MOC Spotlight: The Ugly Duckling
Built by Blake Foster, a NYC-based member of I LUG NY.
Years in the making, this incredible micro-scale LEGO spaceship is jam packed with greebly goodness, including a hidden dark grey baby dinosaur hidden somewhere on the ship. You can see more in the Flickr album here. This video was shot at Brickfair Virginia 2019.
Winner of the “Best Large Spaceship” Brickee at Brickfair Virginia 2019.
Here’s what Blake has to say about his MOC:
“The Ugly Duckling is a research ship intended to explore the distant corners of the galaxy in search of new habitable planets. It got its name after the Earth government failed to learn from an incident involving a boat in the early 21st century, and held a contest on the galactic network to name the ship. Ugly Duckling won, and considering it karma, the Earth government honored the contest results.
Stats: 168 studs long, 47 studs wide, 45 studs high.
One interesting trick I used for the photography, for those interested: in this photo, I used very harsh light in order to emulate the lack of atmospheric scattering in space, but those dark shadows make it difficult to mask the edges of the model. To get around that problem, I first took a shot with a single LED bulb with my camera on a tripod, and then shot again with a longer exposure and all the lights in the room on. I was using my phone to control the camera, so it didn’t move at all. Then I used the brighter exposure to create the mask, which I then applied to the darker image.
FUN FACT: There is a baby t. rex hiding somewhere in the greebles. The location remains secret, at least until someone spots it. It is visible in at least one of the photos in this album.
Video shot and edited by Rick Theroux.
