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 Vitruvian LEGO Cat

You may be familiar with the Vitruvian Man, a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci showing the human body’s proportions, but have you seen flambo14‘s Vitruvian LEGO Cat?

According to the text of da Vinci’s original:

“if you open your legs enough that your head is lowered by one-fourteenth of your height and raise your hands enough that your extended fingers touch the line of the top of your head, know that the centre of the extended limbs will be the navel, and the space between the legs will be an equilateral triangle”

In the case of flambo14’s cat:

“if you look cute and purr, then no one will notice that you are out of proportion”

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Classic sci-fi movie Silent Running brought to life with LEGO

Before his work on more widely-known sci-fi movies such as Bladerunnner and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, legendary visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull directed the 1972 sci-fi movie Silent Running, a beautifully written, performed and photographed tale of one man’s fight to preserve the last remnants of Earth nature.

In creating a LEGO version of the Valley Forge (the ship where the movie’s action takes place) Cornish builder Louie Tommo clearly felt that only a larger scale would do it justice. The result is this very accurate digitally designed LEGO version that perfectly captures the ship’s functional looking design complete with its distinctive cluster of domed forest habitats.

Even though the movie has plenty of action and some first class visual effects for the era, the characters of astronaut Freeman Lowell and his robot companions Huey, Louie and Dewey are central to the story. So it’s a nice touch that Louie has created LEGO versions of them as well, and even portrayed them at work on the outer hull of the spacecraft.

“But I don’t want to go among mad people...”

Oh you can’t help that — we’re all mad here. So much so that we love these Alice In Wonderland figures by Brick Blue Wren very much indeed. We’ve featured a couple of Alice-themed LEGO creations recently, and personally I never tire of seeing Moko’s brilliant Alice and the White Rabbit model, but I thought these figures were very cool too…

The details of the Mad Hatter’s outfit are simply spot-on, and the shaping on the female figures’ outfits is excellent. I particularly like the turntable bases on the Red Queen’s dress — simple parts use, but creating a realistic impression of an embroidered pattern. I want a White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat at this scale now please. Oh, and a drug-smoking Caterpillar while you’re at it.

So you wanna upgrade your podracer eh?

Usually a clutter of detail in a LEGO creation can be a bad thing, dragging the eye around the image and distracting attention from what should be the scene’s focus. However, Patrick B.‘s excellent recreation of Watto’s Workshop from The Phantom Menace takes surrounding clutter and turns it into the main event.

As well as some smart brick-built greebly things lying around, Patrick has also made use of individual LEGO elements with interesting textures. Okay, this might not be actual building as such, but the carefully-haphazard arrangement of these bricks adds nicely to the overall sense of detail and depth. And don’t miss the lovely touches like the use of textured grille bricks for a cross-hatched floor effect, and the conical equipment built of “cheesegrater wedges” standing towards the rear.

Original Star Wars movie poster recreated in LEGO

Gamabomb‘s latest model is a fantastic recreation of the original 1977 Star Wars movie poster. While the large figures of Luke and Leia have been effectively crafted using bricks (check out the abs on Luke!), the builder has also cleverly used minifigs of C3PO and R2D2 to represent the famous droids as they appeared in the original print, while the sinister Vader looms out of the background shadows. All in all, this is an excellent version of an iconic image, immediately recognisable even as a thumbnail, yet rewarding of a zoom-in to catch all the details. The Force is strong with this one.

Across the wine-dark sea in his swift, curved-hull ship

Last autumn we featured some adorably tiny Greek galleys, and I noted how unusual Classical LEGO creations are, despite several Greek and Roman soldiers featured among Collectible Minifigures. Rat Dude has built a beautiful forty-oared Greek galley named the Hyperion. While this armchair archaeologist might quibble with the double masts (for a such a small ship), the overall effect from stem to stern is gorgeous. I particularly love what appears to be rams’ heads on the bow, along with the metal ram. The Greek marines on deck look ready to board an enemy vessel!

