I think the initial investment of time and parts up front will continue to pay dividends in the future for you and Mrs. Bricksie constantly making changes and moving things around. When you move stuff with MILS it takes a fraction of the time comparing with your current system.
I am a huge supporter of modularity in general, so I'm surprised I didn't know about the MILS system before watching this video. Thanks for teaching me something that I can keep in mind while working on my own LEGO projects!
your current solution is already perfect because you only need to pull up any modular building, even though you need to remove the connecting tiles.... you need to remove all MILS plates just to remove on in the middle. Just give it a try interlocking 9 pcs 16x16 base plate with pins and you will understand what I am trying to say.
Yes, I was just thinking the same thing. If all the MILS plates were pinned together it would make moving any one difficult. All the plates from the outer most to the one being moved would have to be disconnected, on all connected sides. 🤔
I've stuggled to find out what MILS plates are- I'm still learning- and here is a simple explanation and it shows the insides of plates. Now I know. Marvellous.
MILS allows for the standardization of larger builds and cooperative builds. Also allows for added rigidity/stability for transportation as well as account to possible uneven surfaces (supplied tables at venues). And for those that do lighting and or trains or anything electrical, provides a means by which to hide the wires. For flat surfaces we tend not to use the friction pins and just used plate or tile on the top to lock together adjacent plates. Very parts-intensive but certainly worth it if possible.
So glad I started my city on MILS plates and another change I made was to all of the modular sidewalks. Changed all tiles over to light bluish gray since the new road plates are dark bluish gray. Looks pretty sharp, like your model road plate! As you mentioned about the depth ability of MILS, I’ve fallen in love with the ability to choose the colors of the 4x4 plates to match whatever would be showing underneath. Example is the red carpet under the theater or to make sure all ‘alley’ sections behind buildings is dark bluish gray like the roads. All good for though, and enjoy the MILS journey 👍
MILS seems like a good idea, but for a big area like this, the amount of MILS you would need to disconnect just to get to a MIL plate in the middle would be time consuming.
@@Bricksie By chance did you see my comment on the Police station? Narrow up the depth, add garage doors and parking on the back, add a couple A/C units, ladder to the roof, balcony at 2nd floor, maybe a basketball goal.
I like how you extended in new roads a little without having two roads side by side. MILS biggest problem is it’s too expensive for most people. You still use baseplates and the new roads are expensive, plus you need to buy a lot of square plates. The 2x2 bricks aren’t bad since you can use any color
No question it is expensive. Will add so much more detail to the city though. Luckily for me it is my job and this will essentially provide me with unlimited content.
@@Bricksie I use mils yeah it cost more but it looks soooo good especily if you brick build your roads. it also allows you to run light cables and make lots of cool things. i even have tram tracks running through my roads. also you can run the "road" through the corner garage and it looks soooo good
I know that this makes me guilty of heresy, but that is where I use off brand parts. I figure that those parts are not an RND hit for Lego so I am fine with using them in that context.
I've seen videos from other creators showing which pieces to use, and getting the cost down to $6ish per mils. Even if it was $10, that isn't so bad, considering the cost of what's mounted on top of it, and it lets you do depth effects, hidden wires, etc... I've even seen one hiding driveshafts for power functions to put motion in places it otherwise wouldn't be able to hide.
You can do modular landscaping without using the exact “Mils” system. You can also use “mils” without converting 100% of your city all at once. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. That’s the beauty of modular systems.just create modular transitions and move the modular transitions as you transition more sections.
Recently converted my city to MILS - It's just 5.5 x 7.5 standard baseplates so maybe 8 x smaller than yours - I found it painful not just for the expense but mainly for the amount of work - I had buildings that extended across multiple baseplates (even multiple 48x48 ones) so I had to completely rebuild those buildings. Also made a mess of my Lego room for a good couple weeks. Ultimately I'm happy with the result, but it's always more work than you think!
