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.

Rocketing up to a new home in the sky

There’s definitely a creepy feel to this microscale LEGO scene — it seems that a little extraterrestrial tourism has led to a sudden drop in the population, as if something untoward has left a rather full looking graveyard on the ground and a large ‘not of this world’ city in the sky. Kale Frost has left the exact history of events to our own imaginations, but the title “After the Martians Came” suggests a post-apocalyptic exodus from Earth. I love the use of the stud shooter trigger for the headstones in the graveyard, and Rocket Boy’s rocket outfit gives a nice retro 1960s film feel to the scene.

A closer look at the ground shows that a surprising number of parts have been utilised to make this microscale scene. The street lamp is cute and the damage to the streets is another sign that all is not well in town.

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Machu Picchu in microscale

In 1983, UNESCO designated the legendary Peruvian citadel of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site. Located in the Sacred Valley, 50 miles northwest of Cusco, the city was constructed around 1450 at the height of the Inca empire and was abandoned just over 100 years later. At time of writing, the LEGO Architecture theme has yet to feature a South American structure or building. This omission prompted Diego Baca to build his own microscale version of this historic site.

Diego has captured all the key features including Huayna Picchu as the mountainous backdrop, the blue of the Urubamba River glistening on the left, and la piedra sagrada [tr. the sacred rock] represented by a single 1×1 round plate sitting on high. Also note the wandering llama in the middle of the site!

Diego has kindly created PDF instructions for this model in the same style as the official LEGO Architecture instructions, with a few pages of photographs, historical information, and step-by-step building plans.

Saturn 0.5 is go for launch

If the latest LEGO Ideas set NASA Saturn V is a little too big for your shelf or for your wallet, we have the perfect solution. Jussi Koskinen has built a compact Saturn V that can still separate into the launch and mission stages, just like the official set. Jussi has taken care to ensure each stage has the correct number of engines and maintains the same separation function as the larger model. I am impressed with the shaping achieved, since making a cylindrical LEGO rocket can be a challenge.

As you can see, despite being small in size, Jussi’s mini Saturn V still looks the part when launched.

A tiny castle trapped in a glass case

If your desk needs a bit of life, a tiny fantasy castle might help. Peter Ilmrud was faced with a similar dilema recently and came to the obvious solution. Inspired by the work of Yang Wang and armed with an IKEA HÄRLIGA glass case and a handful of bricks, Peter has created a cute little fairy tale castle.

The build has lots of brilliant details like the round tower’s windows and the tree growing on the side of the rocks, but most importantly, the composition of the castle is what connects it all into a very coherent creation. I sincerely hope more builders pick up the concept, as there is lots of potential in glass-encased LEGO creations.

Give me a home where the tiny buffalo roam

Isn’t it marvellous what builders are able to come up with using literally handfuls of LEGO bricks? We’ve featured Grantmasters microscale slight of hand before. Looking at this elegant build, it’s possible to imagine fields of these thirsty beasts thundering the Great Plains in vast numbers. I’ll leave you with these inspirational words from a Buffalo: Stand your ground. Have a tough hide. Keep moving on. Cherish wide open spaces. Have a strong spirit. Roam wild and free. Let the chips fall where they may!

There grows another rubber tree plant

Microscale LEGO building can be a real showcase for imaginative parts usage. The technique used for the trees and hedges in this delightful little park by Josephine Monterosso is fantastic: twisted rubber bands. This clever idea provides a genuine organic feel — something hard to achieve with bricks at this scale — and adds a level of detail which makes the scene look much bigger than it really is. Brilliant building.

We don’t need a bigger boat

Although a bigger boat is sometimes a necessity, shrinking your favourite LEGO ships into more manageable proportions can be useful. Brick LeKao might have run out of display space, or perhaps he’s just a fan of more petite sets judging by his collection of cute Pirates of the Caribbean microscale ships. Silent Mary, the Black Pearl, and Queen Ann’s Revenge are all built in microscale, but despite their small size, they are completely recognisable as the famous vessels.

Click to see more adorably miniaturized pirate ships

Microscale A-10 Warthog [Instructions]

For the enjoyment of his fellow military aviation buffs, builder ama77what has beautifully reverse-engineered this microscale A-10 “Warthog” fighter jet from a knock-off brand of building block, recreating it using bona-fide LEGO pieces and presenting it in the form of this handy single-page building guide. There really is nothing more to say here than go build it and SWOOOSH it!

Judge these LEGO Star Wars ships by their size, do you?

Star Wars fans will enjoy John Klapheke’s small fleet of microscale spacecraft (plus an AT-AT walker) from the original trilogy and The Force Awakens. Each vehicle is instantly recognizable through clever part usage and color blocking, an impressive feat considering not only that scale limits the part count, but also that John’s models are largely unique from the official mini models. My personal favorites of the fleet are the largest craft, the Nebulon-B Frigate, and the smallest, Poe’s X-Wing fighter.

Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the bricks of a LEGO man!

Adding to his streak of amazing creations, Grant Davis creates this whimsical interpretation of the classic fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk. The focus of the build is the cloud tops, made mostly out of the curved panels that are the focus of the current round of the Iron Builder contest. The field of white clouds is complemented by Jack’s beanstalk, built using some interesting green pieces. But the real icing on the cake? The elegant curved path leading up to a microscale castle, in forced perspective. Grant manages to fill the image with just enough detail to be interesting, while keeping it simple and straightforward — a hard balance to achieve.

Living it up in the Land of Cleve

If you’ve ever strolled through the streets of downtown Cleveland, you’ll definitely recognize Spencer Rezkalla‘s most recent microscale creation. It’s Key Tower, the tallest building in Ohio! This build is chock full of amazing building techniques like SNOT and some weird, half-plate offsettings. Spencer even included the Marriott and Society for Savings buildings, making his tiny city block match the original one perfectly.

If you happen to be within driving distance of “The Land,” you can see Spencer’s creation in person at the Great Lakes Science Center’s Build it! exhibit going on right now. You’ll also see other amazing LEGO creations that we’ve featured in the past such as Tyler Halliwell’s Monkey King, Adrian Drake’s life-sized Bender and Matt De Lanoy’s Springfield layout, just to name a few.

The smallest Prime

Optimus Prime is an ever-popular subject for modelling in LEGO bricks. Just recently we featured an impressively large Transformers city scene featuring the big ol’ truck-bot. However, it’s not often we see such cute details at small scale as in Peter Reid‘s latest creation. Immediately recognisable, this great little build has a nice depth of texture despite its size. I can’t help but provide my own soundtrack to this model — Peter Cullen’s tones pitch-shifted up to Calvin And The Chipmunks levels of squeakiness.