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.

The Old Fishing Store... on a tiny budget

If you’re not inclined to fork over money for 21310 Old Fishing Store, Simon NH has you covered. This microscale recreation is do good that I actually thought it was the real set, albeit zoomed out, when I scrolled past it in my feed. A lot of different colours and shapes had to be crammed into this small build to give it that hobbled together look. A favourite technique here is the textured bricks which are upside down on the tower. Their anti-studs give the illusion of a platform with railings.

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Too much awesome: Fully functional LEGO MINDSTORMS Star Wars Racer game [Video]

Just take my money already! Combining three of my favorite things, Alexis Dos Santos has raised the bar on mind-blowing creations with this Star Wars Racer game, made out of LEGO and powered by MINDSTORMS.

The game itself is a three-dimensional, brick-built version of the pod-racing scene from Star Wars Episode I. The player controls Anakin’s podracer between obstacles coming at it while the MINDSTORMS Intelligent Brick provides the logic and sound effects for the game.

As the caution on the game warns, “HIGHLY ADDICTIVE GAME, THANKFULLY IT’S FREE TODAY!” But where do I ~~buy~~ get it … ?

Paris cafe makes a stunning microscale debut

Rebuilding Creator modular buildings in microscale presents LEGO builders with many challenges, from recreating key architectural details using completely different parts to matching colors that may not exist for the needed elements. Simon NH has created a stunning replica of one of my personal favorite modular building sets, 10243 Parisian Restaurant making good use of some new parts, including the 4×4 quarter circle tiles.

Welcome to the Dark Knight’s dressing room

Batman has always been a guy who likes to change his outfit, every new Batman seems to get a new Bat-suit to wear. Thorsten Bonsch has graced the pages of The Brothers Brick many times, and this time he has taken on the Dark Knight’s dressing room. With more that a little gothic influence, Thorsten has place the costumes deep within the Bat Cave. The winding staircase uses fences as the steps leading to the raised platform. I love the brick-built stalactites and stalagmites giving a sense of impressive scale to the scene.

Taking a closer look at the platform gives a better view of the Gothic-inspired cases for the Bat-suit and Robin-suit and you can see that both the central pillar and the cases have elaborate, ornamental decoration. I love the tall candlesticks on the table, they fit into the scene perfectly.

Magic micro Mario & Luigi

The best microscale building takes regular LEGO parts and looks at them in a totally new way, allowing their shapes and details to represent something very different when the scale is changed. P.B. provides the perfect example in this teeny-tiny rendition of everyone’s favourite fraternal plumbers. Turn minifigure neckerchiefs upside-down and what do you have? Blue dungarees of course! The hats and moustaches round off a pair of immediately recognisable characters. Fantastic stuff.

Going loco all the way to Micropolis

Sometimes it’s a single LEGO piece which sparks the inspiration for an entire model. That’s what seems to have happened here, with David Zambito deciding the Nexo Knights helmet visor might make a good cowcatcher for a locomotive. He wasn’t wrong – it looks excellent – as does the rest of this microscale creation. The details on the train are good, although I wish the loco itself was a different colour to offer better contrast with the grey rockwork around the tunnel. The mix of skeleton arms used for steam is an obvious highlight, but don’t miss that little tent and campfire – a lovely touch which breaks up the surrounding landscaping.

Pulp Fiction meets brick reality

The LEGO community’s unending crusade to turn every pop fiction character into a BrickHeadz figure continues today with both Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield; John Stephens did an exceptional job getting these character’s traits into the blocky style. Jules’ hair, while a simple build, does so much to identify him and the cigarette, collars and earrings are more great touches which make this duo so good in this format.

Hasselblad camera with working features made of LEGO bricks

Builder and photographer Helen Sham built a nostalgic Hasselblad 503CX and made it functional. The only thing it can’t do is take an actual photo (just yet), but it does come with the bells and whistles. This LEGO built camera has parts that can be separated as would the real Hasselblad. It includes a mirror for the viewfinder that will actually give you a reversed image of your frame. There’s a spring-loaded shutter button that gives you a real feeling of releasing the shutter and a running counter, had the camera have actual film in there. I’m more impressed that it only took Helen about 2 hours to put it together with an assortment of 1120 parts.

Click here to peek inside the camera!

Tianfeng Pagoda stands tall in history

The Tianfeng Pagoda is situated in the centre of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. With a height of about 167 feet, this hexagonal building is an ancient landmark within the city. It was named after the time period it was built, between Tiancewansui (reign title of Empress Wu Zetian AD 695) and Wansuidengfeng (reign title of Empress Wu Zetian AD 696) in Tang Dynasty. Tianfeng Pagoda’s hexagonal shape has been beautifully captured in LEGO by qian yj and the 7 levels of pagoda are almost as impressive in LEGO.

This LEGO version sits peacefully in a park with trees, gardens and even a small pond. While Tianfeng Pagoda does sit in Tianfeng park, it represents the fusion of history and present day as the actual tower is located next to a shopping mall and bustling streets cross just beyond the park.

Winter Olympics venues built from LEGO bricks

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in South Korea have already provided their fair share of drama (gale-force wind snowboarding anyone?) and now they’re providing some excellent microscale LEGO models. Jae Won Lee has put together tiny versions of the stadia and event venues. First up, the towering Alpensia ski jump arena…

The curves at the base of the hill might be a little steep for nailing the perfect Telemark landing, but the rest of the creation is spot-on — immediately recognisable from the TV coverage. Beyond the twin hills of Alpensia, the builder has also created an impressive reconstruction of the main arena in Pyeongchang itself. A pentagon isn’t the easiest shape to capture in bricks, but this little model does it well. Nice job on the outer-wall textures too…

There’s a range of models in the series, from the speed skating arena through to the ice hockey stadium. Whilst some of them are quite simple in their execution, they make a lovely set, as seen in the image below, which also provides a nice view of the main stadium interior seating…

Speeder or spider?

I think Halfbeak has misread the contest rules for the annual LEGO Speeder Bike contest and built a spider instead of a speeder! In all seriousness, this is a very original design. The competition is looking tough though, but luckily this police speeder has more than just originality going for it.

A conservative colour scheme that is unmistakably police-like combined with some stickers and a compact, complex design are all great, but Halfbeak did not stop there; the little accompanying drone really adds a lot to the general idea of police control while the colourful base helps the build stand out more. A touch of digital editing at the engines rounds off the picture as quite a treat to look at.

Build your own vintage Bugatti from LEGO [Instructions]

A while back we featured this delightful vintage Bugatti discovered in a dilapidated roadside barn. It looks like its new owners have gotten the old gal up and running. Creator Norton74 has built another scene, this time featuring the Bugatti at a filling station.

In addition, you can now build your very own vintage racecar thanks to instructions from the builder, following the jump.

See step-by-step LEGO Bugatti instructions