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.

You have no clutch power here, Gandalf the Dark-bluish Grey

The Lord of the Rings seems to be making a comeback lately, and I’m all for it. Among other things, it means we get awesome tributes like this one from Marcin Otreba. Like all good builds, I find it quite thought-provoking. The thought in question is – isn’t it odd that Gandalf is most famously represented in his grey garb? He doesn’t even spend a whole movie’s worth in that outfit. (Yes, I know, The Hobbit, but over a decade separates that trilogy from The Lord of the Rings movies.) Even as Gandalf the White, he still gets called Mithrandir – which means “the Grey Pilgrim” in Sindarin. I know being called the White Wizard might be awkward after Saruman did, you know, all that evil stuff. But come on, Gandalf had to slay a whole Balrog to get there!

Gandalf the Grey's Wizard Hat ‍‍

Marcin isn’t the only one to have been paying a visit to Middle Earth lately – plenty of others have joined this little fellowship of “>LOTR LEGO builders.

Call of the West

Saddle up because it’s time to head west! Douglas Hughes’ new LEGO covered wagon just may be the best way to make it happen. He tells us this ain’t one of those big fancy swoopy-looking conestoga wagons you may have seen in the old Westerns. It’s a farmer’s wagon, which apparently was preffered by settlers as these smaller more nimble wagons get through rough and muddy terrain without bogging down. Makes sense, really. Be sure to hunker down and check out these other creations by Douglas Hughes that also makes a lot of sense to our logical minds.

Covered Wagon!

Siege of Gondor vignette pays tribute to a great battle

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of Lord of the Rings, so you can expect to see a number of fan-built tributes in addition to official LEGO sets based on the franchise. Grant Davis has been building vignettes inspired by LotR for a while, and this latest build is a fantastic tribute to the white city of Gondor. Depicting a scene from the epic battle set in the third book where the army of Sauron lays siege to the city, sending rock after rock against the white walls and towers. The impacting rock and all of the rubble are very cleverly attached with only a few barely visible bars the same color as the wall, and the angle of the photograph hides any non-essential parts, creating the illusion of a moment frozen in time.

The Siege of Gondor

If you want to see more, be sure to check out his Shelob build from LotR that we recently featured.

It’s best to keep an eye on this one

A LEGO builder who goes by the uncanny name of Iggs is a person of few words, all of them cryptic, shadowy, and kinda creepy. About this Lord of Many Eyes creation, he tells us “That which collects eyes will set sight on many…” The three dots at the end was his inclusion, probably for dramatic effect. And what a dramatic creation this is! I’m loving the foreboding nature of this totally creeptastic figure. Iggs’ words are a bit shadowy indeed but hold plenty of truth. The same can be said for anything, really. It’s kinda like me with Hot Wheels cars or, since we’re here talking about adult LEGO builders, and LEGO. This wouldn’t be the first time Iggs made us think whilst also giving us the heebie-jeebies a little. Click the little blue link (if you dare!) to see what I mean.

Lord of Many Eyes

Bottoms up with this tower!

This Middle Eastern-inspired tower caught my eye due to the lovely motif that builder Pan Noda sculpted on the walls using the undersides of 1×1 plates in white and a variety of various eathy tones. In fact, almost none of the tower is built with elements in the traditional studs-up orientation, allowing it to have a great deal more careful ornamentation for the size. The covered entrance is worth a closer inspection too, composed of quite an intricate lattice of elements to mimic wood framing.

king box

This bunny is making green

They say carrots are good for your eyesight, but they’re even better for your bank account when you understand the market. And BetaNotus brings us a rabbit that knows how to capitalize on his expertise. This combo rover/carrot harvester/maybe even a carrot incubator isn’t your everyday piece of farm equipment. But that’s business. To succeed, you have to innovate.

Capitalistic Carrot Connoisseurs Careen Carelessly

You wanna pizza me, huh?!

I’ll level with you, dear reader: I saw this build by Ivan Martynov and I had no idea what to make of it. It looks like a pizza chef’s fever dream. Which, as it turns out, is not far from the truth! It’s apparently inspired by a newly-popular video game called Pizza Tower. I can’t comment on whether Ivan’s build is accurate, but it sure is a tour de force in clever parts usage. Chain links are doubled up for the pizza crust. White lifebelts make up the apron straps. And a couple of eggs are used for the eyes. This is the best one if you ask me – a real eye-popper!

PIZZA TIME

Behold the elegant Dracomata

Sometimes a LEGO creation comes along in which even the most jaded of us are compelled to stop what we’re doing and just take it all in. This is the case with LEGO Masters contestant Michael Kanemoto and this piece simply called Dracomata. Michael tells us this took roughly eighty hours over a two-week period. He goes on to say this clip and bar construction boasts almost no typical LEGO stud connections. The end result is something akin to Victorian Clockwork. Maybe that is why the overwhelming feeling you get is to just stop and take it all in. Even the non-LEGO pedestal enhances the experience, giving museum-like quality to this piece.

Dracomata

My passages are normally flooded with jokes and puns but this piece has me lost for words but in a good way. This is becoming one of those “I’m just gonna leave this here” moments so I’ll do just that and allow the breathtaking closeup to speak for itself.

Dracomata

I just can’t contain myself!

You have to admit, container homes have been a hot topic as of late and I’ve admittedly watched a few guided tours of them on Youtube. Are they well insulated? Can I still have a vast LEGO room if I lived in one? What about an art room? And a crafts room? These are all questions I don’t yet know the answers to but it doesn’t make me any less intrigued. Tong Xin Jun may be able to answer those questions for me. This little container home looks pretty fabulous. It’s a simple two-story affair with an inviting front porch and a covered stairway chock full of neat build techniques.

Container House II

Around the back, the panels are removed to see how container living might look from the inside. That cozy sofa and TV just might be calling my name.

Container House II (Interior 2)

Get back into The Mandalorian with this LEGO beskar bowler

Season three of The Mandalorian dropped about a week ago. And to celebrate the return of our favorite perma-helmed hero, Jez Williams has provided this slick remake of Mando’s helmet in LEGO bricks. The lines are very clean here, despite being more compact than the official LEGO set. It really shows a mastery of all kinds of curved slopes and tiles. The half-plate offset to the ridge over the top is most impressive, as are the cheekbone insets in the face that match so well with the rest of the model. But my favorite part, intentional or not, is how much the base reminds me of the Armorer’s forge from season one.

This is the Way (side view)

Fear the Gods worshipped in this Cathedral

Around this time last year, we featured a terrific (if slightly unsettling) creature build from Aidan Hayward (AjRed17). As it turns out, it was the first in a series of awesome beasts all using some common features: mostly grey builds, with spindly limbs and gold-and-brown appendages, using the Gungan shield as the eyepiece. The latest entry, named Cathedral, is the biggest one yet. It seems to have grown out of… well, a cathedral! The way various spires and other elements of Gothic and Neo-Gothic architecture have been woven into its structure is superb. But like the others, my gaze is invariably drawn towards the eye at the ‘entrance’ to the cathedral. It’s almost hypnotic… I’m obsessed! I can’t wait to see more in this vein.

Cathedral

A carry-on that can carry you away

Have you seen the chaos that is air travel lately? Well, Dan Ko has crafted the perfect solution for the weary traveler. This Pacman Speeder is a hoverbike that gets you where you need to go in a hurry. And, when you reach your destination, it’s small enough to fit on a bellman’s cart and store in the hotel closet. Now that’s traveling in style.

Pacman Speeder Sharing System Technology