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.

Workhorses fit for a minifigure army

LEGO Minifigures are oddly-proportioned little fellows. Because I am fussy about the scale of my models I rarely use them with my builds. However, thanks to a number of collaborative builds I’ve been involved with, which all involved minifigures, I’ve grown to appreciate them a bit more. Recently I have been steadily building a collection of minifig-scaled military models. These are the latest two: a US Army M936 wrecker truck towing an M1025 “HumVee” armament carrier. There are countless quotes about how logistics are at least as important to fighting a war as tactics. Equipment used in combat may capture people’s imaginations, but modern armies include vast numbers of support vehicles that are true workhorses. To me those are at least as interesting as tanks or artillery.

What constitutes minifig scale can be difficult and LEGO themselves have muddied the waters. When I was growing up, LEGO cars were just four studs wide. About ten years ago, most LEGO city cars were five studs wide and trucks seven studs wide, including their mudguards. With the recent Speed Champions sets the width of a supposedly minifig scaled car has been bumped up to nine studs, again including the mudguards. The cars look cool and seat two figures side-by-side. However, if you pose a figure next to the vehicle, it’s clear we’ve moved firmly into silly territory. I based my scale on the figure’s height. The wrecker truck ended up being seven studs wide. The HumVee is only six studs wide, which is much smaller than most minifig scale HumVees that are out there. Despite this small scale, both vehicles still have enough space inside for a driver.

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This wind-up toy robot is programmed to love you all very much

If you like retro wind-up toy robots then set your phasers to Positively Delighted. It turns out Lino Martins (hey, that’s me!) has built one out of LEGO and the result is…pretty OK. It would probably be weird to label my own work as totally awesome, stupendous or earth-shattering so I’ll just go with pretty OK. He’s adorned in fabulously fifties black and sea-foam green with gray and just a touch of flashy silver. Through a series of gears, his chest plates open simultaneously and when you turn his wind-up key his head, heart and arms will rotate. Yes, he has a heart! I think it takes eight or ten or so rotations of the wind-up key to get his head, heart and arms to all settle back into their rightful positions. If I were a real engineer I’d know that for sure but… What am I, Elon Musk?

Check out this video of the wind-up action. This cheery bot is programmed to love you all very much. I’m programmed to be rather indifferent on the matter but I can create a swell playlist for any occasion so there’s that.

A rural office location for a different kind of paperwork

Brick or human, when you need to go, you need to go. We humans have a place to go around every corner (the less hygienic take “every corner” a bit too literally though), but the plastic brick people have a much harder time to find an outhouse. Or at least they would, if SuckMyBrick had not built this outstanding LEGO outhouse.

The build is visually simple, well photographed and composed. The ramshackle style is captured perfectly with tiles pointing in angles just odd enough to not be 90 degrees and the front door uses a few closely related colours to give a fading impression – but according to the builder, the creation is not as fragile as it looks. The base completes the build with details like fragrant flowers in the back and curved slopes that really add to the cartoony style.

I think I finally get Radiohead

LEGO builders Timofey Tkachev and Sheo have put together a tragic band that somehow has nothing to do with Radiohead or Joy Division. That is a total bummer because I really wanted to lay on the references for either band pretty thick but that’ll have to wait for another post now. Instead the members of this sad band are rooted with a much more highbrow notion; each bears the name of great Greek tragedians.

Click to delve deeper, you know you want to!

Does this robot look a little boxy to you?

A key concept of the Transformers line is for things to be “more than meets the eye.” Builder Moko has made something that really fits the brief. This LEGO storage crate is actually a fierce fighting robot.

First, let’s examine that outer shell. The decorations on the face of the cube are from printed 2×2 wedge tiles, a code tile from an EXO-FORCE set, and a number 7 tile from a 1991 Technic 8838 Shock Cycle set. Beyond that, it’s…just a box. I can easily imagine this being part of the background in some massive LEGO hanger diorama and never giving it a second thought. That’s some impressive camouflage.

But, with a few twists and turns (detailed in Moko’s blog post), this cube unfolds into a really cool robot. The necessary joints to cram the robot into a cube has the side effect of giving it a high level of articulation. It doesn’t feel like there was an inch of wasted space in this build. It may be a simple thing, but I also really like the choice of a transparent light-blue tile for the eyes. The color choices here really pop.

So the next time you see a bunch of boxes sort of shoved off to the side of a display, look again. You might just be in for a heck of a surprise.

