Tag Archives: Miniland

“Miniland” is the name of the area at LEGOLAND theme parks where master model builders have created landmarks and cityscapes. Built at a scale about twice as large as the size of models built for minifigs, the building style is also popular with LEGO fans who aren’t professional model builders themselves.

Hikone Castle by Takeshi Itou

Takeshi Itou may not be the most prolific builder, but his creations are always worth the wait. His latest creation is Hikone Castle. Today, the castle is a National Treasure because it’s one of the rare castles from the feudal era that wasn’t torn down or destroyed and then rebuilt in modern times as a tourist attraction.

But enough about the real thing. What makes Takeshi’s version special is the technique he used for the base of the castle; the three-dimensional rock wall is amazing, built from bricks, slopes, and tiles. The scale of the castle seems pretty close to MINILAND (as compared to the smaller minifig scale Takeshi normally builds in), which has enabled Takeshi to use plates for the roof rather beautifully.

Read more about the real Hikone Castle on Wikipedia (in English) or the 400th anniversary site (in Japanese).

(Via Klocki.)

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Historical photographs, LEGO’d by Marcos Vilariño

After we posted Mike Stimpson’s Classics in LEGO, we got an e-mail from Juan Macias that reminded me about some other historical photographs recreated in LEGO:

These were showing up all over the ‘net earlier this year, but I never managed to track down the actual creator, so chose not to blog them. (Side not: Shame on people for posting other people’s things without proper attribution for the creator!!!)

We really appreciate readers like Juan who point us in the right direction. So, it turns out that the builder is Marcos Vilariño, who has an entire collection of historical photos turned into very cool LEGO creations. Whereas Mike builds at minifig scale, Marcos builds in the larger Miniland scale, and frequently uses vintage LEGO figures from the pre-minifig 1970s.

Here’s Marcos’ version of “Lunch atop a Skyscraper”:

Be sure to check out all of Marcos’ photographs on the Centro de Estudos Fotográficos Web site.

Miniland scale ZZ Top and Eliminator!

Hey All,

I’m back from a self-inflicted hiatus/exile and just stumbled across this. Hope you all enjoy it!

While I haven’t heard of this builder before, X-Speed seems to specialize in miniland vehicles. Pretty nifty!

Stephen Hawking by Ochre Jelly

Seattle based builder Iain Heath (aka “Ochre Jelly”) apparently caught a piece of science celebrity news that I missed. Eminent physicist and A Brief History of Time author Stephen Hawking will be taking a ride on a plane that will allow him to experience weightlessness. To commemorate this extraordinary man and his extraordinary moment, Iain has created a miniland scale version of Professor Hawking:

Be sure to check out Iain’s Flickr album, where you can see Professor Hawking riding around the surface of Mars, orbiting the Earth, and (I wouldn’t expect anything less from Iain) a 3D stereogram of the world’s favorite wheeled physicist, all in LEGO form.