LEGO building technique: inverting studs

(Written by William)

When we build with LEGO, we spend much of our imagination time trying to figure out how something can be done. We are often stopped by the realization that a piece we could have sworn we saw doesn’t really exist. Well, it did in our pizza-induced dreams from the night before.

Thousands of builders have figured out dozens of ways to make the impossible possible and all by using official LEGO pieces in very unofficial ways. The following technique that I’ve used is one such example.

Let’s say you want studs on the ceiling of your building. Since LEGO doesn’t have a piece yet that directly does that, you’re going to need a few things to create what you want.

ELEMENTS NEEDED:

1. A LEGO brick or bricks – any size. (We’ll use a 2×2 for example.)
2. A supply of half pins. (These are the ones with a pin-connector on one end and a single stud on the other.)
3. A LEGO plate or plates – any size. (This should match the bricks’ size or at least be the amount of studs you want inverted.)➡ STEP ONE:

Take the bricks you want to have inverted. This means that the end result will have studs on both top and bottom or side-to-side, depending on how you orient the bricks.

➡ STEP TWO:

Now take the half pins and place them pin first into the underside of the brick. You should have the studs of the pins facing out.

➡ STEP THREE:

At this point, you could attach whatever you want to hang down, but it is a bit unstable. So for further stability, place a plate over the pin studs. This will give you a much more solid surface to work from.

➡ STEP FOUR:

Attach whatever it is you want to hang down, or sideways, depending on how you’re going to utilized the construction.

ADDITIONAL ADVISE FOR INVERTING STUDS:

You might want to take into consideration the size of this technique. It is roughly four plates thick so may be hard to hide if you are not planning for it ahead of time. Arches or overhangs are one way to hide the inverted construction. Also, it’s a good idea to have the pins connect to all studs of the plate that you use. Add more pins if you’re planning a larger area covered by a plate. The more pins you use, the sturdier the creation will be.

HOW INVERTED STUDS LOOK IN A LEGO CREATION:

Here’s some pictures of the MOC I used this LEGO building technique in a LEGO creation. I call the creation the Elven Tree Shrine.

Notice on the interior floors of the shrine how there are globes in the ceiling. Basically, I hid the majority of the brick in the flooring and only left a small portion showing.

I then used LEGO’s technique of sticking a colored cone in the globe to complete the magical orb light effect. With some advanced thinking, it wouldn’t be hard to use a light-up brick to add even more fun action. 😉

I hope this technique helps you in your own LEGO creations. And if you know of some other ways to reverse studs on LEGO bricks, or other interesting techniques, feel free to share in the comment section below! 😉