Mobile Suit Gumball

You ever have one of those days when you mention something in idle conversation, and suddenly every site you visit online is advertising a related product to you? I have, and it’s downright creepy. But you just know retailers are looking for even more invasive ways of getting their products in front of you. And, unfortunately, I think we may be getting a glimpse of that future right here. Taking inspiration from pixel artist Kenze Wee’s Cyberpunk vending machines, LEGO builder lokiloki29 has created a futuristic drone that combines convenience with an unsettling feeling of “buy or die”.

Built at miniland scale, this creation looks completely plausible. The variety of products on display do look tempting, and Ninjago-sourced logos are right in line with the aesthetic. Cheery red domes and curves create the impression of a friendly gumball machine. My favorite detail, though, is minifig hammers as feet. Those dainty pads makes this whole thing seem cuter somehow. Maybe I will get myself a little treat from this scuttling nightmare that followed me home.

…and that’s how they get you, I guess.

A Duesenberg adds some much needed class to this joint

My stars, have you seen the lowbrow tomfoolery these Brothers Brick writers get away with? Some days I just want to clutch my pearls and retreat to the fainting couch. That is why I was delighted to see this classic Duesenberg by LEGO builder Łukasz Libuszewski. The tires are painted, but that is probably the only good way to replicate whitewalls in this scale. Speaking of scale, being only six studs wide, this classic car proves you don’t need to be a Rockefeller with mountains of LEGO in order to grace our pages. It doesn’t hurt that the photography of this creation is top-notch. Keep it classy, Brothers Brick!

A Mandalorian walks into a bar

One hundred internet points to you if you can see this LEGO Mandalorian creation without humming Ludwig Göransson’s iconic theme for the show. LEGO fan Logan W. has done a good job recreating Din Djarin as he appeared in the beginning of the series, before he loses his <SPOILER – REDACTED> and gets new <SPOILER – REDACTED>. Hmm, I must have some kinda spoiler filter installed on my computer, preventing me from ruining any cool new media. How far back does it go? Will it let me reveal that in The Empire Strikes Back we find out that <SPOILER – REDACTED> is <SPOILER – REDACTED> father? I guess not. Well, if I can’t talk about the show, let’s focus on the model! I love to see Bionicle and system parts integrated in the same model, and they really come together here. The cloth element for the cape is also a really nice touch. I wonder if he built a version of his sidekick, <SPOILER – REDACTED>, to accompany him?

Color out of space

We see plenty of spaceships here at The Brothers Brick but we rarely see any that are quite as colorful as this one. A LEGO builder who goes by the name of F@bz has conjured up a space tanker that would look right at home in a carnival…parade…fire? Carnival parade fire. I’m seeing some very retro pieces that may have been pilfered from some old Aquazone sets from about 1996 or so. The tanker pieces, or at least the ones with the “AT.02” decal, come from the Exo-Force Mobile Assault Tank from 2006. If ever F@bz gets tired of this colorful model (but who would, really?) it can get pried apart using the two new dark turquoise brick separators included in the design. Now that is totes fabs!

Ready to hunt some bugs – Nope, not even close

If we were ever to encounter alien life, there is every reason to believe that they will look nothing like us. The many conditions required for life as we know it to evolve are entirely based on our own little blue/green world. And if you are going to invent life in the form of LEGO creations, the only limit is your imagination. Take this scene by Djokson, for example. These insect-like creatures and their troop transport would fit right in on many science fiction worlds and the human troops that encounter them would have the fight of their lives.

The troop transport creature is appropriately named the Flea, for its obvious ability to jump clear across the battlefield. Heads-up!

Giant robots are always a win

Years before the Transformers came on the scene, Japanese cartoons already had a whole host of giant robots to choose from. America had some exposure to them, mainly via Marvel Comic’s Shogun Warriors and the related Mattel toy line. Those brief introductions really don’t do justice to the rich and creative mythology of the original series. But that doesn’t matter. To me, giant robots are always cool. And giant LEGO robots? Well, I bet you can guess my feelings about them.

Taking inspiration from the late 1970’s series, Marco De Bon‘s Grendizer stands an impressive 320mm (12.6″) tall, is fully articulated, and is armed for battle. Man, I wish I could have had this set when I was a kid!

Click for more!

Consider your picnic ruined!

A LEGO builder who goes by the name Cezium has built something that gives new meaning to the term “angry birds”. He tells us the H-301 Autonomous Reconnaissance Units are designed for scouting missions and are often deployed on the battlefield acting as forward observers that relay information to units stationed at the rear. Thermal imaging and night vision also ensures consistent efficacy in locating enemy troops. While he makes no mention of it in his write-up, I’m going to go ahead and assume it has some bombing capabilities as well. Like when you wear a nice new shirt or when you have just washed the car. Consider your picnic ruined!