With Halloween fast approaching and to celebrate Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride (and film), let’s reflect on how to create Pepper’s Ghost effect in LEGO. What Is Pepper’s Ghost? Pepper’s Ghost is an illusion technique for making spectral images appear on stage and screen. It was popularized by John Henry Pepper in 1862 (Pepper's Ghost). The illusion works by creating a reflection on a clear surface. The clear surface allows for physical objects and actors to appear to interact (or not) with the ghostly image. The key elements of creating the illusion are as follows: Having a secret chamber out of the viewer’s line of sight. The aforementioned clear reflecting medium that the viewer can’t see. And the ability to illuminate and darken the secret chamber. When objects in the darkened secret room are illuminated, a reflection is made on the clear medium. Unlike on a mirror with a silvered back (or black LEGO in...

For each issue of BrickJournal Magazine, the BrickNerd team creates instructions for a LEGO mini-model to go with the theme of the cover story. For their recent issue all about castles, we decided to make our own microscale LEGO castle called “Harmony.” All Things In Harmony Castles are iconic. From Neuschwanstein to Disney, their architecture sparks the imagination of heroic knights to magical fairy tales. For the castle theme of BrickJournal’s summer issue, we wanted to capture that same majestic feel and recreate it in microscale. This castle is a fortress fit for royalty with soaring towers, turrets and more! The castle is also a love letter to the LEGO System. It has a fun variety of special elements spanning almost five decades of LEGO that all fit together flawlessly in perfect harmony. Here are the step-by-step instructions you can scroll through to build all the art supplies. The flowers used...

Las Vegas, Sin City, the Entertainment Capital of the World, or the Gambling Capital of the World… call it whatever you like. We have 32 million visitors a year to our fair city in southern Nevada that features a plethora of entertainment options, food, wedding chapels, and, of course, gambling (not necessarily in that order). As the adage goes, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Though not necessarily in LEGO brick form… Past: Ready, Set, Vegas It’s been a little over a year since I’ve updated everyone on the progress of my microscale Las Vegas Strip. To summarize, my original creation was made up of eight 48x48 stud base plates which when placed together measured 7.5 feet long and 2.5 feet wide. That was enough space to build Las Vegas in microscale representing about 3 miles of the Las Vegas Strip. This is close to a scale of 1 brick...

This is it, folks. We're down to the last three builders of Bio-Cup 2023 after a jaw-dropping Round 3 full of amazing builds. Before we get to who they are, we need to take a look the competition everyone was up against. This round’s theme was punk, broken up into three subcategories: Steampunk, Dieselpunk, and Cyberpunk. Steampunk Starting with steampunk, we have a super creative take on the category from Pierthviv. They recreated the iconic Lofi Girl scene in LEGO and steampunk themed. This build has so much to take in, from the many different Bionicle masks used in the background to the impressive shaping achieved by mixing System with Bionicle on the man in the foreground. It really makes you think. Instead of being relegated to the background, this steampunk city is the focus of the entire build. Student Scissors has brought to life a fantastic walking steampunk city. He...

New Hashima takeover week concludes with an article by BrickNerd’s own Ted Andes who has compiled personal stories from participants in and around the epic 2023 Brickworld cybercity display. The NEW HASHIMA DAEMONS at Brickworld Chicago 2023 BrickNerd has made a recent habit of reposting my article about the legend of the White Brick on the final day of Brickworld Chicago. It is on that Sunday (Father’s Day in the US) when any new White Brick recipients will have discovered them at their displays in the early morning hours and are then eager to learn more about their significance. This year was no exception, and how they were given out once again points to their true purpose; recognizing those who have made that year’s Brickworld experience special. More importantly, they are a reminder that the convention experience is more than about competing for awards. This was all too clear as four...