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.

Atlas & P-Body by eldeeem

Despite heroic contributions from Xbox friends like Tyler, I never quite managed to get all the way through co-op mode in Portal 2. Still, it was really really fun, and I always enjoy seeing LEGO renditions of the paired test subjects Atlas and P-Body. This version by Ryan H. (eldeeem) is at a larger scale that enables him to add plenty of detail and color contrast. I’m rarely a fan of rubber bands as critical structural elements in LEGO models (yes, even in official sets), but by adding them around other bricks, Ryan has softened the corners of several blocky areas rather nicely.

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Build your own Lego Angry Birds characters [Instructions]

Max Yang (artifexcreation) created instructional videos with step by step photos on how to build your own Lego Angry Birds characters. The Red Bird is shown below. Check out the other videos and keep an eye out on his YouTube playlist for more to come.

Angels on a pin

I suspect that Pascal (pasukaru76) has more of these delightful fellows coming, but for now we can make do with no-name and Raziel. His first two little LEGO neo-angels (presumably based on Evangelion) are just so cute.

Life-size LEGO Star Wars X-wing – official details

We hope you enjoy our exclusive coverage of the life-size LEGO Star Wars X-wing unveiled in New York earlier today, but we’d be remiss in our duties if we didn’t pass along the official info from LEGO as well.

See the full photoset on Flickr for all the official photo’s, along with Joe Meno’s from the warehouse.

Here’s the press release:

THE LEGO GROUP UNVEILS WORLD’S LARGEST LEGO® MODEL TO DELIGHT LEGO STAR WARS™ FANS ACROSS THE GALAXY

-More than five million LEGO bricks used to create life-sized X-Wing starfighter in celebration of new LEGO Star Wars animated TV special “The Yoda™ Chronicles” premiering on Cartoon Network-

NEW YORK CITY (May 23, 2013) – The LEGO Group today unveiled the world’s largest LEGO model, a 1:1 replica of the LEGO® Star Wars™ X-Wing starfighter, in New York’s Times Square. To celebrate the upcoming premiere of The Yoda Chronicles on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, May 29 at 8:00 p.m. (ET, PT), the massive replica took 32 master builders, five million LEGO bricks and over 17,000 hours to complete. The model weighs nearly 46,000 pounds, stands 11 feet tall and 43 feet long, with a wingspan of 44 feet. The Model will “take off” for a summer landing at LEGOLAND® California Resort where it will be installed through the remainder of the year.

“Just as kids love to test and hone their LEGO building skills and imaginative storytelling, our LEGO Master Builders are always testing their creative skills to top their last larger-than-life sized creations,” said Michael McNally, Brand Relations Director for LEGO Systems. “The size and structural complexity of a freestanding model 42 times the size of one our retail sets was a challenge they could not resist.”
LEGO Star Wars is the original and most successful licensed product collection in The LEGO Group’s history and remains among the best-selling global toy lines. The theme’s evergreen strength comes from its appeal across generations to fans of all ages and a steady introduction of digital content such as The Yoda Chronicles to compliment the building experience.

“Much the same way that fans can build the Star Wars universe with our LEGO sets, we are fortunate to work with Lucasfilm to build new stories, characters and vehicles through one-of-a-kind content such as the new “Yoda Chronicles” miniseries launching on Cartoon Network,” said Nicholas Hort, LEGO Star Wars brand manager.

LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter Model Fun Facts

Contains 5,335,200 LEGO bricks

Weighs 45,980 pounds

Height: 11 feet / 3.35 meters

Length: 43 feet / 13.1 meters

Wingspan: 44 feet / 13.44 meters

32 builders spent 17,336 hours to construct – about 4 months

Built in the LEGO Model Shop in Kladno, Czech Republic

Is a one-to-one replica of LEGO Star Wars set #9493; The model is 42x the size of the retail building set

The model was heavily engineered to withstand all the transportation, setup/break down and to ensure it was safe for Times Square given the subway system below and California’s seismic requirements for the LEGOLAND California Resort installation.

