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.

Let’s run away with the circus!

Builder Ian Hoy turns our attention to the center ring with this beautifully built circus scene. Heed the carnival barker in his jaunty top hat as he calls to you — “Step right up folks and stare in awe and amazement at this action-packed quintuple of animal performers, each one with its own special talents on display! Hurry, hurry! Take a peek, you won’t be disappointed!”

Each of the animals in this scene could stand on its own, but the combination of all of them together makes for a truly marvelous show. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the leaping tiger. Hou manages to imbue it with action, movement and just a touch of danger.

The scooter-riding bear is a close second with his whimsical expression. The dog as the carnival barker is a brilliant touch, and the magician’s rabbit also provide a nice dose of humor and expression. Taking center stage is everyone’s favorite big-eared elephant Dumbo, although Hou doesn’t reference him as such in his descriptions of the piece.

Every performer has a level of detail and building creativity that is a joy to look at up close and leaves me wanting to figure out how the builder did it all.

The setting of the scene is equally rich in detail, from the bejeweled stage lights to the speakers and rounded stage. The use of flags on the sides also adds to the festive atmosphere and the font on the word “circus” is particularly impressive and creative. I’m also particularly fond of the use of the backside of the pieces to create the curtained backdrop. Many builders go to great pains to not show the back, but Hou does a terrific job in this case and it all blends together perfectly. As an added bit of humor, in the corner behind the tiger there looks to be a crate full of food, including a cooked turkey, to make sure the performers are well fed and ready to play.

Luckily, the fun doesn’t stop with the front of the model! The back and outside are equally impressive, utilizing a second lettering style and a simple but effective representation of a circus tent.

Like any good traveling spectacular, at the end of the day the whole shebang can be folded up and moved on to the next city, ready to thrill audiences with the greatest show on earth!

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We have proof that the earth is as flat as a LEGO baseplate

If it’s on the internets, it must be real. Thus, by Laws of Cyberspace, I decree that there is sufficient evidence to prove that the earth is flat. LEGO Certified Professional Ryan McNaught collaborated with Centuri Chan to turn this conspiracy into reality by building a scaled-down Flat Earth. However, just proving the earth flat is not enough — all fakery perpetrated on the sheep-like masses by Them must be debunked! So Ryan and Centuri toiled away (probably wearing the necessary tin-foil headgear) to reveal the truth behind key moments in our history. The truth is out there, and it may keep you up at night — just be careful where you walk barefoot in the dark!

Some of the real-life moments captured with LEGO bricks include a behind-the-scenes view into the making of the movies purportedly about men landing on the moon, which of course was filmed in a Hollywood back lot. Lots of coffee and croissants were needed to energise the hard-working crew. We must never forget.

Let the scales drop from your eyes to see more truth as revealed in LEGO bricks

Grab a bite to eat at the Potion Shoppe

You feel that? That’s your sudden desire for a picnic lunch. A second ago you didn’t feel it but now you do. You may or may not want these particular food items, but you do want food now. That is the power of suggestion and it just goes to show how suggestive LEGO can be. In this life-sized food arrangement, builder Little John sculpts strawberries using these red wedges. The quarter cheese wheel, even the knife and cutting board evoke memories of healthful weekend lunches on the patio. The carrot uses much larger wedges in orange, these plant bits and green hoses for the stalks. My favorite item on this menu is the fried chicken drumsticks.

Like what you see so far? It turns out this is merely one element of a much larger collaborative immersive experience called the Potion Shoppe that was on display at Brickworld in Chicago. Bon appétit!

A haunting image of the cleaners of ghost town Pripyat

The HBO Docu-drama series Chernobyl tells a chilling tale of the unfortunate events that transpired on 26 April, 1986. The Chernobyl liquidators, as they were called, were civil and military personnel dispatched to deal with the aftermath of one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents. If a picture tells a thousand words, this build by Red captures the essence of a weary and despondent liquidator in a single pose. The myriad clever use of LEGO parts used, especially for the headpiece, can be hard to make out, but if you look closely enough, you may spot things like a dinosaur piece or a stretched tire.

Then along came an incredible LEGO artist, Ekow Nimako

As an avid builder and a contributor for The Brothers Brick, I have seen a lot of LEGO creations. I mean A LOT of LEGO creations. To put this in perspective as to what it is like to be an adult LEGO builder, I have a LEGO room in my home — most of us do, some more elaborate than others. Whether it be a corner of the laundry room, a repurposed bedroom, or an elaborate add-on suite built for this reason, we all have a dedicated space to build LEGO. A perusal of my phone contacts reveals that the vast majority of my friends are LEGO friends. We eat, sleep and breath this stuff daily. By now I’ve written a fair number of articles and am confident that I can at least amuse if not inspire or enlighten our readers. With all this in mind, you’d think there would be no one to baffle me and put me at a loss for words. But then along came Ekow Nimako.

See more of this amazing LEGO sculpture

This Y-wing is the bomb

There are some builders out there whose names are synonymous with quality, often in a highly specialized niche within the larger LEGO fan community. Jerac is one such builder, whose Star Wars creations are famous for their exceptional level of detail, down to the minutest of greebles, and their near-perfect scaling. His latest creation is a stripped-down Y-wing bomber with all of its parts showing, as was typical in the fleet of the Rebellion. I love the shaping of the cockpit, as well as all of the technical details on the back part of the craft. It is a difficult task to get the rear maneuvering rings looking good, but this version of the Y-wing has lovely round rings and even the little details that should be there. Can a minifigure-scale Y-wing be done better in LEGO? Perhaps, but I have not seen it.

