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.

A different kind of alley in LEGO city.

Bowling is one of the great underappreciated sports – if I can’t drink a coke and eat a basket of cheese sticks between my turns, it’s not a sport I want to play. That’s why I love this tribute to the game by Andrew Tate. The blend of earth tones and bright blues captures a mid-20th Century feel, during what was probably bowling’s heyday. And, speaking of cheese, Andrew has made incredible use of cheese wedges throughout. Obviously, the designs built into the wall and floor are strike-worthy. But stacking the slopes on the shelves for a quick and clever rental shoe display is perfection.

But every alley needs an iconic retro logo to go with it. Check out what Andrew came up with to advertise his lanes. I can smell the rental shoes already!

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New year, new LEGO blocks

So, how’s everyone feeling about 2024 so far? We’re still writing threes instead of fours by mistake – not helped by all the 2023 recapping we’re doing. But while we’re deciding our Creations of the Year or looking back at our most popular articles, Kristel Whitaker has seen in the new year in a big way! She’s built some big LEGO blocks out of, er, smaller LEGO blocks. We could use some of these in TBB Towers to remind us what year it actually is. Although it won’t help us work out how much longer before we stop saying “Happy New Year” to everyone. New year, same problems!

Luxurious travel for the art-deco arthropod

It’s always a treat when Vince Toulouse graces us with another LEGO build. He has developed a very unique style, and we’re big fans of his insect-inspired retro-futuristic sci-fi builds! That may be a mouthful, but it gets the point across. What should we call this, Insectpunk? Anyway, we featured something called a Myriapod way back in March 2020, and Vince has revisited the concept with this gorgeous red and gold consist! It’s only fitting that an insect-inspired train would use a bunch of legs from the Insectoids line. There is surely no more stylish way for bugs to get around!

Ring in the new year with a funny Joke(r)

Some people ring in the new year with a party, some good libations, and a kiss from their significant other or a willing and inebriated stranger. Others uphold a tradition of falling asleep on the goddamned sofa just minutes before the stroke of midnight. However you celebrated the new year, let’s hope it brought a smile to your face, kinda like this big LEGO Joker figure built by Pascal Hetzel. Whether it be hatching some elaborate scheme to turn the citizens of Gotham into maniacal minions or leaving a flaming bag of poo on Batman’s doorstep, The Joker always has something to smile about. That’s because, according to some interpretations, Joker’s smile was permanently etched into his face with toxic chemicals or via a razor blade giving him the ol’ “Glasgow Smile”. Geez, that escalated fast! Let’s hope the smile on your face is not for any of those reasons.

Incidentally, this is not Pascal’s first big Joker. We featured his prior one back in 2020 but here is a shot of his newer one next to the old one. This proves the new one is not quite a “Maxifig” but something else. Whatever you call it, it is admittedly quite fun.

I’m a deep-sea girl, in a deep-sea world

Duncan Lindbo has really hit the nostalgia button for me on this one. This ocean-bed scout mech is reminiscent of some underwater LEGO themes of days gone by – think Aqua Raiders or Aquazone. I’m pretty sure it was a rule to have “Aqua” in the name of any deep-sea sci-fi (sea-fi?) theme back then. Big fans of that Barbie Girl song in Billund, I guess. I’ll settle for being a big fan of this walker, with its bubbly limbs and viewport borrowed from 21335 Motorized Lighthouse.

Rudolph the red-nosed nightmare fuel

Christmas is now, for better or worse, behind us. You know what that means? Hallowe’en is only 44 weeks away! The reason I bring that up is because of Patrick Biggs‘ latest LEGO build. It may seem like a festive build at first – but don’t let that fool you. This isn’t Rudolph; it’s a being known only as R̵̂͠u̶͐͠d̵̈̀o̷͛̈l̴̀̓p̶̅͘h̵̎. And I’ll be honest, it gives me a touch of the heebie-jeebies. The spindly legs, the tentacle-like antlers, the piercing white eyes… Yep, that wreath is not throwing me off: this is definitely an early spooky season build.

