Archives for January 2018

MOC: Fire HQ

Wednesday, 31st January 2018 By Caz

Micropolis already has a General Hospital, so I thought I better make a Fire Station too. This building was prompted by the arrival of 128 red 1×4 bricks with 3 technic holes (3701), bought from Bricklink for a penny each! They are normally used in Micropolis baseplates, but I stole a few from the stash for this place because I thought they made excellent window elements.

I added some of the large red arches (6060) which I had in my parts drawers to provide some interesting shapes to the exterior.

I have had the stickered flame tile for ages and remembered it would make a good sign to go in front of the building. Add a little bit of landscaping, some roof skylights and a long whip aerial and the build was finished.

Watch the video on this Block by Blockhead:

MOC: Venom Security Inc.

Friday, 26th January 2018 By Caz

Several factors came together recently to produce this crazy, ostentatious, menacing edifice which I dubbed Venom Security Inc. The hapless citizens of Micropolis are under the mistaken impression that this is just a firm of security experts, but in fact the building houses the thinly-disguised HQ of the Micropolis Secret Service!

The main components of the build were again PAB finds – black 1×2 grille bricks, orange 1×2 bricks (with a few slopes thrown in from a play brick box) and those three big cockpit pieces which I found in the “nearly gone” PAB secret stash at Stratford. They made perfect skylights for the otherwise fairly windowless building.

And then of course there are all the other mad trans-neon-orange greebles everywhere – most of which came from that mixed eBay lot a few days ago. I was able to pick through the boxes and find loads of useful stuff to embellish it with.

Even better, if you turn the lights off and shine a UV torch at the place, it glows menacingly in the dark! Spooky.

I really like this 1/2 block module, and it’s probably one of my favourite Micropolis builds so far.

Watch the video on this Block by Blockhead:

Ninjago Movie: Green Ninja Mech Dragon (70612)

Wednesday, 24th January 2018 By Caz

I popped into my local Smyths Toys today and noticed they had a fiver off the Green Ninja Mech Dragon (70612). I was weak and succumbed to the lure of all that lovely sand green and gold.

As I have mentioned before, I’m not a big fan of mecha in general but this dragon has a wonderful shape and lots of articulation in the tail – it can really swish it around! The joints are very flexible which leads to many realistic poses. I was also pleased with the 4 minifigs which came with the set, although only Lloyd wanted to pose with his fiery steed for this picture.

MOC: Monochrome Court

Wednesday, 24th January 2018 By Caz

I wanted to use some of the smaller clear transparent windscreen pieces I got in the big eBay haul the other day, along with some clear 1×2 bricks from my stock. My last building was very colourful but I decided to stick to a black, white and dark grey palette for this one, and so it became Monochrome Court. The wheel arches were a recent find at Stratford PAB wall, where I picked up a handful and thought they would make good architectural features. I used them here to frame the top storey windows and one at each end of the ground floor.

The white bow pieces finished off the roof and echoed the arches. And now I look at the building after putting it together, it reminds me very much of some parts of the Barbican Centre in London (see this image taken a while back).

I added some landscaping and ponds out front (also a feature of the Barbican Centre) and a little bridge to get across to the main doorway, and the module was done.

Watch the video on this Block by Blockhead:

MOC: Raspberry House

Monday, 22nd January 2018 By Caz

You remember all those dark pink 1×2 bricks I picked up from the PAB in Shepherd’s Bush a few days ago? With the addition of some white headlight bricks I ordered from Bricklink, and a few leftover pale pink 1×2 plates and 1×1 round trans red plates from Leicester Square PAB in December, I put together this 1/4 block residential unit in the smart end of Micropolis. I called it Raspberry House as it reminds me of Raspberry Ripple ice cream.

MOC: Raspberry House - Front — MOC: Raspberry House – Front

I found a few more pink bits and pieces in my parts drawers to finish off the landscaping and roof, and topped it all off with a magenta curved 1×4 brick (6191). Must be the raspberry sauce on top!

MOC: Raspberry House - Rear — MOC: Raspberry House – Rear

Watch the video on this Block by Blockhead:

Exhibition: LMEE 2018

Sunday, 21st January 2018 By Caz

The London AFOLs were sharing a stand at the London Model Engineering Exhibition with Brickish at Ally Pally over the weekend. Several of our members had built GBC modules and they were all put together to make a ridiculously pointless ball-carrying contraption, including two of mine. The punters loved it! Here’s a video of the circuit: