Tag Archives: Military

Tanks and fighter planes, dioramas of World War II battles, dreadnoughts and battleships — LEGO builders have an obvious fascination with the arms and armor of the military-industrial complex. Find all these LEGO weapons of mass destruction right here on The Brothers Brick.

Tiny Metal Slug builds you can make for a few quarters

The Metal Slug series of games has some stand out features, and the small vehicles in them have always been a favourite. While we’ve seen some previous attempts at recreating these vehicles, especially the titular Metal Slug tank, we have never seen them crafted on such a small scale. wing hong chan has created four instantly recognisable builds from the games.

The central mech actually fits a full minifigure, and there’s an impressive side build with the “IN” instruction and red arrow. Aside from the three above, there’s also the jet which, like the mech, fits a minifigure.

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Separate the aircraft from the chaff: LEGO U.S. Navy Douglas A-1F Skyraider

The original U.S. Navy Douglas A-1F Skyraider was an single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. The design underwent many modifications, including versions devoted to the electronic countermeasures (ECM) mission. Ralph Savelsberg has created a beautifully accurate LEGO version of the EA-1F, which used ECM equipment to detect and jam enemy radar in the skies over Vietnam. You can see that the front wing edges are swept back ever so slightly, which Ralph cleverly achieved using tiles and brackets, making each step half a plate thick.

As is typical for carrier-based aircraft, the wings on the Skyraider can be folded and Ralph has also made sure that his model is accurate in this respect.

LEGO models with folding wings can also save on display space, which is good because Ralph’s military aircraft shelves are getting rather busy, and I am sure more aircraft are inbound.

Naval strategy and tactics for beginners

Most people will recall a rainy childhood afternoon or two spent hunting down enemy naval forces, so this fun LEGO creation should trigger a rush of nostalgia for MB’s classic Battleship. jtheels‘ model is a wonderful brick-built rendition of the titular craft from the board game — the 4-peg battleship itself. The ship is immediately recognisable, and the addition of the red and white “hit or miss” pegs is a nice touch.

Such adorable war machines

This simple scene by Justin Chua demonstrates a keen skill essential to any microscale build: achieving great accuracy with the smallest number of parts. These three distinct tank models, when compared to images of the real thing, manage to capture essential details in a delightfully simple way. The many varieties of trees and the brick-built road round this vignette out quite nicely.

Giant LEGO F4U Corsair

One of the latest and greatest propeller-driven aircraft of WW2 is surely the F4U Corsair. The American fighter is instantly recognizable with its inverted gull wing. Brought to life in LEGO by Patrick MAGO this monster of a model is built at a scale of roughly 1:10. It has a wingspan of 1 meter and weighs in at a hefty 6 kg (13 pounds).

It took Patrick approximately 10 months to build the model, and he had to redesign it no less than 3 times during the process to deal with the weight. Beyond the structure itself, a big challenge in such a build is the limited selection of dark blue parts available.

Check out the video to see the wings unfolding, and more details like the cockpit interior…

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.

Practice shooting targets with a working LEGO Desert Eagle

As a LEGO weapon builder myself, I know how difficult it is to construct a gun model that fires projectiles and manages to look the part. However, YouTuber Snyzer_Tech makes it look easy with his functional Desert Eagle replica. Though it looks a bit flashy in custom-painted gold, his magazine-fed, brick-shooting handgun is impressive in both form and function. Watch Snyzer light up some brick-built targets in this slick two-minute video.

Like an angel hurtling through the heavens at mach 3

With its sleek fuselage and arrowhead profile, the Seraphim reconnaissance jet by Corvin Stichert seems to resemble the stepping stone between the SR-71 Blackbird and the SSV Normandy SR-1 from Mass Effect. Although the builder had more of the former in mind when building, surely it’s ultrafast aircraft like this that will eventually eliminate the boundary between sky and space. Corvin puts all the curved slopes and wedges to excellent use in shaping the body, resulting in a craft that seems primed for radar deflection rather than merely a little pixelated as a consequence of the bricks.

My favorite touch on this model is the realistic, working landing gear and ordnance bays on the underside.

Corvin has also created a full ground crew to accompany the aircraft. Now all it needs is an Area 51 hangar.

Get tactical with a LEGO Black Ops II M8A1

Recently, my favorite entry in the Call of Duty franchise — Black Ops II — was added to Xbox One backwards compatibility. I picked up Treyarch Studios’s 2012 vision of combat in 2025 again, and felt inspired to build my favorite rifle in the game: the M8A1, a rifle based on the real H&K XM8.

In addition to being inspired by the design of the gun itself, I was motivated to build by the color scheme. Most of the rifle in game is tan, but its carry handle has a subtle bronze color. I showed this color difference with two LEGO colors: tan, and medium dark flesh. The latter color is fairly limited in parts selection, which made its implementation a fun challenge.

Working features on the LEGO M8A1 include a moving trigger, removable curved magazine, and a sliding ambidextrous charging handle. The tactical rail on the carry handle can attach a LEGO reflex sight that projects a red aiming dot onto a window piece. I show and discuss these functions, as well as a few techniques used to achieve the detail on the weapon, in this four minute video.

See more photos of the M8A1 on my Flickr, or check out other LEGO Black Ops weapons we have featured, such as the PDW-57 SMG and KRM-262 shotgun.

Huge LEGO version of the siege of Bastogne

With so many LEGO D-Day dioramas out there, it is easy to forget other important battles of the time. The siege of Bastogne was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during WW2 and an important turning point. Lasting from 21-26 december 1944, the battle took many lives, as did the frigid cold. This collaborative display depicting the battle, directed by Ekjohnson1, won multiple awards at Brickfair Virginia.

There is so much to see in the diorama, but some of the highlights include the excellent battle damage on the houses, the church, and the forested area just outside the town. Collaborations can be very hard to do with builders of different styles and skills, but the team managed to create a seamlessly flowing whole, a respectable feat indeed.

The attention to detail on some of the buildings is impressive. Check out the frontage on this townhouse…

Ladies in tank tops win the war

In December 1941, the National Service Act made the conscription of women legal in the UK, employing those of working age in essential work for the war effort. When production of tanks, planes, boats and munitions were needed, the women of Britain were called on to come into the factories and build the war machines, and without them success would not have been possible. Martin Harris has built a tribute to these women, and his scene is set in a converted railway station, using the track as an assembly line for the British-made Churchill tanks.

Women are the primary workers. However, you can see that there is an older man who has just turned up after work to help with turret placement. I had to try and forgive Martin for having a yellow faced minifigure with flesh hands in the scene …perhaps it is just me that finds that distressing to look at! The overall scene is beautifully tied together as a cohesive whole. I particularly love the old railway station backdrop with its large light fixtures and combination of glass, dark red brick and stone grey pillars.

Moving LEGO tribute to the fallen of Passchendaele

Dan Harris is one of British historical building collective Bricks To The Past. On this, the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1’s Battle of Passchendaele, he offers a moving brick-built tribute to the fallen. In particular, it commemorates the loss of Welsh poet Ellis Humphrey Evans. You can read more about the poet and his work in Dan’s blog post. In the meantime, this quiet little scene provides a poignant image with which to commemorate the thousands of young men who gave their lives.