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.

Silent and deadly

Owls are fascinating creatures. You may be disappointed to find that they are not the wisest of all animals, as suggested in much of western pop-culture. (Or even birds for that matter.) But they have several extraordinary traits. For one, they have a special row of comb-like feathers on the edge of their wings that help provide silent flight. They also have superb binocular and night vision, with a neck that can turn 270 degrees, giving a much wider field. They also have “facial discs” like this LEGO model built by Eero Okkonen. The rounded collection of feathers on their faces aren’t for show. They, combined with asymmetric ears (a pair of off-set and different-sized holes on either side of their head), allow owls to determine exact positioning of their prey.

Although this build is, of course, for show, I admire the effort Eero puts into giving his creations realism. Using the dishes and chain links to decorate his Great Grey Owl’s face, along with that classic stern expression, was an excellent choice!

While you’re here, you should take a look at more of Eero’s excellent work. And for those birders out there, we have plenty of builds of the avian variety in our archives.

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A flight of digital fantasy

At The Brothers Brick, we tend to like LEGO digital models that adhere to some constraints. In general, the build should be something that would be possible in the real world. Oh, the scale can be huge, the parts gleefully recolored, but it needs to be…possible. But every now and again a creation comes along that breaks the rules in just the right ways. Inspired by a real-world build by Patrick Biggs for a Bionicle contest back in 2007, LEGO artist Marko Petrušić (Cezium) has created a digital re-imagining of Temperance that doesn’t rely on legal LEGO connections or that pesky law of gravity. Dragon heads are layered to form majestic wings, and a gold-toned tire serves as a halo. Yeah, this digital build may not be possible in reality, but that’s how it goes with mystical beings sometimes.

Be sure to check out Marko’s other featured LEGO creations for even more fights of fantasy and wonder.

I own an island off the coast of Costa Rica – a really small one

“Welcome to Jurassic Park”. I’ve loved Jurassic Park since devouring Michael Crichton’s original novel in 8 hours of straight reading, months before the movie adaptation had even been announced. Then there were the years of waiting, wondering if Spielberg could possibly deliver on Crichton’s vision, before we finally experienced the jaw-dropping impact of seeing “real” dinosaurs on the big screen. In a world where CGI effects are the norm, cinema audiences have become rather blasé about regularly seeing the impossible made real — back in 1993, this was something special. The effect this movie had on me was considerable, and I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of recreating elements of the film in bricks. I figured I’d never be able to build a LEGO version of the whole park to the scale I wanted if I used minifigures, so instead I decided to give it a go in microscale…

Click to see close ups of the model

Gelada? Does that come in Rocky Road flavor?

Don’t ask how I know this but when dealing with a gelada it is best to not make eye contact, don’t bare your teeth and for the love of God, don’t ever look at his butt. Nevermind the series of unfortunate events that may or may not have occurred to make me privy to this information, just heed my warning and don’t ask questions. With that said, I’d like you to take an indirect glance at this awesome LEGO gelada built by Andrew Steele. With some clever parts usage, this model possesses the correct stance and facial gestures of a real gelada about to attack. (Not that I would know.) This build is so clever you may want to smile, but I would advise against it. In fact, you ought to just move on and check out the other toothy beasts Andrew has built.

Safer still, you might like to peruse our animal archives. I’m sure they’re not all dangerous and someone had to have built an adorable puppy at some point.

A bright spot in the wasteland

Not every image of the post-apocalypse world has to be Mad Max-inspired bleakness. Builder Mountain Hobbit brings a bit of light and color to the wasteland two thousand years from now with their build New Babel. Graceful, densely packed microscale towers make for a great place to spend the end times. I particularly like the use of purple modified angle tiles in the exterior wall. Also neat is seeing the backside of the yellow tooth plates in the towers. And it may be a drab grey, but the use of a stud shooter housings in the domed towers is clever.

Yeah, this looks like a great place to visit. But being post-apocalypse and all, you might not want to live there. If you’re looking for other scenic destinations, be sure to check out some of Mountain Hobbit’s other idyllic builds.

