Microscale LEGO builds can either be the most beautiful or the wonkiest creations out there. Builder Gilles de Crombrugghe pulled all the stops when it came to creating this gorgeous jungle temple scene, from nice piece usage to clever techniques. The choices he made helped create an engrossing, detailed, and realistic scene that feels like an Indiana Jones version of Polly Pocket. Opposing orientations for bricks help create the smooth blue outline of the pool of water. Headlight bricks in the base help attach the waterfalls which cascade serenely to clouds of mist made of ice cream and popcorn pieces. Brown Technic chainlinks make for a wonderful rope bridge with plenty of rickety slack. Steep, stony islands of meticulously sculpted slopes and modified tiles rise from the water, isolating the long-forgotten sacred grounds. At least, until the research team found their way there.
Minifigure skates and modified, rounded, or wedged studs work perfectly as vehicles and tents for the explorers as they rest below the pyramid and trees. The sides and steps utilize clever techniques with stacked wall elements making up the graduating structure while textured “vent” bricks on their sides rise up to the golden trophy figure at the top of the temple.
The trees that Gilles came up with are superbly suited for this method of building too. Droid arms, sometimes wedged together, combine with plant stems and leaves, allowing texture and angle without increasing bulk or breaking the scale. Those lightsaber hilts may look cute in there but the trees are what really tricks your brain into seeing them as massive pillars in a wall of stone.
The larger, blooming trees make use of different animal horns for thicker, curvier shapes. Different plant stems are used in the pompom of green leaves which are secured to the thin, six-pronged structure with blue flower piece caps. Of course, the most detailed aspect of this build may be the “stone carving” near the rope bridge. Cheese slopes wedged together are a common means for creating a cobblestone effect, though here it’s much more like shattered slabs of stone. Various clips and brackets are used to offset the angle of each structure by the large, grey statues. According to knowledgeable sources, there are various orientations of bars hidden under these stone sections which clips attach to be properly positioned.
Beyond all of these tricky or clever methods that Gilles uses, he also does a great job of building up the landscape. Creating random, organic structures is a balance between selection and shaping that can either work perfectly or just leave a model looking ragged. This scene is delightfully picturesque and now I just wish I was with the explorers, resting before the research begins. What I wouldn’t give to lean on those old walls and engross myself in the jungle around me.