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 Technic 42113 Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey [Review]

Last week, LEGO has officially announced that one of its upcoming Technic sets, the 42113 Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is canceled due to its association with militaries. Since the set was slated to go on sale August 1, a number of the V-22 Osprey sets have already been distributed to retail stores in several countries. Some smaller retailers have even listed the set on their webpages, making them available for purchase, allowing a small number of them into the wild. The set consists of 1,673 pieces and contains two Powered Up electric components for motorization. The retail price of the set is $119.99 / 139.99€.

Click here to read the review

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LEGO Star Wars 75317 The Mandalorian & the Child (Baby Yoda) BrickHeadz characters [Review]

The appearance of “The Child” (immediately nicknamed Baby Yoda) at the end of the first episode of “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ last November caught the whole world by surprise, including merchandise and toy licensees like LEGO, who had to scramble to produce products based on the show. First revealed in February, right before Toy Fair in New York, where we got hands on with both LEGO Star Wars The Mandalorian sets, preorders for the 295-piece LEGO BrickHeadz 75317 The Mandalorian & the Child immediately went on back-order from the LEGO Shop (US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99), but has begun showing up “in the wild” ahead of its August 1st release date.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75317 The Mandalorian & the Child BrickHeadz

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How to build a swell little well! [Instructions]

Former LEGO designer Tiago Catarino continues to deliver fun techniques in his free tutorials! I’m a big fan of this little well. It’s simple and easy to build, yet the unique roof design gives it character. The best part is that you can put it into a number of settings and decorating around it would be seamless. Of course, it’s probably best suited to a medieval square, don’t you think?

Click the link below to watch the video and see how it’s done!

Watch Video!

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What the crazy European kids were into

When I think of my childhood the Ford Pinto comes to mind. That’s because we had one when I was growing up and apparently Dad thought nothing of our safety. But across the pond, LEGO builder Jonathan Elliott tells us that during his childhood, the Mk1 Ford Transit was the ubiquitous thing in the United Kingdom as well as Germany, Belgium, and Holland. It’s still a Ford but apparently far less explosive. In fact, the Ford Transit is so revered out there that the platform is still used today in everything from school buses to police and ambulance applications. Jonathan replicated the shape nicely with this little build proving you don’t need a vanload of pieces to create an accurate LEGO model.

Early Ford Transit

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Seas the day

If sailing vessels are your jam, then Simon Pickard has a treat for you. This LEGO microscale galleon packs an impressive amount of detail and shaping, making great use of sloped brick to form both the hull and sails. I like how a round 1×1 plate with bar is combined with a clip plate to give the spirit sail a rakish angle. The display stand is pretty swanky as well. I’ve always been a fan of using the turntable base as a design element, and the varied shades of blue work well to make the sea of 1×1 round plate in transparent blue really pop.

Microscale Galleon

This isn’t the first nautical creation by Simon we’ve featured. The last one was minifigure scaled. Will the next one be micro-micro scale? How small a boat can you make out of LEGO?

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Crawling with Classic Space nostalgia

Are you shopping for a rover that can handle rough terrain? (Aren’t we all?) Then Blake Foster has all the answers you seek with this LEGO All-Terrain Classic Space Tank or AT-CST. It makes excellent use of this bubble windscreen as well as this Bionicle shell. If that is giving you just a touch of deja vu, that is because Blake recently used the same parts with this Grumpy Gnat. Blake seems to specialize in spacecraft that tickle the ol’ LEGO nostalgia bone. Check out our archives to see what I mean.

AT-CST

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The Palm Beach concept that took 1956 by storm

Palm Beach, Florida is known for idyllic beaches, palatial mansions, and Jeffrey Epstein. Wow, that escalated fast! But optimism abounded in the 50s and legendary Italian designer Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina created the Rambler-Nash Palm Beach concept car in 1956. This ended up being one of his most eye-catching concepts and Tim Inman has replicated the design nicely in LEGO. It has all the niceties you can expect from a piece this size; the doors open as well as the hood and the interior is well detailed. Whether it be the thin flex-tube strip along the side, the rounded air intake up front, or the sloping tailfins around back, there is plenty to love about Tim’s creation. Tim has really been on a roll lately as we’ve also featured his Mercedes G550 recently.

