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.

That’s one hell of a pilot!

Surprisingly, the Light side is much stronger with our favorite builders than the Dark. This is the only explanation I can find of why we already have the whole blue squadron of T-70 X-wing fighters (and not a single TIE fighter yet!). This time GHLego keeps David Hensel and Peter C. company in a cruel battle against the First Order.

X-Wing in Hangar

I like how this fighter is not overloaded with sophisticated building techniques. GHLego managed to keep it simple and plain – in the finest sense of the word, of course. The dock representing a section of a hangar suits the fighter rather well. Both parts look quite robust and definitely make my want to spend an evening playing with this model recreating all the unbelievable twists and turns from the movie.

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Stalk thy prey and let loose thy talons upon the Darkness

Following up his life size Mida Multi-Tool prop, Elliott Feldman presents to us his LEGO replica of the Exotic hand cannon Hawkmoon from Destiny: The Taken King. While his Hawkmoon appears larger than 1:1 scale, the details, angles, and elegance of the original weapon design are on point. I particularly like the construction of the cylinder and angles surrounding the barrel.

Elliott demonstrates the working trigger and moving hammer, provides more insight into his build process, and shows side-by-side comparisons with his Hawkmoon and the in-game Hawkmoon in a short video posted on his YouTube channel.

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A Classic Paradisa beach side cafe

During my formative years, LEGO meant horseback riding and windsurfing. (And also, teeth marks on any pieces that were difficult to take apart.) So when I stumbled upon Andrew Tate‘s most recent build today, I was hit with a pleasant wave of nostalgia. Even without the terrific lettering across the roof of the cafe, this build screams “Classic Paradisa” with its curved windows, muted color palette, and diverse minifig activity. Where else would a speedo-wearing, boombox-toting, roller-skating minifig fit in so perfectly?

Paradisa Cafe

Andrew explained that this build was inspired by Sand Dollar Cafe and Breezeway Cafe. Hopefully, his awesome scene will inspire other builders to try their hand at the Classic Paradisa theme too. Be sure to check out all of Andrew’s excellent builds here.

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2015 LEGO Star Wars & LEGO Friends Advent Calendars (Day 22)

75097 LEGO Star Wars Advent CalendarIt’s Christmas on Friday, and we’re down to just the last three batches of LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Friends mini-kits in TBB’s virtual LEGO Advent Calendar.

We’ll be unveiling the mini-kits or minifigs from each Advent Calendar around this time every day, and we won’t ruin the surprise — you’ll need to click through to reveal the LEGO behind the tiny doors.

Click to see the Day 22 mini-kits!

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Flight of the Millennium Falcon on Jakku

One of the most spectacular scenes in the trailers for The Force Awakens was seeing the Millennium Falcon flying into the engine of a crashed Star Destroyer, chased by TIE Fighters. Simon Pickard has recreated this iconic scene in LEGO, with the maw of the engine about to swallow the Falcon and its pursuing TIE Fighter. The chunk of tan desert landscape surrounding the grey engine complements the scene beautifully, with a bit of sand spilling into the engine.

Jakku Falcon Chase

(Don’t worry, dear readers, we won’t be posting any LEGO creations that reveal spoilers from Episode VII for a long time, and certainly not without warning, as we’ve done in reviews. But the trailers are fair game, and still a rich source for LEGO creations.)

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Unpimping Rey’s Speeder – kitbashing a movie-accurate Jakku speeder

I obviously hadn’t seen the movie yet when I reviewed 75099 Rey’s Speeder on the day the set came out back in September, so I had no idea whether the LEGO set was in any way accurate. I was most suspicious of all the fun play features built into the set — the stud-flinger weapons, the opening doors, the inner compartment, and so on. Now that I’ve seen The Force Awakens twice (my inner Star Wars nerd having also reawakened), I wanted to mod the LEGO set to make it a bit more accurate to the movie.

Rey's Speeder, unpimped (1)

To be honest, the stock LEGO set now feels a bit like an entry in our Pimp Rey’s Speeder contest — though I still love it. When I got home from the movie again yesterday, I pulled out my two copies of this lovely little set along with a few choice pieces from my existing collection and set to work to build a movie-accurate, unmpimped version of Rey’s speeder.

