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.

A Clever Presentation

This castle display by The Brick Time Team is a pretty attractive display. There is a lot of detail, and the edges of the display are decorated quite nicely. What really sets it apart however, is its modular nature. With this configuration, the builders can quickly convert this display into a variety of options. I think there’s a lot of potential here for expansion.

Military Review 1

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High School Girl Sculpture

Moko has, in my not entirely humble opinion, dominated the world of competitive LEGO sculptural figure making. Which is, to say, that he does them well, and this one is no exception. I’m pretty sure this one needs a “kawaii!”.

Statue/ High school girl. Part2

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You Don’t Have to Build Big

You don’t have to build big to build awesome. This sweet ride by Brian Kescenovitz is a marvel of cool techniques used at an incredibly small scale.

Zoom!!!

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Happy Valentine’s from TBB

Here’s wishing you a Happy Valentine’s day from us here at The Brothers Brick, featuring this fantastic shadow heart by Ben Pillen.

LEGO: Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Would you like an olive?

The range of parts in the new olive green colour is pretty limited. But that appears to be no setback at all for Chris (Ironsniper) who, it looks like, used the constraints to inspire the design of his Honda カメレオン. I’ve tagged this one into building techniques too as ‘cladding’ in a rare colour is a useful technique for anyone.

Honda カメレオン

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Sine Mora Aircraft by Peter Morris

Peter L. Morris was commissioned by Digital Reality to build LEGO examples of some of the aircraft from their XBOX Live game Sine Mora. Peter’s unique starfighter style translated very well for both of these planes. Big congrats to Peter on the commission, and a job well done!

BS4-VR Soprano from Sine Mora

Merenstein VI from Sine Mora

You can download instructions if you would like to build your own copies.

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Ouch! Quit pulling my beard.

Michael Jasper (mijasper) is no stranger to TBB. His creative uses of odd-ball parts are always elegant examples of what can be done with LEGO. His latest desk makes brilliant use of the printed 1×1 plates from the Minecraft set as well as the new ice cream cone from Friends…not to mention the lipstick usage!

Writing Desk

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Making Time: LEGO Ball Clock by Jason Allemann

Here’s a really gorgeous piece of horological gadgetry. Not satisfied with those giant LEGO minifigure digital clocks, Jason Allemann has built a mechanical timepiece worthy of any classy desk. Better yet, he’s made a video showing it in motion and given lots of details on how it works.

LEGO Ball Clock - Details

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Zizy Madness

Anyone interested in mecha and unfamiliar with Zi zy‘s work should remedy that now by going carefully through his photostream. He is one of the original, and still best, masters of the small mecha. His latest offerings are no exception, ranging from ‘standard’ mecha like below, through to transformers in the same scale. Hot stuff.

IMAG0131

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Psilocybin

In this fun little diorama, Chris (Ironsniper) re-employs two drill part to great effect as the base of a giant mushroom. I also have to commend LEGO for their vast improvement to the horse design.

Chronicles of Brickadia - 7

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Fully functional 1:12 LEGO Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa can do everything but fly

At the end of December, Kyle Wigboldy (thirdwigg) posted a LEGO Spitfire fighter plane from World War II that has the most functions I’ve ever seen in a LEGO plane.

Spitfire Right

Kyle spent about six months on his Spitfire, and the finished model has a wingspan of 112 studs and is 96 studs long. Not only is the Spitfire model gorgeous (too many LEGO Technic models are just skeletons in odd colors), it also includes lots of functionality:

  • Spinning propeller with adjustable prop pitch
  • Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engine with working pistons
  • Working landing gear
  • Cockpit joystick and pedals that connect to working control surfaces
  • Working rudder, elevator, and ailerons

The YouTube video shows off all the moving parts.

Read Kyle’s full writeup on Thirdwigg.com, and a more complete review on TechnicBRICKs.

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Freighter over Ice Planet Biodome

Eurobricks is holding a Micro Sci-Fi Contest this month (the trophies themselves are noteworthy examples of the genre), and at mid-month we’re already starting to see some really nice entries.

Ryan H. (eldeeem) enters the fray with this gorgeous biodome on an ice planet, complete with a resupply ship hovering above.

Freighter over Ice Planet Biodome

Notice the Modulex bits attached to the side of the freighter as containers. LEGO produced Modulex as a tool for architects in the 60’s until they spun off the company in 1965. Early Modulex bricks even have the LEGO logo on the studs, just like System bricks.

Over the years, LEGO builders have figured out various connections between the two systems (officially not compatible with each other), and Ryan has collected all of the ones he’s aware of in the following photo:

Modulex compatibility

Post-LEGO Modulex with an M logo continued to be available until fairly recently (the company is a successful signage company today), and it’s always interesting to see what new ways LEGO builders incorporate them into their models.

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