HairyHighlandCow Blog

Enlarged Maersk Ship based on 10155 Carries Containers from 10219 Maersk Train

1 June 2011

The new Maersk train was an instant favourite for me as soon as I saw it. With its sea containers and harbour lorry it's crying out for a ship to load its cargo onto. The 10155 Maersk Ship would be ideal, but it's at completely the wrong scale, carrying tiny 2 x 8 containers rather than the train's 6 x 16 containers. I decided to enlarge the design to carry minifigures in the superstructure and six of the train containers. I could have gone even larger but Maersk blue Lego is expensive and I think the proportions look fine at this size. Robin Werner's model is in a similar vein, but larger and designed to carry many of the 'traditional' minifigure-scale 4 x 8 containers. I have another model in the works which carries 4 x 8 containers, but is smaller in size and similar in scale to my other freight vessels.

The ship carries six containers and minifigures can be placed in the bridge.

Brickish Display at Brighton ModelWorld

20 February 2011

The Brickish Association put on a varied display at the Brighton ModelWorld show in February. There were trains, a giant Blacktron attack ship, Looney Tunes and the enormous USS Intrepid. Click on the photo below to head over to Flickr and see more pictures from the event.

My modified version of classic 1998 Ninja set Stone Tower Bridge.

From Haycarts to the High Frontier: Brickish Display at the National Space Centre in Leicester

17 October 2010

This show was themed around past, present and potential future transportation. It was a great show to be a part of and our hosts at the NSC were very friendly. The LEGO looked great with dramatic lighting, and the Space themed models were in their element with Martian landscapes in the background. See more pictures after the break.

Chariot Race by Andrew Danieli

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The Great Western LEGO® Show 2010

3 October 2010

The Brickish Association's largest show of the year is held at STEAM, the museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon. Here are a selection of images from the show.

Close-up of a pool in Vaughn Medway's desert oasis.

The gigantic U.S.S. Intrepid created by Ed and Annie Diment. The aircraft were designed by Ralph Savelsberg.

An impressive model of St. Pancras Station by Warren Elsmore. The trains at the platforms were designed by Carl Geratrix.

This is my partially redesigned and extended version of the classic 6276 Eldorado Fortress set. The larger quayside has enough space for the Imperial Flagship to dock.

Brickish Association Display at the Egham Royal Show

28 August 2010

At the Egham Royal Show this year I put on a joint display with Peter, who brought a large railway with trains and some pirates, dragons and goblins for good measure. I provided the harbour, containing a selection of classic sets mixed with my own models. Both the trains and the rail freight container crane proved very popular. More pictures after the break.

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Cruise Catamaran

25 August 2010

The robot has been working hard recently so he decided to go on holiday. After applying anti-rust coating he is enjoying a relaxing cruise on the new catamaran. He is lounging on a sunbed at the back, and while he won't be getting a tan he can top up his batteries using his solar cells.

Welcome

27 July 2010

Welcome to the new HairyHighlandCow Blog, featuring my passion for building with Lego bricks. There will be a few backdated posts added over the coming weeks, showing some models built over the course of this year. The rest of the site is also having a makeover, so please bear with me if there are a few rough edges for a while.

Alternate Colour Scheme for 4554 Railway Station

17 July 2010

I always loved the design of the 4554 Metro Station when it was released back in 1991, but it was one of those sets I never bought when I was a kid. I recently discovered that Lego also released a red version in 1996, which got me thinking about alternate colour schemes for the building. After some playing around with an image of the station in Photoshop, I decided to try a medium blue and white colour scheme. The platform has been extended to accomodate a three car train. At the back of the station stairs and ramps have been added.

The original model was more of a facade with an open back. In order to make it more substantial, two facades are combined here back to back, and a hinge has been used so the building can open up. Instead of a control room on the first floor there is a cafe, and there are two ticket booths and a waiting area downstairs. The downstairs food service area isn't finished yet.

Harbour layout at the Alresford Festival of Toy Trains

26 June 2010

Some of my harbour layout travelled to the Alresford Festival of Toy Trains in June to be part of the Brickish Association display there. The large ships, jetties and freight loading crane were designed by me. The forklifts, mobile cranes and coast guard craft are classic Lego town sets. The red lorry is from the 2010 Cargo train set. The red building in the background is designed by David Tabner and the black freight waggons by Anthony Tomkins. You can see pictures of the whole display on Flickr.

Cargo Ship

26 May 2010

This is a brick-built Cargo Ship inspired by the style of the ships in the classic 1990s Lego harbour sets. The ship is larger than the one in the 6542 Launch and Load Seaport, in order to fit in with the scale of the ship in the recent 7994 City Harbour set, and of course to carry more cargo. The design of my ship is modular, so each section at the back lifts off easily. The roof of the bridge is hinged.