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.

Al’Tamasuk Mansion

I do not know why, but somehow I get drawn to LEGO desert builds. I guess it has something to do with the architecture of the buildings. Where I live, there is nothing quite like it, so it almost feels like taking a small vacation to a faraway place. So I would like to thank Marcel V for my most recent trip to the desert of Jazira, where I got to meet the Al’Tamasuk.

This creation offers a lot of great little details which really make it special. I will highlight a few, but if you zoom in I’m sure you’ll find many more. The best thing has to be the black lamps near the entrance of the building. These are black wands used to create a decorative cast iron lamp. Those wands are held (if I am not mistaken) only by friction and sheer willpower, so constructing that had to be quite the nuisance! Then there are wheel covers used as round windows, and somehow a baseball bat works perfectly fine as an architectural detail (see if you can spot them). There are snakes used as plant vines and have you seen that cute little wooden shed?

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This RC LEGO Volvo truck is packed with working features

It’s one thing to build an accurate, good-looking LEGO model of a big rig like this 1/20-scale Volvo FH. Getting the shaping down is impressive enough on its own, especially when working with a color like medium azure which has fewer available part types. But builder Sebeus I wasn’t content to stop at making it look pretty; instead he made it a fully-functional RC model with working steering, lights, and a hooklift system for loading and hauling containers. The best working function to me, though, is the rear axle, which can be lowered and raised as needed just like on the real truck.

Check out this video to see it in action:

While you’re away, the Switch will play

Seemingly inanimate objects coming to life – we’ve seen it before in movies like Toy Story or Transformers; now we’re seeing this notion come alive in LEGO form with this Nintendo “Switch Imp” model by Zane Houston.

My favorite part of this build are the imp’s Switch controller arms in their iconic blue and red color scheme. These brick-built arms mainly utilize common elements such as bricks and slopes in various sizes constructed by way of the SNOT (studs not on top) technique. The buttons on the controller arms are rendered by black 1×1 round tiles while the joy sticks are cleverly composed of black round 1x1s with bar and pin holders, 2×2 round plates with an open stud, and 2×2 plates with round bottoms. The rest of this mythological mashup is comprised of a menagerie of black slopes, bricks, and tiles with a couple white cheese slope pieces serving as teeth thrown in. Better watch where you put your things, judging by this build you can never really know what your household items are up to when you’re away – they really could have a life of their own.

A dark lord to rule over Middle Earth

Marcin Otreba’s latest LEGO creation doesn’t appear to have anything inscribed on it, but I’m sure if you held it up to the flame, you’d find an inscription that loosely translates to:

Three batarangs on his chest up high,
Seven on his face mask, pearl dark grey blades shone
Fine the bricks he did apply
One model Dark Lord we’d like to own.

On the internet, where LEGO builders vie
One brick to rule them all, one sorter to find them,
One builder to bring them all, and with clutch power bind them,
In the land of LEGO where bricks mystify

Forgot your lunch? Here’s a BYGGLEK Bento Box.

In my youth I used to watch a lot of anime, and of course with most of it being created in Japan during that time, snippets of daily Japanese life found their way into the animations; school uniforms, cherry blossom trees, and of course Bento boxes – neatly home-packed meals. The fairly new BYGGLEK boxes produced as a collaboration between LEGO and Ikea are perfect for creating LEGO Bento, which builder nobu_tary has expertly done here.

Rice balls, veggies, and more! These foodstuffs are all expertly brick-built, some – like the rice balls are constructed by way of the SNOT (studs not on top) technique, utilizing some basic pieces such as slopes and bricks and others such as the two tomatoes are built regularly and are composed of only a couple pieces. These colorful food builds certainly capture the colorful palette of Japanese cuisine. The cover of the box is also colorfully decorated with a nice mosaic pattern built out of variously shaped tiles which can be found in the LEGO Dots line. Nobu_tary did not forget the utensils either – the chopsticks here being shaped by various cone and cylinder pieces topped with some 1×1 bricks and plates. Certainly this build is a palatable one indeed.

I want much more than this provincial life

It takes a careful eye for detail to craft a large LEGO immersive scene since every corner of the frame has to be considered. But it also takes a large number of LEGO bricks, far more than one would think before beginning the project (especially for the foreground, which always needs more, always). Talented LEGO builder Joe (jnj_bricks) has both the careful eye and the pile of bricks and uses them masterfully to craft this castle harbor scene, with a quay, lots of shops, a castle, and even a drunken pirate down on the dock. It certainly fits the bill as a large scene, too, measuring 144×80 studs.

