Tag Archives: Town

Towns in the world of LEGO have everything cities in the real world do — police stations, fire engines, trains, hairdressers and veterinarians. Check out all the beautiful buildings and vehicles we’ve featured here on The Brothers Brick.

A small truck for mammoth tasks

Like many men my age, at heart, I don’t necessarily feel all that different from when I was six years old and playing with my LEGO train. Besides LEGO and trains, as a boy, I liked fire engines, diggers and trucks, preferably with lots of lights. My latest build still fits that pattern. It is a Mercedes Actros truck with a stepframe trailer, as operated by the Dutch company Mammoet, which is Dutch for mammoth.

They specialize in heavy lifting and transport of oversized and heavy objects. So, by their standards, this truck is actually quite small. Their vehicles have an attractive and distinctive color scheme. It uses a lot of red, but the vehicles’ cabs are usually black. The trailer, built by the Dutch company Nooteboom, has a yellow edge for increased visibility. When I started building the truck, I wasn’t sure what load I’d put on the trailer, except that I wanted it to be predominantly yellow. Ultimately I picked a Liebherr wheel-loader with nicely chunky wheels. As a display base for some future LEGO event, I also built part of a road, which I decorated with some flowers and two road signs, both of which (would you believe it?) I already had as a six-year-old.

Honey, I shrunk the Scania

For years I didn’t really care much for minifigures. I tend to be fussy about the scale of my models and, since minifigures are far too wide for their height, it is awkward to use them with a proper scale model. Furthermore, a larger scale makes it easier to incorporate a lot of details and functionality, which are both things that I enjoy. So, most of my builds don’t feature figures.

Read more about these Scania trucks

What’s happening in the back alley

We’ve featured quite a few LEGO facades, but it’s surprising to see how much life might be behind these buildings. Kris Kelvin (Montgomery Burns) depicts the back lot of two buildings in excellent minifig-scale realism without sacrificing any detail or action. This diorama is bustling with new shipments of lobsters, Scala bottle elements, and pork chops. In addition to the goods, you’ll find dark tan tiles scattered across the sidewalks and air conditioners that really capture that city grime. There’s also a variety of bar and fence parts to create all sorts of railings, gates, and pipes throughout. We’ve spotted the use of some rare brown fence pieces incorporated into the tall gates of the lot entrance. And at the intersection, there’s a pair of stoplights supported by bar handles and lightsaber hilts.

In the backyard...

According to Kris, this build, along with an autumn garden, is part of a larger city diorama in progress. While we’re waiting to see it all come together, visit our archives for a look at some more detailed dioramas.

Not your average farmer’s market

No matter what day of the week it is, it’s always nice to go to the local farmer’s market. Not only are the food and goods top-notch, they also have a nice atmosphere. Not unlike Andrew Tate‘s village grocer, which has a charming house rather than tents and food stalls. No doubt the fruits and vegetables sold outside in crates are locally grown, given the small-town feel of the build. The ground floor has a small convenience shop, and the rest of the house must be where the owners live.

Village Grocers

Andrew pays homage to a more famous LEGO grocer, a popular Modular Building set from 2008. The green and tan awning is similarly to the blue and white awning of the LEGO set, and both share the same white Fabuland lamp-posts. Andrew also references LEGO’s Winter Village series with this village grocer’s alpine architecture. It fits right in there, minus the cold and snow. Come to think of it, what’s Winter Village like when it’s not winter?

A little light amidst a lot of dark

Is it a Tim Burton movie set? Is it a miniature fit for a museum about Medieval times? No, it is another fantastic creation from Ralf Langer. Ralf always surprises us with his super realistic medieval Tudor-style buildings. His creations are filled with tons of interesting techniques which he kindly reveals in tutorials not long after posting a creation. His latest model is called ‘A light in the dark’.

A light in the dark

As far as I can tell Ralf didn’t use any special lighting to make the archway light up. He created the effect by using a range of yellow tones amidst a lot of grey, dark grey, dark brown, and black. The effect looks stunning. Another effect Ralf managed to get across beautifully is the calm after a storm. The streets look like they are covered in puddles. This is achieved by using chain link for the pavement. The puddles are made with black brick shapes which are placed between the chain links. The difference between the textured chain links and the smooth bricks really looks like rain puddles.

