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UNDER THE SEAPART 1

One of the many eye-popping displays at Brick 2014 in London was this gorgeous coral reef made of over 35,000 pieces. Bursting with rich colours and ingenious part usage, the model depicted dozens of species of coral and fish and proved hugely popular with the public.

So which builder came up with this lovely idea? Well, the story is a little unusual as it actually begins a long way away from the world of LEGO. A UK-based company called Tropical Marine Centre (TMC), who are a trade supplier of marine livestock and aquarium products, were planning their display at Europe’s largest pet products trade show which was taking place in Nuremberg, Germany. But they had a problem: TMC have a strong environmental policy and in fact have built their business around the ethical sourcing of their livestock. So whilst being a cornerstone of their business, it really wasn’t ideal to be displaying precious fish across the continent. But what could

possibly be an eye-catching and worthy replacement? Managing Director Paul West is a huge fan of

LEGO and proposed the concept

whilst being a cornerstone of their business, it really wasn’t ideal to be displaying precious fish across the continent. But what could

possibly be an eye-catching and worthy replacement? Managing Director Paul West is a huge fan of

LEGO and proposed the concept

Words: Mark Guest Pics: Fly and various

LEGO fish are taking the fishkeeping world by storm, thanks to a unique idea and partnership with The Tropical Marine Centre and Bright Bricks. Blocks catches up with the team responsible for this aquatic tale

Reefscape

THE BIG ONESReviewed by Mark Guest

In the collection of 15 fish, three have received the XL treatment and are considerably larger than the other sets. Here are the three big ones built and reviewed

LionfishPieces: 619Price: £99.99Dimensions: 25x14x19cmWhere from: http://reefscape.co.uk (a list of stockists is available)This model is probably the key figure in the collection and is proving to be the one in most demand, and looking at it you can see why.

Like all the fish, the pieces are in one bag and there are no numbered pouches for each section so make sure you have plenty of space before commencing. Due to the amount of small pieces and brackets in this set I saw fit to organise the pieces into piles first, which certainly helped.

The base is a 16x16 blue baseplate with beige blocks and bushes to create the seabed. The fish build begins with the tail, vertically stacking alternate white and burgundy plates and slopes to form the triangular shape. As you work your way along the body I found that the build was very delicate and I ended up taking the tail off and adding it back later as it kept coming off. It wasn’t until the body structure became three studs wide that it stiffened up.

At this point you find yourself with a three stud wide vertical structure that becomes five wide with a line of hinge brackets down one edge and a couple out of each side, this is all in preparation for the elaborate fins. The top fins and sides are similar in build – a combination

of layered single stud wide plates, attached via the hinge brackets. They are easy to build but I had to pay extra attention to the instructions to ensure I didn’t miss anything, as each step involves a lot of pieces.

The face is my favourite area of this build with lever sockets being used for eyes, a clever idea as the slots create an effective overall impression. My impression of this model is good, it took a while to build and at points I needed to concentrate to follow the instructions, but the end product is worth it. The fin work is well done and once on the shelf can be angled as you please. Out of the big three this would be my first purchase.

Blue Spot StingrayPieces: 731Price: £109.99Dimensions: 50x20x12cmWhere from: http://reefscape.co.uk (a list of stockists is available)Out of the three XL fish in the range this is the biggest one, with over 100 pieces more than the

Lionfish. Due to its size (primarily length) this is placed on a far bigger base

than the other two and is attached via a technic

pin on a ball and socket joint.The reef bed is very colourful and good in

detail and layering and I would argue superior to the others, yet most of it is hidden once displayed, which is a shame.

The essential structure of this build is layered plates neatly stacked and arranged to create the appropriate shape. The nature of this build requires a little repetition but once again, has an effective end result. The effect is achieved using larger plates underneath and as you stack upwards they progressively get smaller to increase the

detail and structure. I found when building this model the instructions were difficult to follow as the images felt too small and I would have preferred to see one step on a page as opposed to two, allowing the images to be bigger.

The build is sort of split into two halves and with the body built, you move onto the long narrow tail piece which follows a similar layering technique requiring good table space to construct. Here the instructions are bigger but you do need to concentrate as the interlocking l-shaped plates are numerous and form what looks like a brick driveway pattern. Like the body, you build upwards and finish by returning to the underside to add white detailing that also supplies some needed reinforcement.

Out of the three XL fish I found this one less inspiring compared to the others. The build was okay and the sea bed was certainly superior but the finished product felt very neutral, which I suppose is the nature of the actual creature, so isn’t necessarily a criticism. Despite this looking quite simple, I can imagine the designer spent a lot of time on this model making it accurate, as it is very intricate.

