Tag Archives: Microscale

Some say “Go big or go home!” but it takes real talent to compress something down to just a few studs and still keep it recognizable. Of course, many of the micro models we feature here aren’t so small after all, whether it’s a vast cityscape or starship.

Clever parts use that will blow you away

The on-going BioCup has seen pieces from the now-defunct Bionicle theme used in ever-more interesting ways. NateMakesMOCs has raised the bar with his latest effort in this amusingly cartoonish scene. Thinking outside the box, Nate has used a ball joint arm – or, more precisely, several of them – to create the mean-looking tornado that is the central villain of this piece. It’s an inspired choice: the analog nature of ball joints allows for a more chaotic look, which is perfect for this overgrown dust-devil. The slightly caricatured facial features are a perfect complement. The subject of this tornado’s ire? Well, it seems to be the farm below that is about to get swept up in its path. This is actually quite minimalist in style, with only a barn and some hay bales to suggest a setting for the build. Nevertheless, they both do a perfect job, and the technic gear hay bales in particular are another great use of parts!

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Feast your eyes upon this castle from a classic Studio Ghibli film

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a Studio Ghibli film which is often overlooked, so it’s great to see this fantastic build of the main structure in the film by Sandro Damiano. Created in microscale, the castle rests upon a beautifully formed lake with different shades of colour placed underneath transparent blue tiles, representing the variety of depths in the water. A long walkway links the castle to a clock tower which is placed upon a crumbling wall. The castle has been lovingly built with accurate tall blue spires and roofing details. Headlight pieces are heavily featured across the castle, portraying large windows.

Round the back you can really get a sense of how the castle is built upon a rocky surface with the use of dark grey bricks. There are also some clever uses of parts, such as the ends of grille pieces as tiny windows, and some of the arches are represented by rounded plates with bar handles. It’s a fantastic build that really captures the sense of awe and mystery surrounding the castle.

The LEGO house can’t get much smaller than that without help from Pym particles

Microscale LEGO sets like the skyline architecture series proved that you don’t need a lot of parts to capture great architectural details, and fans have been building miniature versions of their favorite sets over the years with amazing results. This miniature model of the LEGO house by aido k is a fantastic example. The terraced section in the back uses small wall panel parts set on their side, and a printed tile from the DOTS theme makes the perfect accent. Overall the model is instantly recognizable and a perfect replica of the official LEGO Architecture set.

Floating up to the city in the sky

Far from Norman Greenbaum’s lyrics but still suiting the rhythm, this futuristic flying city by Builder Umbra-Manis certainly looks like a paradise all its own. A microscale aircraft sits on one side of the city’s extended air-docks, leading into a thick, walled courtyard. Trees exposed to the open air line the exterior of the platforms, using brown claws with green flower studs attached to the versatile, hexagonal NEXO Knights plates which make up the structure’s base. Nice parts usage certainly abounds in this model. Minifigure rollerskates with trans-yellow tombstone plates, as I call them, make great little courier vessels which enter the city and circle its interior. The sculpting and coloration of the buildings make me feel like I’m playing a LEGO version of a Ratchet and Clank level which is nothing to complaing about.

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An unexpected parts use

I love it when the Iron Builder contest rolls into town – every year we see creations that push the creative boundaries of the LEGO brick. That said, I must confess that it creeps up on me every time, much like Gandalf rocking up to Hobbiton ahead of an unexpected journey. This very event is the subject of Dan Ko‘s latest entry into his Iron Builder round, using a green minifigure hand as the seed part. They are used here at a tiny scale to convey the rolling hills and bushes of the Shire from JRR Tolkien’s Hobbit books. This is a clever enough use, but an opposing pair is also used upturned for the Baggins’ hobbit-hole. The miniature Gandalf is the cherry on the cake – the Grey Wizard is made from just three pieces! Another six (including an ingenious use of a slingshot) make up his horse and cart. The whole scene is a masterclass in microscale building!

Tune up your mech in this miniature hangar

The perfect place to prepare for a battle. Kosmas Santosa has created this wonderful build of a mechanical repair area in a microscale form. The mech has an impressive muscular shape with the nice touch of a skate used for the horn on its head. The hangar floor also has some inventive features such as gear racks representing ladders. Small vehicles use upside-down roller skates as wheels, with the stud connected to the mesh plate underneath.

There is also a great tutorial video, allowing you to build your own mech storage area. It’s definitely worth having a go at building this superb display!

Micro Nausicaä glides over a LEGO Sea of Corruption

I don’t think there are enough words to describe my love of the Studio Ghibli movie Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. And the same can be said for this gorgeous LEGO build by Tino Poutiainen. The vibrant coloration of all the virulent fungi fits in perfectly with the aesthetic from the film, giving off that strong “poison arrow frog” vibe. Heavy use of round disks and plates, combined with more texturally complex parts create enough nooks and crannies to trigger some serious trypophobia. The skull of a long-dead God Warrior, resting atop the pile of fungi, is spot on. I especially like the use of old and new LEGO shades of gray to add some wear to the husk. But the icing on the cake here is the micro Nausicaä herself, soaring above on her mehve. Using under ten parts, it’s a shining jewel in an already brilliant crown.

You can’t hold this little ship down!

The winds must be really strong on this world as First Order Lego has created a mysterious landscape featuring a small floating ship. The miniature vehicle uses teeth pieces for its sails and a minifigure hand as a bowsprit at the front. Large links of chains descend from the sky which are possibly attached to the anchors of an even larger construction. In the background, the clouds are beautifully formed using a variety of angled slopes and rounded bricks. The lush green forest is made up of spikes representing sharp-looking trees. We’d love to see more from this alluring realm and find out what those chains are connected to.

Microscale Waterfall Temple

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.

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The future of freight

We might be facing shipping delays here but Stijn van der Laan shows us what the future of high class shipping can look like. This LEGO interplanetary freighter is absolutely stunning and the modular cargo load pairs perfectly. The simple white and grey colors with orange highlights contrasts nicely with the bright cargo and worker vessel. The subtle shaping adds some great texture and depth to the fairly simple overall shaping of the freighter. This is an absolute masterclass of microspace.

Click here for more details on the cargo!

Taking a cautious dive into a miniature ocean

Time to explore the watery depths! Paolo Loro takes us for a swim with this superb microscale build. Fitting in nicely with the aquatic theme is a minifigure air tank which forms part of the yellow submarine. The clear angled handles not only do a great job at holding the submarine in place but they also portray a stream of bubbles, trailing behind the vehicle as it descends. However, the submarine needs to be wary of deep sea mines represented by chain flail pieces. These explosives are nestled in with a thick abundance of sea vegetation featuring an assortment of spiked vine pieces and 1×1 flower pieces.

In Spudkirk, it’s all about the little things

The fictional town of Spudkirk is home to this LEGO scene by builder Evancelt Lego, featuring a row of tiny townhouses and itsy-bitsy infantrymen. And the details here, even at this scale, are larger than life. The cobbling on the wall is excellent, demonstrating how war-weary the town must be. The use of color in the road, specifically the blotches of lime green and burnt orange, further the worn look of the town. And it does this without drawing too much attention away from the rest of the model. This allows other, more nuanced details to shine through, like that teensy tree on the left. The yellow-orange flowers as foliage on top of a trunk mostly composed of a brown stud shooter fits perfectly at this scale.