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 pair of builds that hit just the right note

The LEGO 21334 Jazz Quartet is a great set, but what happens if the musicians need to swap out instruments? PaulvilleMOCs has their back, designing these amazing instruments as a supplement to the official set. Both the sax and the trumpet fully capture the intricacy of the real-world instruments, achieved with a few simple parts in the case of the trumpet. The saxophone uses a bigger assortment of pearl gold parts to suggest the instrument’s various tubes and valves, along with a black mouthpiece. The pads (the little round things that lift up to produce different sounds) are represented with well-placed round 1×1 rounded tiles. Both instruments are accurate enough to give me vivid flashbacks of junior high band class.

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A bard who likes to ramble on

There’s a feeling I get when I look at a great LEGO build, like this one by Tomasz Bartoszek! You can feel the scene drawing you in as you look for all the tiny details in this packed build. Tomasz has added a ton of designed disorder to the build that adds to the organic feel of the scene. For example, those gaps in the slats in that gate in the background are simply the gaps between bricks that aren’t pushed together. So, don’t be alarmed now if there are gaps in your brickwork. It’s just another building technique! Check out that tiny brick at the bottom of the stairs. That’s an old Modulex brick that Tomasz snuck in. Finally, the window in the door on the left is made from chain links. And don’t worry, that minstrel isn’t playing alone. The drummer will be there in four minutes!

The Emperor would be pleased by this LEGO AT-ST at UCS scale

The Imperial AT-ST scout walker is secure in the S-tier of all-time great Star Wars vehicles and frequently shows up in official LEGO sets and fan creations. It’s been 18 years since the beloved “chicken walker” received the UCS treatment, making it prime time for a remake with modern techniques and parts. Carl Greatrix took on this challenge and created perhaps the most screen accurate AT-ST we’ve ever seen in LEGO.

The legs, side-mounted cannons, and especially the rear, feature just the right amount of greebling (the decorative bits of tubes and texture that give Star Wars vehicles that gritty garage aesthetic). A few judiciously applied custom decals push the accuracy to the next level. Perhaps most impressively, Carl engineered the legs with enough strength to balance this notoriously tricky top-heavy design without support.

Carl is no stranger to building screen vehicles in incredible detail as he works as a senior model designer for the official LEGO video games from TT Games. Revisit our interview with Carl for a deeper appreciation of how LEGO gets brought to life in games.

Building under the influence(r)

Ah, the influencer. A much-maligned – sometimes unfairly so – mainstay of modern social media. Although I don’t know much about LEGO influencers, I do know about some influential LEGO builders; namely, Nick Jensen. And he has turned his talented hand to… Well, a brick-built influencer! (These articles aren’t just thrown together, you know!) This social media savant’s pose gives her so much character, and it’s not hard to picture what that selfie she’s taking will look like. Front and centre of the piece is a great use of a particular LEGO part, though. A cupcake holder – seen in a couple of Dots sets – makes for a fantastic miniskirt!

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Lock your banshee in attack position, we’re going in!

Can’t pick just one big-budget sci-fi franchise in which plucky insurgents strike back against an evil from the stars? Now you don’t have to. Moptoptrev‘s “Neytiri’s First Space Flight” blends the aerial rides of choice from both Avatar and Star Wars in vivid color. The LEGO creation is part machine, part creature, and all deadly. Even without the Avatar additions, the color scheme makes for a visually stunning X-wing, but the banshee parts take it to a whole new level. The craft’s signature S-foils have been replaced by banshee wings, and the laser cannons are now banshee heads. The largest head forms the nose of the living starfighter. I don’t know how all those heads work together, but one thing’s for sure: if you’re a bad guy, this is one thing you don’t want to see in your rearview mirror.

Love is in the air and on the stairs in this medieval LEGO village

She was a high-town girl, raised in comfort. He lived in low-town, busking for coin. She hears a hum on the whispering wind. Could it be love? All that keeps these two apart is a short flight of stairs. Tomasz Bartoszek captures this romantic moment in LEGO with a scene that is packed with medieval detail and incredible parts usage. The brickwork throughout features some lovely SNOT (studs not on top) techniques, especially on that heavy wall through which the staircase rises. My favorite details are the large door that uses gaps between bricks to look like wooden planks, and the slate roof that integrates capes for a truly ramshackle look. The distinct colors and building techniques for the high and low towns make this scene of star-crossed lovers really shine.

