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.

How to build a Grumman E-1 Tracer early warning aircraft from LEGO: Part 1 [Feature]

Question: “How did you build this?” Answer: “By making a plan and sticking to it.” The question is one that many LEGO builders will have had. The answer, in my case, is completely true, but also wholly inadequate. So, in an attempt to give a more fulfilling answer, in the next few weeks I’ll occasionally write a piece detailing the progress on my latest project: a scale model of a Grumman E-1 Tracer aircaft.

Some builders start by experimenting with a few pieces until they find a combination they like. They then build the rest of the model from there. I’m not one of those people. I plan my builds. “Doesn’t that kill spontaneity?”, you may wonder. Well yes, it does, but if I wanted to build a scale model of a complex object such as an aircraft spontaneously, it simply wouldn’t happen. My brain doesn’t work like that. Furthermore, I enjoy looking at pictures of aircraft, reading about them and thinking about which to build and how to build it. To me this is half the fun. If If I am spontaneous, I’ll build car.

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Echo of a previous life

After playing the latest DLC for Hollow Knight, talented multi-theme builder Anthony Wilson can’t contain his delight . Such a cute, yet so deadly Shade is one of the many reasons to fall in love with the game. This ghost appears every single time the main character dies, and you’ll have to defeat it to regain the energy and the wealth you had collected before. You’ll face the Shade calmly levitating in mid-air right next to where you just died. Despite building a static figure, Anthony skillfully captures the ghost’s smoke-like body. And even the sword behind the Shade’s back looks exactly like the one in the game.

Building the winds of change

This mini-windmill model, built in collaboration between Mark van der Maarel and his son, resonates with positive energy. It’s wonderful to see the pieced-together building style normally associated with post-apocalyptic creations being used to covey a green message. The salvaged sails and junkyard components of the windmill are offset by wonderful foliage and neat tulips formed from lever bases. Nature is thriving here, a theme that resonates with LEGO’s recent plants set made from sustainable plastics.

Living around an ancient tree

We’ve seen a lot of LEGO castles built deep in forests, hidden among tall spreading trees. But John Klapheke takes an absolutely different approach to the idea of the landscape in and around his latest micro-castle. Instead of surprising us with enormous amount of greenery around the castle, he plants only one tree, but right behind the castle walls. I must admit I love how this scheme makes my imagination work: is it an old gigantic oak towering over the castle, or is it a regular forest tree occupied by a tribe of small mythical creatures? And it is simply stunning how a small sail boat leaving the pier adds a whole new storyline to this charming creation.

Half a kingdom, a tenth of the size

Microscale offers LEGO builders an opportunity to create epic layouts within a reasonable footprint and parts budget. Peter Ilmrud takes full advantage of these benefits to create a sizeable slice of a fantasy kingdom, complete with an impressive mountaintop city guarded by a dragon. The city itself is nicely done, with clever combination of bricks to make windows from the little gaps. Aside from the towers of the citadel, the scenery is packed full of all the fantasy details you’d expect — sprawling forests, riverfront villages, guard towers in the hills, and a cave entrance which doubtless leads into a dungeon complex overflowing with goblins.

I particularly like the river winding its way through the landscape, the banks smoothed with a nice selection of curved plates. It also offers a setting for some smart parts usage — check out that ship made from golden epaulettes mounted upside-down on a jumper plate. Sweet.

LEGO Exodus Black from Destiny 2 stands nearly 3 feet tall

It’s that time of year again for SHIPtember — one month to build a spacecraft over one hundred LEGO studs in length (approximately 31.5 inches). I haven’t participated successfully since 2014, when I built UNSC Savannah from Halo: Reach. 2018’s build worked out much better, so I present my LEGO model of Exodus Black, a colony ship from Destiny 2.

See more photos of Nick’s Exodus Black after the jump

Steampunk LEGO chess set makes all the right moves

Board games have provided inspiration for a few creations, notably this impressive LEGO Settlers of Catan model from last year, but it’s always great when a builder takes on the challenge of putting together an entire chess set. Mishima has had a crack at a steampunk-themed set, and the whole thing has worked out brilliantly. The board is smoothly tiled with some nice clanky touches, but it’s the playing pieces which steal the show.

Click through to see more of this excellent steampunk creation

Heroica kicked up a notch

LEGO’s fantasy RPG-lite board game series Heroica may not have seen all much success with adult gamers or builders, but I’d be willing to bet if the boards had looked more like this upgraded version by Kale Frost, there would have been a great deal more interest. With some lovely sculpting, Kale has created an interactive map that retains the checkerboard movement squares for the players, while adding fun micro-builds for the various locations. For details, the scattered trans light blue cheese slopes in the water add a nice bit of motion to the seas, while the robot arms make great bridge railings.

Kale notes that he’s planning to expand the game board to make an even bigger playing area, so we can’t wait to see else is in store for these tiny adventurers!

A divine monochrome Indian Mausoleum

Building in monochrome can often be a huge challenge, even if the source material is too. This lovely mausoleum by Jens Ohrndorf is a really great example of knocking that challenge out of the park. The Taj Mahal-esque creation puts some nice techniques to work, especially on the top. Also, the aged and yellowed bricks give it a feel reminiscent of being true-to-life.

This close-up photo really shows how neatly everything fits together. Overall, the perfect amount of detail is packed into a satisfyingly compact microscale build.

We have covered many of Jens’ awesome creations, and some of my personal favorites are his animals, including the mole, polar bear, rhino, and bison!

The last resort in building

Whatever happened to Fabuland – the 1980s animal-character driven play theme from LEGO – appears to be Dutch builder Sebastiaan Arts‘ raison d’être in creating his last habitat in the world. In one of the strangest takes on the post-apocalyptic theme, the various animal-headed Fabuland characters have holed up in the Last Resort, a towering orange residential complex.

See more of this LEGO Space / Fabuland mashup

Like an elephant, the trunk’s in the front of this Volkswagen Beetle

Lennart C is no stranger to the pages of The Brothers Brick and returns with another iconic vehicle, the Volkswagen Beetle Type 1! While the Beetle may have been knocked off the best-selling charts by the ubiquitous, evolving Toyota Corolla, the world’s longtime “Most Popular Automobile” can live on in our hearts with this stunning, slick black edition.

The model boasts some really great features for being such a compact creation, including working doors and engine lid, and teeny tiny foot pedals. Printed pieces from the official 10252 Beetle are smartly placed, and I’m pretty sure the seats have some degree of reclining action. Lennart is also already putting newer pieces to good use: the new 1×2 plate rounded with open studs is tucked away in the tail lights.

If you like this Beetle, check out more Volkswagen action in our archives!

TBB Cover Photo for September 2018: Bricktychon – The Wood Tryptichon

The TBB Cover Photo for September 2018 is this beautiful triptych (a fancy word for a picture or carving featuring three panels side by side), which shows the journey of wood during medieval times, from logging through cutting and use in a large building. The photo is a collaboration between three builders: Travis Brickle, who built the forest, Simon NH, who built the sawmill, and Ralph Langer, who built the medieval construction scene. While each of the builds is stunning in its own right, the builders did an excellent job coordinating their photography and build styles to create a trifecta of creations that tells a simple yet charming story.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then read the submission guidelines and submit your photo today. Photos that do not meet the submission guidelines will not be considered, and will be removed from the group.

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