How to Make a MILS baseplate for my modular buildings (updated)

 

Hey brick fans,

Today's topic will be about MILS plates.  I've already discussed making MILS plates specifically for my Lumibricks sets, but this blog entry will be more generic and the you can you use it for any type of modular building.   

What Are MILS Plates?

MILS stands for Modular Integrated Landscaping System, a community-driven standard (originally from the HispaBrick Magazine folks) for creating huge, interconnected LEGO dioramas. At its core, a MILS plate is a 16x32 or 32x32 stud baseplate reinforced with bricks underneath for stability—think of it as a sturdy foundation module.  MILS plates add an extra layer to the base of your modular buildings to provide rigidity and stability.  It makes it easier to handle the modular buildings with the base flexing on you.

Advantages of Using MILS Plates

Enhanced Stability and Portability: The underlying brick support turns flimsy baseplates into rigid units that stack, transport easily, and hold heavy structures (like multi-story buildings) without sagging.

How My Version differs from others

The standard MILS system allows you to connect one baseplate to another so that the modular buildings are locked together using technic pins.  Since I'm always redoing my city layouts and moving buildings around I decided to forego that system.

My version of MILS plate uses the minimum amount of bricks while maximizing the structural integrity of the modular building.

We start with your standard 32x32 single sided baseplate.  This one might already come with your modular building set.  If not these plates can be found for under $2 CDN on Temu/Aliexpress or Dollar Tree.

Next grab a bunch of 2x4 bricks, 9 pieces to be exact.

Place the 9 pieces of 2x4 bricks spaced at the corners and center points along the baseplate.

Now I grab a bunch of 2x2 square or round (it doesn't matter).

These bricks provide intermediate support along the edges and center of the plates we will be using next.  We need 16 of them arranged specifically as above.

This step is optional, but it's what I use to attach the front facade on my MILS plates.  You need 3 of the bricks that are 2x2 with studs on the side. You'll also need 3 pieces of 1x2 plates and put them on top of the 2x2 bricks

Where I place these three bricks determine my front elevation. You can skip this step if you like and just place some extra bricks to line the front of the baseplate.

Now you will need 4 pieces of 16x16 plates. I typically cover up my plates with tiles so the colour doesn't matter to me. if you don't plan on making sidewalks in front of your modular building, just use the same coloured plates.

Press the 16x16 plates firmly down onto the bricks.  Note how the plates attach in relation to the bricks underneath.

Adding the two remaining 16x16 plates finishes off the raised baseplate.  

But we're going a step further by placing a front facade on the MILS plate.  To do this you will need two pieces of 2x16 plates.

Next grab 16 pieces of 2x2 tile and snap them onto the 2x16 plates.

Snap those onto the protruding studs on the MILS plate.  Now you have a finished facade.  So why is this facade necessary for my builds?  It's purpose to to hide the underlying colour of bricks and plates used to create the MILs.  Without the facade, I would be forced to use all the same colour for the bricks and plates, but with the front covered I can use whatever plates and bricks I have on hand even if they are different colours.

Here's one of my older pictures of my modular buildings.  You can see I used different coloured plates underneath the sidewalk tiles, which doesn't provide a cohesive look when you are placing different modular buildings together.

This MILs system will also work on a smaller modular building, say one that sits on a 16x32 baseplate.  Just adjust the amount of bricks and plates needed accordingly.

Hope that this little tutorial has helped you with your own modular building setups.   Thanks for looking!

Crafting a Mini Daiso Shop Inspired by Oxford Blocks Stickers

 

Hey brick fans,

I just spent 3 days making a little Daiso shop.  Daiso is a discount store chain in Asia that is similar to North American dollar stores. This 16x32 stud modular building was inspired by a sticker sheet from an Oxford Blocks building block set.

It's from a Daiso truck set that I bought while visiting South Korea.  Here's a review I made for that set: https://bricktoyreviews.blogspot.com/2025/09/oxford-blocks-daiso-truck-building.html.

Here's a few more pics of my custom Daiso shop.

I made it from spare bricks in my stash, a smorgasbord of white bricks, panels and some masonry bricks.  I used some red plates as accent pieces around the building's top perimeter. I used two of the three Daiso logo stickers on the exterior and one inside the shop.

