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.

Didn’t get a Ulysses? Build your own! [Instructions]

If you were looking forward to the LEGO Ulysses Space Probe set, but like the majority of fans didn’t get one when they sold out in mere minutes, you can do what Jonas Kramm did and build your own design that’s even better than the official one! This gorgeous model has significantly more detail than the official one, and employs drum lacquer gold elements instead of yellow, which really amps up the coolness and accuracy.

And when I say that you can do what Jonas did, I really meant it. Jonas has provided free instructions for his design.

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Double tensegrity means double the balance

Spring and fall. Life and death – and the cycle of rebirth. Always and forever Mother Nature will maintain a balance. This subtle yet beautiful LEGO tensegrity sculpture by TBB alum Nannan Zhang is a metaphor for that truth. Most of the sculptures we see have a single 2-chain/string feature. This one employs another chain to give it two distinct sides, like a scale. While it’s done very well here, you can also imagine a plethora of other possibilities for the technique. It’s probably unintentional, but knowing this accentuates the metaphor even more. Give that one a good think!

These builds were a huge hit this past year amongst builders. Take a moment to look back on all of the tensegrity creations we’ve featured, include one that is 3-tiered! Also, while you’re at it, you can check out Nannan’s other models.

A peacekeeping mech that makes us smile

Usually when we show you a mech we go on to talk about the guns and other armament the mech has. But today we have a LEGO creation by Abraham Calderon called S.M.I.L.E. which stands for Strategic Machine Intelligence Loaded Exosuit. While well-built mechs can often make us smile it is a rare occasion when a mech smiles back. But here we are. Abraham tells us this is an AI assisted piloted mech designed for peacekeeping operations. Being former military myself I know that “peacekeeping operations” can sometimes be a euphemism for “lots of guns”. Funny how that works out! Still, I like to presume that this is a cuddly, fun-loving mech who just wants to hang out and maybe have some pizza. If you care to hang out for awhile, check out some of these other awesome mechs we’ve featured lately.

Fun fact: You don’t need a body to drive a car

Sometimes, it can be difficult to build LEGO cars that look the right size for a minifigure, while also fitting a minifigure inside. Calin solves this problem by doing away with the figures completely from the neck down! By cutting out most the bodies of the driver and passenger, the car can be properly scaled and slender. While remaining this compact at minifigure scale, the parts usage can get quite interesting. On one hand, I love the grille brick used as the car’s grille. On the other hand, I also love how in some places, 1×2 tiles have been replaced by ingots, offering that extra level of detail that really bring this car to life.

Here be alligators along the Shipwreck Island!

Ahoy mateys! LEGO builder Markus Aspacher has a little something that definitely hits us in the nostalgic feels. It is a remake of the official 6296 Shipwreck Island set from 1996. Like the set, it’s a shipwreck turned island complete with a small raft, pirate mast sail and alligator. But this modernized version utilizes newer pieces, cool build techniques, and a fancy-pants base that looks like a desolate location in the Caribbean. There’s a neat mix of solid-colored and transparent pieces that convey areas of depth and shallows in the water. It is way more engaging than the blue baseplate that the original set came with. This is not the first time this builder has wowed us with his swell build techniques. It turns out that awesome dioramas is kinda Markus’ thing.

Robo Maid 2031 cleans up so you don’t have to

You know that guilty feeling you get when others are working hard while you’re doing jack nothing? It’s a guilt so deep you have to take your goofing off elsewhere lest someone ask you to get off your lazy keister and help. Do you know what I mean? No? Am I the only one? Anyway, Cecilie Fritzvold has built a LEGO robot maid programmed to clean up your crap so you don’t have to. You don’t even have to hide the fact that you’re surfing the net for hilarious youtube videos when this awesome bot toils away because apparently they have no feelings. According to youtube research I did just now you can even kick robots and they won’t even feel it. I’m pretty sure that will never backfire so give it a try next time you see a robot. That plant, feather duster and coffee table are all super fabulous! So are Cecilie’s other builds in our archives.

