#Lego space shuttle old full#
#Lego space shuttle old license#

This creates a more hazy flare, which in places looks a little like Earth’s ozone layer.

#Lego space shuttle old license#

In some of the photographs I’ve used smoke where perhaps in real life there wouldn’t be any, but I think in this instance a bit of artistic license creates a more dramatic final image compared to something that’s 100% scientifically accurate.įinally, I wanted to add some really interesting lens flare effects to help recreate the multiple light sources found in deep space, and so for some of the shots I very carefully and very gently applied a thin layer of vaseline over parts of the lens. Water mist and smoke spray both create the necessary look, with water mist being a bit kinder to the model (smoke spray tends to leave a sticky residue that needs wiping off after use). There’s obviously the light coming from the sun, but light also reflects off the surface of both the moon and Earth, creating shadows and lens flare from all manner of different angles.įor me, the most important thing was to make sure the main areas of light and shade in the backdrop were matched, so if the Earth in the backdrop was partially covered in shadow, I would also make sure the same side of the Discovery or Hubble was too. It was also important to match the colours, and for this I used a variety of gels that would reflect off the model, giving the impression that those reflections were created by the light in the backdrop – such as the orange lights of the cities below or the purple haze created over the atmosphere.Īdding smoke into photography incorporates a nice layer of atmosphere (not the Earth’s actual atmosphere, but the dramatic kind of ‘atmosphere’) as well as helping to create the illusion that the shuttle’s boosters are firing. This time, though, I was dealing with space – and in space, there’s always more than one light source to contend with. In order to create the illusion that the models and backdrop were all part of the same image, getting the lighting right was once again key. Sadly we’ve neither the technology nor money to physically travel to space to get some in-situ photographs, so I took a page out of my 10295 Porsche 911 gallery with rear projection photography.

#Lego space shuttle old full#

Find out more in our full Lego International Space Station review.When you think of the Discovery, images of the iconic black and white shuttle orbiting high above the Earth immediately spring to mind.

But when it’s all built, this is a very impressive model. Putting the solar panels together is repetitive though, and by their very nature they’re a little flimsy and easily knocked out of place.

And there are even tiny versions of the NASA Space Shuttle, SpaceX Dragon, and Boeing CST-100 Starliner to give the International Space Station a sense of scale. Real-life features, such as the Integrated Truss Structure, habitation modules, and logistics carriers have been faithfully recreated. What is to be seen, though, is a glorious replica of the ISS, squeezing in more details than we could have imagined.

Thankfully, Lego delivered more than we hoped for, and there isn’t a single sticker to be seen on this model. Nobody likes stickers on a Lego model, especially not that many. Why? Well, it seemed that all of those solar panels could be stickers, rather than printed bricks. When Lego first announced the International Space Station (ISS) – a fan-designed model from the Lego Ideas range – we were a little concerned.