In all honesty I like this model but being a collector it would be low down on the list of order as I try to complete my collection.

of a full, detailed reef including ledges, coral tables, caverns and outcrops. His colleagues were naturally sceptical, especially given that there weren’t any outstanding examples of LEGO reefs which Paul could find. Organic shapes are notoriously difficult to achieve in LEGO, particularly at smaller scales.

Then Paul heard about Bright Bricks, the LEGO Certified Professionals responsible for so many of the large-scale LEGO builds in the UK, and Duncan Titmarsh took on the job. Wisely, the initial focus of the brief was getting the reef looking amazing, and only after that did Duncan create the iconic marine fish that TMC had shortlisted. In fact, Duncan carried on building more fish as a live build during the trade show. One member of staff, who had suggested the inclusion of two seahorses (because they mate for life) was surprised after returning from a break during the show to find a baby seahorse added alongside!

The model has proven a huge success with fans of LEGO as well as fans of marine life. The inventive use of parts and techniques in this model truly captures the magical sight of a coral reef. I was particularly impressed by the sea anemone made of red dinosaur tails; I actually once used this part in my own coral reef design but didn’t think to leave the connecting hole exposed – it’s perfect! Being a bit of a parts geek, I was most excited by the mass use of

parts which have only appeared in sets a couple of times, like the Yellowish-Green domes that were used in the Candy Cane coral.

What’s especially interesting is that TMC are now taking the project a step further: the fish were refined further by Bright Bricks and are now being made available for sale as sets, sold via aquarium suppliers in the UK (and Chowren Toys in the US). They’ve released 15 sets so far under the name ReefScape, with a limited run of 500 of each. I love initiatives like this; although the cost of producing and selling custom sets makes them far more expensive than official sets, these are really adorable models with some techniques you wouldn’t find in official sets. A nice touch is that the instructions are available as downloads on the ReefScape website, if you have the parts, so take a look!

Next MonthAll 12 small fish built and reviewed.

of layered single stud wide plates, attached via the hinge brackets. They are easy to build but I had to pay extra attention to the instructions to ensure I didn’t miss anything, as each step

The face is my favourite area of this build with lever sockets being used for eyes, a clever idea as the slots create an effective overall impression. My impression of this model is good, it took a while to build and at points I needed to concentrate to follow the instructions, but the end product is worth it. The fin work is well done and once on the shelf can be angled as you please. Out of the big three this would be my first purchase.

Lionfish. Due to its size (primarily length) this is placed on a far bigger base

than the other two and is attached via a technic

requires a little repetition but once again, has an effective end result. The effect is achieved using larger plates underneath and as you stack upwards they progressively get smaller to increase the

The attention to detail is amazing.

There’s a sting in that tail - watch out!

Blocks 7978 Blocks

Building the seahorses live at the show.

Duncan Titchmarsh from Brigh Bricks hard at work.

Endless detail makes the reef a real show-stopper.

The whole team rightly feeling proud.

Large Emperor AngelfishPieces: 546Price: £89.99Dimensions: 33x14x19cmWhere from: http://reefscape.co.uk (a list of stockists is available)As with all the TMC fish you start by building the reef base on which to support your display fish. This consists of a blue baseplate with layered beige bricks and plates, covered in random coloured studs adding texture and colour to the seabed. The interesting part of this for me were the yellow studs that had a hole in the top, which is a piece I rarely come across in my building. However the purpose of this is to allow fitting points for the vertical green vine pieces, a simple but nice touch in my opinion. As with all the bases one of the 2x4 bricks is white and printed with the reefscape logo.

The fish construction starts, as you would expect with the underneath. An arrangement of inverted slopes staggered onto two levels. Due to the way the instructions guide you it takes a few steps before this base structure is stable so build with care and take your time.

The main focus moving forward then is the body/rear section of the fish and is a repetitive process of laying blue and yellow plates alternately on top of each other. The varying length of these single-stud wide plates has been well thought through to recreate the fish’s patterns, with the rear tapering into a V-shape. This fish is hollow, but the use of plates spaced across the gap keep the structure solid. The tail is then attached using studs through a five hole Technic arm.

The head of the fish has to be my favourite part of the build as it uses SNOT techniques at their best to create a very effective head. The sides are layered plate structures with curved smooth pieces layered plate structures with curved smooth pieces

to give perfect contours and shape. These plates are then rotated 90 degrees and fitted to the internal SNOT blocks. The face again is a change of angles and is built separately before being connected.

The use of blue Technics pins for the eyes works incredibly well.

This is a really good model, and incredibly accurate compared to the real thing. The building techniques used are executed well and the slopes for the open mouth look great. If I had any criticism of the build it would be

the repetitive nature of building the striped body, but the overall

effect is worth the time and arguably makes it better value for money. This isn’t for the amateur builder and like the others is a display piece, but it looks good on the shelf.

to give perfect contours and shape. These to give perfect contours and shape. These

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Reefscape