Category Archives: Models

This is what we’re all about. We scour the web for the best custom LEGO models to share with you. From castles and spaceships to planes, trains, and automobiles, you’ll find the best LEGO creations from builders all over the world right here on The Brothers Brick.

We’re wowed by this wonderful wizard

There are few builders that can create dynamic characters from LEGO like Trevor Pearson-Jones. The shapes and expressions he creates can feel almost magical. Case in point, this wizard conjuring up a giant, flaming 2×2 LEGO brick.

Coming in close on the wizard, I have to marvel at how few pieces actually make up the fleshy bits of the wizard’s face while still communicating a full character. Of course, those pieces get a boost from the large amount of sculpted facial hair and, surprisingly, some dental work.

And that magic brick uses various transparent plate colors to such awesome effect, I think I’d be afraid to touch it if I saw it in real life, lest I burn my finger.

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Celebrating autumn with bell jars and bento boxes

LEGO’s Botanicals line introduced many to the world of brick-built decor, but for builders like umemaruko, LEGO has always been a medium for elegant home decorating. Alongside her wall hangings and table settings, umemaruko celebrates the seasons with a rotating mix of bell jar vignettes. Her latest is an enchanting encapsulation of fall featuring forest critters picnicking among mushrooms.

The builder augments her fall collection with a custom wreath and a seasonal bento box.

As falling leaves and mushrooms give way to snowy nights, I wonder what LEGO decorations umemaruko will craft next?

The 1:15 scale Octan Peterbilt 389 en route to Brick World, Netherlands

Few LEGO builders can master big rig trucks the way Dennis Glaasker can. No, seriously, I’ve tried to go down this road before and when you see one of Dennis’ gleaming creations in your rearview you just pull over and let the big man through, good buddy! Then salute the master as it passes by. He tells us it’s been about a year since he last posted anything but he clearly has not missed the mark, even after a break. Octan is a fictional super corporation first introduced by LEGO in 1992. As it turns out, it is one of the most ubiquitous fake brands in the world with an instantly recognizable color scheme and logo. Once again invited to the prestigious LEGO World event in the Netherlands, Dennis wanted to bring along something with LEGO recognizability. He modernized the typical Octan color scheme; white stayed white, green shifted to lime green and red became chrome. A custom Octan sticker adorns the tanker nicely.

Bonsai in bloom or a minifig vignette?

Ten years ago, a young Denil Oh won a Star Wars building competition at Legoland Malaysia that cemented a lifelong passion for building. Last month, Denil received a second honor when his bonsai creation was chosen to join the LEGO-hosted Botanicals exposition at Kuala Lumpur’s Pavilion mall. The builder fuses bonsai with a minifig vignette, adding a bridge, torii gate, and shrine to the ornate round pot. The grey and pink color combination makes for a pleasing tree. Look closely and you’ll see a clever technique for the flowers – they’re still on their sprues! Sprues also appear as vines around the trunk. Congratulations, Denil, on having your work celebrated again!

Bottoms up, we’re getting brickfaced!

I’m pretty sure I’ll be inviting TBB’s own Visual Assets Specialist, Kimberly Giffen to my next siorée. Not only can she edit photos like a dream but she has proven to be one creative mixologist that has shaken things up with a LEGO twist. A rainy weekend, which tracks here in the Pacific Northwest, has inspired her to build a colorful tropical drink. Is it a Blue Lagoon or a Blue Hawaiian? It doesn’t matter as both tastes like plastic and will likely chip your teeth. But it will still look great in your hand while you pontificate with party guests over whether Martin Denny or Les Baxter is the better Exotica Lounge musician. Bottoms up, sailor!

Cowboys and Dinosaurs make for a very wild west

Cowboys and Dinosaurs are the perfect B-Movie pairing (don’t believe me? Watch this clip of Valley of Gwanji from 1969). Builder Martin Dasnoy agrees as he wrangled up a trio of dino-riding Wild West factions. First up, “The Law” features an armored transport wagon pulled by a beefy ceratopsian. The dinosaur design is ingenious, with a fully brick-built head on a molded body that has been augmented for a more cohesive LEGO look. I like this approach more than the Jurassic-branded dinos that only use a few large molds.

Next up is the Red Raptor tribe where a pair of indigenous minifigs ride atop their prairie raptor. Again, the dino design is a lot of fun with its wide mouth and copious spines.

Last is my favorite of the trio, the Miner atop his trusty Hadrosaurid mount. The dino offers a lot more cargo capacity than a mule and can ford dangerous rivers with ease.

You’ve got chainmail!

