I love a good fire engine. While I cringe a bit at seeing a fire truck called “vintage” when it’s from an era I remember well — I clearly recall watching big fire engines go by during the 1979 4th of July parade in Freeport, Maine — this hook and ladder truck by Glaktek is gorgeous to behold. A new take on one of his earlier builds, both builds also fit within the scale, parts selection, and basic building techniques of official LEGO sets, which makes its unique shape all the more beautiful.
Fortunately, B.A. Baracus won’t have to fly, thanks to this great A-Team van by sanellukovic. The builder achieves the unique angled color scheme of the van with some ingenious techniques — a red tile sandwiched between sideways-facing slopes facing opposite directions. The van is showcased on a nice base, with some great purist minifigs.
Of course, we’ll soon have an official LEGO A-Team LEGO Dimensions fun pack with a B.A. Baracus minifig and miniature version of his van, but in the meantime it’s great to see a purist Mr. T.
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve reviewed the custom LEGO kits designed by Dan Siskind of Brickmania. Back in 2013, I reviewed the Dodge WC54 Ambulance, and writing those reviews really got me started in building World War II models seriously. In the meantime, Dan and his team have continued to release new custom kits, on a near-weekly cadence. One of Dan’s recent Brickmania releases is the M3A1 Scout Car, produced by the White Motor Company between 1940 and 1944. The vehicle served throughout WW2, and its basic design served as the basis of the iconic M3 Half-track.
Like some of the custom kits I reviewed back in 2013, the M3A1 Scout Car is a WW2 vehicle I also built back in 2014, so I’ll be comparing Dan’s version with my own.
Click through to read the full review
We’ve seen some pretty epic LEGO Batcaves here on The Brothers Brick over the years, including a Batcave built from 20,000 LEGO bricks and a super-detailed LEGO Batcave, and even Wayne Manor with a 1960’s Batcave. Chak hei Mok joins the Batcave builders club with this atmospheric lair featuring spots for multiple tumblers, a command post,
Click through to see more photos of this LEGO Batcave
The LEGO Shop online has just reduced its free shipping threshold from $75 to $35, and in July they’re giving away a Classic Castle knight to all LEGO VIPS with purchases over $50.
Hitting both the $35 and $50 minimum is easy this month with the release of some great new sets. 75828 Ecto-1 & 2 retails for $60 and includes 6 minifigs with 556 parts. Read our review, and it will also be this month’s TBB LEGO giveaway.
10253 Big Ben retails for $250 and includes 4163 pieces (you can read our recommendation in our review from a few weeks ago).
We just wrapped up our giveaway of the Shuttle Tyderium, and the winner has been contacted. For July, we’re giving away the new 75828 Ecto-1 & 2 from the upcoming Ghostbusters movie, which comes out in a couple of weeks. To enter, click here.
Not sure you want this set or how it compares to the previous LEGO Ideas Ecto 1? You can read our review of 75828 Ecto 1 & 2 here on TBB.
If you want to see more giveaways like this, you can support TBB by buying your LEGO by clicking through from Brothers-Brick.com via the banners and links on the right.
Fine print: In order to make a global contest manageable, TBB uses the Contests app on Facebook. As a result, this contest is limited to TBB readers with Facebook accounts. Yes, we still love you if you’re on G+. For winners in locations that are very expensive to ship to, TBB reserves the right to substitute a monetary value equivalent to the cost of the set in your country. We’ll send you a cool TBB T-shirt either way.
As part of the summer wave of LEGO Star Wars sets, LEGO released 75149 Resistance X-wing Fighter from The Force Awakens. The set includes three minifigs (plus BB-8) and 740 pieces.
At first glance, this new X-wing looks a lot like 75102 Poe’s X-wing Fighter released last year, and your first glance would not be wrong.
Click through for the full review
The asymmetrical ships and bold colors of Homeworld continue to inspire LEGO builders year after year, and Tim Schwalfenberg is no exception. Tim is working on another large fleet for BrickWorld Chicago in a couple of weeks, but teased us with this Corvette from the Vaygr faction (duplicated on a cool deep space backdrop). While I certainly love seeing (and building) large fleets of microscale spaceships, it’s often easy to overlook the great building techniques that go into the smaller vessels, overshadowed as they often are by the large capital ship at the center of the fleet. Despite their relatively small size, the Corvette is packed full of detail, from the greebly sensors to the cannon.
Tim says he included a number of custom pieces that he 3D-printed himself. Can you spot them? What do you think about 3D printing pieces to include in LEGO creations?
There’s a longstanding tradition — especially here on the West Coast of the U.S. — of novelty architecture that often reflects the specific purpose of the building, from teapots to root beer barrels. Andrew Tate has built a lovely bakery in the shape of a toaster, complete with slices of bread popping up. And the coffee stand next door is, naturally, in the shape of a coffee mug. Andrew makes great use of rounded bricks and slopes throughout his scene, which even includes a brick-built street.
What if Captain America and Red Skull were characters in Star Wars instead of the Marvel universe? Hey, it’s not inconceivable… And what vehicles would they ride? tankm answers these questions with a great pair of speeders. The Cap sits astride what would be more properly called a “swoop,” while Red Skull scoots around in an utterly fantastic retro-futuristic air speeder. As much as I love Captain America (or at least I did…), I’m rooting for Red Skull today due to the sheer awesomeness of his ride.
Incidentally, our friends over at FBTB are hosting a Themed Speeder Bikes contest, which runs through the end of the day tomorrow. Given how small speeder bikes are, there’s still time to enter.
Along with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-25 Mitchell with its iconic twin tail fins is one of my favorite World War II aircraft. As more and more LEGO elements have become available in dark green, nelsoma84 and Florida Shooter have been collaborating on a design for the venerable bomber.
Here’s nelsoma84’s Mitchell in its Pacific Theater gunship role with the “Air Apaches” of the 345th Bombardment Wing.
The builder says that the eagle-head nose — here with its ferocious complement of .50 caliber machine guns (there were 18 total on the airplane!) — is modular, and can be swapped out for a clear nose.
And here’s his collaborator’s version, the blue-nosed 499th Bomber Squadron version.
It’s just four months to BrickCon 2016 in Seattle, and TBB is gearing up for our hometown LEGO convention. For our annual collaboration this year, we’re going to be putting together a dieselpunk display called World War II 1949. With the aircraft, vehicles, and buildings you contribute, you’ll help answer the question, “What if WW2 had not ended in 1945, and technology had continued evolving rapidly through the end of the decade?”
As these fantastic creations by master LEGO dieselpunk builders Jon Hall, Fredo Houben, and Jeff Churill demonstrate, there’s a huge variety in the theme.
Click through to learn more about WW2 1949 at BrickCon 2016
