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.

“I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.”

So said Malachi Constant in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Sirens of Titan“. Malachi would no doubt have been a fan of Alex Jones’s (Orion Pax) latest creation the Seagrave Fire Engine. The model features a number of custom chrome elements, but if you stripped it all away or replaced it with a more purist solution, the model would be no less stunning.

And since it is just after 4:20 here in Vegas, I figured I’d throw in some extra Paxian eye-candy for the stoners out there. Enjoy “Emerald Ivy”

Whoah…dude…don’t bogart the spliff.

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The Beauty and the Beast

Remember the Peterbilt big rig built by Jörg (lichtblau)? Perhaps not, but several months ago he built a new version. It is slightly smaller, such that the overall proportions are a better match for how tall minifigures are.

It is a beautifully proportioned model, full of clever details. Take a look at how the roof plates on top of the sleeper cab match up with the curved bricks underneath, for instance. I loved it when I first saw it and I was not alone, because this beauty inspired billyburg to build a beastly Monster Truck version.

He notes that he contacted Jörg before building it. He received nothing but encouragement and mentions that this is what’s great about the Lego community. I couldn’t agree more, especially with a result like this.

The Wave in Vejle

“The Wave in Vejle” is a building designed by Henning Larsen Architects in Vejle, Denmark. Joaquin Cantolla says that his LEGO version is a “free interpretation” of the real-life building, but the spirit of this award-winning architectural masterpiece comes through clearly in LEGO.

Thanks to reader Henrik Høxbroe for the tip!

Meet me down at the railroad station.

Lee Young (edguy20) brings us back down to earth with this lovely and simply titled railroad station. There are other photos that show the building in its totality but this one seemed the most cinematic and I’m all about the cinematic. There is a wealth of detail to absorb if you have a moment or two to linger on a model that doesn’t have bristling weapons or spiny protrusions.

This Truck Will Deliver Your Brick With Class

Carl Merriam brings us this beauty from back when trucks were still only for farms and businesses. We’ve featured countless antique vehicles here on blog, but clever people like Carl are always innovating new and interesting ways to build them, and for all its simplicity, this is one of the nicer ones I’ve seen.

MAKS’ Liebherr crane is a lot smaller than you may think

This is probably not a sentence you read every day, but I happen to have a weak spot for well-built cranes. It’s the reason why I absolutely love the minifig-scale Liebherr 1050-3 mobile crane built by Polish builder Maksymilian Majchrzak (MAKS).

I built one of these myself more than a year ago, on a larger scale, and consequently am very familiar with the shape and the details. We have also previously blogged a Liebherr 1050 built by Makorol, who also happens to be from Poland (what do they put in the water there?). This model, which was remote controlled with Power Functions, was even larger than mine.
What is particularly impressive about the crane built by MAKS is that, despite being only 8 studs wide, it really isn’t a lot less detailed than either of the larger models. In fact, it looks just like the photographs of die-cast models I used as an inspiration.

It’s Tractor Time

16 year old Polish wunderkind Damian Z. (Thietmaier) swears he’s done with tractors this time. If that is true, then I think we should take time to savor the builder’s final effort, “KD35.013“. At the time of this posting I was not able to determine whether or not Damian has been recruited into the shadowy and powerful group known as LUGPol. If he is not, it is surely only a matter of time.

But why stop with just one tractor? I wouldn’t want TBB to be accused of having an anti-tractor bias, so let’s get in the way-back machine and set the dial to 2010 for this gem entitled “Ursus C-360“.

And finally I’m going to slip in this excellent Road-grader from KryptonHeidt at no additional charge. I don’t think Damian will mind sharing the white-hot spotlight of TBB.

Fabrik Mosaïque

We are still far removed from the point where LEGO robots can build copies of themselves, but the ‘Fabrik Mosaïque’ built by minkowsky shows an interesting first step.

The factory building itself is nice, but when I first saw it, it didn’t strike me as all that remarkable. I’m glad I took a closer look, however, because of what it does: using LEGO Mindstorms it scans an image and then produces an 8 x 8 pixel two colour mosaic of that image using lines of LEGO tiles.

I can’t quite see a factory like this appearing in every shopping district and I wonder how well it does with an image that isn’t pixelated to start with, but this is clever stuff.

CFAV Adnavik

Canadian John V (Lemelisk) makes his first appearance on this blog of brothers with his “Adnavik” tug boat. Named after a village on the Labrador coast, this Canadian Forces Arctic Vessel (CFAV) is accurate to its real world counterpart, with many playable features that would make a great official set.

The mini modern homes of Zaberca

Zaberca Architecture is a firm committed to design excellence and sustainable building practices. Founded by zaberca in 2007, the firm endorses a contextual and purpose driven design philosophy which focuses on the process of design, rather than heroic architectural gestures, or specific stylistic expressions. Following an in depth analysis of context, climate and vernacular forms, the architectural firm’s projects are reflective of the client’s vision and offer environmentally sensitive solutions for a variety of situations.

With a collaborative approach to the design process, Zaberca Architecture emphasizes a dialogue with clients and consultants from complimentary disciplines to ensure a project’s multidimensional success. The arcchitectural firm is committed to producing quality projects that become one with their natural settings. With keen attention to material selection, Zaberca architecture’s buildings embody a language that weaves together the traditional and the modern, the natural and the built as well as the indoors and the outdoors.

There’s more than meets the eye at this Swedish power plant

Sweden’s Lego.Skrytsson is providing the power for Saturday’s broadcast with his “Transformer” diorama. Gabriel brings the substation to life with accurate detail and just the right amount of minifig action to keep it interesting and provide some color. The varied textures help to overcome the necessarily monochromatic style, and the overall result is both pleasing and a nice respite from the mostly violent dioramas I come across while looking for models to blog.

Take the ferry to Port aux Basques

Jason Allemann (True Dimensions) collaborated on this eye-catching microscale model simply titled “Maritime Fishing Village“. Based loosely on the Newfoundland town Port aux Basques, the builders manage to pack in a nice variety of color to help make each building seem unique.

Hopefully Jason will enter this into the pool for consideration for TBB’s monthly Facebook cover photo, as it fits the criteria pretty well.