Some vehicles are more than meets the eye. While this 1959 Salem Ameriliner Library Bus by Chris Elliott doesn’t change into a walking, talking robot, it has been transformed on the inside, from a passenger carrier to mobile library with a fully detailed interior. Even without the interior, the bus is a beautiful creation. The combination of slopes used on the roof place it indisputably in the 1950s, and the other details are seamless: doors on their side as luggage compartment doors and zip line handles as side view mirrors.
If you’re not impressed by the exterior, open it up and be prepared to be blown away. The interior of this bookmobile is spot on to the last detail. It starts with enough books to actually be called a library, stowed everywhere they could possibly go: on the walls, in the luggage compartment, and even in the floor. There’s even a comfy couch in the back to curl up with whatever good book you’ve found on the shelf! Continue reading →
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Each new installment of the Star Wars franchise typically comes with a fleet of new spaceships large and small to allow ace pilots to show off their skills and fight for peace and justice in a galaxy far, far away. The new animated series Star Wars: Resistance is no exception. The story takes place shortly before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and follow the adventures of a pilot recently recruited from the New Republic into the titular group of freedom fighters. LEGO fan creator Mansur Soeleman has brought a group of fighters known as Ace Squadron to stunningly detailed life.
When compared to the on-screen source material, Mansur’s meticulous attention to detail is too good to be contained in a single photo, so read on to see each fighter of the squadron in detail.
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Home to almost 40 million people, greater Tokyo is the world’s most populous metropolitan area. Space is at a premium, so houses tend to be small and built closely together. To fight fires in the dense urban areas, the Tokyo Fire Department has a large fleet of exceedingly small fire engines. They are narrow enough to fit the streets between the houses. They also have a relatively short wheelbase, so that they can navigate tight corners. In preparation for a visit to Japan Brickfest later this year, I’m building a small collection of Japanese emergency vehicles. I’ve been looking forward to building the fire engine the most, so I’ve kept that for last.
At a first glance, it may not look all that small, especially if you are used to LEGO minifigure-scale builds. However, if you compare the pumper to the two fire fighters, it is obvious that it is a lot smaller than pumpers from Europe or the US. It is only about as wide as a typical American car and not all that much longer. Nonetheless, it has everything you’d expect from its larger counterparts and a little more. It is nice and red, obviously. It has pump control panels with connections for fire hoses, a few ladders stored on top and lots of compartments for tools. Typical for Japanese pumpers, it also houses a little separate wheeled cart in the back. Fire fighters use this to transport hoses down even narrower alleys. The model is like a miniature version of a miniature fire engine.
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The LEGO fan community is mourning the loss of kindhearted and prolific builder, Arthur Gugick of Ohio. On March 30th Arthur and his significant other, Barbara Becker, were tragically killed in a car accident. If you ever attended North American fan events like BrickWorld Chicago or BrickFair VA, you may have run into Arthur before. At these events, you could catch a glimpse of his elaborate architectural builds and mosaics. Arthur was featured in the Winter 2008 issue of BrickJournal magazine, and he was even contracted to recreate his model of the Taj Mahal for the Australian independent film, Taj (2011).
In addition to being an avid LEGO enthusiast, Arthur taught math at Beachwood High School. He was passionate about his job and had a knack for harnessing his creativity to make math fun for his students. In an interview with ABC News 5 Cleveland, Ed Bernetich (who had been responsible for hiring Arthur) commented:
I was very sad because he is one of a kind. He’s a total unique individual. There are many great math minds, but sometimes they don’t relate to other people very well. And here we had a guy with a mathematician’s brain who also was extremely skilled at reaching kids.
Arthur’s death has been a difficult time for Beachwood School District staff and students, whose lives he has touched over the years.
Ever the mathematician, Arthur approached his LEGO models from a mathematical angle. Some of his structures utilized calculus, and he even wrote his own software for building domes like the one on his Taj Mahal. According to Arthur, “I look at my buildings as more an exercise in mathematics than necessarily an art form, which might be a little different of a take than other people do, or maybe it’s the same… For me it’s a puzzle” (BrickJournal – Winter 2008).
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Need more Klämtares, Kuggises, or Ivars for your LEGO collection? Look no further than IKEA, now in minature form thanks to cubo31. IKEA announced a new partnership with LEGO last year, and we still haven’t seen many details on what that is. But we can only hope that it will include an awesome micro model like this. This Micropolis module is loaded with accurate details, from the incredible brick-built logo to the carefully crafted curbs and even an underground garage. There’s just one inaccurate detail that bothers me, though: there are open parking spaces within sight of the front doors. I’ve never seen that at my IKEA.
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I could have pancakes smothered in syrup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then some in between as well. With such a healthy diet, it may not be long before I need to pay a visit to the dentist though. But having a bite out of this will require immediate attention! If I end up with any broken teeth, the only person I’m going to blame is builder LittleJohn! The use of those minifigure caps for blueberries are wonderful, but that sliced orange with transparent cheese slopes takes the (pan)cake for me! Knowing that not everyone is a fan of pancakes, you may want to know that chef LittleJohn can cook up a few other breakfast dishes. Try some of these other delicious savory foods, including waffles, or eggs and tomato.
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Builder Corvus Auriac takes us to a magical place with this amazing render of a microscale castle. The towers are exquisitely detailed with just enough randomness to look real, while still feeling like an absolutely massive structure perched atop a rock. The dragon, named Beowulf, is one of the better microscale designs I’ve seen, actually have four legs like a proper dragon (and not a wyvern, which only has two). The frog for a head is perfect. As with all great microscale models, you’ll be rewarded by spending some time poring over the minuscule details to see what parts have been cleverly repurposed.
