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.

Microscale Mata Nui

After writing about LEGO for nearly a decade, it’s rare that I see a mashup that’s new, let alone one that’s done excellently. But this build by Mansur Soeleman brought me that rare delight in the form of a Bionicle creation made of system pieces and done in microscale. The lush green island is Kini Nui, the temple at the heart of Mata Nui in the Bionicle universe, and it evokes the verdant foliage of the island’s jungle well. The build is loaded with brand new elements which I’m excited to see put to such great use, such as the white 1x8x3 slopes for the four pillars on the temple.

Side note: I’m feeling an urge to play Halo now, for some reason…

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Build your own microscale Phoenix from Gatchaman [Instructions]

One of my absolute favorite cartoons growing up was Battle of the Planets – the Amercanized version of the Japanese anime classic Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. I loved the cool vehicles, the best of which was the Phoenix, the team’s giant carrier jet. Although it’s already been done, I’ve often dreamed of making a minifig scale version out of LEGO. In the meantime, though, I’m absolutely going to be building this microscale version created by len_d69. This 51 piece build just makes me stupidly happy.

The curved bow plates are the real star of the show, doing double duty as both the nose cone and wing details. The 1×1 tooth plate is also a perfect choice to match the vehicle’s shaping. So…what are you waiting for? Check out the full parts list and make your own!

Why should the Empire always get the cool ships?

While brainstorming ideas for my own entry to the Assemble the Fleet Contest, I went down a bit of an internet rabbit hole of ships and concept art from lesser-known Star Wars video games. Among them was the Assault Frigate Mark II, only seen in the Star Wars: Empire at War RTS games, which I took one look at and dismissed as impossible to recreate in LEGO due to it’s almost entirely rounded shape. A few weeks later, to my dismay and excitement, The Brickforce proved me very wrong with his beautiful microscale rendition of the ship.

Making good use of the multitude of new rounded, angled, and sloped pieces LEGO has released the past few years, the builder has managed to skillfully recreate the rounded form of the ship, with minimal gaps between the bricks for a smooth look. The splashes of color top complete the build, both incorporated into the complex shaping of the hull and in the Nebulon-B-esque pod array coming off the bottom of the vessel.

Santa Maria del Fiore – a Florentine cathedral to lift the spirit

When the master builders of the Renaissance were building things from bricks, they were not using ABS plastic like LEGO master builders do today. They were building with marble, constructing some of the most beautiful buildings ever built. The proportions, the balance, the arrangement of the different elements were intended to raise the hearts and spirits of those visiting to an experience of the supernatural. Scaled down and converted from marble to ABS, those same buildings remain awe-inspiring. Take this model of Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence, Italy. Perhaps bricksandtiles is not Arnolfo di Cambio or Filippo Brunelleschi, some of the men who designed various parts of it (the cathedral was under construction from 1296 until 1436, when the dome was completed and the church was consecrated, so lots had their hand on it), but nonetheless this LEGO version is spectacular in its own right.

The famed octagonal dome is built from countless rounded 1×2 plates, mimicking the tiled roof splendidly. Sand green grille tiles serve as green marble borders to the intricate multicolored inlays on the real thing. But there is a lot more inlaying of sand green with the white, brick built all over the place. With the tower and the baptistry, the whole structure is a massive LEGO build, worthy of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Of course, this is not the first version of the cathedral featured on The Brothers Brick; check out another LEGO Florence cathedral we featured last year.

In Space no one can hear you mourn

Recently the world lost Jens Nygaard, a key LEGO innovator. While most news outlets were focused on Jens’ work as the creator of the LEGO minfigure, he was responsible for so much more. For example, did you know he was the creator of the classic Space theme? Builder Chris Yu did, and the Nygaard memorial fleet is their tribute to Jens’ genius. It’s said that grief is just love with nowhere to go. But sometimes we can take that love, listen to the inspiration it brings, and create something new.

This microscale collection of ships are decked out in the theme’s traditional blue and yellow colors. There’s a variety of cruisers, a fun robot, suitably chunky rocket, and even a micro-tribute to the theme’s astronaut minifgures.

