BASE CAMP Your city’s base is the bedrock upon which your buildings will rest In LEGO as in life a solid foundation is the key to building anything of lasting value Bases may seem like humble structures but they’re worth fussing over In this chapter you’ll build a micro city base that is both functional and beautiful The LEGO micro cities you’ll find in this book appear to have been carved out of the ground with a square cookie cutter This results in a dynamic diorama that reveals some of the city’s underground secrets The secret to building a great micro city is to think of it as a work of art Every part of your city is important and every brick should be considered with care As your city grows so does its story A beguiling base is only the beginning
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
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
