A long time ago, in this galaxy far, far away, you won’t find lightsabers and droids, but you’ll certainly spot princesses and knights. Built by Koen, this precariously perched castle has a wonderfully Disney-like aesthetic with some clever techniques mixed in, if you take some time to study it. Note, for instance, the second-tallest turret, which has windows made of pulley wheels and Technic pins.
Personally, I’d like to think this is where the Little Prince lives after he grows up.
As the gateway to the Klondike, Seattle boomed during the gold rush of the late 1800’s. And with the explosive growth of Amazon in recent years, the Emerald City is experiencing a new boom. Everything here is surging: the economy, the population, house prices, and consequently homelessness. King county now ranks #3 in the nation for homelessness, after New York and Los Angeles, 47% of whom lack proper shelter.
I decided to use LEGO to illustrate this problem by imagining Seattle as an Architecture skyline set, featuring the Space Needle, Pike Place Market (complete with brass pig and gum wall), the Columbia Tower, Smith Tower, ship yards, and a plethora of street-side tents.
The good news is that local government has just levied money to finally attack this humanitarian crisis, no thanks to Amazon. The Seattle-based retail giant, now one of the most valuable companies in the world, threatened to halt all of its downtown expansion rather than cough up less cash than they probably spend keeping their cafeterias stocked with kombucha and avocado toast. Meanwhile the company’s founder – now the world’s richest person – allegedly ponders sinking the bulk of his fortune into advancing space travel.
Maybe before we start putting people in tents on Mars, we should first try to reduce the number that are forced to live in them down here…
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is one of the most famous buildings in the world — first a Greek Orthodox Church, then the Ottoman Imperial Mosque, and now a museum. Despite its reknown, its distinctive collection of domed, sloped, and circular construction is surely an intimidating subject to recreate in LEGO bricks. However, Rocco Buttliere — the undisputed master of LEGO architecture — appears up to the task.
The attention to detail that’s gone into this model is impressive, and the parts use is a masterclass in how to give a LEGO creation depth of texture. Don’t miss the use of Shakespearean-minifigure neck ruffs as flourishes on the surrounding towers, battle droid feet employed as arched windows, and the masterstroke of using hot dog sausage parts for the central dome! This is a great example of imaginative building to show anyone who ever says LEGO parts are getting too specialised nowadays.
One of the great joys of LEGO is when you see a piece used in a brilliant new way. That’s exactly what Victor has done here in this tiny microscale office interior. Yes, the 80s-look geometric floor design uses a bunch of those new diagonal 1×1 tile parts, and the lamp and wall pictures are smartly-done, but it’s the chairs you should be looking at: two minifigure mohawk hairpieces — upside-down and balanced on round 1x1s. Brilliant.
Building a Technic mechanism to make a LEGO model actually move can be daunting for those who mainly build static models, but perhaps this excellent Star Wars kinetic sculpture by Josh DaVid will inspire you (and me) to give it a try.
The model features a circling snowspeeder, and moving legs on the AT-AT, which can be powered by hand or with a Power Functions motor. The builder has done an excellent job compacting and simplifying a seemingly complex mechanism into such a small space. Check out the video below to see the model in action!
What I particularly love about building in microscale is that it makes you value every single piece and every spare stud of space. When a tiny 1×2 slope becomes a very huge section of the building’s roof you become very careful with planning your creation. And Marco De Bon‘s tiny quarter is a brilliant example of careful planning and very nice execution. Despite a very limited variety of pieces and colors, this neighbourhood looks both elegant and surprisingly diverse. My favourite part would be those small balconies of the white apartment building; the use ofplate 2 x 4 wedge‘s shape is just stunning.
Large spaceships are a flagship of LEGO space creations, where “large” is generally accepted to be 100 studs in length (or honestly any other spatial dimension) — these are called capital ships or SHIPs (Super Huge Investment in Parts). For the past few years, it’s seemed like there might be fewer built throughout the year, because many people rather concentrate their efforts in the annual SHIPtember community challenge in September. So in a way, Lysander Chau‘s Battleship Andromeda is like a Christmas gift in May, and I hope your big spaceship lust is as satisfied as mine.
Click to see more of the Andromeda
The Micropolis standard is what allows LEGO builders from around the world to come together at a convention and build a sprawling but tiny city that fits together. Here, LEGO creator Tammo S demonstrates some great microscale building techniques in this city block, featuring a hotel, some apartments, a pizzeria, a few residential buildings and a lovely courtyard. The model has a very European vibe, with a variety of dormer window designs, satellite dishes, and landscaping.
See more photos of this lovely little town
I was never satisfied with LEGO’s attempt at a microscale Republic Gunship (also known as an LAAT) from the 2013 advent calendar, as it lacked the signature long engines, unless that’s what the binocular piece is supposed to represent. So a few days ago, since I’m working on a larger Star Wars microscale build, I thought I would try my hand at a micro LAAT, then a day later, I ended up with these two. Although I wasn’t worried about part count, these use only 19 pieces each, just five more than LEGO’s version.
Check out the video instructions below — there are picture versions, and a video that goes a bit more in depth on how to build this cute little model. I have also included a link to download the decal sheet I made, so you can print it out yourself as well.
Click here to see the instructions!
We recently featured a World War I dogfight kinetic sculpture by Jason from JK Brickworks. In his video, Jason promised to share variations on the theme, and he’s done so with this fantastic trench run scene from A New Hope. The little starfighters and greebly Death Star surface are excellent in their own right, but the movement takes this LEGO creation to the next level.
The video shows Luke’s X-wing evading Darth Vader’s TIE fighter, with turbolaser turrets swinging back and forth as well. Jason also takes the kinetic sculpture apart to explain how he added the extra motion for the turbolaser emplacements.
The arrival of the tiny Classic LEGO Space microfigure in the recent 5005358 Minifigure Factory set was bound to prompt a batch of teeny-tiny space creations. Andreas Lenander‘s microscale space truck is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to see — impressively detailed and greeble-covered for the scale, spot-on in its colour scheme, and super-cute to boot. The rocky “tan-scaping” around the build creates a nice alien landscape feel (and the figures are well positioned to conceal those unsightly bases behind the boulders). And is there a little hint of Optimus Prime in the truck’s “face”? I think there is, and it makes me like this even more.
Sleek and grey and deadly — a predator slips through the swell. At least that’s the image conjured up by Luis Peña‘s latest LEGO creation — a microscale model of a Porter-class US Navy destroyer. Although small in scale and simple in colour selection, this model manages to pack in some nice details and textures. I particularly like the use of “Wolverine claws” and quarter-circle tiles in the creation of the ship’s anti-aircraft emplacements.
The Porter was a class of eight heavy destroyers in the United States Navy. Although originally commissioned by Congress in 1916, construction was delayed and the first of the vessels didn’t enter service until 1936. The destroyers went on to see action throughout the Second World War. Only one, USS Porter herself, was to be lost in action.