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.

Si-BORED Industries new drone creates a BUZZ of excitement

Now the festivities are over, the presents opened, and the New Year welcomed in, we can turn our focus to Droneuary. During the month of ~~January~~ Droneuary, there is a definite surge in the production of new drones within the LEGO community. These Wichtigtuer Beinenstick (lit. “busy-body beehive”) drones by our very own Simon Liu are busy with a hive task.

Simon’s winged, honey-logistic drones were developed in response to comments on the original Wichtigtuer drone, which launched a couple of days ago. The original pectacular drones came armed with an ingenious brick-built weapon, complete with ironsight. Clearly the winged drone had to drop some lower body weight to achieve the miracle of flight.

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Going where no lime wedge has gone before

British builder Tim Goddard (aka Rogue Bantha) is well-known for building Space-themed creations, and his newest build is an eye-catching lime spaceship. The ‘classic space’ colours of grey, blue and transparent yellow have been shunned to create this sublime spaceship. This is another of Tim’s own explorations to broaden his use of colour within the Space theme; we previously blogged his white, tan and azure microscale spacecraft.

Tim’s curved ship is beautifully shaped and vaguely reminiscent of a lime wedge in my mind. There are some lovely little details including discrete use of official LEGO stickers. I am definitely a fan of Tim’s ‘greebles’, whose positioning suggests a hugely complex spaceship by showing a ‘teaser’ surface view. The ship’s hull is suitably futuristic with just the right amounts of lime balanced by white and light blueish grey.

The somewhat garish lime colouring and abundance of probes suggests this is more of a scientific exploration vessel, unless it has a cloaking mechanism…

All the world’s a stage...

…and all players are utterly creative combinations of pieces. Letranger Absurde’s vignette depicting a theatre stage blows my mind with its extremely unsual usage of a regular frog animal piece: once for the actress’ hairdo and several more as seats in the hall. When I saw this little masterpiece for the first time it took me a moment to decide what astounded me more — the fact that I can distinguish the emotions of these tiny little microfigures or the rats in the background…

LEGO Architecture 21027 Berlin & 21026 Venice [Review]

In addition to 21028 New York City (which I reviewed here a couple of weeks ago), LEGO has also just released 21027 Berlin and 21026 Venice as part of a trio of new city skyline sets.

In contrast to the $60 price tag for NYC, both Berlin and Venice retail for $29.99, and I’ll be reviewing these two smaller sets together today.

Read the full review after the jump!

One for the pantheon of great microscale

Jimmy Fortel has built a beautiful microscale model of the Pantheon in Paris. The color scheme makes this look like part of the official LEGO Architecture series – and I’m sure this great little build wouldn’t be out of place in the line-up.

I really like the clean lines and deceptive simplicity of this creation, in particular the use of round 1×1 plates beneath the roof line, adding a nice touch of texture. The pillars at the main entrance are very good, and it took me a while to work out how they were built – the bottom of the pillars are round 1×1 bricks set into the model’s base. This is one of those models which surprises you with how long it can hold your attention, despite its small size.

The Wizards’ Guildhall

Only a fool builds his house upon sand. Well, fools and very powerful wizards. This Guildhall sits atop a mountain of sand where the desert meets the ocean. For hundreds of years, the giant sand dune that serves as the foundation to the hall has been buffeted by violent waves. Though erosion would have toppled a non-magical structure long ago, the Guildhall still stands firm. So long as there is a wizard standing guard in one of the tower rooms and warding the hall from nature, the Wizards’ Guildhall shall never crumble into the water.

This is my humble attempt to squeeze in a last-minute entry to the Colossal Castle Contest. The competition is fierce this year with tons of outstanding entries and more than one builder gunning for the coveted Master Builder title. Shake a leg if you’re still scrambling to finish those masterpieces in time for the deadline because it’s tomorrow (December 31st) at 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern Time!

This is how you get the hang of architectural design

I’m not sure whether WhiteBrix is good at surfing, but he does know how to handle a surfboard – or, better to say, 19 of them at a time. Stacked together, these surfboards create a rather winsome skyscraper shape and, moreover, define each floor, which allows you to see the structure of the whole building clearly. And I especially like how that single-story section completes the complex – what a lovely architectural masterpiece!

The Red Baron flies again

Grantmasters is pushing the boundaries of microscale with this lovely set of Great War aeroplanes. My favorite part of microscale is how much can be evoked with just a handful of pieces, and here the Sopwith Camel and Fokker DR1 are instantly recognizable. The forced-perspective with the clouds and mountains in the background is easily overlooked, but also subtly adds a lot to the scene.

Flight of the Millennium Falcon on Jakku

One of the most spectacular scenes in the trailers for The Force Awakens was seeing the Millennium Falcon flying into the engine of a crashed Star Destroyer, chased by TIE Fighters. Simon Pickard has recreated this iconic scene in LEGO, with the maw of the engine about to swallow the Falcon and its pursuing TIE Fighter. The chunk of tan desert landscape surrounding the grey engine complements the scene beautifully, with a bit of sand spilling into the engine.

(Don’t worry, dear readers, we won’t be posting any LEGO creations that reveal spoilers from Episode VII for a long time, and certainly not without warning, as we’ve done in reviews. But the trailers are fair game, and still a rich source for LEGO creations.)

The NYC skyline comes to life with LEGO Architecture 21028 New York City [Review]

I’ve traveled to New York City five times in the last two years for work, and it has quickly become one of my favorite cities in the world. I’ve spent most of my time indoors in museums, but I’ve also admired the city’s wonderful architecture — the pinnacle of human art and engineering. LEGO recently sent us a copy of the forthcoming LEGO Architecture set 21028 New York City.

SPOILER! There are a variety of very tall buildings in New York City. Oh, sorry, I’ve gotten so used to writing LEGO set reviews about The Force Awakens that it’s hard to break the habit.

Click through to read the full review!

The venerable Incom X-wing gets an upgrade

With decades between the events in Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, it stands to reason that the Rebellion’s primary starfighter would be tweaked and upgraded. The X-wings in the Original Trilogy were model T-65s built by Incom Corporation. The sleeker, narrower X-wings of The Force Awakens — with scissoring S-foils — are apparently T-70 models. Peter C. has captured the sloping nose of the new X-wings with this microscale version, which uses various “illegal” techniques to achieve the shape, like the cockpit’s tile pressed across two levels of plates, helmet visors for engine cowlings, and a rubber band for the blue stripe.

Naturally, the X-wing has a Resistance pilot.

Big game on a small scale

Grantmasters was fortunate enough to capture this unique shot of some mighty and majestic symbols of African wildlife. By the waterside is a glorious lion. It’s an adult male, of course – you can tell by his luxuriant mane. And behind him is an African bush elephant. Just look at that powerful trunk! As you might know, they use their trunks to pluck at grass and leaves while feeding. And you may wonder what animal is under the flat-crown tree in the background? No doubt it’s a famous white rhinoceros. But don’t exepct them to be white – they are gray. And unlike black rhinos, they have only one horn.

I can’t wait for Grantmasters’ next photo safari! Who knows what other animals will get in the picture – will it be some South African giraffes or plain zebras?