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.

Meet Anna. She’s not your average dinosaur.

Meet Anna the Ankyloceratops, she is not your average dinosaur. A builder who goes by the name of Victor got it into his reptile brain to construct a hybrid between a triceratops and an ankylosaurus. The end result makes her a fierce defender of all the grass and stream she has here. Her armor is comprised of plenty of radar dishes and these pointy bits. Her shaping, coloring, even the well-crafted landscape conveys Mesozoic goodness. Anna just might be the best thing I’ve seen all day and I’ve seen a video featuring a basket full of wiener dog puppies.

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An impish little tree stump

Sometimes a build comes around that is not large, or highly sophisticated, or deeply symbolic, but instead is just plain whimsically charming. This little tree stump built by Marcel V. and inhabited by several imps is one such build. The lovely arrangement of earth tones strikes the right chord, and nothing is out of place or superfluous. The grass stalks and flowers set a scale for the build that is life-sized, with little four-brick high imps scurrying about causing mischief from their little home. And don’t miss the wood grain of that severed stump!

There are a few nice piece usages to be seen here, like the cupcake cup for a flower and the corn-suit from a collectible minifigure growing beside the little house. I love the little ladders and the window on the roof. It is all captured in a clean visual aesthetic, with impeccably placed pebbles, too. These impish fellows look like they could come straight from the microverse of the Planticore we featured a short while ago.

This incredible LEGO model shows how to keep the ocean colorful and save the reefs

Across the world’s oceans, tiny changes in the water temperature have massive effects on the organisms living there, especially the tiniest. Coral reefs, in particular, show in spectacularly tragic fashion the impact of rising ocean temperatures. When the water gets too warm, the algae that live symbiotically within the cells of coral polyps get expelled violently from the little animals. Though the coral polyps are still alive, they are no longer colorful and bright; they are left a cold, dull white, deprived of the photosynthesis-derived energy from the algae and fully dependent on catching little bits of passing debris in their tentacles. Slowly but surely, the vibrant and rich ecosystem that once thrived around the rocky haven of the coral reef dies away, leaving nothing but coral skeletons. Builder Emil Lidé brings this oceanic phenomenon to life in LEGO form beautifully yet tragically.

Emil presents to us the reef on the one hand in full splendor, with diverse forms of coral and plant life along with little fish hiding in the crevices, wandering crustaceans, and starfish; and on the other hand, the reef bleached white, with skeleton arms appropriately front and center, with no animals or plants still living there. This build will be spending the next year at the LEGO House in Billund, if you can make the trip.

See more of this beautiful creation

Countryside idyll built of carrots and sticks

Do you remember that guy from your Math textbook who happened to own a dozen pineapples or 30 bananas? Well, Peter Ilmrud seems to be that guy. Keeping several hundred carrots in your house might not be a good idea unless they’re LEGO carrot pieces. It’s been 20 years since the piece first appeared in LEGO sets, but it looks like Peter is one of the first to use it as roof tiling. The result looks fantastic, and bright orange carrots go nicely with white and brown walls of the house. A simple garden fence made of sticks is another nice touch in the diorama, which I would love to try to recreate in my next medieval creation.

A heavy assault mech for all your heavy assault shenanigans

Have you ever wondered what those S.W.A.T. team hand signals mean as they gather outside your house? I believe a fist hoisted straight up and down in the air means “hurry up” while a hand covering the mouth means “gas”. The rest was sort of lost in a fiery frantic blur but no matter the hand signals, a S.W.A.T. team outside means you’re pretty much screwed. While going out in a blaze of glory does have its appeal, you might instead want to employ the help of of this Heavy Assault Mech built by Mishima to tilt the odds in your favor. Trust me, a light assault mech or even a moderate assault mech will not help in this situation. You will need some seriously huge guns–so huge you wonder how it’s still standing upright.

A shoulder-mounted Gatling gun and a missile launcher rounds out the arsenal, the latter making excellent use of the “nexagon” part. While doing time in the Big House you might want to check out this builder’s other nifty mechs and bots or follow his Youtube channel for an instructional video on how to build this one. In the meantime, all this mechanized firepower ought to hold you over right up until they send in the attack dogs. Good luck!

