Builder Eli Willsea uses the barrel of a cannon to great effect as smokestacks in this intricate microscale factory. The many little buildings with red roofs make me think of something straight from the mind of Dr. Seuss, looking a lot like a scene from The Lorax. Tiny tread pieces are used to make ladders. Watch your step on your way home from a long shift, as this factory has one thing in common with Imperial construction… no handrails.
This microscale model of St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv, Ukraine, built by Christian Rau is instantly recognizable with its four angled towers topped by gold spires, and its colorful greenish-teal domes. I love the small details of light blue peeking out behind the white grills. The cheese sloped attached sideways gives the church front a visual interest. Cheese slopes are also used to form the curved central tower.
The model is a near-perfect replica of the actual building, which sits at the top of a hill in the middle of the city overlooking the Dnipro river.
Although the main island build looks peaceful enough, there may be many perils along the way to reach it! Koala Yummies has created this wonderful display, featuring a hut on a sandy beach with a ship on one side and a colourful sea monster on the other. There are several noteworthy techniques here, such as the use of bar holder pieces as cannons on the island and the placement of a wide blade on the ship, representing a forward sail. The sea monster has a webbed collar which was featured on one of the Shark Army Generals from The LEGO Ninjago Movie. The azure colour of the ocean creates a pleasing contrast against the darker shades of the models, providing the builds with an eye-catching style.
We here at TBB generally try not to cover LEGO builds that are still works-in-progress. But that can be hard when the WIP pictures look as good as this one taken by First Order Lego back in May. As we round the corner into August, we’re at last able to see FOL’s build in its entirety. And Rory can finally figure out what those chains are connected to: a big honkin’ sky rock!
More on this city in the sky below.
Idoneas of Hillcrest opens the description of this creation by stating it’s a “super quick build”. I think that’s an understatement – I count a grand total of seven pieces here, so surely it must have taken mere seconds to build! In truth, that is underselling it slightly. The build may have been quick, but such a careful choice of parts requires a lot of thought. A piece of Hero Factory armour makes up the rocky base, while treads make up the basic shape of the temple at the top. Interestingly it’s the second creation in a row where Idoneas uses tread pieces to great effect, albeit at different sizes. That’s the mark of a great builder – a master in all scales!
There are few towering structures more recognizable than the two towers featured in the Lord of the Rings novel of the same name. The obsidian-colored sharp-cornered Orthanc has more in common with its dark counterpart in the book, Barad-dur than it does with any of the man or Dwarf made structures of Middle-Earth, namely a lot of sharp pointy bits. Even in this microscale model by Jesse van den Oetelaar the tower at the center of Isengard looks quite ominous. One of my favorite details is the angled bars made by wedging the lever part in between grille plates. The round base was constructed with black clamps attached to flexible tubing, and it is a simple yet effective technique.
Although I didn’t grow up during their heyday, I’m a bit of a sucker for that retro, 70s sci-fi aesthetic. You know, original-series Star Trek, Silent Running, Alien, that sort of thing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Keith Goldman has perfectly encapsulated that (as he so often does) in his latest creation. The build itself is impressive, but the composition is particularly stellar. Keith says the off-kilter angle was deliberately chosen to evoke the unsettling intrigue of a comic book cover. In fact, all it needs is a title in a dramatic font, some catchy quotes, and a little ’50c’ sticker to make it look exactly like that.
The sense of scale and position is quite deceptive: initially, I thought we were looking up at some massive space cathedral, but the little white trophy ‘nanofigures’ give us our reference. This means that that skeleton in the glowing green cell, tank, pod, or whatever it’s in must be enormous. That’s what I love about this piece. No backstory, but by poring over the details you start asking questions which quickly set the imagination running. What facility is this, and where do all those tunnels go? What’s in the yellow pods? What (or who) was that skeleton? Who are the figures gathered around it? Most importantly, why is it there? Somehow, I don’t get the impression this is a zoo…
Doesn’t he just look…friendly? Those big eyes and that toothy smile just set your mind at ease, right? This model of B.A.R.R.Y. the hungry alien by LEGO Masters contestant Caleb Campion is a grotesque balance between friendly and frightening. His delicately sculpted head has a Grendel-like appearance that only a mother could love, not to mention the cursed Jar-Jar Binks heads that Caleb used as hands. The red cape from the Monkey King mech gave him a bit of a challenge but the final result blends well into the red tentacles swarming out from beneath B.A.R.R.Y.’s body. The bright red stands out well against the stark background and perfectly frames the mess of exposed innards in the creature’s chest. If I had landed my craft and been greeted by this, I’d be hightailing out of the atmosphere already.
B.A.R.R.Y.’s ready for his close-up! This creepy face might be the last thing you see on this distant exoplanet. Eagle-eyed builders will recognize the plethora of droid arms used to round out his head in addition to the droid head used as his nose. With everything going on, or going wrong, with this build I’d believe it if you told me this is what it looks like when you take a Muppet’s skin off. This looks like someone locked Animal in that attic from the insurance commercial for a hundred years.
It’s no surprise that a LEGO Master’s contestant could weave together bricks in such a cute but creepy way. Caleb Campion continues to show us the chops that got him on the show in the first place, setting up not only well built characters but also complimentary scenery that helps tell the story.
There were few LEGO sets as a child that were precious to me, but one that was just perfect was the Black Falcon Fortress, and in this miniaturised digital form, ZiO Chao has realised a favourite set of mine that I needed to share! In building this in a miniature scale, ZiO hasn’t compromised on detail at all. Everything that made Black Falcon’s Fortress a great build can be found here too.
Let’s explore more of this diminutive fortress here
Want a LEGO modular set, but don’t have the room for a large set? Legobricks Bricks has you covered with this micro-scaled version of the 10255 Assembly Square set. Same buildings, but in a smaller format that’ll easily fit on a desk. I always enjoy seeing large building sets made at a smaller scale because it’s always a treat to see how the builder realizes the defining details. Here, Jelle gives us the same shapes for the buildings, so right away we can tell where everything is. The signs for the base shops stand out with their hinted at shops: the café, the flower shop, and the bakery. And if the signs weren’t enough, the defining decorations of each shop are clearly present. The canopies and outdoor seating for the café, the flowers in the window for the flower shop, and the large display window of the bakery. And the fun doesn’t stop there! There’s also the fountain, surrounding street lights, and sidewalks in microscale. Using those little trophy figures, you can play and interact with the whole micro assembly much the same as the original.
Back in 2015, LEGO came out with 10251 Modular Bank set. It retailed for $170 back then but, like most good investments, it appreciated in value and you’d have to shell out more than twice as much nowadays to get your greasy mitts on one. Or, adversely, you can do what Marion Weintraut has done and build a scaled-down version of it. Whether it be the archways, the corner clock or the little ladder out front, she doesn’t miss a detail with this tiny bank. There’s been a slew of microscale set remakes lately and we’re a little thrilled about it. Actually a lot thrilled, but the retro set remakes are still little. That came out weird but you know what I mean!
With new LEGO castle and space sets coming out this year as part of the company’s 90th anniversary celebration, the nostalgia is hitting hard. And Koen Zwanenburg is here for it, with this microscale model inspired by another classic LEGO castle set, 6086 Black Knight’s Castle from 1992. This miniature scene taken straight from the box design pays homage to the castle, including a brilliant recreation of the molded green baseplate with rock printing. The yellow-orange color gradient was a common background for many castle sets from this period, and it even turned up in the recent Classic Castle remake of the Forest Hideout. I wonder which Classic Castle set will get the fan treatment next?
