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.

Honey, I shrunk the A-Team

Rod Gillies brings TV’s most successful soldiers of fortune to life with this microscale creation. Every child of the 80s knows this black and gray van with its striking red stripe. Even if you didn’t watch the show, the van adorned toy aisles and Halloween costumes and lunch boxes. Heck, even younger kids might know the van, thanks to it’s recent-ish inclusion in LEGO Dimensions. But Rod’s gone even smaller than LEGO did, and he’s accomplished it without needing to use a printed piece for the stripe. I love it when a MOC comes together.

Mini A Team

Icy winter wonderland

One of my favorite things about the winter is the beauty of a peaceful snowy mountainside, and this LEGO build by -LittleJohn looks just the part. It took me a little while to grasp the scale of this mountain, but then I spied the castle perched up on the ledge above the glassy waterfall. The ramshackle techniques used on this build come together splendidly to create a magical moonlit river.

Winter Wonder

A sizable selection of small spacecraft

It’s almost advent calendar season, which means LEGO fans the world over will soon be assembling some tiny spaceships from Star Wars and the MCU. But Tim Goddard has gotten a jump on things by crafting his own fleet of miniature spaceships. Despite their small size, there’s lots of cool shaping and detail to be found. From the minifigure videogame controller used as wings to the green and red thrusters on an Octan ship, Tim has crafted a fleet of microscale marvels.

All the small things

Giving new meaning to the term “Little Italy”

Check out this duo of microscale Venetian palaces by builder -Brixe! The shaping on these two domiciles is impeccable, perfectly capturing the worn texture of these canal-hugging houses using bars and round plates. The color palette, with its shades of nougat and tan, contrasts the crisp light blue of the water flowing behind and in-between them. But the techniques are really where this micro-marvel stands out. I adore the use of this old school finger hinge to hold the grill plates in place as windows, with this similar piece employed for their associated balconies. And one final detail of note: the bridge joining both buildings is built with studs facing down, allowing for ideal stair construction at this scale.

Mini Venetian Houses

Hold me closer, tiny dragon

Ids de Jong invites us into the fantastical realm of Dawnward as a terrifying earth dragon approaches the castle. This microscale scene makes terrific use of parts to convey shape and texture – from the grill tiles forming battlements along the castle walls, to the minifigure chopsticks working as the dragon’s head. The result is a serene autumn day that is about to end in fire and blood. I hope those wagons at the castle’s entrance can make their escape in time.

Dawnward castle and the earth dragon

Rockhall lights the way to an epic layout

Call me weird but I love a huge LEGO layout with a unified color scheme. Take this striking red and white creation by the eerily named Eric TheSkeleton, for example. The buildings, lighthouse, even the numerous airships stay faithful to that red and white color scheme; it’s kinda like the White Stripes live there. I’m sure there are other real-life examples but with the hill and Mediterranean-style red roofs, this layout reminds me of Coimbra, Portugal. Upon closer inspection, this is actually a microscale build but the island citadel seems to have a more massive footprint than what is true to life. The bones as waves are a masterful touch! That water just might be a bedsheet or a tablecloth but, with the tiny ripples, the effect works amazingly well within the composition. It’s not quite a purist approach but the last time we upset the purists, we had a record number of complaints from folks with AOL email addresses so maybe lightning will strike again this time. Here’s to hoping it does!

Rockhall_01

This town needs an enlargement.

Joel Schumacher’s neon-colored sequels get a lot of flack for being overly stylized, but revisit 1989’s Batman and you might be struck by just how Tim Burton-y it really is. Shannon Sproule has perfectly captured the essence of Gotham’s production design in these microscale buildings. While later filmmakers like Nolan and Reeves opted for a more grounded and realistic Gotham, Burton created a city that was every bit as weird and wonderous as Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, just in darker colors. Harsh angles, elegant curves, giant pipes, vents, and numerous statues are all the rage in this town. And they’re kept safe by a very, very tiny Michael Keaton.

Gotham 1989 doodles

A small bridge with some big thinking behind it

Any good engineer will tell you that scale models are a great way to test out grand ideas in a safer and cheaper environment. For some LEGO builders, though, scale models are just an excuse to flex your engineering muscles. This bridge by Clemens Schneider is a great little microscale build in its own right. It’s an attractive design with some nifty microscale vehicles, including what appears to be a police chase! What I am most impressed by however is the engineering behind it, which was meticulously planned out.

Arch Valley Bridge

The valley and the gentle curve of the bridge are already accomplished by bending rows of bricks, exploiting the tolerances that are built in to LEGO bricks. But those flex tubes aren’t just for show! They actually work as a real cable-stayed bridge would. The schematic below shows some of Clemens’ thinking for this clever little build. The outer pair of cables are tensioned together with string (yes, it’s LEGO string), and the tension which can be adjusted to slightly alter the shape of the bridge. The green links have metal train axles in them (still LEGO!), the friction of which further helps to support the bridge. I’m seriously impressed by the thought that went into this!

Arch Valley Bridge

Does it still count as Microscale when it’s this big?

We’ve been watching Christophe Pujaletplaa’s LEGO Microville grow for a while now. We featured it first in 2019, and then revisited progress about a year later. But Christophe wasn’t done, and it’s time to take a stroll through this tiny metropolis and see what’s happening today.

microville - 2022

Dip into the diminutive downtown below…

This LEGO parade really floats our boat!

Big Easy Bricks has crafted a pair of wonderful parade floats that make me yearn for a big old LEGO-themed parade. Both feature some classic LEGO themes and some great microscale building! First up is a fan favourite – Classic Space. The float features two iconic space sets in the form of the Galaxy Explorer and Monorail Transport System. The trailer itself also has a rocket blasting away from the Earth and Moon, made up of a mere nine pieces!

Float 01 - Classic Space

Float number two is a bit more rootin’-tootin’, as it depicts the perhaps niche (although no less legendary) Fort Legoredo from the 90s Western theme. This time we have some miniature soldiers and cavalry to man the fort, which is a superb imitation of the original set. Take note of the miniature cannons as well! Once again the trailer captures the Western aesthetic with some stars and horns. It’s a simple touch, but a really wonderful way to tie it together.

Float 02 - Fort Legoredo

I hope Big Easy Bricks have got some more floats lined up. There’s plenty of classic themes, and they would look great on parade together!

This microscale forest scene is hair today, gone tomorrow

With fall finally here, my favorite time of year, a stroll in the woods is a delightful way to pass the time, strolling among quiet ruins as the fall leaves drift to the ground, as in this scene by LegoHobbitFan, which uses a variety of hair elements as billowy foliage. Log printed tiles make the perfect path, and a few of the trees are made with stud-shooters, turning weapons into trees.

The Forest

Cruising the coast of Minifigville

A cruise ship passes by a quaint hillside town in this LEGO microscale creation by Minifignick. This build makes adorable use of several new parts from the Series 23 Collectible Minifigure line. The houses and the ship itself are obvious, but we even spot some reindeer antlers getting put to creative use.

Cruising.....