How to make the bottom of plates/bricks look nice ??

[Carsten Svendsen]

Hi, my build has got the bricks turned upside down, and I was wondering if there's a way to make it look nice, as in tiled, with as few layers as possible.

I'm a technic geek, not a system builder, so any help is welcome

[MAB]

You can use inverted tiles, but there are still not many available as yet.

Regular dusting or careful vacuuming would probably help too. Especially as upside down there are more holes for it to collect in.

[Peppermint_M]

He beat me to the punch!

Inverted tiles look great, but the 1x3 does not come in as many colours as the 2x2 and it also has hole for a peg in the middle.

For dusting, Make-Up brushes are great for LEGO. They are gentle enough not to displace parts in a fragile build, come in a number of shapes and sizes and while the £/$ store ones are terrible for applying make-up, they are fine for dusting LEGO! 

[koalayummies]

Another dust tip; get a dust blower 'bulb'. They're a few bucks and can find them at camera stores or online. Its a little thing you squeeze that has a nozzle and is great for getting dust off Lego. Do it periodically for anything that's left assembled. The picture shown looks like its accumulated over time and may take more work.

[Carsten Svendsen]

Thank you, I think I will go with the dusting option, as it seems there's no clear way to combine plates bottom to bottom

[MAB]

Is there a particular reason you build upside-down? Is there a particular bit of the engine that can only be built that way up?

[Johnny1360]

I would also suggest those inverted tiles, I really think that would be your best option, unless of course you were to tear it down somewhat. Then you could use various snot plates to achieve a studs up orientation. 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Johnny1360

[Carsten Svendsen]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Is there a particular reason you build upside-down? Is there a particular bit of the engine that can only be built that way up?

Yes it has be oriented in this configuration, it's absolutely critical. The relation of holes in bricks and plate heights are different, and this works better.

 

19 minutes ago, Johnny1360 said:

I would also suggest those inverted tiles, I really think that would be your best option, unless of course you were to tear it down somewhat. Then you could use various snot plates to achieve a studs up orientation. 

It is not possible to rebuild it with snot techniques, as it has to be very strong. The tiles would have been a good option if the 1x3 came in black, alas it does not.

[Johnny1360]

Well if it would be okay taller, you could use Technic beams with pin half pins in it connected to the existing structure with more pin half pins in the top with flat plates on the beams. Or regular pins with a half beam on each side of the pins, then stick that on the structure followed by flat plates again. Of course both ways would make it 1 beam and 1 plate higher, since I can't really tell what your creation is I don't know if that would look okay or not. Any chance for more pictures? 

[dr_spock]

If your build is strong enough and you have an air compressor, you can use a blower nozzle attachment.  Adjust your air pressure regulator accordingly.   

A possible method to power technic pneumatics too.  

[Erik Leppen]

I don't know how much thickness (and weight) you're willing to add to your model, but have you considered building sideways? Using bricks 1 x 1 with stud on their side, put the sideways stud in the bottom of the plate. The upward-facing side is then the side of the brick, which is flat. The bottom and top of the 1x1 brick are then facing sideways, so you can then stack bricks, plates, tiles all sideways to end up with a smooth surface, and even use curved slopes and cheese-slopes for some angles and curves.

[TeriXeri]

As for dusting, I don't like to just blow or wipe it off, as it'll just stay in the room.

Instead, I bought an attachment for vaccuum cleaner with a thinner hose which has several attachments, that way you can brush off the dust, and it's removed from the room, and the brushes are soft enough to not scratch.

Smallest brush is about 1 cm round, really nice to clean studded areas and builds.

Edited March 27, 2019 by TeriXeri