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.

Microscale bridge is anything but the wurst

“All the specialized parts have taken the creativity out of LEGO building…” If you know someone who regularly trots out this sort of baloney then just show them this model. In one of the finest pieces of creative parts usage I’ve seen all year, this microscale Golden Gate Bridge by liqsr uses hot dog sausages as suspension cables. That’s right, hot dog sausages — possibly the single most “specialized” part LEGO has ever produced. I’m now trying to come up with more sausage-related puns, but none of them quite cut the mustard. Just look at the bridge and be amazed instead…

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Sometimes, the abyss stares back

This dragon model by Eero Okkomen has made me question how a LEGO creation can have so much personality. It proves an image can tell a story without an accompanying explanation — you don’t need to be told, you just know to fear and respect the summoned serpent.

I’ve always thought the Ninjago Morro Dragon set is a mine for amazing pieces, but I would have never in a thousand years have used the wings like this — awesome. And that face — so much expression with so few pieces. The smoke coming from the nostrils is just brilliant, and so are the electric moustaches. Overall, this model is an art piece, and I wouldn’t mind displaying it in my living room, like an ukiyo-e style sculpture.

Duplo-clad robot suit is a chunky mechanical cutie

Kelvin Low says he raided his son’s Duplo collection to find parts for his latest mech. I suggest he continues this sourcing strategy if it’s going to deliver results like this. Duplo truck door panels and a pair of rowboats provide this powered suit with distinctive armor-plating — creating both a sense of heft and a peculiar cuteness. It’s not often we see the different lines of the LEGO family combined with such effectiveness. Beyond the imaginative parts usage, there are also nicely-built functional-looking greebly bits in the legs, and I’m enjoying the glimpses of internal machinery through the curved gaps in the outer shell. Great stuff.

Before Rocky shows up

You’d imagine a LEGO gym model would be stuffed full of minifigs in exercise poses. Not so this scene from Mrbones Bricks — the place is completely empty except for the lonely janitor. The gym’s interior is nicely built — don’t miss the hanging punchbag, the lockers, and the electrical conduit and fuseboxes on the wall. However, it’s the composition of the photo which turns this into a striking image. The expanse of empty floor awaiting the janitor’s attention creates a real sense of emptiness and quiet.

Through the Siq to the hidden Nabatean city of Petra

As I wrote in introducing ArzLan’s LEGO Petra, I spent the summer of 1994 on an archaeological dig in Jordan, and visited Petra for one memorable weekend. Both Petra and Jordan as a whole remain one of the highlights of my life. Letranger Absurde has built a lovely microscale version of Al-Khazneh, the “Treasury” (actually an empty tomb), that greets each visitor to Petra as they emerge from the winding gorge called the Siq.

My one critique of this excellent LEGO model is that the sandstone geology of Petra is nearly as spectacular as the many structures carved into the rock face. Although building a detailed tomb using varying shades of tan and red might not have been achievable, plain brown LEGO for the surrounding rocks seems like a lost opportunity.

Al-Khazneh is, of course best known as the entrance to the fictional, trap-filled obstacle course leading to the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The facade is the most spectacular thing about the tomb — the interior is just an empty square chamber, though the acoustics are great for singing.

When you gotta go, you gotta LE-GO

I suppose derjoe has just created another public space like a museum, library or cafe. But this is the first time that I’ve seen public toilets used as the theme for a LEGO ‘playset’. The builder has cleverly captured some of the common findings in a male public toilet block, such as urinals (and some pee ewwww), wash basin, toilet brushes, toilet rolls, and cisterns complete with their seats left up!

The playset is hinged and opens out to allow the paper towel dispenser and waste bin to be revealed. Thankfully the stalls all have their door closed in this view and the brown frog is not visible, although I find the fact that the toilet paper is placed the wrong way much more upsetting.

Overall, a quirky, fun build and I really like the colour scheme used, although it does not reflect the average public toilet here here in the UK. Also, for us females, a long queue of minifigures patiently waiting while the male toilets are empty would seem about right.

