May the Forth be with you! ILUGNY celebrated Star Wars day with a Minifigure Habitat Build contest (More info on the Minifigure Habitat standard). Get the behind the studs secrets of our favorite builds from this month!
For those new to build contests these are designed to spark some new creativity, play around with a new technique, and collaborate with our fellow I LUG NY members to make something collectively awesome in a short time period. I LUG NY members bring their builds in person to monthly meetings where we do a quick show and tell and then vote on our favorite builds. You can check out last months Botanical and FebROVERy builds here.
We had 6 out of this galaxy builds this month. Thank you to all the members that participated!
We ended up with a galactic battle for 1st this month and I asked each builder 3 questions to get some insights into their creations.
(3rd) Bill M.: Grogu on the Seeing Stone
What inspired you to create this month’s habitat Build?
I was trying to think of a readily recognizable scene from Star Wars and Grogu on the Seeing Stone on Tython came to mind as something that could be fairly simple but allow a little bit of forced perspective, I wanted the rock panel pylons more spread out but having room for the Unikitty CMF stand cloud and what limited sky color elements I had at hand didn’t let me quite achieve what I had in mind. The stone itself seemed easy to do with many of the newer round curved slopes and dishes, I used a trans light blue radar dish to imitate the writing around the stone and a 2 module technic axle to secure the lower part of the build. The energy beam from the stone where Grogu sends his intention into The Force which leads Luke Skywalker to him is actually just slotted in place between the gap of the dish Grogu sits on and held together at the top with a 4×4 dish
Inspiration from a Thomas Kinkade Studios painting
Did you run into any challenges during the build?
Mostly just a supply of adequate blue bricks to make the sky. I initially thought I might do a gradient with plates but there was such limited room to work with that I decided a simpler approach to the tiny minifigure habitat standard would work fine. The stone itself went through several revisions and looked best combined with the round panels for the energy effect. I had the energy effect built a few ways as well before settling on not actually having it on a studded connection to conserve height as I wanted to stay in the footprint of the standard, although I think it would look great with another pair of the round panels
Whats your favorite technique, piece, or nice part usage of the design?
I was quite pleased with the round panels slotted in under the last dome, as having a single stud connection let me face grogu directly towards the viewer. I took out a few clouds from my parts before realizing I wouldn’t have space for more than one, but I wanted to at least sell the perspective that you’re looking at the sky, not just a blue and brown wall. I added the foliage last to mimic the sparse arid terrain of the planet in that scene. Maybe if I build more of these I’ll have Fennec Shand sniping Stormtroopers and Boba Fett giving them some Gaffi Stick makeovers.
(2nd) Marielle (Back to Back Months!): Peewee-Herman Speeder
What inspired you to create this month’s Habitat?
Pee-wee Herman is my childhood hero. I have great memories watching Pee-wee’s Playhouse on Saturday morning T.V. For this month’s build contest I thought it would be interesting to pay homage to Pee-wee’s famous red and white bicycle but with a Star Wars twist.
Did you run into any challenges during the build?
I did not run into any challenges with my build. I was able to have artistic freedom with the red and white color scheme for the speeder.
What’s your favorite technique, piece, or nice part usage of the design?
My favorite part is the lion printed tile from LEGO dots. The lion appears prominently on the front of Pee-wee’s iconic bicycle in the film so the tile is a perfect fit.
(1st) Jason P: A-Wing at Endor
What inspired you to create this month’s Habitat?
I wanted to make a recognizable and dynamic scene from Star Wars. Originally I was going to do the scene where Luke lifts the frogs using the force while training Grogu but I couldn’t find a Grogu minifigure. The A-Wing taking down a whole star destroyer was my second choice.
Did you run into any challenges during the build?
The structure of the star destroyer bridge windows was challenging since it breaks up the structural walls of the habitat standard. I used a technique with angled plates that is common in LEGO sets but doesn’t support the bricks above it.
What’s your favorite technique, piece, or nice part usage of the design?
My favorite NPU in this build is the red bushes for explosions and my favorite section of the build is the opening for the lower level of the bridge where just the head and shoulders of an officer are seen.
Thank you to all who participated here are pictures of our other entries
See you next month as we hit the Billboards!
Keith J.
Stephen W.
Jeremy O
