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.

The LEGO great ball kraken-traption

The LEGO builds of the Great Ball Contraption universe are far more known for their function rather than their form. Each module is designed to move minifig-scale basketballs and soccer balls from one point to another. But Jeff Strong adds a wonderful aesthetic touch to his GBC module, Kraken Attackin’. An ode to Tacoma, Washington, in the US, balls fly down a channel next to several natural and man-made landmarks of the region. But beware the dangerous kraken under the Narrows Bridge with its wily tentacles! The color palette here is brilliant, as are some of the great building techniques like the trees on the hillside. Even the blue and white conveyor that moves the balls up to the start of the run is striking. It’s a masterful piece of moving artwork!

But a still picture can’t really do this creation justice. See below for some video footage of the GBC module in action. Pay specific attention to the unique movement of the kraken’s tentacle. Jeff employs some genius engineering under the “water” to add a natural flow to the giant red limb.

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A lone pop of colour in a lonely village

We love a good LEGO creation that uses about double the amount of LEGO pieces to be built as you’d expect. This creation by Joe is composed of a lot of small little pieces to create patterns and structures. The scene depicts an abandoned village with one sole visitor. The visitor is apparently the only living soul in the town, just as the blue door is the only thing with colour in the town. Your eye gets drawn to the door due to the vibrant colour, and the door itself is exceptionally well built. But if you look past it, you’ll notice that the rest of the creation is as well. All the walls are made by slopes, tiles and plates to resemble woodwork. The use of the paled fence for windows is quite clever. Throughout the entire creation there are a lot of fangs, horns, angled bars, plates with a handles, and small windows used to represent snow and ice. Of those four, the last two are most resourceful.

This cat mech has had enough of your shiz!

When I saw this LEGO cat mech by Dan Rubin I immediately thought of that meme of the lady yelling at a cat who seems perturbed by a plate of vegetables. That image, and just about every variation of it I’ve seen so far, has tickled my funny bone to no end. There’s just so much absurdity to it! I imagine the cat growing into a giant mech suit and then taking sweet revenge on Miss Whiny-Yelling-Crying-Pants. Point that finger at me, will you? Hah! The imagination soars with hilarious scenarios. Anyway, that meme is not where Dan took his inspiration, as it turns out. This idea spawned from the bunny mech from Sucker Punch and the fact that LEGO produced a snarling printed cat face on a half-dome. I can’t even fathom which set that part would have come from but surely some of you know so be sure to let us know in the comments.

A twosome of terrific Trek tech

Set your phasers to positively delighted because LEGO builder Kevin J. Walter has a duo of 1:1 scale Trek tech for you to dork out over. First up is a Tricorder used to sense data, record data, and analyze said data. Star Trek medics use special Tricorders to help diagnose diseases and collect bodily information about a patient while the engineering Tricorder is used for…well, engineering purposes. Captain Kirk mostly used his to categorize hot space babes that he made out with. I like the attention to detail here and it looks as if you can fold it up and stow it in your Star Trek uniform that somehow had no pockets.

Next is a Type II Phaser for shooting space baddies who were not cool with Captain Kirk or anyone else (especially Kirk) making out with their babes. Unless you count a smartphone and a taser, we have to wait a couple of centuries until we can have such cool tech. In the meantime, check out why Kevin J. Walter continues to impress us dorks with his masterful LEGO work.

Magical LEGO Mario Mosaic

Interactive LEGO experiences aren’t the norm for the average set builder but public events can often feature large mosaics such as this. Builder Hans Demol designed this awesome Mario & Friends mosaic for LEGO fans to build as a group during an event. Each person would get a 16×16 plate to fill in and add to the picture, filling it in frame by frame until all 49 plates were done. LEGO has made bank on their Mosaic sets and it’s easy to emulate their method in stud or brick form. After all, you’re basically just working with pixel art, which is wildly popular on its own thanks to the Minecraft and classic gaming fanbase. As such, there are pixelating programs you can use to roughly design models like this but it’s also fun to try to freehand your own. It’s great to blend with regular models too. For example, I once used it to make a screen for drive-in theater!

