Matt Armstrong's detailed Lego brick creations run the gamut from telegraphs to ray guns. Is there anything he can't build? (Credit: Matt Armstrong/Flickr) It almost looks like a museum piece, but this old-school typewriter is made of modern plastic. It's built with Lego bricks and sports a nifty new set of keys. It's the handiwork of Matt Armstrong, a San Diego-based martial arts instructor who loves building stuff out of plastic bricks when he's not teaching students how to defend themselves. Armstrong, aka Monsterbrick on Flickr, had a friend refurbish the keys with an engraving machine, making the typewriter even more realistic. Armstrong has been building his own unique Lego creations for more than 20 years. He recently showed off some of his works, including colorful takes on R2-D2, at the Star Wars Days event at Legoland California. "All my design ideas come straight from my imagination," Armstrong tells CNET. "I do not use any programs to design, although I do like to look at images on the Web for fine-tuning the models. The tougher it is to build the more I enjoy working on it. Probably the Gatling gun, getting the barrels to turn inside the frame, was a bit tough. "I like the steampunk and retro builds because of the realism I can get from the colors and shapes of the bricks," he adds. "When I post something that does not look like it is made from Lego, I get a good kick from it." Check out some of Armstrong's retro and sci-fi builds in the gallery below, as well as at his Flickr photostream. Lego builds from steampunk to sci-fi (pictures) 1-2 of 10 Scroll Left Scroll Right
Matt Armstrong's detailed Lego brick creations run the gamut from telegraphs to ray guns. Is there anything he can't build?
It almost looks like a museum piece, but this old-school typewriter is made of modern plastic. It's built with Lego bricks and sports a nifty new set of keys.
It's the handiwork of Matt Armstrong, a San Diego-based martial arts instructor who loves building stuff out of plastic bricks when he's not teaching students how to defend themselves.
Armstrong, aka Monsterbrick on Flickr, had a friend refurbish the keys with an engraving machine, making the typewriter even more realistic.
Armstrong has been building his own unique Lego creations for more than 20 years. He recently showed off some of his works, including colorful takes on R2-D2, at the Star Wars Days event at Legoland California.
"All my design ideas come straight from my imagination," Armstrong tells CNET. "I do not use any programs to design, although I do like to look at images on the Web for fine-tuning the models. The tougher it is to build the more I enjoy working on it. Probably the Gatling gun, getting the barrels to turn inside the frame, was a bit tough.
"I like the steampunk and retro builds because of the realism I can get from the colors and shapes of the bricks," he adds. "When I post something that does not look like it is made from Lego, I get a good kick from it."
Check out some of Armstrong's retro and sci-fi builds in the gallery below, as well as at his Flickr photostream.
