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.

Little church perfect for your little ant friends

LEGO builders can sometimes overcomplicate things, perhaps ignoring simple techniques because they feel obvious, regardless of how effective they might be. However, this microscale Lego church by Jens Ohrndorf goes to show you don’t need a thousand pieces and complex techniques to create something excellent. We’ve seen it before, but the minifigure hairpieces make for perfect treetops, and then there’s the use of the 1×2 brick with groove as the side windows — a simple yet effective parts choice.

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A very nice lander

Looking for ideas for your latest spaceman minifigure? robiwan_kenobi has a few great ideas featured in this excellent spacecraft. There are many clever parts used in this microscale model worth noting. The rotors come from Speed Champions hubcaps, and the fuselage uses the mechanical arm from Agents, a mini-fig torso and helmet! Plus any chance to use a ‘one ring’ element form Lord of the Rings is precioussss. The crew is composed of trophy size figures from the LEGO Ideas Saturn V rocket.

The landing craft goes with a larger ground vehicle which features another spaceman torso and helmet at the front.

Wet and wild-ly good building

January might not be waterpark weather up here in the chilly northern hemisphere, but simply bricking it aims to bring a splash of fun in the summer sun to your life with this brilliant microscale LEGO creation. The “tanscaping” on display here is beautiful — the tan tile pieces creating a smart colour contrast with the teal waters. But, as with all the best microscale, it’s the little details that make this pop — the use of the recently-reborn “macaroni quarter pipe” pieces to create a spiral flume tube, and the brown 1×2 bow slopes as diving boards are particular highlights. This makes me want to dive into some microscale building of my own.

A gingerbread house for those on a diet

If you still want to make a gingerbread house before the holiday season officially ends, Jonas Kramm has perhaps the smallest way to make one that’s still loaded with details. He’s created this minuscule candy home with some very clever parts usage. Red crowbars for candy canes, tooth pieces for the frosting piping, and just enough coloured studs to represent whatever kind of sweets you can imagine.

Throwback castle polishes up nicely

Sometimes the old ones really are the best ones. Eggy Pop says this microscale LEGO castle was originally built back in 2009, but he’s now posted a cleaned-up photo of the creation. The low angle on this photography creates a misleading sense of scale in the image — this model looks much bigger than it really is. The white walls and dark blue roofs of the castle offer a lovely contrast to the surrounding sea. And the technique of placing coloured plates beneath the trans-blue tiles of the sea makes for some welcoming beaches.

From the Cairngorms to your own home, build the wildlife of Scotland [Instructions]

Earlier this month, we wrote about Brick to the Past‘s huge Scottish diorama, The Jacobite Risings, a build taking 10 months and using 1 million bricks. Within this creation spanning 16 square metres, were some adorable, microscale models of the Scottish wildlife found in the Cairngorms. Brick to the past have provided instructions so you can build your own Osprey, Deer, Capercaillie and Black Grouse.

Osprey are a bird of prey and returned from extinction within the UK to make their home in the Cairngorms.

Click for more instructions to make Scottish wildlife out of LEGO

Park gives me a sense of enormous wellbeing

As winter blows through in my part of the world, it’s nice to enjoy a touch of summer parklife with this sweet LEGO scene from Sheo. The scale used here is deceptive, I was surprised at how big this model is in real life — those are large quarter-circle fences providing the upper columns in the central rotunda. The pavilion is lovely, with its little fountain, and I like the geometric design of the gardens and their flowerbeds. Nice use of panel parts for the paths too, creating a tiny height difference between the paving and the grass — an almost insignificant detail, but the sort of thing that elevates the best microscale building.

A new beauty born of decay

When I first looked at this picture, I thought to myself that someone really needs to clean up the weeds on their mansion, but then with some quick research it turned out there is nobody to do the cleaning. Château Nottebohm is an abandoned castle in Belgium, which has been uninhabited for over half a century. While the landscape looks more like a savannah than a temperate forested plain, Marion has definetely done justice to the mansion itself.

On the outside the building seems to contain no large bricks whatsoever, achieving intense chaotic textures characteristic of decaying buildings. Textures like these feel more at home in larger creations, but Marion has managed to make them look good even at this small scale. There are complex shapes achieved with more or less legal techniques, for some of which I am not even sure they can be done without cutting bricks, so purists beware! For a better understanding of some of these techniques, I suggest anyone interested to look at the work in progress photos, like this example here.

No army is tiny enough to sieze this castle

I have no idea what the tiny attacking army is thinking, but apparently they are trying to besiege this cute, impenetrable fortress. The scene, built by Timothy Shortell, is as complete as they get. There’s ingenious use of parts in the siege equipment, the dark green plains are dynamic, the castle is highly detailed and, most of all, the intense cliffs at the back are amazing. I have never believed them to be useful in a serious creation, but at this scale and level of texture, the rocky wedges (part 64867) at the left and right ends of the cliffs actually look perfect.

A little bubble of festive cheer

Every LEGO-loving home should have some brick-built decorations. Why not take inspiration from seb toutouille and build your own lovely little snow globe model? This is so sweet, with good use of unicorn horns and ice cream scoops to create snowy upper branches for the trees. The silver and gold microfigures add a nice touch of festive sparkle to proceedings too. I could just see this as a table decoration during Christmas dinner.

Well-made LEGO trees really get my gears going

There’s two things LEGO Castle fans love to build: Trees and walls. Showing us interesting ways to do both is this microscale hideout by Dr. Zarkow. The wooden walls around the main structures are simple enough — just brown bars inserted into the hollow studs of flower pieces with some rubber bands for effect. The custom tree builds are the standout, providing a great reason why we need gears in every colour, and the two buildings are great little medieval builds. The base and the subtle twist of the chimney on the one building are nice touches too.

Time to travel to beautiful cityscapes

If you feel nervous about the future and dread the thought of grey concrete buildings taking over our cities, these beautiful microscale futuristic cityscapes by Jeff Friesen should calm your fears. Each unique scene is beautifully crafted, with buildings, transportation links, water, and features like bridges, parks, and flora. The colour schemes have been well thought-out and there are lots of clever details in each scene despite their diminutive size.

Take a closer look at these microscale cityscapes