Tag Archives: Town

Towns in the world of LEGO have everything cities in the real world do — police stations, fire engines, trains, hairdressers and veterinarians. Check out all the beautiful buildings and vehicles we’ve featured here on The Brothers Brick.

Larry’s hot rod is a perfect combo of old and new

One of the many wonderful things about LEGO is how almost all of the parts produced over multiple decades are compatible. Several years ago, when building a fish & chips shop, I was able to use a parasol, 25 years after I got it as a part of a set that was a gift for my 8th birthday. Another great example is visible on the hot rod built by Larry Lars.

Red Hot Lego Vehicle

Builders of real-world hot rods often combine an old body with a shiny new engine. Similarly, Larry uses mudguards and brand new wheels from the speed champions sets and recently introduced curved parts with a part that is even older than my parasol: the roof from a Fabuland car. It is a perfect combination.

A true Legoland Theme Park: 100% LEGO

Pro building team Olive Seon are back it with another magnificent brick-built beauty; this time a theme park. The awesome high-flying roller coaster really ties the model together, and also gives you a sense of scale for just how small most LEGO dioramas really are. As per usual with these builders, there is a lot to look at and loads of fun little details to spy. My favorites are the LEGO Architecture line buildings used for a miniland within the park.


Saturday Morning Car Show

Nothing quite like getting up early on a Saturday, and heading over to the local car show, right? I may not be able to tell you the vehicle’s year by sight or tell you the engine specs, but I do like a good, classic car with sleek lines. It’s got to be pretty.

Firas Abu-Jaber brings us a delightful selection of beautifully built cars, so this morning, you don’t have to get up early. All you have to do is take a peak at his photostream and you’ll be good to go.

Mercedes-Benz Rennwagen Schnelltransprter

My collection

If the zombie apocalypse happens, you’ll want one of these

Skid-steer loaders are very versatile pieces of construction equipment, by virtue of their many different attachments such as blades, cutters, trenchers and snow blowers.

Skid Steer by sinan bitişik

This brilliant little model by Sinan Bitişik does not include any zombies, but looking at the gnarly attachment to its front, evidently intended for cutting asphalt, I could not help but think of an alternative use.

Modern townhouse

I saw Paul Hetherington‘s modern townhouse at Brickcon last year and was immediately impressed by the elegant artistic style of the creation. There is a fully detailed interior along with working light fixures. Take a look at more photos on Flickr to see different angles of the building, each offering a new visual aesthetic.

LEGO The Ridge Modern Townhouse

Red Lion Station – 1940’s Train Station

Red Lion Station in LEGO 001

This is Cale Leiphart and he likes trains, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and enjoying his builds for many years now. His latest culmination of train-awesomeness is the Red Lion Station, and is a model of the Maryland & Pennsylvania RR train station and surrounding areas.

At over 3.5 x 17 feet (that’s 5 meters), this requires adjectives which I do not posses to describe the incredible feat. That’s not to say there haven’t been larger builds, but I have a hard time recalling a build of this size that has this much detail packed in. Not only does each of the buildings have a beautiful facade, but each building has a fully decked out interior. It’s so large it’s incredibly hard to even photograph, and is one of those builds that are best enjoyed in person at a display:
Red Lion Station in LEGO 003

I really liked how Cale has gone against the grain and built buildings and streets at non-right angles, a non-trivial feat, to build off-axis roads and buildings:
Red Lion Station in LEGO 004
Not only are the roads difficult to build at an angle, most people would have simply laid the train track on top of the road to avoid complicated brickwork, but Mr. Leiphart, true to form, built it inside the road with some really clever brick work.

As I mentioned before, I had seen earlier versions of this layout last year and it really caught my eye. By catch my eye, I mean I did a double take and went OH-MY-G-O-S-H. Again the size is impressive, but I’m a detail guy, and this nondescript grey building blew my mind. Take a closer look at the sides, it’s not just nicely stacked brick, it’s made up of panels, hundreds of panels attached in some seemingly magical way. Despite being very late on the first setup night, Cale – who was still setting up this magnificent display – noticed our fevered interest and stopped everything and came over to us and showed us the secret of the grey building. This became my number 1 cool must-see thing at BrickFair that year.

Check out the full photo collection here.

Balboa Park

This creation by Bill Vollbrecht is a building from Balboa Park in San Diego called the El Prado Arcade. The ornate architecture of the model is stunning and is a real treat for the eyes.

Balboa Park towers and colonnade

Dining in style

Spring has only just started (on the Northern hemisphere), but the restaurant built by Snaillad already makes me long for summer.

The Ocean Restaurant

This must be because it was inspired by the wonderful art deco buildings along Ocean Drive / South Beach in famously sunny Miami Beach. It looks very nice on the outside and also comes with a detailed interior. Normally I am partial to visible studs on a LEGO model, but I have to admit that this would not look nearly as good if it wouldn’t have such a clean and studless construction.

10-foot-long LEGO Model of 1930s Danish Ship MS Jutlandia

Some builds just put me at a loss for words, and this is one of them. The real MS Jutlandia was launched in 1934, and is an impressive 461 feet long. She started her life as a passenger vessel and served time during both WWII and the Korean War. She spent some time as a royal vessel, and was scrapped in 1965.

Arjan Oude Kotte (Konajra) has created this absolutely stunning minifig scale version of this lovely ship. This beautiful build ultimately took 11 months, with 5 months to design and 6 months to build. The ship itself is over 10 feet (3.25 meters) long, and stands nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) high. He estimates 90,000-100,000 pieces total, bringing this ship to life.

Jutlandia

I encourage you to pour over the details in the flickr gallery, which includes some WIP photos.

ms Jutlandia

Functioning Lego Claas Jaguar forage harvester

Polish Lego builder Michał Skorupka (Eric Trax) made a functional Claas Jaguar forage harvester featuring rotating cutting discs, lights, RC function with steering and more. Check out the YouTube video to see this amazingly realistic model in action.

A perfect pond plane

This great seaplane by Сергей Антохин reminds me of the models I loved to build as a kid, except that this one is considerably better. This model has a distinct charm about it, almost looking like something LEGO could release as an official set. I mean, if this were an official set, I’d probably buy one.

01

The town of Pompeii in LEGO

If you find yourself in Sydney (Australia) at all during 2015, then head over to the Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney and check out this amazing recreation of the Roman town of Pompeii, created by Lego Certified Professional Ryan McNaught.

The diorama represents Pompeii as it was at the time of its destruction in 79 AD, and even contains a little foreshadowing of the volcanic eruption that buried it.

Continue reading →