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.

It’s time to get medieval

LEGO fansite Classic Castle’s annual Colossal Castle Contest is upon us yet again. Now in its 16th year, this long-running contest draws out scores of world-class builders. We’ve got our eyes on all the contenders, but the one that caught my eye today is Isaac Snyder with a pair of simple yet elegant medieval builds. While modest in both scale and intent, Isaac has crafted a wonderful slice of middle-age urbanism, with neatly designed houses crowding over a packed street. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Isaac has opted for a refreshingly clean aesthetic, eschewing the now-common jumbled style of bricks at crazy angles and roofs mere moments from collapse.

Next, Isaac moves to the countryside while retaining the same tidy style, bringing us a happy cottage on a streambank. The wattle and daub architecture is expertly accomplished, and the little touches like the chicken coop give life to the scene.

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Wisdom as your sword, knowledge as your shield

In a world where castle means intense textures and exotic part uses, Henjin Quilones brings a breath of fresh air with an all-LEGO library scene.

While there are a few unique techniques like the huge armchairs and nice angles on the roof’s underside, the real quality of the creation is its atmosphere. The composition and posing of the minifigs really set up a great mood. The best part has to be the lighting, with warm sunlight shining through the windows and a lit fireplace. This is one of those cases when a creation is as much a build as an artistic photograph.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Going back to the original book description of Hogwart’s headmaster, Eero Okkonen has created a fantastically faithful portrait. With a beard down to his belt, a nose broken in at least two places – built from a modified plate with tooth brick – and flowing purple robes, this Dumbledore is true in every way to J. K. Rowling’s beautiful prose. The build also utilises some seriously clever piece selections, from the LEGO parrot that forms Fawkes the phoenix’s beak to the wing elements that double for sideburns. Peering over his half-moon spectacles, this model is LEGO illustration at its best.

You can read more about the build on Eero’s Cycloptic Bricks blog.

Bricks in the hand are worth four builds of birds [Instructions]

If your LEGO city is situated by the seas, here are four complementary birds that could be residents of the local shores. Tammo S creates a few feathery friends from a lesser black-backed gull, a parrot/finch, a common redshank and a royal tern. They’re tiny enough for a quick build, so start looking in your bin of parts and give them a go! My favourite is the proud parrot – what’s yours?

From restoration shop to the toy box, this ’57 Bel Air is a cruising classic

When it comes to 1950s cars, the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air is especially popular. Plenty of LEGO fans have made examples of this classic car, but few come with a personal story. Builder 1saac W. decided to build the 1957 Bel Air that his girlfriend’s father has owned since high school. The real car is being restored, so 1saac W. decided to build the car in its current state. By his own account, this is why his LEGO car lacks whitewall tires. The minfigure-scale Chevy looks superb, with curves in all the right places and some intricate-looking geometry forming the fins.

The gas pump makes for a nice prop and was inspired by an example built by Norton74. Finishing off the car is the grille’s beaming “smile.”

Taking inspiration from the next generation of builders

It never ceases to amaze me how inventive kids are when it comes to LEGO building; what they lack in technical skill they make up for in unbridled imagination. Builder Mishima has been tapping into his son’s own amazing ideas: a LEGO shark mech is an ingenious concept in anyone’s book! What I love about the upgraded model is how it diligently sticks to the unusual colour blocking and asymmetric features of the original build; the final adaptation revelling in these design choices. Yet, as cool as Mishima’s reimagined version is, the intellectual property rights probably belong to his son.

LEGO 10268 Vestas Wind Turbine is back as the newest Creator Expert set [Review]

Since its inception, the LEGO Creator Expert line has come to be recognized by its advanced building techniques and great value. However, as statistics teaches us, in every group there are bound to be outliers. Enter 10268 Vestas Wind Turbine, a set that sticks out from the crowd in every sense. A re-rerelease of set 4999 from 2008, which only saw limited release to Danish energy company Vestas’ employees, the new set has 826 pieces and is priced at $199.99. It will be available beginning on Black Friday (Nov. 23).

Click to read the full hands-on review of this set

Let your fingers do the counting

If you blink or scroll a little too fast, you may just miss that these items are made of LEGO. Marco Gan reminisces about his younger days when his father did his daily ledger work using an abacus and a Chinese ledger. The writing on the ledger follows actual records he made. The beads of the abacus are built with, yes, you guessed it, LEGO tyres. The gold finishing gives it an authentic touch of antiquity, leaving us in awe about how much we’ve advanced since the days when these were the essential tools of a merchant. Of course, some older folks today still claim that they can calculate faster using an abacus than you can on a digital calculator…

Harvesting the ocean’s riches

In the year 2018, Aquasharks is not a word that would turn many heads apart from the occasional hardcore adult LEGO fan. For the younger crowd, Aquasharks is an underwater LEGO theme from the 90’s that had some imaginative set designs and play features like magnets (which, admittedly, were everywhere back then). As opposed to some other themes from the same years, this particular one doesn’t seem to get much love from the online LEGO community, but luckily Jonas Obermaier is here to give it five minutes of glory… perhaps this time we won’t forget about it again?

The build is technically a hardsuit, but the heavy use of minifig parts (the core of the top half is based on the Aquasharks SCUBA gear) blurs the line between a heavily modified minifig and a compact mecha. With the builder’s skills in minifig design, this is hardly surprising. All sorts of small colourful parts capture the motif of the Aquasharks prints, and with enough imagination, the dark blue minifig hand in the center of the torso could look like a shark symbol!

Patience for perfection with a precious part is priceless

Builder Bruce Lowell built a bust of Boba Fett using a technique he made popular known as the Lowell Sphere but left it unfinished 5 years ago. It was only now that he picked up the recent Boba Fett BrickHeadz which came with the 2×2 printed triangle pieces that it made sense to revisit the project. Sometimes you just need the right part to come along to inspire you to finish an outstanding build. The result speaks for itself with the instantly recognisable bounty hunter from a galaxy far far away.

F is for Ford fitted with a fantastic folding top

Pixeljunkie continues to delight with his series of LEGO cars. This time, he turned to the Brass Era with a tiny 1915 Ford Model T roadster pickup. The Model T was the car that made driving more accessible to the general public, and Pixeljunkie’s model is a sharp-looking replica that conceals an amazing feature.

The thing that makes his car especially impressive is the incorporation of a working folding top. A stop-motion video showcases how smooth this feature is.

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Just like his 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, Pixeljunkie documents his Model T as if it were a restoration. Over the past few weeks, he has teased us with images leading up to the finished product. It all started with this group of mechanics carefully looking over a set of plans. Look carefully, and you’ll notice the one minifigure has a Ford tattoo on his arm. You might say it is a “FORDshadowing” of things to come!

Click to see the amazing photos documenting this car’s build in a brick-built mechanic’s shop

Walk softly and carry a large bomb

While the month-long informal building event known as Ma.Ktober that happens every October may be over, The Maschinen Krieger movement that is the inspiration never really stops. For those not familiar with the phenomenon, it started in the early 1980’s as a sci-fi series in a Japanese hobby magazine, and the creators, using off the shelf model kits for airplanes, tanks, and other vehicles, created surreal combinations of armored hard suits and vehicles with strong alien and insect-like aspects. Two-legged walkers like this creation by Marco Marozzi are a popular subject as well.

The tall spindly legs have a very industrial feel, complete with pistons to drive each footstep deep into the rubble covered ground. Multiple sensors and ominous canisters cover the head and body of this drone as it seeks out its prey, and that belly mounted contraption looks like it could ruin your day.