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.

Per Ardua Ad Astra — LEGO Supermarine Spitfire takes flight over Britain

Per Ardua Ad Astra — “Through adversity to the stars” — the motto of the UK’s Royal Air Force, and what sprang to mind as Paul Nicholson‘s LEGO version of a Supermarine Spitfire thundered into view. For a small model, the shaping is pretty good, capturing the iconic elliptical wing shape well, and there’s a nice mix of colours to create a camouflage effect. And the use of 1×1 “cheese slopes” delivers the essential touch of the raked exhausts down the sides of the engine. I’m less of a fan of the forced-perspective base — I think the presentation would have benefitted from further separation of the plane from the ground, and perhaps a tighter depth of field pushing the background out of focus. However, despite those minor photography gripes the plane itself is a cracking model, immediately recognisable and eminently swooshable.

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Red resilient rescuers ready to respond, react and recover

If you take your LEGO city build and public services seriously, these are the unsung city rescue heroes you need. Steven Asbury has some serious skills that bring these vehicles to life, consisting of a rescue boat that sits four minifigures towed by a truck, along with a proper fire truck ready to pump out some high-pressured H20 to show who’s the boss around here.

See more of these LEGO rescue vehicles

A sailor’s paradise

What better way to relive that perfect holiday than to recreate it in LEGO! Paul Trach has the right idea, building this stunning Dufour 520 Grand Large yacht bobbing on an azure Caribbean sea. The gradients of blue, created by layering trans-blue tiles over suitably selected black and grey plates, evoke the Antiguan paradise perfectly.

The yacth is a beauty too, sleek and elegant, and filled with accurate nautical details. Check out its beautifully laid timber deck, splendidly precise sail and rigging, and plate thin hull. All that’s left to do is kick back and enjoy the scene.

Motoring through the ages with Peter Blackert

When LEGO car builders come to mind, Peter Blackert is probably one of the most prolific. Over the past few years, Peter has churned out dozens of high-quality LEGO cars, and it isn’t unusual to see him share four or five new builds in a given week. Peter is well-qualified to be making brick-built cars because he works as an engineer for Ford Motor Company. Last year also witnessed the publication of his book, How to Build Brick Cars. Peter renders his digital models using POV-Ray, and his portfolio of LEGO cars is rich and diverse, consisting of a wide range of makes spanning over 100 years of production. Having looked through his models, we have decided to pick a car for each decade spanning the early 1900s through the 1960s. They look nice individually but, when grouped together, they help tell a story of the motor industry.

1900s – Curved Dash Oldsmobile:

At the turn of the Century, automotive design was still heavily influenced by horse-drawn transportation. This period also represented a mechanical gold rush, with tons of individuals and organizations attempting to make their mark on the industry. One of the most important contributions to the industry during this period was the assembly line, which allowed for cost-cutting mass production. Credit for this development is often given to Henry Ford and the Model T, but the Curved Dash Oldsmobile was America’s first mass production car. Peter’s version of the Curved Dash looks faithful to the original and looks wonderful with its top up or down.

See more of Peter’s amazing vintage automobiles

A charming LEGO dwelling fit for a dwarf

This humble Dwarven home by Isaac Snyder may look like a fairly simple construction, but if you take a closer look, there are quite a few techniques worth mentioning that bring this dwelling to life. The black roof uses small slopes in an asymmetrical pattern which is quite unexpected. Also, the corner pillars blend seamlessly with the walls. The inset alcoves for doors and windows have a very strong castle fortification vibe, and speaking of doors, this one is a gem, made from various brown plates stacked simply, and adorned with hinges made from one of my favorite “new” parts, the modified 1×1 round plate with handle.

But there is one more thing… an interior.

Circle: a brick-built tribute to Finland’s finest

Building a tribute in LEGO to Finland’s finest progressive rock act Circle, Eero Okkonen proves once again that he is the master of the brick-built figure. Each band member has been designed with full articulation in mind, and posed according to their distinctive performance stances.

At TBB we often pick up on standout techniques, but in this case the build is simply littered with too many clever ideas to choose from. Perhaps it’s the way Mika Rättö’s facial expression and distinctive facial hair has been formed from arched mini-figure hands and elaborate horn element?

