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.

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.

Keep Calm Ladies and let's build 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.

Keep Calm Ladies and let's build tanks.

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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.

Hedd Wyn

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The Manhattan project’s Trinity test

No, it’s not the tagline of a new superhero blockbuster, it’s Brian Kescenovitz‘s LEGO version of the day in July 1945 when humans created the world’s largest synthetic firework display ever seen, proving conclusively the destructive truth behind Einstein’s famous formula: Mass times the speed of light squared really does equal a whole lot of kinetic energy.

Trinity test

Brian’s chef-hatted mushroom cloud looks just like one of the old photographs of this event. The stunning lighting effect was achieved using a tight-beam flashlight shining straight down and shooting with a long 1.6 second exposure. I love how the miniature New Mexico mountains and blurred objects in the foreground give this micro-scale fulmination a real sense of magnitude.

Disclaimer: Playing with nuclear weapons is really a very silly idea.

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Microscale A-10 Warthog [Instructions]

For the enjoyment of his fellow military aviation buffs, builder ama77what has beautifully reverse-engineered this microscale A-10 “Warthog” fighter jet from a knock-off brand of building block, recreating it using bona-fide LEGO pieces and presenting it in the form of this handy single-page building guide. There really is nothing more to say here than go build it and SWOOOSH it!

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John F. Kennedy’s PT-109 WW2 torpedo boat recreated in LEGO

While the rest of us toil away at day jobs and try to squeeze in a bit of LEGO building in the evenings and weekends, Dan Siskind runs Brickmania full time, continuing to lead his company’s LEGO design team even while he brings on other great designers. Dan’s latest personal design project has been a full-size minifig-scale version of John F. Kennedy’s World War II torpedo boat, PT-109. Dan’s model includes over 4,000 pieces and measures 27 inches (over 68 cm) long, with a crew of thirteen custom-printed minifigures.

PT-109 - 80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat

See more of JFK’s PT-109 in LEGO

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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.

レゴ ウォーマスタング多目的対戦車ミサイルシステム(LEGO War Mustang Multipurpose Anti Tank Missile System)6

レゴ ウォーマスタング多目的対戦車ミサイルシステム(LEGO War Mustang Multipurpose Anti Tank Missile System)3

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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.

MOLNIYA - I

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.

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Durable flying machine sweeps the skies

Gerald Cacas brings us a well-shaped LEGO version of the turboprop Fokker 50. There’s a lot of grey going on, but that’s because the build is modelled on the Royal Singapore Air Force version. This old warhorse of an aircraft is still in service with the RSAF in a Utility Transport and Maritime Patrol role. Aside from its realism, the muted tones of the model create an uncluttered feel, really showcasing the builder’s skill.

DSC_1123-01

Nice innovative parts use with the claw element forming the six-bladed propeller on each side. Aviation fans will also notice the attempt to shape the cockpit window as close as possible to the real McCoy.

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Stun your enemies with a LEGO Counter-Strike Zeus X27

Bryce Dempsey expands his arsenal of LEGO gaming weaponry with the Zeus X27 taser featured in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Accuracy to the in-game model in the various thicknesses throughout the body of the stun gun make Bryce’s replica stunning. Watch the builder discuss his replica taser and demonstrate the working trigger and simple firing function in this video.

If you enjoyed this model of the Zeus X27, be sure to check out these other CS:GO replicas: P90 Asiimov and PP-19 Bizon

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Down periscope with the Brickmania X-Craft Mini Sub

Welcome aboard Daniel Siskind‘s X-Craft Mini Sub for adventure under the high seas. The captain salutes from the forward top hatch, grabbing a breath of fresh air after months of stale air tinged with the sweet smell of submariner sweat. Waves crash over the bow as the submarine slices through the turbulent seas (a large trove of translucent white and blue studs). With the British Naval Ensign flying proudly astern, the silent hunter of the deep will slip back into the depths and continue to patrol the oceans.

X-Craft Mini Sub

Inside, the belly of the beast also features working hatches in the bulkheads, periscope and various crew stations.

X-Craft Mini Sub X-Craft Mini Sub

Like most of Dan’s work, copies of this model are for sale through his company Brickmania, which recently produced our own Senior Contributor Ralph’s Antarctic LC-130 aircraft. The X-Craft Submarine will set you back $445, and new kits often sell out quickly.

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Old dark gray never went out of style

The original shades of gray used in LEGO sets were phased out in the mid-2000s in favor of bluish grays, making the choice of elements in the original grays limited. However, this limitation can lead to creative uses of those parts, such as in this NATO “Devil” Main Battle Tank built by Carter Baldwin. The angled armor plating on the turret stands out as my favorite detail here, but the whole build has a great flow to it.

NATO "Devil" Main Battle Tank

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Build your own Antarctic LC-130 Hercules designed by Ralph Savelsberg with a kit from Brickmania [News]

Did you see the LEGO LC-130 Hercules we sent to Antartica at the end of last year? Did you want your own rocket-powered ski-plane? Over the last couple of months, TBB’s own Ralph Savelsberg worked with Dan Siskind and his team at Brickmania to turn Ralph’s model of this iconic aircraft into a custom LEGO kit you can buy.

LEGO LC-130 Hercules by Ralph Savelsberg by Brickmania

Ralph is awesome, Brickmania is awesome, science is awesome, airplanes are awesome — we couldn’t be happier that one of our team’s designs is being turned into a Brickmania kit!

Learn more about this unique LEGO kit

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