Custom LEGO BrickHeadz - Benny the 1980-Something Space Guy

Video Link: Custom LEGO BrickHeadz - Benny the 1980-Something Space Guy

Check out my take on Benny the Spaceman in LEGO BrickHeadz form! I think soon I'll work on Emmet and Wyldstyle versions to go with him as well.

"Hey, I'm Ben! But you can call me Benny! And I can build a spaceship. Watch this."
- 1980's Something Space Guy, The LEGO Movie

 

The tank on his back took me the most time to be happy with.

Custom LEGO Star Wars - Benny's Modified X-Wing

Video Link: Custom LEGO Star Wars - Benny's Modified X-Wing

What I would love to be my personal fighter if I was living in the Star Wars LEGO universe. The T-70BA is a blue and black reskin of Poe's T-70 X-Wing Fighter (set 75102) with engine modifications and weapons systems upgrades.

S foils locked in attack position!

T-70BA X-Wing Fighter specs:

• 4x KX14 Laser Cannons
• 4x concussion missile Launchers
• 2x MG7 Krupx Proton Torpedo Launchers
• Incom-FreiTek 5L5 fusial thrust split-engines with turbo intake modifications
• Hyperdrive
• Deflector Shields 
• BB series Astromech Droid 

Upgraded laser and missile systems.

 

With these engines I'll give Dom Torretto a run for his money.

"I'm not such a bad pilot myself"
- Luke Skywalker, Star Wars

Custom LEGO BrickHeadz - Ben "Swolo" (Kylo Ren)

 Video Link: Custom LEGO BrickHeadz - Ben "Swolo" (Kylo Ren)

Ever since 'that scene' in The Last Jedi, I knew the pop culture memes and jokes referencing it would be plentiful.The internet definitely hasn't disappointed. A while ago I saw a fan made Pop! Vinyl box art for a topless Kylo Ren titled Ben Swolo and knew I had to contribute my creativity to the cause in the form of a BrickHeadz character. I really had a fun time giggling like a school boy while building it.

"Can you put on a cowl or something?"

- Rey, The Last Jedi

I definitely plan on making a bunch more custom BrickHeadz and I already have so many parts ordered to get them done, So I'll share them all soon!

Custom LEGO - Train Rolling Stock

Video Link: Custom LEGO - Train Rolling Stock

With such a large city train track layout I thought I'd better get some train related stuff rolling on the rails. I made up a few common official LEGO sets but they just don't seem epic enough on their own. Some of the cargo carriers have a decent look to them so I just modified and multiplied them, while also creating some completely custom cars.

7x Open pallet cargo carrier.

 

2x Vehicle transporter.

 

2x Coal car.

 

2x Mining hopper.

Custom LEGO Star Wars - Benny's X-Wing X-Wing X-WING!

Video Link: Custom LEGO Star Wars - Benny's X-Wing X-Wing X-WING!

One afternoon while staring at Benny's Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP I was inspired to build a hybrid of it and a Resistance X-Wing (set 75149). Then with the release of the LEGO Batman Movie Batwing (set 70916) and its awesome Trans Yellow Windscreen piece, I had all I wanted to kick this project off.

The T-70CS X-Wing Fighter is a throwback to the LEGO Classic Space theme with parts and colors selected to bring the look of the modern X-Wing in line with what might have been made back in the day. And obviously making it way more awesome!

"Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP"
- Benny, The LEGO Movie

T-70CS X-Wing Fighter Awesome specs:

• 4x KX12 Laser Cannons
• 4x BA7 Ion Pulse Cannons
• 4x Flick Flick FLICK Launchers
• 2x MG7 Krupx Proton Torpedo Launchers
• Incom-FreiTek 5L5 fusial thrust split-engines
• Hyperdrive
• Deflector Shields 
• B2-A1 Astromech Droid 

Engine and Weapons systems.

Forgot my helmet...