1st Happy Birthday Mrs.Briskies. 2nd I love how it's -20f out. Meaning in Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Mich and other Northern States time to put out Spring/Summer stuff and Swim suit. 3rd All Vidito is on clearance, no series 2.
Woohoo! Excited to see you and Josee take your city to the next level. It's going to take a loooong time and a huge amount of effort, but it will definitely be worth it. Fits right into your plans to work more on the city this year. Don't worry - we'll be patient. 😉
MILS is a super system, especially for roads. I use it myself and you are so much more flexible. For example, curved roads are possible, traffic circles or roads with turning lanes...
I love using the mils system for my tabletop builds. The mils system is amazing for campgrounds, and rural areas, im a big castle builder, so its perfect for my landscaping. Definitely parts intensive.
As soon as I saw the title I thought: YES. Pleased to see you doing this at last! I’ve known about the system for years and was hoping you would one day. I agree that it’s more effective and faster than normal baseplates.
There's something I've been wondering with this whole MILS thing: how do you actually connect a grid? Because if you use pins to connect a MILS plate on all 4 sides, isn't it making it virtually impossible to disconnect it? You'd then have to disconnect the corners MILS plates first, and then work you way to the actual MILS plate you wanted to originally disconnect... Or maybe I'm missing something?
Was also thinking this, anything inside the outside edge of the city is going to be near impossible to extract with the pins in, i was thinking use pins on the outside edges and leave the pins out of everything inside of it to make changing the mils plate easier. in theory it should be locked in place by the outside edge of the city.
For mine, I only pin in the plates on the exterior perimeters - there is no need to pin together the plates internally - you build them all with the connection points though - because you may need to move around buildings to be in different locations in the future.
Definitely worth changing to the mils system, it’s the best thing I’ve done for my city. I don’t use the new roads though as I’ve brick built mine and this enables you to put road marking wherever you want and brick build words like bus stop in the road itself. From personal experience I would never hold modulars and roads together with technic pins as it is a real pain to change things around, I hold mine together when in tile the footpaths
MILs are great, not sure if it would be worth converting everything that would be a huge project! I will say I do not friction pin most my mills together because once you connect a good amount together it’s a real pain to get one section out
Didn't know about the MILS System so far, very good explanation! At 5:47 it is visible that the combination of the new road system with MILS is cramped. It's a workaround for missing basic Lego parts to make the new road system complete: The side stripe you built out of a dozen sideways plates should be a two part per side moulded brick with printed white Line. The Lego Road Plate should have an additional "Standard Version" without middle of the road holes just with a printed middle Line pattern. So in Overview it would be 5 parts for the full width road itself and a few parts more for the elevated Sidewalk add on. I think that would sell like hotcakes. Plus: A curved road plate should be added as well. With moulded side bricks filling curve and elevated sidewalk.
Awesome!! You're absolutely gonna love it! I've slowly converted my city to MILS over the last year or so; definitely worth it, but not an overnight change for sure.
I'm starting just a somewhat big lego castle moc and I quickly decided to switch to mils plates while I can because transporting is easier and its easy to attach baseplates together and take them apart
One advantage is that you can design your baseplates with the choice whether the sidewalk belongs to a building or the road. Having 16x32 road only base plates would save parts, and allow you to have space for more buildings, rather then more sidewalks.
Until you're done converting, there would be a new road system. Also the MILS system looks "dirtier" compared to the old one. Too many line breaks in the road. I prefer the old system.
At early stage of my Lego city construction so will adopt the MILS method straight away, huge amount of bricks and plates to buy though! Agree with another comment about the issue with the technic pins making it impossible to remove plates that are within the grid though, otherwise it’s a great method. Love your collection, keep up the good work! 👍
Would you consider using 2x2 thin instead of 2x2 bricks to create a thinner intermediary layer, or would two 2x2 bricks to get a thicker mils plate be better way of getting a contoured design? And would you stack them or try to build a custom scaffold for the mountain? How did you handle the castles/temple in your set?
