Jonas Kramm has built four fabulous microscale LEGO versions of iconic castles from the opening titles of Game Of Thrones. Winterfell, The Twins, Castle Black & The Wall, and King’s Landing all get the brick treatment, built into a set of smartly-panelled bases. The southern capital of Westoros is unmistakable — all blood red walls and gold detailing, exactly as it appears in the show’s opening…
Winterfell is also beautifully done, particularly the Weirwood tree in the castle’s Godswood…
It’s Christmas time and preparations are well under way in the LEGO building world. Markus Rollbühler‘s collection of Christmas ornaments for his family’s Christmas tree are complete and this year’s theme is Harry Potter. Thankfully Markus has stuck with some of the lighter moments from each of the seven Harry Potter boks, a challenge especially given darker nature of the later books. Microbuilds are often a real building test requiring ingenuity and a real knowledge of all the LEGO parts – Markus has both. Blades from minifigure weapons become wings, minifigure hands become quidditch players in flight and the trigger for a stud shooter becomes Buckbeak’s head!
Can you work out the scene depicted in each ornament?
The real world frequently inspires — or creeps into, imposes itself upon — the world of LEGO creations. The Brutalist architecture of many government buildings has inspired Swedish builder Magnus to create this Micropolis section. The building has narrow slit windows, concrete bollards, and an array of communication devices on the roof.
Magnus has incorporated a particularly interesting building technique into his slanted facade, enabling a smooth slope built from 1×2 “cheese grater” pieces.
Marcel V. has built a wonderful microscale LEGO castle in a box. The fortress itself has hints of Disney in its soaring spires and color scheme, but for me it’s the classy brown and gold of the casket which elevate this model into something special. The silky lining within the box lid — achieved with a nice pattern of curved slopes — is excellent. It’s so good when a microscale creation is more than “just” a tiny version of something else. Here, the micro-ness fits with the setting to conjure up something altogether more magical.
I had a go at building a LEGO kingdom in a box myself a couple of years back. However, Marcel’s brick-built box is much cooler than the slightly scabby wooden chest I used for mine!
Just in time for BrickUniverse in Dallas, Texas this weekend, Rocco Buttliere presents a microscale replica of Fountain Place near the convention. The building is a refreshing sight among surrounding rectangular structures with its interesting angles all around, and Rocco nails it with LEGO bricks.
See more shots of Rocco’s detailed model on Flickr.
simply bricking it makes excellent use of a proper old-school LEGO element in this microscale church model. That tree piece dates from the late-60s, and coupled with imaginative parts usage for the church’s knave and gable-end, it all makes for a lovely little scene.
We all know what Swedish houses look inside like (thank you, Ikea), but what about the exterior? Emil Lidé hones his microscale building skills with this lovely traditional Swedish cottage. We’ve already seen these brilliant trees in his previous set of sketches, however this house steals the show. Actually, there’s not much to describe besides the particular Scandinavian style, which the diorama is full of. And some huge boulders in the garden complete this land property especially well!
To be fair, this maze does have an exit, assuming, of course, the rat (or minifig) can find it. Kevin Moyer took the simple LEGO building technique of pressing tiles in between the studs on a baseplate and created something quite extraordinary. The slightly rounded edges of the tiles make this microscale maze look ancient and worn down by time.
Of course, the best thing about this build is trying to solve the maze. See if you can find the path to the exit. But don’t start at the end like I always do, because that is cheating.
…with the sound of sub-standard housing. According to the builder, simply bricking it, this LEGO model represents a favela, one of the core urban slums of Brazil, where the firetrap structures stack up the hillside like a precarious house of cards, ready to collapse at the mere mention of a disaster. But scratch your head: it also kinda looks like one of those central Italian castle towns, carved into the hillside centuries ago and still struggling to catch up with the times. And the University of Colorado in Boulder is well known for its cluster of red Spanish tile roofs. So is it a slum? Is it a castle town? Is it a prestigious campus nestled at the foot of the mountains? Or is it… a spaceship? Depends on who you ask!
I don’t know about everywhere else, but this weekend saw winter begin to take hold in Scotland. Appropriately enough, along come two lovely little LEGO builds which perfectly capture the chill in the air. First up, IamKritch‘s cabin looks like a great place to sit out the blizzard. The trees and the frozen stream are smart, but it’s the simple use of a brown grille brick for the cabin’s log walls which grabs the attention.
And then there’s Brick Blue Wren‘s wonderful winter diorama. I like the variety of techniques used for the trees, and the curved backdrop and base evoking the shape of a snow globe. The color scheme properly pops off the page, particularly those hefty snowflakes against the blue sky. A few more models like this and I’ll be all set for Christmas.
P.B. spends his time building fabulous microscale walking tanks and artillery units. This one, in Jovian Regimental Colors no less, is a little cracker. The tank carries an impressive level of detail for such a small model — delivered through effective color blocking and a nice depth of texture. I love the use of bucket handles to add detail to the legs — I haven’t seen that before. But the undoubted stars of this show are the teeny-tiny figures — the crewman and the Commissar — effortlessly carrying off some Communist-era chic with their little red scarves. Well played Comrade PB, well played.
Check out this smart LEGO space rover scene from Sad Brick. The mining vehicle itself is an excellent example of quality microscale building, creating an impression of detail and realistic function with the use of only a handful of parts. But it’s the quality landscaping in tan bricks — tanscaping, if you will — which really impresses me. Don’t miss the tracks left in the dust behind the rover’s wheels — brilliant.
