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.

Towering in the sky, watching over the clouds

There are such things as classic themes in LEGO builds, like Castle or Space, but there are also very well-established motifs that can fit into these broader themes. One such motif that is often visited by many builders over what is now decades is floating rocks. Marcel V. takes inspiration from some of the more famous floating rock builds to bring us this cute little floating watchtower.

The best part is the watchtower, in my opinion. It has a unique polygonal shape with a cute little dock and very good colour work. Notice that the door is actually a window piece wedged in front of the wall. There are a few other examples of unconnected bricks used on it as well, a technique people seem to either love or hate, but in this case it works really well — connecting the piece just for the sake of it would not change the look of the creation anyway. Besides the watchtower itself, the little landscape adds just enough colour to set the mood and give the titular tower a nice contrast.

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A fun bit of Super Mario nostalgia in these custom LEGO cubes [Video]

If you ask me, the combination of Super Mario Bros. and LEGO can equal nothing less than awesome. There certainly is lots of it out there, but this is definitely one of my favorites. Sean from Build Better Bricks has graced us with this bit of awesome: a quartet of the iconic blocks from the beloved Nintendo game.

Arguably the best part about the blocks is the fact that they are hollow and designed to hold various things. The mushrooms fit perfectly inside the question/mystery block and the brick block is naturally a coin bank! Watch the video to see more!

“How about a ride, mister?”

When it comes to fan-built Back to the Future models, there are a plethora of DeLorean time machines out there. Heck, there was even an official LEGO set! While I love the DeLorean as much as the next person, who can forget the 1985 Toyota SR5 pickup truck (also known as the Hilux outside of the U.S.)? This was the truck Marty McFly pined over with his girlfriend, became a reality when he returned home to a transformed 1985, and nearly ruined his life when Needles called him “chicken” for refusing to race. Fortunately, Nikolay Gamurar remembered Marty’s truck and built a fantastic rendition of the vehicle in Technic form. While the Toyota from the movie was a two-door model, Nikolay modified his truck to have four-door extended cab. Outside of this mod, the sculpting of the rest of the body feels faithful to the original truck. As a Technic build, it looks stunning in black.

Nikolay’s truck is packed with a lot of detail, right down to the Chassis. This photograph also gives at glimpse at some of the Toyota’s key mechanical functions.

It also features a nice and roomy interior, perfect for a comfortable drive to the lake.

A great yellow spaceship that isn’t from Star Wars

When it comes to building a spaceship with character, sometimes the spaces in between the LEGO elements are just as important, if not more so, than the parts themselves. A good gap or connection can provide the perfect breathing room or white space in a model. This craft, known as the Vulture, from the upcoming video game Star Citizen, by GolPlaysWithLego is packed with some very nice details. One of the most interesting of which would have to be the post-production effects used to place the vessel in action.

One of my absolute favorite details is the use of two black roller-skates on either side of the black 1×2 ingot just behind the front cockpit (and another on each of the forward arms). Another well-placed mini-figure accessory is the ice skate. Finally, the builder achieves a half-plate gap behind a pair of cheese slopes attached to headlight bricks.

Fear the broadside of the mighty airship Bellonatus

Flying ships are certainly not uncommon among LEGO builds, going back to the heyday of LEGO steampunk and floating rocks eight or ten years ago. Mark Erickson has incorporated large LEGO boat hull pieces into a rather amazing flagship for his fictional Vermillion Empire.

Mark’s ship uses custom-printed sails cut to standard LEGO size, but the most impressive part of the ship is all the gold detail, both surrounding the cannon ports and at the prow of the ship, where a mighty ram is ready to impale enemy ships.

Getting to the heart of the matter

In this enigmatic piece, builder why.not? creates a heart from the negative space formed in a wall of black bricks. Acting like a window it draws our attention towards the red and white quadrants behind. Two opposing figures face off across the coloured fields, separated by rugged chains. As a builder myself, I find the use of the imperfect connections between elements to create glowing cracks particularly effective. As we’ve seen before, why.not? is careful not to give too much away, leaving the work untitled, but this shouldn’t stop us pondering the turmoil of the heart it passionately expresses.

