Thursday, December 10, 2009

I Wannabe Like You Roundup

So how did you all like emulating the ideas and styles of other builders? Wasn't it fun? I think it should have been the December holiday challenge as it was all about honoring and giving props to your fellow man. It felt all warm and fuzzy, like a big group hug. Anyway, lets see how we all did, shalll we?

Phillip Ryman sets the pace of this challenge with a '64 Impala honoring Ralph and Charger Hornet. The tires and car choice feels more like Charger Hornet than Ralph, but the kid is getting pretty good with this Lego car building stuff. I can see him being an auto mechanic someday. And the color choice in his paint booth...red.

'64 Impala

Phillip mixes up a little black with that red with three more miniature entries again emulating the great Ralph S....or so he says. His size choice and use of generic, non specific cars sort of speaks more about Raphy than Ralph. Raphy, Ralph. Raphy, Ralph, Raphy Ralph! Heh, that was fun...but anyway, here is a truck, a cruiser and a hatchback.



J0n4th4n D3rk53n reaches for his trusty red bricks and turns the Picnic temperature settings way down into the icy blue range to present us with this custom 30's era sedan (that's really a coupe) with very neat RC functions. Jonathan cites Majqa as his inspiration for this build. Hey, that reminds me, where has Majqa been? We haven't seen that dude in forever.

30's Sedan (RC)

Jonathan's second entry, in my opinion, is one of the better things he's ever done. With this very shapely hot rod, he honors silent LUGNut Brickbaron, as well as me, Tim Inman, Apple Pie, Nathan Proudlove and all the other large scale hot rod builders. This thing is just about as sleek as anything Boyd Coddington would do and for this, all the large scale hot rod builders give this build by Jonathan a collective Awesome!

Street Rod

Thirdly Jonathan reaches for his trusty red bricks again to...no wait...WAIT...its a miracle, blue and yellow bricks! Jonathan changes up his usual color scheme this time to honor yours truly. He knows I like 'em chopped, dropped and old which is why he went with this 40's era customized Ford. it looks sort of like one of them new fangled boxy Scion XB's...which is modeled after a 40's era Ford so you see, the connection works.

Copped,Dropped,Channeled

You can tell Jonathan has dug deep into the LUGNuts archives and has done his research. For his fourth entry, he honors the silent yet ungodly talented LUGNut Stephen Marshall with this digital rendering somewhat depicting Stephen's old Bedford Milk Float. Its good to see even some of our members who choose to remain a tiny blip on the ol' LUGNuts radar get some attention. Even quiet LUGNuts need love too. I've met Stephen and he deserves it.

Improved Bedford

Jason Son tells us he must not say who he was honoring for this challenge...but we all know he's givin' a big shout out to the one and only Firas Abu-Jaber. Because no one builds fast super cars like Firas...um, except maybe Jason Son. He's pulled off a sleek Ford GT 40 in a striking black and white color scheme. The Burger King logo graces the sides and front of this car making us all hungry for more from Jason Son. Oh, and Whoppers!

GT 40 BK

New guy Ochre Jelly shows some proud love for our own Nathan...um...Proudlove with this super tiny version of his ever famous Mystery Machine. The whole gang is there...we've got Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. There's Velma, Fred...and Daphne, who's looking rather chunky and square. Yanno, I kinda pegged Velma as the one who'd eventually let herself go but I guess I was wrong. That's ok, I like the nerdy smart types anyway. Velma was always my favorite but I'm not sure if she plays for my team...if ya know what I mean.

Microscale Mystery Machine

Speaking of Proudlove, Nathan Proudlove shows some love to the one and only Ralph Savelsberg. As it turns out, Ralph would prove to be a common inspiration with this challenge with scores of other LUGNuts emulating his style and ideas to one degree or another. But no one spot on nails the Ralph look quite like The Jack of All Trades, Nathan. This 2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Quad Cab Dually truck is done in Ralph's tricky 11 wide technique. The studs are showing and even the photo composition smacks of Ralph's signature wooden table/neutral background style. Its almost like Ralph was there building this quality truck all along.

2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Quad Cab Dually

Nolnet remembers a time when Ralph was building a lot of 5-wide VW microbuses. (See, I told ya Ralph was popular this month!) Apparently missing from the group was a VW German T3 Polizei van in lovely green and white German 80's colors. Nolnet captures all the very subtle yet difficult shapes Ralph is well known for with this great little model...he even has the wooden table/neutral background down to a science.

VW T3 Polizei

Nolnet graces us again with yet another Ralph inspired creation. Everyone knows Ralph loves fire trucks from all over the world, so it makes sense that Nolnet built a Mercedes-Benz Feuerwehr Unimog, which in German means...um..Feuerwehr Unimog. Whatever it means, it sure feels like those old retro lego fire trucks from the 80's. Remember them? So nostalgic. Brings back memories. I can smell the feuerwehr like it was just yesterday!