Tomasz’ build won the runner up spot in the 2024 Summer Joust Competition “Stairway Tales” category.

Tradition meets tomorrow in this Cyberpunk Chinese-style inn

Cyberpunk isn’t a genre one typically associates with subtlety, but for his latest LEGO creation, Quian Yj achieves just that balance. At first glance, this multi-story inn looks like a building you might see today, or any time during the Qing Dynasty. But look a little closer and you’ll notice that the signs are neon and the roof tiles are transparent, perhaps a solar layer to power this waystation of the future. Honestly it makes a lot of sense that old buildings would be retrofitted for a cyber future rather than razed and replaced with 80s industrial vibes. I appreciate the mix of window styles (including the stained-glass from the Brick Bank) suggesting a building that has undergone regular repairs and updates over a century or more. Even with a sci-fi work like this, Quian Yj’s architectural builds feel so cozy and lived-in. I wonder if the inn has any vacancies?

Got an achoo? Guile’s gotchu!

Once you see this clever LEGO tissue box built by Dicken Liu you really can’t unsee it. I dare you to forget about it. See, you can’t! But that’s how it goes with really fun and clever stuff. The ever-vain Guile from Street Fighter is known for his Sonic Boom and sweet flattop haircut; the latter replicated nicely as tissue. Now you can dream of knocking M. Bison’s lights out every time you blow your schnozz. If that’s not a flawless victory I don’t know what is!

“Mama’s gonna paint the streets with blood!”

Iron Builder is heating up and LEGO builder Miscellanabuilds comes out swinging with a huge mallet. Also a baseball bat. With a penchant for acrobatics, theatrics, and a touch of insanity, Harley Quinn is ready for whatever comes her way. Adorned in stylish red and black, Harley is looking “A-OK, Mr. J.” Speaking of The Joker, he’s leering in the background. See him there? If this fiendish folie à deux is any indicator, we look forward to whatever else Miscellanabuilds has in store for us.

Two hot takes on the dog days of summer

In a tradition old as time, Iron Builder competitions see two top builders in the LEGO community face off with a serious of dueling creations based around a “seed part” that must be featured in each build. As summer 2024 comes to an end, two fresh-faced challengers vie for the title of Iron Builder in “Battle Red Cauldron.” After coming out swinging with a cool Harley Quinn, Eann “Miscellanabuilds” McCurdy turns up the heat with slice of backyard life. Cauldrons are cleverly employed as a propane tank for the grill, while also appearing as chimney and dogfood dish. It’s the brick-built pets who steal the show. Their personality, combined with the slick studs-free setting, evoke a stop-action cartoon more than a LEGO model.

Maven of microscale Geneva D ripostes by doubling down on the dog – hot dog, that is – with a life-size frank made from interlocking cauldrons. Minifig arms make for surprisingly effective mustard, and Wolverine claws in green, used by Eann for grass, return here as relish. A pair of cauldrons make for a convincing ketchup lid, but it’s the recessed cauldron representing a tomato on the label that scores the knockout punch.

A detailed LEGO plane that’s no mirage... Or is it?

LEGO builder Beat Felber is well known for his enormous models of industrial vehicles (exhibit A: our Beat Felber archives). But he’s ringing the changes with his latest model! It’s smaller than his usual fare, of military rather than industrial nature, and more at home in the air than on the ground. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the flawless attention to detail. This plane – and its loadout – is based on a real Dassault Mirage, on display in Beat’s native Switzerland. With the help of some custom decals, it compares very favourably!

It wouldn’t be a Beat Felber model without a bit of functionality as well: on here, the landing gear retracts into the undercarriage. You can see what it looks like in flight on this very smart display stand!

A concert venue from a pop fan’s wildest dreams

Grab your friendship bracelets, Swifties, because the queen herself has arrived. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has stunned audiences across the world, and now it makes a stunning LEGO diorama, too. The biggest challenge, says artist Paul Hetherington (aka “brickbaron”), was coming up with a design that could represent the entire tour in a single scene. So he focused on the Lover House, a symbol of Taylor’s extensive career and body of work.

The Eras tour continues after the jump!