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.

LEGO lifestyles of the rich and famous, Edo edition

When the all-star builders of RogueBricks came together to recreate Edo era Japan in an epic LEGO collaboration last fall, the results blew the building community away. We shared an overview of the full collaboration, but now Markus Ronge offers a more detailed look at his contribution, a Goza Bune. Basically a pleasure yacht of the feudal lord (think Jabba’s Sail Barge or megayacht of kindred spirit Jeff Bezos), the boat offered all the luxuries of palace life with a side of sea sickness. For the craft’s design, there are few historical references to work from so Markus drew inspiration from several sources to create a composite that captured the spirit of the era.

Come along to see more of Markus’ remarkable Edo-era pleasure yacht

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Get your LEGO game on with this fantastic Gameboy replica

Nostalgia for video game consoles and hand-helds is a very popular obsession with gamers of all ages so it is not surprising that LEGO fans are feeling it, too. And you can’t get much more classic than the Nintendo Gameboy. This homage by DanielBrickSon hits so hard, especially for me since I had one of these myself. I won’t show my age by telling you what my first hand-held game was (Okay, it was an LED football game)

The builder captures the iconic look of the Gameboy right down to the simple d-pad and buttons, the square screen with huge black borders, and the rounded outer case.

And if you are asking yourself if that game cartridge fits in the back… you bet your Charizard it does!

Wes Talbott’s Phthalo Phantom is a menace in Teal

It’s a well-known fact that two of the best things in the universe are Star Wars ships and LEGO teal. What do you get when you blend the two? Teal Squadron, the long-running collaboration between some of the top builders in the community that imagines a brighter look for the Rebellion. Last week, Teal Squadron saw its biggest display ever at the Bricktastic convention. Joining the lineup was a new fighter from LEGO set designer Wes Talbott: the Phthalo Phantom. There’s no letter in the alphabet to match these striking and unconventional wings (4xV-wing, maybe?). Wes based the design off the StarViper from the X-Wing tabletop game.

To match the collaborative display’s aquatic setting, Wes poses the ship over an aquamarine patch of sea with lovely spray kicked up in its wake. The rear view also offers a better look at those impressive engines, which cleverly employ LEGO shovels to focus the thrusters.

We’ve previously featured Theo Bonner and Tim Goddard‘s contributions to this year’s Teal Squadron collaboration. Beyond the Brick captured the amazing display in motion.

Floating through the sky with the world above you.

The most interesting part of this floating island scene by Jesse Gros, in my opinion, is not the elevated setting peeking in from the upper corner of the composition (which shows a tantalizing hint of a larger landscape) but rather the choice of the buildable planet of Coruscant used as the air-filled balloon for the small floating platform. The gray surface with geometric lines, combined with the clouds representing weathering, add visual interest to the otherwise simple design. A subtle but effective illustration of a city and mountains in the distance backs the scene.

Drawing on Italian architecture for a LEGO fantasy vignette

The Free City of Andérida is entirely fictional, but depicted here in LEGO, there’s such a rich sense of history that you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a real town. Builder Vertaro takes inspiration from Venice and Lombard architecture, with classical columns and decorated stone walls. The terra cotta rooftops and sun-bleached stone strongly evoke old Italy. Arches in low relief lend the walls a sense of heightened craftsmanship. My favorite technique is the roof decorations made from clipping heart-shaped tiles in an undulating row, but the marble fountain decorated with frogs and minifig hands is also a showstopper.

Vertaro built this scene of Aurelio’s reunion for the Age of the Unseated LEGO role-playing game, a collaborative storytelling experience told through LEGO creations. The builder tells the story of this scene here. This low-magic fantasy setting isn’t the only role-playing sandbox Vertaro builds in – we also highlighted the builder’s contribution to Star Wars Factions RPG.

What color do you dream in?

Inspired by the incredible sci-fi art of Pascal Blanché, builder Luka presents a stylized LEGO scene that looks equally at home in a Love Death & Robots segment or an Eiffel 65 video. When it comes to LEGO elements, basic blue is not exactly a difficult color to come by so Luka had plenty to choose from, but achieving this build’s biomechanical look saw the application of elements as diverse as an Aircraft Fuselage Aft Section, a Playground Slide, and 3×3 Elbow Bricks (so far only found in LEGO Dreamzzz sets – appropriate!) Of the build process, Luka describes wanting “to play around with brick built shadows and color contrast,” which I think was executed beautifully, though Luka also mentions feeling a lack of a violet color that would have added to the already impressive gradients and light-play.

