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.

Bowl your arms off!

While I am known for having a dark sense of humor, I can assure you this title was provided by the builder himself. PaulvilleMOCs graces us with this fabulously retro LEGO bowling sign. The colors, the fonts and the shapes are all indicative of signs seen outside of bowling alleys across America. When you’re a bit out of shape a round of bowling can feel like you’ve bowled your arms off. However, this double entendre refers to the arm-less minifig torsos used throughout. There are two in the bowling pin, one in the exclamation point and a third comprising the back end of the red arrow. Clever parts usage like that makes us wonder what other tricks Paul may have up his non-existent sleeve. Non-existent because; no arms. OK, you got it then? Good! Seriously, these jokes just write themselves. I don’t even have to try anymore.

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This Apache helicopter is built from rare and ornery bricks

2004 was a pivotal moment for some adult fans of LEGO. This was the year that defined the distinction between what we call “old gray” and “new gray”. LEGO made a change to two shades of gray and brown that year that made the colors brighter and a bit more palatable to kids. Some grumpy old fans resistant to change declared they would leave the hobby forever while others embraced the newer colors. Lennart Cort dates back to before 2004, or at least some of his LEGO collection does. He tells us this stunning AH-64D Apache Longbow model was built in 1/38 scale and built using “old dark gray” as its primary color. Speaking from experience here this can be a difficult feat as the old gray parts are becoming increasingly rare and ornery. Kinda like older adult fans of LEGO; rare and ornery.

A picture worth 10,000 bricks

This beautiful painting by Hoang H. Dang shows a pleasant street scene with ancient architecture and a gnarled tree, along with a few small street vendor stalls. But there’s much more to it than first meets the eye. Although it’s ostensibly a painting, it’s actually a low-relief sculpture masterfully executed with LEGO bricks, lending it an amazing sense of depth.

And look closer–this painting is much bigger than you probably realize. There’s detail packed into every square inch because the entire piece is enormous–more than 3 feet wide. It’s so big that a Duplo fire hydrant looks right at home. Let’s take a look at some of the other details.

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Cooking up something special with bananas

The LEGO banana element is not necessarily the most useful piece, right? It has only one connection point, at one end, and no matter what you do with it, it still looks like a banana. That has not stopped LEGO from using it all over the place, whether that be gold bananas in Ninjago sets, grey ones in Mixels, or white, teal, and dark blue from various Chinese festival sets; but it still looks like a banana. But when I was taking my almost-two-year-old to the bathroom the other day, I realized that the handles on the faucet looked remarkably banana-like, with the same curve and general shape. So that got me thinking: could I make a kitchen that used a banana sink? In my own collection, I have only yellow and gold bananas, so it had to be a gold sink, but brass is coming back in, right? Or was it in, and now it’s back out again?

The rest of the kitchen came together around the sink, scaled to that. It’s loosely based off of the kitchens from my last two houses in layout, though the dishwasher should be to the right of the sink for better accuracy. It ended up using almost all my dark brown tiles and bricks and plates (as well as slopes!) for the cabinets, so I’m glad I did not go bigger, and if you look closely at the sand green walls, you’ll see that they are largely made of 1×2 plates. I am not looking forward to taking this one apart. The ceiling came last, but I knew I needed one, since I wanted an immersive shot, and those always look more convincing with the ceiling and a controlled light source. So I made it studded, to replicate the horrible textured ceilings that so many houses have (including my own), and made the light for the photograph come through the ceiling fixture, with a little reflecting in from the window and the banana moon (which would have been better in white, admittedly). I’m fairly pleased with the build, though I do think the floor is ugly, and so does my wife, but that’s the tiles I had in abundance, so that’s what I used. Maybe we’ll remodel it someday.

If you like this build, you’ll probably like this collection of LEGO kitchen builds. And don’t forget to tune in to the Iron Forge competition, where the banana is the seed part.

I am once again asking you to click the “like” button

Joe Biden was inaugurated as the US’s 46th president this week and while that was a pivotal moment, it wasn’t all about “Uncle Joe”. Bernie Sanders was in attendance and, regardless of where you stand politically, you can’t help but chuckle at the flood of memes that came out in quick succession. All of them feature Bernie Sanders in this specific pose with his loafers, coat and mittens, photoshopped sitting everywhere from the moon to the set of Game of Thrones to among the cast of The Breakfast Club. Our Brothers Brick alumni Iain Heath has his finger on the pulse of what is hot at the moment and quickly bangs out this LEGO tribute to the Vermont senator. Despite your valued and insightful opinions on the matter, Iain isn’t afraid to go there. And if it’ll get a few laughs and likes, neither are we.

