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.

Colour us impressed by this colourless LEGO diorama

Colour is an important facet of good LEGO builds. Yeah, that might sound like stating the obvious – a consistent palette will generally look nicer than a mish-mash of colours. But Syrdarian has graced us with a prime example. It’s a nice build to start with: some cool terrain shaping, and the top of the bridge wall mirrors the hammers used in the archway. But most noticeably, it’s all so drab! The grey background seems to have been chosen carefully for its resemblance to a grey winter sky. And even the figure is dressed in muted colours. The only relative bright spots are the tan reeds, and the figure’s skin, standing out against the harsh environment, and drawing us in as a result. A good build, but with great composition!

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Let me hear your engines roar! No, wait, not like that...

Alt builds seem to be having a real resurgence lately. In case you’re not familiar, it simply involves taking a LEGO set, setting aside the instructions, and letting your imagination run wild. Sometimes, the result can be completely different to the original! Flickr builder R 194 has got their hands on 10330 McLaren MP4/4, turning a fossil fuel-powered race car into a bionic dinosaur! And since there some very nice printed elements in that set, this re-imagined dino has a distinctive racing feel to it. Even the Ayrton Senna minifigure gets involved with a nifty two-piece remote. RC dino-mech racing? Now that sounds rad!

Finding the unusual in everyday Japanese architecture

We’re used to seeing some weird and wonderful buildings from Pan Noda, from the quirky to the downright fantastical. So imagine my surprise when I found that their latest build is of a real house! This depicts a residence in Kitano Ijinkan – a historical district of Kobe, in Japan. Many of the buildings here are built with more non-Japanese flair than traditional influence. Pan’s build, though, is of their usual high standard!

This is the ‘Hilltop House’, which apparently used to serve as the Chinese Consulate, among other things. There are a pair of ‘komainu’ guardian lion statutes just inside the gates, and rumour has it that walking past them will lead to success in your love life. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that, but I do know that I love Pan’s LEGO recreation of these statues!

See more of Pan Noda’s haunting recreation of the Kobe Hilltop House

Mickey’s Library LEGO fan build hides a trove of Disney Easter eggs

From Princess minidoll playsets to collectible minifigures to 100th anniversary display pieces, Disney and LEGO have built up an impressive catalog of sets referencing blockbusters and deep cuts from the Disney vault. In this delightful scene, titled Mickey’s Library, builder Candy Bricks arranges dozens of uniquely Disney elements in a cozy tribute to the House of the Mouse. It’s fun to see little bigger tableaus for Snow White and Beauty and the Beast, as well as subtler tributes, like Aladdin’s carpet integrated into the floor by the fireplace. Looks like Mickey even stuffed and mounted one of those troublesome brooms from his Apprentice days to hang above the hearth! How many references can you find?

Knight finds himself between a rock and a horned face

2025 is turning out to be a banner year for LEGO dragons, with sets like 31161 Medieval Dragon,
71847 Guardian Dragon, and 10375 Toothless, but our favorite dragons are the ones hatched up by brilliant builders like FS Leinad here. This MOC on a rock pulls big personality from surprisingly few parts. Folded wings and a curved neck made from simple arches and plates pair with Bionicle forearms. The scene-stealing NPU (nice parts usage) is the dragon’s face, brilliantly made from robot arms tucked inside an Atlantean squid warrior head piece. Excellent use of verticality makes this 12×12 vignette seem much larger than the footprint would suggest. The dragon has the knight on his back, but the big lizard looks more curious than murderous. I hope these two work things out without resorting to violence.

FS Leinad built this “Encounter” as an early entry into the 2025 Summer Joust, which runs through August 1.

DOOM: The Dark Ages Skullcrusher slays in LEGO

The DOOM franchise has introduced some memorable epic weapons, going back to the original BFG (“Big Friendly Gun), but the newly released DOOM: The Dark Ages introduces the most metal weapon of all: the Skullcrusher. This weapon does what it says on the tin, crushing literal skulls and using the bone fragments as deadly projectiles. Dicken Liu built a roughly life-size version in LEGO, complete with a pre-ground skull to feed into the chipper. Even if it’s not motorized or sharp, that maw of gears and rotating blades fills me with dread. Whether a sly joke or serendipity, the gun is decorated with the headpiece of Bionicle baddie called Skull Grinder. How perfect is that?! Dicken is no stranger to gaming tributes, although they tend to be of a slightly more family-friendly flavor, like this adorable Baby Bowser.

To learn more about the builder and his creations, check out our interview with Dicken Liu from earlier this year.

