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.

An (eight) arms race – Marvel 76198 Spider-Man & Doctor Octopus Mech Battle [Review]

The latest wave of LEGO superhero sets will be released soon, and we’ve been sharing an early look at them. The final set, Marvel 76198-Spider-Man & Doctor Octopus Mech Battle, will be available April 26th from the LEGO Shop Online for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99. Doc Ock and Spidey have battled many times in the past, and it’s usually a sight to see. Does this latest mechanical knuckle-buster live up to that grand tradition? Come along as we take a close look!

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Click to read the full hands-on review

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Whisk us away to the world of Malay

Sometimes a builder waits years for just the right LEGO pieces and colors to come out. That’s exactly what Vincent Kiew did in planning this lovely Kampung House. It took a while for LEGO to produce just the right pieces in dark brown and reddish-brown. The colors are alternated nicely here to replicate the indigenous craftsmanship used in these traditional dwellings. The stilts, shutters, even the intricate roof are all spot on. The chickens, the cat, the cow, even the cart full of vegetables help convey a feeling of relaxation and tranquility. I imagine the home would offer a cool reprise from the Malaysian heat. Vincent tells us this creation was based on a particular village house on Penang island. He also states that being a city-dweller growing up in Kuala Lumpur, he has not had the chance to stay in a Kampung House but his wife had when she was a child. She shared stories of her childhood with him as he worked on this project.

Kampung House.

This photo gives us a better glimpse of Vincent’s attention to detail. I’m loving the shutters, woodpile, as well as chickens languishing in the shade.

Kampung House.

Vincent closes out his write-up with a question; “does this creation remind you of your sweet childhood, too?” I imagine for our readers from the Malay Peninsula it might. As I was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, it doesn’t. In order to envision my childhood, you’d have to imagine cramped three-story walk-up apartments and simple Shaker-style New England homes. But still, we deeply appreciate you sharing your architectural sentiments from your part of the world.

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The rise of the DUPLO bunnies

LEGO DUPLO animals might not seem the most approachable for a model. To start with, there’s the challenge of working around the scale and system differences. Also personally, it’s slightly unnerving to see googly-eyed, toddler-friendly counterparts of some of my favorite brick animals, e.g. the DUPLO goat. But Simon Liu presents a clear solution— just suit them up! Add some expert greebling, equip them with some blasters and now these giant bunnies are capable of doing a whole lot more.

Bunnies Rise up!

Got a soft spot for adorable animals in mech suits? Simon has also created a fluffier variation of the bunny mechs above, the DUPLO bunny plush mech.

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Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?

Amazing LEGO creations aren’t about showing off how many pieces you have. They’re about creativity and using what you’ve got in just the right ways. This tiny motorcycle by RGB900 is roughly minifigure scale, but packs in way more detail than LEGO’s official bikes, since it’s made of a lot more pieces. Of course, this one can’t actually fit a minifigure on it, but I’ll give it a pass on that front. Using robot arms for the frame, this slick ride has handlebars made from revolvers and an exhaust made with binoculars. Even the tires are non-traditional, since the rubber has been turned inside out to make smooth road tires.

The reason for the design of this motorcycle is to design it with some retro elements and modern style, so I want to call it Black Panther

Motorcycles aren’t all RGB900 builds, though. Here’s the bike with a sweet-looking Corvette C1 that looks ready to cruise down your LEGO town’s main drag. And don’t miss the super-cool Countach we featured back in February.

Ratio of motorcycles to vehicles

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The ragtag bounty hunters of The Mandalorian

If you grew up watching Star Wars, chances are good you had a favorite bounty hunter. Maybe that was Boba Fett, or maybe it was Greedo (just kidding) but there’s no denying that one stood out from the pack: IG-88. We haven’t gotten to see IG-88 on-screen since The Empire Strikes Back, but fellow assassin droid IG-11 played a fan-favorite role in The Mandalorian, and this LEGO version by NS Brick Designs is perfect. Complete with a speeder bike, this IG-11 is in a large scale that allows it to have plenty of details, including a baby Grogu strapped to the front.

Of course, you can’t make awesome characters from The Mandalorian and not make the titular character, so NS Brick Designs has also built the intrepid hero along with another version of Grogu with his pod. There are lots of nifty designs here, but I particularly like the touch of the cloth capes around the Mandalorian’s neck, which originally hail from Harry Potter Dementors.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The elephant and the mouse

Brick building animals in minifigure scale can be quite a challenge, but Isaac Snyder has risen to the occasion with a brick built elephant to go along with the official LEGO mouse. These cuties are called Olli and Rolli, with Olli being the elephant. There are loads of tales and fables about elephants and mice. In some they are enemies, in others they are friends, I even read one where the mouse kills the elephant because it keeps stepping on its nest. These two however seem to be best friends. Although Olli’s legs aren’t poseable he looks like he is going places. The best part about Olli has to be his feet. The truncated cone actually looks like it was designed to be an elephants foot. With the stud holes functioning as the nails. Olli’s ears and trunk are poseable which allows for a lot of great expressions to be made. And the eyes could be switched with LEGO’s ever-expanding collection of eyes printed on 1×1 round plates.

Olli and Rolli

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What the shell is this creature?

As a kid, I developed a mild obsession with prehistoric creatures, especially dinosaurs, and loved looking for fossils along limestone bluffs. I found a tiny trilobite or two, and a few segments of worms, but never anything cool like a chambered nautilus. That would have been awesome, since all the pictures of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs had nautiloids, too. And then one day I discovered that animals of that sort still exist, and look almost the exact same as they did 200 million years ago. Mind blown! And then I see that Jonas Kramm built one out of LEGO bricks, and, as is usual for Jonas, the build is amazing. But he also did it with only 101 pieces. Mind blown again.

Nautilus | 101 pieces

It’s a study in concise use of LEGO elements since there is no wiggle room to get complex and piece heavy; every element has to be carefully considered, like a DUPLO plant and a pearl of great price in the oyster. The colors are spot-on, and the cephalopod eye staring at me is perfect. My only complaint is that the shell of Jonas’ model does not exhibit a precise logarithmic growth spiral. Come on, Jonas! Why can’t you do the impossible with just 101 LEGO bricks?

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Five feet of Heavy Metal badassery!

What is five feet tall and completely brimming with Heavy Metal badassery? No, not Ronnie James Dio or Glenn Danzig. Those two are taller than five feet but not by much. This stunning LEGO castle by Shawn Snyder stands five feet high (152.4cm) and is like every Iron Maiden and Motörhead album cover combined. If this seems reminiscent of images you’d find on the side of your weird uncle’s van in the ’70s or ’80s that is because it was inspired by the art of Frank Frazetta and also Shawn’s time playing the video games Darksiders, Skyrim, and Castlevania. You don’t need much color to convey the completely ominous feel this castle encompasses. In fact, Shawn’s stark color choices work in his favor here and instead employ repetition of form and the use of compelling textures. Note the tiny minifigs flanking the front steps and one on the upper balcony.

003 Full view

This closeup offers a detailed view of the skeletal sentries adorning the front of the castle as well as the centralized snarling horned skull.

004 Front close up

Even the gargoyles are well-positioned and intricately detailed.

011 Gargoyle

This Fortress of the Skeleton Mage has won a place in my dark and foreboding heart. I now have classic metal tunes stuck in my head but, in the whole scheme of things, that’s a pretty decent place for me to be. Rock on, Shawn! Rock on.

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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.

Al'Tamasuk Mansion

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.

Volvo FH

Check out this video to see it in action:

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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.

Switch Imp

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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

Sauron in Gorgoroth ????????????

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.