The Daiso shop has two employees, the store manager and her assistant.  Also pictured is the delivery drive of the Oxford Blocks Daiso truck.

The Daiso shop conforms to my city building standards which is constructed on a raised baseplate and has the yellow tactile bricks known as tenji blocks on the sidewalk.

I used a simple light brick placed on the underside of the removable roof to illuminate the shop's interior.

Here's some interior shots.  I placed shelving with different types of product on the walls and center of the shop.

There's a self checkout by the entrance with the store logo visible on the wall.

Although it's currently set up as a single storey building, I have futureproofed it by adding an elevator shaft in case I decide to add more floor space later.

Here's the shop added to my city layout.   Let me know what you think of the shop.  Would you have done anything different?   Let me know in the comments, thanks for looking!

Bye for now!

How to make a New Hashima style technic cube

 

Hey brick fans!  Welcome back to another tutorial!

Today, we will build a technic cube, New Hashima style!  New Hashima is a huge Lego cyberpunk city with many collaborators building their own unique sections and adding them to the collective.

Here's the history behind New Hashima with a lot of pictures of the cool setup: https://bricknerd.com/home/the-story-of-new-hashima-how-the-colossal-lego-cyberpunk-city-came-to-be-7-17-23

The underlying structure of the Cyberpunk style city is supported by a series of large cubes that are made primarily of technic bricks and technic pins.  Once assembled, they provide the framework and the support for the towering creations.

Here are some screen shots I found on Flikr (just google New Hashima cubes to see more examples).

Initially the instructions to create the cube were posted on Simon Liu's flikr page, but then they were deleted.

Only to resurface as a link on a Eurobricks forum:  https://uofi.app.box.com/s/ykq9ilqy7cgfljxqkjdcc5hlgyzvyy46

I've taken a look at them and have tried to create a version that is a bit simpler and uses less parts, hopefully while achieving the same objective of modular strength and support.  If my setup works, I will create a larger refined version of the New Hashima style cube.   

My plan is to incorporate the usage of the cubes into my growing  Lumibricks Cyberpunk city, perhaps under the Lumibricks Izakaya, because it's looking kind of small next to the other towers.

Here's my parts list

standard technic pins (x8)

longer technic pins (x16)

2x8 plates (x16)

2x2 plates (x16)

2x4 plates (x8)

1x16 technic bricks (x24)

1x2 technic brick (x8)

2x2 tiles (x8)

Using these parts, it will make a cube that is 18 studs wide, 18 studs deep and 16 studs high.  You can save some money by using Lego compatible parts as I've done here.

Here's my method to create the cube

Step 1.  Make the beams and assemble them into squares.

Take one of the standard technic pins and insert it into the last hole of a 1x16 technic brick.  Now, take two of the longer technic pins and insert them into the third and fifth hole.  Take another 1x16 technic brick and snap it over the other.

Repeat the above steps eight times and assemble four of the beams  to make a square as shown in the picture below.

Now I'm going to secure the beams to each other by attaching a 2x4 plate to each of the corners.

Do the above two steps twice and you will have two squares.

Flip the squares over.  One of the squares will be the bottom of the cube and the other will be the top.

Now, take the pieces show above to make a support beam.  Put two 1x16 technic beams together and press a 2x2 tile at each end.  Then press together two 2x2 plates and place them on the underside of the technic beam, at both ends.  Then attach the 1x2 technic brick to the plates.

Repeat the process three more time and you will have 4 assembled support beams.

Take one of the support beams and place it 90 degrees to the bottom square, as shown above.  Press it into the protruding technic pins to lock it in.

Take the top square and lock it into the technic pins as well.

Now, repeat the process three more times for the remainder of the supporting beams.

To finish off the cube, add some 2x8 plates at each top corner of the cube. 

Take 4 more 2x8 plates and fill in the rest.

Repeat the process of applying the 2x8 plates to the bottom of the cube.

Alright, the small cube (18x18x16 )was a test just to validate the design.  I'm probably going to need to double the amount of 1x16 technic bricks, add a few more technic pins , and use extra 2x4 or 2x8 plates to make a full sized cube to match the New Hashima standard.

Ok, thanks for staying to the end of my blog post!  Let me know if you plan on using the New Hashima style cube in your city!  See you in my next one, bye!