About Elspeth De Montes

Elspeth De Montes is Scottish but lives in North Yorkshire with her partner and twins. She is a LEGO Builder not a collector of sets, which in theory should make the hobby less expensive (ahem!) but monochrome collections can be pricey.   You can see more of Elspeth's work on her blog or website and Flickr.   Elspeth is also a bike lover; mountain bike, fixie, road bike, tri-bike (n+1=number of bikes I need).

Posts by Elspeth De Montes

Sustainable LEGO® Elements: 40320 Plants from Plants [Guest Article]

At The Brothers Brick, we tend to specialize in certain kinds of news, LEGO creations, and reviews, but thanks to our partnerships with other LEGO websites, we’re able to bring you more kinds of content. Please enjoy this excellent article that originally appeared on New Elementary.


Here at New Elementary we usually talk about new shapes and colours of LEGO® elements but today we’re looking at a new material from which some botanical elements are now being made. By 2030, The LEGO Group (TLG) intend to use sustainable materials in all of their core products and packaging.

Read the complete guest article after the jump

Exclusive interviews with LEGO designer and Aston Martin Creative Director at London LEGO Creator Expert 10262 James Bond DB5 set launch event [News]

Earlier this morning, The Brothers Brick attended what was supposed to be a top-secret launch event at LEGO’s flagship UK store in Leicester Square, London. The silver Aston Martin DB5 parked outside the main entrance was a bit of a giveaway that today was all about the new Creator Expert 10262 James Bond DB5 set.

Continue reading…

HispaBricks 10th Anniversary Set [Review]

As we mentioned in our recent interview with the HispaBrick staff, our friends over at HispaBrick are celebrating their 10-year anniversary. One of the ways this free digital magazine for LEGO fans are celebrating is with the release of a limited edition custom set. Although HispaBrick is online only, the set itself channels a more historical form of magazine and newspaper distribution — the kiosk.

Click to read the full review

Celebrating 10 years of HispaBrick Magazine [Feature]

HispaBrick is a free digital magazine for LEGO fans that is published in both Spanish and English.  There are three full editions of HispaBrick released each year, packed with technical articles, interviews, and features on almost every aspect of LEGO. The very first edition of HispaBrick was released back in 2008, making 2018 the 10th anniversary of the magazine, and there are a few surprises planned to mark the occasion.

Within the 10th anniversary edition, there’s an interview with Carlos Méndez, the LEGO fan who proposed the idea of HispaBrick Magazine ten years ago. You will also find a timeline spanning magazine’s ten years, along with interviews with the current staff members. Other features include Andrea Valcanover showing how to build a beautiful tree, Pau Padrós explaining the secrets behind Modular buildings, an interview with the LEGO Technic team and a report of the latest LEGO event in Bilbao.

Click here to see more from the 10th Anniversary Issue and an Exclusive Interview

Your bricks will travel wherever they want in this little tank [Instructions]

While we can all gaze in wonder at a huge LEGO diorama, there’s also a lot of joy that comes from building fun little models with interesting techniques.  GolPlaysWithLEGO has built this fun little tank that has 61 parts and a lot of character.

Tiny Tank LEGO MOC

Click to see the parts and instructions

Interview with Jeff Friesen of Cityscapes, The Brothers Brick’s Creation of the Year 2017 [Feature]

We singled out Jeff Friesen’s Cityscapes as our 2017 Creation of the Year. If you’ve missed it then, these are still very much worth a look, and even if you’ve seen them, they’re so mesmerising that you may find something you missed earlier on. It’s almost soothing and appealing to let your eyes wander around these intricate builds.

We could not resist reaching out to have a deeper discussion with Jeff to understand the mind of an artist that could create something so different and unique with the very same bricks all of us see and build with every day.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, e.g. where are you based, your LEGO history, and your work (LEGO/Photography and real life if it is different)?

