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.

Beat the weekend traffic with this Blacktron Assault Tank

Peter Reid, lover of all things spacey and grey in the LEGO world, has been building in black. More specifically, Peter has built a Blacktron Assault Tank in the classic Blacktron colours of black and yellow. Peter’s little tank is one of a collection of builds that showcase some black LEGO elements as part of The New Black parts festival on New Elementary. This cute little tank uses Nexo Knights shields and long skeleton legs to good effect, but the track with those lovely yellow ‘wheels‘ are a real highlight for me.

If you are experiencing some flashbacks to GI Joe then that’s because the design is loosely based on the Wolverine vehicle from the series. There are other views and further discussion over on the New Elementary blog post. I have to say that the only tank I have been in is a Challenger 2, and there were no black tassels hanging off the back.

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Shhh, this weapon is secret

This model originally started off as a new Secret Weapon of the Luftwaffe — the latest in a series of LEGO models I’ve been building for years. However, it was one of those creations which took quite a different turn as the build progressed, and ended up quite definitely a ground vehicle — bizarre seeing as it started out as a chunky dieselpunk helicopter! Sometimes things not proceeding as planned can be frustrating, but in this case I was quite happy with the result. Besides, I figured the Wehrmacht probably deserved to have some secret weapons of its own…

I couldn’t resist having a play around after the model photography was complete. Turns out the blueprints for this mechanical marvel fell into Allied hands at the end of the war…

This Keelung destroyer is knot Kidding about being in charge

Delayice has built a LEGO version of Kee Lung (DDG- 1801), a military destroyer ship in current service with the Republic of China Navy. Kee Lung was formerly the American Kidd-class destroyer USS Scott (DDG-995) which was decommissioned by the United States Navy in 1998 and sold to the Republic of China Navy in 2001. Delayice has managed to capture the sleek hull shape of Kee Ling despite not using any curved parts and has added extra details with the decorated tiles on deck. The communications and weapons array is particularly well built when compared with the actual ship, while the red and black hull provides some colour.

I particularly like the nice colour touches such as the little white cheese slope life-raft and the red modified plate at the rear of the ship representing the flag of the Republic of China.

Raptor (n) – a bird such as an eagle or hawk; an aerial predator

Joshua Brooks‘ latest lego creation is a near-future VTOL military aircraft — the AH8-Raptor — which he describes as a hybrid of an Apache attack helicopter and an A-10 Warthog. Regardless of its pedigree, it certainly looks the part as it releases its ordnance against jungle insurgents.

This thing’s chunky realism and spinning turbofans wouldn’t have looked out of place in James Cameron’s Avatar. And I mean that in a good way — whilst I thought the plot and dialog were risible, the movie’s production design was amazing. For an added bonus, Joshua has also built a hangar scene depicting his fearsome war machine getting rigged for more trouble…

Motorized LEGO M4A2E8 Sherman “Easy Eight” tank from Fury [Video]

Most LEGO Sherman tanks we’ve featured here on The Brothers Brick over the years have been smaller minifig-scale versions, like the 1/35 Brickmania Sherman tank that’s inspired so many others (my own included). In contrast, Tommy Styrvoky has followed up his 1/18-scale motorized LEGO Sherman “Crab” tank with one inspired by the movie Fury.

Click through to see all of this tank’s working features

Fifteen years of evolved combat: A LEGO Halo roundup

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of both Halo: Combat Evolved and Microsoft’s Xbox console. Halo has had a massive impact on console first person shooters, game storytelling, multiplayer, and sales of the Xbox, but today we’re looking at another aspect of Halo’s influence. We’ve rounded up a small selection of the amazing builds the adventures of Master Chief has inspired LEGO fans to create. Pause your sixteen player LAN game on Blood Gulch and explore some of the best of LEGO Halo.

“That… is another Halo.”

First up is Catsy [CC] with his microscale model of the ringworld itself, spanning nearly 5 feet across.

Click to see the rest of the Halo LEGO models

To those who served their countries: You are not forgotten

More than a million men gave their lives in the Battle of the Somme in the late summer of 1918. It was a harrowing affair even for those who survived, as depicted in this LEGO diorama by James Pegrum. As we close out this Veteran’s Day, may their lives never be forgotten, and may we always strive for peace for all the men and women who have and still do serve.