Fresh from the oven, it’s the ginger-brick man

We’re all familiar with the loveable LEGO minifigure, right? And some recent sets and creations have also brought us the big-fig, whether from Harry Potter, Castle, or even a generic theme. But what about the minifigure representation on a medium scale? Donny Chen introduces us to a fresh-baked midi-scale LEGO figure with his delicious gingerbread man. In these post-holiday times, I must admit there’s such a thing as too much sugar. So thanks, Donny, for tempering the size of this cookie-fied fig to something more diet-friendly.

Life-size LEGO Ghostbusters gear is ready to take on Gozer the Gozerian

In case you were wondering, this collection of ghostbusting gear is actually made of LEGO, and not the movie props they appear to be. Centuri Chan has done one heck of a job recreating the Ghostbusters logo, ECTO-1 license plate, proton pack, and ghost trap out of our favorite plastic bricks. This smorgasbord of paranormal paraphernalia was on display earlier this year at the Christchurch Brick Show back in July, but was only recently uploaded to Flickr for all of us not able to make the trip to New Zealand. Now we know exactly who we’re going to call…

Check out more pictures below, but don’t cross the streams…

Reeks and Nexus and Acklays, oh my!

Despite being on the brink of its 25th birthday, somehow there are still locations and sets that haven’t been made into LEGO Star Wars sets. One that I’ve seen a lot of requests for recently is the Geonosian arena from Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Well, The Minikit Guy has had enough of waiting! He’s taken matters into his own hands and crafted a small section of this enormous arena. The stadium architecture is nice enough on its own, broken up with some nice texturing, and I like the way the balcony has been made with curved slopes. But the monsters are well worth a look too! You’ve got the cat-like Nexus; the rhinoceros-inspired Reek; and my personal favourite, the spidery Acklay. And look closely behind the Acklay – you might spot The Minikit Guy’s namesake hidden away in the walls!

May the SNOT connections be ever in your favor

This build by Ian (aka bricktacular_builds) caught my eye not because of the mockingjay pin but because of the brick-built LEGO flower that is oddly out of focus. I mean, why would you share a poor image of your creation? And who would put a metal pin by a LEGO build, right? And then I took a closer look…

You see, SNOT is a specific way of connecting LEGO pieces. It stands for “studs not on top” and features all kids of sideway connections. And this is exactly what is happening here. The intricate structure of the pin became possible only thanks to a very neat choice of plates and bars with clips. Wing elements fit this ornament wonderfully, making the bird instantly recognizable. I mean, it’s way too similar to a real piece of the Hunger Games merch!

A LEGO build on-theme for the present holiday

Trying to recreate fabric using LEGO bricks has always been a difficult feat for me. So many ideas have been left on the backburner because I couldn’t figure out how to work out a cape on a character build. But when it came to making a bow, as in the bundle of ribbon topping a present, I knew there had to be a better way to achieve the look without resorting to specialized pieces with a reduction in scale or simple curved slopes with no volume. Last year, I cracked the code on the bow of my dreams. But it wasn’t until this Christmas season that I was able to fully realize my vision of a perfect present. It’s helped quite a bit to have increased availability of the 2×2 inverted curved slope, plus enough time to engineer a box with a half-plate of “ribbon” running down each side.

From everyone here at The Brothers Brick, we hope you have a merry and safe Christmas with plenty of LEGO sets under the tree!

Christmas is for caterpillars, too!

What do you think of when it comes to festive animals, either in real life or in LEGO form? Reindeer are a given. Turkeys are probably up there too. How about insects? If your answer to that is yes, either you’re getting 21342 The Insect Collection as a Christmas present, or you’re Nathan Hake. His charming caterpillar is braving the cold for some winter fun! Much like Nathan, this caterpillar is quite the sculptor – a smorgasbord of slopes and curved slopes on their sides make for a very convincing snow butterfly. Having an extra pair of hands clearly comes in, well, handy!

Be sure to check out a 360° view of Clive on Nathan’s Flickr page. And Merry Christmas!