Or then perhaps it’s the way the amplifiers have been lovingly crafted? Dive in and look for yourself — there is so much to discover.

You can read more about Eero’s love for Circle, and see many more photos on his Cyclopic Bricks Blog.

Wherever you are, no one can hear you scream if you are a giant fish

They say space is full of stuff of all sorts — Death Stars, teapots orbiting the Sun and even a red roadster. Sheo. explores some of the most distant corners of the outer space to find an interstellar… fish. Yes, he calls his latest LEGO creation a giant space fish, and it’s hard to argue since we have no idea what else can be floating up there! The real highlight of the creation is, of course, a gray sphere right in the middle of the body secured with some crazy amount of red tentacles. Does this creature look intimidating? Absolutely. But can a lonely traveller escape its attraction..?

Awesome LEGO makeover series of Sweden’s Dala horse

A Dalacarlian horse, also known as a Dala horse, is a common trinket in Sweden that’s almost become a national symbol. The history of these tiny carved wood sculptures dates back to the 1600s, and they’re often decorated with a wide variety of colors and patterns. Builder Mark Anderson built a cute little version out of LEGO, with a body only six studs long.

The original horse features traditional decorations with a bold main color and careful ornamentation.

However, after building a few Dala horses featuring the traditional markings, Mark decided to mix things up and expand the decorations to more contemporary themes, which is where they get really fun. Here’s Mark’s Batman Dala horse.

Click to see more Dala horses in other costumes!

Do you live to eat, or eat to live?

In modern times, “eating good food” has become a hobby of sorts around the world. There are hotspots for foodies to relish in simple and local food sold on the streets or pushcarts, just like this huge LEGO scene from Malaysia depicting such a location, where food lovers hang out and where a few dollars can go a long long way.

This build is a collaborative effort by members of SynergyLUG Malaysia, led by Bruce Lee, along with a large team which includes Junious Tan, Chua Chee Yan, Marco Gan, Tommy Tong, Michael Choy, Zi Quan, Foo Wen Yao, Leroy Pang, Vincent Kiew, Cheng Heng Ching, Wong Chee Keong, Zac Wong, Daphne Gan, Jack Tan and Terry Lai.

Click to see more of the Avenue 4 Street scene

A collection of fantastic LEGO South American feathered fauna

As a zoology nerd, my favorite things to write about are, of course, animals. When I saw these lovely LEGO birds by Luis Peña, I just couldn’t resist! The creative build features iconic species, including the Hyacinth Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Andean Condor, Black-Necked Swans, Ringed Kingfisher, and Magellanic Woodpecker.

I adore Kingfishers, but I’d have to say that my favorite bird in the series is the Woodpecker. There is some clever parts usage here, giving it character. I love that mohawk headpiece, and the worm that is formerly an “Insectoid” (13757) from 70709 Galactic Titan.

Luis is a talented builder who we’ve featured before. If you like these animals, check out his recent Paleozoic sea creatures!

The dark art of LEGO building

I completely understand YOS Bricks‘ fascination with the black brick, having been featured myself on TBB before for this reason. You can see the appeal in his build of a Thestral from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which uses the black elements to capture the creature’s eerie silhouette.

Again, in a more complex form such as this giant horned dung beetle, the dark colour allows individual bricks to read together as single forms — the insect’s antenna and wings being particularly good at showing this.

Black also works marvellously against brighter colours. The turquoise eyes of the Mooncalf from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, glow magically in YOS Bricks’ final example.

“How can you build this? There’s no pictures!”

“Well, some people use their imagination.” Mike Nieves has used his imagination to create a wonderfully whimsical representation of Belle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Mike’s character build may not have a defined face, but the pose and setting is iconically Belle. Thanks to her outstretched hand and head tucked in a book, I can almost hear her singing.

Thanks to an extensive use of curved and angled slope elements, Mike has done a great job of capturing the look of Belle. As we can see in this shot, sloped elements are also used to convey a sense of motion with the flow of Belle’s dress. There is some incredibly nice detailing here, including the clever ribbons for the hair and dress.

If you like Mike’s model of Belle, you won’t want to miss his other LEGO Disney character builds.