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.

LEGO Harry Potter 71043 Hogwarts Castle, 2nd-largest LEGO set ever released [Review]

At 6,020 pieces, the new microscale 71043 Hogwarts Castle is the LEGO set with the second-highest part count ever, exceeded only by last year’s 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon at 7,541 pieces. This massive Hogwarts is part of the new wave of LEGO Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts sets, including the minifig-scale 75954 Hogwarts Great Hall. In what is sure also to be one of our longest LEGO set reviews ever, we’re immersing ourselves in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World as we take a close look at this massive set, which retails for $399.99 and will be available on September 1st (August 15 for LEGO VIP Program members).

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Harry Potter 71043 Hogwarts Castle

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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?

Find safe harbour in Markus Rollbühler’s microscale port

This microscale city-port built by Markus Rollbühler packs detail into every stud of its tiny 12×12 base. Everywhere you look something grabs your attention: ships built from epaulettes, with sails formed from the new triangle tiles found in the Speed Champion sets; printed Minecraft plates make excellent wharf buildings; and, my personal favourite, party hat spires adorn the town’s numerous towers. Of course Markus doesn’t stop there — keep searching and you’ll find treasure hidden in the dock’s cellars.

A small homage to a great civilization

There has been a large influx of Mesoamerican architecture LEGO creations recently, including temples, sports and even the Aztec Feathered Serpent god. Simon NH adds to this collection with this microscale Maya city. Seeing Mesoamerican architecture in its golden age is quite refreshing, as all the overgrown decrepit temples can slowly start looking similar…

Simon has used many different techniques to build quite a variety of different kinds of steps – from functional to ornamental. The little town has a very organic layout built into rolling hills, with houses, temples and platforms scattered around in a very believable way. It is amazing how much detail the builder managed to get onto such a small footprint, most notably the leg used as a waterfall, the circular pattern in the center of the city and the buildings on the gray platform. The landscape is great too, using all sorts of curved tiles and quite exotic colours for the river’s water.

A miniature city on the edge of forever

Inspired by artist Mike Kelley’s series of works based on Krypton’s capital city, Grant Masters has built his own cool microscale LEGO version of Kandor. The collection of transparent pieces is well-chosen, with internal structural elements within the bricks showing through to add texture and visual complexity you might not expect for something so small. The dramatic presentation and lighting is excellent too — that hint of green subtly evoking Superman’s lost homeworld and preventing the model being too stark and cold.

Towering in the sky, watching over the clouds

There are such things as classic themes in LEGO builds, like Castle or Space, but there are also very well-established motifs that can fit into these broader themes. One such motif that is often visited by many builders over what is now decades is floating rocks. Marcel V. takes inspiration from some of the more famous floating rock builds to bring us this cute little floating watchtower.

The best part is the watchtower, in my opinion. It has a unique polygonal shape with a cute little dock and very good colour work. Notice that the door is actually a window piece wedged in front of the wall. There are a few other examples of unconnected bricks used on it as well, a technique people seem to either love or hate, but in this case it works really well — connecting the piece just for the sake of it would not change the look of the creation anyway. Besides the watchtower itself, the little landscape adds just enough colour to set the mood and give the titular tower a nice contrast.

Captain Kidd’s baby galleon

The latest in Kai NRG’s vignette series starring the LEGO baby minifigure puts its infant captain out to sea, skipper of his very own miniature galleon. Kai notes that despite its size, his cute ship was researched to match the accurate proportions of a real galleon; and it shows in not only its smart part choices, like the row of open stud plate cannons, but also in the consistently scaled relationship between elements. Retaining his quirky approach, Kai leaves Captain Kidd the only off-scale component of the creation, happily sailing his stylish ship across the seven seas.

War of the ‘micro’ worlds

Although Sad Brick’s War of the Worlds diorama occupies a tiny base plate, it still packs in some serious detail and a sense of scale completely at odds with its diminutive size. It’s one of the perpetual ironies of LEGO building, that working small creates some of the best representations of physically huge vistas.

A few rotated and misaligned transparent cheese slopes become a broiling ocean, unbelievably hot dog sausages are reimagined as the suspension arches on the Golden Gate Bridge – a design adapted from builder Li Li’s brick-topper badge for Bricks by the Bay 2017 – and a minidoll syringe doubles as ~~a submarine periscope~~ Alcatraz Island’s watchtower. Setting the scene for one of the littlest, and best, brick-built aliens I’ve seen, to cause havoc in.

This microscale Y-wing is setting up for an attack run

The single most recognized feature of the BTL-A4 starfighter, a.k.a. the Rebel Alliance Y-Wing, is the long tube-shaped engines or nacelles that give the starfighter its nickname. But an equally distinct design detail would have to be the greebling, or random non-specific technical looking details, that fill the rest of the ship behind the wedge-shaped cockpit. This microscale model by Tim Goddard has absolutely nailed both of these details in a very challenging scale for a model this complex.

The recent introduction of a number of tiles with rounded edges like the 1×1 quarter tile, the 1×1 incisor tile, as well as the 2×2 curved and angled tiles, provide a lot of detail both on the ship’s fuselage, and in the stand, which contains a slice of the Death Star surface. Another MVP with this model is the 1×2 silver ingot. The signature elements all come together perfectly.

Tim’s Y-wing joins his growing wing of Rebel starfighters at this scale, including a U-wing from Rogue One and classic X-wing.

Run silent, run deep

Digital LEGO models can be a polarising topic — many people would say it’s not “real building”. Strictly-speaking, they’re correct, but occasionally a CGI image comes along which demands attention for its imaginative construction without being a wish-list model of unavailable pieces in rare colours. This stylish and minimalist vision of submarine warfare by Mark B. is a cracker, rendered or not. The microscale ship and submarine models are nicely put together, but it’s the colour choices that set the tone and make this look so cool. I’d love to have this hanging on my wall as an art piece.

A mini sci-fi city that’s a step above the rest

I have a bit of a soft spot for builders that really build a bit of everything. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with building only spaceships, or trains, or architecture, I enjoy building in many themes/styles. I’m not always great at it, but I like being versatile, and it’s cool to see the work of others who do it really well. Micah Beideman is one of them. You may recognize the name from another recent and completely different creation we covered.

The unique sci-fi city is a mass of intriguing buildings. The architecture is designed with a clever use of a very wide range of parts, including several minifig accessories. It’s definitely one you have to zoom in on to really see and appreciate every detail. The most impressive aspect is the layering of tightly bound treads that make up the floating, stair-step groundwork for the city.

A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the height of its dreams

There’s no shortage of microscale LEGO cityscapes, but the variety within our favourite plastic bricks ensures no two cities are entirely alike. Marco De Bon impresses with this microscale creation, what looks like a transition zone between suburban residences and the soaring towers of downtown. Check out the angles on the grey and blue tower on the right, and the use of a studshooter part as a footbridge between two of the red buildings. The simple stacking of clear 1×2 plates to create the trio of towers at the rear is surprisingly effective, and the restrained use of sand green studs and lime green ice cream scoops makes for some nice vegetation.