Over last weekend I exhibited at Bricks on the Border 2023 in Albury, New South Wales and here are my high five builds from the show in no particular order.

The Quest for Shangri-La by Owen O’Brien

This build is the handiwork of a fellow member of my local LUG, Bendigo LEGO User Group, Owen O’Brien. Owen has built a a stunning mountain landscape scene featuring adventurers making their way through a mountain pass, and across a rickety wooden bridge before stumbling upon the earthly paradise of Shangri-La.

I have admired Owen’s builds for a long time, he is one of the most talented builders in our LUG and the reason I chose this build in my high five for Albury Brick Muster 2023 has got to be the fantastic techniques that Owen has employed in his mountain terrain, waterfall and the water itself below the falls. I love building terrain myself and love checking out the techniques that other builders use to create realistic terrain and landscaping.

Wonderful work as always Owen, I am looking forward to your next build!

St. Matthews Church Albury by Geoffrey Reid

Geoffrey Reid has – together with other talented builders from Bricks on the Border – built an impressive array of local architectural builds that Albury locals will instantly recognise. His masterful take on St. Matthews Church is an excellent example of his eye for architectural detail at work.

I personally love seeing people re-interpret the built landscape around them into LEGO form, and it is something that I have been keen to do in my own builds as well. I simple had to choose this build in my high five for Albury Brick Muster 2023.

Well done Geoff!

Vintage Wooden LEGO Toys by Jason Zavecz

Jason Zavecz has collected an impressive range of vintage wooden toys produced by The LEGO Group in their early years before they made the transition to plastic building bricks.

At this year’s Albury Brick Muster, Jason has brought along a collection of seven beautifully made wooden toys. The toys in Jason’s collection were produced by LEGO between 1936 and 1959 and include tractors, a train with a tender and two carriages, trucks of various sizes and a sailboat (which I must admit is my favourite of the collection).

I had never seen vintage wooden LEGO toys in person before checking out Jason’s collection, I had only even seen images on the internet, so it was great to be able to see them in real life.

I had to include Jason’s collection in my Albury Brick Muster 2023 high five for pure nostalgia reasons. Thank you for bringing your collection along Jason and letting everyone appreciate them.

Woody’s Train Heist by Neil Strachan

Neil Strachan is another very talented builder from Bricks on the Border and he always brings an impressive display, and generally featuring a train of some variety.

I love Neil’s take on this iconic opening scene from Toy Story 3, and specifically the impressive rail bridge structure and brick built mountain and cliff.

Fantastic build Neil.

I know that this is actually only four builds, and I had chosen a fifth build, but the builders did not want to take part. So this is it, my four favourite builds of Albury Brick Muster 2023.

Did you attend the event? I would love to know which builds were your favourites.

If you enjoy these builds please make sure you connect with the builders and show them your support.