I like the idea of MILS, especially the 3D effects and the landscaping of unique terrains. Its OK if you have the time and money to invest in it. I've only recently added the dark grey city plates, but I've a lot of the original 70s/80s ones. And the focus on my layout is modulars and filling the space I have lol 😆
Lets face it - you love a challenge and the fact that this sounds exciting for you is your answer. Yes it is expensive and time consuming but as you said all part of your job also. I know I would run screaming but I certainly will be watching this project as it unfolds.
I am building a lego space launch facility with runway and wide transit road and have decided to use the mils system. However since the roads are yo be used as runways, I plan on using the road plates straight onto the bricks much like a plaub plate which is then tiled over.
When you are a City Builder and have such a beautiful city like yours, it's definetly a huge upgrade to convert the whole city to MILS. Beside the needed ressources, it definetly has only advantages and alows a much higher grade of detail. I would love to see you converting your city!
I think the switching will be great. I love MILS but am so worry about the cost and time. Admire your determination. Will follow your progress step by step.
That's a neat idea I do like the Mills roads because it's a lot more stable and as a start off with a tiny city might consider getting the proper pieces to build at least a couple for builds that I have now and for the future as a only own two sets of the new system makes life easier when cleaning
MILS system is the best way. Can't imagine the work you were having doing changes in the city without MILS. When I build my own city, for sure I will use MILS, from the start. Good luck with this huge endeavor. I'll keep following to learn the news and see how it is going.
I have all LEGO modular buildings but have never created a city. I do have plans to create a city just waiting on Ikea to get more Adils table legs in stock. I do like the MILS system & looking forward to your video on converting your city to MILS.
Do the down town core to MILS but make sure you can ramp down to the old road plates. I see a great advantage when wanting to move or rearrange the roads in the downtown area.
Next rabbit hole: illumination Otherwise a great idea as it allows a big deal of liberty on road design, train integration, rivers etc. infinite possibilities! Really looking forward to your many future postings!
I’ve been switching over. It’s expensive but worth it for detail and stability. I recommend using 1x2 bricks on the edges, as it will save a good bit of money.
You would be crazy not to go to MILs plates especially considering how often you restructure your city. I started my city last year and I went MILs. I am so glad that I did and I have no regrets at all. There are 2 other significant benefits you didn't really touch on. 1. The ease for adding lighting down the road. (get it? lol) Having the space to run wires and keep them hidden is huge. I know lighting isn't for everyone, but at least the MILs system allows for much easier integration later on. 2. The other is just how much space you can save in your city by not having double sidewalks and being able to customize the width of your roads now. This can easily allow you to add at least one more street or two in each direction.
what's the most cost effective option to do MILS plates? seems really expensive to get all those extra plates/bricks to raise it up just for the convenience to move a few buildings once in a while
I saw a video from a different creator showing which parts to get, and if you don't mind the giant bottom plate being a different brand, then you can build a mils plate for $6.
If you don't want to immediately go through the hassle of moving modular buildings onto MILS plates, you could leave the top plates off and just put the modular with its baseplate on top of the bricks
It isn't that much of a hassle. I don't have as many modulars as Bricksie. But it only took me about 30 minutes to pull the downtown diner off the baseplate and move it to a MILS plate. And the diner has more tiling on the first floor than most. He could move all of them over in a day or two once he builds all the plates.
M. I. L. S. is an amazing idea, as it (if you stack a few more layers) allows you to have a proper basement in a building, which is normally impossible.
It will probably make it more fun and easier to try out new things. Go for it! Maybe you could sell some stuff to pay for it. Like expensive sets like Colosseum that you already built and done videos about.
I really like/prefer MILS. Luckily for me, being relatively new to LEGO, I jumped right into MILS on my second modular set. My “city” is relatively small still (~20 baseplates) but having MILS makes changing things easy and even fun. The one piece I would give is be careful with adding technic pins…they are great for structure but if you have them gridded together it can make moving things around more difficult. It’s best to play around with you setup and really figure out your plan before adding the pins in at the end.