Battle for the sky between Fujin and Raijin!

The Japanese Shinto-Buddhist gods of wind and storms have an eternal rivalry for control of the skies. Fūjin is the god of wind, and carries an enormous bag of air to blow, while Raijin beats drums to make thunder and lightning. LEGO 7 has captured the look of these well-known deities perfectly in LEGO, complete with bolts of lightning emanating from the cloud that Raijin is floating on. Although Fūjin is typically depicted with red hair, the white hair that both characters share ties them together wonderfully, while both gods sport distinct armor around their waists in silver and gold. This pair of fearsome spirits would fit in perfectly guarding the Kaminarimon “Thunder Gate” at Senso-ji in Tokyo.

A super airship Odyssey

Daniel Church must love airships. The latest addition to his oeuvre, The Odyssey from Super Mario Odyssey, is the result of a well-documented 3-month building and planning process. It is also a result of Daniel’s exploration of the form over the past nine years—not least of which is the Fortnite Battle Bus we recently highlighted.

There are many subtle details to admire in this build: the slight flare of the upper panels, the use of nearly 50 LEGO rubber bands for ribbing, the Zamor sphere used as a globe, and so many elegant curves.

A sheriff from another world, and I don’t mean the American old west

There’s something indefinable about this alien sheriff by Patrick Biggs that I can’t help but love. He wears the classic old-west sheriff attire–a long black coat with a dark gray waistcoat beneath–but it’s the small details that really bring this character to life, such as the spurs on the sheriff’s boots, his thumb poised on the hammer of his six-shooter, and the excellent sideburns constructed with light gray feathered wings, just to name a few.

However, I think my favorite part about the build may be the simple use of a Friends star piece as the sheriff’s badge; in other words, using a star as… well… a star, showing that sometimes the perfect part is indeed out there, you just need to find it.

Butterfly mimicry: the marriage of LEGO art and scientific ideas

Brothers Brick regular Alanboar explores the link between LEGO art and science in his latest Butterfly Mimicry creation; his exquisite case of mounted butterfly specimens being made in honour of pioneering naturalist Henry Walter Bates. The concept of Batesian mimicry argues that harmless species, such as these butterflies, evolve the markings of poisonous animals avoided by predators.

Tracing the subtle differences in pattern across these beautiful LEGO butterflies, each created from a limited set of elements, reminds me of our understanding of the malleability of genetic code and the way Bates’ work foreshadowed these discoveries.

That’s no moon – it’s a rebel space station

Don’t be misled by first impressions. This Rebel Alliance Space Station by Corry Lankford is an absolutely enormous LEGO creation — nearly two metres tall!

Corry has grabbed the “grubby realism” aesthetic of the Star Wars universe with both hands and stuffed his space station full of greebles and details, creating a genuine sense of a lived-in future. This shot of one of the decks showcases some of the texturing that’s gone into the model, whilst offering a glimpse of the detailed interior compartments…

Click to see more of this amazing Star Wars creation, including the accompanying spacecraft

When Buddha inspires your LEGO builds...

Why not make a Buddha out of LEGO? Actually, while we’re at it, why not make a posable Buddha mech? That’s what inspired Moko to build this odd-but-beautiful creation, and the posable figure is actually quite intriguing. The body shape is nice, and the face, as well as the hair made with exposed studs on the head, are expertly crafted.

Moko is also quite good at taking photos that really bring his characters to life. If you can read Japanese (or roughly approximate it with an in-browser translator), you can learn more about Moko and his build on his blog. Actually, even if you can’t, his plethora of pictures are quite interesting! Yes, a minifigure can indeed fit in the compartment behind that muscular chest, so we guess that makes this technically a mech.