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.

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them

Australian builder Chade has created a vehicle from my childhood, the 1983 GMC Vandura from the 80s show The A-Team. The A-Team were military veterans, in hiding after being framed and court martialled for a crime they didn’t commit. They were ready to fight in the corner of the ‘little guy’ with huge explosions, lots of gun fire, but no serious injuries or death caused. They travelled in their black 1983 GMC Vandura with a red slash across the side. Chade’s LEGO Technic version is a little bit special as it’s a remote controlled vehicle with powered doors, working lights and enough power to allow a few high spins.

Take a look inside: seats for B.A. Baracus and Hannibal in the front with Murdock in the back, and all built with Technic parts. The sliding side door and rear doors are powered, but the front doors and the bonnet open and close via the power of a human hand. Check out this video showing all of the powered functions in action and offering a closer look inside.

If you want to build your own version of this powered LEGO A-Team van, Chade has kindly provided instructions for his creation.

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.

Vikings menace a huge LEGO display of Anglo Saxon Britain

Brick To The Past is a collective of British builders who specialize in large-scale historical dioramas in LEGO. We’ve covered some of their previous masterpieces, including a huge Roman camp and section of Hadrian’s Wall, and their recreation of the streets of Victorian London. We recently interviewed leading member James Pegrum about BttP’s impressive Battle of Hastings display. As if that wasn’t enough for 2016, the gang’s latest effort is this enormous diorama depicting a section of Anglo Saxon Britain in 793AD.

As you’d expect from such a large model, there are numerous areas worthy of your attention. An obvious highlight is the monastery under attack by Viking raiders…

Click here for closeups of this incredible diorama

When it absolutely positively has to be there before winter

It’s that time of the year again… Time for the annual Colossal Castle Contest! We’ve already featured a few of this year’s CCC entries, but the amazing creations just keep coming. Paul Trach is even labeling his CCC builds, presumably to promote the contest. His adorable little dogsled is full of baked goods and weapons – everything you need to survive the harsh winter weather.

The Birth of Apple

Ohio-based builder JD Keller has built this great minifigure scale vignette that depicts Steve Jobs in Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak’s garage back in the mid 1970s. Amazingly, the billion dollar company Apple Computing started out as Woz’s garage-based hobby so we are witnessing the ‘Birth of Apple’. I love the panelled garage walls and the various electronic bits and pieces on the shelves. Don’t miss the classic large red toolbox with sliding drawers, the Apple colours on the shelves, and the original wooden Apple I computer in the background.

Red firestorm flames catalyzed by blue

Amazing builds can result from one builder’s style influencing another, which is the case with this “Firestorm” starfighter by Tim Schwalfenberg. Tim tributes his spacecraft to Nick Trotta, and I can spot similarities with Nick’s Cloudless 3V especially, but with Tim’s spin on it.

Overall, the Firestorm has a great design to it, with interesting angles to the fins and stabilizer at the ship’s rear. When it comes to the details, I particularly like the gray pipe (or perhaps a cannon?) along each forward prong, and the two side engines with a 2×2 array of square panels, which appear to be minifig Thor’s hammers with the hammerheads facing upward.

LEGO Technic pieces make great pin art

Remember those 3D art toys from the 80’s with tiny moveable pins you could use to make impressions of your hands? Well, Josephine Monterosso has built one out of LEGO using Technic parts. The builder says she plans to rebuild with longer Technic pins so that the 3D images will have more depth. (Enough for a face!)

A bike shop perfect for a modular building layout

Minifigs residing in a city of LEGO modular buildings can purchase and repair their bicycles at this custom modular bike shop built by Łukasz Libuszewski. Interesting colors and unusual use of elements define the series as much as the modular standard, and there is no shortage of this throughout the build.

Łukasz added an elevator to his bike shop modular, and looking in the center column with gear racks on either side and a janitor standing slightly elevated, it appears to be functional.

View more shots of Łukasz’s building on Flickr.

To those who served their countries: You are not forgotten

More than a million men gave their lives in the Battle of the Somme in the late summer of 1918. It was a harrowing affair even for those who survived, as depicted in this LEGO diorama by James Pegrum. As we close out this Veteran’s Day, may their lives never be forgotten, and may we always strive for peace for all the men and women who have and still do serve.

Fan creates incredible LEGO space scenes that make you nostalgic for the 90s

The best thing about LEGO sets in the 1990s? Well, ok, besides all the awesome themes likes Ice Planet and Dragon Knights. Every LEGO set came with a miniature catalog, either a folded single page or a half-sheet booklet, and besides just advertising new sets, they included dioramas showing all the sets from a theme in action on a cool bit of scenery, like this Castle diorama from 1995. Builder Pixel Fox is creating some amazing images that bring back that nostalgia. LEGO catalogs need to do this again.

Incredible LEGO Jurassic Park jeep looks right at home in the jungle

I must admit Jurassic Park was one of the most impressive films of my childhood. Of course, it was because of dinosaurs. But even before the dinosaurs appeared on the screen, I fell in love with the grey and red Wrangler jeeps that the characters used to travel around the park. And now Silva Vasil invites us to see a prehistoric reptile in this jar-dropping copy of the iconic off-road vehicle.

Continue reading →

These awesome Hot Wheels trucks are made of LEGO

Like many of us who played with Hot Wheels as kids, Brick Flag has fond memories of his first Hot Wheels vehicle, the Ramblin’ Wrecker. Being a skilled LEGO builder, he decided to model a few of his favorite diecast trucks in brick form. In order to get the precise shaping, he scaled them up considerably; his LEGO versions are about 9 inches long, or about 4 times larger than their metal counterparts, but they look deceptively small. Take a look at the details after the jump.

Continue reading →

An ancient instrument of war: LEGO exotic Khvostov rifle from Destiny

Although Destiny at this point is just over two years old, many players feel nostalgic for the first rifle your Guardian acquires in his or her adventure, the Khvostov 7G-02. A cracked reflex sight and custom attachments made this generic AR-15-like rifle special and one that told a story. In a bit of fan service from Destiny’s developers, one can, put simply, backtrack the first mission in a special quest to obtain an exotic version of the Khvostov (designated Khvostov 7G-0X) with wood furnishings and a repaired reflex sight.

I was inspired by this mission as it reminded me of what made me enjoy Destiny in the beginning. This, combined with a desire to build something that looked like a real firearm and to finally construct something life size with wooden components, led to the construction of my LEGO Khvostov 7G-0X. The build measures over 40 inches long, weighs 5.5 pounds, and has some working components including a removable magazine, moving trigger, and sliding charging handle. I also constructed two sights: the repaired reflex sight, and the original cracked reflex sight.

Watch a 360º view of the LEGO Khvostov and view its functions in action in the following video.

See more photos of this replica on my Flickr.