LEGO NPU: Aircraft and Watercraft Edition
These days, nearly every LEGO set includes at least one highly specialized element—the kind of part you’d look at and wonder, “How on earth am I supposed to use that in something else?” Today, we're diving into a collection of builds that give new life to aircraft and watercraft elements.
Some interesting elemnts, eh?
Buckle up and get ready for launch because it’s time for some high-flying, sea-sailing NPU! (NPU stands for Nice Part Sage, btw.)
Whatever Floats Your Boat
From ferryboats to blimps to catamarans, nearly every LEGO theme has taken to the skies or the seas. One of the earliest floaty entries was 311-1 Ferry, released in 1973. It is so simple and delightfully retro, but look at that hull!
Just a year later, LEGO debuted its first airplane with a specialized engine piece: 657-1 Executive Jet. (Though I would love to see those printed window plates again!)
Fast forward to the dark days of 2002 and you’ll find yourself face-to-face with 4619 A.I.R. Patrol Jet from the Jack Stone line, a set that really leaned into specialized elements—and not necessarily in a good way.
After that Jack Stone-induced nightmare, let’s cleanse our palates and check out how talented builders turned these clunky parts into something truly swooshable.
Big Ugly Boat Piece?
Fellow BrickNerd contributor Oscar Cederwall, took on the challenge of reworking one of the biggest LEGO boat pieces ever produce—the Boat, Hull Unitary 48 x 6 x 5 (Catamaran Half), Top—and turned it into not one, but two stunning spaceships. At a whopping 48 studs long, it’s gotta be for some big ships, eh?
A vertical shiptember? wowzers!
Using four of these massive catamaran hulls, Oscar built The Jinx, a one-of-a-kind vertical Shiptember build. Some X-Pod elements for a shield generator opposite a gun using a Chima hammer element add even more strange pieces to an outstanding ship! Yellow crane arms underneath add a welcome splash of color and some welcome texture and greebling.
Swooshing by!
Oscar returned to the same hulls in a horizontal layout for his Vanguard Planetary Defender. The curved forms became dual rail guns, flanked by pantograph pieces and topped off with more X-Pod lids. Originally built for the 2018 Space Jam contest, it’s as playable as it is pretty. Check out all the play features:
A Hull Lot of Awesome
For Bio-Cup 2022, Magmafrost13 crafted an amazing crab kaiju—and gave it a boatload of NPU, literally. There’s a Viking hull on the monster’s back, but that’s hardly NPU. Look a little closer at the pincers. Notice anything? Bingo. He used two fuselage elements, 87615 and 87616.
PINCH
Aside from those elements, this whole creation is covered in NPU. Look closer and you’ll find Pteranodon wings on the top of the carapace, a Ben 10 Spidermonkey head and an Ehlek head. I love it.
MOC or MA.K?
Like Shiptember, Ma.Ktoberfest is another monthly building challenge inspired by Maschinen Krieger designs. It hasn’t seen that much action for a few years, but Ted Andes covered it a few years back.
That said, F@bz once made a sweet little drone with some aquatic vehicular NPU. He used an olive green rubber raft for the top of a drone back when very few elements were produced in that color.
He’s got a green thumb, i guess
I think its steered by dinosaur flippers? It is funky and fantastic; not everything has to make sense. Normally I don’t like sand green touching olive green, but it just works here.
Chin Up!
Speaking of rafts, here is some NPU from one of BrickNerd’s earlier contests, “Cube Your Enthusiasm.” It was essentially an NPU contest using LEDO Dots (RIP) cubes and loops. Megan Rose took home second place with her portrait build of Aunt Ida, and it’s packed with personality—and a raft!
That jawline though
Combined with salt-and-pepper hair, blocky specs (that we at BrickNerd love), and the cube loop elements for earrings, it all comes together effortlessly. It’s the kind of NPU that feels so right, you forget the parts weren’t made for faces. Aunt Ida sees into your soul—and she judges with love.
Don’t Let It Bug You
I couldn’t resist throwing in my own oddball bot: The Hellgrammite. a wriggly little thing in my favorite retired LEGO color: sand purple. The Hellgrammite uses a Life on Mars engine brick. Technically, it's not really an aircraft element per se as it’s only in space sets, but who am I to argue with the BrickLink catalog listing? I added an Xalax racer slope piece to make it’s face, with some antenna pieces for sensors. He’s weird. He’s mine. He needs some friends.
Wriggly wriggly worm
I sure wish we got sand purple back, because it’s objectively the best retired color in my professional opinion, but alas. Pour one our for sand purple… and sand red.
Smooth Sailing and Swooshing
LEGO has made some wild aircraft and watercraft elements over the years—parts that seem destined for a single use and nothing more. But as always, creative builders prove there’s no such thing as a useless piece. Whether it floats, flies, or scuttles sideways, it can find a new life in a totally unexpected build.
So the next time you throw a gigantic boat or ship hull into a graveyard bin, maybe challenge yourself to a little big NPU and see what you can build next!
Have you seen any LEGO boat or airplane NPU? Let us know in the comments below.
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