This is where I hid the bodies

Other than having a dark sense of humor, why would I title an article about this LEGO gas station in such a way? The service station has a well-worn feel. There’s a couple of motorcycles and the patrons there seem friendly enough. But when you take a close look at this creation by Dan the Fan you begin to see several minifig torsos used in creative ways. There are two in gray holding up the shell sign and four in dark gray acting as the base for the water tower. Several more upside-down torsos comprise the trim design of the building while another two in red make up part of the gas pump. My favorite use of the minifig torso however is in the road sign, partially comprising the shape of Texas. Can you spot other uses for the minifig torso? (Other than the ones obviously used as minifig torsos.)

The Ambassador of Grnx brings some odd parts usage

LEGO revealed their DOTS line and some folks reasoned it would be great for their little sisters but not for the likes of them. Vince Toulouse illustrates the error of their ways with this Ambassador of Grnx wearing a DOTS band as a sash. His staff makes use of Clickits connectors, another line some of youse thought was only appropriate for little sis. As if that wasn’t enough, Vince brings in another limited appeal line with the use of flame bits from the short-lived Ben 10 sets. It just goes to show that on the surface, some sets have limited appeal but in the hands of a builder like Vince, there is no limit to what can be used.

The tower of Barad-d’aww

How small can the dark lord get? This teeny, tiny tower of Barad-dûr from The Lord of the Rings was constructed by LEGO builder Hubba Blöoba, and it’s got all the right notes despite its diminutive size. A pair of grey bananas make the two spikes that ring the all-seeing eye, while clips and slopes make up the jagged tower itself. The atmospheric clouds elevate this little vignette further and give it an appropriate sense of foreboding.

From the Star Wars expanded universe comes the Outrider

We all love the Millennium Falcon and other ships from the Star Wars franchise but it’s neat when someone pays attention to the ships that were later inserted into the background in one special edition or another. My case in point, this LEGO YT-2400 Outrider built by Aido Kessler. It resembles the Millennium Falcon a bit in the sense that it’s saucer-shaped, has circular exhaust ports and pushes the whole asymmetrical cockpit motif to the Nth degree. From there this odd ship exudes its own personality. I love the complex curves along the leading edge as well as the turret cannon. Aido tells us this model comprises of more than four-thousand pieces and weighs eleven pounds (5kg). In some instances this heavy creation was pushed to a breaking point; a literal breaking point and needed to be restructured several times.

The end result is breathtaking and we’re glad he was up for the difficult task. This rear view showcases some added light functions that makes this model truly a sight to behold.

477 mini plastic parts to make the iconic Mini Cooper

George Panteleon brings us a car we’ve seen before. It’s the classic Mini. LEGO released the mini cooper set a couple of years ago. George’s rendition may or may not be a different version of the mini car. I couldn’t tell you because I am no expert when it comes to cars. I do know that I really like his rendition of the mini. LEGO released 4 sand colors (red, purple, green and blue) and then decided to not use them all that often. George proves that that is a shame by using sand green to make this lovely build. There are a lot of nice little details on this build. The car grill is made of the back side of the masonry bricks, the microphone utensil gets turned into direction indicator lights and the bar holder with handle gets turned into a side way mirror. Best thing about this has to be that you can actually open the doors and even pop the hood. I say job well done!

Big Ninjago style in a little model

The Ninjago City modular sets are large, there’s no doubt about it. In fact, the latest set in the series, Ninjago City Gardens is one of the 10 largest LEGO sets ever released. When you line up the three sets together they take up quite a lot of space. Well, that’s not an issue with Adeel Zubair, who has built the latest city block in amazingly accurate details.

The inverted brown flower stem makes great tree roots, and the hot dog makes a perfect bridge. One more detail that I love, is the teal corner tiles used for those fancy sloped parts used in the control tower.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Adeel has shrunk the entire series of Ninjago City blocks.

Castro Theatre, the heart of Eureka Valley

One of my favorite things about San Francisco is its architecture. Though shops have closed and the streets are nearly empty, some of the city’s most vibrant buildings still stand. Just off Market Street, you’ll find the Castro Theatre, whose majesty has been translated into LEGO by Jonathan Lopes. Since 1922, the Castro Theatre has hosted everything from queer cinema to silent film festivals at the center of San Francisco’s vibrant arts scene and historic LGBTQ+ district. Like in Jonathan’s model, you can’t miss its iconic neon signage and stunning Spanish-Baroque facade.

Click here for an in-depth look at the Castro Theatre!