Feuerwehr Unimog

At the end of the challenge, Nolnet squeezes out one more entry and this time we put away the German dictionary in favor of the Polish one. Here we see a Limey Mog, which honors all of the hard working Polish AFOLs including pitrek02, Wojciech Scrat, M_Longer, Jerrec and all the other incredible guys from LUGPOL. Nolnet notes that when it comes to building incredibly detailed models of mundane work trucks, no one does it like the Polish. And now that I think about it...oh my gosh, he's right!

Limey Mog

Aaron Smiley Face dishes out some love for both me and Raphy. Awwww, ain't that sweet! Aaron honors probably my most recognized MOC to date, the '49 Buick rusted heap called Hidden Treasure...but does it in Raphy's signature Tiny Turbos scale and style. He notes that its good for young builders like Raphy to have positive role models like me to look up to. Awwww, thanks, big guy! I'm digging everything about this.

Hidden Treasure... Raphy style

Everyone knows our own moderator Tim "Rabidnovaracer" Inman is a real live...um...rabid Nova racer. He has a classic Nova....that he races...and he has rabies. But what most people don't know is Tim also has a 2010 Kia Soul. He built it as a shout out to Ralph's minifig scale vehicles. I'm digging the humorous WTFNOOB license plate in the back. Lets just hope Tim gets his rabies shots soon, we don't want him ending up all deranged and distempered like Cujo.

2010 Kia Soul

ZetoVince admits that he didn't really build this Lamborghini Gallardo for the challenge, but used it as an opportunity to dedicate it to Firas who paved the way, showing ZetoVince (and the world) that great super cars can be built in Lego. Also he takes design cues from the legendary Firas with a moody dark gray background, shadows and a signature watermark, making those dimwitted thieving noobs think twice about ever stealing this image and calling it their own. Good work, Vince!



For Ed Bricks first ever entry, he chose to emulate lego911...who proved to the the reigning champ in the Agent Janus challenge. Logically, Mr. Bricks went for a nice rendition of 911's Janus Land Rover. Looks like it would be totally fun to drive around the desert to chase bad guys in. I'll have mine on the rocks, please...shaken, not stirred.

Ed Bricks built a Land Rover to honor Lego911

Land Rover

A Ricecracker tastes better while smeared with peanut butter. Its also the name of our next LUGNut to somehow emulate Ralph with this custom lowrider truck. Ralph, with his affinity for factory standard vehicles, has never built a lowrider truck but I suppose the odd color scheme certainly does match Ralph's style.



More on par with what Raphy is doing, Ricecracker gives the youngster a shout out with this Chevy lowrider pickup done in the same color scheme as before. Neat!



Thirdly, Mr. Cracker builds a little something just like...The lego Group itself. This little yellow number wouldn't be out of place as part of a City set...perhaps a car wash or a new town plan design. Ahhhh, The Lego Group...what would we do without you? probably model kit building.

All Terrain Utility Vehicle

But wait, there's more! Ricecracker wants to be somewhat like Ralph...again. And this time with a 2010 Ford F-550 Flatbed. Its green...like the envy you surely feel. Yeah, I'm just gonna go with that.

2010 Ford F-550 Flatbed

Kin.lego wants to be just like Raphy...with this little yellow 4-wide tuner drift truck with an oversized drag racer engine and a LeMans racer spoiler. That sounds like something Raphy would build. Kin says Raphy's style is...easy and fast.

Tuner Truck

Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg...the man, the myth, the greatly emulated legend himself, takes time away from being a myth and a legend...but hopefully not a man, to emulate a few other styles not his own. First he gives Firas a little attention, but not one of his super cars. Turns out long before Firas was a famous super car builder he constructed a London Routemaster doubledecker bus and a black cab. Ralph tips his hat to that old MOC very nicely with his new version complete with...Gasp!...Firas style photo editing.

London Routemaster bus (1)

Everyone knows I like my cars chopped, cropped, lowered and with an obnoxious flaming paint job. Call me weird, but that's just me. For Ralph's second entry, he keys in to this formula for Lino success with this stunning '51 Merc Lead Sled. Man...talk about really tuning in to your muse. This black custom with lime green flames isn't Ralph's usual style, but it sure is mine. Ralph knows his way into my heart...and my multiple faved pics. Color me flattered!

'51 Mercury lead sled (1)

Ralph has had a productive building month. He's built two cars specifically for this challenge and a bunch more just for the heck of it. When you have a productive month...you sort of emulate the crazy prolific work ethic of our own record breaking lego911. Just think,Ralph, if you crank out like 50 more you can break a record. ;) Here is Ralph's group shot for the month in all its glory.

November cars

CJay wants to be like Bricksonwheels. Who doesn't? Bricks knows big rig trucks and he builds them with the flair and style of a magician. CJay builds a truck and doesn't offer anything in terms of a write up...and I'm sort of tapped out for jokes. Time for me to take a break from writing then. Just enjoy the truck.

dsc02816

Ok, back and invigorated! Good thing, too, because Raphy, who turned out to be much emulated in this challenge, has built a high adrenaline blown muscle car for kin.lego. The image is slightly blurred to portray burning rubber at high speeds. Grrrrr Vrooom Vrroooooom! Now that's fast!