I know it’s sacrilege but I have been putting my Modular’s on strictly briks baseplates. I know it isn’t official LEGO but it saves so much time and pieces for $15 on Amazon and they come in all different colors. I did it with the first modular I bought (daily bugle) to make it level with the new road system.
I'm a pretty new newbie to this and wanted to know how I should get started building my city. What should I start investing in, the base or the city itself? Any tips would be apprecited.
@Bricksie, AS you get closer to implementing MiLS plates in BricKmonten, will you likely delay major Construction changes to the Downtown Core, Zoo, Farm, etc until the appropriate areas are MILS'ed
Question for you or your followers...I am looking to start converting to MILS plates and I was wondering how you tackles Assembly Square for modulars. Did you make a 32X32 and a 16X16 or just 3 16X16?
The new roads are nice. Is there a nice way to move roads between classic road plates and new roads on MILS? Is is possible to use the old road plates with MILS? Would you move road down onto the old plate, or would you cover it all?
All its missing in my eyes is a cheaper way to raise existing base plates to the MILS height. A new connection that can align with the holes on the bottom of a base plate, so you dont need to many tiles and bricks
What would you do around the perimeter edge of the MILS plates to not see the layers of them if you don't have a permanent edge/lip built around your layout tables? I know I wouldn't like seeing those edges/sides of the MILS plates, it wouldn't look right and be kind of ugly.
How does it offer more versatility than the current city? Couldn’t you could keep the current system but tile it off with 1x2s instead of 2x2s that connect plates to each other?
What about the size of the roads are going to be alot smaller ! I remember you talking about that quite along time ago ! That was one of your concerns ! You may want to check the mils plates road size against what you already use and see if that is a concern or not for you. Just something to check on, before you dive into it. Otherwise, sounds like an interesting idea.
It's a perfect idea now that you have filled a lot of the area that will create a lot of work to do with the customization possibilities and the ability to make quick changes.
I like that with MILS you could make all different sized roads and you could have ones with zebra crossings and ramps and things, unlike with the baseplate old versions
Have you figured out what the least expensive option is to cover a 32x32 base plate? I'm leaning toward 64 4x4 plates just due to having the most to start with.
MILS plates will make your life so much easier and just FYI for every new road plates sets it will make 2 MILS roads and honestly the hardest thing is the conversion process
I like the new road plate design I just wish they would give more plates in the box. I feel they could've had the trees and signs that come with as accessories that you could buy and put more plates in the set.
Hmm.... The idea seems pretty good, but wouldn't it take a long time doing the conversion? The Lego city looks stellar now, but in the end it's your choice bricksie! Love the video!!!
hi great city! really enjoy watching your clips. ive collected lego for years but im a beginner when it comes to building cities which im now starting to do is there anyway i could have a list of the bricks needed to build these plates other than the initial road plates that come boxed ,just so i can bulk buy were possible cheers.
Would you “rebuild” your Modulars on the MILS plate or just set it on top? I lock mine together because sometimes the corners of the baseplates lift just enough to annoy me
This is going to be a very nice upgrade to your city. It should also make things easier when you want to switch out parts of your city and change things up. I would still love to see you make a little Star Wars city since you already have so much of the stuff.
Great video! As someone who just go their first modular, I am so happy that I found out about this system. I had already built the first two bags of Boutique hotel but took it all apart after learning about MILS. Currently waiting for my pieces to arrive from BrickLink so I can make my first MILS plate and get back to work :D
This is where I am at - I have the Police Station and Bookstore already built, with Assembly Square and the Botique Hotel in boxes. Should I switch to MILS now?? Would it mean rebuilding the two modulars I have already done?
@@philipmacgovern7311 While you wouldn't have to fully rebuild them, you would have to take apart the first floor and all the tiling that is on the baseplates. Hopefully you could try to take the walls and furniture of the first floors off in larger chunks so they won't take as long to put back together.