Thanks guys. I have another customized X-Wing on the way next week. Cyas!

Benny's LEGO City Update #2 - Train Track & Ballast

Video Link: Benny's LEGO City Update #2 - Train Track & Ballast

G'day, I want to start this post with a bit of a story.

When I was a child my Opa has several HO scale train layouts. My cousin an I would spend hours and hours making up trains and controlling them around. My Opa was a very talented man and would hand make and paint all the scenery, mountain landscapes, roads and he was especially good at waterfalls and rivers. I always loved my own LEGO train sets as a kid and when I started planning a LEGO city I knew that trains would play a very large roll in it. Here's hoping I have inherited some of Opa's talent and can do justice with my own layout.

The longest stretch of track covers the entire length of the table.

Full curve in place to help line up the ballast.

Plate outline of one of the switch tracks.

Switch tracks were the most complicated to get the under details lined up.
This is where 2 switches almost touch.

Unfinished train yard. The colored plates have no significance,
they were just cheap to buy in bulk and made good filler.

Finishing up the train yard... bags of parts and tracks everywhere... organized chaos.

Extra studs for detail will be added to the inside of the curves.

Quite a while ago I was trying out a few designs for the train track look. A popular method is using 1x4 black or brown tiles alternating every other stud, which I think looks amazing. However I decided to go with 2x4 plates in the middle and 1x2 plates on the outside, both in reddish brown, not just to be different but to save me a LOT of money. With so much track on the table it starts to add up fast. The tracks are placed on a double layer of built up grey plates with further layers of smaller detail to be added after the tracks are in. I made some final prototypes before going ahead to be sure I'd be happy with the design.

Straight section prototype.

Curved prototype was very time consuming...

And just some number crunching, this layout is made up of:

• 433 Straight Tracks
• 93 Curved Tracks
• 15 Switch Tracks (8 Right, 7 Left)
• Over 1500 redish brown 2x4 plates and over 3000 1x2 plates to make up the main sleepers
• Around 600 light grey modified plates + 1200 cheese slopes for station sleepers
• Over TEN THOUSAND various grey plates making up the ballast and details
• So far...

Thanks guys be sure to look at the YouTube Video for a complete dynamic run through of the finished layout. Next up I will be adding in some further details and getting some trains running.

Benny's LEGO City Update #1 - Baseplates

Video Link: Benny's LEGO City Update #1 - Baseplates

G'day all. After a bit of a break due to the birth of my beautiful baby girl, the first progress post for my custom LEGO City is here.

Since I am elevating a majority of the City off the table top height (sea level) I chose to go with a wooden MDF built rise rather than spend an absurd amount of money on LEGO that would never be seen. So with the help of my bro in law Shane, we activated expert master carpenter mode and got into it.

We started straight in this corner and hoped it would all line up at the end as well.

The size of the MDF sheets definitely meant I needed a hand.

    

Working our way around the table.

Plenty of room for subway train lines perhaps?

Just over half way through the elevation process We ran out of stumps. It's the same with LEGO parts, always underestimating how fast they get used up. Back to Bunnings for extra timber, and a cheeky Sausage Sizzle never hurts.

Over 100 of these stumps were used.

And then finally some LEGO on the table in the places it's meant to be. Over the past week I used my design on BlueBrick on the TV to lay out all the baseplates.

Time to unpack and spread all this!

I tried my best to have the different colored baseplate zones make sense and represent real world things:

• Blue = water or ocean
• Green or Bright Green = grass, paddock or unturned land
• Tan or Brown = sand or dirt
• Light Grey = concrete
• Dark Grey = concrete or tar

In some cases I know there will be other parts covering the baseplate, such as footpath tiling out the front of buildings or sand on the beach.

Have a look at my Video on YouTube to see the completed baseplate layout.

Thanks for checking out my first City Update. Next week I'll start working on what I've been looking forward to for a long, long, time. Train tracks!