L E G O Microscale

1. LEGO Microscale • What is Lego Microscale? • Microscale is one of the smallest of several building scales used in Lego construction. Other well-known scales include the larger Minifig and Miniland, and smaller Nanoscle. • Minifig scale is the most common and is used in all of the major Lego themes like Trains, Modular Buildings, Pirates, Star Wars, and others. Miniland is the scale used in the Lego theme parks. • Minifig Scale is 1/48 • Miniland scale is 1/20 • Microscale does not have a defined ratio but can range from 1/200 through 1/600.

2. LEGO Microscale What are the advantages of Microscale? Microscale allows builders the freedom to create large structures or creations in limited space. For example - The Empire State Building. The Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall in real life. In Miniland scale this would be 62 1/2 feet tall In Minifig scale it would be 26 feet in height In Microscale (@ 1/300) it would only be 4 feet high The other big advantage to Microscale is the low cost of entry into building. A builder does not need access to a huge parts inventory to complete a micro creation. Many of the micro builds on display here use less than 100 parts to complete. The challenge of Microscale is creating the illusion of detail in a tiny build - this involves very creative usage of parts!

3. LEGO Micropolis What is Micropolis? Micropolis is a microscale building standard created by TwinLUG*, a Lego group based in Minneapolis\St. Paul in 2009. Micropolis was designed as a modular building system using a standard base design with common connection and infrastructure points. This modular system allows a city to be built with contributions from a diverse group of builders and have all the parts fit together nicely. More information on TwinLUG, and the Micropolis standard, can be found on the groups website - http://twinlug.com/micropolis-micro-city-standard Micropolis has been embraced by builders around the world, there is a Micropolis Flickr group where you can see examples of all their work. *Note - I am not affiliated with TwinLUG and present this information on their behalf and with their kind permission.

4. LEGO Micropolis Why Micropolis? The Micropolis standard shares many of the good points of Microscale in general. Notably the creation of large buildings in small spaces, and the low parts requirements. Even a builder with a minimal inventory can contribute a building to the scene. Other key points of the standard - - Collaboration: the standard encourages collaboration, knowing the modules will always fit together is one less thing to worry about - Transportability: buildings and modules are (relatively) easy to pack and transport - makes getting to shows that much easier - Diversity: with a large number of builders contributing to the layout you get a greater variety of styles - just like a real city

5. LEGO Micropolis Micropolis Basics = The Module The basic Micropolis module is designed on a 16x16 base. The base consists of: - a layer of plate - then a layer of brick - and another layer of plate There is a single-holed Technic brick at the center of each side of the module, this is the alignment point Roads and sidewalks are placed on the outside 3 rows of studs, roads are 2 studs wide, sidewalks 1 stud. When connected this makes for 4 stud-wide roads. This is a simple overview of the standard module, there are other designs for bluffs and waterfronts, see the TwinLUG website for details.

6. LEGO Micropolis Micropolis Basics = The Scale Micropolis works on the following dimensions: - A plate is 3 feet high - A brick is 9 feet high - A stud is 7 1/2 feet wide Cars are 2 studs long, trucks and buses can be 3 or 4 studs. The average house is 2-3 bricks high A 500 foot tall building would be 55 1/2 bricks high The aforementioned Empire State Building would be 140 bricks high A 16x16 stud standard module is 120 feet long on a side, over 14,000 square feet. Micropolis scale is approximately 1/300.