How to Celebrate From a “Galaxy Far, Far Away” with Cool Content and LEGO Bricks

“The Yoda Chronicles”
The Yoda Chronicles is an exciting, funny and action-packed new LEGO Star Wars story told in three animated TV specials. “The Phantom Clone” will premiere on Wednesday, May 29 at 8:00 p.m. (ET, PT) on Cartoon Network with specials two and three airing later this year. In the first of three specials, a brand new character, Jek 14 will enter the Star Wars universe. Created by the LEGO Group, Jek 14 is a clone who has been ‘enhanced’ by the Force.
LEGO Star Wars Red Five X-Wing Starfighter™
The most detailed and realistic version of the construction set, the LEGO Star Wars Red Five X-Wing Starfighter, is now available as the ultimate collectible. This exclusive model that contains over 1,500 LEGO bricks comes with a special display stand and data sheet label, is available at LEGO® brand retail stores and shop.LEGO.com for $199.99 USD.

For more information, visit LEGO.com/StarWars

In person with the life-size LEGO Star Wars X-wing – largest LEGO model ever

Today in New York, LEGO unveiled a massive model of an X-wing fighter from Star Wars. Built by LEGO Master Model Builders, it’s the largest LEGO model ever made. While TBB couldn’t make it to New York for the launch ourselves, we’re pleased to bring you a guest post by BrickJournal Editor-in-Chief Joe Meno.

The e-mail I received got my attention. It simply asked me if I was interested in having a personal tour of the “largest LEGO model ever built.” The note from LEGO had something to do with The Yoda Chronicles, an upcoming TV show on Cartoon Network. The clues given were that I would have to go to New York City and be taken to a hangar somewhere to see this model.

For me, a trip to New York City is a cheap flight and hotel stay, so I accepted the invite and a few weeks and one particularly long windy drive, I along with a few others arrived at MacArthur Airport on Long Island, to a hangar that looked like any other hangar, except for the LEGO logo on the door. We were met by LEGO staff, including Master Model Builders Erik Varszegi and Dale E. Chasse, who led us inside. The first things we saw were the bulletins on the wall and the computer, which displayed an X-Wing. Then we turned and saw the rear of a private plane… Or was that a LEGO X-Wing fighter?

It was! Only it was taller than us… I recognized the back knob gear to open the wings, but it alone was my height!

Walking around to the front of the fighter, Erik gave us some information about the model. In case you missed it elsewhere, here’s the short of it:

Built from over 5 million bricks
Depicts the iconic X-wing starfighter from Star Wars
Built in the Czech Republic at LEGO’s Kladno Model Shop
Shipped in 32 pieces to be reassembled at MacArthur Airport

From there, the plan was to separate the X-Wing into three parts to transport to Times Square: left wing, right wing, and fuselage. Some parts, such as the cockpit and outrigger guns were also removed for transport.

In the hangar, though, it was complete, as if ready for a mission.

Erik then showed us a neat surprise. With the flick of a few hidden switches, the X-Wing came to life with its engines glowing and powering up. The model has an internal lighting system and speakers, including woofers to give a deep sound to the engines. The rumble was one you felt as well as heard.

Nearby, sized-up minifigures of Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and R5-D8 were also on display, along with Yoda wearing his “I Love New York” T-shirt, which was first seen on minifigures given out at New York Toy Fair earlier this year. While Jek Porkins was a minifigure in this set, he wasn’t present at the hangar, as he wasn’t finished. (He did make it to Times Square, though!) Beside the computer was a reference model and also a sample stud from the final model.

A quick explanation of scale: Because of the proportions of the minifigure, scale is often a fuzzy standard. For this model, the scale was determined to be 1:42, which is a pretty good approximation for kids. This will be important in a bit, so keep this thought. To understand the scale, take a 1-stud brick. The stud alone sized up to be 42 studs by 42 studs, making it almost the size of a large baseplate. This also makes the stud a little larger than the actual set. This makes details pretty easy to build, so every stud does have a LEGO logo on them.

The model also is almost completely composed of bricks, with only a few plates used for shaping.

Scaling to kids is important because the cockpit is meant to be boarded. The canopy doesn’t open, so a side panel is removed for entry. The interior of the cockpit is a photo station for kids to post photos online, so there are no details like the set, but a screen with a mosaic frame. The space is a little cramped for an adult, as I bumped my head on the cockpit glass.

