About Lino

Lino is an artist, humorist, and occasional responsible adult. He is the co-founder of a challenge-based LEGO car club called LUGNuts which boasts over 1100 members worldwide. He proposed automotive building challenges every month for ten years (120 challenges!) which he and the other members built accordingly. LUGNuts has retired its challenges on its 10th anniversary but still remains a cornerstone for LEGO automotive builders. Between his artistic work and LEGO builds, Lino has been published in several books, including Beautiful LEGO, Beautiful LEGO: Dark, and Beautiful LEGO: Wild. He lives in Washington with his girlfriend and dogs.

Posts by Lino

Forever chasing windmills

This next LEGO render is brought to you by a builder who goes by the controversial name of Hanwasyellowfirst. I know what you’re thinking; thems fightin’ words! But before you go on a righteous rampage it is important to know that there are very fine people on both sides. Now that I’ve squelched that potential disaster let’s take a look at this awesome creation. Based solely on this image, I can imagine this structure atop a craggy mountain in an exotic bygone world. I’m loving the rustic wood finishes and the ramshackle roofs. Brown owls used as gargoyles here are an inspired touch and increased availability of these elements make for some excellent uses. This is a brilliant piece but alas does not come in green yet. (Ahem…LEGO, are you reading this?) In my opinion, the most exciting aspect of this creation is it rests atop a rather small footprint.

A rearview reveals that the rooms within this mountain windmill are just as fun and just as haphazard as I had imagined. I can get lost for hours marveling at all the interesting and fanciful details this creation beholds. How about you?

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Two tickets to the (noun) show

Back by no demand at all is another Brothers Brick post done up Mad Libs style. You can fill in the words and show us your finished renditions in the comments. LEGO (noun) Goth Bricks 2000 has whipped up a battlemech (adverb) called Revenant Sisterhood RD-8 Redeemer. The project took (amount of time) to finish and is using some (adjective) parts usage, especially around the (part of the body) area. A fumbled (website) order made it so this mech has one red “knee” which the builder is quite (adjective) about. Goth Bricks wanted to build a mech that could both walk and (verb) and even (famous person) would agree that this was a/an (adjective) move. I particularly like the yellow (plural noun) and the (adjective) use of black and gray. I can’t wait to see what other (plural noun) Goth Bricks comes up with. In the meantime, here is a slew of (plural noun) built by others.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes comes Olivia’s Getaway 2.0

Sometimes good things or even better things can come from tragedy. Kevin Peeters tells us about a LEGO project that took three months to complete. Immediately after photographing it, the creation was dropped onto the floor and shattered completely. This unfortunate story resonates with a lot of us as dropping an intricate creation occasionally is as inevitable as the tides. But Kevin didn’t give up and rebuilt the idea to be even better than the first. The end result is this stunning Olivia’s Getaway 2.0. I don’t know who Olivia is or what she’s getting away from but I admire the intricate work put into this rustic cabin. I can get lost in the details along the roof and landscaping and the pumpkins and daffodils are a nice touch. If you wanted masonry bricks in olive green, they only come in two sets. While I wouldn’t wish accidentally destroying a creation on any LEGO builder, I’d say we’re all fortunate that the accident occurred.

Some cars are just super, but some are totally hyper!

When getting from point A to point B in a regular car just doesn’t cut it, then you need a supercar. But when a supercar doesn’t make your discerning heart go pitter-patter anymore then a LEGO builder who goes by the name of 3D supercarBricks has the solution for you. It’s a pretty super Bugatti Chiron GT in striking yellow and black. Categorized as a Hypercar, this Chiron is what happens when a supercar rises to the top 1%. With 1500 horsepower, and topping out at 261mph, the real-life Bugatti Chiron GT is a technological marvel. While much slower, this LEGO version also isn’t without its charms. A brief perusal through this builder’s Flick photostream proves 3D supercarBricks lives up to their name, which is a good thing because photos of LEGO cats or houses would have been totally weird.

I was just in the neighborhood when...

When I reviewed the official LEGO Old Trafford- Manchester United set I had surmised (maybe wrongfully) that only non-American sports fans would be into it. What I like…scratch that…what I love more than being right about anything is when a LEGO set sparks the imagination of a new builder. Suwon’s Blue Star is one such builder. When I say new, I mean there isn’t a single photo in their Flickr stream older than February 11th. What we are witnessing, dear reader is a builder who has clearly been inspired by the recent Manchester United set and, like a sleeper agent suddenly brought to life, has found a profound purpose. Not only have they masterfully rendered a micro version of the famous stadium but its entire surrounding Old Trafford neighborhood as well.

Read on to see more of this builder’s micro stadiums

A morning star and a plume of bright blue

Proving he’s no slacker when it comes to building posable LEGO figures, Eero Okkonen is at it again. This time he has conjured up a female warrior in stunning blue and gold armor. Her skirt is of particularly sweet part usage and her bright blue plume is four Bo Peep staffs found only in two sets. While everything is quite impressive, I’d like to call special attention to the morning star itself. The dangerous-looking flails are headless blue bats. That’s just…wow! You can find that part in only the Shimmer and Shine Sparkle Spa, a set that was wholly passed up by me because…I fancy myself more Team Jacob than Team Edward.

