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.

Build castle classic again

Many older fans of LEGO might long for the days of yore, before we had fancy things like minifigures and molded animals. Grantmasters liked those good old days when we had to build our own horses. After all, the first LEGO horse wasn’t introduced until 1984, years after the first castle sets with brick-built horses. With his latest creation, Grant took it a step further and built his own people too!

The use of some pretty basic elements give his Crusaders a sturdily armoured look. And though he’s rejected newfangled molds for people and animals, he’s adeptly sculpted a horse with the use of new elements, such as the curved slopes, quarter round tiles, and my current favouite use of the power blast piece, giving the horse’s head just the right shape.

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The stairs actually move in this incredible LEGO model of Hogwarts

One of the magical aspects of Harry Potter and especially Hogwarts Castle is that ordinarily static things move. Pictures that in my house just hang there, with the people and things in them remaining frozen in time, always the same, in a wizarding house would be full of moving and talking, and even sentient, figures. And while we do have moving staircases in the Muggle world (we call them escalators), they don’t typically abruptly change their destinations; not so in Hogwarts, not so. The trouble is, we have not seen a single good moving staircase or moving picture in any official Harry Potter set. Fortunately for us, Jonas Kramm has filled the void with a brilliant build depicting both. There are innumerable gilt frames filled with magical chaps and dames, plus one of those moving staircases that so befuddled a young Potter and his pals in their early days of school. The moving functions are elegantly integrated and perfectly executed.

See the stairs and pictures move below

Twas the night before Halloween

Builder architectlego has amazing skills in creating ethereal LEGO scenes with great photography, lighting and photo magic touchups. This Halloween themed build is one more that does not disappoint.

Halloween around the corner… elixirs brewed in advance for peak potency,
Luring the young and innocent.. with all things sweet and savory,
Isn’t it obvious? …stay away outsiders,
Dead giveaway! …cracked windows and spiders,
Complete in costume with a crooked pointy hat,
No witchery wicked ways are complete without the companion cat.

Me: I’m totally gonna rock this campaign! Also me: Rolls a 1

I am intrigued by tabletop gaming, but nobody invites me to their game nights as I have a reputation for rolling up my sleeves, grabbing the D20, then diving right in and ruining the entire campaign for everyone. But that doesn’t stop me from being fascinated by these brick-built Ram Rider miniatures, though. With a name like War Scape, it’s safe to assume this builder knows a thing or two about board games. Built around LEGO cows and featuring a few custom bits and four Tauntaun horns each, he tells us these nimble goats are the perfect light cavalry to carry their dwarven riders into battle along mountaintops and northern crags.

With my luck, I would find a way to have my character fall off the mountain and land right into enemy doo-doo. Still these would look amazing on any battle game board. Next game night, be sure to grab a few friends because there is nothing more depressing and humiliating than when your mom walks in on your one-handed solo campaign.

Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the bricks of an Englishman!

I couldn’t get that phrase out of my head when I saw this cut-scene of a large bearded brick monster having a go at the castle themed minifigures fighting for their lives. Gotta hand it to Paddy Bricksplitter not just for the overall action-filled scene, but my favourite is the weaponry — the catapult built with a bent hose for its bow arm. The details of the still-protruding shaft sticking out of the giant’s arm while bleeding is simply ingenious and well thought out.

A little wasteland Peterbuilt

It’s clear that Will Galbraith has been watching some Mad Max recently, because even though he doesn’t say it explicitly, it’s clear this LEGO Peterbuilt 359 is straight out of Fury Road. The model is deceptively small for featuring so many details, being solidly minifigure scale. With a heavily modified and angled frame, this truck has probably been cobbled together from the bones of a few other vehicles, like most in the wasteland. The anti-tailgating flamethrower in back is just the icing on the cake.

Radioactive goo has never looked better

The sensible thing to do when you see a bunch of terrified people running is to run with them (unless you are in Pamplona; then the sensible thing to do is to stay out of the street, away from the bulls in the first place). I have seen enough movies where something is attacking a city and the populace is running, or a disaster is striking and everyone hopes to get to safety to know what to do. I don’t know what kind of strange goo is creeping around the corner and through that door in this scene by Yuri Badiner, but by the look of those minifigures’ faces, I am not sticking around long enough to find out. Some sort of radiation must be leaking at the power plant, and in real life radiation does NOT turn ordinary people into superheroes.

