Yearly Archives: 2017

Build a SHIELD Helicarrier with less than a hundred pieces [Instructions]

South African builder Wayne de Beer made the rounds a few months back with hisTallneck build from Horizon Zero Dawn that he graciously released with instructions to build your own. Now he’s doing the same with his own microscale version of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier featured in a few of the Marvel movies. It uses less than a hundred pieces and can be made with regular pieces alone, or improved with a few printed pieces and stickers.

The S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Check out the step-by-step instructions for this tiny SHIELD Helicarrier

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A new beauty born of decay

When I first looked at this picture, I thought to myself that someone really needs to clean up the weeds on their mansion, but then with some quick research it turned out there is nobody to do the cleaning. Château Nottebohm is an abandoned castle in Belgium, which has been uninhabited for over half a century. While the landscape looks more like a savannah than a temperate forested plain, Marion has definetely done justice to the mansion itself.

Château Nottebohm 05

On the outside the building seems to contain no large bricks whatsoever, achieving intense chaotic textures characteristic of decaying buildings. Textures like these feel more at home in larger creations, but Marion has managed to make them look good even at this small scale. There are complex shapes achieved with more or less legal techniques, for some of which I am not even sure they can be done without cutting bricks, so purists beware! For a better understanding of some of these techniques, I suggest anyone interested to look at the work in progress photos, like this example here.

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2017 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 19

Welcome to Day 19 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.

AdventCalendarDay19

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 surprises will we be granted for Day 19?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie available on Blu-Ray, DVD & Digital today [News]

Arriving just in time for the holidays, The LEGO Ninjago Movie is now available for purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital. We reviewed the movie back when it premiered in September, giving it points for some awesome parts usage, cool tie-in sets and a unique take on an existing LEGO-owned property. There are few different versions of the movie available, so we’ve listed all your buying options after the jump.

Continue reading

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Attention! It’s time for the Christmas parade

Toy soldier figures are a mainstay of Disney theme park decorations at this time of year. Koen has built a wonderful LEGO version, with great shaping and brilliant attention to detail. The hat is fabulous, and the nicely-done face captures the character well. I particularly like the rosy cheeks and pointed pink nose. And that angled hat brim is excellent.

Toy Soldier

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No army is tiny enough to sieze this castle

I have no idea what the tiny attacking army is thinking, but apparently they are trying to besiege this cute, impenetrable fortress. The scene, built by Timothy Shortell, is as complete as they get. There’s ingenious use of parts in the siege equipment, the dark green plains are dynamic, the castle is highly detailed and, most of all, the intense cliffs at the back are amazing. I have never believed them to be useful in a serious creation, but at this scale and level of texture, the rocky wedges (part 64867) at the left and right ends of the cliffs actually look perfect.

CCC15: The Siege of Kar Minil (Main)

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Top 10 unbelievably life-like objects made out of LEGO

We’re all used to seeing boats, spaceships, and beautiful buildings made of LEGO, but what about the everyday mundane objects of our lives? A few incredible builders can make even ordinary objects look extraordinary, forcing you to look twice lest you be fooled into thinking it’s the real thing. Here at The Brothers Brick we love stuff like this, so we’ve rounded up 10 of the best real-life objects that we’ve featured in 2017.

This Ice Cream Sandwich and Orange Creamsicle by Carl Merriam, Niek, and Milan CMadge look so good that we already feel like it’s summer.

Ice Cream Sandwich and Orange Creamsicle

See more unbelievably realistic LEGO creations below

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The wonderful world of warehouses

Warehouses are one of those things that make modern life go around. They’re also one of those things that most people will never step inside but could not live without. If you’re among the warehouse curious, Norton74‘s recent build is just for you. From the shelving, to the pallets, to the equipment – this build incorporates all the quintessential elements of a warehouse.

Warehouse Life | loading/unloading

After studying this model for a while, one thing that immediately stands are the variety of different forklift models shown. Considering this whole build was a commission for a forklift truck company, that’s not entirely surprising. Exploring other photos from the builder reveals some additional forklift and hand truck models that didn’t make it into the the scene above.

Warehouse Life | forklift and pallet truck full range

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

2017 LEGO Advent Calendars: Day 18

Welcome to Day 18 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.

AdventCalendarDay18

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. Will Day 18 be the best day yet?

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Preserving Hong Kong’s heritage; State Theatre captured in 40,000 bricks

The State Theatre (皇都戲院) is a former cinema in the North Point area of Hong Kong. It is currently in a poor state of repair and faces demolition, despite being a Graded building and part of Hong Kong’s heritage. Originally known as the Empire Theatre, it was renamed the State Theatre in 1959 and was a cultural hub in post-war Hong Kong. Alan Boar and Mythbot collaborated to build this historic building in LEGO as a way to raise awareness of its plight, encouraging support for the preservation of Hong Kong’s historic buildings.

LEGO STATE Theatre

Don’t miss all the  street levels details like the Classic Tram , Leyland Truck, food vendor, as well as a hubbub of pedestrian activity.

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Tis the season to be hideous

Since LEGO has decided to expand it’s super blocky Brickheadz line to include seasonal characters rather than just screen icons, I figured it made sense for my Rejectz to do the same. So just in time to ruin Christmas, I present… holiday Rejectz!

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F15 on a LEGO-to-air combat mission

The F-15 is a twin-engine, all weather fighter that is the mainstay of the U.S. Air Force’s air superiority and homeland defence missions. Boeing boasts that its proven design is undefeated in air-to-air combat, with more than 100 aerial combat victories. Kai NRG has a special reason for building a LEGO version of this particular jet fighter, his grandfather worked on developing the aircraft. He has certainly done a very good job, the shaping is fantastic with SNOT building giving a wonderfully smooth, streamlined appearance.

F15 Eagle

Just in case you didn’t spot the working flaps in the main image, this view shows the added functionality in Kai’s design.

F15 Eagle

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