LEGO Castle sets have offered plenty of armor options for your medieval knight minifigs, from pauldrons to full plate, but while mail has been available on printed toro, the company hasn’t figured out how to deliver the supple weave of a true chainmail experience. Hamilton Whitney solves the minifig chainmail problem by working with a really big head – one of the sorting bin variety! The effect is uncanny. This clever creation was built for the MOCtober challenge hosted by NOVA-LUG, an annual tradition asking builders to make a MOC a day based on a prompt. In this case – Armor! Hamilton excelled this year with some real lateral thinking around the prompts. Congratulations, Hamilton, on your 31 builds.

Visit Kyoto’s Gion district in LEGO

Meredith Najewicz is no stranger to Japanese architecture, having created several incredible cubes and towers for the New Hashima collab. At this year’s Brickworld, Meredith traded cyberpunk for the Edo era with a miniland-scale scene of meiko in Gion, Kyoto’s geisha district. This larger scale allows for beautiful architectural detail and clever techniques, like the rooftops made from garage door panels, and wood texture from stacked spiral staircase axles.

The two meiko (apprentice geisha) feature beautiful kimonos with floral patterns of bright colors, and of course obi (the NYT Crossword puzze’s favorite 3 letter word). My favorite construction detail is the geta, sandals, bound by rubber bands, on which the women delicately balance.

This month, as part of the Creations for Charity fundraiser, Meredith created a standalone geisha vignette with a variation of her Bricksworld character. The golden folding screen behind the character is a beautiful design that makes excellent use of gold tiles. The model will go on sale shortly at the Creations for Charity store where MOCs from many of your favorite creators can be purchased to raise money to send LEGO to children in need. The fundraiser runs through November 30th.

The Tengu Temple above the Clouds

Drawing on Japanese Mythology, pickybrickster shares a beautifully constructed Tengu temple high above the clouds with a gripping backstory. The various techniques used to build the rock foundation and the surrounding clouds work really well together, especially highlighting the smoothness of the clouds in contrast with the jagged rocks.

With a story as wonderful and intriguing as the build itself, he writes:

On the highest mountain peaks, far beyond human reach and well above the clouds, dwell the mighty tengu. A lone samurai ghost has come to this mythical place to seek his revenge, for he could not reach it while he was still alive. The tengu took his family, and now he hunts them down — this is a story destined to become a legend.

Little Tykes for big dreamers

If you have memories of tooting around in a little red coupe with a yellow roof, and headlight eyes, you were one lucky kid! The Little Tykes Cozy Coupe was the ride of choice for the preschool set… at least until you were old enough to see Power Wheels commercials. Nikita Filatov pays tribute to the ubiquitous kiddie car scaled up for a grown-up minifig. Who hasn’t dreamed of driving around in that jolly little car? Just look at Bubba Blaster – he couldn’t be happier!

SEGA’s Sonic and Tails soar on this stunning Tornado MOC

SEGA mascot and Jim Carrey foil Sonic the Hedgehog has inspired a dashing run LEGO sets, enough that Sonic’s beloved biplane, the Tornado, has appeared twice – as part of a Dimensions level kit and in a playset for younger builders. What LEGO hasn’t offered is a version of the Tornado built with an aviation enthusiast’s eye for detail. Thankfully, vehicle builder and Genesis-era Sonic fan Sérgio Batista proved more than up to the challenge! Sérgio builds the biplane as it appears in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, outfitted with Tail’s turbo boosting rocket in lovely chrome.

The Tails logo is sourced from 76991 Tail’s Workshop and Tornado Plane set, and at first glance Sérgio’s version bears many similarities to that design, but the silhouette, livery, and details are greatly improved here. The wings are staggered as opposed to stacked. The Tails emblem is actually the least game-accurate, as the original design features a very USAF-inspired star.

As a bonus, Sergio photographs the Tornado with Super Sonic flying alongside inspired by the game’s intro. It’s a wonderful AFOL tribute to one of the best video games of the 90s.

Bringing back the Ma.K

Every year, it seems like we have more and more monthly themes and building challenges in the LEGO community. Febrovery, SHIPtember, Frogust, and the new NovHENber, to name a few. Sometimes it seems like a trend has always been around and always will be… until it’s not. Ma.Ktober used to be a huge event in the community and one that TBB would cover excitedly each year, but for the last decade, the Ma.K is an endangered species. Gone, but not quite forgotten thanks to builders like Redbirch, who is bringing Ma.K back with the Wanze Box, a recon and espionage walker. It’s an excellent throwback build to a beloved theme that captures the aesthetic perfectly.

If you’re not familiar with Ma.Ks, short for “Maschinen Krieger” and based on model kitbashing and worldbuilding by Kow Yokoyama, Ted Andes provides a great overview of the theme’s LEGO history over here on BrickNerd. you can also see many more builds in the theme in our Machinen Krieger archive.