A few days ago, I was privileged to be sent a copy of the September 2013 issue of BrickJournal by TwoMorrows Publishing. This copy is Issue #25 of the popular LEGO magazine and focuses on the theme of Castle-related builds. It has 84 pages of LEGO goodness and retails for $8.95. If you purchase from TwoMorrows Publishing, BrickJournal as well as many other titles are 15% off.
The cover has a nice closeup of a carriage built by MBFR, the German LEGO Model Builders of the Rheinland from Fana’Briques 2012. The bottom left corner shows a design of the RollerCoaster Factory cars by CoasterDynamix. The back cover shows a few of the previous issues and descriptions of BrickJournal as well as the next issue from TwoMorrows. The image in the tables of contents page shows a wider shot of MBFR’s layout and shows you the immense scale of the Castle build. This image is a prelude to what you will be seeing a lot of in this issue.
The first article is a 7-page spread that talks about LEGO Certified Professional, Adam Reed Tucker’s dream of creating a LEGO-based roller coaster set, the Rollercoaster Factory. The dream started when Adam was in the process of releasing a new LEGO theme which eventually became LEGO Architecture. In 2009, he met the guys at CoasterDynamix and his dream started coming together. In BrickWorld 2010, Adam showed of his roller coaster model for the first time and was also the first use of the CoasterDynamix track. The article goes in-depth of how Adam improved on his design and what it took to get the sets produced in time for BrickWorld 2013. In the next article, BrickJournal talks to Jack Rimer of CoasterDynamix and their involvement on the set. There is still time to pre-order Rollercoaster Factory here.
One article that I really like is the one about photography. If you’re into photography like me, you’ll find this article by Michael “Xero” Marzilli and Jared Burks very useful and insightful. They give you many tips that you can use right now to enhance the photos you are taking. The article also shows how easily you can create your own soft box to take photos of your objects in.
The bulk of this issue of the magazine is building Castles. If you’re into building Castle MOCs, there are many tips that LEGO builder, Bob Carney gives to help enhance or improve your models such as making use of available LEGO pieces as well as creating your own designs. For example, there are a couple of neat window designs and arrow slits you may want to implement into your models.
The next Castle article called Phrean: A Medieval City talks about builder Daniel Z and his MOC of Phrean. He mentions that the massive structure used about 20,000 pieces to create and he then goes in-depth of some of the structures of Phrean including the bridge, the main spire, Irruini Manor, and the Walls of Arkusa. Each structure has their own advanced building techniques to give them their unique looks.
The next article is by our friend, Joe Meno who interviews Anton Fedin on his Ras-al-Jabar MOC. Anton was inspired to create the model because of the architecture of the Middle East and India of the Early Middle Ages. Like many other MOC builders, he implements his own building techniques to give his model the details that he had envisioned. Anton also gives us some insight on how he created his castle walls, the waterfall, and his market buildings.
The final artists who are featured for their Castle build are Stephane Daly and Nicolas Picot for their collaboration on Archenval which was first displayed at Fana’briques 2012. In the article, both artists talked about the parts they works on for Archenval. They also gave some tips on how they created some of the features of the MOC such as the chapel wall, the entrance crest, the windmill, and the bridge. Since Fana’briques 2012, the team has enlisted two more builders this year to create a city that is more than 2 meters long and by 1 meter wide.
Finally, there are instructions including the parts list for a castle-related build called the Micro Guarded Inn by Christopher Deck. There are also instructions from our good friend Tommy Williamson of BrickNerd of a Trojan Rabbit based on the giant wooden rabbit that was in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Joe Meno also jumped into the fray by providing instructions for a London Underground Sign to add on to BrickJournal’s article about the evolution of the London Underground Tube network created with LEGO bricks.
Again, I would like Joe Meno as well as TwoMorrows Publishing for sending me the September 2013 copy of BrickJournal for me to review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the articles especially when the artists go into detail of how their creations came into existence. I would totally recommend BrickJournal to any LEGO fan who wants to read more about artists’ MOCs and what inspired them to create them as well as various LEGO-related articles. Every issue of BrickJournal is available on TwoMorrow’s site and you can either order a print issue with a free digital copy or just the digital copy itself. You can also find copies of BrickJournal available at your local LEGO store.
Also, don’t forget to follow BrickJournal on their other media outlets including Facebook Page and Twitter to see what they have going on currently and on their future projects.
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