Category Archives: Building Techniques

Not sure what SNOT is? Want to learn innovative new ways to create awesome LEGO models of your own? Peruse our posts about LEGO building techniques to pick up tricks & tips from the best.

Behind the Scenes – Getting into the mind of builder Eli Wilsea [Video]

This scene was built by Eli Willsea (also known as ForlornEmpire) for a recent brick challenge. Brick competitions usually consist of using a seed piece of which various builders have to find clever ways to use it in their creations. The seed piece for this build is the Silver Goblet. See if you can spot how they were used in the theme.

What’s great about this build is not only the level of detail it took to pull off this futuristic lab scene, but Eli took the time to share with The Brothers Brick an exclusive in-depth behind the scenes video on how it was built. He shares the thought process and analysis you won’t be able to grasp by just looking at a static photo. If you have aspirations towards doing a scene like this or even just want to enjoy hearing what goes on in a builders brainwave when constructing a complex scene, this is for you.

Did you enjoy the video? Would you like to share your creative build process with the world? We are always looking for interesting builds and videos to feature and discuss. Feel free let us know, and you could be the star of the next video!

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Build your own cute doggie desk buddy [Video Instructions]

If you’re looking for a cute LEGO desk buddy to keep you smiling during your work day, look no further, because we’ve made a step-by-step video tutorial on how to build this adorable LEGO dog designed by CK HO.

We featured picture instructions for this build back in January, but we loved this guy so much we wanted to give it a full walkthrough. I’ve built mine in gray, but if you have the parts it can be built in many different colors, such as tan, brown, or black.

If you build this cute doggie yourself, be sure to add us on social media and post it with the hashtag #CKHOdogbuild.

A brilliant Claas Xerion is here just in time for the start of the new growing season [Instructions]

Cole Blaq hasn’t treated us with his new wonderful designs since the middle of the last year. Finally, he is back starting the new building season with an awesome Town-themed model of Claas Xerion. The tractor has a lot in common with the new LEGO City 60181 Forest Tractor set, but unlike the official model it has a rotating cabin. Make sure to check out the instructions for this cool creation; it won’t take you many pieces to build one for your own LEGO farm!

Click here to have a look at the building guide…

How I built a 20,000-piece LEGO rice plantation inspired by The LEGO Ninjago Movie [Guest Feature]

Today we’re pleased to welcome Anu Pehrson as a guest contributor to give a special introduction to her latest creation. We spoke with Anu last year about her amazing models, which range from a monastery in Bhutan to the Iron Islands from A Game of Thrones. Her newest model, Master Wu’s Rice Plantation, is just as amazing. She worked on the 20,000-piece model over 3 months, and she’s documented for us the process of how a creation like this goes from idea to completion.

The diorama is enormous, at nearly four feet on each side, and includes multiple buildings, a river, beautiful trees, and lots of incredible landscaping up the staggered terraces of rice paddies.

The Building of Master Wu’s Rice Plantation

By Anu Pehrson

I wanted to build something in the Japanese architectural style, perhaps some smaller cottages where I could try different building techniques for the windows, wall patterns, roofs, and porch railings. I thought a village-like setting for these cottages would be the ideal layout. The second thing I was interested in trying was terraced agricultural fields, and rounded terraces that are used for rice farming in East Asia seemed like an interesting challenge. So bringing these two ideas together formed the basis of this MOC (My Own Creation). I also wanted to build a working gondola from a lower level to a higher level (but that hasn’t happened yet).

The LEGO Ninjago Movie was just being released as I was building this MOC, therefore, it seemed like perfect timing for to create a place for Master Wu to teach and practice with his disciples.

The starting point was a body of water. For any MOC with landscaping, I think a water body adds color and texture. The important part is to make the water interesting. There are a great many methods of doing this, but I began with using blue in the center and different shades of blue on the edges. At this point, I didn’t know how I was going to add to it, but I later added transparent 1×1 plates in a few shades over top of the blue plates.

The next step was to build stone curved walls for the terraced rice fields. However, it turned out that curved walls were very difficult to build upon as terraces.
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Build your very own Donald Trump BrickHead [Instructions]

When we set out to plan our April First content, a lot of great ideas were suggested. But when the idea to build BrickHeadz of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was suggested, we knew we had a winner. I was thrilled to build them, having already designed and built custom BrickHeadz of Santa, and recently, a Leprechaun.

