The Battle of Thermopylae

Simon Pickard, (brick spartan on Flickr) has posted his completed creation: the Battle of Thermopylae!

I've blogged some work-in-progress pictures of this before, but it's amazing to see the finished project! :)

He says it took nearly two years to build, and tens of thousands of pieces were used.

And almost 500 minifigs are battling it out on the massive cliffs!

Check out all the detail on Flickr!

Brickfair Alabama 2013.

In October 2012, it was suggested by one of us in a comment thread that three pretty well known castle builders (Mark of Falworth, Legolord, and Tastymuffins.) could make a large collaborative LEGO castle display for a convention.

Since we are all located in the southeast we decided that Brickfair Alabama would be a great central destination.
So after chatting back and forth for a bit we pretty much knew what we wanted to create.

Tastymuffins built his section first,

Aesidisi Castle.

Legolord had some unexpected things come up and unfortunately wasn't able to make it. (this year :) )

 I had just finished "building like a madman" for my CCCX Master builder attempt.
So, I somewhat reluctantly dove into my LEGO bins to hurriedly build something to sit beside TM's castle

The City of Capernum.

I nearly didn't get it built in time, and I would not have made it if my brother Steven hadn't helped me finish it up. 

I'm pretty happy with the result, although, it would have looked better a few inches taller. ;)

So we packed it all up and drove to Birmingham!

I managed to snag a few photos of the connected collab.

There was so much to do at Brickfair!

I met so many super nice people! 

I spent large amounts of money on LEGO minifigures and accessories. ;)

And I can safely say we all had a blast! 

I also made a video of some of the highlights of BFAL. be sure to check it out on Youtube! 

If you haven't been to a LEGO fan convention I would highly recommend you go to one!  

Thanks for viewing and have a great day! :)

~Mark

The final stretch of the CCCX!

Wow! It's been awhile since I last posted. I'll try to post more regularly. ;)

Well, we now have less then one week to go in the Colossal Castle Contest .
And I've seen some huge masterpieces show up in the castle category.

The first one, Rochester Castle made by David Frank (Fraslund on Flickr)

has some great textural detail, and being based on a real castle makes it that much cooler! :)

The next one, Aesidisi Castle, built by Tastymuffins.

Is probably the biggest castle entered so far. and the awesome angles and design make this another strong contender for the prize! :)

Last but not least is, Round Castle made by UKver2.0 

It is rightly named "Round Castle" the Huge circular shape is as fantastic as it is unique. and the overall attention to detail is something you won't want to miss! :)

Check out all the great entries to the CCCX Here.

Castelo de Guimarães

This has got to be one of the best, (if not the best) Castles I have ever seen. 

Made by a group in Portugal, this is castle building at it's best! :) 

The castle itself is wonderful in it's detail and massive size, and the landscape is top notch as well.

Apparently 82.000 pieces went into this huge project.

Be sure to check it out on Flickr. 

300 in LEGO!

Simon Pickard, (Brick.Spartan on Flickr) has been working on a huge diorama showing the battle of Thermopylae as it was in the novel and movie "300".   

This thing is very impressive. The size alone is staggering to the average LEGO builder. 

The amount of figs included is a sight to behold.

Simon states that the project is nearing completion! And we may see some pics of the finished build on Flickr soon. :)