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.

One for the pantheon of great microscale

Jimmy Fortel has built a beautiful microscale model of the Pantheon in Paris. The color scheme makes this look like part of the official LEGO Architecture series – and I’m sure this great little build wouldn’t be out of place in the line-up.

I really like the clean lines and deceptive simplicity of this creation, in particular the use of round 1×1 plates beneath the roof line, adding a nice touch of texture. The pillars at the main entrance are very good, and it took me a while to work out how they were built – the bottom of the pillars are round 1×1 bricks set into the model’s base. This is one of those models which surprises you with how long it can hold your attention, despite its small size.

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Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber from The Force Awakens in LEGO

Inspired by the blade construction in the recently featured replica of Darth Vader’s lightsaber, and by my three viewings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I constructed a LEGO prop replica of Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber. Measuring 41″ long (30″ blade), and built in four days (4-5 hours building time), the LEGO saber can be swung and slashed around without breaking.

The unstable, crackling blade effect was important for me to capture, as it is a unique detail to Kylo Ren’s lightsaber as much as the haphazard hilt construction and the crossguard. The best way I thought to achieve the blade effect was the texture of 1×2 grill tiles in translucent red.

Ren’s lightsaber would make a fine addition to my collection!

Not just another pretty face

Let me introduce you to Rosaline as pictured by Sheo. You can imagine what a difficult character hides behind such a complicated mosaic of plates and slopes. Needless to say there is some disproportion in the sizes of eyes and lips, but this is what makes Rosaline eloquent. Some of the commentators have pointed out that slits between pieces resemble wrinkles — and I tend to agree, they really do. If only we could learn a bit of Rosaline’s background…

TBB cover photo: January 2016

Happy new year! We hope January 1st finds you lying in a giant champagne stain, with a pounding headache and bits of confetti stuck in your hair. And that your New Years resolution will be to never do anything like that again …well, until next December 31st. And as it’s a fresh new month, we have an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny super creepy-crawly new cover photo for you, courtesy of David Hensel.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Then acquaint yourself with the submission guidelines and submit your photo today!

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It’s good to go out with a bang

Sometimes it’s scary and/or heart-wrenching going into a new year and another big step in time. And then sometimes we’re just thrilled to be done with it and move on. Chris maddison recently shared one rather hilarious perspective on the new year. I’ve got to admit, I laughed way too hard at these delightfully detailed numbers. Happy new year!

Charing Cross station, in Victorian times, built with LEGO bricks

Seattle builder Dave Sterling has built a LEGO version of London’s Charing Cross Railway Station as it appeared in the late-Victorian period. Dave’s creation formed part of an international collaboration entitled Around the World in 80 days which was displayed at Brickworld Chigaco. Dave has really captured the intricate details and elaborate exterior features representative of Victorian architecture.

A replica of the 70ft high Eleanor Cross was built in the forecourt of the station in 1865, and this is very nicely depicted in Dave’s build by the ornate tall ‘cross’ complete with tan microfigs, masonry bricks and arches.

Click here to learn more about this creation and hear from the builder

Carving a castle

Innovative is not a word I often attribute to builds of the ever popular Castle theme. With decades under its belt and endless great builders at its beck and call, one can often feel a sense of déjà vu towards even the most stunning of towers. But this latest piece by ‘Sergeant Chipmunk’ gives the Castle theme something truly innovative and awe-inspiring:

Focused on the peaceful side of medieval life, ‘Sergeant Chipmunk’ depicts in one scene the complete construction of Hailstone Point, a unique tower sculpted entirely from frozen blocks. Surveying the land, extracting the ice, transporting the bricks, and carving the castle–all eloquently done in one beautiful motion. Truly, Castle has never seen this before.

Calvin and Hobbes – a LEGO Retrospective

Today, as many LEGO builders look back at their builds and accomplishments for the year, I’d like to go back a few more decades to December 31st 1995. The last published Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published 20 years ago today, and I thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at Calvin and Hobbes through the eyes of the LEGO Community, and why we love them so much.

Calvin and Hobbes always held a very special place in my heart. It was the first English ‘book’ I ever actually wanted to read. But what surprises me is that – despite it being 20 years since the last printing – we still see LEGO builders from around the world regularly paying tribute to this wonderful comic strip. In fact, just over a month ago marked the 30th anniversary of the first Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, and I built a little scene to commemorate the occasion. I was quite shocked when I had someone message me to say “thank you” for reminding them of Calvin and Hobbes, and all the good memories.

Click through to see more LEGO Calvin & Hobbes creations!

That’s the way I like it baby, I don’t wanna live forever

Today we present a pair of builds paying tribute to the late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister (1945-2015), a man who truly kept rocking so long as he was breathing. Eero Okkonen built a mini bust capturing the rock-n-roll legend’s likeness well.

A simple scene of Lemmy’s hat, bass, and whiskey, the only thing missing from Jonas Obermaier‘s scene is the ace of spades!

Rock in peace, Lemmy.

Minifig-scale Ewok Village

Have you ever thought about how tall the trees on Endor would be if they were scaled to minifigs? Check out KW Vauban‘s Ewok village with its gargantuan trees that rise over 3 feet; then head over to MOCpages for more photos on and see how many scenes from the movie you can spot.

The Wizards’ Guildhall

Only a fool builds his house upon sand. Well, fools and very powerful wizards. This Guildhall sits atop a mountain of sand where the desert meets the ocean. For hundreds of years, the giant sand dune that serves as the foundation to the hall has been buffeted by violent waves. Though erosion would have toppled a non-magical structure long ago, the Guildhall still stands firm. So long as there is a wizard standing guard in one of the tower rooms and warding the hall from nature, the Wizards’ Guildhall shall never crumble into the water.

This is my humble attempt to squeeze in a last-minute entry to the Colossal Castle Contest. The competition is fierce this year with tons of outstanding entries and more than one builder gunning for the coveted Master Builder title. Shake a leg if you’re still scrambling to finish those masterpieces in time for the deadline because it’s tomorrow (December 31st) at 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern Time!

SD Gundam Superior Dragon by Moko

For my stocking this Christmas, my wife included two adorable little SD Gundam figures she picked up at Uwajimaya here in Seattle. They were all the rage back in Japan in the 80’s, and I have fond memories of playing in the schoolyard dirt with adorably chibi versions of Guntank, Dom, Zaku, and of course the titular Gundam RX-78-2. There are about as many variations on Mobile Suits in the Gundam canon as there are stars in the galaxy, and Moko has built the “SUPERIOR DRAGON” character from the Gaiden storyline.

Notably, Moko has used nothing but stock chrome-gold parts for his build — mostly the rare 1×2 gold-chrome tiles that only came in three City sets back in 2003. Rather shockingly, I think I see several chrome-gold C-3PO arms for Gundam’s fingers! The dual lances can combine with part of the shield to form a bow, and the wings spread out like many of the stock toys and plastic model kits.

Moko says on his blog (where you can see more photos) that he’d been putting off building this because he thought getting the shape right with the very limited parts selection would be too hard. But he also says he wanted to end 2015 with flair, and I think he’s certainly done so!