About Rod

Rod likes building stuff, particularly steampunk and microscale. He's built for a number of the Dorling Kindersley LEGO books, including LEGO Play and the Awesome Ideas book. When he's not building, he writes, and has published a trilogy of old-fashioned adventure stories. To pay the bills he works in innovation and marketing for one of the world's biggest brewers, inventing new beers and ciders. This is clearly the best job in the world.

Posts by Rod

Well obviously you’d like fries with that

Check out this brilliant LEGO roadside diner by Kale Frost. This burger n’ fries joint appears to be doing a roaring trade, and rightly so. Not many snack bars have such a vivid evocation of the delights on sale — the giant burger looks juicy and tempting, and the fry box counter is brilliantly done. I love the angled yellow bricks poking from the top — a spot-on recreation of French Fries. And the use of a crystal piece as a smaller portion is a stroke of genius. Nice friendly waiting staff too. I could definitely eat lunch here.

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.

Elder Scrolls wayshrine worth worshipping

The world created by Bethesda for their Elder Scrolls games continues to provide inspiration for LEGO builders. This fabulous Nord Wayshrine by Thorsten Bonsch is just the latest in his series of lovely models inspired by the game. Don’t miss his Tava’s Beak and Orsinium scenes that we featured previously.

The fantastic roof tiling on this fine structure might grab the eye first, but don’t miss the intricate woodwork and the smart use of fence pieces in the walls. I’m also impressed with the surrounding steps and the stonework of the floor — well worth a zoom in for a closer look. The surrounding landscaping is nicely done too; natural looking, but restrained enough to leave the epic architecture as the image’s centerpiece.

LEGO makes you happy!

If this LEGO model doesn’t bring you a little joy then there’s something wrong with you. Oliver Becker says he was trying to capture the feeling of happiness, and his creation certainly brought a smile to my face. The expression on the face of this character is priceless, but also very well built. The tongue and googly eyes are fun, but it’s the glasses and ears which steal the show — spanners as spectacle-legs, heading back to hot-dog-bun ears! Now that’s impressive parts creativity.

I. Am. Cute.

We assume everyone is feeling the love for Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2. However, if you’re dead inside and remain unconvinced then just take a look at this life-size LEGO rendition of Baby Groot — it’ll melt your heart and dance its way into your dreams. Stephen Juby has done an excellent job of capturing Baby Groot’s supercute expression, and the red jumpsuit is really nicely done, particularly the zipper. The plain baseplate is a bit of a distraction in the image, but when the main model is this cool we’re not going to worry too much.

I love the smell of ABS in the morning

Six parts, nice macro photography, beautiful presentation, and a vivid imagination — combine these ingredients and you get a fantastic little LEGO creation. Sure, Steve Roberts‘ perfume ad doesn’t have a whole lot of actual building going on, but it shows imaginative parts use and a great eye for colour and style. Not all the best LEGO models are huge and complex, some of them just manage to look (and smell) fabulous.

I pity the fool who doesn’t like Brickheadz

Brickheadz style LEGO characters are all the rage at the moment, and Paul Lee just raised the game with this chunky version of Mr T from The A-Team. If you have a problem, and no-one else can help, maybe you can look at this model and it’ll cheer you up no end. All the elements you’d expect are here: mohawk, dungarees, red vest and socks, beard, and of course a mile or so of gold chain. But it’s the bulging biceps which make the model for me — brilliant.

Can I get a big hand for this model?

The new(ish) LEGO “bar holder with handle” pieces are put to fantastic use as fingers in this robotic hand model by Josephine Monterosso. The combination of parts in the digits, coupled with the choice of a curved panel for the back of the hand, creates a lovely set of angles and brilliant posing possibilities. Needless to say, I insist Josephine now builds the rest of the robot to accompany this excellent appendage. Eagle-eyed readers may spot the non-purist use of squashed minifigure handcuffs for the lower-knuckles. Your mileage may vary on such abuse of LEGO pieces, but when the effect is this good, I’m going to let it slide.

A bridge too far for the T-1000

We’re looking forward to Arnie’s classic Terminator 2: Judgement Day returning to cinemas later this year. What better way to whet your appetite for it than with jp_velociraptor‘s LEGO version of the famous truck chase?

Check out the use of transparent bars and supports to depict the flying masonry as the truck bursts through the bridge parapet. Explosive action like this is often difficult to convey with bricks — but it’s certainly accomplished here.

The flood-channel diorama is nicely done, but the truck is a smart little model itself. Here’s a closer look, along with a suitably serious-looking T1000…

Crimson Queen of the Xenomorphs

In advance of the release of Alien: Covenant, Grant Masters brings us a fantastically creepy LEGO rendition of a crimson Alien Queen. Clips and minifigure hands do a brilliant job of capturing the unmistakable mechanical/organic Giger styling of this classic beastie. I dread to think how fiddly this was to put together — any time I try to use clips like that something always pops loose. Grant must have the patience of a saint. Nice work on the base too — the dark grey really makes the red figure pop out of the image.

I really hope we get to see something as cool as this creation in the new movie, but I am nervous of suffering the same “anticappointment” I felt with Prometheus.

To the Bumpmobile! Let’s go!

Hot on the tail lights of a series of Wacky Races-inspired LEGO creations, and a fun version of FAB1 from Thunderbirds, Martin Redfern brings us another wonderfully-retro vehicle — this time a mashup of the classic TV-series Batmobile and a fairground bumper car.

The chunky styling is fantastic, with lovely colour-blocking and stripes, and a nice fat bumper running all the way round. Don’t miss smart little touches like the use of a whip for the vehicle’s power antenna and the four golden rings down the side. What we need now is a purple bumper car for the Joker as an appropriate opponent in the arena (hint hint Martin)…

Space 1979: Moonbase

Check out this stunning LEGO Classic Space moonbase by yu chris. Not only does the model have excellent presentation as a set from the heyday of the theme, but it’s beautifully put together too. And such variety — we’ve got a control tower, a rocket on a launch pad, a maintenance area, and not-one-but-two moon rovers. The exterior of the main building is encrusted with lovely technical-looking greebles, and the whole thing is surmounted by a brilliant brick-built Classic Space logo sculpture: a yellow globe with a red spaceship achieving escape velocity — wonderful.

The base’s multiple structures split neatly apart to allow access to all the cool play areas within…

There’s even a canteen where the Classic Crew can chow down on freeze-dried rations…

Golden mech deserves a medal

The use of pearl gold and light gray LEGO bricks to depict machinery and greebly technical elements is the hallmark (and something of a cliché) of the Steampunk genre. You don’t often see this color scheme deployed in modern or futuristic themes, and that’s what makes this excellent mech creation by Marco Marozzi so eyecatching. The gold armour plating makes a formidable protective shell for a frame bursting with greebles and functional-looking details. The shoulder-mounted guns provide plenty of firepower, but it’s the squat stance and those creepy-looking manipulator arms which give this beast a dose of real character.