Tag Archives: 1:1 Scale

Lifesize props that will have you asking “Is it LEGO?”

Extermin8 with extreme prejudice

You see just one of these buggers crawling across your kitchen counter and you know there are hundreds more in hiding. Who can relate? That was my college dorm room experience. It was a bummer because I’m pretty sure I signed up to have only one roommate, not hundreds getting into all my stuff. Thankfully LEGO phenom Dicken Liu comes to the rescue with a can of insecticide. The dead roach, with it’s broken leg and fishing rod antennae, is a clever touch. It serves as a reminder that getting on top of a roach infestation can be icky business. Cockroaches don’t even seem to appreciate alternative rock, although I specifically stated on my roommate application that alt rock was my jam.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Put your bricks down, flip it and reverse it

UNO isn’t just the card game that teaches kids to count to one in Spanish. It also spawned a TikTok trend with the iconic Reverse card, a totemic item so powerful that it can flip any situation back on the other person. Dominique Boeynaems recreates the most iconic card since the Black Lotus tapped for 3 with UNO’s game changer built from LEGO bricks. It may look like a simple design, but Dominique shows some impressive SNOT building skill to line up the arrows just so without gaps, using brackets as half-plate spacers. It’s such a remarkable likeness that seeing the build atop a pile of actual UNO cards, you’d be forgiven for missing that it’s LEGO at all!

Dominique’s UNO Reverse card was made for the “Backwards” challenge in the Rogue Olympics competition, which also inspired Woomy World’s taco cat.

Growing as a builder

It’s been said that the purposes of bonsai are “primarily contemplation for the viewer, and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower”, and when done properly results in an “artful miniature replica”. Remind you of any other hobby? In that context, the diminutive zen-influenced art form seems like a natural (though challenging) subject for a LEGO model, and a browse through The Brothers Bricks archives reveals that builder Louis of Nutwood was not alone in making the connection. Some builders would rather not repeat themselves, but I think building and improving on a subject is where true growth lies, and Louis has certainly cultivated better and better results with each revisit. Louis shares that “it stands in my living room, only to remind me to breathe and cherish the beauty in every moment.” Not to knock the official LEGO Bonsai set(s), but I would choose Louis’ rendition for my own mantle any day.

LEGO birds (some assembly required)

Do you remember those building kits that let you assemble your own airplane or bird? No, not LEGO. The kits made from balsa wood or Styrofoam that were a step up from paper airplanes. LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery alum ArzLan lets nostalgia take flight with a pair of easy-to-assemble bird planes that perfectly capture the 2D designs and die-cut slots of the classic toys. I can practically feel the disappointment as they inevitably nosedive, crack a wing, and end up in the waste-bin after a few good flights.

Jumpei Mitsui rings out the end of an era with a massive Danjiri shrine

When we first featured builder Jumpei Mitsui 18 years ago, he was the fresh-faced star of Japan’s LEGO King Championship TV show and, soon after, the youngest person to earn the title LEGO Certified Professional builder. Now, on the eve of returning to school for a master’s program in artistic expression, Jumpei reveals his latest creation, a nearly life-size Danjiri cart buitl entirely of LEGO bricks. Carts like these, modeled on shrines, are paraded around town during Danjiri Matsuri festivals where different neighborhoods compete in pulling their decorated cart through the streets while chanting furiously. Jumpei recreates the intricate hand-carved woodworking in brick, as well as lantern decorations with flower prints and kanji script.

Jumpei, who specializes in large-scale creations (like this jaw-dropping model of the battleship Yamato), starts with a sketch, but then free-builds everything by hand. This project, consisting of over 200,000 bricks and weighting over 200kg, took six months to complete. When working on large-scale projects, Jumpei has an assistant who should be quite familiar to fans of the site – Moko – one of the most prolific and impressive mecha builders around whose we’ve featured going back nearly 20 years!

Jumpei’s creation is currently on display at the Sumiyoshi Danjiri museum in Kobe. Congratulations on this masterpiece, and best of luck in the next chapter of your art education!

Get your LEGO game on with this fantastic Gameboy replica

Nostalgia for video game consoles and hand-helds is a very popular obsession with gamers of all ages so it is not surprising that LEGO fans are feeling it, too. And you can’t get much more classic than the Nintendo Gameboy. This homage by DanielBrickSon hits so hard, especially for me since I had one of these myself. I won’t show my age by telling you what my first hand-held game was (Okay, it was an LED football game)

The builder captures the iconic look of the Gameboy right down to the simple d-pad and buttons, the square screen with huge black borders, and the rounded outer case.

