The hype for Star Wars continues with CreativBricks and his adorable mini Mos Eisley Spaceport scene from A New Hope. The landspeeder at the Imperial checkpoint is recognizable with just a few pieces, and I love the way the vendor stand, in the back right corner of the scene, is built.
Tag Archives: Microscale
The Houses of Parliament debut at BRICK 2015 in London
The Palace of Westminster, known to most as the Houses of Parliament, has been built in 1:650 scale by Rocco Buttliere. The model is making its debut at BRICK 2015, which takes place at the London Excel, December 11th-13th.
Rocco Buttliere is a fourth-year student in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology and his amazing 1:650 scale builds, depicting famous skyscrapers and landmarks, have been the main focus of attention. His collection includes models from eleven global cities including Chicago, New York City, Dubai, Paris, Los Angeles, Toronto, Shanghai, Dallas and of course, London.
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign all 43 of Rocco’s models are making their way to London and will be on display at BRICK 2015. You can find out more about Rocco and his models, including digital downloads of his work, on MOCpages.
A space scene worth seeing
This microscale spaceship by Emperor Lugdonious has a nice chunky retro feel to it. However, it was the composition of the photography which really caught my attention. The red and grey starship floats in the darkness of space, holding station above a distant blue planet as a shuttle craft prepares to dock.
The whole thing reminds me of classic sci-fi TV from the 70s and 80s – in a good way. The color choices are smart, and there’s a real sense of depth and scale. But overall I think it’s the tiny shuttle which makes the scene. I can’t help creating stories in my head when I look at it: Who’s on board the shuttle? Where did they come from? Where are they going?
There’s enough detail here to create a sense of reality, of activity both within and beyond the still image. For me, the prompting of these kinds of thoughts is the mark of a good model. I like this a lot.
Gold standard in space
I’m loving this neat microspace build by Chris Perron. The careful selection of pearl gold parts adds some excellent texture and detail at this scale, and the light blue cockpit sets it off brilliantly. All in all this is just a classy little build.
The Church of Tiny Things
This microscale cathedral by David Hensel is a lovely piece of work. A handsome splash of dark green in the roofing breaks up the light grey, as do the various pieces David has used to add texture. The corrugated tubes and telescopes are nice touches, but it’s the use of Mixel joints as flying buttresses that’s attracting all the attention over on Flickr.
I’m less convinced by the loose tiles David has employed for the ground around the building. It’s making me think of those photographs of lonely churches standing amidst the ruins of bombed-out towns during WW2. Unless that was the look David was aiming for, I think I’d have preferred some kind of “properly built” surroundings.
Never trust a model you can’t pick up and turn upside-down – that’s my motto. However, the rest of this is so well put together I’m going to let it slide. Nice work.
Life’s a beach, and none’s better than this
Toronto native Melanie F. brings us this awesome recreation of her city’s beautiful and vibrant waterfront row houses. Melanie’s a fan of Unikitty, and she’s found exceptionally clever uses for several of Unikitty’s pieces here, with the horns as lovely little microscale trees and the tails as picture-perfect rolling waves. The lime green ice cream scoops are also brilliantly put to use as topiaries.
The best part? She’s built the homes in minifig scale, too!
In this world, only winter is certain
Whether you’re a fan of the television series or the books, everyone can agree that the next installment of Game of Thrones is simply too far away. Season 6 won’t be here until April 2016 and George R. R. Martin’s final two novels, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, may never be here. So while you’re jonesing for your next fix, check out these sweet Game of Thones-inspired LEGO builds.
Midas Touch‘s microscale Castle Black is perfect. The Wall, a colossal structure built from ice that protects the Seven Kingdoms from white walkers (or “the others” if you read the books), is instantly recognizable, as is the elevator which carries the Night’s Watch to its top.
Speaking of the top of the wall, nameless_member has built an equally impressive scene from Game of Thrones using forced perspective. This haunting scene of John Snow overlooking the lands beyond the wall uses very few parts, but packs a heavy punch.
Needle Town...sew perfectly balanced
The Colossal Castle Contest continues and Polish builder crises_crs brings us this perfectly balanced creation entitled Needle Town.
Needle Town is an entry to the Microscale Medieval Life Microscale Castle MOC category, in which entries must be built on a 16×16-stud or smaller plate.
Crises_crs has balanced this entire castle town on a tower of 1×1 light blue grey plates that rise up from an island. I love this unique take on building within a 16×16 plate, certainly an eye-catching entry. In addition, the angled wall that encircles the town has a fantastical feel, like one of Saturn’s rings around the ‘planet’ where Needle Town rests. The coloured houses and touch of greenery gives plenty of detail although my eye is constantly drawn back to that foundation tower of 1×1 bricks!
USG Ishimura from Dead Space
Fans of the Dead Space video game will no doubt recognize this iconic mining vessel and its horror-infested corridors. This microscale replica by Rat Dude captures the ship’s iconic ribbed hull and has the right amount of details reflected in its greebled areas.
Microscale spacecraft explores white space
The latest creation from Tim Goddard (aka roguebantha) is a beautiful microscale space exploration vehicle. It’s a great model with a real sense of heft – you can just imagine it pushing its bulk out into the cosmos, the crew peering out from the stubby bridge.
The build features a load of Tim’s signature greebles, the fiddly grey machinery details which do so much to suggest the model is much bigger than it is. Alongside those, the azure striping is an obvious treat against the relatively blank canvas of the white hull. The way the stripe continues back around the domes and the little disc at the rear is just clean and classy building. Tim says this model was an exploration in broadening his use of color. It’s a success as far as I’m concerned.
But away from the colors, what I’m enjoying most is the little gaps in the main body, offering glimpses of machinery within. All too often spaceship models can look as if they’re just tombstones of bricks strapped sideways onto a hollow shell. The gaps here suggest there’s actual stuff going on inside that pretty hull – a really nice little touch.
Microscale Aztec Pyramid
David Zambito built the smallest recognizable Aztec pyramid out of Lego using stacked corner panels to imitate the steps of the structure. Now the gods demand the sacrifice of your microfigs.
Micro Rivendell... small but perfectly formed
It’s ironic that Mar Vei built Rivendell as an entry into the Colossal Castle Contest as the whole of his creation fits into a 16×16 stud footprint. It’s an entry for the “micro castle” category and, as many of you will know, building in microscale is often more tricky than having a full range of parts and building techniques at your disposal.
Rivendell is an Elven retreat within a hidden valley in Middle-earth, a fictional world created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was seen as a place of beauty, tranquillity and a place of refuge for the weary. Mar Vei captures so much, despite the limits of microscale, with inspired use of parts.
The Elven architecture is represented by minifigure legs, headgear and hands to give detail and structure. My favourite part usage is a minifigure hard hat, normally worn by a construction worker, that forms the White Council Chambers’ domed roof. Cheese slope and 1×1 plate trees grow on the sloped rocky wall of the gorge with trans-clear waterfalls cascading into a river. This creation is instantly recognisable as Rivendell.