Miniature building has been a favorite of generations of model builders. Think of ships-in-a-bottle type models, miniature trains, dollhouses, castles, and landscapes!
Some of the tiniest of miniature models is referred to as microscale. How small? Well, that depends on the skill of the model builder! Willard Wigan made his fame by building micro sculptures inside the eye of a needle! Actually those are more like nano-scale if you want to get technical! 🙂
Of course it could be said that almost all LEGO creations are miniature or microscale. But in general LEGO-fans refer to models that are smaller than minifig-scale as LEGO microscale.
One of the greatest benefits of LEGO micro building is that you do not need a huge amount of LEGO to build something really extensive and complex.
The biggest challenge is achieving a realistic effect with fixed-size LEGO bricks, so the microscale artist needs to get really creative!
LEGO elements have really interesting shapes and details that can work perfectly in LEGO micro building! Just look at the fumes – made out of ice-cream scoops – coming out of this tiny fighter! 😀
You can also add some tiny brick-built people, or even the microfigs from the LEGO Games line! (Although they may look like giants in some of the smallest microscale LEGO creations!)
I hope I gave you enough examples to get your creative juices flowing. Other than this you just need to get out those LEGO bricks and start experimenting with LEGO micro-building!
Would you like to share your teeny-tiny LEGO creations? Did you run into challenges? Any tips you would like to share about LEGO micro-building? Let me know in the comment section below! 😉
I just wanted to say that I’d never heard of Willard Wigan, but I went and read about him. Wow! His work is amazing!
Katie, yes, Willard’s work is amazing, insane and unbelivable! Did you read about how he slows down his heart-rate and does his art in between heartbeats? And how he inhaled one of his sculptures? LOL! There are also some really interesting YouTube videos about his work. You might want to check those out as well. 😉
I really like the Kingdom-in-a-Box! What a great idea! I don’t see mixed media creations from AFOLs like this very often!
I made some how to build micro scale Lego models videos about a month ago (although I call theem the Mini Series) Here are the links (you might have to copy and paste them because I don’t know if http will convert into a link on this website):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WopN0Tl9Uzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNJj-5E6CU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RG-K8qQET4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ajH6cAO4U&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpDHYCKHYhQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pn7AeENABM&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moukk5FPmyg&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlN_o8Nc8KY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
My voice sounds like a child’s on the videos because I am one 🙂
Nice tutorials, Liam, keep up the good work! 😉
Great tutorials! I built the helicopter and ship… we’ll see if I have enough pieces to do any more! (my ship ended up being black…lol…nice cruise ship)
Beth, maybe it is a pirate cruise-ship? 8)
Love the yellow space city! These are great ideas! Thnx!
You know about the micro building contest over at toysnbricks.com?
You can win a Maersk train!!!!
Yep! I’m entering!
I will write a post about it sometimes this week! 😛
Nice! I made a few microscales myself like a lighthouse on a beach and an icecream truck 🙂
Lauren, yeah, microscale is really fun, and you don’t need a lot of LEGO to build something nice. All you need is imagination and creativity. 😉
Is the front on that blue spaceship done with two Fabuland phone receivers?
Hakan, good eyes! Yes, they are phone handsets, although they are not from Fabuland.
The Fabuland handset is only available in red: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=x659
The one used here is available in many regular LEGO sets in several colors: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=6190&in=S
Yes, one of the most frustrating problems that I run into frequently with LEGO building is simply not having enough bricks to create a large model, but microscale could be the perfect solution. Thanks, man.
Like always, a pleasure reading your posts!
So I am looking to get into this hobby. I guess I am looking how to get started, as far buying the actual bricks. Are there specific sets that a good to get for starters? What are the main piece sizes being used and how do you buy them?
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
-Chris
Christopher, welcome to the awesome world of LEGO! 🙂
In regards to your question of where to start, I would suggest that you first consider what is it that you like. What would you like to build? Castles? Cars? Robots? Replicas of real buildings? Are you a fan of Super Heroes, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings? Do you like trains, ships, supercars? Would you like to build on a big scale or small? What is your budget? Once you condsider those questions, you can start narrowing down to what LEGO set would be the best to start with. Just let me know if you would like to discuss this further. You can ask questions here, or just email me directly.
Also, I would recommend that you browse around here on our website. There are helpful sections for beginners in the left-hand side-bar, as well as for advanced builders. Again; you are welcome to ask questions and I will try to help you out as much as I can. Have fun building! 🙂
This is a very nice way of using your bricks indeed. I mostly get a 8×8 Plate and my extra pieces and built a micro city.