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.

Tranquil hilltop temple

This lovely little LEGO temple is exactly what you need at the end of a busy day — the perfect place to let your cares slip away with the passing clouds. John Cheng‘s landscaping is nicely-done — rugged and uneven enough to create a natural feel, with an obvious bamboo forest vibe. The temple itself is relatively simple, but neatly put together, with the black and gold providing a strong contrast to the surrounding greenery. The toro lantern is particularly good — whilst we’ve seen many of these before in LEGO creations, this might the first I’ve seen using the hollow-stud “Apollo” 1×1 round piece on the sides. It’s an effective texture which I’ll be stealing for my own Asia-inspired scenes.

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Truck will make you (sand) green with envy

Designing a large-scale heavy truck in LEGO has never been an easy task, but hardcore builder Dirk Klijn challenged himself to build an FTF Roseboom from the late 1980s — and in relatively-rare sand green bricks no less. Normally you wouldn’t describe sand green as any kind of screaming color, but mixed with dark green and those bright red wheel rims it turns this truck into genuine eye candy.

Thanks to the model’s long wheelbase and bulky body, Dirk managed to pack the truck with a full set of motors controlled via an Sbrick. This gives the model full remote control while preserving the cockpit’s interior…

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can...

Modelling human proportions and shapes in LEGO can be very challenging, but Umamen does a fantastic job with this brick-built Spiderman figure. The model captures Spiderman’s lean-yet-muscular build we have seen in comics since his creation. I particularly like the use of an actual LEGO spider as the logo on the chest. It just goes to show that sometimes NPU (“nice parts usage”) can mean using a spider as… well… a spider!

And don’t miss the model’s extreme poseability:

Summer comes to an abrupt and tragic end...

There are many ways in which summer can come to an end — going back to school, traveling to a different hemisphere, or — as Tokyo Tag Team demonstrates — as a result of an invasion by body-snatching, one-eyed aliens who sneak up from behind while you’re playing at the beach with a big green ball. The alien’s arms are fairly standard, but the dark tan pieces encircling the creature give it a fearsome, armored look, while the large Mixels eye gives the terrifying entity a comical appearance.

Dainty dreamy duckling that dazzles

What’s not to love about micro builds, especially when they’re this cute and adorable? Builder Minigray! gives us a little dreamy-eyed duckling staring into space. Stripping down to essentials is the key to make miniature builds like this pop and come to life. The orange beak matching the clever use of the diver’s flippers as the webbed feet tickled my fancy!

Raise your swords up high, hear the black birds cry

We do not often see battle scenes built out of LEGO, for multiple reasons. First of all, amassing a vast number of identical minifigures for an army is not in every builder’s budget, but also arranging them into a convincing action scene is more difficult than it appears. ~The Maestro and his brother in arms Joshua Wilson were as brave as the little plastic warriors of the diorama for taking up this challenge, and they emerged victorious. The battle looks very believable, but more than that – the setting does not lag behind whatsoever.

This diorama of a raiding party attacking a defensive settlement has everything you could wish for; a burning village, tactical fortification, and a realistic landscape, where a battle like this would really happen. I should point out that there are many very well-built parts of the diorama that may go unnoticed with the battle as the focal point – especially the houses of the village and the old windmill.

Yoohoo. I’ll make you rich and famous!

It may not be high noon yet, but it seems as thought there are already a few transactions going on at the bank in this Western scene by Paul Trach. The Brick Bank is a handsome building with its clock above the entrance complete with ‘saloon-style’ swing doors. The roof has a water barrel, brick-built signs, and some lovely detailing on the railings. It’s clear that this ain’t no drinking establishment as there are some finely dressed gentlemen exiting with their pocketwatches and bowler hats in place.

My favourite part of the build is best seen in this close-up view of the ground floor. The beautiful glass windows have some fancy metal-work to prevent any outlaws from breaking in and stealing from the bank. These windows are really a stand-out detail for me, but I have to mention the fun use of light bluish grey ingots as brickwork.

No Western scene is complete without a cactus, but since this is a fine banking establishment, Paul has chosen a lovely flowering cactus as decorative flora.

The mountains are calling and I must go

Legend says a gorgeous temple is hidden somewhere in these mountains. To find it, you’ll have to cross the treacherous lava and fight giant scorpions. Or so they say. What’s inside? Only builder David Leest knows. But you can bet your bottom copper that any heroes that find the temple and live to tell the story will be richly rewarded.

David’s stunning scene depicts an adventuring group comprised of a blue mage, a red mage, a dwarf, and a thief who have finally reached the temple’s doorstep. The temple itself is quite detailed, including studded textures, bas-relief sculptures, and a pleasing mixture of “new” gray and old gray that makes this building look ancient.

Beautiful shades of orange and brown

With the excitement about The LEGO Ninjago Movie building and new movie tie-in sets being released, it is no surprise to see lots of Ninjago themed fan creations being built. Svend Eric Saksun tells us that he was going for a Ninjago feel with this house and garden creation. There’s a hearty feast going on in the private garden area with what looks like the head of a buffalo on the barbecue. I can’t be certain as the LEGO part used is a chicken body with a couple of horns added for taste.

The aspect of this build I like the most is actually the colour coordination and sense of balance to the overall composition. Svend named his build ‘Nonjago‘ as he felt he failed to capture the Ninjago theme. But theme aside, he has certainly captured something beautiful.

Wearable LEGO Darth Vader helmet

The Force is strong with Lego Admiral and his life size, wearable LEGO Darth Vader helmet. The detailed features of the iconic face mask and breather are captured well with the bricks, as is the smooth paneled shaping of the dome.

See more photos of LEGO Admiral’s helmet on Flickr, and learn a technique for constructing your own LEGO helmet with a Halo ODST helmet breakdown.

The wheel of time is a game of roulette, and the Roman Empire lost

Sometimes, history is quite literally the foundation of the present. This creation is one such example, but with an interesting duality: not only does it represent medieval structures built upon ancient ruins, but it is also literally a rebuild of Antonio Carretti‘s earlier LEGO Forum of Nerva, which we also featured here on The Brothers Brick. The creations very obviously represant the same structure, despite the contrast between a shiny new temple and fortified ruins.

The dark red and orange tower blends with the remains of the temple beautifully, and the white details in the house on the left really show how the stairs of the temple were used to build it. My favourite part is definetely the overgrown and decrepit temple itself, with its former glory hardly recognizable anymore, replaced with an impression of great age and a long and tragic history.

Living space for living it up

We’ve featured a few of Heikki Mattila‘s stunning LEGO interiors, but they just keep getting better and better. This beauty uses a touch of forced perspective to create a sense of space and openness — the shelf on the far wall, and the TV and speakers, are built lower and to a slightly smaller scale than the rest of the apartment. As ever, the clean lines of Heikki’s scene wouldn’t look out of place in a fancy furniture catalog or interiors magazine. Personally I think it’d make a great venue for a stylish party. Where’s my invitation?