LEGO has announced that LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), the company’s proprietary virtual building program, will no longer be updated. New parts may occasionally be added, but LEGO is officially defunding the platform. Read more about this announcementTell all your friends! The Aston Martin DB5 is famous for being the most recognised cinematic James Bond car, and builder Peter Blackert has released his latest creation, the DB5 Volante, from the garage just in time for the new Bond film. The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer released in 1963, made by Aston Martin and designed by the Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. The DB5 was first used as Bond’s car in Goldfinger in 1964 and was destroyed in Skyfall in 2012. I haven’t seen the new Bond film Spectre yet so I don’t know if Bond’s DB5 has recovered to make an appearance, though it is confirmed that Bond will drive a brand-new DB10 which was designed specifically for Agent 007 by Aston Martin.
At first sight Peter’s DB5 appears luxurious with chrome detailing, a soft tan leather interior and maroon bodywork. Look closely and you will see ingenious use of minifigure accessories such as ice-skates used as door handles and registration plate holder, or binoculars for the exhaust. At the sound of the whistle its Train Time again, constant reader and fortunately for all of us Sérgio Batista (SujiroLegoTrains) can feed our mutual craving for the rails. First up is the “CP1900” Portuguese Railways diesel locomotive all decked out in a Halloween color scheme. And since Saturday nights are made for double-shots, let’s also enjoy the charming “Sintra´s Tram” whose title I initially misread as “Sinatra’s Train“. I like to think the Chairman of the Board would have liked this tram, it has style. Time to go digital with a mind-blowing tank called the “Ûbârrek-Âssoi Remîv ÛâR – 57/6” by Edmonton’s own Ian MacDonald (ABS doohickies). This brutal looking war machine was inspired by the Valdor Tank Hunter from the Warhammer 40k franchise and I have little doubt that Heinz Guderian would approve of its style and features.
While the vocal tribe of purists might complain that most of the parts used are not actually available in dark-tan, we try to have a wider view of things here at the big blog. I included a photo of the back-side because the level of detail and clever parts usage is simply too stunning to miss. Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another rope-a-dope edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout features two maritime maestros dueling for the honor of Poseidon and of course, your voting pleasure. Let’s go to the tale of the tape: Fighting out of the red corner, from the Land of the Rising Sun…”Dangerous” Dak yuki and his “Aegis Ship.” And fighting out of the blue corner, from the digital side of the tracks, Matt “The Bomber” Bace and his “Mini Inland Ferry“. As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the battle of the SHIPwrights, sky4walker disintegrated his opponent with a score of 7-4.
Tune in next week for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights! Matt Bace (mmbace) takes us back to 1981’s “Stripes” and one of most bad-ass RV’s in cinematic history, the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle. “That’s a fact, Jack.” It’s time to check in for an extended stay with our friends in digital space, constant reader to find out what’s new (and in some cases not so new) in their world. The genres are as diverse as the builders surveyed so grab your favorite beverage and get ready for some real refreshment. I want to grab the attention of readers who are not usually fans of digital builds and this image by Nachapon Sintateeyakorn is sure to lure in the unwary with visions of rare gold minifigs. You covet the gold, don’t you? Next we’ll take to the skies of old with Brian Fitzimmons and his B-17 Flying Fortress. For those of you who like your aircraft modern, or perhaps just a little bit futuristic, enjoy the Mi-54 “Oleni” VTOL gunship by Matthew SylvanO.
It also fits nicely into TBB’s well known Olive Conspiracy. More Digital-pure action after the jump! “Pop a top, my friend” and enjoy your visual buzz before yet another weekend slips by and it’s back to the spice mines of Kessel, smashed into…well…who know’s what? . Tonight’s topic is science fiction and it’s many splendid forms brought to you by builders who run the gamut from obscure to famous. We begin our journey through the ABS cosmos with in the good ship U-740 from TBB regular F@bz. Then we slip momentarily into digital space for a run-in with the Crusader DropShip by Blackout (Kylie). Eventually we have to make planetfall to continue our explorations and we’ll be employing this trio of Alien Moonstalkers by onosendai2600. Of course we’re bound to encounter some alien creatures along the way, like this Blue Bloodworm by A Plastic Infinity. Even a weekend exploration of the Sci-Fi genre would not be complete without a model inspired by a film, and filling that role to perfection is the Elysium inspired ADS-64 JACKRABBIT by ∞CaptainInfinity∞.
We might need something to step on that Blue Bloodworm so we’ll keep this untitled mecha handy from Freedom01. Our journey has been arduous, and we find ourselves in rough shape and in desperate need of a little…enhancement, courtesy of spook and his League of Privateers “Iron Warmonger”. let’s end this thing with a bang from M.R. Yoder who didn’t stop building until he had an entire fleet. Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another low-blow edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout pits traditional vs. digital styles in an all out struggle for supremacy in the ring. Fighting out of the red corner, from The City of Roses…Nathan “The Knife” DeCastro (nate_decastro) and his XV-1011 EL-AHRAIRAH. And fighting out of the blue corner, from somewhere deep inside the MCP cone, Jackhammer-joeluk66 and his Anubis.On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, Iron Builder Rematch, FNF history was made as the judges called the bout a draw.
Maybe a highly acclaimed panel of turbo-nerds really is the best way to decide The Iron Builder, or maybe this was the closest IB competition to date. “Antarctic Snow Cruiser” is the latest project by bigboy99899, and it looks like a great deal of fun. Not only is it a big burly-man vehicle suitable for all manner of high adventure, it also has some outstanding play features. I was wondering how the figs were supposed to get the plane down, but fortunately the builder has a good answer: “To get the airplane on or off the Cruiser, a ramp of snow was to be built-up to meet the sloping aft deck of the “Turtle”. Apparently the set is a Cuusoo project if you’re into supporting such ventures. It’s time to get digital again, constant reader and check out the “Grasshopper light mech” by Hungarian builder Matthew Sylvan. One looks great, but how awesome would a cloud of grasshoppers look? Food for thought builder Sylvan, food for thought. Az óriás robot kiemelkedő!