1956 Rambler-Nash Palm Beach Concept

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We used to build LEGO spaceships and wonder at our place in the stars

Going by the latest reports, Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited Tenet will finally hit big screens less than a month. While we still wait, it might be the best time to re-watch another movie by one of the greatest directors of our time. CheeseyStudios suggests the 2014 epic sci-fi Interstellar. His build of The Endurance spaceship is much more complicated than it looks. Note it consists of 12 sections, which means that the angle between them is 150 degrees. Caleb managed to find just the right piece for this task, giant flex joints.

The Endurance

And if you are interested in the design of the Ranger shuttle, note a brilliant use of ninja swords. Thanks to the curved swords, the otherwise somewhat blocky model becomes very recognizable.

Microscale Ranger - Interstellar

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At least it wasn’t just whitewashed

A limited color palette can be tricky to work with in a creation. I’ve done LEGO builds where I only used one color, and it was challenging. Cab ~ here has limited the palette in this cathedral to just three: light bluish grey, transparent red, and transparent yellow. The back-lit stained glass is beautiful, each window unique and telling part of the Easter story, according to the builder, if in an abstracted way. The vaulted ceiling, held together by interior flex tube, looks great, too. It does look a little bland with only grey, however, or maybe just incomplete; so perhaps now that the masons have finished their part, the rest of the artisans can get to work adding paintings, gilded ornaments, and tapestries to outfit the cathedral for its intended purpose, glorifying God.

Tri-color Cathedral

Like church architecture? Check out some more churches and cathedrals in the TBB archives.

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.

It’s a me, Mario! And all my friends, too!

Now that LEGO has released a line of Super Mario sets, I’m sure we’re not far from a massive uptick in the number of Mario-related custom builds. Anticipating them is Koen Zwanenburg, who has designed a series of cuddly characters from the games. I’m a bad child of the ’80s and don’t know all of them, but I can recognize Mario and Luigi, as well as Peach, Bowser, and Yoshi. Aficionados can no doubt name them all at just a glance since Koen has done an excellent job of capturing the essence of each with just a few parts. I love the jumper plates for mustaches on the brothers, but my favorite detail is the plates with teeth as Bowser’s toes. But they’re all great. Or should I say super?

Cuddly Toys: The Mario Collection

This is not the first set of cute and cuddly creations by Koen; check out some adorable animals and delightful Christmas characters!

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.

Eshu? Gesundheit!

It’s always a pleasure when a really artistic LEGO build comes along. This sculpture of the Nigerian trickster Eshu by Buttloaf Builds is a really elegant take on the subject matter. Let’s start off by talking about those wire-thin limbs. Those are made from LEGO flex tubing, joined up to larger animal tail elements. Small bits of larger gauge silver flex tube and Technic bushings form jewelry, creating a visual break for those thin lines. I suspect there’s some photographic trickery going on to make this sculpture stand upright…or maybe it’s just divine intervention.

Eshu

But as cool as those limbs are, Eshu’s face is even more impressive. A mix of Bionicle and System parts in sharply contrasting colors draw the viewer in. I’m particularly impressed with the creation of eyes from the negative space between sets of horn elements. And check out that necklace of Technic gears. There’s just enough curve in the construction there to create a very organic feel.

Eshu

And the curves don’t stop there. Seen from the rear, you can really appreciate the work that went into shaping the headpiece. I’m not sure if it reminds me more of a ram’s horn or a xenomorph skull.

Eshu

Questionable name or not, I think we’ll be seeing more creations from Buttloaf Builds in the future.

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.

More than just 4 walls and a roof

Home is where the heart is, and this residence by Ayrlego, loosely inspired by houses in the civilization-building sim Age of Empires 2 is a sturdy place to raise a family, with strong walls, a nearby source of clean water, and shady trees to relax with the little ones. The textured bricks built into the frame are a nice connection to the building, as well as a frame for the ground made up of sloped bricks.

Myzec House

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.