A tiny replica of the vintage LEGO wooden duck

Just last week, LEGO House revealed a special new edition of the vintage LEGO wooden duck, and builder Adeel Zubair didn’t waste any time having a go at it in a microscale form. It’s pretty much on-point as far as I can tell and there’s nothing that I would change. All’s that left is for some of us to ask to have this become an official LEGO keychain or dare I say, a polybag? Oh! Yes! Please! LEGO!

If you enjoy reading about LEGO history, check out our guide to collecting vintage LEGO wooden toys.

Came in like a lion, went out...also like a lion

There’s plenty to love about this LEGO lion built by Djokson. His black color and tan mane are both visually striking and a refreshing change from the usual animal fare. This gives him an otherworldly quality that I’m quite fond of. As if that wasn’t endearing enough, this is a dedication to a creation that Patrick Biggs built seven years ago. A group of friends has also dedicated a bunch of builds for Patrick’s birthday. I can see why so many other builders would gravitate to him. He seems to be a swell guy. We’ve featured Patrick plenty of times before and while we’re at it, Djokson is no slouch either.

We’re gonna need one helluva scratching post!

Leave it to Joss Woodyard (Jayfa) to build something so alien yet we can still recognise it as a feline. That is a testament to this builder’s excellent choice of color, shaping, and pose-ability. The pneumatic T-bar as his nose and the Hero Factory armor as the mane are stellar parts usage. This is one cat I’d not want to meet in a dark alley or even a well-lit alley for that matter.

This satiated pose makes me feel slightly better but still.

I advise you to give this cat some catnip and tuck into Jayfa’s archive to see the other times we were totally wooed by his stuff.

Toot toot – here comes Thomas

Let’s take a trip to the fictional island of Sodor, home of the Rev. Wilbert Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends series of classic children’s tales. If your day trip includes a railway excursion on the branch line from from Knapford to Ffarquhar, you might encounter the titular hero of the stories: Thomas himself. He’s never looked better than in this LEGO version by city son. The cheery little engine’s face is nicely done, with those big Mixel eye tiles a perfect choice. The colourful livery of the original character is captured well, and I particularly like the use of lifebuoys for the front-facing windows and that brick-built 1 on the side. There’s even an accompanying minifigure version of The Fat Controller, or “Sir Topham Hatt” as he was called in the US. All this model needs is a voiceover from Ringo Starr and we’re sorted.

What lies beneath

There’s a lot to like in Carter Witz‘s atmospheric LEGO model of a sunken ruin. Above the waters, we’ve got twisting vines and an excellent selection of parts to create the impression of aged, decaying stonework. And then plunging below the surface, we have a clever change in tone from light grey to dark, with fish flitting between the columns, and weeds choking the lake bottom. This is a well-put-together model, but as with many of the best LEGO creations, it’s the sense of story, the questions it prompts in the mind of the beholder which elevate it into something special. What was this ruined structure? Which ancient civilization built these broken arches? And what terrible cataclysm saw it flooded? Who is the man in the canoe? Where is he going? And what sauce will he cook that chicken in?

The sad story of how a LEGO hedgehog came to be

Every LEGO build probably has a backstory that may or not be expressed explicitly by the builder. There’s ideation, inspiration and “Eureka!” moments that happen. This build of a hedgehog has a slighly sad note behind it. It was created as a lovely memoriam by Vincent Kiew upon hearing about a pet hedgehog’s passing, built as a gift for a bereaved friend halfway across the globe.

The hedgehog has tiny claws very much like the actual little spiny mammal and looks just as cute sitting cupped in Vincent’s palm.

Forget Murder Hornets. Here come the Penguins.

I’ll admit I’ve always been a bit of a pessimist. 2020 hasn’t exactly done much to curb that point of view. And maybe I’m just being alarmist. But it sure feels like MSIndustries creating weaponry for penguins is a bad idea. Oh, sure, from a LEGO standpoint this is a great thing. The “Penguin Ice Pistol” is sized perfectly for a flipper, and has great retro sci-fi styling. The “Penguin Communicator” has a great cheese-slope mosaic display and some unusual part usage including Brickheadz glasses and a push bumper. And that pouch of fish may be just a display piece (considering the parts aren’t actually connected) but it’s clever and packed full of protein.

So I’ll try and be optimistic about things. Maybe it’ll be a good thing to welcome our new Penguin Overlords. And if not, well, their weapons are made of LEGO so they’ll be easy to take apart, at least.