Joe neglects no surface in the scene, from the textured roofs to the detailed walls. There are slight variations in color to show weathering, and no two houses have the same wat-and-daub pattern. The selling point is the minifigure posing, however, which can be one of the trickiest bits to nail down, but Joe got it just right, with dynamic and natural poses all around. It really sells that this is a normal day with people going about their ordinary lives. Pretty sure I see the baker with the same old bread and loaves to sell. And do you see the goat? He’s got a goat, the Holy Grail of castle builders!

A tavern to go along with your blacksmith

Versteinerts creation looks like there is an excellent blacksmith in town. You can tell by all the fittings on the door in the attic and the iron sign near the tavern’s entrance. For the fittings on the door Versteinert used the tooth plate which to me is just perfect. For the tavern sign, a couple of parts were used in a smart way. The fence is hung upside down using the round plate with handle in black (which apparently exists). The plant stem with thorns as an ornate element of the sign is a very nice touch.

The rest of the building looks amazing as well. The walls have a cobblestone look going on, which is achieved using a lot of different plates and tiles. The gold fence windows make the tavern look really fancy. Using the same roof technique as the Medieval Blacksmith makes it blend in really nice with the original set. The best thing about this creation is that it is designed as a modular building and is fully furnished on the inside. The upper floors and the two roof sections can be easily removed to gain access to the building’s interior.

The naked mole-rat of your dreams

I don’t know how many sleepless nights I’ve had while anxiously wishing someone would build a LEGO Mecha Heterocephalus-glaber. I know what you’re thinking; we’ve all been there, right? Thankfully, Mitsuru Nikaido answered our prayers and maybe now we can get some sleep for once. For those uninitiated with this creature’s scientific name, it is commonly called a naked mole-rat. (Tee-hee!) Mitsuru is no stranger to building weird mecha creatures of all kinds. Of all of youse, he’s probably the most qualified to build an awesome mech mole-rat, to be honest. Now, if I can’t sleep, it’ll be for other worrisome reasons like; do algorithms dream of electric murder? Why is my mom using the eggplant emoji? Is that Matt Gaetz behind the hamper?

A picture perfect LEGO camera

When it comes to recreating real-world objects out of LEGO, cameras are a popular subject. Ben Tritschler has created a great example that would feel at home at any high-end photography shop. There are plenty of clever part choices here including red rubber-band accents and a spider as a knob. But the thing that really “sells” this illusion for me is the string attaching the lens cap to the camera body.

This build also looks incredible from the back. Ben used a lot of printed elements from the 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) set to add plenty of realistic details.

Ben’s first version of this camera was self-limited to 101 parts as part of the RogueOlympics. If you’re interested in some great minimal-part-count creations, you should check out some of the other featured builds from that competition.

I bet it’s as slimy as it looks

I’ve always thought sand green is the perfect LEGO colour to capture the feeling of being sea sick, and what better subject for “seasick” than Davy Jones’ decapitated head? Well, maybe Rickard Stensby agrees with me, because he’s so greatly captured what I just described.

This trophy just oozes with character too. The tail pieces as facial tentacles blowing in the wind seem very deliberately selected and placed, while the square corners around his mouth perfectly represent the character from the films. The eyes and eyebrows convey so much with so little. My favourite little touch are the 1×1 round plates with holes used a barnacles on his hat – making it truly appear that he was fished out of the ocean.

Spider-bots of the apocalypse!

“Not much still stands of the dead cities, but the twisted ruins make for good cover and even better hunting grounds.” That is the tagline provided for this LEGO render by _Regn. There’s a lot to love here. The dilapidated arching structure is particularly striking and there’s the post-apocalyptic guy doing post-apocalyptic stuff in the background there. The mech-tank-spider though…that’s going to haunt my dreams for a while. It’s just your typical stuff that goes on in the mind of this particular builder. Upon further inspection, there is really nothing typical about this builder at all. They’re new to us here at The Brothers Brick but with creations this imaginative we’ll surely keep all eight eyes in their direction; poised and ready to pounce on what they may do next.

Back at the base for repairs

Sam Malmberg‘s “Nebula 47 Hangar” is a feat of LEGO engineering. Let’s take a look at why this Federation scout ship is one of the best builds I’ve seen today.

Take your eyes past the Nebula 47 itself and gaze upon the beauty that is the pipework! The twisting tubes are fantastic, implying a network of vast support systems that are behind the bulkhead. Additionally, the arrow on the hangar deck is made from bricks in a pattern that isn’t common in sci-fi builds.

When I look at the Nebula 47, I see a little bit of the Ghost from Star Wars: Rebels. However, Sam has utilized his skill in creating a ship of his own. I dig the minifigure ski poles used as blasters on the wings. I also like the use of the color tan along the main body. Tan isn’t a color I often see on a spaceship, but this more than works. It’s out of this world!