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.

Brilliant custom handcrafted wooden LEGO builds by Craig Daniel [Feature]

A while ago, we featured an in-depth look at metal-sculpted LEGO creations. But what happens when you cross a skilled wood craftsman with a pinch of LEGO love? You get a master sculptor that churns out larger than life-sized LEGO made of wood. These are not just any ordinary wooden figures, but they are made with basic hand tools and a lathe and fully articulated. For those unaware like me, a lathe is a machine used to form a piece of wood into the desired shape. We just had to speak to Craig Daniel and find out more.

Click to read about Craig’s build process and photos of his wooden sculptures

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Do you feel lucky cyberpunk? Well, do you?

William Gibson’s seminal sci-fi novel Neuromancer helped set the cyberpunk standard for urban cityscapes with its depiction of The Sprawl — a vast built-up area stretching the full length of the Eastern Seaboard of the US. Whilst Didier Burtin doesn’t mention Neuromancer with regards his latest model, this microscale LEGO creation immediately made me think of Gibson’s work. The architecture and the presence of some small-scale aerial vehicles also brings to mind Syd Mead’s vision of the cities of the future from Blade Runner. Whatever your particular favourite flavour of cyberpunk, you’re sure to find something you like in this model…

The city is gloriously detailed, rewarding a closer look with a wealth of textured detail, the product of smart parts choices and interesting combinations. Too often futuristic LEGO cities offer a homogenous architecture, but this offers a rich variety of building style, looking like it evolved over time in a messy clash of planning, business, and everyday living — much as a real world city does.

The model is all the more impressive for its tight footprint. All the glorious details in the images above are found within a small square of construction — a great advertisement for the effectiveness of microscale building in being able to conjure up epic vistas…

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for November 25, 2018 [News]

In addition to the amazing LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of November 2018.

TBB SET NEWS: What a news week this was with upcoming LEGO set reveals from all over the place!

Nineteen new sets revealed from The LEGO Movie 2 – LEGO revealed a deluge of new sets with everything from pink classic spaceman to teal brick separators, on sale December 26th.
LEGO to release exclusive sets inspired by traditional new year festivals for the China and Asia Pacific markets – Check out these incredible sets, available next year.
LEGO Star Wars lineup for the first half of 2019 revealed – From new battle packs to gunships, Star Wars looks like it will get off to a great start in 2019.
LEGO Technic 42096 Porsche 911 RSR is revealed – This 1,580-piece replica of one of the most iconic racing vehicles of our days will headline the 2019 Technic line.
Five new LEGO Spider-Man sets revealed, available this weekend – The five sets range from battling mechs to Junior’s racers, available starting November 24.
New LEGO Batman set for 2019 unveiled with a Bat-Submarine – It looks like the upcoming year has new packaging for our superhero, along with Aquaman and Ocean Master.

TBB REVIEWS & OTHER NEWS: We have a few reviews of a really big custom set and a Kickstarter project, as well as some fun instructions on how to build a classic car.

Review of Brickmania 2183 B-17G “Flying Fortress” WWII Heavy Bomber – Is Brickmania’s largest LEGO aircraft kit produced to date worth its sky-high price?
Review of LEGO Architecture 21041 Great Wall of China – It is rare for TBB to recommend getting multiple copies of a set, but in this case we think you should buy three.
Review of Mbriks custom magnet bricks – How does this magnetic Kickstarter kit hold up to real-world tests? We have our review to show all.
The LEGO Movie 2 full trailer has arrived – Bricksburg is a mess from the Duplo invaders, but what are these strange creatures from the Systar system up to?
HispaBrick Magazine issue 031 available for free download – The magazine also has a refreshed website and index of every article that has ever been published by them.
Instructions to build your own mini LEGO Aston Martin DB5 – Build a slightly smaller set than the official LEgO model with these instructions from hachiroku24.

TBB SALES & DEALS: The Black Friday and Cyber Monday buying frenzy continues with more LEGO sets on sale and discounts to be had.

Cyber Monday deals on Amazon – LEGO Star Wars, Jurassic World and more – The new pirate-themed roller coaster is also on a big discount.
LEGO Creator Vestas Wind Turbine now available – The LEGO Vault has opened and the previously exclusive 10268 Vestas Wind Turbine is now on sale.
New wave of LEGO Spider-Man sets now available for purchase – All five new LEGO Spider-Man sets are now also available for purchase in the US and Canada.
LEGO Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 deals from the LEGO Shop – There are deep discounts on select sets, along with the holiday exclusive Christmas Box.
Citizen Brick Black Friday 2018 deals and special offers – Our friends over at Citizen Brick have cooked up another batch of cool stuff for the holidays.

OTHER NEWS: There were quite a few other interesting LEGO news articles from around the web this week. Here are the best of the rest:
Check out the other LEGO news of the week

Not your typical centaur

Centaurs are typically depicted as fierce but loyal warriors. This take on the mythical creature by Dr. Zarkow is most certainly fierce! Aside from the frightening helmet and the string of heads hanging from his armor, the size of the beast is truly intimidating. To add to the other-worldly feeling, check out the dragonfly in the foreground. The crocodile top jaws emerging from the water are a nice touch. And speaking of water, it blends in perfectly with the background.

