LEGO builder yu chris created this gorgeous replica of Darth Vader’s iconic samurai-inspired mask, which gleams with shades of black just like the original. But it’s not just a mask — turning it around reveals three clever chibi-style scenes from Anakin’s life. The tiny little Death Star hangar filled with parading stormtroopers is definitely my favorite bit, but the relief sculptures in the backgrounds of the other two scenes are each fantastic in their own right.
Building in microscale is difficult and I have full respect for those that can pull it off well. This little gate by Halhi141 captured the scale and subject quite well. I like the flats and details for the castle wall. That can be difficult enough on larger models, let alone models of this size. The trees and pathway are wonderful.
For wizarding student Harry Potter, the exurban London residence of George and Petunia Dursley is merely a house. But the ramshackle countryside tower of the Weasley clan is much more than that. “It may not look like much,” says Ron, somewhat embarrassed of his family’s low status, “but it’s home.” To Harry Potter, it’s a wonderful place of camaraderie and commonplace magic, which gradually becomes more of a home to him than any place save Hogwart’s. This microscale model of the Weasley home (affectionately called the Burrow) by Markus Rollbühler is also pretty wonderful. His vignette is chock full of texture and details, right down to the light blue flying Ford Anglia parked in the drive. Brilliant!
Sometimes life can become routine and monotonous, giving no rest or calm. But Angelo_S. reminds us that when everything around is dull and cold and gray, there’s always an escape.
This work is a beautiful metaphor combining two opposed worlds in one shot. A skillfully executed microscale vignette seen through the gateway looks twice as alluring due to the forced perspective effect.
Air, light, work, sports, hygiene, comfort and efficiency: these are the guidelines that governed the design of Villa Cavrois. This massive home in France was built by Robert Mallet-Stevens between 1929 and 1932, and is considered part of the International Style of architecture. The mansion has a storied past: it was occupied by the German Army during World War II, and most of the custom-built furniture was sold off in the 1980s. But now it’s a historical monument, open to the public for viewing. If you can’t make it all the way to northern France, at least you can ogle this model from Swedish builder o0ger, whose rendition is reminiscent of the LEGO Architecture theme.
Last year at BrickWorld, a group of builders created a 14-foot-long LEGO StarCraft II display. One of the builders, Cecilie Fritzvold has just now posted detailed photos of her own sections, expanded and updated so she can display them separately at other events — and they’re definitely worth a closer look, especially if you missed the huge display last year.
Cecilie’s Terran Dominion base includes everything you need to survive a Zealot rush, from the Command Center to Barracks and a Factory, bunkers for perimeter defense, and plenty of resources.
Click through to see more StarCraft II LEGO
This micro-scale spaceship built by Sergeant Chipmunk proves that diminutive stature can still have impact. The LEGO genre of Neo Classic Space comes with its own set of rules which Sergeant Chipmunk has obeyed when building his LL-345 Kestral — using the Classic Space colours of blue and light bluish gray, landing lights correctly oriented on wingtips (green-right, red – left), yellow only used for ‘bumble-bee’ stripes that should point forward, and cockpit windows in trans-yellow.
Of course rules are made to be broken but sometimes it is fun to build within a set of parameters or guidelines to test your building skills.
There’s nothing quite like coming up on a massive space station while cruisin’ the universe in your tiny ship to give you hope and longing to stand properly. FonsoSac gives us a glorious micro-scale space station, complete with approaching ship.
The build overall is simple, but effective. I like the wheel as engines for the smaller ship, and the main station itself has enough detail to give an appropriate impression of size.
Far from the present, at the Futuron base
A small ship alit on the platform with grace
No ruckus was raised, no alarm began screaming
But the alleys have ears, and data was streaming
A blue and white robot did power itself on
And began to creep silently through the cold dawn
Fly, little ship, you’ve got nothing to prove!
Strategic Pursuer 1 is on the move…
Model by Andrew Lee.
This extraordinary LEGO Mayflower was built by kaitain for Warren Elsmore’s new book, Brick History. The ship is gorgeous (especially those sails!), but what really makes this build stand out is the incredibly detailed map-like base that the ship floats on. Inside the circle, you’ll find the shorelines of Europe, Africa, and North America. Also, there’s a compass, a school of fish, a whale’s tail fin, and of course, ocean water, which is made up of 22,000 tiny translucent blue dots.
Furthermore, each of the base’s four corners depicts a different scene related to the Mayflower’s journey. The northeastern corner shows the Mayflower loading supplies in London. The southeastern corner shows the Mayflower and leaky Speedwell leaving Dartmouth for their second attempt at the crossing. The southwestern corner shows the landing in Cape Cod and the northwestern corner (my favorite) shows the Plymouth colony.
Check out more of kaitain’s photos on Flickr.
Can’t afford the new LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse HQ set? Never fear. Take a leaf out of ObedientMachine‘s book and build yourself a teeny-tiny microscale version. Immediately recognisable, this is a smart little build. I particularly like the small lintel sticking out above the side door. It’s touches like that which make all the difference in a microscale model.
Michael Jasper has built an excellent microscale model of his home town Dortmund in a similar style to the new LEGO Cities Architecture range.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the city itself, you can admire the quality of these tiny creations. The church is a fantastic build for so few bricks, and the coal mine is a lovely little model. But the undoubted star of the show is the Borussia Dortmund stadium where clever parts use delivers an impressive level of detail. The use of “cheesegrater slopes” set at an angle to provide the stadium walls is a particular stroke of genius.