Yearly Archives: 2017

From the Cairngorms to your own home, build the wildlife of Scotland [Instructions]

Earlier this month, we wrote about Brick to the Past‘s huge Scottish diorama, The Jacobite Risings,  a build taking 10 months and using 1 million bricks. Within this creation spanning 16 square metres, were some adorable, microscale models of the Scottish wildlife found in the Cairngorms. Brick to the past have provided instructions so you can build your own Osprey, Deer, Capercaillie and Black Grouse.

Osprey are a bird of prey and returned from extinction within the UK to make their home in the Cairngorms.

Click for more instructions to make Scottish wildlife out of LEGO

Once there was a leprechaun sought...

Once there was a leprechaun sought
built with some very nice SNOT.
He held his pint tight,
And his gold shined so bright,
One would call this thing a jackpot!

This brilliant charismatic leprechaun is yet another brick-built masterpiece by Timofey Tkachev. I must admit, I’ve never thought a common round 1×1 plate with flower edge could become such a brilliant four-leaf clover, not to mention moustache made of carrots and socks designed with a set of white rubber belts.

Lepricon (1)

Rudolph the brick-nosed reindeer

Love ’em or loathe ’em, the Brickheadz-style seems here to stay. And regardless of your personal take on the blocky building craze, this jolly version of Rudolph is sure to raise a festive smile. Jonas Obermaier has built a cool little model, creating a chibi blocky reindeer. Whilst the facial styling is fun, and I love the antlers, the best bit of this has to be the snow-covered base — those white lever arms and blue flowers create a genuine sense of frosted plants. Brrrr.

Rudolph the BrickHeadz Reindeer

Then one sandy Christmas eve, Yoda came to say, Bantha with your nose so brown, won’t you guide my sleigh to town!

I always enjoy making a Christmas-themed build when the season comes around, and having built a Santa’s arrival scene last year that would be hard to top (even if I do say so myself), I wanted to do something a bit different and more fun this year. I’ve had those minifigures from the LEGO Star Wars advent calendars sitting on top of my shelf for quite a while, so this was the perfect chance to put one of them to use. Plus I’ve always wanted to build a Bantha.

Bantha the brown nosed...Bantha...

Click through to see some more pictures of this model

Everything is on track for Christmas

This is surely the most festive LEGO model we’ve seen all year — a brilliant gingerbread train, decked in Christmas icing and decorations. Put together by Koen for a competition on the LEGO Rebrick site, this was a worthy winner. The locomotive is an obvious highlight with it’s gleaming iced sections and little pops of candy colour, but my favourite part is the tiny house on the rear carriage — a beautiful confection with cupcakes on the roofline and liquorice detailing. Yum yum.

Gingerbread Train

Hark the LEGO angels sing

What better way to celebrate Christmas than with a beautiful brick-built Nativity scene? Birgitte Jonsgard evokes the spirit of the Renaissance Masters with this creation — a classical arch framing a suitably reverentail depiction of the Madonna and Child, complete with Joseph, Three Kings, and a host of heavenly cherubs. The entire scene is nicely done, but it was Mary’s halo, and the angels in their clouds which particularly caught my eye. Lovely stuff.

LEGO Nativity

It’s the most wonderful time, for a beer

“Okay. One beer. Just one beer…” said Santa. But everyone knows Rudolph is a bad influence.

I always build a Christmas LEGO model, and this year I couldn’t resist depicting what happened when everyone’s favourite reindeer led poor Saint Nick astray. Wherever you are in the world, and whether you’re celebrating a traditional Christmas, or a different variety of holiday season fun, I hope you have a peaceful and happy time. I know I’ll be cracking open a beer or two, and might join Rudolph in wee glass of whisky.

It's the most wonderful time for a beer

2017 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 24

Welcome to Day 24, the last day of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ve revealed the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.

AdventCalendarDay24

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. What will we score for Day 24, the final day?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for December 24, 2017 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of December 2017.

TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: We’re diving deep into Star Wars: The Last Jedi, reviewing a new set and analyzing everything we now know about the movie. Spoilers, dead ahead!

Ice Cream Sandwich and Orange Creamsicle

TBB 2017 YEAR IN REVIEW ARTICLES & INSTRUCTIONS: What are some of the most life-like builds we saw this year? Also, we have a few seasonal instructions too, just for you.
Click to see the rest of the Brick Report.

Spin around in the Christmas pyramid

Robert Heim created an accurate model of the traditional German Christmas decoration known as Weihnachtspyramide, or the Christmas pyramid. It is a multi-tiered structure with a fan on top and candle-holders at the base. When the candles are lit, the warm air that rises to the top propels the fan and spins the figures on the platforms in the model. Although the Lego version won’t do well with the heat, it is certainly charming to look at and a great decorative piece.

Christmas pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide)

Motorised journey to Bethlehem [Video]

Kinetic sculptures are a fascinating genre of LEGO building, combining “regular” brick-modelling with clever Technic motorisation techniques. Josh DaVid proves he’s a master of both these elements with his latest creation — The Journey To Bethlehem. The figures are nicely-sculpted, particularly the donkey and its precious cargo. I really like the road and the rockwork too, especially when you consider the gubbins contained within which drives the motion.

LEGO Journey to Bethlehem

Don’t miss the video of the sculpture in action…

Show me your moves

Captain Falcon is a Nintendo icon, whether one recognizes him as the flagship character of the F-Zero racing games or as the over-expressive fighter in Super Smash Bros. Logey Bear shows us their moves with the brick, creating a LEGO Captain Falcon figure full of his ridiculous charm. A great combination of Bionicle, system, and even Duplo and Scala parts bring this fit, fast fighter to life.

Captain Falcon