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.

The bandit in one the best bad movies ever made

Watching Top Gun is like eating a Philadelphia cheesesteak with cheez whiz. Some of the ingredients are a bit dodgy and there really is an awful lot of stringy cheese, but it tastes oh so good. Why? Forget Tom Cruise—the undisputed star of the movie is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. However, instead Lego Admiral chose to build one of the villains, called the MiG-28, and that’s cool in my book.

The MiG-28s in Top Gun weren’t really Russian, of course, because they never made a MiG-28. In reality, the planes on-screen were F-5 Tigers, which are normally used by the US Navy as adversaries in air-to-air combat training. However, the jets certainly looked the part, as for the occasion they were painted in temporary color schemes with fictional national markings of some Communist country. This made them look even more sinister, as we all know that evil wears black. The LEGO model has a long shark-nose and an expertly rendered coke-bottle fuselage. Even more than thirty years later the MiG-28 still looks bad-ass.

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Tripping the light fantastic with this Tron cycle

Hot on the heels of the official duo of cycles from Tron: Legacy, Fictitious Pasta brings us this epic microscale version of the bike from the original Tron film. The simple setting with scattered rocks and a gleaming light streak is perfect for the digital frontier. And in a twist that seems particularly appropriate, this model exists only in digital form, as the scene is an excellent CGI render.

This model may be tiny, but don’t miss the excellent large-scale version of the same vintage Tron bike we also featured recently.

You don’t need many red bricks to build a beautiful Italian car

Ferrari 308 GTB is one of the rarest Ferrari cars with only 800 copies produced. But Jonathan Elliott builds one more. Although, it is not of metal and not quite as large, it is just as red and looks fabulous. Even though it looks very simple and easy to build, certain parts of this tiny 308 GTB are perfectly executed for this scale. The builder admits that there some compromises, but I simply can’t imagine what can be done differently to make this car look even better.

Harry Potter Teaser site revealed on LEGO.com [News]

With the return of one of the most anticipated franchises around the corner, LEGO has started preparing their site for the reveal of the Harry Potter original series along with the new Fantastic Beasts series. We’ve already gotten a look at the much-anticipated Hogwarts set, both with an official announcement and a hands-on examination, but we know there are more sets still coming. We’ll be sure to bring you more information as soon as its available.

Beautiful Micro-builds of Niklas Rosén‎

You may remember back in January we featured instructions for a tiny typewriter by Niklas Rosén. After seeing more of his gorgeous builds we decided to feature highlights from his Flickr collection. Niklas tells us it’s the shapes that give him the inspiration to create everyday household objects. Here he is trying to expand his Monofig collection with this nifty airbrush kit with paints.

His favourite among his eclectic collection is the elegant antique clock. I love the simplicity of his gravity-defying tap with water splash motif.

Click here to see more awesome mini-builds!

Massive Lego Star Wars Mos Espa Arena hosts a spectacular podrace

You may know Martin Latta as the builder who made the life-sized Terminator or the epic Battle of Hoth diorama. His latest display takes us to the desert planet of Tatooine in the midst of the fast-paced podrace featuring Anakin and Sebulba. This giant layout spans about 9 ft by 6 ft and contains around 100,000 pieces.

Click to see more of this amazing Mos Espa arena

Living the beautiful life at Villa Arcus

Occasionally, I’ll day-dream about winning the lottery. Usually there’s some fiscal responsibility, but then there’s always a house purchase. That house is typically on the water somewhere, and I certainly wouldn’t mind one with the inspired architecture of Villa Arcus by Jussi Koskinen.

There is a lot to love about this build: The roof line, the windows, the curved walls. My eye is drawn to the gorgeous brickwork on the upper right of the home. This creation features a full interior, too. The techniques go far beyond the outer walls, with fantastic attention to detail in each room.

Check out more pictures, both inside and out, after the jump.
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M-Tron sifts the desert sands from this huge new mining facility

M-Tron is known throughout the galaxy for its abundant use of magnets, even deriving their name from the self-attracting rocks. But where do all those rocks come from? A giant metallic asteroid? No, intrepid M-Tron miners harvest the magnetic grains from the desert sands of alien worlds. This mining outpost was a collaboration between Wami Delthorn and Tim Goddard, with a few additional models by Jeremy Williams and Alec Hole.

Don’t be deceived, it’s much larger than it looks at first glance, as this night shot of the whole base shows.

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Build your very own Donald Trump BrickHead [Instructions]

When we set out to plan our April First content, a lot of great ideas were suggested. But when the idea to build BrickHeadz of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was suggested, we knew we had a winner. I was thrilled to build them, having already designed and built custom BrickHeadz of Santa, and recently, a Leprechaun.

My first idea was to really make it a solid caricature, with comb-over blowing in the wind, and a shirtless Putin. But the trick to any good April Fools joke is to have enough realism to make it plausible, to really make people think, the same way that the best lies have a kernel of truth. So we decided that they should have that certain official “LEGO BrickHeadz style.” Luckily for me, the recent release of the LEGO Go Brick Me set that we have recently reviewed included just the parts we needed to give our custom BrickHeadz that kernel of truth.

The article was very successful and even led to some folks contacting LEGO about how they could get a copy of the set (for reals, please don’t do that). Sadly, this set will never be available to purchase (LEGO Education has much more important work to do like helping teach creativity to kids than making satirical products). But we are proud to share the instructions here, and while we don’t have a parts list, most of the parts used are readily available along with the Go Brick Me set, available now in stores.

See full instructions after the jump

Shinmizu Village

Some of the best builders are the ones who are constantly trying to push the envelope of what LEGO can do. And arguably, some of the best builds are a tale of two parts. When you get two great builders together, there is no telling what innovative works of art they might come up with. Shinmizu Village by the brother-sister duo of Geneva (Kai NRG/Geneva) and Isaiah (Robert4168/Garmedon)is a great example of such a creation. At first glance, it’s a beautiful little village on a cliff. But there is more to the story! According to the builders, it’s a mash-up between Venice and Japanese design. And apparently, achieving the angles of the layout was quite a feat!

Click here to read more about the two halves of this collaboration!

Post-apocalyptic school of hard knocks.

This ain’t no Hogwarts. This broken down school by Jonas Obermaier has been turned into a base of operations for a nefarious gang of survivors of the End. In addition to the well-textured vegetation running wild on the grounds, there are some very nice architectural details not to be missed. Take the Dobby heads on either side of the lion head below the roof, for example. Also, a number of micro-figures in tan are a nice touch along the rooftop.

Half a century later: Keeping the dream alive

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Though silenced half a century ago, the voice of this legendary American civil rights activist and leader rings thunderous today; his thoughts still quoted in speeches; the reach of his legacy reflected in thousands of public roads, buildings and spaces across the US that now bear his name. (I am actually writing this from King County, Washington.)

My simple tribute: King’s likeness (taken from a memorial plaque in Berlin) recreated with LEGO parts pushed together but not attached. Despite the progress we’ve made, it seems sometimes that the pieces are there but not all connected…