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.

The Dark Crystal Skeksis will feast on your essence

Show of hands, who is watching the new “Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” series on Netflix? Go ahead, put them up, I have Aughra’s eye and can see you. Wow, that is a lot of hands! The rest of you should get on that. Especially you, Matt Wilson of Topeka, Kansas, you’d totally be into it. With beautiful sets, masterful puppeteering and phenomenal voice talent, I am truly enthralled with the world of Thra all over again. Hongjun Youn has built a Skeksis that looks so accurate, you can almost hear them squabble and Chamberlain squeal. His ragged clothing is comprised of some of these cloth dragon wing parts. The head is so on par with the Skeksis you’d think LEGO had a license with Jim Henson’s Studio, but alas it is a Chima Vulture head. Now hold still while we drain your essence!

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Thar she goes, with a hump like yellow sunshine, tis Moby Duck!

True story; due to an epic storm, nearly 30,000 bath toys were lost at sea, many of them “rubber duckies” (they’re not really made of rubber). While unfortunate, this event lead oceanographers and beachcombers on an odyssey to discover these wayward bath toys around the globe, thus proving that the oceans and currents are truly connected. You may read about it yourself in this book. I wonder if one of these yellow duckies has washed up on Anthony Séjourné’s otherwise serene bridge diorama. The ducky is comically outsized leading me to believe it’ll either destroy that bridge kaiju-style or at the very least cause a massive clog. Either way, it has made my day.

The aliens that built the pyramids probably came in this SHIP

Conspiracy theorists claim that the pyramids of various ancient civilizations were all inspired by aliens coming from outer space. Ancient peoples were clearly not smart enough to figure out engineering, they claim, so they must have had help from elsewhere. Plus, there are strange figures engraved on them, and how do you explain the striking resemblance of one pile of cut stones to another? I mean, compare those Egyptian pyramids to the Babylonian ziggurats and the Mayan temples. Exactly the same. And don’t forget the most conclusive evidence of all, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Well, builder Ivan Martynov provides us with some insight to solving the mystery. He has made an entry into SHIPtember that is both a space ship and an ancient temple.

There are the stairs to reach the summit, a shrine at the top, and what appears to be a six-legged beetle (or is that an alien form, carved crudely?). Then there are thrusters, power cores and other bits of advanced technology. It all makes perfect sense. This ship touched down in several places on Earth, inspired worship and emulation, and then left to visit other worlds. Do you believe the conspiracy theorists yet? Maybe you should.

Ape, bear, whatever... it’s an epic figure

It’s not often we see a Sigourney Weaver inspired LEGO creation which isn’t something to do with the Alien movie franchise. Well here’s a cracking build from Ian Hoy inspired by the 1988 Dian Fossey biopic Gorillas in the Mist. Oh, hang on…My mistake. Seems this is actually inspired by PANDAS in the mist, more specifically Chen Stormstout — brewer, monk, and warrior — a character in the 2012 Mists Of Pandaria expansion to World Of Warcraft.

Regardless of its inspiration, this is excellent LEGO character modelling. The clothing is great — particularly the toggle fastenings, the white strip edging, and the way the pyjama-top hangs beneath the belt. The face has the brilliant combination of cute-yet-scary which the Panda warriors carried in the game, and all the details are present and correct, including the ponytail and the sandals on those clawed feet. Nice bearclaw emblems on the knees too.

LEGO EVA Unit 02 has activated

Mathijs Dubbeldam had a goal: to build the world’s most accurate EVA Unit 02 from the anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. The head in particular reads strikingly accurate to me, but I am also impressed with the iconic long limbs, lanky frame, and spot-on details right down to the fingernails.

See more of this intricate model, including one of the building’s interiors.

When tagging along with Hitchhikers, remember to bring a towel.

There are a lot of variation to the giant spaceships created for SHIPtember (SHIP = Significantly Huge Investment in Parts). Many of them draw inspiration from classic LEGO themes, video games, or movies. Sometimes, however, you see something new from this month long building challenge. For instance, Sheo‘s Hitchhikers has some fascinating shapes, unusual colors, and great part usage. One standout detail is the Death Star piece at the core of the Technic construction at the aft of the ship. I also really like how the main body isn’t built with a standard “studs to the ceiling” approach. The angled bricks give the Kirby-esque detailing a very energetic feel.

In a nice recursive touch, the Hitchhiker has some smaller hitchhikers of its own. These four micro ships also have some unique color choices and part usage. I particuarly like the use of a minifigure hat and flower petals on the blue and red model. The roller skates on the red cargo hauler are pretty sweet, too.

