From sprawling dioramas depicting the invasion of Normandy to full-scale LEGO aircraft carriers and battleships, the Second World War is a frequent subject among LEGO builders fascinated by the conflict’s history, people, and weaponry. Here on The Brothers Brick, you’ll find everything from LEGO M4 Shermans and Tiger tanks lumbering across the landscape to F4U Corsairs, P-51 Mustangs, and Mitsubishi Zeros patrolling the skies.
LEGO M4 Sherman tanks are the single most popular tank to build, so it’s nice to see a builder break out of that mold and reproduce in LEGO a less popular but more interesting tank design. PhiMa does this with the tank that preceded the Sherman, the M3 Grant. Three reasons I think the Sherman Continue reading →
Ed Diment (Lego Monster) will be arriving in New York City in two weeks with his USS Intrepid aircraft carrier to assemble and display it at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. Ed will be there for two full days, Friday April 15 and Saturday April 16, after which the LEGO Intrepid will be Continue reading →
Immediately after the start of the Normandy invasion on D-Day, Allied forces began a battle for the strategic port city of Cherbourg that lasted more than three weeks. My diorama highlights the aftermath of the battle, when townspeople begin emerging from the rubble, while Free French partisans hoist the Tricolour above their safe house. The Continue reading →
Like many LEGO builders, I spent the first decades of my life building in isolation, lucky to get suggestions or critique from a sibling or rare friend who also played with LEGO. But in the last 10 years — particularly the last 5 — the LEGO fan community has grown to include a critical mass Continue reading →
Dan Siskind of Brickmania has just released a three-pack of WW2 vehicles, with custom minifigs and accessories. The set includes a German SdKfz 124 Wespe self-propelled artillery, American M8 Greyhound armored car, and British Universal Carrier (better known as the “Bren gun carrier”). At $300, the set of three vehicles certainly isn’t cheap, but spending Continue reading →
I’ve shared in the past my ambivalence toward violent LEGO, but there’s something unique about World War II that has fascinated me ever since I was little. My grandfather and great uncle served in the US Army during the war, and I grew up in one of the countries that both inflicted a great deal Continue reading →
Milan CMadge has been building LEGO versions of the Normandy Invasion for nearly a year now, culminating in his latest diorama featuring a German bunker built into the cliff (complete with interior), a pair of LCVP “Higgins Boat” landing craft (one more fortunate than the other), and even an amphibious Sherman tank. See detail shots Continue reading →
Though not the sort of achievement that makes me proud to be human, the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 “Drache” (Dragon) was the first helicopter to enter production, though Nazi Germany was only able to manufacture about 20 during World War II. I had no idea it even existed until Aleksander Stein built one from LEGO. Here’s Continue reading →
As Ed Diment works on his minifig-scale USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, Ralph Savelsberg (Mad Physicist) has been contributing World War II era fighter aircraft. Ralph’s latest plane is the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service’s Mitsubishi A6M3 “Zero” carrier-based fighter, or 零式艦上戦闘機 as I grew up knowing it. Long before I fell in love with the Continue reading →
The Universal Carrier or “Bren Gun Carrier” is one of the most under-appreciated vehicles of the Second World War. Despite over 100,000 being produced, it’s frequently overshadowed by larger, more iconic tracked vehicles like the Sherman tank. PhiMa remedies this situation with his lovely little LEGO version of this armored World War II vehicle. PhiMa’s Continue reading →
Jordan Schwartz (Sir Nadroj) presents a German artillery hauler from World War II, the Raupenschlepper Ost: The tracked vehicle boasts working treads and suspension.
Though it’s unlikely to supplant the F4U Corsair as my favorite plane in real life, I love Ralph Savelsberg‘s rendition of the venerable General Motors FM-1 Wildcat (also built by Grumman as the F4F). As much as I appreciate the plane, I also really like Ralph’s presentation, complete with wheel chocks and the textured surface Continue reading →
Is it wrong that I think this treaded engine of death is adorable? Apparently, the M8 is a real vehicle from World War II, but that stubby little cannon is really rather cute. Keep ‘em rolling, Captain Eugene.
On November 21, 1916, HMHS Britannic struck a German mine and sank, following the fate of her sister ship Titanic. Rob H. (rh1985moc) has honored the memory of this ill-fated World War I hospital ship with a microscale rendition in LEGO. Of course, Britannic and Titanic weren’t the only ships commissioned by the White Star Continue reading →
Our Polish friends over at Klocki remind us that Poland is currently observing the 70th anniversary of the September Campaign, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both invaded, divided, and annexed the country between them. Ciamek (Piglet on MOCpages) recreates a German propaganda photo that implied how weak and ineffectual Polish resistance was, as Continue reading →