What makes Yuri’s build special is the cinematic feel of the photograph more than the construction techniques on display (not that those are bad, mind you — I love the use of the ingot tiles). The light coming through the doorway, the green slime streaming through the air and pooling on the floor, the minifig posed in mid-leap, plus the perfect selection of anxious and terrified faces, makes this a special shot. There is even a touch of foreground and implied space with the hook and chain hanging from the invisible ceiling. It pays to go the extra mile and make the picture perfect, rather than to spend all of one’s effort on complex building techniques that can’t be seen because the build is poorly lit or the picture is grainy. I just hope that green stuff washes off the LEGO bricks and doesn’t stain the ABS!

Introducing the Like Launcher [Video]

Over the years, we here at The Brothers Brick have written a few guides about how to get your LEGO creations featured on our website. But what if you want more? Well then janbenedict_yap has the solution for you! Introducing the Like Launcher!

Use it launch some Facebook likes into the world and maybe some of those good vibes will come back to you in the form of likes on pictures of your LEGO models. Simply load a like into the launcher to fire it at what pleases you. You can utilize it in one of two ways: Trajectory Mode or Direct Fire mode. I know when I like something, my favourite way to let you know is to shoot a thumbs up, right in your face. And now you can too! But don’t take my word for it, check out on video.

Please wash hands after handling the dead monkey-robot thingy

For most of us, our LEGO mistakes never see the light of day. But for Fedde Barendrecht, his mistakes–scratch that–his abominations make it onto The Brothers Brick. This unfortunate…um…dead robot-monkey thingy is a result of Fedde ordering the wrong parts, then making do with what he had. Among this pile of brown goo, I see a K-2SO head, a curled monkey tail and a DUPLO bearskin. You may squabble over whether or not this utilizes legitimate build techniques, but I am intrigued nonetheless. For me, it’s in the realm of those curio hoaxes such as the Fiji Mermaid or the Jackalope. Just like watching some fool jumping on a trampoline with a bowling ball, it’s bound to get ugly, you don’t want to see it happen, but you can’t turn away either. What is seen can never be unseen. Thanks, Fedde!

Something about this build bugs me

If I had to identify my favorite insect, I would easily respond “dragonfly.” Why? Because dragonflies eat mosquitoes. Simple as that. Now, they also have a cool name — I mean, who doesn’t like dragons, right? They also have fascinating eyes and neat wings, and they don’t sting, bite, or infest; really, what’s not to like? And indeed, what’s not to like about Grantmasters‘ dragonfly build? The insect is perfectly poised above a verdant leaf with eggs of some sort on it, ready to zoom about eating things that want to eat me.

The wings, so delicate and transparent, make brilliant use of some garage doors. Rancor fingers and paint brushes make for some crooked legs. Palm tree trunk sections create a wonderfully segmented tail, just like the real thing, and the mandibles are recreated by a fist. Then, of course, there is the banana bee, and the egg-eating snake worm, and a leaf made from a watering can and dragon wings (appropriate enough for a dragonfly, right?). Nice piece usages abound!

The future of Harley-Davidson is bright. Also sea-foam green.

When you think of Harley-Davidson, you probably think of growling fat hogs that guzzle gas and leak oil. But Tong Xin Jun has seen the future of Harleys and it is bright and clean. What you are looking at is a color-modded render utilizing some parts you wouldn’t readily think to use. You may recognize a Mindstorms EV3 Ultrasonic Sensor just over the front tire and Technic actuators act as shock absorbers. Unless there is a stash of odd-colored parts that I don’t know about, this sea-foam green, orange, white, pearl gold, light gray and dark gray combination can’t quite work in real brick with this model. Still, it is an inspired choice by the builder and lends to a sleek, futuristic feel to the bike.

Here is an alternate view better showcasing those transparent piston cylinders. It would be neat if motorcycle tires came in anything but black, but for now, computer rendering, photo manipulation, or some good old paint are the only ways to get that done.

Everybody scream! Everybody scream, In our town of Halloween!

Halloween is just around the corner and builder monstrophonic is bringing the spooky with this excellent rendition of Jack Skellington’s house. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite holiday movies and it pulls double duty as either a Halloween or a Christmas movie. Of course in my house we watch it at both times. And sometimes, just because.

Tim Burton’s visual style is so unique and I was thrilled to see this pitch-perfect rendition of Jack’s kooky domicile. The skinny stone steps are just great and the builder’s skill in creating a building that seems to defy gravity is fantastic and not an easy feat. The tile work on the house and shingles of the roof give a nice ramshackle feeling to the whole thing. The chimney is wonderfully creative, being made from different sizes of barrels. All of the little details employed to flesh out the final look work beautifully including the yellow bat topper, a decorative window treatment utilizing printed Unikitty tails and the curvy supports on the front porch.

Read on for more eerie fun.