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.

Build your own super cute orange LEGO fish [Instructions]

This amazingly cute little fish is a perfect showcase for how to exploit the natural shapes of LEGO bricks to form imaginative creatures. Builder gonkius uses two curved slopes meeting each other to form a perfect fish mouth, and a curved fender element suddenly looks as if it were always made to be fish fins.

However, this adorable little fish is also a perfect example of complex engineering that looks deceptively simple. Think you’re pretty good with LEGO? Maybe you can even reverse engineer some of the builds we highlight. But how many parts does it take before a model is too complex? This fish has only 39 pieces. See if you can reverse engineer this guy using only the image above.

We’ve got the instructions below if you want to skip straight to the solution and build one yourself! Let us know in the comments if you think you figured it out without the instructions.

Click to see the instructions

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.

A never before seen santa scene

Santa is usually found at the front of a sleigh piled high with presents, racing across the sky – not slumped out on a bench with some treats scattered around and a wad of cash in his pocket. DOGOD Brick Design‘s take on jolly old Saint Nick conforms to the latter version of events though.

nEO_IMG_01

While we might not be able to give insight into Santa’s mental state in this scene, we can very easily appreciate how thoughtfully designed this build is. From the shaping of the santa figure, to the look of the bench, to the wonderful upscaled light post – there’s a lot to appreciate 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.

Build a SHIELD Helicarrier with less than a hundred pieces [Instructions]

South African builder Wayne de Beer made the rounds a few months back with hisTallneck build from Horizon Zero Dawn that he graciously released with instructions to build your own. Now he’s doing the same with his own microscale version of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier featured in a few of the Marvel movies. It uses less than a hundred pieces and can be made with regular pieces alone, or improved with a few printed pieces and stickers.

The S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Check out the step-by-step instructions for this tiny SHIELD Helicarrier

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.

Achieve serenity with free LEGO building instructions for an “Outlaw Spaceship” from TBB [Instructions]

As a holiday gift to our readers, The Brothers Brick commissioned talented LEGO artist Tyler Clites to design a LEGO model that everybody can build. This custom “Outlaw Spaceship” should make any sci-fi fan’s heart twinkle like a firefly in the depths of space.

Custom LEGO Outlaw Spaceship

Our simple, step-by-step instructions and parts list will help you assemble this unique model unveiled for the first time here. It’s full of LEGO building techniques you won’t generally see in an official LEGO model, so it’s also an opportunity to learn a few tips and tricks. Let us know in the comments if you like these instructions, and we may do them more regularly in the future.

See the step-by-step instructions and parts list for our Outlaw Spaceship

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.

A neat historical flick made from the brick: “Chicago Pile-1: A Brick History” [Video]

Recently, Dave Pickett from the YouTube channel Brick 101 created a video for the Argonne National Laboratory called “Chicago Pile-1: A Brick History”. The final product turned out great. Coming in at 2 minutes and 51 seconds, the animation is full of all sorts of thoughtful touches. From the composition of the scenes to the LEGO buildings found within, this is absolutely the work of a maestro.

But how exactly did he make it? David’s behind the scenes video gives some insight.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video and learn more about how LEGO stop-motion movies are made

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.

There’s an app for that

In this technology-driven age, our devices have a big impact on our everyday life. We have devices to track our sleep, devices that shop for us, and devices we wear and carry with us wherever we go. With this collection of LEGO creations, nujumetru has captured the wonderful and sometimes disturbing relationship we have with our technology.

The Gang's All Here

See more photos of each model in the series after the jump

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.

Amazing detailed recreation of a city train station in Germany

The City Station of Trossingen in Germany built by Steffen Rau is simply breathtaking. The architectural detailing and color are astounding and eye-popping, with intricate features on the facade that look like it took some marvelously complex techniques to achieve that even an architect would be proud of. The siding just below the roof which was most likely wooden gives a beautiful compliment in color to the red roof tiling and a nice contrast with the mid-section in black and white.

Trossingen Station 6

The back of the building features the train tracks and a platform with minifigure commuters waiting for their train to arrive.

See more of this massive LEGO train station

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.

Bugatti in a haystack

What classic car collector or enthusiast wouldn’t flip out to find this car in a barn? Norton74 has put together an instantly recognizable scene in this LEGO creation depicting all the excitement of a treasure hunt.

Barn find | Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix

The farm clutter is wonderfully deliberate and is immediately familiar to anybody who has driven down a country highway on the way from here to there. From the wood piles and crates to the toppled gas pump. And don’t miss the hay stacked up inside the barn. What really sells the narrative is the loosely placed tiles, which add to the barn’s weathered appearance.

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.

I feel the need, the need to burn some rubber

I’m a fan of the Studs-Not-On-Top (SNOT) techniques, especially for builds where you want the finished model to have few of the iconic LEGO studs visible. It’s a feat made even tougher on a smaller build, particularly if you need to keep the model looking true to its real-life counterpart. However, builder Jonathan Elliott seems to have a knack for pulling it off well. I still can’t decide on a favorite—the Mercedes AMG in white or the grey Porsche 911 Carrera, maybe? Actually, at this scale, I can own them both.

Lego Speed Champions for Adults

Click here to take a closer look

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.

The future of details is now

There are times when a LEGO creation is futuristic because it is a spaceship, robot or another sci-fi element. There are other times, when the build itself is futuristic in its construction techniques and concepts. This spaceship by Nick Trotta is one of the cases when these two aspects intersect. LEGO creations keep evolving and advancing with time and this one is at the cutting edge for sure.

Heavy Light mk/5

From complicated angles to unique solutions for round shapes, there is a lot to see on this little spacecraft. The best and most progressive parts, though, are the technical details like hoses and gears, carefully enclosed by surrounding panels. So many different colours would not look good in most cases, but Nick has balanced them into a pleasing colour scheme.

For more inquiring readers, the builder has a video showcasing his creation in detail.

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.

Guy Smiley Killing Drone [Instructions]

Have you ever wanted to build your own meatbag killing machine? Or perhaps a robot helper for your minifig friends? Have you seen a drone made by some dude who goes by Guy Smiley on the internet, and thought I need one of those…? Well now’s your chance, because I made instructions for my deadly little robot, to fulfill all your LEGO drone building desires.

 

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.

Portapoc

If there’s one clear sign the Cyberpocalypse is upon us, it’s that indoor plumbing has ceased to exist, and we are forced to use communal toilets on the street, or (though a little more civilized) public porta potties for our sanitary needs. Thus, my most recent build for the ABS builder Challenge features exactly that: a communal porta potty smack-dab in the middle of the shantytown. How much would I have to pay you to use it?

Portapoc

The roof of the main black building was my main inspiration for building this scene. I was able to come up with a cool roof technique using the seed part for the challenge: the handheld minifig fan, which enabled me to use the part a total of 24 times in this build.

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.