We’ve been watching Christophe Pujaletplaa’s LEGO Microville grow for a while now. We featured it first in 2019, and then revisited progress about a year later. But Christophe wasn’t done, and it’s time to take a stroll through this tiny metropolis and see what’s happening today.
Dip into the diminutive downtown below…
Big Easy Bricks has crafted a pair of wonderful parade floats that make me yearn for a big old LEGO-themed parade. Both feature some classic LEGO themes and some great microscale building! First up is a fan favourite – Classic Space. The float features two iconic space sets in the form of the Galaxy Explorer and Monorail Transport System. The trailer itself also has a rocket blasting away from the Earth and Moon, made up of a mere nine pieces!
Float number two is a bit more rootin’-tootin’, as it depicts the perhaps niche (although no less legendary) Fort Legoredo from the 90s Western theme. This time we have some miniature soldiers and cavalry to man the fort, which is a superb imitation of the original set. Take note of the miniature cannons as well! Once again the trailer captures the Western aesthetic with some stars and horns. It’s a simple touch, but a really wonderful way to tie it together.
I hope Big Easy Bricks have got some more floats lined up. There’s plenty of classic themes, and they would look great on parade together!
With fall finally here, my favorite time of year, a stroll in the woods is a delightful way to pass the time, strolling among quiet ruins as the fall leaves drift to the ground, as in this scene by LegoHobbitFan, which uses a variety of hair elements as billowy foliage. Log printed tiles make the perfect path, and a few of the trees are made with stud-shooters, turning weapons into trees.
A cruise ship passes by a quaint hillside town in this LEGO microscale creation by Minifignick. This build makes adorable use of several new parts from the Series 23 Collectible Minifigure line. The houses and the ship itself are obvious, but we even spot some reindeer antlers getting put to creative use.
It can be hard to capture the majesty of some of the larger Star Wars locations at a scale that matches LEGO’s own sets. We have seen a few variations on the Masasi temple on Yavin IV at minifigure scale, but they all only feature a small section of the enormous rebel base. Anders Horvath has found the solution: downsize! This tiny temple appears to have been scaled around an X-wing polybag. In fact, make that several X-wing polybags! The benefit of microscale is that creating a rebel fleet is much less parts-intensive. The temple detail doesn’t suffer at this small scale though. There’s still plenty of texture in the ruins, as well as the paraphernalia that comes with running a rag-tag organization of misfits in the fight against evil.
Welcome to the microscale marvel that is the LEGO village of Valendiell, created by the brilliant Peter Ilmrud. First things first, we need to address the gigantic tree at the center of this build, which towers over the village, the lighthouse, and even the neighboring castle. I like the natural shape created by the foliage, setting it apart from the minute vegetation scattered around it. Under its massive boughs, we have a darling castle design, utilizing these technic pins as turrets. It’s an ingenious bit of parts usage, but nothing compared to the outstanding implementation of the brown minifig epaulettes on the airship and the small boat. And I’m only scratching the surface of all the great secrets hidden in Valendiell. See what else you can spot below.
Aido Kessler knows that LEGO can be an expensive hobby. As piece counts in official sets continue to rise, so too does the price of the sets. Heck, I paid less for my first car than I did for certain Star Wars sets on display in my house. That’s why it’s so nice of Aido to remind us that you don’t always need a lot of bricks to stage an epic build. Here, Aido has recreated the iconic Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back with scarcely more than a dozen pieces. It’s a budget build that’s big on blockbuster action.
If it hasn’t been clear from past articles I’ve written on here, I am a humongous fan of micro LEGO builds. I probably build within an 8×8 stud area more often than not anymore. And I am absolutely gaga for these connected micro scenes by Louis of Nutwood. Depicting some of the classic tropes from high seas adventures, this quartet of vignettes shows the vessel, the fortress, the kraken, and the remote island. Each of the scenes lives in its own black box, reminiscent of those from the succulents LEGO set. But those boxes are then linked via waterfalls, connecting the disparate parts into a whole story. While there is some excellent parts usage throughout, some of my favorites are the cannons on the fortress and the texture-filled tree design.
Since being introduced with the LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 2 back in 2010, the so-called trophy figure has been a boon for microscale and nanoscale builders. Sometimes this means creations at a truly colossal scale (relatively speaking), but Caleb Huet shows us that smaller, more introspective builds can be just as good. In this case, our nano-fig is walking through the desert. I’m not sure whether this takes place in the past or future though. At first, I thought the setting was some Egyptian ruins, but with the markings on the floor I’m not so sure. Did the Egyptians have floor lighting? That seems something more in line with extra-terrestrial civilisations. But the pyramids… What if the ancient Egyptians had help with their superstructures? Did the aliens take the floor lighting back with them? Is our intrepid nano-fig having the same epiphany?
See, small builds really make you think. Even if they’re not particularly sensible thoughts.
LEGO builder Bart De Dobbelaer has left the details of the backstory sparse for this microscale castle beyond the fact that it is a home for gods, but it certainly captures my imagination. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t remind me just a touch of Laputa: Castle in the Sky, but this massive structure has some features that not even Laputa could claim. Surrounded by a ring of guardians, there’s a huge maze weaving through the entire castle grounds.
Additionally, the turrets spin and rotate thanks to some clever gearing and motorization, surely making the maze even more challenging.
Based on the drawing of a child, this fascinating LEGO build has been cleverly constructed by Ben Cossy. The original drawing describes a squid taking on the role of a lighthouse and inking boats which are going by too fast. The squid build uses multiple tentacle pieces from the Gargantos Showdown set while blending different shades of green together in the formation of the body. The ships are miniature in their size with quarter circle tiles portraying sails. Looks like one has already been caught speeding!
There is also an informative video that demonstrates some of the techniques used in creating this scene.
Louis of Nutwood shows us sometimes simple techniques can be the most effective. A sprinkling of 1×1 round plates around this microscale ship does a fantastic job of illustrating the wake of the craft as it cuts through the water in search of adventure. A micro portion of rum for all on board!