Hulking, mean and spiky: the Merkabah Gunship

Brick Martil‘s Merkabah-class Heavy Gunship is one of the coolest spacecraft I’ve seen in a while. The shape and the phenomenal color blocking are ravishing, giving this model a strikingly unique appearance. This ship positively screams “deadly”.

Another element I love about this ship is the size. A lot of LEGO spacecraft would be sized akin to small WWII dogfighters, regardless of its designation as a fighter, heavy bomber, etc. Most would clock in around 20-40 (scale) feet in length, while many modern fighter jets are 50-60 feet long, and other classes even larger. So it’s cool to see a spacecraft sized up to what they most likely would be without becoming capital ships — where a two-man gunship is a huge craft, outfitted with engines and life support to get it through the cold reaches of space and the harrowing re-entry of an atmosphere, not to mention lugging a payload.

The Merkabah is deceptively large — that windscreen is from the UCS Slave I, so check out this comparison photo of the two to get a feel for just how big it is. And here’s a closeup shot so you can check out the fantastic detailing…

The great outdoors awaits

… and what better way to get there than in Lino Martins‘ latest creation? This fabulous 1974 Ford Bronco features the trademark touches which make Lino one of my favourite builders — smooth curves and good color choices all wrapped up in the large scale he seems to have made his signature.

Obviously the canoe and the power winch are lovely, the wood paneling effect is neat, and that metallic stripe down the side is just sweet. But what tops this model off for me is the detailed engine beneath the bonnet — brilliant stuff.

Donald Duck mech is ready to take the fight to Mickey

Looks like Donald has finally had enough of that mouse hogging the limelight. Dvd‘s latest creation shows just how everyone’s favourite anthropomorphic duck plans to even the score. This is the sort of model we love here at TBB — it’s not just good fun, it’s a really well-built mech too.

Too often these kind of mash-ups rely too heavily on the presence of the minifig to explain themselves, but here the job gets done with excellent colour-blocking — realistic-looking, but also unmistakably “Donald”. And if you need any more convincing this is a cracking mech model in it’s own right, then check out the beautiful greeble-work on the legs…

My only criticism here is the photography is a little washed-out. I wonder if a gray backdrop and less harsh lighting might have given better contrast for the base and white elements of the model? However, that’s minor nitpicking at an otherwise excellent creation.

LEGO scenes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

First, we were blown away with tiny scenes from The Sorcerer’s Stone, then with vignettes from The Chamber of Secrets. And now (you guessed it) we have a series of wonderful LEGO scenes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This time around, the master builder behind the month-long madness was Kevin Wollert. In total, Kevin built 23 amazing Potter-themed vignettes. Each of the scenes took me back to the first time I read the book (the best one in the series if you ask me). I especially appreciate how Kevin was able to capture the dark tones of this story.

Click here to see the full set

LEGO Worms with arms

Worms was an artillery strategy video game released in 1995, back when worms were fashionable. The sometimes-controversial builder Suck My Brick has nicely captured these well-armed and battle-ready guys in LEGO form. There is definitely a humorous side to arming worms with grenades, flame-throwers and machine guns, and the comedy has been transferred to these brick versions. From hot dog bun eyebrows, through a cigarette-chomping worm, through to a Rambo-worm with bad teeth, what’s not to love about these little dudes?

My favourite is the grumpy warworn worm on the right with his grenade and WWII-style helmet. There’s some ingenious parts usage to create his grenade pin. Shame he has no hands to pull the pin and throw it!

All who gain power are afraid to lose it. Even the Jedi.

Say what you will about Episodes I through III, but I can appreciate a climactic turning point in a character’s story arc. I can appreciate it, even more, when such a scene is translated into LEGO! Cecilie Fritzvold beautifully captured the final scene of the opening sequence from Revenge of the Sith where Anakin begins his journey to the dark side by killing Count Dooku. The amount of detail jammed into this LEGO scene is fantastic! I love the microscale ships in the background, Palpatine’s clikits handcuffs, and of course, the prone, unconscious body of Obi-Wan in the foreground.

In case you missed it earlier this month, Cecilie also built a micro-podracer from The Phantom Menace. As always, be sure to check out all of Cecilie’s builds on Flickr and may the force be with you.