Sleek and stylish, this LEGO N-2 starfighter is a serious Star Wars upgrade

The N-1 starfighter remains one of the most iconic Star Wars fighter designs since the X-Wing, with its hot-rod yellow and chrome color scheme. Al-Tair has given this fighter a bit of a McLaren Formula-1 upgrade with a black and orange color scheme paired with engine extensions. By the look of it, the N-2 also has increased firepower, with several missile launchers added on each wing. If I had to guess who is piloting this fine craft, Poe Dameron comes to mind, since he rocked a similar paint job on his X-wing fighter.

Gourmet Taiwanese food builds in LEGO that look good enough to eat!

For the grand opening of a new LEGO Store in Tainan City, two of our favorite Taiwanese builders celebrated with delectable brick-built versions of local dishes. Hsinwei Chi, fan designer of the LEGO Ideas Jazz Quartet, created a trio of dishes. Starting from the top, we have shrimp rolls, a fried snack of shrimp, fish paste, and vegetables wrapped in tofu skin. Next, shrimp rice is an iconic bit of home cooking with shrimp, shallots, and white rice stir-fried with soy sauce and rice wine. Last is a mouth-watering bowl of danzai noodles, with roasted pork, mashed garlic, and shrimp sitting atop chewy wheat noodles in a deep, savory broth. In case you’re curious where those noodles come from, they’re yellow flex tubes exclusive to the DC Heroes Bumblebee Helicopter set.

James Zhan showed up with two dishes. First we have a pair of guan cai ban – Taiwanese “coffin bread” – in which a thick slice of white bread is hollowed out and fried and filled with a creamy stew. James employs a fun mix of parts for the stew texture, including white bananas, large clamshells, and technic ball peas.

Fittingly, our last dish is a dessert – beh teung guai, aka Taiwanese churros. The fried dough of glutinous rice flour is similar to Japanese mochi, with a chewy interior, and flavored with sugar and crushed peanuts. For both dishes, James elevates the presentation with elegant serving trays and leafy garnishes.

If these Tainan comfort foods leave you hungry for more LEGO cooking, check out our food archive for more delicious models. (Especially this street food noodle cart that seems like a great place to enjoy some of those danzai noodles!)

Putting the ‘rat’ into pirate – with clever parts use to boot

We often see collaborative projects in the LEGO community where different builders will all build within a similar theme. But it’s not often that said collab is themed around a specific builder! Steven Howad (Ghalad) and co have undertaken a “special secret collab” (his words) to celebrate LEGO designer and AFOL community stalwart Markus Rollbühler. Steven was handed five mice to get him started, but he has taken them and really ran with it – there is so much NPU here! The mice are in the beard, but we also have: octopuses and tyres for the hair; Dots wristbands for the sash and headband; lifejackets for the jacket buttons; long-haired dogs in the cheeks; and plenty more besides. But my favourite – and the most meta – are the boat hulls used for the hat and epaulettes!

Set sail for adventure from this microscale port

Many LEGO fan events and building competitions offer brick-built trophies that are works of art in and of themselves, which makes them even more treasured for those lucky recipients. This microscale scene by Isaac Snyder is such a trophy, a one-of-a-kind treasure that will make an amazing display piece for one lucky winner of this year’s Summer Joust. The little town, tucked in next to the dock, is full of great details, but I think my favorite part is the tall stone watchtower with a signal fire, like an ancient lighthouse.

Summer Joust run from June 1 through August 1 with seven categories to compete in and plenty of amazing prizes. If you’re curious about participating, you can find the details of entering the Summer Joust here.

Street art from the walls of London to the bricks of Denmark

For such an inherently 3-dimensional medium, there’s an impressive amount of 2-dimensional LEGO builds out there. Mathew Walls makes his TBB debut with one such build – and appropriately, it’s an artwork that was famously drawn on walls! Perhaps Banksy’s most famous artwork, Girl with Balloon was originally made with stencils and spray-paint – and you can’t get much more 2D than a single layer of paint. But Mathew has done a great job of replicating it here, with the help of various curved and angled tiles and plates. Even the girl’s outstretched hand is there, reaching for the balloon that has escaped this 2D frame.

This Jurassic Jeep has us jumping for joy

When Jurassic Park hit theaters in 1993, the special effects changed filmmaking – and the public’s perception of dinosaurs – forever. And while those effects still hold up today, I’ve also come to respect the way the non-dino production design of the movie has endured. Take this latest build from Jerry Builds Bricks. Just a quick glance at the gray Jeep Wrangler with slight red highlights probably put the John William’s theme into your head. You don’t even need to see the logo to know this vehicle is park property. And, while LEGO has released official versions of the film’s classic vehicles, Jerry has raised the stakes with a build that packs plenty of clever technique into an 8-stud wide package. Note the inverted cheese slope wheel wells, the gentle slope on the sides of the vehicle’s hood, and the way the roll bar structure flows right into the slightly angled windshield. It might not be as impressive as cloning a dinosaur – or even rendering one in the computer – but I’d still call it movie magic.