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.

Make friends and go on adventures with Theodore Tugboat

Theodore Tugboat was an icon of Canadian children’s television in the late 1990’s. As a Canadian that grew up in the 90s, Julie vanderMeulen LEGO recreation of Theodore hits the nostalgia just right for me. The face and hat are sculpted perfectly to evoke Theodore’s friendly, happy-go-lucky attitude. Looking past the character, this is also an excellent model of a tugboat. All the details, such as railings and spotlights, are present to help make it authentic. Not satisfied to simple mount the tires on the side, Julie has added LEGO string elements to make them look as if they’re actually tied on.

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This terrifying mech will whip you into a frenzy of fear

Insects and arachnids are a constant source of inspiration for builders of LEGO mecha, and it is easy to understand why. Between the exoskeletons, the many-jointed limbs, and the way that many of them scuttle and scurry, there is something magical and also terrifying about them. This upright mecha by builder [VB] is inspired by one of the scarier arachnids I can think of, the whip spider.

Not only do the extremely long arms with menacing claws closely resemble its real-life inspiration, but the builder has included some actual whips as part of the mech’s hip section. I also love the use of printed fan tiles for eyes.

LEGO Super Hornet will give you a buzz

Since 2001, the F/A-18E Super Hornet has been a workhorse of the US Navy, finally replacing the last of the aging F-14 Tomcat fighters in 2006. Here’s Plane Bricks‘ LEGO version of the carrier-capable fighter jet — an excellent model which captures the aircraft’s shape with a nice combination of curves, slopes, and tile pieces. There’s an impressive array of armaments slung under the wings, and the model boasts a folding undercarriage, and fold-up wing tips (an essential space-saving feature on a carrier-based aircraft).

I particularly liked the angling of the tailfins and the shaping of the exhaust vents. You can get a closer look at them here, along with the added detail of the tailhook…

Not so tiny: This microscale LEGO Hogwarts uses over 75,000 pieces

In the Harry Potter films, Hogwarts looked massive and majestic. Although LEGO did a great job with the massive 71043 Hogwarts Castle set, builder Mathieu BL has built a microscale LEGO version of the castle that feels just as big as it should, despite its diminutive size. Part of this can be attributed to the surrounding terrain, which places the building within its proper context. The hills and cliff-sides have been carefully sculpted, utilizing a variety of colors and shapes to achieve a nice degree of realism. The sparkly water adds a touch of beauty, and it consists of loose trans clear and trans-medium blue elements mixed together to emulate the choppiness of the sea.

Turning the model around reveals a quidditch stadium behind the castle. A lot of time and care went into detailing this model. Mathieu spent over 1,200 hours designing and building Hogwarts, and nearly 75,000 pieces were used in its construction.

When photographed from certain angles, the little castle seems huge. Here, it looks absolutely stunning.

If you’d like even more LEGO Hogwarts in your life, be sure to check out our review of set 71043.

A place to find crystals, cupcakes and kidnapped little girls

LEGO Friends (and by extension, Elves) is a theme that had great success both with its target audience and beyond. Many builders love the themes for the exotic colours they brought to the palette, but some, like Isaac Snyder, take inspiration for builds from the Elves theme itself.

This little village has just enough buildings to look busy, and all of them have their own aesthetic while still looking very much like they belong together. My favourite techniques are the roofs, especially the purple windscreen used as an arch on the leftmost cottage. The clean lime grass broken up by printed tiles along with crystals and strange plants give the scene an otherworldly and profoundly magical feeling, just right for the Elves theme.

Superfast redhead has the Italian look

It can be difficult to capture the smooth flowing lines of a beautiful sports car in LEGO without stepping up to a large scale. However Firas Abu-Jaber has managed to make this formidable challenge look easy with this excellent brick-built Ferrari Testarossa. The name means ‘Redhead’ in Italian, so naturally the colour scheme fits its inspiration, but the iconic shape of the famous supercar is also spot-on, with pop-up headlights, an impressively-raked windshield, and those long arcs over the wheels. However, the signature element to this car’s design was always the multiple slash intakes on the vehicle’s flanks, and here they’re recreated perfectly. Lovely building.

Not content with nailing the sumptuous curves of the car’s exterior, Firas has gone the extra mile and included a detailed interior complete with leather-look seats and a dashboard stuffed with instrumentation…

Historical black hole picture and ALMA observatory antenna accurately built in LEGO

Unless you have been living under a black hole, you have probably seen the historical picture of the supermassive black hole in the center of the M87 galaxy. Chilean builder Luis Peña was inspired by the results of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration to build this new icon of science and the ALMA observatory, located in his home country. Luis loves science, and we have previously featured another historical event in science built by him, the Apollo/Soyuz meeting.

The mosaic on the left displays the famous black hole radiowave picture, where the resolution of a 16×16 mosaic actually gives an accuracy almost comparable to the original. Speaking of accurate to the original, the dish of the radio antenna (one of 66 antennas in the observatory) is strikingly clean and parabolic, for the perfect focusing of captured light into the detector. The dish is stabilized by a white rigid hose, making a robust and accurate recreation.

A spaceship built for two

Is there anything more romantic in this universe than a trip to some distant world in a two-seat Neo-Classic Space ship? Aussie LEGO fan aido k makes the dream come true for this lovely couple of space explorers. Just like many other great LEGO models, the design of the spaceship started with a single piece, in this case, a bulky Spinjitzu rotor. The amount of exterior elements on the ship’s body and wings looks just perfect; massive engines, a couple of pipes and small grills create a totally swooshable model.

Dinomite build of a mechanical T-rex

Before the official LEGO House Dinosaurs have had a chance to escape in the upcoming exclusive sets, we’re already getting variants of them. This bad boy by hachiroku24 is a tiny replica of the Technic Dinosaur in the LEGO House. Although it’s not exactly a duplicate in likeness, the broad strokes of it come across quite nicely in capturing the essence of its larger cousin. The clever repeated use of the Minifigure Utility Belt from the Batman Minifigures gives it that unique mechanical look.

Shiny ride for a dark knight

Probably, the worst thing about being Batman is that you always have to keep a low profile. Whether you’re punching criminals or chasing a villain through the Gotham City, the less attention you’re drawing to yourself, the better. But how can Batman be okay with this lifestyle while driving a collection of jaw-dropping vehicles? ianying616 presents an ostentatious alternative: the ultimate edition of the famous Batpod. Completely covered in chrome, including many custom chromed elements, this vehicle was designed to draw the eye. The metallic color of the pieces goes perfectly with their shapes; all the LEGO Technic connectors and panels make the model look like a diecast.

Could Classic Space and Blacktron ever get along?

Looking at this Tracked Laser Mining Vehicle by Jon & Catherine Stead, the first thing that springs to mind is classic Blacktron. A few details seem out of place in this assumption and the description reveals no villainous intentions.

The yellow spacemen suggest this is in fact very much a peaceful vehicle. I particularly like the laser array, supported by strings going between pillars of translucent red 1×1 round plates. The ground is quite interesting as well, using an established technique and carrying us to a faraway moon or planet with its colours.

This sinister cephalopod has 8 arms to kill you with

What would be more frightening than a man in a scuba suit wielding a knife? How about a cephalopod, capable of swinging 8 knives, in cybernetic hands. This delightfully strange agent of chaos by Djokson uses a number of car tire elements, including inside out tires at the base of each arm to create the look of an aquatic commando with a twist. This creature requires a suit to infiltrate out of the water locales. The arms, made from dinosaur neck parts end in prosthetic appendages capable of all manner of sinister shenanigans.