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.

Whisked away by the tornado of death

We don’t feature minifig-only photos often, but as our Editor-In-Chiefness Andrew occasionally reminds us, Brothers Brick was originally a minifig-focused site. However, this fun image from legojeff deserves your attention for two reasons. Firstly, it’s got great parts choice, and an imaginative upside-down use of the skirt piece. But secondly, and more importantly, it highlights an under-reported problem for minifigs across the world — accidental death by vacuum. Let’s hope this image goes some way to prompting more focus on this troubling issue.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Pick a colour, any colour

Let a little colour into your LEGO life with this collection of brick-built colour swatch cards from Anthony SÉJOURNÉ. A simple build to be sure, but so clean and smart. Shame the white halves of the cards don’t have the same rounded corners as the coloured parts, but that’s nitpicking. I want a set of these to turn the design guys at my work green with envy (2423 C green to be precise).

And for the real graphic design geeks amongst you, it looks like Anthony has even used the proper Pantone typeface for the custom stickers featuring the colour names — Akzidenz Grotesk. I might be wrong on that front, but it looks pretty close to me.

Dreams of summer in Tuscany

Picture it, Tuscany 1982. The sky is blue, the cypress trees are green and the sunflowers are in full bloom. Sandro Damiano has built a peaceful LEGO scene that is the perfect antidote to some of the post-apocalyptic creations we feature here on TBB. While technically this is not a complex build, the composition and colourful scene has been well crafted in a picture postcard style. I love the meandering stone path and the shapely cypress trees, while the balance of bright colours is ideal for this cheerful scene.

The great Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres stands tall in microscale

Chartre Cathedral is the crowning masterpiece of French Gothic architecture, built primarily between 194 and 1220. I studied the cathedral in college, but today I mainly remember it as a climbable location in Assassin’s Creed. So much for my higher education. Nevertheless, Isaac Snyder says he was inspired to build Our Lady of Chartre in LEGO microscale for a college assignment. Isaac packs an amazing amount of detail into the tiny structure, from the different spires of the west façade to the rows of flying buttresses behind the south porch.

The other side is no less wonderfully detailed, with round chapels extending from the apse.

What’s not to love about a post-apocalyptic toxic wasteland?

Bleecker Street never looked so bleak in this delightfully dreary scene built by Sanel Lukovic, part of a collaborative build presented at Bricking Bavaria in Munich with friends Robert Maier and Jonas Obermaier. Simply titled Apoca, it has a lovely rustic, decaying motif. Broken windows throughout the dilapidated building contrast with the charming copper oxide green Vespa, while overgrown weeds and cluttered wreckage cover cracks in the pavement. And nothing screams post-apocalyptic like respiratory equipment being worn by the armed and dangerous-looking dudes surveying the badlands.

The eternal struggle rages on

The Warcraft series of games has gone through so much history that it almost lost the corny cartoony nature of the original, especially with the decade of World of Warcraft expansions under its belt. A simple matter of orcs versus humans has been turned around and inside-out so many times that some times, it is just refreshing to see someone like Kalais go to the roots and throw all depth of story out the window for the sake of pure fun. I do often complain how there are not enough LEGO Warcraft creations out there for such a rich universe, but lately this void has been filled adequately.

There is so much action going on in the scene and the iconic blue roofs of the castle look nice, but my favourite part is the portal on the right-hand side of the diorama with a red mist effect on the edges and ominous statues positioned right besides it.

Look out below!

The introduction of LEGO themes like Friends and Elves have really added a number of enchanting pastel colors to the LEGO builders’ palette. This fantastic leviathan by jayfa_mocs makes great use of a number of these pieces. This beast is truly frightening, the stuff of nightmares for any honest fisherman or pirate crew.

The simple landscaping gives an ambiguous sense of scale, so you could imagine the immensity of this monster from the deep. The jaw deserves a closer look, where a variety of tooth and horn elements are used to create multiple rows of teeth in a small space.

Assassins don’t stop for tea in Boston

Assassin’s Creed III is actually the fifth major instalment in the Assassin’s Creed series. The game explores the life of an 18th-century assassin in Colonial America during the American Revolution. Boston was an important location to both the American and British armies and Ben Trischler has used this setting as inspiration for his street scene. I love the dark red brick texture Ben has patiently created for the main building (based on the Old State House from the game). The round windows look particularly impressive, while the architectural details around the central windows and doors add a lot of character to the building.

The bustling street scene below has some lovely textures and interesting details that draw the eye, like those Salmon-coloured Scala flower pots and the hay cleverly made from a pile of mop heads.

Tiny Metal Slug builds you can make for a few quarters

The Metal Slug series of games has some stand out features, and the small vehicles in them have always been a favourite. While we’ve seen some previous attempts at recreating these vehicles, especially the titular Metal Slug tank, we have never seen them crafted on such a small scale. wing hong chan has created four instantly recognisable builds from the games.

The central mech actually fits a full minifigure, and there’s an impressive side build with the “IN” instruction and red arrow. Aside from the three above, there’s also the jet which, like the mech, fits a minifigure.

Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal, LEGO’s 2nd biggest set ever [Review]

Last month we announced that LEGO is re-releasing the iconic 10189 Taj Mahal set as Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal. There was a mixture of surprise, pleasure and dismay at this announcement, depending on your ownership of the original 10189 and whether the re-release could affect your “investment” or your ability to finally afford this iconic set. Taj Mahal is the second-largest LEGO set of all time with 5,923 pieces, and is available beginning today in LEGO stores and from the LEGO Shop Online for $369.99 USD / £299.99. It is rated as 16+, reflecting the size and nature of the set as a display piece rather than any technical challenges when building.

In contrast to some recent re-releases like UCS Millennium Falcon 75192 or UCS Death Star 75159, this is not a re-modeled set but a pure re-release of the same set under a different set number. Let’s take a quick look at the two sets for comparison, as there are a couple of differences worth highlighting.

Continue reading our review

Iconic Luke & Vader scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back recreated perfectly in LEGO

One of the most iconic scenes from The Empire Strikes Back takes place in Cloud City, where Darth Vader reveals Luke’s parentage. Due to the sheer scale of the film’s setpiece, this memorable scene hasn’t appeared in many brick-built creations, but Caleb Watson and Carlyle Livingston have managed to pull off an incredible huge-scale build that’s appropriately and simply titled “Noooo!”

This impressive size of the central duct of Cloud City stands out, recreated perfectly though with a detailed backlit background. Although the patterned backdrop may look simple, the careful placement needed to get the textures just right isn’t easy.

Here Caleb (left) and Carlyle stand behind their masterpiece to give a sense of the scale needed to do justice to this scene in bricks.

View more details of this creation below.

Continue reading →

Set a course for the East

We’ve perhaps not seen as many Eastern-influenced LEGO creations as we might have expected following the LEGO Ninjago Movie and sets, but here’s an excellent medieval/Oriental ship creation from ElviN. The colour scheme is a little sombre, but that’s helping me imagine this her slipping her moorings before dawn and heading silently out of harbour, bound for faraway shores on nefarious Imperial business. The vessel’s dragon prow is nicely-done, and the circular entrances, lanterns, and roofing all contribute to an Eastern feel to the ship’s lines. But my favourite touch is the line of oars — protruding from smart oarholes, and well put-together from clips and tiles.

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!

Like this article? Tell all your friends!