Nexo Knights recon outpost

LEGO’s Nexo Knights line has brought us some great new pieces and some cool recolored parts, but aside from a few isolated examples, the theme hasn’t sparked a wave of fan-built creations. This recon outpost model from Henry F. stood out as a result. This scene captures all the elements which excite me about Nexo — a perfect blend of medieval castle and hi-tech, the bright color scheme, and the robots. I like the asymmetry of the base, with the composition balanced out around the shield at the center, giving the image a focal point.

The texture in the castle wall is really well done, with attractive splashes of blue to break up all that light grey. It contrasts nicely with the brown and green of the terrain. Where the contrast isn’t working quite as well is with the figures — they’re a little lost in amongst that stonework. Maybe next time the minfigs should be some of the non-grey ones?

Charming medieval cottage

A few weeks back, Graham Gidman wowed us with his LEGO barrel-riding scene from The Hobbit. Now he brings us this wonderful little diorama. The stonework on the cottage walls is fabulous, and the curved roof with its spattering of studs makes for a lovely shape.

The smooth flow of the roof is reflected in the curve of the fence, and the whole thing sits on a nicely-built landscape base making effective use of multiple shades of green and earth tones. There’s some lovely touches of detail on show too — check out the little log pile under the cottage’s eaves. The only thing which doesn’t quite work for me is the continuation of the round stonework up into the chimneystack. However, that’s nit-picking — overall, this is a cracking piece of building.

Steampunk biplane takes to the air

This steampunk aircraft from Andreas Lenander has a smart white and gold aesthetic — a pleasant change from the genre’s usual hackneyed brown and grey color schemes. Beyond the colors, the smooth curves of the air intake on the nose work nicely, and those gold props look great. Couple a good model with an interesting low-angle POV and some decent photo-editing and you’ve got a steampunk LEGO flying machine which I wouldn’t mind taking out for a spin.

Echo Base, this is Rogue Two... I’ve found them!

Let’s play a simple game: How fast can you count all LEGO sets that contain a model of a T-47 snowspeeder? Well the problem is that there are too many snowspeeders — not only in official sets, but also built by a huge number of talented fans. And each time I see a new iteration of this iconic spacecraft, I tell myself “It can’t get any better, this is perfect!”. But somehow Brickdoctor made his own snowspeeder too outstanding to be mistaken for any other build.

It’s not the choice of pieces or the shape of the speeder, but its awesome wings that make it so cool. Bricks placed with their studs not on top (a technique commonly referred to as SNOT) doesn’t make the wings look heavy, but tiny gaps between the pieces create a stunning pattern as if the speeder is covered with reflective armour plates. If you’re interested in how this T-47 looks inside like, visit the builder’s Flickr stream.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire recreated in LEGO, chapter by chapter

Thorsten Bonsch has been hard at work all month recreating scene after gorgeous scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in LEGO. Each build is packed with interesting details and clever building techniques. For example, the stone fireplace in Chapter 19 was assembled using 1×2 tiles connected by minifig hands. To see how he accomplished tricks like this and enjoy other behind-the-scenes photos, check out Thorsten’s Twitter page. All the finished scenes are also on Flickr.

And in case you missed them, here are similar LEGO versions of chapters from the first three Harry Potter books. Expecto patronum!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by Marvel V.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by Markus Rollbuhler
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Kevin Wollert

Here are some of our favorite scenes from this latest Goblet of Fire collection:

Click here to see more of our favorites

“This most beautiful SYSTEM” – Isaac Newton in LEGO

One of the wonderful things about the LEGO system is that you can build things at many different scales, in immeasurable combinations, much like the mind-blowing complexity of the universe itself. VAkkron has built this lifelike, instantly recognizable bust of the great physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, with his flowing hair and distinctive chin.

Click through to see a LEGO orrery and Newton’s life in microscale