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I am not a miner, but I imagine that it is not quite as fun and exciting as the 1990s Rock Raiders LEGO theme made it look. Nevertheless, I have fond memories of this action-packed adventure theme. My nostalgia was somewhat dormant for a long time, until I had the privilege to write about a Rock Raiders tunneling drone here on the Brothers Brick. The creation made me feel so good that I felt compelled had to make my own Rock Raiders-themed model. And here it is; the “Dolomite Destroyer” (named in the honour of the iconic 4940 Granite Grinder LEGO set).
I have experimented with proportions a bit for this model. Just a simple colour scheme would not cut it for a Rock Raiders build. It had to be bulky and rough. The whole thing started with a Throwbot/Slizer shoulder/hand piece as the mech’s arms and continued from there. The second central part was an Atlantis minifig helmet within the body. I finished the model off with a little crane because I think cranes look so cool and industrial. While this model was fun to build, I will be scrapping it to build another creation in this style later on.
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Bubble tea is a drink that was originally conceived in Taiwan back in the 1980s. Since then, it’s popularity has spread throughout Asia and even major Western cities. The sweet drink is perhaps best known for the black tapioca pearls lining the bottom of the cup, which are easy to sip with the aid of a large straw. Great B.W. (大黑白) built a deliciously adorable LEGO bubble tea stand, cleverly designed to resemble the classic drink.
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If there’s one fandom whose members rival LEGO fans for excitement and in-depth knowledge, it’s Disney fans. The monumental rush of pure nostalgia and child-like glee when the two are combined can hardly be overstated. Of course, LEGO has long produced a few sets here and there licensing the core Disney products (as opposed to Disney-owned franchises like Marvel or Star Wars, which rule the LEGO lineup each year). Traditionally, these Disney sets have generally targeted some of the youngest sectors of LEGO’s audience. However, in 2016 LEGO produced a special wave of the Collectible Minifigures theme focusing on beloved Disney characters. Now three years later, LEGO is returning for another go, with 71024 Collectible Minifigures Disney Series 2 with a target release date of May 1. As usual, we expect the sets to begin filtering into retail stores a bit early, so start keeping an eye out soon. LEGO hasn’t confirmed the price yet, but we expect it will match the $3.99 USD price of the first series. Like the first wave, Disney Series 2 includes 18 unique minifigures, and as with all Collectible Minifigures (CMFs), they’re packaged individually in blind packs. Click to read the full, hands-on review
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Last year around the holidays, LEGO launched an incredibly popular Star Wars surprise box promotion available only in the US and Canada. Now a similar box is being offered to LEGO fans in the UK starting on April 11 with Star Wars purchases greater than £85 (an offer that coincides with the launch of the 20th Anniversary sets). This time around, the box promises five unnamed Star Wars items and a chance to win an unspecified limited edition Star Wars minifigure.
The UK LEGO Shop is also currently offering a gift-with-purchase of a cute Chicken Skater Pod just in time for Easter, available with orders greater than £35. (The chick should be available as a gift-with-purchase later this month in the US and Canada.)
Though we do not know what will be included in the UK boxes, the Star Wars boxes in the US and Canada contained five rare minifigures including Colonel Wullf Yularen from the conference room scene on the first Death Star, DJ from The Last Jedi, a stormtrooper sergeant, Han Solo in Hoth gear, and a Scarif shore trooper squad leader from Rogue One.
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Today we are excited to announce The Brothers Brick has acquired the popular YouTube channel Beyond the Brick, creating largest LEGO-related online content provider in history. The acquisition essentially triples the volunteer staff at The Brothers Brick and will bring a whole new level of quality to Beyond the Brick’s long-form interview videos.
In addition to The Brothers Brick’s current contributor recruitment drive, acquiring Beyond the Brick’s army of editors will ensure that each video will receive professional editing with scripts, teleprompters and an accompanying written article with high-quality photos. The ultimate goal will be to publish LEGO convention videos the same day they are recorded rather than having to wait several months after each event.
Joshua Hanlon, one of the founders and main host of Beyond the Brick was asked about the purchase: “HEY EVERYONE, JOSHUA HANLON HERE. It makes so much sense to be part of The Brothers Brick since John and I are brothers and we always get confused as being The Brothers Brick anyway, so it is great to have that cleared up so we can focus on upping our quality and create new daily videos hopefully featuring even more LEGO Star Wars builds, and now with the acquisition we are free to travel to EVERY fan convention and LEGO event no matter how small or remote, even to all the tiny train shows or kid displays at libraries, plus personally I think I look better in green anyway.”
In the short term, every daily video from Beyond the Brick will be published as a post on The Brothers Brick as well as on YouTube. The acquisition will also allow Beyond the Brick to feature smaller, high-quality builds that often get overlooked by the bigger, flashier and moving LEGO creations that have been a primary focus of the YouTube channel. Beyond the Brick will also start to produce and publish instruction videos to the LEGO builds they feature as well as finally start highlighting Great Ball Contraptions (GBCs), an area they have sorely underrepresented until now.
Andrew Becraft, founder of The Brothers Brick said: “This was a strategic LEGO community acquisition that will push us ‘Beyond The Brothers Brick’ to new heights and deeper brand awareness.”
The exhaustive branding transition is expected to take up to one year, with The Brothers Brick iconic green taking over Beyond the Brick’s existing red and yellow coloring before the eventual absorption of the brand altogether including all merchandise, t-shirts, stickers and logos.
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.