After the cockpit visit, Dale asked me if I wanted any overhead pics, pointing to an improvised cherry picker in front of the fighter. I didn’t hesitate, and I was quickly held over the X-Wing. It was there that I found that my camera lens wasn’t wide enough to get the entire model in one shot. In fact, that was a running problem that Erik picked up on when he said, “Maybe we should have told you to bring a wide-angle lens.” Overhead, though, you get a real impression of the size of the X-Wing. The others with me took pics, and then Dale moved the cherry picker for some more shots.

After the overhead session, I got to see some of the computer work that was done. The model was digitally built around a metal armature, and yes all 5 million plus parts are on the file! That made the computer crash a couple of times, but I was able to see how each section was set up to fit with the others. The files are not that different from LEGO Digital Designer or LCad files, but they are much bigger.

Here are a couple photos showing the internal steel armature:

Our hour-long insider tour ended with a promise of secrecy until the official unveiling in Times Square. Many thanks to Erik, Dale, and the rest of the LEGO gang for showing off this awesome model!

And many thanks to Joe for this quick write-up while on the road from New York! Look for a longer article in an upcoming issue of BrickJournal.

Valholl Gatehouse

There are various ways to avoid the big-blank-wall syndrome on different builds (Ships can suffer from it, Castles are prone to it, and some buildings for Town see it, too). I like to look at different ways to avoid that, and we’ve had some pretty fancy stuff here before.

Sometimes, though, simple is just fine.

Issac Synder has posted this lovely gatehouse, and the walls of the gate are simple but effective. I think it gives overall character to the build!

Forced perspective in Spaaaace!

A Pigs in Space reference is the best I can muster, for a post title, with a newborn napping on my arm. Regardless, this new offering from John Moffatt really caught my eye. The underlying ship is nice, too. Though I suspect this may be a case of photoshop, rather than true forced perspective, I still enjoy it.

I also, don’t see a big deal with the new Flickr. I was able to navigate the non-mobile site from my phone, and grab the links needed to write this post. I hope the building public will keep on posting!

What Goes Vroom and Swoosh at the Same Time? Thumper!

The thing I love about rongYIREN‘s creations is his ability to pack in so much great design while maintaining playability. The Thumper is something the 10 year old me wishes LEGO had produced as a set so I could swoosh the removable, remote drone around while exploring an alien planet in a bouncy space rover. That rongYIREN is able to do all this with a sparse part count is impressive, and is in keeping with the best of LEGO’s own product design. Most adult fans of LEGO tend to build without thought to part limitations. We create mocs that could never see production because it would be cost prohibitive to do so. rongYIREN is that rare exception that is able to make great models without over building. Why he isn’t already a designer for LEGO is beyond me. Hello Billund?

Duck and cover

In other news, legorobo:waka snuck this beauty onto flickr, right in between a wall of large and generally unoriginal pictures expressing dislike for flickr. Consider it a mecha chaser.

Köf II

The super cute Köf locomotive is one of the most distinctive shunters/switchers in the world. There are too many LEGO versions out there for me to link to, but this new one by Henrik Hoexbroe was pretty enough to force me to work out[1] how to use the new flickr interface for a blog post.

[1] It’s slightly more annoying to navigate, and way uglier. But all the old functionality seems to be there.

Chester Keep

Although our next featured builder is guilty of using way too many first names, Tim (Gilbert_Keith) knows how to build a sweet looking castle. I considered blogging this when it debuted about a month ago and decided not to because I’m a jerk and I was probably distracted by something shiny. “Chester Keep” has everything a Castle fanatic should enjoy…clever towers, nice landscaping, a moat… the usual boilerplate. Tim commented on iBrick that his 3 year old daughter “totally leveled it” near the end of the build process, causing a long delay. I think most parents who build can relate to such a catastrophic event, I know I can.

# 23

Despite a rich history of his country’s basketball players who played in the American NBA to draw upon for inspiration, players like… Detlef Schrempf, Uwe Blab and Dirk Nowitzki…for some strange reason Alex Jones (Orion Pax) is still fixated on Michael Jordan. So journey back with Alex and TBB, to the 1990’s when grunge music, Pokémon cards and MJ ruled the planet. #23 also comes complete with his pet bull, on which he rides about dispensing justice and expensive footwear with a flaming sword!.

I’m not sure what to say about Alex’s solution for MJ’s visage…I mean, what do you say about Tim Allen in blackface? For more photos, head over to Orion Pax Designs.