This alternate, “minifig-eye-view” shows just how imposing the centaur really is!

LEGO sales and deals on Amazon for Cyber Monday Week 2018 – LEGO Star Wars, Jurassic World, and more [News]

If you haven’t blown your holiday LEGO budget on the Black Friday deals from the LEGO shop (which go through Cyber Monday tomorrow), Amazon.com is spinning up its “Cyber Monday Week” sales, with a number of great deals on LEGO sets.

We’ve picked a few highlights, but you can see everything on sale the Amazon.com LEGO deals page.

LEGO Star Wars 75218 X-Wing Starfighter

LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz 41629 Boba Fett

See more LEGO sales and deals from Amazon for Cyber Monday

HispaBrick Magazine issue 031 available for free download [News]

Earlier this month, HispaBrick Magazine, a free magazine for fans of all things LEGO, released their 31st issue. If you haven’t visited recently, now is a good time as the team has refreshed their website. The new site now also includes an index so you can easily find every article that has ever been published in the magazine.

In this issue, you can see how LEGO fans enjoy events in different countries like Japan, (Japan BrickFest), Chile (Brickfest Chile), and Denmark (LEGO® World Copenhagen). The issue also features interviews with LEGO designer Jamie Berard and with the winner of the LEGO Ideas Trophy Design Contest. For those of you who like to have hands-on help, don’t miss their EV3 and Boost tutorials too!

You can download HispaBrick Magazine 031 from the Downloads page, along with past issues.

Ride the roads in a really radical rat rod

In American car culture, the rat rod has come to symbolize rugged individualism. You might think of it as the automotive equivalent of a cowboy. Over the course of seven months, Manuel Nascimento built a LEGO Ford Model A rat rod. Manuel’s Model A oozes personality, with its “rust brown” patina, chrome trim and chopped, lowriding body. His model captures the subtle curves and angles of the real car. I’m particularly impressed with how the sides slightly slant upward.

Manuel’s rat rod is as impressive mechanically as it is visually. The car is equipped with power functions motors for moving, steering, and the ability to raise and lower the rear. Because the engine is exposed, you can also see it in action. Manuel chose to highlight these features in the following video.

See this gorgeous Model A rat rod in action

Same house, different times

When you’ve designed something as beautiful as Ayrlego‘s Wainwright house, it seems a shame not to experiment with its presentation. It looks right at home in its medieval situ, with its muddy path, city guards, and period timber frame construction.

However, why stop here? Relocate the build half way around the globe to Jamestown in Virginia and you have a completely different enviroment to explore. LEGO palm trees and red coat soldiers have surrounded the timber frame residence, giving the model a fresh colonial feel.

Fearsome Tengu watches over from atop the mountains

Tengu are legendary creatures in Japanese myths going back hundreds of years. Although they have a complicated history, they’re most often seen today as protectors of mountains and forests, though still certainly fearsome! John Cheng has built a rather adorable Tengu, dressed in Yamabushi (mountain hermit) garb with black bird wings and an enormous, beak-like nose that reveal his avian origins.

See you in Cerulean City!

For more than 20 years, the Pokémon series has captured the minds of fans young and old all over the world. Toronto’s BrickinNick has tapped into the nostalgia of the beloved franchise with an extremely faithful LEGO depiction of Cerulean City as seen in the Kanto region of several games in the video game series.

Sometimes a model stands out not so much for fancy techniques or showing off the latest parts but is more about sharp color choices and reference accuracy; in this case it’s of a place familiar to millions of gamers. Compare to a screenshot of the city from HeartGold and SoulSilver from the Nintendo DS:

All the major locations are easily identifiable in this microscale rendition, including the Cerulean Gym where leader Misty uses water-based Pokémon to soak her challengers, a Pokemart, Bike Shop, and the dangerous Cerulean Cave.

And of course, the main protagonist from the games and his faithful companion Pikachu on their way to another adventure!

Like what you see from this builder? Check out his How to Train Your Dragon model of Toothless, Destiny 2 Guardians, and of course his LEGO sculpture of Bob Ross.

Build your own mini LEGO Aston Martin DB5 with working features [Instructions]

No, not the 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5 LEGO set from earlier this year. As remarkable as the working features on the official LEGO set are, hachiroku24 has scaled the iconic vehicle down while — rather miraculously — retaining many of the car’s functions.

Learn how to build your own LEGO Aston Martin DB5

Presents you must have, my young padawan

The Grinch isn’t the only strange green creature you’ll meet this festive season, Koen Zwanenburg would have us believe that Father Christmas is in fact a Jedi master, Yoda no less! Bizarrely it makes perfect sense — clearly, it would take a high-level Force user to achieve Santa’s intergalactic delivery schedule. There is also a sly nod to the commercial success of the Star Wars franchise: in a clever reversal of roles, Yoda carries a LEGO minifigure Luke on his back, ready to fill someone’s Christmas stocking.

If you like Keon’s model, he’s provided LDD instructions for you to make your very own Santa Yoda.