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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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

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

We’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!

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.

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?

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.

“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.

LEGO skating penguin sculpture

Jason and Kristal from JK Brickworks continue to pump out amazing mechanical inventions created using LEGO. When last we featured them it was with Jason’s holiday cookie decorating robot, but today’s creation comes from Kristal and is a delightful little skating penguin.

The heart of the moving sculpture is a Trammel of Archimedes, a mechanism that traces out an ellipse. This is usually used to make “useless machines” such as the mischevious black box that JK Brickworks created a few years ago.

Full instructions for your own Happy Feet are available right here.

Raider Power Armor fit for a minifig survivor

When it comes to customizing LEGO minifigures, Minh Pham is one of my favorites. I enjoy the contrast of his highly detailed armor pieces with a clean minifigure face. His latest is the Raider Power Armor set new to the Fallout series in Fallout 4, and he sculpted and painted the haphazard Raider look rather well at this scale.

2015 LEGO Star Wars & LEGO Friends Advent Calendars (Day 20)

Only 5 days until Christmas, which means we’re 20 days into TBB’s virtual LEGO Advent Calendar, with only a few more LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Friends mini-kits and minifigs left to unveil.

Click to see the Day 20 mini-kits!

Stunning scale model of F-4 Phantom II made of 6,000 LEGO bricks

James Cherry has posted images of his beautiful F-4J Phantom II which I highlighted as my “Best In Show” in the roundup of BRICK2015 in London.

The model is 1.2m long, contains around 6,000 pieces, and took James nearly 5 months to design and build. But beyond the impressive scale and the lovely custom stickering, it’s the smooth curves and the shaping of the various sections which make this creation stand out for me. I also really like the handful of studs left exposed, creating a feel of riveted panels around the intakes.

James managed to squeeze no less than 5 Power Functions motors inside the model, allowing the rudder and various flaps to be operated using a remote control. It was very cool to see these features “in the brick” in London last weekend, and I wasn’t alone in thinking it was a highlight of the show. Carl Greatrix – one of the best LEGO plane modelers around – spent ages examining this creation and pronounced it “Bloody good”. High praise indeed.

I’d heartily recommend a visit to James’ Flickr photostream to check out all the details of this amazing model in the close-up images, as well as photos of his beautiful custom-chrome P-51 Mustang model.

Disney Princesses as microscale Christmas ornaments

Every year Markus Rollbühler creates some new LEGO Christmas decorations for the tree, and he shared this year’s collection of Disney Princesses in microscale.

From left to right:

Leia and R2-D2
Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian (from The Little Mermaid)
Snow White and a deer
Tiana and Naveen (from The Princess and the Frog)
Elsa and Anna (from Frozen)

The details are fantastic at this scale, making the characters easily recognisable. I love Flounder and Sebastian, created using simple 1×1 tiles or plates with clips and 1×1 plates. Another favourite is R2-D2 who is simply a 1×1 Technic brick resting on a silver 1×1 round plate, two white minifig hands and a blue-based lever – inspired use of parts!

Thanks to Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, Princess Leia can be officially described as a Disney Princess too…