LEGO has announced the winner of the LEGO Ideas Seaside contest in which the winning build will become the next gift-with-purchase set and the title of Fan Designer. The winner with 969 votes is Ray the Castaway by DadiTwins (shown above) and it was a runaway choice from fans as it had over 400 votes over the next runner up build. There’s no word on when it will be released as a GWP but it’ll be probably at least a year if you compare it to previous GWP building contests. Original linkOriginal author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

It wasn’t always dysentery that did you in on the Oregon trail. Dmitry has created a microscale wonder in “The Road To The West”,  a build full of great details and part usage. A few that caught my eye right away were the use of hubcaps for the spoked wagon wheels and the really clever combination of small parts in the horses. I also adore the slight gaps between the sections of the coach’s cover. Those allow for a wind-swept look that enhances the scene’s already great sense of motion. This scene feels like a small part of a larger story. What happens next? Maybe Dmitry will share another build in the future that fills us in. Otherwise we’ll just have to look at some other great Western-inspired creations and make up our own legends. The post Hold up! We want to talk to you about your wagon’s extended warranty! appeared...

While classic greys have their place, I’m a sucker for a vibrant color scheme on my spaceships. The Blue Barrel by David Roberts certainly doesn’t disappoint in that arena, with a checkerboard pattern of red and orange that really offsets the blue bodywork to make this vessel stand out. I love the smooth lines and the Technic gears in the nose. The real treat, though, is when this baby comes in for a landing. Dave’s focus on this build was the development of hinged hatches and extendable landing gear. Fingertip pressure is all it takes to pop open the landing struts, but apparently, you’ll “need some fingernails to get at the legs and pull them out!”  Truly, one of more obvious-but-still-clever uses of Technic rods I’ve seen in a while. Also be sure to spend a moment or two examining that innovative ladder. It doesn’t use standard stud attachments to hook...

This spooky fellow has a bone to pick. Revan New’s Prairie King has a haunting form thanks to the creative use of pieces which make up the skull. Minifigure arms and Exo Force arms shape the model’s striking cheeking bones. Clip pieces clasp claw parts, portraying realistic looking teeth at the front. To top that off, the hat appears to be a wheel with the tyre inversed around its centre spoke. The grey coat also has some nice angling created by a variation of slope pieces. As you finally gaze into the soulless eyes, you might spot some harry potter wands used for pupils. The end result is a beautifully sculpted model which has a creepy appearance, ready for Halloween. The post Undead Cowboy Nightmare appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Rory W

Like many men my age, at heart, I don’t necessarily feel all that different from when I was six years old and playing with my LEGO train. Besides LEGO and trains, as a boy, I liked fire engines, diggers and trucks, preferably with lots of lights. My latest build still fits that pattern. It is a Mercedes Actros truck with a stepframe trailer, as operated by the Dutch company Mammoet, which is Dutch for mammoth. They specialize in heavy lifting and transport of oversized and heavy objects. So, by their standards, this truck is actually quite small. Their vehicles have an attractive and distinctive color scheme. It uses a lot of red, but the vehicles’ cabs are usually black. The trailer, built by the Dutch company Nooteboom, has a yellow edge for increased visibility. When I started building the truck, I wasn’t sure what load I’d put on the trailer, except...