furniture, and the little red bird in the tree. In particular, I’m loving the design of those trees, which uses several green feather parts as leaves. This same technique was used in one of Markus’ models we featured back in October. In fact, that particular tree looks like it might have been...

World War I (1914-1918) marked a turning point in military technology. While the age of aircraft was still quite young, it did not take military strategists long to recognize their advantage on the battlefield. The era produced legendary pilots like the Red Baron and Eddie Rickenbacker. 100 years later, we can add Wesley to the list of flying aces with his brilliant aircraft from the Great War. By themselves, Wesley’s models look really slick, but his excellent photography really kicks things up a notch. He does an excellent job of setting the scenery, with believable landscaping and cloud laden skies. The muted colors used to present the images are reminiscent of turn-of-the-century hand-tinted color photographs. Wesley has created a number of planes for us to enjoy, including… The French Nieuport 17 The German Albatross And the British Sopwith Camel He has even celebrated the famous Christmas Truce in LEGO form! The...

It takes a lot these days to impress with a LEGO castle creation, and while an interesting roof technique and deceptively simple rockwork can help, this floating island scene by ArzLan shows creativity a level higher. The build doesn’t just feature new ways to build something seen before, but adds another dimension with an open scroll from which the island emerges. It is not a coincidence that I mentioned the roof technique and the rocks as examples of attractive traits of a build, because those are two of the highlights in this particular example. The dragon is important too – it is very well built and adds a lot of life to the scene. The scroll is great as well, and it should not be taken only as a unique subject, but also as a well-built scroll in its own right. The post The scroll containing the secrets of dragon taming...

I don’t think there is anything more fitting to celebrate “Revenge of the Fifth” (the day after May the Fourth) than this diorama by Sergio Jaensson, which depicts the arrival of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Although the shuttle and some of the tie fighters are official LEGO sets, their use doesn’t hurt the overall build — the diorama is so big you probably didn’t even notice them. The signature imperial white glowy lines on the walls of the hangar are a particularly excellent detail, as they prevent the walls from looking too simple and barren. I like the use of the yellow Emperor Palpatine minifigure as it gives the scene a bit of a classic flavor. The build also contains a few Easter eggs: If you look closely in the background near the TIE fighter, you can spot some bumbling Stormtroopers — one has...