Speaking from personal experience, I can say pieces like this can be wildly popular with builders of all levels and ages. Little hands might struggle with 1×1 plates but bricks look the same from above and those are a lot easier for them to handle. Hans did an awesome job shaping and shading each character which means there are definitely going to be people searching for certain sections to complete. Those super colorful sections are super fun but can also be super confusing for little ones. It’d be awesome to see this completed in real life though!

Fabulous + soldier = Fabusoldier?

When it comes to arming animals, Moko is one of – if not the – best in the business. We’re big fans of his work, and apparently so are the residents of Fabuland. They’ve moved on from the happy-go-lucky bright colours of the 1980s and are upgrading their armory. After Peter Pig and Lionel Lion, Bonnie Bunny is the third character to get their own mech, and this one gets airborne! There’s some serious Apache helicopter vibes here – the olive green looks great. And there’s in-flight snacks! It seems even a mech-suit army still marches, and flies, on its stomach.

Nothing beats a good barn find

Redverse tells us that this is just a “regular barn owl” construction that’s been lying around not doing much until the picture was taken. It speaks to the quality of this particular builder that this is considered a throwaway piece! The upturned pyramid is an inspired choice for the beak. The wings use a relatively rare tan cockpit part which has only appeared in one set from back in 2001. In car nerd circles, finding a rare car in a barn is known as a “barn find”, so being a barn owl, this build fits right in!

The future is now for hubless LEGO wheels!

Nothing says “futuristic ride” like hubless wheels, does it? I’m a real sucker for them, and Dicky Laban has sucked me in with this neat motorcycle. Despite its futuristic rims and stance, it does have some retro charm with the minimalist design and the light and handlebar setup. It looks ready to ride off into the sunset…

… Well, it can! This is the product of much tinkering with motors, gears and lights. Not only does it drive, the lights are functional, and it can even steer! Colour me impressed. Where can I buy one?!

There’s nothing banal about this canal

Ah, Venice: a city of romance. This may not be Venice, but there’s still a lot to love about this canal-side town by Isaac Snyder! Perhaps that wonderful bridge is what made me think of Venice. The architecture in general is beautiful, with the so-called bow plate getting a lot of good use in crenellations and roof design. And how about the foliage! The brick-built lilypads were the first to catch my eye, but my favourite is behind the old white-bearded gentleman. It’s a vine made up of a whip, drawn around some plant elements. A simple yet effective solution that looks great in this setting!

Giving new meaning to the term “Little Italy”

Check out this duo of microscale Venetian palaces by builder -Brixe! The shaping on these two domiciles is impeccable, perfectly capturing the worn texture of these canal-hugging houses using bars and round plates. The color palette, with its shades of nougat and tan, contrasts the crisp light blue of the water flowing behind and in-between them. But the techniques are really where this micro-marvel stands out. I adore the use of this old school finger hinge to hold the grill plates in place as windows, with this similar piece employed for their associated balconies. And one final detail of note: the bridge joining both buildings is built with studs facing down, allowing for ideal stair construction at this scale.

Hold me closer, tiny dragon

Ids de Jong invites us into the fantastical realm of Dawnward as a terrifying earth dragon approaches the castle. This microscale scene makes terrific use of parts to convey shape and texture – from the grill tiles forming battlements along the castle walls, to the minifigure chopsticks working as the dragon’s head. The result is a serene autumn day that is about to end in fire and blood. I hope those wagons at the castle’s entrance can make their escape in time.

A (chess) piece of LEGO history

It’s been 50 years since this LEGO chess battle began. And now, with the board overgrown and partially flooded, builder Rilbist shows us the resulting armistice in the great battle between the two sides of the checker-print board. I think this is a wonderful concept, especially given the limitation of only using part colors that were available half a century ago. Each of the pieces is instantly recognizable, and ornate without being distracting from the real star of the show: the state of the playing field. The weathering is divine, and I particularly like the pool of water in the center that flows out of the board, connecting this deadlocked game with the outer world.