Tag: scifi

S247

Cole

Every year there is an annual building challenge in November. Originated by the great nnenn (RIP) at Flickr it’s always a joy to build a Vic Viper-styles spaceship. Although I had this challenge as well as nnenn in mind when building this spaceship, it does not fit the criteria since it has no tail fin. No matter I am happy with the outcome and didn’t want to force a tail fin, it just didn’t feel right. This is probably also due to the inspirational blueprint, the Sketch247 by Gary Sanchez.

Image property of Gary Sanchez (published here with permission)

I loved that design for ages and now I finally got back to it. It was a real pleasure to build the spaceship at the actual scale.

Here’s the full gallery:

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While shooting the model I also played around with lights.

80’s retro 8-bit edit

Skarabaeus HJF-43

Cole

Back to space-ics

You know, sometimes you build something to a certain extent and that you cannot finish it somehow. Then it lays around for some time, you look at it several times and eventually the final direction comes to shape so you manage to finish it off – this is exactly one of those creations! If there is an existing design or a synopsis of a few designs there is a clear path to follow, but creating a new original design is just different.

BTW there are a whole load of this kind of projects spread across my creative lab.

 

Building notes

I fiddled around with the large flat curvy panels and my limited parts available in dark tan. It happened that this insect-shell like design came out. My love for the small flags urged me to look how I could add them and the overall design was born.

The build is based upon the traditional Vic Viper wing-layout – two prongs, two rear-sided wings and a tailfin.

It has space for a small minifigure, being positioned up side down – as this matters in space LOL

Therefore the the underside become also a legit upperside.

A friend pointed out the view from the top and bottom being nice stand alone images, so the masks had a spin-off.

 

Long talk, here’s the full show, enjoy!

Gallery

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Titanite sq-01

Cole

Something Cyberpunk/Anime/GitS inspired with a heavy dash of titanium metallic.

Btw it’s Marchikoma, the time to show the iconic robot class some love.

 

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Shobrick meets Cole Blaq – Neo Tokyo

Cole

 Occasionally things take time…

…so now we can finally kick off the results of our collaboration work.

Some time ago Shobrick and I collaborated for this project. Shobrick is a great photographer and director. After an introduction by Nicolas Forsans, Shobrick got in touch with me. He sent me a few images and asked if I can make a mech for a scene he had in mind. Somewhere between Shirow and Kojima. He told me about the setting and stuff, so I could get the vibe and the direction he was heading to.

 

After a few versions this 6-legged walker tank | Hexapod was finally designed. You can find the stand-alone images of the tank and building notes further down >>>. After attaching some decals to it, the Hexapod was sent to Shobrick.

Shobrick then did his magic. He gathered his crew of set designers (Paul de Laroche, Frédéric Mercier and his son Anton) and other great people help designing, creating and staging the setting. This was great to follow along while the ruins started developing with other details such as the neon signs and billboards. Once the setting was developed Shobrick took the photos at at an impressible high end performance.

And the result is breath-taking!

For more information on the production process make sure to check out Shobrick – Flickr | Insta | Homepage

For Shobrick this was his last project with the bricks for now as he wants to further follow his path of being a film director. I am proud to have been able to work with him.

Enough foreword, without further ado here comes the show:

NEO TOKYO: The Story

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

 

– image credits and copyright by Shobrick –

And the making-of videos: 1|2|3|4

– Gallery (stand alone mech) –

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-Building Notes-

The model needed dynamic posing alongside articulation combined with a plausible and aesthetic pleasing design. Getting the right balance between form and function was the leading light for this build.

The first inspiration led to a direction with a dog or animal like mech. Taking a different direction, the former body was replaced by the Hexapod design later on. Only the head and the color scheme were adopted from the prior version. One reason was that there to be some kind of heavy artillery as it should be a designated war machine, staged in combat scenes. This and a plausible, functional design with ‘play’ features directed the frame to be highly articulated and moveable. The special play feature is the rotating weapons platform which in reverse direction can snug together with the head, giving it a compact and heavy armored feeling. Once rotated the cannon moves into action. Two weapon slots on the front legs allow close range combat, 8 launchers attached to the sides of the platform allow additional performance.

 

The final image series have been published in the Geek magazine S09E03

Exclusive online coverage by The Brothers Brick

Think Tank Building Instructions now available!

Cole 3 Comments

After days of labour (much more than I thought) my newest project is finished.

I have been working on the building instructions of my interpretation of the famous 6-legged Think Tank robot from Ghost in the Shell‘s climatic showdown. Now available for sale for anyone who wants to build their own version. It’s on demand, just shoot me a [mail].

  • Changes to the prior version have been made in order to replace all custom parts by ‘normal’ parts.
  • The instructions also contain alternative versions of parts where rare parts have been used.

Making instructions is quite some work if done manually. Considering the building steps like preparing all the images, editing them, creating and editing the parts list, concept and layout of the design and much more is a big project. Despite the labour, it was a great experience and helped me develop skills for other projects to come.

FYI: Any reward from this project will directly flow into the next projects.

– Gallery 2017 edit –

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Featured at TBB: Ghost in the Shell’s intimidating Fuchikoma

A great rendition accompanied by a unique custom paint job and a fantastic presentation from Ray Leung can be found here.

Sidenote: The best minicsale Alakuneda up-to-date is the Version by Sasapon IMO

Ghost in the Shell Think Tank / UPDATE !

Cole

There is going to be a new adaption of Ghost in the Shell coming to the big screen soon. The original film is one of my most favourite movies ever. Even though I was skeptical at the beginning when I heard that Hollywood is making a remake with real actors, now I am excited and totally looking forward to the show. The combination of Scarlett Johansson and WETA Workshop covers half the bill 😀

With the new movie on the brink and because this is one of my most popular models so far, I’ve been heavily working on a new refined version of the Alakuneda T08A2 [2012 edit], or known as R3000. This is the 6-legged mech which Major Kusanagi fights in the final battle scene. It really is a masterwork of cinema concept design.

I have created a new refined version with all custom parts being replaced by standard parts so it can be rebuilt by anyone. Most changes have been made to the head, while keeping the design as close to the prior version as possible.

It’s already digitally rendered, I’m only waiting for some new parts to arrive so I have the built updated version at hand and can make some fresh photos then. The new parts will give the Alakuneda a great polish.

The update also means that I am actually making building instructions. Now there is a beta version available, but soon I will have professional instructions at hand. They will be for sale for anyone interested. Preorders / beta versions can be obtained now. The final version shouldn’t take too long as I am actually at it with full throttle.

So here you go.

 

I hope you like it. More to come soon…

 

– Gallery 2012 edit –

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The first version back in 2012 has been featured at

Gizmodo: Ghost in the Shell’s Think Tanks Are Intimidating, Even in LEGO Form

TBB: Cole Blaq’s LEGO Tank from Ghost in the Shell

Tomopop: Cole Blaq builds a Ghost in the Shell tank from Legos

 

Disclaimer: The Alakuneda is my interpretation. Copyright of the original source material of course owned by Shirow / Oshii.