Rather than a LEGO creation built entirely from scratch like nearly all the models we feature here on TBB, this is a lot like the “kitbash” process plastic modelers use, so I thought my build process might be interesting enough to share. I’ll avoid plot spoilers, but in case I mess up, hit the jump for my full write-up.

Read all about the differences between the LEGO set and my kitbash

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Literal container truck

I’ve made a huge, tiny mistake. You see, back when I was purchasing these LEGO Creator Sets, I just dumped out the contents and threw those cheesy containers straight into the recycling bin. I didn’t even think twice about it. But F@bz on the other hand, sensibly squirreled them away for safe keeping. And take a look at this! Who knew those containers could look so perfect? (F@bz did, that’s who.)

Yamaha Tank truck (01)

With spot-on sticker use and just the right amount of color, texture, and playability, this truck is a beauty to behold. In addition to the insane NPU (“nice parts usage”), I particularly like the ladder, wheels, and the entire front end. Be sure to check out all of the photos here and remember, every LEGO piece has potential.

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In space no one can hear you explode

Kyle (BermudaFreze) returns to the fray with this space fighter which manages to be both elegant and brutish at the same time. The focus here seems to be a hell of a lot of missiles which are both cleverly shaped and stowed away in pods on the sides of the craft.

fighter14

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.

Authentic Star Wars A-wing

While the world goes Episode VII crazy, Dead Frog inc. brings us this gorgeous rendition of the A-wing Interceptor. While it doesn’t get nearly as much love as it deserves, the A-wing is one of my personal favourites and this is definitely one of the best recreations I’ve ever seen.

A-Wing Interceptor

P.S. The Force Awakens is superb and you should watch it before the endless internet trolls spoil it for you.

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.

2015 LEGO Star Wars & LEGO Friends Advent Calendars (Day 21)

41102 LEGO Friends Advent CalendarWe’re three weeks into December, which means it’s Day 21 of TBB’s virtual LEGO Advent Calendar series.

We’ll be unveiling the mini-kits or minifigs from each Advent Calendar around this time every day, and we won’t ruin the surprise — you’ll need to click through to reveal the LEGO behind the tiny doors.

Click to see the Day 21 mini-kits!

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.

A perfect combination – the LEGO Enigma machine

The current Iron Builder battle has been producing some fantastic builds and the latest entry by David Hensel is definitely one of my favourites. The Enigma machine built by David is a LEGO replica of the German military model used during and after the Second World War.

Enigma

The Enigma machine is a combination of mechanical and electrical subsystems. The mechanical subsystem consists of a keyboard; in David’s model this is the main area using the Iron Builder seed part, the Fencer’s Foil. There are also a set of rotating disks called rotors (Technic Gear 24 Tooth Crown) arranged adjacently along a spindle, and a method of ‘stepping’ to turn at least one rotor with each key press (1×1 round tiles).

David, can you just whip up a quick LEGO British Bombe to help decipher your LEGO Enigma machine please?

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.

Star Wars vehicles with a few twists

I am not quite old enough to have seen the first Star Wars movie in the cinema and remember it, have yet to see the latest instalment and, if I had to choose would prefer Star Trek (before J.J. Abrams ruined it), but I too jump on a bandwagon every once in a while. I’ve had a Landspeeder in my collection of movie vehicles for more than a year now and last weekend decided to add a Speeder Bike.

Star Wars vehicles and figures

“Where are the twists?” you may wonder. Well, Andrew has been virtually twisting my arm to blog them, to show that the contributors to this blog are builders (and to avoid an embarrassing repeat of the “Optimus Prime fiasco” when everybody and his uncle got around to blogging one of my models before I did). The more interesting twist, however, is their scale. At a first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that these are not that much different from LEGO’s own sets and, in terms of size, they indeed aren’t. Yet, I build my vehicles to a scale of 1/22, which is intended for brick-built figures roughly twice the size of minifigs. I particularly enjoyed building the Scout Trooper for the Speeder Bike. Looking into the specs and pictures of the props taken on the set, it turns out that they really are quite small; a Landspeeder should not be the size of Ecto-1, but more that of Mr. Bean’s Mini and a Scout Trooper on a Speeder Bike really should look like somebody riding a legless horse.

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.