And if you are asking yourself if that game cartridge fits in the back… you bet your Charizard it does!

Badminton with LEGO? It’s a racket

Japanese builder and LEGO Masters finalist Chie Kiyoshima is such a fun creator to follow as you never know where her imagination will lead next, and every model she posts is a delight. Her latest creation is a 1:1 scale badminton set, where if you squint you wouldn’t know it was made from LEGO bricks. The racket is strung with genuine LEGO string. Chie finds the prefect parts usage for the shuttlecocks with basketball nets as skirting. 1:1 props of mundane items are joyful enough on their own, but Chie serves up a smash by creating a motorized rig for the props. Game and match.

Capes and surf boards make a stunning arrangement [Building Techniques]

With Valentine’s Day coming up, have you considered building a LEGO floral arrangement for your sweetie? The official Botanicals collection makes it easy. However, Khang Huynh takes it a step further with some stunning build techniques. At quick glance, this may appear to be “just” a well-appointed, well-photographed floral arrangement; so realistic you can hardly tell it’s LEGO. But upon close inspection, the flowers are comprised of red capes while repetitive use of green surfboards make up the leaves. Put it all together in a classy vase (including what seems to be a light brick, no less) and you have something quite lovely indeed.

Dominique Boeynaems pulls a-head with LEGO creativity

The Iron Forge competition just concluded its second week-long sprint where twenty builders were tasked with making creations using the ubiquitous LEGO minifig head as the featured “seed part.” So many delightful builds emerged from the prompt, but one builder kept delivering smiles: Dominique Boeynaems. Each of these builds is worthy of sharing on its own, but together they’re an inspiration to builders and a showcase of what makes the Iron Forge such a wonderful part of LEGO fandom.

Leading with Dominique’s final build, this nearly lifesize accordion came together during a 10-hour sprint and incorporates no less than 44 minifig heads for the keys. Vidyo straps work great for the handles. With the competition name and year worked into the instrument, it’s both a wonderful build and the perfect memento.

Dominque’s frog uses three minifig heads – two for the eyes and one for the fly. A car hood makes for a perfect amphibian forehead.

Click to see more of Dominique’s colorful and heady builds

Link’s legendary LEGO sword that seals the darkness

Throughout The Legend of Zelda series, earning the Master Sword marks Link’s transition into a worthy hero. Builder Dylan Mievis has created many memorable video game tributes in the past and definitely proves worthy with this LEGO model of the Master Sword as seen in Breath of the Wild. Coming in at 110 cm in length, the replica is life-size (insomuch as a video game prop can be) and painstakingly faithful to the original design, down to the embossed Triforce at the base of the blade. Dylan depicts the sword as Link finds it, embedded in a pedestal, just like in LEGO The Legend of Zelda 77092 Great Deku Tree. Even more game-accurate, Dylan pairs the sword with a beautiful Silent Princess flower. Go ahead and try to draw the sword if you think you have the courage (and enough heart containers!).

Ringing in Autumn with some hot proboscis action

On the calendar and in accordance with dropping temperatures around here, Autumn is being shown the door by Old Man Winter. However, in Mattia Careddu‘s world, Autumn is just arriving as evidenced by their latest LEGO creation. Here we see a dynamic duo; first up is the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata), the Japanese flower that symbolizes the arrival of Autumn. Next on the docket is what appears to be a hummingbird but it’s Macroglossum stellatarum, a kind of moth called the hummingbird hawkmoth that behaves exactly like a hummingbird. I’ve found the hummingbirds around my feeders to be hyper-intense, territorial, and belligerent toward one another so, in this regard, some people also act like hummingbirds. This duo is doing birds and bees stuff. If you haven’t yet been made privy to “the talk” I advise you ask someone else. Or Google it.

The builder is no stranger to life-size flowers and unusual insects. We also like this Sri Lankan duo.

This life-like LEGO Les Paul will rock your socks off!

If you’re a guitar person, you will generally fall into one of two camps. Either you’ll be on the side of the surf-rock Fender Stratocaster, or you’ll favour the heavier, crunchier sound of a Gibson Les Paul. LEGO have already made a set out of one of those – but it’s nowhere near as big as the one Hungarian builder LEGO Revival has just made! This is a life-size replica of not just any guitar, but their very own instrument, which you can see in the background of this shot. And although I learned to play on a variant of the Stratocaster, I always coveted a Les Paul Standard like this. So excuse me while I geek out on guitars for a little bit!

Come and nerd out with me, and see the incredible detail in this guitar