Long time no post.  We have been traveling.  Here is the first in our European series.

What is it???

Here is a close-up.

Put the guess in the comments!

We liked the two gears at the top and the clever use of textured bricks.


Coming up in the next few days are our African and Asian series.

Another building in NYC

Guess which building is this?  Put your guesses in the comment section.  Answer tomorrow...

Here is a complicated structure.  We like the upside down "satellite" pieces for the main building.  We also like the textured pieces.  We use those a lot in our microbuildings.  Tomorrow we will show you how...

Twin Towers

Next time our final New York City model...

Our first destination

New York City!!!

Some of you guessed right, it IS the Empire State Building!!!

Looks more impressive this way...

We liked the textured 1x2 bricks.  We also liked the vertical "grills".

One challenge we faced was that we didn't have the gray "change direction" (or "stud-not-on-top"), SNOT) pieces for the bottom.  We used tan-colored ones.

Next, it's going back in time, still staying in NYC...

As before let us know your guesses in the comments section...

Something rugged this way comes...

The Land Cruiser can go almost anywhere.  We saw many of them in Africa. We even rode in one on a safari.

What do we like about this model?

We like the snorkel on the side. We also like the spare tire. 

"Forced perspective" makes the car look bigger. 

It's actually quite small.


Where are we going? If you think you know this building put your guess in the comment box...

Some techniques for Lego microbuilds

Here is one of our favorite pieces.  And we show you how to use it.

Here is Kylo Ren's ship from our first post.  You see that this piece is the body of the ship, allowing you to connect wings to both sides, a nose piece in the front, cockpit on the top, and flame in the back. 

If you connect 4 of them, you have another version of the x-wing fighter!

Here is another versatile piece. 

Here in the Millennium Falcon it represents the exhaust, and allows you to connect both sides of the ship.

Another piece we like to use is here.  Connected 2 together they make a small arch, or...

  

 the back of the Falcon...

... or the nose of Rey's Speeder.

Finally this black piece in the center allows 5 things to be connected to it, as shown in the tie fighter.

Next time a new series, buildings from around the world, and the car to take you there...

Red 5

Today is our final model in the Star Wars series, for now.

This is the largest microbuild that we have so far, still fitting in the hand.  We used about 55 small pieces of Lego.

 We like some of the details like the R2-D2 (white cap), the 4 engines and lasers.  

Some have asked for instructions.  Instead of step-by-step instructions tomorrow we will show some techniques and some favorite special pieces.
 

Welcome to the dark side...

 This is the smallest that we can make it and still have it be recognizable.  

 

What do we like about it?

The cockpit is actually a "crook's" hat from Lego City Police.  We like the light gray color.  

Making bad guys is actually kind of fun.

Areas for improvement

The body is not completely round.  We used round caps around a square piece (with 5 studs).

Tomorrow, our final Star Wars model, another classic from Episode IV...

The Star Wars Classic

See if you recognize this "hunk of junk"...

It's the Millennium Falcon!

What do we like about this model?

We like the colors.  The cockpit on the side is a nice touch.  We happen to have a gray "satellite dish" piece with printed patterns that sort of reminds us of the Falcon.

What could we improve for the next version?

The green exhaust is blue in the movies.
The real model was semi-circular in the back.  


Next time, another ship from the dark side of the force...

Speeder

Today it's another ship from Star Wars, The Force Awakens!

Okay so it's not the real Lego Rey behind the speeder.  It's actually a custom minifigure made with a mask from a Ninjago character, torso from Gandalf, and a random female head.  So it's good that it's out of focus.


What do we like about this?

Lots of interesting pieces in different directions.  The color is a close match to the model in the movie.



What do we wish were better?

You see two versions here.  The engines were trouble-some and don't look perfect, yet.  

Cracks are obvious in these smaller models.  And Rey forgot her goggles.


Next time, a classic Star Wars ship...

New Blog

What are microbuilds?

By "microbuilds" we mean Lego creations built from small number of (usually small) pieces.  

Why microbuilds?

They encourage creative use of pieces.  And you don't have to spend a lot of money buying thousands of Lego pieces.

Why this blog?

We would like to share some of our best builds to encourage others and share ideas.  Let us know if you like them!

What are the models?

We will upload a new model every few days.  The first is from our "Star Wars" series.  

Yes, it's Kylo Ren's command ship!

Next time, another model from the "The Force Awakens"!