The magic inherent in transparent purple LEGO bricks

I’ve always felt that there’s something magical about transparent LEGO bricks and that transparent purple LEGO bricks are extra magical. Builder Jayfa also sees something in those elements, as evidenced by their Voidwalker. The entire build is an ode to “nice part usage.” Hero Factory ball joints and armor create the body of an elegant beast. Meanwhile, White Hero Factory armor covers the body, leading to a head that combines Legend of Chima wings with an eerie black large figure armor for the face. Even the tail ends in style, with minifigure wings at the tip.

According to the photo description, Voidwalker was built in just two days. I wish my own creations came together with such quick beauty!

What is a SHIP without a fleet?

The challenges of building LEGO spaceships is getting the different parts to work together to create something aesthetically pleasing, quasi-functional, and just plain cool. This difficulty is magnified with larger ships, especially when you enter the realm of a SHIP (Significantly Huge Investment in Parts, a LEGO spaceship 100+ studs in length). Sometimes one spaceship isn’t enough; you need to build a whole fleet, and that is what Ryan Olsen did. Ryan shared with TBB that his fleet has been slowly growing for eight years, with the mid-size one with the prominent white stripe (roughly in the middle of the formation) being his first. He also drew inspiration from Pierre E. Fieschi for the color scheme and the video game Homeworld.

The studs-not-on-top (SNOT) approach to the spaceship in the foreground makes for a sleek design, and the white stripes, including diagonals, are expertly integrated into the hull. The asymmetrical design works wonderfully, too, with the long appendages coming off the side from near the large reactor core. Hinge bricks do a great job of making a smoothly angled bridge. Everything fits so well, and nothing seems out of place. This fleet is cruising the stars in style!

Roadster Racers get the LEGO look

Ready for some Disney racing action? You’d better be, because here come Mickey and the Roadster Racers, depicted in LEGO bricks by Ian Ying. This super-cute trio of racing vehicles are nicely matched to their counterparts in the cartoon series — Mickey’s Hot Doggin’ Hot Rod is particularly good, with its twin-ear spoiler at the rear. The purist builders out there might have palpitations about it, but I think removing the arms from the minifigures was a smart choice. It allows the hot rods to have tighter proportions than if they’d have to accommodate the limbs, and it gives the characters’ heads an oversized chibi appearance which enhances the cartoon-style appeal. Seeing these, I demand Disney introduce an instant rebranding of the rather tired Magic Kingdom “classic,” Tomorrowland Speedway — I’d queue for hours to race one of these babies!

This LEGO build is an open book

Here’s a build worth taking note of — a 19th century workplace, in 1:1 scale by Russian LEGO builder Nikita Sukhodolov. We get an open ledger on a blotter, a pair of glasses, an inkwell and pen, and a candle to shed some light on it all. All the individual elements are well-built, but some standout features include the melting wax at the top of the candle and the simple-yet-perfect shaping of the spectacles. The ribbon-strip bookmark is nicely done too. I can imagine a whole series of 1:1 scale “workplaces” like this, taken from different technological eras as we progress from handwritten ledgers to desktop computers, tablets, and beyond.

Space ships don’t have to be grey

When I think of spaceships, I think mostly drab grey things. This is probably because my imagination has been so strongly formed by Star Wars and the dingy industrial feeling of that universe, evident in almost every Imperial vessel (like the Star Destroyers) and the Millennium Falcon. ZCerberus bucks that trend with a glorious orange SHIP (Significantly Huge Investment in Parts) called Dominion. I know I would submit to its dominion if such a craft appeared on my scopes, because it has enormous cannons of some sort bristling off of every surface, plus a full squadron or twenty of smaller fighter ships docked inside its hull. The greebles on this thing are worth admiring, as they all look perfectly positioned to do something technical, like vent things or convey things or connect things. The whole surface is highly detailed without looking cluttered, which, in my numerous, and all failed, attempts at building a SHIP myself, I have learned to be a sophisticated skill.

I love the angled hull plates with the dark orange striping, with the white striping and brick-built lettering (does this belong in classic – or neo-classic, more specifically – space, with the “LL” designation?). 2×2 modified bricks with side grooves make for some great cannons on the side, and some 1×2 log bricks are just as good on the top in a similar role. The side cannons are mounted on round turrets made from 6×6 radar dishes, which fit neatly into the undersides of some 1x8x2 arches. All in all, this is one of the sturdiest looking SHIPs I have seen, as well as one of the coolest. Check out Z’s Flickr to see more space ships (not SHIPs) in the same color scheme, all part of an epic fleet. I hope it keeps growing!

Clone troopers get the coolest toys

While the time of galactic conflict known as the Clone Wars was just barely glimpsed in theaters between Star Wars Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, the Clone Wars animated series delved much more deeply into the many vehicles produced to meet the tactical and combative needs of a wide variety of troopers. One of my personal favorites would be the one-man version of the AT-ST, the AT-RT, or All Terrain Recon Transport. This model built by Luca s projects is very nicely detailed in true Minifig scale. There are so many great details, but if I had to pick one, it would be these curved wedges used for the feet.