Micropolis

MOC: Venom Security Inc.

Posted on Friday, 26th January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

Several factors came together recently to produce this crazy, ostentatious, menacing edifice which I dubbed Venom Security Inc. The hapless citizens of Micropolis are under the mistaken impression that this is just a firm of security experts, but in fact the building houses the thinly-disguised HQ of the Micropolis Secret Service!

The main components of the build were again PAB finds – black 1×2 grille bricks, orange 1×2 bricks (with a few slopes thrown in from a play brick box) and those three big cockpit pieces which I found in the “nearly gone” PAB secret stash at Stratford. They made perfect skylights for the otherwise fairly windowless building.

And then of course there are all the other mad trans-neon-orange greebles everywhere – most of which came from that mixed eBay lot a few days ago. I was able to pick through the boxes and find loads of useful stuff to embellish it with.

Even better, if you turn the lights off and shine a UV torch at the place, it glows menacingly in the dark! Spooky.

I really like this 1/2 block module, and it’s probably one of my favourite Micropolis builds so far.

MOC: Monochrome Court

Posted on Wednesday, 24th January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

I wanted to use some of the smaller clear transparent windscreen pieces I got in the big eBay haul the other day, along with some clear 1×2 bricks from my stock. My last building was very colourful but I decided to stick to a black, white and dark grey palette for this one, and so it became Monochrome Court. The wheel arches were a recent find at Stratford PAB wall, where I picked up a handful and thought they would make good architectural features. I used them here to frame the top storey windows and one at each end of the ground floor.

The white bow pieces finished off the roof and echoed the arches. And now I look at the building after putting it together, it reminds me very much of some parts of the Barbican Centre in London (see this image taken a while back).

I added some landscaping and ponds out front (also a feature of the Barbican Centre) and a little bridge to get across to the main doorway, and the module was done.

MOC: Raspberry House

Posted on Monday, 22nd January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

You remember all those dark pink 1×2 bricks I picked up from the PAB in Shepherd’s Bush a few days ago? With the addition of some white headlight bricks I ordered from Bricklink, and a few leftover pale pink 1×2 plates and 1×1 round trans red plates from Leicester Square PAB in December, I put together this 1/4 block residential unit in the smart end of Micropolis. I called it Raspberry House as it reminds me of Raspberry Ripple ice cream.

MOC: Raspberry House - Front — MOC: Raspberry House – Front

I found a few more pink bits and pieces in my parts drawers to finish off the landscaping and roof, and topped it all off with a magenta curved 1×4 brick (6191). Must be the raspberry sauce on top!

MOC: Raspberry House - Rear — MOC: Raspberry House – Rear

MOC: Holy Island

Posted on Wednesday, 17th January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

I have been wanting to build a rocky outcrop island in the Micropolis bay for some time, and have been collecting together a few Big Ugly Rock Pieces (6082) that I got in a mixed lot recently. It also contained a load of other random slopes, bricks and tiles in old dark grey, so I thought I would use these as the basis for my island.

I envisaged high cliffs with tiny little houses nestling on ledges, just like you see in some Mediterranean countries. And I wanted to top it off with a fortified Monastery, but didn’t quite have enough parts in tan, or cone pieces for turrets, until I got the 2016 Christmas Build Up set, which had a couple of tiny castle builds as the models.

So finally I was able to finish off Holy Island:

MOC: Holy Island - Shoreline — MOC: Holy Island – Shoreline

There is a lighthouse on the seaward side to prevent ships from foundering on the rocky cliffs.

MOC: Holy Island - From The Water — MOC: Holy Island – From The Water

Here are a few details of the tiny houses built into the rocks.

Unlike the smaller 1/4-block modules, I used 16×16 baseplates underneath as well as the top plate, as I think they will make this bigger module, built as one piece, a bit more stable. I usually just use a few 2×6 and longer plates to cover the edging on the smaller blocks, but for this one, here is what the insides looked like:

MOC: Green Energy Plant

Posted on Monday, 15th January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs / Techniques

I gathered lots of the 4×4 light bluish grey plates together today (which I had picked up at Leicester Square in December) to see what I could do with them. I also found quite a few of the dark green 1×2 curved slopes with no studs (11477) which I thought would be good for accent colours. I made four cubes from the plates like this:

Then I added various control panels, the smooth slopes and other greebles to give this industrial plant which I have dubbed the Green Energy Plant.

MOC: Green Energy Plant - Front — MOC: Green Energy Plant – Front

Another significant piece was the (old) dark grey chunk on top of what I like to think of as the biomass reactor. It took some searching in the catalogue but apparently it’s an Engine, 2 x 4 x 4 (Life on Mars) 30535 from 2001, which only appeared in 2 sets in this colour. Each side is flanked by another old part, Bar 1 x 8 with Brick 1 x 2 Curved Top End (30359a) which adds more interesting greebles. Stick on a handful of 1×1 round bley tiles and a couple of hoses from a partial Benny’s Spaceship lot I got before Christmas, and there you have it.