About Us

Brick Tanks is the only website dedicated to selling COBI military brick construction kits in the UK. Run by husband and wife team Neil and Zoë Basil, it was founded in October 2016.

"On a whim, I bought a COBI Sherman Firefly set while visiting Bovington Tank Museum with our sons. I admit, I wasn't expecting much but when we put the kit together, I soon realised that the quality, look and feel of the product was outstanding. It was the closest thing to LEGO that we'd seen and the instructions are decent too," says Neil.

Brick Tanks was originally Neil’s passion project, having been a vehicle mechanic in the REME, while Zoë started out as a local journalist. Zoë recalls one of her first jobs was reporting on a passing out parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and not having the first clue about what was going on!

Then a few years later, she met and married Neil and his enthusiasm for tanks and military history (very) gradually rubbed off! Though clearly not an expert, Zoë has surprised herself with her new-found enthusiasm for military history since working part-time on marketing and communications for Brick Tanks since February 2018. Ironically, these days Zoë is more likely to be the one boring Neil with tank talk having fully immersed herself in the subject.

"Brick Tanks is the only 'one-stop shop' in the UK which sells every COBI military set available. If we don't have it in stock and a customer requests it, we'll add a case to our next order." says Zoë.

Neil’s stepfather, Peter, is also involved in the business (another military history buff like Neil) and is reponsible for writing the historical copy associated with each COBI set.

Neil and Zoë live in Wellington, Somerset, with their two young sons (who love that their parents run a brick military toy shop!).

As well as stocking every COBI military set available (yes, even the less popular models that larger retailers won't touch), through Brick Tanks they aim provide first class customer service, be competitive on price, be the first to stock new sets in the UK and, build a thriving community of military vehicle enthusiasts who share a love of COBI military brick construction sets.