An ancient instrument of war: LEGO exotic Khvostov rifle from Destiny

Although Destiny at this point is just over two years old, many players feel nostalgic for the first rifle your Guardian acquires in his or her adventure, the Khvostov 7G-02. A cracked reflex sight and custom attachments made this generic AR-15-like rifle special and one that told a story. In a bit of fan service from Destiny’s developers, one can, put simply, backtrack the first mission in a special quest to obtain an exotic version of the Khvostov (designated Khvostov 7G-0X) with wood furnishings and a repaired reflex sight.

I was inspired by this mission as it reminded me of what made me enjoy Destiny in the beginning. This, combined with a desire to build something that looked like a real firearm and to finally construct something life size with wooden components, led to the construction of my LEGO Khvostov 7G-0X. The build measures over 40 inches long, weighs 5.5 pounds, and has some working components including a removable magazine, moving trigger, and sliding charging handle. I also constructed two sights: the repaired reflex sight, and the original cracked reflex sight.

Watch a 360º view of the LEGO Khvostov and view its functions in action in the following video.

See more photos of this replica on my Flickr.

Stunning scale model of Mi-24 attack helicopter

Daniel Siskind, creator of many advanced military scale models, has revealed his latest Mi-24 helicopter. Just look at this beauty!

There are so many awesome features of this helicopter, but the best of all is its perfectly balanced design. No matter which part you’re examining, every single piece, slope, or tile was meticulously chosen and placed. Canopies of rather peculiar shape work perfectly for the Mi-24’s cockpits, while a smooth row of tan and dark-green slopes along the body of the helicopter is aesthetically pleasing. Of course, the presentation wouldn’t be complete without a close-up shot of the rocket launchers — a perfect use of the most common of LEGO parts.

And yes, this particular LEGO model — unlike nearly everything else we feature here on The Brothers Brick — is available for sale, from Brickmania (at least until it sells out).

Lock and load a LEGO Counter Strike P90 Asiimov

The FN P90 is a deceptively difficult design to replicate with LEGO bricks, and adding the Asiimov skin from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive complicates it further. Bryce Dempsey has accomplished this task to striking results. The color blocking of the futuristic Asiimov skin was built well especially along the grip and buttstock of the weapon, as well as clever usage of two mudguard pieces on the front sight.

Bryce’s replica also has a few functions such as a removable magazine, sliding charging handle, and working trigger, which are demonstrated in the video below.

James Cherry’s Tomcat is big and beautiful

It is no secret that I think the Grumman F-14A Tomcat is the most beautiful jet fighter ever to grace the deck of an aircraft carrier. This is something that I share with James Cherry, who unveiled his massive 1/15 scale Tomcat model at the Great Western Brick Show in the UK little more than a week ago and who posted pictures today.

The Tomcat was also one of the largest carrier-based jets. The end result of building a large-scale model of a large jet is obviously going to be large. The LEGO model is 127 cm long, uses roughly 8000 parts and has taken nine months to build. James has included Power Functions to control the wing sweep as well as various control surfaces. Like on James’ older F-4J Phantom II, the complicated and subtle compound curves are mostly built using carefully angled surfaces and, to get closer to the look of the real jet than is possible with LEGO alone, he has used custom-made vinyl stickers and a vacuum formed canopy.

The jet wears the colourful markings of the US Navy’s first operational Tomcat squadron, VF-1 ‘Wolf Pack’, when it sailed aboard USS Enterprise in the late ‘seventies. One would think that it would make sense for a jet fighter to be painted in colours that are a bit less conspicuous, but that was never really the Tomcat’s style; it’s big and beautiful.

Firefly – the defense choice of the next generation

Horcik Designs looks set to be the premier air defense contractor of the 21st century. The Firefly is their latest UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) and it’s available for purchase now from all good arms dealers.

I love this model’s chunky near-future realism. The white color scheme lends it a certain “astronaut chic” and the restrained use of custom stickers adds nice touches of detail. The rotor assemblies and control surfaces are spot-on, and those guns — brilliant. The builder has also provided a multi-angle composite shot which reveals more of the detail, but also shows a rather haphazard approach to maintenance. Hammers? I doubt that’ll make it into the Firefly’s sales brochure.