For Raphy's second entry, he chose to throw some love my way with this cute little rendition of my Solar Flare wagon. Raphy says he picked me cuz I'm awesome and badass. And nothing says badass like...um...a happy sunny yellow station wagon with surf boards. Admittedly this little car is pretty cool and in tricky 5-wide it has some pretty advanced build techniques.



Next on the Raphy slab is this little blue and white Swedish rally car built for none other than Dylan Denton. Its Swedish. And its blue and white. And its a rally car. And its built for Dylan Denton. Yay, I used up two lines talking about this car! Good enough for me!



Sometimes a young pup can teach a grizzled old dog new tricks. So Lino Martins (hey, that's me!) takes a break from building huge 18-wide monsters to give this little 5-wide 1970 Lincoln Continental a try. Raphy dreams of a black Lincoln, so I deliver the goods for the young rascal and in the process learned that building small isn't as easy as I thought. Later deemed "The Raphy Car", this little Lincoln proved to be a crowd fave at this month's SEALUG meeting.

Raphy dreams of a black Lincoln

For my second entry, I wanted to give a salute to Ralph's no nonsense, "bog standard" sensibilities about car building. Lucky for me, he also enjoys classic American cars, but this meant ditching my usual hot rod research material in favor of factory standard ads. The end result was replicating the past the way it really was with this 1960 Ford Starliner in clean white and demure gray. There is nothing hot rod or badass about this car, but on the shelf next to my other creations, its lines are elegant, and graceful...and quickly becoming one of my faves, making me think there is something to this "bog standard" after all.

Stock Beauty...1960 Ford Starliner

What would a LUGNuts challenge be without multiple entries from lego911? The round ups would be a lot easier to write, but I'd rather drudge through this writing thing I sort of like doing anyway than to not be graced with 911's presence. To start us off, he nods in my direction with this sleek blue '49 Buick Fastback. Turns out this pretty blue beauty is my decrepit old Hidden Treasure...before it was abandoned and overgrown with forest! His backstory explains the car's history and the story unfolds with subsequent MOCs, all of them showing how the car became the abandoned old heap I had built. The fascinating backstory is still unfolding over in his stream so be sure not to miss a beat.



For his second entry, 911 wants to be like Nolnet. He has crafted a car carrier rig in the same color scheme as Nolnet's unforgettable Go Miniman Go Party Rig. Black, white and orange is, in my opinion a formula for success. awesome job, 911 and a hefty thanks goes to Nolnet for the inspiration and creating some of the most popular LUGNuts vehicles to date.



Thirdly, Lego911 shows some love for Nolnet's work yet again with this awesome miniland scale version of his Fiat 500 Hatchback. I'm digging its swooping shape and red and white color pattern proving that lego911 (and Nolnet) sure knows hot to pick 'em!



A long time ago, Bill Ward, founder of the upcoming Bricks By The Bay has built an unforgettable Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer. Now, lego911 offers bill a tip of his hat with this newer miniland scale rendition of the same thing. I'm seeing a lot of great details here...man, I want to go camping in this thing!

Miniland Scale Version of Bill Ward's Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer

What do you get when you take an awesome '59 Impala that Ralph built, then drop it, chop it and give it a flaming paint job like nathan and I would do? You get lego911's next creation honoring three top builders. I'm digging the matte gray finish, the lime green stripe and the Bionicle flame piece along the side blows my mind! Nice work.

Chevrolet 1959 Impala Street Rod (Modified)

Finally, 911 says he wants to be...Lego. Is he going crazy? Probably not. Thats just 911's humor showing through. This sleek black, red and orange Ford Edge towing Bill Ward's famous teardrop is too advanced for someone of compromised mental ability. Plus he's got a mini pirate's boat disguised as a recreational boat on the roof...and that's not crazy at all!



Besides, if Lego911 was crazy, would Dylan Denton want to be like him? I'd think not. This month, Dylan builds multiple versions of the same car, just as 911 would. Both are 1974 Lancia Stratos. The yellow is a Stratos HF Stradale, and the other is a rally car sporting the logo and colors of Marlboro cowboy killers. See, thats not crazy at all.

1974 Lancia Stratos

Lastly Olafo wants to be like Ricecracker because he likes his minifig compatible stuff. Here we see the concept Jeep Hurricane done allegedly in Ricecracker's style. I'm digging the black and silver here. Nice execution.

Jeep Hurricane

Finally Olafo finishes himself off, and the challenge, with this 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback built in honor of Ralph Savelsberg proving once and for all that Ralph is the most sought after builder in this whole challenge. Congrats to you, Ralph! If you were nearby, I'd buy you a round of drinks. But, as circumstances has it, I'll just have to drink that round for you. So here's to you! Cheers! (Glug glug glug glug!)

1968 Ford Mustang 390 CID Fastback

Well that was fun! Every challenge so far has generated dozens of diverse cars trucks and bikes with still potentially hundreds of thousands of possibilities...but what would happen if we're all forced to build the same car? Its still too early to tell, but even when faced with just one choice of car, I believe we can pull off scores of diverse and interesting ideas while still working within rigid limitations. Stay tuned and lets see how we all do with our 1966 Ford Galaxies in this month's challenge called...A Galaxie of Possibilities! Should be great!