Jerac’s builds are often a master-class in LEGO greebling techniques, with piece usages both expected and unexpected. By now, things like ingots and bars are old hat in spaceships, and even binoculars are expected; but the use of some of the binoculars here is a new one for me, at least: placed recessed into the ship so that only the lenses stick out, as Jerac has done here towards the back of the fuselage. The stretcher holder makes for some great cables or piping, and the use of minifig arms looks good, too, at the very back of the fuselage. And there are more handcuffs than I can count. All in all, this is one terrific spaceship, ready to drop some bombs on Imperial targets.

Doc Cog is really steamed!

The comic book concept of a multiverse is a cool thing. The heroes and villains you know are seen through a distorted lens, bringing new twists to established characters. Markus Rollbühler brings us a steampunk version of Spider-Man and Doc Ock that could easily fit into a sequel of Into The Spider-Verse.

Spider-Man is still pretty recognizable with signature torso and mask, but the red cloak gives us our first hint that things are different. Markus then makes use of rare parts to complete the look: the hat from the Toy Soldier and legs from The Lone Ranger’s Captain Fuller.

The foe that Steampunk Spidey is facing off with is Doc Cog, a twist on Doctor Octopus. The base figure uses no Doc Ock parts, instead taking pieces from more hard to find figures. There’s Hawkeye’s head, a helm and torso from a Retro Spaceman, and the legs of the Portal Emperor of Atlantis. Doc even stole Luke Skywalker’s cape.

Doc’s arms are the star of the build, of course. These steam-powered appendages make use of everything from throwing stars and daggers to minifigure crowns. My favorite element, though, is the classic use of ice cream scoops to represent the steam.

The cutest creature of the underground – Krtek

Readers from eastern Europe will instantly recognize this adorable critter from the Czech cartoon Krtek (which means “little mole” in Czech). Having read books and seen cartoons of Krtek’s adventures throughout my childhood, I never thought to see the character built out of LEGO. But when I saw this perfect recreation by Eero Okkonen, I went full “aww-mode”.

The pose on the image is so iconic that one would hardly notice this is LEGO, were it not for a jagged edge here and there. Curved pieces capture the character’s shape very well, but my favourite parts are the red nose and the three long hairs on the mole’s head. As a master character builder, Eero has explored many different source materials and themes, but none quite as iconic as this one. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, Eero!

Longing for a return to Japan

Many years ago, builder aukbricks lived in Japan. Although they haven’t returned yet, there’s a seed of yearning that has grown into an evocative virtual creation. The central focus is a suitcase that contains a visit to a garden filled with greenery and sakura blossoms. The inside lid is a mosaic of more blooms and buildings in the distance; the blockier texture giving the illusion of depth from a slightly out-of-focus background. There’s also a guide book and a luggage tag that features features a brick-built Kanji for longing, a character which also carries the meanings of “yearn for” and “adore”.

Stepping into the garden, you can imagine a walk along the cobblestone path leading to the bridge over the stream. It feels just as peaceful and relaxing as you could hope for.

Consisting of nearly 6,500 bricks, this digital build only uses parts in LEGO-released colors. Longing may be a dream, but it’s nice to know it could become reality, too.

Sydney gets an Ice Planet make-over

Ice Planet 2002 was a short-lived LEGO Space subtheme from 1993 through 1994. The year 2002 has since came and went and we have not had manned missions to other planets, icy or otherwise. Despite the theme’s short shelf life and failure to predict history, its dynamic blue, white and trans-neon-orange color scheme captivated builders for decades to come. So much, in fact, that Aido K’s local LEGO Users Group put the challenge out to give any modern LEGO set the Ice Planet 2002 treatment. Being the consummate Aussie that he is, Aido went with the Sydney Skyline 21032 set.

Now the world has a new creation it never knew it needed but is better for it. It turns out Aido seems to like the challenge of making something out of official sets as evidenced by this previously featured creation based on the Green Lion from this Voltron set.

War Machine buster is bursting with style...and serious weaponry

Mech builder extraordinaire Kelvin Low goes by the Flickr handle chubbybots, which aptly describes his sometimes chunky building style. Kelvin also has a knack for re-imagining and rebuilding official LEGO set mechs with stunning results. They are often much more detailed than then their official LEGO counterparts, such as this Hulkbuster sized War Machine. Kelvin’s model not only looks great, but it is highly poseable, with a fully loaded arsenal of guns, rockets, and cannons.

Hidden throughout the model are several transparent red plates that complement the transparent red 2×2 round plate with rounded bottom used for the main reactor. I think that Rhodes is set up to give Thanos or anybody else who gets in his way a serious run for their money.

You’ll flip for my flippers!

It’s been said that puns are the lowest form of humor and are often a sign of brain damage. Well, call me brain dead because I featured this particular creation based in part on thinking up that title. Not seeing the genius of it? Then I challenge you come up with a better one. While you’re mulling that over, check out this scuba diver by Djokson. His name is Dr. Renaud and he is accompanied by his BUBBLE assistant drone.

Plenty of creations have featured the ubiquitous and streamlined modern brick separator but few have featured the older bigger, clunkier ones. The former comes with nearly every set nowadays but the latter had to be purchased individually. Djokson managed to get his hands on at least two older ones, and the result proves that they are not only good for prying up those pesky 2×4 plates but you can also use them to propel yourself through water.

While the genius of this post’s title may be a subject of hot debate, the coolness of this builder’s work surely is not. Be sure to check out his previously featured office companion and Umi the Jelly for more whimsy and wonder.