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.

A Christmas icon goes kinetic [Video]

When you think of Christmas songs, chances are one of the top ten that comes to mind is “Little Drummer Boy”. While not everyone in the world celebrates Christmas, I’m sure many of you can appreciate the most recent LEGO kinetic sculpture built by Jason Allemann of the JK Brickworks duo. Before the thing even gets moving, it’s clear that the ox and sheep are adorable.

Once the crank starts turning the magic starts. The little trio are mesmerizing to watch. Builds with timing can seem so complicated on the surface, but as Jason often shows, the inner-workings aren’t all that complicated. Still, it’s hard not to be jealous of how easy he makes it look.

As always, the instructions for this build can be found for free on the JK Brickworks website. This also isn’t the first kinetic holiday model! We’ve featured a flying Santa’s sleigh, Santa’s elves working on toys, and even a robotic cookie decorator.

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2020 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 7

Happy holidays to all of our fellow LEGO builders! As is tradition, we at The Brothers Brick will be opening our advent calendars as we count down to Christmas. We’ll also be sharing commentary on each one, which will be both insightful and hilarious!

This year we have new Harry Potter, Star Wars, City and Friends advent calendars to open. We will be sharing images of the new calendars every day through Christmas. Let’s see what there is to open on Day 7!

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Everything an aspiring LEGO photographer needs

We’ve featured a number of great LEGO recreations of cameras over the years, but Milan Sekiz went the extra mile by recreating all the essential accessories, too. Along with the Nikon D7100 camera, there’s a Nikon SB600 flash, Sherpa 200R tripod, and a Phottix remote. Some standout details include the excellent use of angled slope tile to create the camera body, as well as the tread on a LEGO tire standing in on the texture on the lens housing. (But the best detail has to be the tiny bit of chain link in the dial.) I also like the use of quarter-circle tile to create smooth lines on the flash.

Even better, the various builds can be combined just like the real thing. This rear view of the camera with the flash attached also shows off a cool extra – a LEGO camera strap!

Want more like this? Check out those other LEGO camera recreations we mentioned earlier.

Sounds good to me.

Stellar photography and LEGO construction collide in this amazing Green Arrow scene by Andrew Cookston. Andrew has made use of custom minifigures and accessories as well as traditional LEGO elements to bring this comic book panel to life. This battle with villain Onomatopoeia just speaks to us. Because, you know, onomatopoeia.

If this style of image appeals to you, check out the other immersive scenes we’ve featured!

Negative space is still space.

I love it when builders take their creations in unique directions. That’s exactly what Théo has done with The Chord. The wings and twin forks of this craft are built from negative space and a very unusual LEGO element- string. Light grey and lime elements combine with the transparent neon-yellow canopy in perfect harmony. The result is music to my ears and a very different take on the whole Vic Viper concept. Who knew that was even possible in this day and age?

To see even more interesting variations on the Vic Viper theme, check out some other featured creations!

2020 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 6

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I’ll fix your (Little Red) Wagon

LEGO car builder Tim Henderson tells us that awhile ago he had built a version of the Little Red Wagon. It must have been met with very little fanfare because our archives don’t even reveal a blip. But now he has reworked the old build using newer parts and techniques and not only is this iconic 1964 Dodge A100 wheelie-stander on our radars but you’re digging it now too. That’s the power of The Brothers Brick. We find cool stuff. We share it with you. You get excited. Shampoo, rinse, repeat. After rinsing off there you might want to check out a few other vehicles we went totally gaga for.

Top Secret: Roswell 1947

Aliens get a bad rap, don’t they? They’re scary, mysterious, and they’re the bane of midwestern farmers and cattle everywhere. They’re also seemingly responsible for a slew of uncanny and sometimes hilarious crop circles and plus they’ve got that whole probing thing which some folks have mixed feelings about. Andreas Lenander calls this LEGO diorama Roswell 1947. The depiction of the UFO scorching the earth does nothing to squelch the alien’s reputation but it is admittedly cool. The large saucer dishes go way back to the X-Pod line from ’04-’05. The light brick built into the landscape gives this piece that extra helping of awesomesauce. You may (ahem) probe deeper into our archives to see just how fascinated we are with Andreas’ stuff and aliens in general.

2020 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 5

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Holy St. Peter! This insanely detailed LEGO version of Vatican City took over 800 hours to design and build.

Yes, over 800 hours! That’s a long time, for sure, but not as long as the Vatican has been around, and less time than Michelangelo spent painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, too; yet this is no less a piece of art. This huge and detailed build by Rocco Buttliere is the first to depict an entire country in a single LEGO build, which is quite the accomplishment. It helps that Vatican City is the world’s smallest country, but still, everything is here, from the enormous St. Peter’s to the Vatican Gardens, along with every other building inside Vatican City, like the local supermarket and post office.

Now, I’ve seen Rocco’s huge and detailed version of Ancient Rome (huge and detailed seems to be a running theme with Rocco, like his Forbidden City and even a shopping mall), but I’ve never been to Rome. However, I have seen many pictures of St. Peter’s Basilica and the famous square in front of it, and everyone has seen pictures of the Sistine Chapel’s interior. But this LEGO version includes so much detail, it’s like I’ve been there now. In his typical style, Rocco also gives copious information with each picture, evidence of the amount of time spent meticulously researching his subject matter.

Click to see more details of the world’s smallest country in small plastic bricks

The Photon Chaser pays tribute to LEGO legends

You may have heard us throw around the term Vic Viper before. For those not in the know, the name was taken from a ship in the Gradius video game series and it describes a spacecraft that has two forward-sweeping wings that widen toward the rear, a centralized cockpit, and a central fin. The LEGO building trend was pioneered by adult builder Nate Neilson who had tragically passed away in 2010. A full ten years later many prominent builders still honor Nate’s tradition by building Vic Vipers usually in November…or NoVVember. Blake Foster is no stranger to our archives but surprisingly this is his first Vic Viper. It’s called the Photon Chaser High-Performance Tactical Viper…or PCHPTV. OK, I made up the acronym, and admittedly Photon Chaser is far better. While this may be Blake’s first rodeo with a Vic Viper he’s brought his usual A-game and stellar build techniques.

Care to stay awhile? Check out our extensive Vic Viper archives from a slew of some of the world’s most talented builders.

Going for the gold

Sometimes you see a LEGO model that uses an odd piece, and you can immediately tell–no matter how well it is integrated–that the model was designed specifically to showcase that piece. And at first, I thought that was the case with this striking gold and trans-blue Vic Viper from LEGO set designer Chris Perron. I glanced at it and thought, of course, it’s built around the use of those giant trans-blue Aquazone doors from 1995! But then I saw the Insectoid wings on the front and had to reconsider. Or wait, it’s absolutely covered in gold Nexo Knight tiles. Maybe those? I don’t know, I give up. What I do know, though, is that as zany as this ship is, somehow it works. The fact that there’s really only two colors visible ties it all together in a truly remarkable way.

Oh, and Chris says it was the gold tiles that kicked the whole thing off.