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.

A smart little place in town

Every gentleman needs a smart little place in town, and Emil Lidé‘s microscale LEGO townhouse definitely fits the bill. With the elaborate stonework of the frontage, the elegant bushes flanking the entrance, the crest above the door, and the nicely-executed Mansard roof, this lovely little building has all the trappings of a desirable residence in one of the better parts of town. Emil has made good use of textured bricks, grille tiles, and scroll pieces, giving a real depth of detail — the key to the best microscale building. I’d love to see Emil build the rest of the stylish boulevard which this building surely calls home.

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LEGO Pickett will grow on you

Newt Scamander’s little pet plant might not appear the easiest of creatures to sculpt from LEGO pieces. However, Jonas Kramm has taken up the leafy challenge and come out a winner — his selection of rubbery and leafy green pieces come together wonderfully. The organic and twisted vine look is excellent, prompting one of those “Is that really LEGO?” moments.

TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for May 21, 2017 [News]

In addition to the best LEGO models created by builders all over the world, The Brothers Brick also brings you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our weekly Brick Report for the third week of May 2017.

TBB NEWS, REVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: It was a quiet week, but we still got the official word on the largest Minecraft set ever made and instructions for a cool retro concept car.

Largest ever LEGO Minecraft set announced: 21137 The Mountain Cave — With 2,863 pieces and a price of $249.99, this set is a massive addition to your Minecraft village.
An interview with Monorail champion and brick outlaw Randy Sluder — Purists look away now, as we learn about ways to get the perfect look, including drilling, cutting and sanding!
Instructions to build the iconic Flintstone’s foot powered car — Builder hichiroku24 shares the means for constructing your very own earth friendly, zero emission, instantly recognizable two-seater from the Stone Age.

OTHER LEGO NEWS: This week had a few interesting nuggets of LEGO-related news. Here are the best of the rest.

LEGO train dream ride will take you to a minifig wonderland, YouTube — From the same mind that was able to get a LEGO train to do a full 360 degree loop, here is the minifig-scale dark ride of your dreams.
LEGO reaches 100% renewable energy target three years ahead of schedule, The Independent — To celebrate, LEGO built a giant wind turbine made from 146,000 plastic bricks.
iTunes Launches LEGO-Themed Makeover for Digital Release of ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’, MacRumors — Though not out on DVD for another month, you can now stream The LEGO Batman Movie through iTunes.
Inside the mesmerizing world of a LEGO packaging facility, AOL.com — The facilities and the assembly process are mesmerizing. The perfectly stacked storage containers and cascading LEGO pieces provide an aesthetically pleasing, colorful dreamland for any organization lover.

An Ottoman dream in green and gold

The Brothers Brick’s own Patrick Massey has created this beautiful mosque after a short hiatus from LEGO master building. He shared some insider tricks he implemented to save time and bricks, and the most interesting is that he created the model purely for photographing. In other words, there is no back to this incredible build! Patrick has been reading a book about Ottoman history called Osman’s Dream, which contains a lot of descriptions of the various styles of Ottoman architecture. Petrea Central Mosque hasn’t been modeled on any particular mosque, but it is very reminiscent of the Imperial Ottoman style of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Build up and break down a LEGO Overwatch Torbjörn’s turret

LEGO gaming builder ZaziNombies adds to his brick built arsenal of Overwatch weapons with defense hero Torbjörn’s level 2 turret and repair hammer. Smooth shaping on the red paneling throughout and gun barrels match the game’s aesthetic well. See an overview of ZaziNombies’s LEGO turret and hammer, as well as a discussion of the build process, in the video below.

The wheels of time turn beneath the Crystal of Harmony

It doesn’t take a hardcore Whovian to appreciate this awesome LEGO TARDIS interior by AdNorrel. The builder says he was inspired after watching the episode Journey to the Center of the TARDIS. This build isn’t based on any specific room inside the TARDIS — it’s the builder’s own design — and it captures the Doctor Who aesthetic perfectly.

I love the use of the gold wings and crystal pieces on the detailing of the crystal holder, and the Hero Factory drums as crystals. However, the real star of the show is the floor. It seems simple at first glance, but close inspection reveals an intricate design of gears and Technic parts, giving the impression that the gears of time are turning beneath the mythical crystal.

The photography is wonderful as well, be sure to click through to the builder’s photostream to see more beautiful shots!

Designed for style, engineered to last [Instructions]

Builder hichiroku24 shares the means for constructing your very own earth friendly, zero emission, instantly recognizable two-seater from the Stone Age era. Two cylinder, duo tree trunk, feet powered and with a top speed of 15 mph, this is a must-have for anyway caveman on the go. The only question is, will you put in your order at the nearest Bricklink store today? We’ve got blueprints in the form of a video instruction guide, so what are you waiting for? Yabba-dabba-doo!

Birds in their little nests agree

Builder Josephine Monterosso once again demonstrates her flair for out-of-the-box building techniques with this beautiful bird’s nest. We’re used to seeing builds with no exposed studs, but this one seems to take the biscuit, lacking any normal connections whatsoever! Josephine jokes that “there are a few illegal techniques used here”. However, I don’t see any illegal techniques because this isn’t intended to be an official LEGO set.

We amateurs aren’t bound by same rules as LEGO’s designers. If we were, half the stuff you see here would never have existed. So be thankful that people like Josephine keep pushing the envelope on what’s possible with all these tiny little – and often highly flexible – plastic bricks.

And the monkey flips the switch

Normally, my obsessive nature would freak out about incorrectly attached LEGO bricks. Yet somehow, despite the way LEGO 7 has created the jaws of these sublime simian spacemen, my clutching disorder doesn’t seem to mind. These cheeky chimpanzee’s heads have been created using only a handful of bricks, yet convey a huge amount of character. One transparent dome helmet and stylistic articulated space suit later, and you’ve got yourself a moon monkey. Double that and add a hexapedal all-terrain moon buggy and you have a scene that could elicit a smile from anyone.

There is no force in the world that can rival the Roman war machine

The Roman war machine was an impressive force in its time and to this day inspires many people, for better or for worse. This time it is for the better, as the Russian LEGO building duo Dmitriy and Anna have created an extremely expressive legionnaire using a relatively limited selection of bricks. There are many simple solutions for complex shapes, like exposed studs as the kneecaps and chin, as well as curved slopes that capture the shape of lorica segmentata perfectly.

The warrior’s weapons should not go unnoticed either: while the gladius in its scabbard is not quite perfect, I do not see how it could be done much better, but the pilum and scutum are basically flawless.

Tanks beware, the War Mustang is locked on

Enemy armor slowing you down? Then get ready to pop some tanks with the War Mustang Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank Missle System (try saying that several times real fast) built by Stud Systems. The War Mustang is a lovely and cleverly designed combat vehicle. The coolest detail has to be the poseable missile launcher and guidance system, which conveniently folds down into the roof when not in use.

Spherical spaceship has all the right curves

There’s no stopping Tyler Clites when it comes to building remarkable and just plain mind-boggling spacecraft. In a similar vein to the awe-inspiring alien vessel we featured a while back, Tyler presents us with another beautifully spherical craft in the form of this futuristic Russian starfighter.

The unique shape is the star of this creation, but there’s so much to appreciate here. The touches of gold, olive and white add just the right amount of color to what is otherwise an appropriately drab and utilitarian palette. The retro, “lo-fi” look of the vessel is a fantastic design choice, as if this intergalactic starfighter was built using Soviet technology from the 1960’s. Like Sputnik, but with one big frickin’ laser.