Northern Cardinal

When I saw this challenge, I knew immediately that I wanted to try to design a cardinal. Cardinals are fairly common in my area, but still rare enough to be a special treat to see one. I find them simply beautiful, and I thought it would make an excellent subject for a lego model. 

My primary goal for this design was to make the cardinal posable. It can really bring a figure to life, and it allows you to personalize it a bit. The wings, the head and the feet use a ball and socket hinge, which allows for some organic positioning. The tail can move up and down, and the wing feathers can move up and down and side to side. Finally, I wanted to add the option of changing the cherry blossom colors from red to pink. The total piece count includes an additional set of pink flowers that can be substituted for the red. 

I tried to design the model using only available part colors. However, a few key pieces were not available in red, so I’ve included one photo that shows the substitutions.