50,000 LEGO Bricks Used To Build This LEGO Renaissance Center MOC in Detroit

Our featured LEGO MOC for today is the LEGO Renaissance Center MOC, which took four professionals 300 hours to build. 

Yes, this might be easily passed for another LEGO City project or another Architect set to dive into, unless we tell you that it’s made of 50,000 bricks and is 6 feet high. This brick-built replica of the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan is just one of the 10 Detroit areas that will be on permanent display as part of the attractions of LEGOLAND Discovery Center Michigan.

This LEGO Renaissance Center MOC, which took four professionals 300 hours to make, was unveiled before a crowd of LEGO fans and enthusiasts inside the Cobo Center, where the North American Auto Show is taking place.

A Closer Look at This Gargantuan LEGO Renaissance Center MOC

The miniature RenCen is one of 10 Detroit-area landmarks made of LEGO bricks that will be on permanent display when the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Michigan located at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills opens this spring. “The landmarks were chosen through online voting last year and Detroit’s glass-and-steel Renaissance Center was the top vote-getter”, said Hayley Anderson, general manager for the Michigan LEGOLAND.

Derek Chock, one of the four professional Lego builders who built the model from computerized blueprints shared some details on how this LEGO Renaissance Center MOC was built. “All of it except for the windows are regular LEGOs which you can go to the store and purchase. The reflective windows are pieces of laser-cut mirrored acrylic”. Derek is with U.K.-based Merlin Entertainments, which owns and operates the Michigan-based LEGOLAND.

The other Detroit-area landmarks slated to be built entirely from LEGO bricks include:

    1. Spirit of Detroit sculpture
    2. Belle Isle
    3. Motown Museum
    4. Fox Theatre
    5. The Guardian Building in downtown
    6. Comerica Park
    7. Uniroyal Giant Tire
    8. Michigan Central Station
    9. The Heidelberg Project

Watch this short clip from the WCBD News 2 and tell us what you think.

 

Best 2015 Movies in LEGO Stop-Motion

Perhaps for some of us, LEGO is, and will always be a child’s toy. Unless you’re a brick enthusiast, those fancy and often times pain-on-the-foot pieces will simply remain just another piece of coloful plastic. That does not seem to be case anymore as the brick company realized last year with the debut of its “The LEGO Movie”. With the potential of touching base with an older generation – who after all, shells out the bucks once their kids set eyes on these fancy bricks – LEGO-themed movie concepts might just do the trick in making die-hard fans and believers out of them. So you think ‘The LEGO Movie” is a great idea? How about doing remakes of our favorite 2015 movies sounds like?

This is exactly what the awesome people of Tuscano Bricks have in mind when they released a trailer featuring scenes from the most celebrated films of 2015 in LEGO form. There are some spoilers, especially for Star Wars fans. But the very premise of watching these cute minifigs perform as Hollywood superstars makes it an easily forgivable one. I’m not sure though if the brick version of F7 will demand the same respect that we have for the original film.

Watch this YouTube video from Tuscano Bricks and tell us if you can spot the movies they choose. Others are give-aways but some are pretty subtle.

Warning: Some scenes may not be appropriate for children.

Here’s How To Build Your Own Custom LEGO BB-8

This custom LEGO BB-8 is simple enough to be built at your own home using LEGO bricks that you may have lying around. 

The latest addition to the Star Wars family of droids has already left a mark on the hearts of endearing fans. The non-human but adorable BB-8 droid, with its flair for the dramatic, quickly gained a following among the younger generation of Star Wars fans – not to mention a host of toys and other promotional memorabilia.

Since the last quarter of the year, the internet has been riddled with so many iterations of BB-8 either as toy figures, or actual working models, and this may be the first attempt to create this droid from actual LEGO pieces. Sure, we know that LEGO is quick to catch on to the LEGO Star Wars hype.

It even has a minifigure of BB-8 on one of its offered sets. However, it is yet to offer the actual challenge of building the iconic droid itself. So while waiting for LEGO to release such a brick-built version of the newest droid on the block, let’s take a look at this custom LEGO BB-8, and see if you can build one of your own.

How to Build Your Own Custom LEGO BB-8

One such fan took on the challenge of marrying his love for the Star Wars franchise and his love for the LEGO brick. Mashable’s Adario Stranger reports, “A Reddit user by the name of “hendrikdejager” recently posted his own LEGO version of the BB-8 droid on the site and it turned out pretty awesome. The mechanics of putting the Lego-made droid together are pretty tedious, which is why the maker posted a demonstrational how-to video (above) on YouTube on Tuesday”. Other than his video, this clever LEGO enthusiast also posted a detailed parts list for anyone else who wants to try their hand at making their own custom LEGO BB-8.

Watch this video and see if you can build one of your own.

 

 

This Custom LEGO AT-AT Took 6,000+ Parts and 26 Hours To Build!

If you’re the type that often complains while building LEGO models and sets out of the box, you might want to think again after watching this video. Peter Brookdale who goes by the profile cavegod2009 on Flickr, came up with a custom LEGO AT-AT which took 6,000+ pieces and 26 hours to build.

custom lego at at star wars
Image courtesy of Brick Vault

Peter also came up with other amazing customized creations such as the Imperial Tie Fighter, Sandcrawler, Imperial Shuttle, and A-Wing. Based on the retired LEGO AT-AT (75054) model, you can just imagine how massive this LEGO Star Wars project is, considering that LEGO first came up with the idea using only 1,137 pieces!

Building a Massive Custom LEGO AT-AT

Charlie from BrickVault took on the challenge of Peter’s design and personally ordered the 6,000 LEGO bricks from BrickLink. Filming himself and a buddy for a total of 4 days, they came up with a time-lapse video worth 26 hours of building time. Towards the end of the video, there were some modifications that needed to be done since they had a bit of a challenge in connecting the legs to the main body and making it stand independently.

custom lego at at star wars 01
Image courtesy of Brick Vault

The exceptional attention to detail and smooth finish of this custom LEGO AT-AT owes it to what BrickVault calls the SNOT Technique making for a smoother appearance. This is not the same thing that you want to sneeze out, but is an acronym for “Studs Not On Top”.

This is one custom LEGO AT-AT that is definitely worth more than a thousand words. Check out BrickVault’s video below and tell us what you think about his amazing feat.