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.

A small reflection of life as it is

We often build with LEGO bricks to imitate, in other words reflect, life. While Ralf Langer‘s latest creation is a completely realistic microscale depiction of medieval life, the word reflection has more meanings to it.

First we see a micro mountain village with some cool techniques like the church roof, printed tiles as windows and modified plates as pine trees, but then something interesting in the water catches the eye. Ralf states in the picture description on Flickr that this is an experiment in water reflections, and I can see where he is going with it. A little extra bit is exposed in the description; if you go to the beginning of Ralf’s Flickr photostream, you can see that the building being reflected in the water is a microscale version of his first custom LEGO creation, earlier this year.

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Rorschach test in LEGO bricks

While these strange shapes don’t look anything like inkblots, they’re as good as any Rorschach test to me. It’s titled “Rot” by builder Sheo, and it’s an enigmatic scene to test our visual perception of what we see. If had to guess, I’d say that it’s partial skeletal remains of an alien lying in decay in a faraway galaxy. I can’t say for sure what the balloon-like piece depicts but I can say it’s an ingenious use of parts with LEGO rubber tires held together by mechanical arms that we frequently see on droid figures.

LEGO Bumblebee in beetle form is one sweet ride [Instructions]

The new, much-anticipated Bumblebee movie has inspired LEGO fans to build some fantastic creations recently, from this large-scale figure by Ekow Nimako to this transforming model by Jerry Builds Bricks and this cute model in Volkswagen Beetle form by hachiroku24 is the latest. One of my favorite details is the gently curving back of the car, which very closely matches its real-life inspiration. The extra curvy front wheel well is also a very nice detail and helps to complete this iconic car profile.

Click through to see the parts list and instructions to build your own LEGO Bumblebee

A battleship for the digital age

Specializing mostly in digital builds, CK-MCMLXXXI has made quite the beauty of a spaceship with his recent build, The Solomon & Guggenheim. Certain bricks may not exist in the colours used in this build, but that is really not the main quality of the creation. Pieces like a tile with UNITED text print (from the LEGO Ideas Saturn V) and all sorts of modified tiles such as ingot pieces, pentagonal tiles and 1×1 tiles with a rounded side make for some great patterns and colour blocking that look like a legitimate spaceship. The shaping with a large portruding segment on the bottom and all sorts of crazy angles just add to that and the end result is quite an enjoyable sight.

To boldly research where no one’s researched before

We’re going far away from civilization into the cold reaches of space with this LEGO ship by Chris Perron. But it’s not for fame or glory — no, this ship has a more noble goal: to research! Even Chris admits he’s not quite sure what it’s researching, but one thing is clear: it looks awesome outfitted with highly scientific doodads and whatsits. And there are lots of interesting techniques, from the mix of struts holding up the large side-mounted instruments to the cheese slopes crammed into the front of the ship’s long probe.

The one thing that worries me, though, is that the ship doesn’t look big enough for an airlock, which might be bad news for the astroscientist doing an EVA.

Smooth sleek spaceship soars the solar system

Give me a sleek looking ship in black and white any day and I’ll fall for it – just like the Ranger from Interstellar or the classic NASA Space Shuttle. This build by Oscar Cederwall stands out strikingly with some red highlights over a classic black-and-white design. I really love the effort of the arrowhead detail at the front of the ship, formed so perfectly with cheese slopes. Hardcore LEGO fans would also notice two very rare parts – the red X-pod lids on the wings and the extremely long boat hulls that appeared only once in a LEGO Speedboat set.

Here’s another look at the ship without special effects added to the scene.

When your keys become Christmas bells

During Christmas, many of us decorate our homes, trees and more, so why not our keys? Chungpo Cheng has the right idea with this classic Santa keychain creation.

The only problem in this case would be finding keys large enough! The builder has super-sized the classic Santa Claus minifig which still used a pirate cap instead of the modern purpose-moulded piece. What is most amazing in this creation is not just the accurate recreation at the scale (those hands are especially cool!), but the fact that each individual body part is its own finished creation, as seen on the picture below!

Now I really want to see a whole range of up-scaled minifig body parts that can be mixed and matched like the originals!

Holiday cheer rolls into town on a LEGO gingerbread train

What better way to celebrate the season than with a delicious gingerbread train? Well, maybe not so delicious, but this build by TBB alumnus Tim Lydy certainly looks incredible! All aboard the Gingerbread Express! The colors and parts usage are full of fun. And perhaps one of the best aspects is that the giant tree “cookie” on the third car spins, much like the one from the 2016 LEGO 10254 Winter Holiday Train set.

One night in Bethlehem

In my humble opinion, the variety of nativity scenes makes them a whole world of their own in terms of art motifs. With all the possibilities open, I still decided to go for a very classic approach with mine, both in terms of imagery and building style. It has actually been on my to-build list for ten years, which is from before I even knew about the online LEGO community. Primarily this was a build for myself and my family to put under our Christmas tree, but there is also no harm in sharing it.

The construction is pretty basic with a generic stone wall and some layers of ground on the base, but there are still a few fun techniques that I have tried. The first one being 1×2 tiles connected to upside-down plates with minifig hands, which makes for some neat offsets and the texture you see. The downside of this technique is basically the same as with all of my other ones, that being its terrible fragility. There are ways of improving on it, but that is something for the future. The second technique is a bush/tree using a six stem flower stem piece as the basis and plates around it. I was inspired by a builder whose name I can not recall for the foliage, but when I find him again I will update the photo description on my Flickr.

Santa has been to the LEGO Store!

We all know that Santa’s elves are good at what they do. But when it comes to gifts for LEGO fans, sometimes you just have to leave it to the LEGO experts! This lovely LEGO Santa, built by Brixe63, has decided to do a little shopping of his own. And what’s in the top of the bag? Pick-a-Brick cups, fresh off the giant wall at the back of the LEGO Store! There’s some nice parts usage to create the “cups” filled with colorful Technic rubber bands. We also can’t forget the clever use of gold bucket handles to form Santa’s belt.

Who’s made the naughty list this year?

You’d better hope that you’ve been good this year otherwise Santa might just be crossing you off his LEGO present list. O Wingård’s lovely character build of Mr Claus captures that festive moment when the old gent checks back his list. Looking sternly over his spectacles we are all reminded that a stack of presents under the tree is never a foregone conclusion! The model itself shows off a whole host of skilful techniques: a beautifully sculptured fluffy beard, teeth plates used to create the pattern on his Christmas sweater, the stripped ribbons on the perfectly wrapped gift, and last but not least a seriously cute little teddy bear.

It’s never too late! You still have time to build a Christmas themed BrickHeadz [Instructions]

If you have the Go Brick Me set on hand, you’re in luck! You have all the parts to build this cute penguin in black and white. Builder Stormythos designed this lil’ Christmas-themed fella with only the parts available within the kit. I love the detailing around the neck with a festive scarf that trails down to the front.

If you have a bigger stash beyond the Go Brick me Kit, you may want to try building this Elf on the Shelf. It breaks away from the standard BrickHeadz template with extended arms and feet which makes it a little livelier.

Get the instructions here and start building! And if you somehow don’t have the Go Brick Me set, it’s not too late to grab one off the online shelves for a loved one! It’s a perfect gift for hours of fun!