LEGO Micro Cities

LEGO Micro Cities — page 5 — Plate Stack The micro cities in this book are all made on a 20x20-stud base which is big enough to support an array of microscale structures but small enough to ensure a microscale perspective 20x20 VISION As of this writing the LEGo Group doesn’t make a 20x20-stud base but you can easily make your own Simply gather your plates and form two flat 20x20-stud squares The plate size doesn’t matter as long as the end result leaves you with two 20x20 squares After assembling the squares stack one on top of the other making sure that the top plates overlap the seams of the bottom plates This binds the two layers of plates together The example on the right displays two 20x20-stud squares made exclusively with 4x10 plates notice how the top square is rotated one quarter-turn so that the top plates join the bottom plates together into a solid base 4 BASE CAMP Because this 20x20-stud-plate stack will be your city’s foundation grey or earth tone colors are a realistic choice that is if your city is on Earth

LEGO Micro Cities — page 6 — RIVER A river is an easy-to-build feature you can add to your micro city Many of the world’s great cities have a river running though them so why not yours SHADES OF BLUE Use either transparent blue or solid blue bricks to re-create flowing water Blue Trans-Dark Blue Medium Blue Trans-Medium Blue Medium Azure Trans-Light Blue Dark Azure Brick availability is a key factor in choosing the shade of blue you’ll use The traditional blue color is found in all of the standard brick and plate sizes while transparent medium blue is rare and comes in limited sizes To simulate calmer water use tiles instead of bricks or plates 3069 note that only the visible areas of your river need to be the same color if you don’t have enough bricks of a certain color you can use different-colored bricks to support your river from below but keep in mind that the color will show through transparent bricks Grey or earth-tone bricks are the safest options for placing under the river BASE CAMP 5

LEGO Micro Cities — page 7 — Subway A subway provides underground interest to your city hinting at a vast network of tunnels beneath the streets 1 3 2 4 1x 3069 1x 3023 2x 32028 2x 87580 1x 3023 2x 3023 1x 3020 2x 3659 2x 2877 oPTion Use a grille tile instead of the subway car in step 2 to show the rails 1x 2412 6 BASE CAMP

LEGO Micro Cities — page 8 — GEOLOGY You can use one solid color to represent the ground beneath your city but consider adding geological stratification for realism and to showcase compelling brick artistry EARTH TONES As their name implies earth-tone bricks are the perfect choice to represent the layers of earth your city is built upon Dark Grey Dark Tan Light Grey Dark orange Sand Green Tan olive Green Reddish Brown Geologic stratification looks more elegant in thin layers so use plates rather than bricks for this effect Building stratification layers is a freeform technique so feel free to make it your own Here is a sample cross-section to get you started We use 2x2 2x3 and 2x4 plates on the base’s sides but you could use 1x2 1x3 and 1x4 plates instead BASE CAMP 7

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