Luka joined The LEGO Group as an official model designer at the end of 2024. We can’t wait to see what sets he’ll have a hand in. Congratulations, Luka!

Badminton with LEGO? It’s a racket

Japanese builder and LEGO Masters finalist Chie Kiyoshima is such a fun creator to follow as you never know where her imagination will lead next, and every model she posts is a delight. Her latest creation is a 1:1 scale badminton set, where if you squint you wouldn’t know it was made from LEGO bricks. The racket is strung with genuine LEGO string. Chie finds the prefect parts usage for the shuttlecocks with basketball nets as skirting. 1:1 props of mundane items are joyful enough on their own, but Chie serves up a smash by creating a motorized rig for the props. Game and match.

Star Wars by way of IKEA makes for cozy living

Season 2 of Andor is fast approaching and I couldn’t be more excited. For the thrills of a rebellion blazing into action, yes, but also for more scenes of Syril Karn’s home life with mom. TBB alum Mansur Soeleman is also a fan of Syril’s dining nook and used it as an inspiration for a cozy apartment vignette for his Star Wars Factions character Jani Pryce. Mansur describes the aesthetic as “Space IKEA,” and I’m here for it.

Mansur built the three room apartment for the Star Wars Faction role-playing game, where participants were challenged to create a scene of civilian life. (I just love the idea of getting XP from building beds instead of blasters!) Mansur went above and beyond, presenting both Jani’s ~~Scandinavian~~ New Republic modern abode as well as a towering slice of the exterior, complete with a motorized elevator. With its clean lines and minimal greebling, Mansur’s apartment perfectly cpatures the look of an Inner Rim world sheltered from scum and villainy.

Cozy up for a closer look at Mansur’s Star Wars apartment

LEGO Ganesha, remover of creative blocks

The LEGO group has expanded its audience and introduced builders around the world to new stories through its Chinese New Year and Monkey Kid lines. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see sets inspired by Indian culture beyond models of the Taj Mahal? In the meantime, Łukasz Alagierski draws on a colorful mix of parts old and new to present Lord Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles and bringer of luck and new beginnings. Łukasz depicts the elephant god holding the traditional symbols of an an axe, pasha, lotus, and a tray of sweets (that his trunk drifts towards). Surrounded by flowers in a dozen colors and sitting atop a Scala quilt, this Ganesha perfectly captures the look of a Hindu altar scene.

Full-spectrum starfighter runs on color

NASA and Space X might stick to mostly monochrome vehicles, but great LEGO spaceships play confidently with color. Maybe you take inspiration from one of the classic LEGO space themes, or maybe you just love teal. For Mason Martin‘s starfighter, color isn’t an aesthetic choice but the driving force behind a bold design that fuses sleek lines with scientific scholarship. The Color Theory incorporates RGB, CMYK, and the trusty RYB color wheel. It has a prism, gradients, and a mass spectrometer. How does all that color make it better at swooshing and pew-pewing? I don’t know, I’m no scientist. But it sure looks good from every angle.

Read on for more views of Mason’s colorful creation

Red coats make easy targets

At the start of the French and Indian War, the British outnumbered their rivals with 2 million colonists to France’s mere 60 thousand. Through alliances with Indigenous tribes and the use of guerrilla tactics, the French made sure the redcoats paid a heavy price for those “few acres of snow.” Nicholas Goodman brings this chapter of North American history to life in LEGO, depicting the British under attack in 1759. The builder excels at dioramas, mixing scenery and minifig staging to capture the drama of a moment. I love how the trees get darker away from the road, a perfect setting for an ambush. We loved his last take on tricorn hat history: a swashbuckling pirate raid.

This scene was built for an upcoming LEGO history book called Minifigure Monarchs: A History of Great Brits in Little Bricks, by Andrew Redfern.

The latest in a long line of tri-wing fighters launches for the rebellion

While the concept of the tri-wing fighter is nothing new to Star Wars, many people may not know about any other than the droid fighters of the Separatists from the prequel trilogy. In Star Wars Rebels and in Legends novels, the Empire also developed a tri-wing tie fighter spearheaded by Grand Admiral Thrawn. Here, Joshua Harrison imagines what a tri-wing would look like in LEGO from the same company that developed the X-wing and the snow speeder. While the triangular-shaped front end looks more like the Y-wing inspired it, the long wing arms and the gun clusters clearly have the iconic X-wing in their DNA. The only question I have is, how the heck does it land?