Tag Archives: Micro

A big city on a peaceful island in microscale

What I love about LEGO microscale builds is how it can shift how we see the smallest of LEGO parts. Joe (jnj_bricks) brings this build to life for this year’s Brickscalibur contest in the Medieval Micro category. The city does feel alive with movement from the waterfalls and the vibrant greenery throughout the cityscape. Taking a look at the staircases, they have nice usage of the grooved brick piece at an angle for the stairs. There’s also some nice usage of the 1×1 horizontal clip piece in the buildings and their details. Stacked, the part offers some cool textures to the walls of the leftmost building. My favorite parts usage, though, comes from the battle droid legs for some fine arcing details. You can spot them on the highest spire and the causeway behind the winged minifig statue. There are many more details, so take your time exploring the build. Can you spot the Woody hat?

Peaceful Shores

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A pocket-sized tower for a grand hairy tale

This towering tribute to Tangled, built for Vignweek, comes from the brilliant Robert4168/Garmadon. The tower and the shrouding valley around it are immediately recognizable and full of lovely details. A leftover green sprue wraps around the tower’s midsection to act as reaching vines. Minifig syringes stand in for the spire’s peaks. And a purple minifig arm represents the central spire. Most important of all, a pearl gold minifig prybar hangs off the tower as Rapunzel’s golden hair. Let’s not forget to acknowledge the excellent landscape sculpting. There are wonderful slope usages from the walls of the valley down to the floor. The greenery helps bring some life and contrast to the vignette. I feel particularly drawn to the tree beside the tower with how the leaves form an amazing canopy.

Towering Mirco

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Mesa so delicious!

What is worse than being trapped in a submersible with Jar Jar Binks? Being trapped on that same submersible while being chased by a huge hungry predator. This LEGO creation by al is depicts a scene from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in which our heroes (and Jar Jar) are in their Gungan Bongo Sub being persued by a ravenous Opee Sea Killer. It also marks right about the first instance in which I started rooting for the bad guys. There were many others to come. Still, it’s pretty impressive that this builder can cram so much detail into such a small build. It just goes to show that you don’t need a lot of pieces to build something neat and well-detailed nor to wish to wring Jar Jar’s scrawny neck all over again. How wuud!

Opee Sea Killer and Gungan Bongo Sub

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Autumn woodlands just in time for Spring

Just as Spring has sprung around here Isaac Snyder has Autumn on the brain with this Tryandal Woodlands. But as it turns out, March signifies the onset of Autumn in the southern hemisphere, so… Yeah, maybe my title and premise aren’t as funny and ironic as initially thought. Plus, last week, it was snowing and 36 degrees Fahrenheit here, so who knows what’s going on in the world. Either way, Isaac tells us Autumn is a magical time for him, and if that inspires him to build a LEGO creation this good, then I’m inclined to agree. With only 101 elements, we are taken to a magical land complete with Elven towers. It’s rather breathtaking, truth be told. Here are some of the other times Isaac had us whisked away to magical lands.

Tryandal Woodlands

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Take your pick, they’re all fantastic!

Sometimes you don’t need a metric heap-ton of LEGO bricks to build something truly fantastic. František Hajdekr is consistently quite good at achieving amazing detail with just a handful of parts. Here are four great vehicles that are just about the right size to compete with your favorite Hotwheels or Matchbox cars. I’m smitten. How about you?

My Micro Collection

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This tiny spaceship has your back(pack)

The use of minifigure accessories in spaceship builds is nothing new, but LEGO designer Chris Perron takes it to a new meta level by building a snazzy micro-fighter that uses retro Blacktron 2 jetpacks as key elements. The nice part usage doesn’t stop there, though. Check out the droid leg as a tail fin, and the white ingot and classic solar panel in the nose.

Nebula Navigator

If you like this little guy, be sure to check out Chris’ other spotlighted builds. My personal favorite is the giant Aquanauts Shark. What’s yours?

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The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy

We all know the Millennium Falcon is the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. We’ve all heard the whole song and dance about it making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. But what we don’t get to see much in LEGO is the iconic ship blasting through hyperspace. Rui Miguel Anacleto has made it happen in all its stunning glory. The blue afterburner trails are a particularly good touch. I can go into detail about all the neat techniques used here or, better yet, you can build your own by following along with Rui’s instructions. It’s a better use of your time than watching some giant head yell on TV.

Hyperspace 01

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I was just in the neighborhood when...

When I reviewed the official LEGO Old Trafford- Manchester United set I had surmised (maybe wrongfully) that only non-American sports fans would be into it. What I like…scratch that…what I love more than being right about anything is when a LEGO set sparks the imagination of a new builder. Suwon’s Blue Star is one such builder. When I say new, I mean there isn’t a single photo in their Flickr stream older than February 11th. What we are witnessing, dear reader is a builder who has clearly been inspired by the recent Manchester United set and, like a sleeper agent suddenly brought to life, has found a profound purpose. Not only have they masterfully rendered a micro version of the famous stadium but its entire surrounding Old Trafford neighborhood as well.

Manchester United With Old Trafford (Micro Ver.)

Read on to see more of this builder’s micro stadiums

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Hong Kong – Beneath the shell, it’s a pearl of a city.

Nearly ten years ago, working in China allowed me the opportunity to visit Hong Kong for the very first time. The primary focus of my trip was to visit LEGO fan event Bricks Adventure 2011 at City University, and I was floored by both the hospitality and building skills of the city’s LEGO enthusiasts. I was equally impressed by the beauty of the city itself, so much so that I made two more trips to Hong Kong in the coming months. Therefore, when I saw this artful LEGO depiction of the city built by Hong Kong native Eric Mok, it triggered a wave of happy memories. Eric captures a view of Hong Kong Island from Kowloon, set inside a gold-trimmed sea scallop — it’s a lovely nod to Hong Kong’s nickname as the “Pearl of the Orient.”

The Orient Pearl

See this microscale version of Hong Kong in closer detail.

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This micro Mount Rushmore is monumentally beautiful

Located in South Dakota and finished in 1941, Mount Rushmore is one of the most iconic U.S. monuments. It depicts the busts of four famous American presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It’s an excellent candidate for modeling in LEGO, such as this beautiful microscale layout built by Rocco Buttliere. Rocco has gone the extra mile by building the visitor center, rows of state flags, and the surrounding terrain. It’s a sight to behold, and I bet it looks even more impressive in person.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

See more of this tiny monument

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All aboard the tiny train!

All aboard! We’re taking the train through Taiwan, and our next stop is the Taichung train station. The station began operations in 1908 and was closed down after an elevated station was built and opened in 2016. The original station is a beautiful piece of architecture, and Maxime Cheng’s microscale rendering is superbly detailed. His model is rich in texture, right down to the ornate architectural accents along the perimeter of the roof. While the building itself is stunning, the tiny train is an equally impressive-looking feature that really helps bring this model to life. Dare I say, Cheng’s Taichung station feels like it would be a great companion to sets in LEGO’s Architecture series?

02

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A terrific and terse temple

Meriamm-Webster says that terse means “using few words : devoid of superfluity” or alternatively “smoothly elegant”. Andreas Lenander’s temple creation is a terse LEGO build if I’ve ever seen one. Not one piece is wasted and not one piece seems to be out of place or excessive. What could be described as a minimum viable amount of rock work composes the base, and dark red leaves on the very bottom add a nice flourish and help to soften the rocky edges as they meet the monochromatic grey background.

Temple in the sky

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