Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

LEGO 2015 Land Rover Defender

An iconic landmark in the automotive world, the Land Rover Defender launched in 1948 and has been in production continuously throughout the next 67 years. Sadly, this classic 4×4 model is coming to an end, as Land Rover have announced that 2015 will be its final production year. To commemorate it, Nick Barrett built this magnificent fiery-red model, complete with its recognizable white roof and a loaded interior. It also includes fully opening doors and hood, as well as working steering, suspension and pistons.

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.

Beautiful castle of the Elves by Takeshi Itou

Japanese builder Takeshi Itou has been one of the most influential castle builders in the LEGO community, raising the bar worldwide, beginning when fans were first discovering each other online. His gorgeous castles rely largely upon older pieces and clean lines, clearly inspired by the golden age of LEGO castle lines in the 1980s. Takeshi’s latest piece is this gorgeous elven safehold.

When Takeshi began posting his castles in the early 2000s, he took the fan community by storm, and his influence still ripples down through many well-known builders today. While current trends in castle building emphasize a ramshackle aesthetic, with rough edges and extreme amounts of detail, Takeshi’s work remains in the style of the classic official sets, pushing that aesthetic to new heights. Brothers-Brick has been covering his work since the blog began 10 years ago, and one of my favorite pieces is this replica of Hikone Castle in Japan. 8 years after its creation it is still well worth checking out. Takeshi’s Volcano Tower also was enormously influential on my own building style in the early 2000s, showing me that dioramas with landscaping were possible at a time when the majority of builders still placed their structures on naked baseplates.

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.

Bring in the artillery, boys!

When you absolutely, positively need covering artillery, you can’t do better than Stud Systems’ War Weasel Advanced Howitzer 9. Fully packable, the Howitzer is ready to be towed to a new position at a moment’s notice by the accompanying heavy duty cargo truck.

LEGO War Weasel Advanced Howitzer 9

LEGO War Weasel Advanced Howitzer 6

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.

Mecha plus Countach equals coolness

A long time ago, not long after I joined the online community, I upset a number of people by openly declaring that I don’t care much for mecha. While I can appreciate quality when I see it, mecha still aren’t my cup of tea. However, make one that can transform into a cool car, like Andrew Lee‘s Lamborghini Countach, and you’ve definitely caught my attention.

Countach

This is Andrew’s first working Transformer and he describes it as total pain in the ass and quite the learning experience. I can sympathise. He is no stranger to building mecha, though, as many of you will know, and his experience shows, because the articulation on his model is truly exceptional.

Do the shooty dance!

He talks about this and about LEGO transformers in general in the latest episode of his video podcast, aptly titled Bricks and Beers. Cheers man!

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.

These retro arcades are perfect for your minifigs

Kyler Wilson has built a series of wickedly cool minifig-scale arcade machines. I love the different genres you can pick out from the machine styles and the simple graphics on the screens. I think these would look fantastic in a future Modular set of an 80’s-style arcade.

Arcade - Gun Machine and Player

Arcade - All machines

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.

Spike Spiegel’s Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop

Vehicles and vessels from anime shows continue to be a popular subject with LEGO builders. Christopher Hoffmann joins the fray with this small but well-executed Swordfish II fighter from Cowboy Bebop. Much of Christoph’s microscale Swordfish is built from Technic parts, though it certainly doesn’t look like it, does it?

Swordfish II

If you like this microscale version, I think you’ll also enjoy Adrian Florea’s minifig-scale Cowboy Bebop Swordfish.

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.

The house that Zachary built

Zachary Lewis is quite the LEGO architect. For the last year or so since picking LEGO up again as an adult and joining a local LEGO club in Ohio, he’s been alternating between highly detailed houses and highly detailed interior rooms — each one built for a specific person. My favorite of Zachary’s houses so far is this one: “Mom’s House.”

Mom's House 1

While the classic 1950’s one-story ranch house is not my favorite form of American architecture (I live in one), this build by Zachary is pretty amazing — from the paneling on the garage door to the wood slat siding and brick walls. Smaller details jump out as well, like the barbecue out back and the small window/fan into the attic.

I could highlight just about every photo Zachary has posted in his photostream, but I won’t spoil your enjoyment — go spend some time poring over “Wesley’s Room,” “Robert’s House,” “Elliott’s Room,” and more.

But since I can’t help myself, here’s a beautiful Georgian-style house in Zachary’s hometown of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Lego Shaker House 1

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.

Armies on the march at Waterloo

A few weeks ago, Nannan posted The Defense of La Haye Sainte Farm at the Battle of Waterloo. While impressive, this was only a small part of a much larger diorama that was unveiled at Brickfair Va., to commemorate the 200th anniversary of this historic battle.

Battle of Waterloo Diorama

This impressive display was a collaborative effort by Joshua Brooks, his father Gary Brooks (Gary^the^procrastinator) and Casey Mungle, Ken Rice and John Rudy, with further contributions by several more members of Wamalug. It was not only large, but also tremendously well-researched. The formations of figures and their uniforms were chosen to be period-accurate, for instance. The size of the diorama had the consequence that, when sitting at one end and looking at the other, it was impossible to focus your eyes on the whole thing at once. This made the hundreds of sometimes fairly rare minifigures really look like armies on the march. In fact, there were so many figures on this display, that this may be the very reason why some of them have become so rare!

Edit: The guys from Beyond the Brick have posted an interview with Gary at Brickfair, which is well worth checking out.

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.

100 years of Starbucks in LEGO

WingYew takes us time traveling in an unnamed city with a MOC that spans a hundred years, from the arrival of streetcars to the proliferation of megachains. The dueling coffeeshops are replete with excellently detailed interiors and give a striking sense of how little has changed – and exactly how much has changed.

LEGO MOC - Now and Then

MOC Starbucks (15)

LEGO MOC - Penang Heritage Shop

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.

Speak softly, and carry a big Gatling gun

Korean builder Simmon Kim doesn’t say a whole lot about the LEGO models he builds — many of his photos don’t even have titles — but build quality always speaks louder than words anyway, and his mecha are awesome. Simmon’s latest mechanical wonder takes advantage of the new Mixels towball socket connections for a wonderfully compact stomper, replete with excellent application of stickers for little pops of color.

IMG_2608

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.

Ask A Lemur – Art, History, and the Dark Ages

lemurbrickchewHello, everyone!

This week has been so great! Andrew forgot to yell at me, and even asked me to grab him coffee. And you know what’s amazing? I didn’t mess it up! Josh was so proud. He decided I’d be allowed to “help” with the “Battle of Bricksburg” display for BrickCon! He says I’m not allowed to chew on any bricks though. I’m not sure how much I’m going to like that.

My minion training seems to be going well. Caylin just hits her face with her palm and sighs really loud, and tells me to do it again. She says if I don’t get it soon, then I’ll have to help Ralph clean up his lab. I’d rather not, cause the last time I did that I ended up with an extra tail. It was red! Simon joked about shipping me to BrickNerd.

Okay, time for this week’s questions!

Continue reading

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.

What’s in the box?! Pop goes the weasel...

Ok, so this clown is actually about as non-creepy as clowns gets (which is to say it’s still a little creepy), but it’s a great design by Logey Bear. The ruffled collar made from robot arms is a great technique, and the rubber bands forming the mouth give this clown a sock-puppet vibe.

Jack the Master of Mischief

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.