Babydozer on the path of destruction

Accomplished LEGO artist Ted Andes has presented us with a cute riddle: What’s under twenty pieces, adorable and could potentially demolish your house? Baby’s First Bulldozer. This is a prime example of minimal part use for the win. Also known as the Pamper Pusher, this little guy was built as a part of a collaborative effort for Brickworld Chicago. I always enjoy seeing simple two- or three-piece combinations that just work. The tread system made of the microfighter wheel base, a 1×3 thin Technic lift arm, and a stretched tyre, is absolutely one of those.

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood where Christopher Robin builds

“Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs…” Well, not in this case. Here we get Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, created in LEGO bricks by BrickinNick. These renditions of the Disney versions of A. A. Milne’s classic characters are immediately recognisable and great fun. Pooh looks a little less rotund than usual, but he’s probably about to sort that out by guzzling an entire pot of honey. The model manages to catch Tigger mid-bounce, which is no mean feat. There’s a real sense of energy and movement in the pose, and Tigger’s colour scheme and facial expression are spot-on.

A sweet dream in LEGO

I love LEGO creations that fool the eye. When I first saw Sweet dream in the old garage by AdNorrel, I thought I was looking at a well composed photo of a real-life moment. I was scrolling through images of LEGO creations at the time, so I knew that couldn’t be right. So I took a closer look.

“Oh,” I thought, “that’s a LEGO minifigure in the center. So the garage is probably brick built. Yep. Looks like they put the build in front of their garden outside to get the background….no. Wait.”
“….”
“….wow.”

There are a lot of details partially hidden in the shadows of the garage. The tiling on the wall expertly mimics the slightly warped wood of an older building. Trophies and statuettes hint at past racing glories, blending in with the more functional aspects of the garage. Custom printing on many of the signs adds tantalizing hints of the larger world this creation inhabits. There are indications that a lot more is happening just out of sight, too, as there’s a crane to the right and the front end of a car to the left. Continue reading →

A Pegasus is more than a work horse

Impeccable maestro of the LEGO sci-fi/space genera Blake Foster seems to not be able to sit still after completing his massive four-year project, the Ugly Duckling. This time, while sticking to his tried, true and tested style, he has created the Pegasus Class Anti-Frigate Attack Fighter. His somewhat iconic, solid dark bluish grey greebling creates the feeling of a substantially sound craft. The white with red pinstripe enclosed paneling is stark in contrast yet strikingly vibrant.

Click to read more about the Pegasus

A build 17 years in the making

Since 2002, Spencer_R has been wanting to build the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. One key thing held them back; they were stymied by the lack of the perfect part. (A feeling that is familar to many LEGO builders, I’m sure.) Flash forward to 2017 and the release of the 1×1 plate with a printed square pattern, part of the 70620 Ninjago City set. Then flash forward another year or two, as Spencer needed a whopping 1040 of them to complete the build. The end result is 1/650th scale version that is both a labor of love and a treat for the eyes.

Beyond the highly accurate recreation of the shape of the tower, Spencer has also faithfully reproduced many other details. At the base of the tower the park contains redwood trees made from flower stems, a fence of 1×2 grilled tiles, and a 1×1 round plate standing in for the fountain. There’s even a cafe pavilion overlooking the park grounds.

Be sure to check out the full album on flickr for even more close up details, build commentary, and a great overview of the history and features of the real building.

Build your own “Roger Roger” droid from Star Wars [Instructions]

The earworm that stuck with me when I walked away from the screening of The Phantom Menace is the “Roger Roger” acknowledgment phrase by the battle droids. You can now build your very own with if you have the right parts on hand, and while you’re at it, builder hachiroku24 has made sure you can articulate them so you can build an army to go with your Star Wars diorama.

See how to build your very own army of Trade Federation battle droids

Which one of youse ordered the shark fin soup?

Beware shark fin soup enthusiasts. It’s not so much my thing but in China shark fin soup is considered a delicacy served at traditional weddings and banquets.The practice has been condemned by the Humane Society International as millions of sharks are killed each year for their fins and it sort of upsets the order and sustainability of other things in the ocean. Enter James Zhan and his toothy Nightmare Amalgam-Z. This creature can walk up on land, politely tap you on the shoulder with this Bionicle part while you’re dining, then maybe proceed to chomp on your face. You don’t want that, do you? We all gotta eat, I know, but driving a certain species to near extinction isn’t cool. So let’s be cool, otherwise you get this guy and we’ve already established what he does. So are we cool? Good!