Chris won our 2019 LEGO Creation of the Year Award with another Classic Space masterpiece. It’s safe to say this is a tribute to a theme close to his heart.

LEGO T-47 Snowspeeder swooshes into action

One of the most recognizable ships from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the versatile, low altitude speeder manufactured by Incom Corporation proved effective in the battle of Hoth, despite being ill-suited for cold environments. It looks like Massimiliano Sibilia may have taken low-altitude a little too seriously in this microscale model, which features the iconic wedge-shaped speeder skimming over the surface of Hoth.

The model captures the clunky aesthetic very well, and the harpoon and grill on the rear are particularly great details on this small scale.

Arm’ed and dangerous LEGO Star Wars vignettes

Well, I have seen a lot of different small parts used to represent minifigs at microscale. Still, I gotta hand it to CreativBricks for their genius idea to use actual Minifig arms in white to represent clones, and in tan and dark gray to represent B1 and B2 Battledroids, respectively. But the techniques used to create the vehicles go arm-in-arm with the figures. In fact, that AT-TE has some fantastic details for its scale.

This one isn’t quite on the level

In spring 2010 the Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) received a commission to bring “a new residential typology” to Manhattan. They delivered 35 stories of twisty goodness in VIA 57 West. The tetrahedral shape is a pretty far cry from a typical blocky facade you might expect to see.

Builder Nicolas Carlier rendered this unique shape in LEGO, and did a solid job of not being constrained by typical building styles. Long runs of plate ascend at unexpected angles, propped up by tiles and cheese wedges. The interior’s plaza makes good use of modified 1×1 round plate and 1×1 cones to fill out the greenery.

Just like the real building, this model has a very different feeling when viewed from the other side. Even in LEGO form, you still get a good feel for how the residential needs of the building are being met. A beautiful building still needs to be functional, after all.

Microscale LEGO ISS is out of this world

Space program fans now have another amazing LEGO set inspired by real-life NASA missions and international collaboration in the recent International Space Station 21321. But what if your display space is limited? That did not stop lysanderchau for a moment, as you can see by their amazingly detailed microscale model based on the official set. There is even a space shuttle and all of the other extra vehicle modules at an even smaller scale to match.

While you’re at it, don’t miss our review of the official set.

Genius inspiration is fleet-ing

Capturing great details on a spaceship that fits in the palm of your hand is a refreshing surprise from TBB Veteran, Letranger Absurde, and this pair of spaceships, while inspired by Star Wars, stand alone as a lesson in master parts usage. Take the fighter, made from a single LEGO minifigure robot head mold from the Galaxy Squad theme, where the facial visor serves as the cockpit canopy. And the red 1×1 tile on the side of the frigate nose picks up the circle design on the sides of the fighter beautifully.

Fancier than a plate of es-cargo, and twice as tasty

While this sleek LEGO cargo ship by Guy Smiley would look perfectly at home in a scene of interstellar combat, this pair of vessels are here to get the shipping job done. The cargo ship is sporting some powerful engines, and the support craft has a manipulator arm to load and unload the containers. But my favorite part use is the door panels from a Minifig cupboard, used throughout the models, with those two tiny holes.

But every great spaceship needs a worthy stand to support it, and if you look closely at this scene, you will discover that this stand is a creation all its own, depicting an entire microscale city over which these ships are flying on their way to the port.

Check out this incredibly huge and detailed LEGO diorama of the Eternal City, Rome

It is rare for a LEGO build to make my jaw drop and leave me drooling on my keyboard, but that is just what this stunning layout of Imperial Rome by Rocco Buttliere did. I have a Master’s degree in Classics, primarily in the Latin language, and so anything and everything Roman is right up my via, but there is a lot of great information to learn in the descriptions of the photos, even for one with an advanced degree in a tangential field. In fact, I could spend hours looking through all the pictures, and have already spent the better part of one skimming through the descriptions. It is fascinating stuff. And the build! It is huge, about 1×2 meters in size, with 66,000 bricks going into its construction. And not one is wasted or superfluous. So let’s take a brief tour of the Eternal City, shall we?

See more of this masterpiece of LEGO architecture