Build: Why I'm building my LEGO City on MILS

Should you avoid the baseplate for LEGO Modulars?

Most LEGO modular collectors follow the instructions and put their building straight on the baseplate and why not? That’s what the instructions say to do and there are are pins in the side of the building just for this reason.

For me I’ve traditionally always used the baseplate but with my new LEGO City I want to talk about using the MILS system and moving away from the traditional base plate approach.

What is MILS?

MILS stands for Modular integrated Landscaping System and was developed by the HispaBrick Magazine community as a way to build large dioramas with multiple contributors and to have those dioramas all fit together, in an ordered way.

Simply put MILS allows you to connect baseplates in a variety of ways (eg. for roads or parks) while also giving your entire build more strength (as anyone who has lifted the Assembly Square knows!).

The basic dimensions of the MILS method are:

Source: TheBrickProject

Which on a practical level looks something like this with the bricks:

Then this with the interconnection points and plates on top (here’s two 32 x 32 base plates that I’ve done - one for the Police Station and Assembly Square):

For me why reasons for using MILS are simple I love the flexibility and strength of the method and I also want to see what it allows me to do with the city.

For example check out this reddit page where MOC designer Strange Bricks has actually separated the Cafe/Music Shop/Ballet Studio from the rest of the build.

Source Reddit Strange Bricks

This could potentially allow you to make the cafe into a corner modular which to me is really interesting given how good it looks (anyone tried that?)

For me I’m also keen to try this and also look at how I attach the roads. One of my big frustrations is that I don’t feel like the LEGO modular designs give you quite enough pavement out the front to feature the LEGO minifigures (let’s be honest this is where all the fun is) and I think the MILS system plus potentially moving my city back two studs (more on this in a later post) might just be the foundation of my LEGO city / streetscrape.

I’m also keen to explore how the new LEGO road plates might work with MILS and have been watching some of Bevan Bricks’ tutorials online.

To me this approach with the curved gutter and the drains looks awesome and very real. Anyway I’m off to experiment with these and will report back.

If you’re looking for some more 101 tools on the MILS system can I recommend the Four Plates High instagram account (lots of cool ideas) or the plethora of Youtube videos out there on the MILS system.

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