Current Iron Builder competitor Tim Schwalfenberg is chugging through the competition, having already completed seven builds. His most recent creation is this delightful microscale train scene. That pin connector looks great as a tank car. But I wonder what that tiny village needs two full tanks of. Gasoline? Milk? Mountain Dew Code Red? Tim’s packed a lot of detail into this small build — my favorites, other than the train itself, include the railroad crossing sign and that glorious gorge-spanning bridge.
Category Archives: Models
4.5 foot LEGO No Land Beyond rifle from Destiny
Destiny has an amazing diversity to the designs of its exotic tier weapons. They range from the elegance of Hawkmoon, to the futuristic sleekness of SUROS Regime. LEGO weapon builder ZaziNombies built another design further defining the varied exotic arsenal. His replica No Land Beyond, a sniper rifle inspired by the Russian rifle Mosin-Nagant in appearance and name, captures the wooden rifle body, long barrel, and iron sights well with approximately 1400 pieces. Watch him demonstrate his LEGO prop and compare it to the in-game model in this video.
Fire-spewing, bellows-powered war wagon
How do you fight a foe with ice in his veins and the ability to call down a winter blizzard on top of your head? With this fire-spewing, bellows-powered war wagon by Jacob Nion of course! Though I’m slightly horrified that Jacob folded pleats into that fabric (Seriously, will it ever be flat again?), it resulted in completely adorable (and presumably, powerful) accordion-style bellows. Also, the dragon-shaped potbelly stove and Jacob’s iconic rat warriors round this build out into sheer awesomeness.
Union Pacific EMD SD70 1:16 model is over 27,000 LEGO pieces
I know lots of people who are constantly nagging about disproportional 6-studs-wide trains from official LEGO City sets. Now I have a solid argument: a mind-blowing 1:16 scale copy of the Union Pacific EMD SD70 ACe Locomotive. When Dennis G (bricksonwheels) finally posted pictures of the finished model, I mistook them for photos of a real locomotive. Just look at this beauty!
This EMD SD70 is just the second brick-built train by Dennis, who is much more famous as the author of alluring scaled copies of trucks. This time the locomotive is more than 56 inches long (140 cm) and consists of more than 27,000 pieces.
Click through to see more of this amazing train
Who’s a pretty boy then? This scarlet macaw, that’s who!
This LEGO model of a Scarlet Macaw by James Universe is currently being displayed at Dallas Zoo until April 10th 2016. James’ model is just under 12 inches tall and features a “tree stand” for displaying. Dallas Zoo is currently hosting an exhibition called Nature Connects by LEGO Certified Professional Sean Kenney and James’ model relates to this exhibition.
The rainbow plumage on this Scarlet Macaw is wonderful – the LEGO colour palate certainly works well for this species. I particularly love the use of multiple Medium Azure surfboards for the tail feathers.
Winter is Here
Only a few months remain until the epic return of Game of Thrones, and the torturous wait for season six has been a killer on everyone (certain characters especially). But while the premiere is almost here, don’t forget to notice that winter is already upon us. Take for instance this bust built by Omar + Kamitera Ovalle, which depicts a chilling White Walker:
While those in Westeros tend to ignore them, this is one build you don’t want to miss. The husband and wife team have also constructed many other Game of Thrones builds over the past two years, all of which can be viewed on their stunning Flickr album.
Slow and steady and heavily armed wins the race
What I love about the famous 21109 Exo-Suit set is not the exo-suit itself, but that totally adorable mechanic turtle. It looks so clumsy and intimidating at the same time and I would be happy to see it as a polybag set one day. Peter Reid‘s turtle production line has been running for about 6 years already. Finally, a huge weaponry update is here and it is super badass.
It’s not one, not two, but three heavy launchers which can be placed onto turtles’ shells. The contrast between small mechanic animals and enormous cannons is brilliant. And I like different colors of 1 x 1 round tiles in the head of each turtle – it immediately creates a particular character for each of these three models.
A traveler’s rest at the Dunholm Taverna
Wochender, one of the team members over at The Brick Time, has built a couple of wonderful medieval buildings that would look beautiful in any setting, with their carved timber construction and stonework, but the trees and roads surrounding are what caught my eye.
Both buildings also have full interiors.
Click through to see the interiors
We found Nemo! And Dory!
Thirteen years ago, we met Marlin and Dory as they searched everywhere to find Nemo, befriending sea turtles, sharks (fish are friends, not food!), and learned to speak whale. This year, we’ll join familiar fishes once again to find Dory.
To help us out, BuildFiend has partnered with Nunki-psi bringing us these fantastic digital sculptures of Nemo, Marlin, and Dory.
Thriller, Killer
TBB regular Letranger Absurde continues to refine his unique style and churn out one great character build after another. This week he graced us with not one, but two, new examples: the erstwhile King of Pop, and a lady assassin who seems to be taking her work a bit too seriously. Both feature stellar poses, great proportioning, and a delightful use of Mixel eyes. It’s almost enough to make this aged character builder wanna hang up his bricks! I tip my hat to you, sir…
A real slick robot
We blog a lot of LEGO mecha here on The Brothers Brick, and I always love seeing new stuff done with in the genre. This lanky mech from Nils M pulls off some fantastic shaping with relatively simple techniques and pieces.
If you’re wondering why the builder called this an “ExoForce Mecha”, it’s because it uses a few pieces (with their original stickers) from 7706 Mobile Defense Tank — one of the few Exo-Force sets that has continued to elude me…
A wheely big planetary rover
It’s time to leave January and its Droneuary shenanigans behind and move onto the fun of FebROVERy. First out of the garage is Jonas‘ (aka Legopard) Planetary Rover – a tricycle on steroids. Not only does this rover fit the monthly build challenge, but it transpires that Jonas is also taking part in Iron Builder 4.0 – Round 8 against Tim Schwalfenberg.
The wheels on this rover are great but the inside of the tires are really special thanks to the transparent red grilles. The seed part is the Technic metallic pin connector, and it forms the unusual wheel attachment in this particular entry. I also love the comfy looking leather covered driving seat in the cockpit, who doesn’t want 360° vision when out exploring?
Jonas has been featured regularly on TBB, in 2016 thus far we have bogged his Flying Erwin, Tree House and Morgan 3-wheeler.