Is there ever an inappropriate time for Twilight jokes? Probably not. But my guess is if you crack jokes of any kind around this warrior her morning star and plume of bright blue just might be the last things you see before going nighty-night forever.

The Douglas DC-3C has the quintessential airplane shape

Maybe it’s because this retro shape was so commonly illustrated in children’s books but, when I was a child learning to draw, I’d put pencil (or crayon) to paper and all my airplanes turned out pretty much like this. Without even knowing its name, I seemed aware that this is what the quintessential airplane should look like. Luis Peña not only provides me its name — Douglas DC-3C — but a stunning 1:40 scale LEGO model, which is much harder to build than to draw. A trip to the National Aeronautical and Space Museum in Santiago, Chile inspired this model. He tells us that LAN Chile bought several of these craft in 1946 after they were originally used as cargo planes during World War II, then refurbished them for a second life as passenger planes.

This particular model measures 73 cm (28.74 in.) wide and 49 cm (19.29 in.) long. To Luis this represents an important part of Chilean aviation history and, in my childhood mind anyway, the most perfectly quintessential airplane shape. This is clearly not the first time we’ve been delighted by his work.

LEGO Masters sends Tyler and Amy to the Funny Farm

Who is watching LEGO Masters? My own viewing will be contingent on local weather, the phases of the moon, and how many episodes they’ll let me stream for free before they send me to Cable TV jail. But I was able to catch the first episode and Tyler Clites and his wife Amy are contestants on the show. Pictured here is a miniaturized version of their stunning ~~Money~~ Funny Farm, which was their contribution to the collaborative Dream Park Theme Park in the first episode. Their real-life module, as well as this littler one, imagines what would happen if animals took over the farm. While all modules needed to accommodate a monorail that traveled throughout the layout, their section prominently features an egg-drop ride because…apparently that’s how some animals amuse themselves once they take over.

If episode one is any indicator, we’ll be in for loads more fun-fueled antics from Tyler, Amy and all the other contestants over the next couple of months. Catch new episodes Wednesday nights at 9PM on FOX or, if you’re like me, by hook or crook on streaming the next day. (Hopefully!)

While you’re at it, also be sure to check out our extensive coverage of the show.

This wind-up toy robot is programmed to love you all very much

If you like retro wind-up toy robots then set your phasers to Positively Delighted. It turns out Lino Martins (hey, that’s me!) has built one out of LEGO and the result is…pretty OK. It would probably be weird to label my own work as totally awesome, stupendous or earth-shattering so I’ll just go with pretty OK. He’s adorned in fabulously fifties black and sea-foam green with gray and just a touch of flashy silver. Through a series of gears, his chest plates open simultaneously and when you turn his wind-up key his head, heart and arms will rotate. Yes, he has a heart! I think it takes eight or ten or so rotations of the wind-up key to get his head, heart and arms to all settle back into their rightful positions. If I were a real engineer I’d know that for sure but… What am I, Elon Musk?

Check out this video of the wind-up action. This cheery bot is programmed to love you all very much. I’m programmed to be rather indifferent on the matter but I can create a swell playlist for any occasion so there’s that.

I think I finally get Radiohead

LEGO builders Timofey Tkachev and Sheo have put together a tragic band that somehow has nothing to do with Radiohead or Joy Division. That is a total bummer because I really wanted to lay on the references for either band pretty thick but that’ll have to wait for another post now. Instead the members of this sad band are rooted with a much more highbrow notion; each bears the name of great Greek tragedians.

Click to delve deeper, you know you want to!

A Duesenberg adds some much needed class to this joint

My stars, have you seen the lowbrow tomfoolery these Brothers Brick writers get away with? Some days I just want to clutch my pearls and retreat to the fainting couch. That is why I was delighted to see this classic Duesenberg by LEGO builder Łukasz Libuszewski. The tires are painted, but that is probably the only good way to replicate whitewalls in this scale. Speaking of scale, being only six studs wide, this classic car proves you don’t need to be a Rockefeller with mountains of LEGO in order to grace our pages. It doesn’t hurt that the photography of this creation is top-notch. Keep it classy, Brothers Brick!

Color out of space

We see plenty of spaceships here at The Brothers Brick but we rarely see any that are quite as colorful as this one. A LEGO builder who goes by the name of F@bz has conjured up a space tanker that would look right at home in a carnival…parade…fire? Carnival parade fire. I’m seeing some very retro pieces that may have been pilfered from some old Aquazone sets from about 1996 or so. The tanker pieces, or at least the ones with the “AT.02” decal, come from the Exo-Force Mobile Assault Tank from 2006. If ever F@bz gets tired of this colorful model (but who would, really?) it can get pried apart using the two new dark turquoise brick separators included in the design. Now that is totes fabs!