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 unappreciated droids from classic Star Wars

GNK Power Droids are better known as “Gonk” droids because of the low, honking sounds they produce while moving about. This larger build by Eric Druon gives us a close-up detail of what we usually see represented with smaller bits and fewer details.

I do appreciate how the builder took the time to even showcase the battery packs inside. The best way to understand its purpose in today’s context is the equivalent of your mobile power chargers — they’re there to provide juice whenever you need it. If there’s one thing from the future that needs to happen soon, this is it. We’re definitely going to need more of these turned into a reality as they simply wander around on-screen as in the Star Wars movies, and I’m assuming be available for you on demand. It certainly beats carrying around an additional battery pack in your pocket today.

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The escape of a colourful monster

The Masterpiece Gallery in LEGO House has creations from seventeen different fan builders from all over the world. French builder Samuel Pister has specially designed this fantastical monster for the display. Samuel explains that the build is the story of a colourful monster who is confined in the display case and wants to escape. The only language the monster speaks is modelling colours to express his emotions, and he is trying to call out to visitors to help him. The monster looks at the outside world with the face of the lime goblin, and he tries to push up the display with the orange tree. He is asking for love and touching the window with an aqua hand.

You might think that there is no way this monster can escape but by leaving a mark in the mind of the visitors, engraving colours and leaving questions, he will escape with them when they exit the house.

To move space cargo, you need space freighters

Freighters are a not uncommon amongst LEGO spacecraft, but still notably less frequent than fighters – that is why they are always a welcome change from the usual militarized space genre. This time we can thank James Zhan for the refreshment, although the guns mounted at the side still hint at a somewhat violent universe.

The cargo crate’s shape and texture contrasts nicely with the core of the spacecraft, but I do wish James contrasted the colour too. As far as the freighter itself goes, it has a lot going for it. The rounded shape, while simply constructed, is pleasing to the eye and the body is filled with different doodads and details to break it up without making it look too chaotic and scattered. The careful little hints of orange make an otherwise utilitarian colour scheme quite a treat too.

Chris McVeigh’s My First Computer DOS Edition [Review]

Even if you’ve not heard of Chris McVeigh, you’ve probably seen his builds in one way or another, especially his iconic Classic Mac that’s been featured quite a bit across the media. As a brick artist, Chris specializes in capturing fragments of details in tiny builds that give maximum impact. The other great part about Chris’s builds is that all of his build guides are available free for download and all you need to do to enjoy his wonderful creations are to source the bricks from sites like Bricklink or gather what you have from your very own stash. Of course, there are those that may not have the time or knowledge of the secondary LEGO market to gather all those parts, which makes purchasing a custom kit directly from the artist becomes a great option. For those that do, there’s no detail spared in the experience. Trust me on this, I’m going to bet that you’ll be impressed by the level of care and detail that Chris puts into this.

Read the full review

Good coffee is like good building – it’s all in the technique

Sometimes the use of interesting techniques, or a lot of clever parts usage, can overwhelm a LEGO model — distracting from the creation as a whole, interfering with the design intent. However, this
café model by César Soares manages to create an attractive and cohesive scene whilst being packed to the hilt with ultra-smart building techniques. The brick-built signage and the lovely brick-built furniture might catch the eye first, but don’t miss all the surrounding textures. It’s worth zooming in to check out the tile roofs built of air tanks and ingots, the uneven stone paving, and those walls — the red brick facade is constructed from plates and bars, and the lower grey wall is built out of briefcases!

Futuristic military truck is packed with grunt

When LEGO builders tackle the future, they’re often tempted to make everything smooth and sleek. No danger of that here, with Joshua Brooks‘ Manticore Truck offering a serious sense of heft and gritty purpose. This comes in no small part from the impressive levels of texture and detailing evident despite the relatively restrained colour scheme. I particularly like the winch on the front fender, and the tools clipped on the sides — details which evoke classic Jeeps and Hummers, helping make this military vehicle feel realistic as well as futuristic.

She pretty much has the looks, and I’m confident she’s got it where it counts.

The Sidewinder by Railblade caught my eye for its balanced resemblance to the Millennium Falcon we all know and love, yet something different — just enough to make it believable and a bit of extra effort to make the ship hospitable.

It’s got a cozy sleeping quarters and even a proper bridge for control and co-piloting functions. The color theme is both space-y and earthly which gives a nice clean weathered effect. My favorite part is the three heavy-duty thrusters that guarantee warp speed that’s definitely going to give Han Solo a run for his republic credits.

There’s been quite a number of Falcons thanks to several competitions going around, if you haven’t already sent in your entry for our very own TBB competition, time is running out, and you can tell Luke Skywalker that you ARE actually going take your reward (if you win) and leave.

Make your own MaK – fresh off the sprue

Surely even the most die-hard LEGO builder has also dabbled in model kits? Who hasn’t spent time pruning the parts off a sprue and reaching for the glue? Builder Andreas Lenander takes some inspiration from Peter Reid’s Turtle Robot kit and gives us the opportunity to put together a little hardsuit inspired by the Maschinen Krieger universe. This creations is totally appropriate for MaK, as the theme originally came about as a collaboration by “kitbashers” — modellers who would customise plastic kits into near-future creations.

Become an Imperial engineer and build your own TIE Fighter [Instructions]

The ‘twin ion engines’ in a TIE fighter help to make these little starfighters fast, agile and perfectly suited for a dog-fight in a narrow trench. Every Star Wars fan surely needs at least one sitting on their desk? Thanks to instructions provided by Inthert, you can build his LEGO version of this iconic starfighter and take on the nearest X-wing.

There are three pages of instructions provided. Page one provides the steps for building the solar array wings…

Page two completes the wings and provides instructions to start the spherical central cockpit area…

Finally, page three completes the cockpit and shows how to put everything together…

Thanks to Inthert for taking the time to make instructions as his TIE-fighter looks to be a fun build.

Alright stop... it’s hammer time

What better way to break up a featureless brick wall than with a bunch of hammers? Letranger Absurde (aka Vitroleum, aka Pacurar Andrei) will have all the LEGO Castle builders sobbing into their mead with this neat wall technique — a texture-tastic fortress constructed from Thor hammers! However, it’s not just the tool use which makes this model stand out — don’t miss the ingots on top of the crenelations, and the shaping of the rockwork around the wall’s ends. This is small enough that I’m going to call it a nice little “proof of concept”. I now insist on seeing a full-scale castle creation using this technique.

A symbolic spacecraft for the Horde

If you are unfamiliar with the source material for this LEGO model, the Horde is a faction in the Warcraft franchise, but usually has little to do with spaceships. The builder, Evgeny Susekov, does not specify whether he took inspiration from the game or just from the faction’s symbol. The builder uses every detail of the symbol’s design to add something interesting to the spacecraft; from the curves and side appendages, to the unique diamond element in the center, which is a cockpit connected by what appear to be energy beams.

The build is an interesting use of fantasy inspiration in a sci-fi theme. However, besides the shape there is not much more to remind us of the games, and it might have been good to include at least an Orcish pilot or many, many spikes.

Vintage gas station and diner

If you’re looking for a full-service gas station and a cozy diner where you can take a break, then Andrea Lattanzio has the place for you. Take a step back in time to this vintage LEGO gas station complete with diner and repair shop — all your roadside needs taken care of. The rounded corners of the building and its smooth red lines reflect the Art Deco style of the era, and there are great details to be found amongst the fuel pumps, road signs, and telegraph poles. Check out the photos on Flickr for interior details and more.