My first idea was to really make it a solid caricature, with comb-over blowing in the wind, and a shirtless Putin. But the trick to any good April Fools joke is to have enough realism to make it plausible, to really make people think, the same way that the best lies have a kernel of truth. So we decided that they should have that certain official “LEGO BrickHeadz style.” Luckily for me, the recent release of the LEGO Go Brick Me set that we have recently reviewed included just the parts we needed to give our custom BrickHeadz that kernel of truth.

The article was very successful and even led to some folks contacting LEGO about how they could get a copy of the set (for reals, please don’t do that). Sadly, this set will never be available to purchase (LEGO Education has much more important work to do like helping teach creativity to kids than making satirical products). But we are proud to share the instructions here, and while we don’t have a parts list, most of the parts used are readily available along with the Go Brick Me set, available now in stores.

See full instructions after the jump

The notoriously overpowered Halo magnum replicated in LEGO [Video]

I grew up playing lots of first-person shooter games. Even with great shooters in recent memory like Titanfall, Rainbow Six: Siege, and Overwatch, my favorite remains the Halo series. There’s nothing too complex about classic Halo multiplayer, which I have always appreciated. To show my fandom of one of my favorite games, I present a LEGO replica of the M6D Magnum from the original Halo: Combat Evolved from 2001.

Click to see a video of the Magnum

Build your very own BrickHeadz Leprechaun [Intructions]

Looking for a bit of Irish luck? Now you can build your very own BrickHeadz Leprechaun this St. Patrick’s Day. Sorry, no wishes granted by this LEGO fellow, but maybe a little luck will rub off on you.

Instructions to build your own BrickHeadz Leprechaun after the jump

Cross the bridge and find yourself

Many people use LEGO building as a form of meditation, but not quite as many use LEGO to literally build meditation. Andreas Lenander definitely uses it at least for the latter — that we can be sure of. The build is very atmospheric, but secretly, it is also quite technical in its construction.

The Journey represents an old traveler crossing a bridge amongst blooming trees. The surrounding landscape is not bad, but the bridge is really the impressive part. The railing uses Elves fence pieces with a well-known curve technique. The bridge itself is just stacked plates carefully curved to follow the railing’s curvature – a construction that seems very unstable, but Andreas says that it actually holds together quite well. The trees should be noted too, densely packed with flowers, nicely designed trunks, and lanterns hanging off the branches.

A study in landscaping

More often than not, landscaping techniques in LEGO creations serve a secondary purpose, like helping a building or a story feel complete. While this little landscape by Emil Lidé does contain more than just plants and rocks, that hierarchy of motives is inverted here. Instead of the landscape augmenting the “story,” the decrepit wall and building’s remains add some purpose to the dense and diverse foliage.

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Explore Endor, Jakku and Hoth driving one these brilliant motion sculptures

The Star Wars saga is all about two things – machines and locations. Of course, some may say it’s also about the Force, family relationship and friendship, but none of this would work without iconic spacecrafts and mesmerizing sceneries. Chris McVeigh reveals a very special collection of three vignettes featuring our favourite pieces of machinery. But what is absolutely cool about these builds is that each of them has a motion feature, which brings an AT-ST, the Millenium Falcon and an AT-AT to life with a simple turn of the crank.

Click here to see this adorable collection of moving models!

BuWizz in style with the Technic Corvette C1 [Instructions]

JamesJTechnic on YouTube brings us this classy 1961 Corvette C1, powered by a BuWizz motor and remote control.

This model demonstrates an excellent use of Technic panels for the body side panels, hood, and trunk lids. It also features a detailed front bumper. The removable hard top provides a nostalgic touch. I like how the model uses flexible hoses on the hood to add contoured ridges to the model’s hood.

Powered by the BuWizz motor and remote control, the Corvette drives and turns thanks to a Power Functions M-Motor and Servo Motor.

If you want to build this classic yourself, the building instructions begin at 2:28 in the video.

It’s still hip to be square

The latest trend for castle creations have focused on organic and colorful shapes, showcasing complex building techniques and intensive parts usage. A leading pioneer of this style is Derfel Cadarn, who created a guide in 2011 showcasing some detailed techniques that many builders have referenced. Before then castles used to be square, which you can see in examples from prolific builders from the previous decade such as Rocko, Darkspawn, and even hachi from the early 2000’s.

This brings me to the latest creation by Brother Steven, which purposely features simpler building techniques reminiscent of the old style of castles. The white walls and the staggered towers are strikingly solid features, an effect that is best achieved with the bread and butter technique of stacking one brick on top of another.