During the war in Vietnam, the US Navy monitored the heart rates of some of their pilots. Flying though Hanoi’s air defenses understandably raised their pulse. However, their hearts went even faster at the end of the flight, when they had to land their jets on an aircraft carrier. These may be big for a ship, but they are very small for an airport. Unlike pilots, unmanned aircraft or ‘drones’ don’t have hearts and they are never tired. If a drone crashes or gets shot down, its pilot can’t get hurt or taken hostage. Instead, the operator is safely at his or her home base, in a comfortable chair in an air-conditioned container. So, it’s easy to see the attraction of unmanned aircraft. For the US Navy carrier landings remained a major hurdle, though. Enter the X-47B. Northrop Grumman built two of these weird-looking experimental jets, to demonstrate integrating unmanned combat...

King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is known all over the world for his unique style. From his outfits to his dancing to his unmistakable voice and catchy tunes. He was and still is an icon of popular culture. Today you’ll continue to find him all over the place, even in LEGO models. Taiwanese builder Vakaisme has paid tribute to the musician with one of his most famous dance moves. That moonwalk mechanism is indeed smooth! Wearing his iconic “Billie Jean” outfit, there’s no mistaking this character, even standing still. Want to see more MJ? We recently featured a tiny version of him wearing the same outfit. And even his Thriller getup has been recreated in LEGO! The post The master of smooth moves appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Bre Burns

Malaysian Sit Tat Wai is a newcomer to the pages of The Brothers Brick, with a debut that’s equally inspiring by day or night. Like many LEGO fans who tinker with projects and city/train layouts over time, perfecting each building piece by piece, “Sitropolis” is his ongoing namesake work-in-progress city. What struck me when I came across the scene on Flickr was the density of the packed streets and the beautiful, copious lighting filling apartment units and adorning buildings, a rainbow of colors, and light warmth changes across the neighborhood. There’s even some backlit store signage. If you look closely there are tons of textures to appreciate: there’s a neat white building in the back featuring one of the most exciting building techniques we’ve seen recently. The post A city balancing light and dark appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Ryan Wood

Most of us are at home right now, but if you are in a position to fill your time with some LEGO building, there are 25 new sets and items to choose from for April–with six new sets as part of a mid-month wave. Notable sets launching today are the new Boba Fett, Stormtrooper and TIE Fighter Pilot helmets, the droid D-O from Rise of Skywalker, and Collectible Minifigure Series 20. The new Star Wars sets and minifigures are in addition to several other new sets launched earlier this month on April 1st including the LEGO Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay and the Technic Fast & Furious Dodge Charger. This is a full list of LEGO themes with new products released today (alphabetized for your ease of use) that you can click on to go directly to that section of this article (unless you just love scrolling, then scroll on!): FriendsIdeasNotebooksMinifiguresStar...

The mustachioed surrealist artist Salvador Dali inspired this stunningly spindly pachydermal presentation from Dutch builder Jaap Bijl. This was an entry for Innovalug’s ongoing Style It Up! LEGO building contest. This category restricted creations to maintaining 4 studs’ worth of contact with the display surface. Dali’s “Les Elephants” features just the sort of delicately balanced build many of us actively try to avoid. Thanks to the plethora of newer curved slope pieces over the last few years the Daliphant’s shape is well represented, and I’d almost wager it took longer to get the thing to safely stand in place than it did to build. Need more LEGO Dali in your life? We’ve featured a few creations in the past, including Lin Kei’s own “Les Elephants” take which earned him a spot in the LEGO House’s Masterpiece Gallery. The post Surrealism and LEGO are a match made in elephants appeared first on...