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.

Star trucking, across the universe

It’s always great to see a LEGO sci-fi model which looks vaguely “realistic” — ie. a projection of current tech or business activities into the near-future. With his latest creation Robert Heim tackles everyday interplanetary transport, and manages to do it in style. This Mack-branded space truck is a cracking model — all smooth white curves and engine grunt up-front, followed by a long train of cargo containers. The curve transitions around the cab are beautifully smooth — the sort of end-result that looks effortless but probably took hours of careful piece selection. Nice integration of the airplane cab and cement mixer parts — they look like they were designed to go together like this.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The Universal Serial Bus, connecting the world since 1996

The USB Type A plug has connected high-tech devices since 1996 — one of the things we take for granted for the past two decades, the Universal Serial Bus connector. Ubiquitous and functional (almost) every time — if you get the cable with the right connector on the other end. If there was an Oscar for the technology world, I think the USB connector should be honored with a lifetime achievement award. Working at a fairly large scale in LEGO, builder Joffre has created an excellent representation of the ever-present plug, with its iconic trident logo built onto the surface with a clever use of parts. So clean, smooth and perfect, you’ll surely need a second look to believe it’s all made of LEGO bricks.

2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from The Brothers Brick team.

If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. The anticipation is killing us!

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

Defending the grey depths of space

In space, enemies can come from any side. And so rigorous armor is needed in addition to heavy armaments. Enter Patrick Massey‘s UNN-717 Olympia, replete with rows of chunky armor paneling and heavy turrets and a subtle submarine vibe (complete with rudder and diving planes). The nearly unbroken grey of the ship’s hull lends weight and scale to the model, helping it convey the ship’s monstrous size. And speaking of size, the LEGO model is no slouch either, ringing in around 3 feet in length.

A dementor descends over this diminutive Hogwarts

Wow–either someone cast engorgio on a dementor (and who in their right mind would do that?) or diminuendo on Hogwarts castle. Whatever happened, this brick-built dementor by Maxime Cheng hovering menacingly over Hogwarts is magical. Special recognition goes to the dementor’s mouth, made from two collars from the William Shakespeare collectible minifig. The sculpted body and the streams of tattered cloak give this model a very sinister appearance. The school grounds and building are also very nicely detailed at this scale.

2018 LEGO Advent Calendars, Day 1

It’s that time of year again! Break out the hot cocoa and stoke the fire, because The Brothers Brick is counting down to Christmas the only way we know how: with LEGO Advent Calendars! Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO City 2018 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.

Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!

The mighty walls of Carcassonne

For about the past decade, LEGO castle builders have trended towards what I like to call a ramshackle aesthetic, with precariously towering walls and gravity-defying roofs attached with a song and a prayer. It’s natural that builders would flex their chops in that manner, as that painterly style requires a great deal more skill than the simple, studs-up brick walls of classic castle sets and many early castle builders. However, equally difficult is building more traditional, real-world castles and avoiding the dreaded “grey wall syndrome” of thoroughly boring architecture. Isaac Snyder‘s walls of Carcassonne accomplishes this excellently, featuring a short segment of the French city’s fortifications. The walls and even roofs are no less detailed than any you’d find in the more ramshackle style, yet are thoroughly grounded in authentic style.

Perhaps next time Isaac can include a road though, as I’ve been needing a straight wall segment with a road to complete my city for ages!

Large-scale LEGO hardsuit pounds into action

One of the defining subjects of the Maschinen Krieger sci-fi world is the hardsuit, an environmental suit that is meant to help the wearer survive in hostile environments like outer space or in radiation-heavy post-apocalyptic locations. While mini-fig scale LEGO hardsuits may be more common, this one by Marco Marozzi is built to a much larger scale, and as such, is packed with details. Like many of Marco’s mechs, this one has plenty of poseability. I especially like the ball-socket shoulder attached through a wheel rim.

The white engine cowl found on many space shuttle sets provides the hardsuit with the pod-like look that seems to take some inspiration from early deep-sea diving suits, and an abundance of tubes and canisters come together to lend an industrial feel to the model.

A peaceful winter village with a unique Christmas tree

What do you do when you get your hands on a giant pile of white ornamental fence pieces? Build an extravagant winter village of course! At least, that’s what builder Joe Gan did. The lovely white houses definitely make this picture zoom-worthy, but my favorite part is the giant purple Christmas tree. The color choice, in addition to the other accents throughout, make for an eye-catching build.

The Interlace – an organised disarray of an architectural design

The Interlace is an exquisite, award-winning design of a residential apartment in Singapore. The seemingly disarrayed yet artistic placements of the apartments makes it stand out. The layout resembles layers of blocks stacked on top of each other at odd angles, forming a maze-like arrangement. This LEGO Architecture styled custom build by Daniel Stoeffler captures the real-life buildings elegantly in LEGO, with 2×1 grille parts for the windows.

See more views of this Singapore landmark and compare it to the original

The next evolution of walking LEGO dinosaurs [Video]

We’ve been following the ongoing evolution of a series of mechanical LEGO dinosaurs built by Dan Schlumpp. Each iteration has become more and more streamlined, and the latest addition to his Mesozoic menagerie is no exception. The body-shaping is excellent, as well as the color choices.

This stegosaurus not only looks great, but lumbers around beautifully! It’s amazing to get such an organic body while still trying to create and hide all the right mechanical components.

If you’re curious about the previous iterations, check out our feature on one of Dan’s previous dinos.

“Fatality!” Scorpion breathes fire into this LEGO character

“Get over here!” for one of the most iconic one-on-one fighting games. Julius von Brunk brings us a LEGO rendition of Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion, complete with the character’s signature fire-breathing fatality move. Back in the 1990s, imagery like this freaked out parents and helped contribute to the development of the modern ESRB rating system. However, we think even Joe Lieberman would have to agree that Julius’ scene is spine-chillingly good. When we learned he used practical effects in rendering this scene, it left us screaming, “finish him!”