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.

Dominique Boeynaems pulls a-head with LEGO creativity

The Iron Forge competition just concluded its second week-long sprint where twenty builders were tasked with making creations using the ubiquitous LEGO minifig head as the featured “seed part.” So many delightful builds emerged from the prompt, but one builder kept delivering smiles: Dominique Boeynaems. Each of these builds is worthy of sharing on its own, but together they’re an inspiration to builders and a showcase of what makes the Iron Forge such a wonderful part of LEGO fandom.

Leading with Dominique’s final build, this nearly lifesize accordion came together during a 10-hour sprint and incorporates no less than 44 minifig heads for the keys. Vidyo straps work great for the handles. With the competition name and year worked into the instrument, it’s both a wonderful build and the perfect memento.

Dominque’s frog uses three minifig heads – two for the eyes and one for the fly. A car hood makes for a perfect amphibian forehead.

Click to see more of Dominique’s colorful and heady builds

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Collaborative LEGO builds lead to the best views

With the powers of eight LEGO builders are combined, some truly spectacular creations can come into being. For instance, the amazing team of jnj_bricks, Eli Willsea, Carter Witz, Joel Tyer, Micah Beideman, Roanoke Handybuck, Davis Brown, and J2_Bricks all came together to show Omar a world worth exploring. There is some phenomenal forced perspective at play, with darling rockwork, bridgework, and tower-work(?) all coming together into something magical. I am just wishing that Omar will take me along on his next voyage.

Itty bitty Big Daddy will leave you in Rapture [Instructions]

It’s been 18 years since gamers first explored the fallen “utopia” of Rapture and we still can’t forget the Big Daddies who haunt its undersea halls. In game, those lumbering living diving suits are the stuff of nightmares, but built at minifig scale by BrickAA, they’re not nearly as scary. Shall we call them “L’il Papas” instead? BrickAA has quite a knack for pint-sized mechs and makes many instructions for their builds freely available, including the instructions for this adorable Big Daddy. What are you waiting for? In the words of Andrew Ryan, “a fan chooses to build.”

Should you prefer your Big Daddies a little… bigger, why not revisit this classic build from Eero Okkonen?

The Kenworth 993 is here to lug your heaviest LEGO models

Originally produced by the Kenworth Truck Company back in the 1980’s, the 993 model translates pretty well into LEGO all thanks to TsungNing Lee. Made to haul the heaviest of equipment, the truck actually doesn’t have room for its 700 hp Cummins V-12 engine in the front. Instead, you can see where it resides behind the driver, represented here by a bit of gray mechanics enclosed in a shell of yellow bricks and tubing.

Is the legendary Carrotana a Hare-tori Hanzo sword?

Over the past two years, Nathan Don (Woomy World) has become one of the most exciting builders around with a talent for color, shaping, and unlocking the potential in every piece from LEGO’s deep history of parts. The builder leaps into the new year with a new character: Tobu, a Japanese-inspired rabbit swordsman. The face is quite expressive, with parts like minifig casts in the lips giving the character a fluffy intensity. The featured part here is definitely the new leaf mold in magenta from Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet, used for Tobu’s ears and for a dynamic ring of leaves around the model, and which anchor the color scheme. As Nathan explains on his blog, parts in retired colors, like the Scala table used for the figure’s base, can unlock new color combinations when mixed with modern elements.

Should you find yourself in Billund, several of Nathan’s characters can now be seen at the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery.

In New Hashima, even offshore slums are epic

In the cyberpunk city of New Hashima, the rich live above the fray (as we’ve seen with this incredible tower) while the have-nots are left to eke out a living in the toxic world below. Brick Ready adds to the massive LEGO collaboration with this artificial island made from shipping containers that shows that there’s beauty even in the city’s slums. The builder brings an eye for detail to the towering creation, such as laundry hanging from windows, splintered wood supports, brick-built graffiti, and broken windows. The shipping container homes might not be luxurious but they feel cozier than many of the neon scenes in New Hashima’s more thriving districts. The transmission tower adds scale and a splash of color that makes the island a triumphant addition to the collaboration that grows more wonderful each year.

Do go chasing waterfalls with Jeff Works

Jeff Friesen has been delighting LEGO fans with his microscale cityscapes for years, maintaining a clean isometric look that looks rendered but is very much real bricks. For his first build of 2025, Jeff erects a gilded city of waterfalls and aqueducts that could have been pulled straight from the beautiful Monument Valley mobile games. Like all of Jeff’s cityscapes, it’s an immersive experience that rewards peeking around every arch as you imagine life in this fantastic place.

If you’re curious about Jeff’s process and inspirations, our interview with the prolific builder is a great place to start.

Tractor pulling

It is hard to put my finger on it, but British trucks often have a look that somehow immediately marks them as British. Case in point, my new Lego DAF XG, as operated by Manners Transport from Northumberland. I think it is mainly the colour blocking, with contrasting red and bright light yellow elements.

Manners specializes in transporting farming equipment, such as combine harvesters. However, since I already have a combine harvester transport, this model was going to carry a tractor instead. I picked a Deutz-Fahr tractor because its bright green colour contrasts nicely with the truck.

When I posted a picture of the tractor model last week, fellow Dutch truck builder Legorigs wrote that I ought to be able to fit two of them on a trailer. Such a great idea! This was not part of my plan, but two tractors are obviously better than one, so I built a second example.
Let’s see how this plan came together

LEGO botanicals meet mad science shenanigans

As it turns out, LEGO minifigures love the LEGO botanical sets just as much as you do! In this green (and red and pink and…) build by James Zhan, a madcap bunch of renegade biologists have created a ginormous bouquet of flowers in their lab. They’re a month early for Valentine’s Day but I’m sure whoever these are for are going to be delighted. Someone might want to take a weed-whacker to the plants overgrowing the corners of the lab. You need to establish control before the plants start to turn on you!

Be sure to check out our coverage of the official LEGO Botanicals line in the archives and remember; don’t feed the plants, no matter how much they ask!

What’s that? A LEGO wat!

Aside from a handful of Raya and the Last Dragon sets, LEGO has never explored traditional South-East Asian architecture in official sets, which is a shame, as you can see from this minifig-scale Thai wat built by Brigitte Jonsgard. Brigitte perfectly captures the steep, tiered roof with ornate chofa jutting out like horns. Snaking dragons along the stairs welcome guests into the temple. Birgitte shares a video of the full buddhist complex, with wat and stupa, over on flickr.

Birgitte has a talent for ornate houses of worship. This stave church from her native Norway is one of the most striking LEGO churches I’ve ever seen.

Making mech heads in LEGO with Moko [Building Techniques]

When it comes to building LEGO mechs, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone with as much experience and expertise as Moko. The Japanese builder has been posting and sharing robotic creations with us for 20 years, going back to 2005 and this sad little Gundam! Moko’s latest big project, this incredible combining Mechazord, was one of our most popular articles of 2024. Today Moko is sharing techniques for building mech heads like these.

Follow along as Moko guides you through the advanced techniques used to build heads like these from simple parts you probably already have in your collection.

For more mech head tutorials, check out Moko’s previous video with four different styles.

Surely you jest?

Wherever there’s a medieval LEGO city – like this amazing build by Jaka Kupina – there’s a jumble of joyful jumping jesters to entertain the townsfolk. I hope that blacksmith isn’t disrupting the show, but if his hammering is steady enough, the minstrels may be able to incorporate it into their song. The guards may not have a great view of the festivities, but look at how big their roof is! As Shrek would say; “do you think they’re compensating for something?”