2 modular buildings are always better than 1

What is better than one LEGO modular building? Two LEGO modular buildings and make it a corner building! Kale Frost show us what an upscale Birch Books might have looked like. Kale stayed true to the official set design for most of his creation. He did however add a few little touches to make this creation truly stand out. Complete with a signboard in the shape of a book to emphasize that they are selling books inside. The lettering above the entrance also is a nice touch and it is executed very well using the new curved 1×1 slope. I do wonder what the S would look like had the curved 1×1 slope been used there as well. He further added a brick-built pillar box which goes great with the British vibe of the building. Now, all we can do is wait for an upscale version of the 107 house next to the Birch Books.

Birch Books - Upsized

There’s a house on my street, and it looks real neat

There are times when a LEGO fan starts building, gets into the groove of things, then finds it hard to stop. Especially when the build is a small street that keeps growing with each mini modular building placed on it. When I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) attended my LUG‘s (LondonAFOLs) monthly meet-up via Zoom, the theme was mini modular buildings. Every year since 2007, LEGO released a large modular building, each of which can be arranged into a street layout. As a fifth anniversary to the lineup, LEGO created a microscale version of the first few buildings. I started to build a micro modular for the meet-up, and then I couldn’t help but build more. A few days after the meet-up, I ended up with a whole street.

The micro modulars of Jumper Road

Click to see each micro modular building in detail, along with the build process!

TBB Cover Photo for November 2020: A Cozy Cabin Awaits

One of my favorite annual activities is heading to the mountain where my fam stays at an A-Frame in the snow, so this A-Frame build from, Norton74, immediately brings thoughts of winter and fun.

A-Frame Cabin

Where it gets good, and one of my favorite things about Norton74’s builds, is looking at all the details scattered throughout. These details tell the story of this cabin and really bring the build to life, further reminding me of our A-Frame vacay. Take a look at that log pile and saw, cookie rounds for log ends is a smooth move. Seriously, look at those logs. Other notable features that bring me to the mountain include the jagged roof, the abundance of wildlife, and the little doodads scattered here and there.

Now I need to see the inside of this cabin….is it February yet?

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TBB cover photo for August 2020: A station worth visiting

This month’s cover photo, from Pieter Dennison, is a model of the Dunedin Railway Station in New Zealand. From the tower to the topiary garden, this scene captures all the nuance found in the Dunedin Railway Station, reportedly, one of New Zealand’s most photographed buildings. If you’d like to learn more about this build, read our previous coverage of this LEGO Dunedin Railway Station that Pieter spent five years building.

Dunedin Railway Station

Submit your LEGO creations featured across TBB social media for a month! Check out the submission guidelines share your builds today.

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TBB cover photo for June 2020: The General Store with Everything

This month’s cover photo, from Andrea Lattanzio, brings us this blast from the past with an incredibly detailed LEGO general store. The diorama is littered with items you might find at a remote general store, and luckily Andrea provides a close up look at the details (see below). Candy machines, phone booths, tools, and gas, this general store has you covered no matter your needs.

General Store

Here’s that closer look at some of the items you’ll see surrounding the general store. The water tower is a clear standout, but some of the other details like the power pole, the cable holding up the chimney pipe, and the cat going after that bird nest. This entire scene is a delight to take in.

General Store in detail

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Check out the submission guidelines and submit your photo today.

Stay safe and keep up with The Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter or Pinterest. And for extra goodies, follow us on Instagram, Flickr, or subscribe to us on YouTube.

A cozy cabin where you can play through the winter

We might be heading into the summer up here in the northern hemisphere, but this LEGO model by Little John is all about cuddling up by the fire as the cold nights draw in. This rustic cabin makes for a cozy home for a family and their pets. They seem to be LEGO fans too, maybe even collectors, judging by the set boxes on display around the room. There’s an excellent use of printed tiles as pictures throughout the scene, and the furniture is simple but in keeping with the rest of the interior. I dread to think how long it took to put that floor together; it’s made entirely of brown plates in a selection of shades — an effective way to create a wooden floor look. My favorite detail is the boy playing with the toy castle — check out the wonderful little dragon with which he’s threatening the ramparts.

No Place Like Home

Hospitality on hold

LEGO builder Alex Eylar captures the mood of many with his latest creation Lonely Chef. Alex says he’s missing restaurants during the current lockdown, but in this melancholy composition he also manages to communicate the quiet despair felt by many in the hospitality industry. I’ve spent my entire working life in the bar and drinks trade, and right now it feels like I’m watching the whole industry slide off a cliff in slow-motion. On a less gloomy note, this is a wonderful LEGO model — clean lines and a simple colour scheme, nicely-lit, and well-photographed. I’m looking forward to when such creations depict a moment from our history, rather than from our present.

Lonely Chef