I’m an award-winning photographer based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, which is on Vancouver Island. I have vivid memories of playing with LEGO from the age of 3 (that was in the early 1970s). I had a shoebox full of white and red bricks in the classic sizes, mostly 2 x 4s. Those bricks were used to make everything from aeroplanes to cities to double-decker car ferries for Matchbox racers. Recently, I was wondering why the brick selection was only red and white. After doing some research it appears the bricks must have been a hand-me-down set from the 1960s. Back then LEGO used to have basic building sets in just red and white.

The late 1970s brought with it the dual treasures of minifigures and Space LEGO. I essentially lived in a Space LEGO drama for a few years. Blue, trans-yellow, and grey were the primary colours of that era. As a child, the actual LEGO building is just the beginning of the fun, and then you get to play with what you’ve made. As an adult, I’ve replaced the play phase with photography.

It’s amazing how LEGO has been there through every stage of life, and now my daughter’s life.

Click here to continue reading our interview with Jeff Friesen

LEGO Star Wars UCS 75181 Y-wing Starfighter Announced [News]

You might want rearrange your Ultimate Collector Series to make some room for the new LEGO Star Wars UCS 75181 Y-wing Starfighter announced by LEGO today. As usual, the model is a stunning copy of the iconic spaceship, loaded with details, and can be displayed with a stand and info card. The model consists of 1967 pieces and features a Gold Leader minifigure and a R2-BHD droid. The set will cost US $199.99 / CA $249.99 / DE 199.99€ / UK £169.99 / 1799DKK and will be available beginning on Star Wars day, aka May the 4th, in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online with no VIP Early Access.

Click here to read the full press-release

Take your own Blade Runner 2049 car for a spin [Instructions]

The spinner car from the original 1982 movie Blade Runner had an upgrade for the sequel, Blade Runner 2049. While the upgrade involved more than a lick of light bluish grey paint, those curved front prongs are more than a nod to the original design. GolPlaysWithLEGO has designed a lego version of the car Ryan Gosling’s character K drives in 2049, and has kindly shared instructions to allow other fans to build the model.

Spinner 2049

Click here to see the instructions

LEGO Promotional Freebie 30525 The Guardians Ship [Review]

LEGO launched their Infinity War tie-in sets and the Hulkbuster at the beginning of the month, so we managed to snag a few freebies along with our 76105 Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition. One of the free gifts was a promotional polybag 30525 The Guardians Ship, which depicts a miniature version of the ship in 76107 Thanos: Ultimate Battle. Little is known about the Guardian Ship as it features in an upcoming movie, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War that is released next month.

Click here to read the review

Oasis, you’re my Wonderwall music video recreated perfectly with LEGO [Video]

Today is gonna be the day that you will look back in anger joy and remember 90’s Britpop band Oasis. With a stream of hits throughout the 90s, this particular music video is a perfect LEGO recreation of Wonderwall from the album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? The video was animated and edited by James Cawood, who took over 1400 photographs to create this stop-motion video featuring Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher and the rest of the Oasis band members as they play and sing their hit song.

Click to see some stills from both the original and LEGO versions, plus a behind-the-scenes video

Forget Pacific Rim: Uprising — Pacific Brick is the movie to see today [Video]

With this weekend’s release of Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to the 2013 film Pacific Rim, all eyes are on the Jaegers and their fight against the Kaiju. Alex Kobbs of Kooberz Studios has released an all-action LEGO version called Pacific Brick. Featuring a huge Jaeger complete with minifigure pilots and set in a brick-built metropolis, this is the movie to see today.

Click to see the best moments summarised (SPOILERS)

Functional LEGO Liebherr mobile crane will lift your bricks on high

Leibherr mobile cranes are like buses, two come along at once and you are not sure which to jump in. Thankfully we can admire both of YU KEE LIUs builds as these all-terrain mobile cranes are fantastic in both accuracy and build quality.  The first build depicts the Liebherr LTM 1350 mobile crane and the model is capable of extending, lifting items and moving them on its rotating axis.

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Yu Kee Liu has managed an impressive feat of engineering with his LEGO version as you can see from a view with the crane arm extended.

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Click to see an even larger LEGO version of a Liebherr mobile crane