From the depths we will arise anew

From time to time we like to check in with an enigmatic LEGO builder who calls herself why.not?. Sometimes her subject matter is dark. Sometimes it’s real dark. But in every case she has us intrigued. Her latest offering is untitled. They’re all untitled. I mean, it’s not like she forgets to name them, she actually types in “untitled” for every creation she does. But this time we have what appears to be a beautiful, brightly lit angel emerging from an underground place. Black city buildings flank her on either side, even the ground is black. She uses red lighting to not only create patterns on the buildings but to denote the readable words “out” and perhaps “dream”. Could this represent our artist emerging from a dark funk? Is this a new chapter in her life or is it a phase? Either way, we remain to be intrigued. And why not?

Building a stacked deck

We’ve seen LEGO playing cards before, but I don’t recall ever seeing them built life-size before, like this set by Dan Ko. The cards are very simple as far as the build, but there’s a lot of cleverness going on with the selection of pieces. The Clubs made with two 1×1 round plates and a lever handle are perfect, as is the Jack’s initial made from an umbrella. I don’t recall seeing a lobster on the diamond suit before, but I can roll with it, especially when it’s surrounded by a nifty thin red diamond made of a stretched rubber band.

Dan built them for a contest where he had to use 101 pieces or fewer, and he’s provided this lovely knolled image showing he used precisely 100 pieces.

Chemistry 101: I’m blinding me with science!

High school chemistry class sometimes had its appeal. A great experiment can have a whole class oohing and aahing over various liquids changing color, shattering objects, and sometimes even blowing stuff up. A failed experiment can lead to a would-be chemist losing eyebrows. Unless, of course, the loss of eyebrows was the intent of the experiment, then that would be considered a success. But either way, eye protection is a good idea. Thankfully, LEGO builder Jonas Kramm included eye protection with this build as well as a Bunsen burner and a test tube containing a chemical that may or may not singe off your eyebrows if treated improperly. The whole shebang (or she-BANG!) consists of only 101 LEGO pieces, making Chemistry 101 an inevitable part of this title. The rest was a line from Mystery Science Theater 3000. I don’t know about you, but I’m having a good reaction to this experiment. Here are the other times we were favorable to Jonas’ stuff.

Felt cute, might bring down a Super Star Destroyer later

I love it when LEGO builders use unexpected pieces in their creations. There’s even contests revolving around using a seed part in a variety of builds. After all, LEGO is all about creativity, and thinking outside the box. I (Mansur “Waffles” Soeleman) grew up with Technic and Bionicle, which both contain strange LEGO parts that you don’t see mixed with the usual building system. However, I am a firm believer that even the most unconventional LEGO parts can fit perfectly with the common ones. That was partly my inspiration in building a perfectly minifigure-scale RZ-1 A-wing Starfighter from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Find out about the build process and the weird parts Waffles used to build his A-wing!

Getting a leg up on the enemy

LEGO builder Marius Herrmann has been on a quest to design what he calls “Fashion Robots,” that is, cool LEGO mechs and robots that employ some of LEGO’s most unusual elements, the cloth apparel items that show up from time to time in official sets, most prominently the Scala and Belville themes from the 90s and early 2000s. We’ve covered quite a few of these excellent Fashion Robots already, and this one marks Marius’ ninth with a cool dark tan color scheme. It employs Scala pants as the coverings for its four legs, but it’s actually the rest of the design that has me interested.

The silver ingots make great durable armor cladding on the legs, while the molded-in speakers from the boomboxes are perfect grilled covers for a missile launcher. A variety of dark tan curved slopes and arches make an interesting body, while the mech is topped with a three-barrel Gatling that’s strapped together with stretched rubber tires and a set of Tauntaun reins.

Bounty hunting is a dangerous profession

While Mos Eisley may be the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the galaxy, there are plenty of contenders for runner-up when it comes to rough and tumble locations where you would be wise to have someone to watch your back. Darth Bjørn shines a light on one such location on Devaron, the homeworld of the devil-like beings first glimpsed on the famous Mos Eisley cantina. The rock work at the base forms a solid foundation for this shady outpost, which sports a number of non-specific vents, domes, and other mechanical details. The weather-worn walls are built using plates of various colors stacked vertically, which provides an unexpected texture.