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.

Swooshable starfighter orbits the moon

Pico van Grootveld‘s latest spaceship is a smart little model. The building techniques and bricks usage are on point — wheel hubs and dishes creating a selection of smooth curves. The stark color scheme works well, particularly against that lunar backdrop, and the presentation is simply perfect. Too often LEGO space builders can overdo the photo-editing on their images, leaving models marooned in a sea of garish lens flare. Pico gets it just right here — subtle effects providing the streak of engine trails, and colored spots on the twin weapon prongs and the drone’s central eye. An eminently swooshable design, presented well — this is my kind of space building.

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Paris skyline in microscale

Cecilie Fritzvold has once again been inspired to create a microscale city skyline in the style of the skyline sets within the LEGO Architecture theme. LEGO released 21028 New York City, 21027 Berlin and 21026 Venice as part of a trio of new city skyline sets earlier this year. Cecilie has chosen the beautiful French capital, Paris, a city full of impressive architecture and grandiose buildings. Cecile’s build includes (from left to right) Arc de Triomphe, Tour Eiffel, Dômes des Invalides, Notre-Dame, and Colonne de Juillet (Place de la Bastille). The small strips of transparent blue on each side represent the River Seine.

Notre-Dame is my own favourite in this build — I think that the combination of ingenious parts use and the textured stonework for such a small build are fantastic. If you like this type of build, you will also enjoy Cecilie’s Tokyo skyline build that we blogged a couple of months ago and Michael Jasper’s microscale model of Dortmund.

A handy way to build the Eiffel Tower

The official LEGO Eiffel Tower 10181 set is one of the largest sets released, with 3428 parts. For those with less room for such a monster set or fewer pennies to afford such a sizeable price-tag, have a look at LegoJale‘s latest creation, which users a single part depicting the Eiffel Tower: A minifig hand. This microscale build manages to capture the essence of the Eiffel Tower, the skyline in the background, and the fountains in the foreground (as per the image that the build is based upon) with just a handful of parts.

The set-up for this shot shows how distancing parts of the build can give a very good foreground and background feel to the final shot without requiring any scaling. I always enjoy seeing set-up shots and this one is great because there is no fancy equipment — just LEGO, a book, and a camera.

RoboCop and ED-209 square off at the smallest scale possible

We’ve seen many great LEGO renditions of ED-209 from RoboCop in a variety of scales, but none this small. Grantmasters has managed to make both the hulking robot as well as RoboCop himself using only a handful of pieces. We don’t have an official count but it looks to be under a dozen of LEGO’s smallest pieces.

If you’re still in the mood for microscale ‘bots, check out this equally small AT-ST.

Tiniest AT-ST takes on the Rebellion on Sullust

We can’t emphasize often enough how challenging it can be to create really small LEGO creations. Roy of Floremheim has built an AT-ST “chicken walker” walking not on the verdant moon of Endor but on the blackened plains of Sullust, as featured in the training mission in Star Wars: Battlefront. Despite being built from only about 20 pieces, this Imperial vehicle is instantly recognizable.

A rat rod smaller than a mouse

There’s an art to making tiny LEGO cars, and Johnni‘s got it. This sweet little chop top looks the part, and is impressively small considering the engine detail. Check out that slanted grill and those old 1970s tires used for the rear slicks.

This tiny LEGO ship is in dire straits

Things are not looking good for the crew of this doomed vessel. Gale winds and churning seas are posing a serious risk to this tiny ship built by LEGO 7. But worst of all, the ship is being attacked by a massive sea monster! This microscale pirate ship actually looks like it is sailing in the middle of a storm and the builder’s choice of colors and composition are great. It just goes to show you, a LEGO creation doesn’t need to span hundreds of studs to be magnificent.

The changing seasons in LEGO microscale

Normally there are only four seasons each year, but Emil Lidé has created a series of six microscale landscapes to capture all the changing colours found in nature throughout the year. Each of the six scenes depicts a trio of trees and ground foliage using the LEGO colour palate to full effect, especially those vibrant autumnal tones.

Emil’s trees are fantastic of course – he kindly shared his methods for constructing LEGO trees earlier this month. Interestingly, Emil tells us that the initial starting point for these was this cool technique for a base by o0ger, and the circular bases are a great way to keep each scene compact and contained. My own favourite is definitely late autumn.

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At home in space on a spinning Stanford torus

The Stanford torus was a design concept for a permanent space habitat for 10,000 residents proposed at Stanford University during the summer of 1975. Though not the only idea for a ring-shaped space station that would provide gravity to inhabitants, it’s one of the designs that received significant research from NASA. MSP! has created a microscale LEGO version, complete with buildings and landscaping on the ring’s interior. Mounted on an unobtrusive stand, this would look fantastic on any astronaut’s desk.

Relive your first LEGO memories with micro-scale Classic Space

I’m sure that Primoz Mlakar didn’t mean to minimize your childhood…but he totally did. He has built a series of microscale versions of the earliest Space theme sets. Each build is recognizable, and packed full of nostalgia.

Let’s take a look at some of these classic Space sets, starting with the iconic 928 Galaxy Explorer:

Click here for more Classic Space!

Four seasons in LEGO

As I sit here, patiently waiting for the first bit autumn storms to arrive, I see the leaves changing color and the rain falling. I absolutely love the changing of the seasons. They’re all wonderful for different reasons. I adore autumn because it means that winter is almost here.

Galaktek has illustrated the changing of the seasons beautifully in this little vignette. It features a microscale central keep, surrounded by four valleys, each featuring a season. There is more, though, than you see initially to the build.

Click here to see more!

You have 5 seconds to comply.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..

Grantmasters is back with another scene from that 1980s classic movie, Robocop. This time the action takes place in the boardroom with the infamous line spoken by ED-209: “You have 5 seconds to comply.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. I am now authorized to use physical force“. Although the ED-209 robot is a fantastic little build, the micro Delta City is my favourite part of this scene. Great parts in microscale, and a welcome change from seeing the white life preserver part used as a toilet seat!

If you fancy trying your hand at re-creating a scene using ED-209, Grantmasters kindly shared the parts required for the build and a partial breakdown. Just watch out for any glitches…