I totally agree with all you’ve commented on Bricksie! Yes, the MILS system is going to be pricy, as well as labor and time intensive … but all the pluses the system provides will be well worth the cost and effort in the long run! Nobody ever said this AFOL hobby would be cheap … or easy! We make the “hard” choices because we LOVE what we can create with LEGO!! 👏💯
This would be massive in cost, bricks and time. It would probably take ages just to do one area but I think it is a great idea. If only you just started the MILS system at the beginning rather than now. 🤷♂️👍😊😉
@@nobonesaboutit7639 but that’s what I’m saying. It probably costs 20$ a plate. And that’s 300 plates like he said in the video. So that’s about 6,000$ plus removing everything from the city and replacing, plus the train system, plus have to remove modulars from the middle would require moving other baseplates just to get access to it
It's going to be a journey! It will add a lot more detail to the city and thankfully provided me with unlimited fun content. It's a win win. I'll most likely only clip the roads together and the modulars will float loose in the grid
I haven't yet seen any truly convincing corner roads done with MILS and the new road plates. They don't lend themselves to angles. Are there any corners in your city?
I think the initial investment of time and parts up front will continue to pay dividends in the future for you and Mrs. Bricksie constantly making changes and moving things around. When you move stuff with MILS it takes a fraction of the time comparing with your current system.
I am a huge supporter of modularity in general, so I'm surprised I didn't know about the MILS system before watching this video. Thanks for teaching me something that I can keep in mind while working on my own LEGO projects!
your current solution is already perfect because you only need to pull up any modular building, even though you need to remove the connecting tiles.... you need to remove all MILS plates just to remove on in the middle. Just give it a try interlocking 9 pcs 16x16 base plate with pins and you will understand what I am trying to say.
I will most likely just have the roads clipped together and have the buildings floating loose in the gird so they can easily be removed
Yes, I was just thinking the same thing. If all the MILS plates were pinned together it would make moving any one difficult. All the plates from the outer most to the one being moved would have to be disconnected, on all connected sides. 🤔
I've stuggled to find out what MILS plates are- I'm still learning- and here is a simple explanation and it shows the insides of plates. Now I know. Marvellous.
MILS allows for the standardization of larger builds and cooperative builds. Also allows for added rigidity/stability for transportation as well as account to possible uneven surfaces (supplied tables at venues). And for those that do lighting and or trains or anything electrical, provides a means by which to hide the wires. For flat surfaces we tend not to use the friction pins and just used plate or tile on the top to lock together adjacent plates.
Very parts-intensive but certainly worth it if possible.
Gonna be a Huge upgrade to the City! I'm Diggin it! Keep up the hard work Bricksie and Josee!
So glad I started my city on MILS plates and another change I made was to all of the modular sidewalks. Changed all tiles over to light bluish gray since the new road plates are dark bluish gray. Looks pretty sharp, like your model road plate!
As you mentioned about the depth ability of MILS, I’ve fallen in love with the ability to choose the colors of the 4x4 plates to match whatever would be showing underneath. Example is the red carpet under the theater or to make sure all ‘alley’ sections behind buildings is dark bluish gray like the roads. All good for though, and enjoy the MILS journey 👍
on my MILS bases i use different size square plates depending on price.
MILS seems like a good idea, but for a big area like this, the amount of MILS you would need to disconnect just to get to a MIL plate in the middle would be time consuming.
That was my thought as well. Only way would be to leave a loose one in the middle of a block of 9 plates, 3X3 square. If that makes sense.
Will probably only clip the roads together and have the modulars floating loose in the grid so they can easily be removed.
@@Bricksie By chance did you see my comment on the Police station?
Narrow up the depth, add garage doors and parking on the back, add a couple A/C units, ladder to the roof, balcony at 2nd floor, maybe a basketball goal.
Thanks - my Q answered
I like how you extended in new roads a little without having two roads side by side.
MILS biggest problem is it’s too expensive for most people. You still use baseplates and the new roads are expensive, plus you need to buy a lot of square plates. The 2x2 bricks aren’t bad since you can use any color
No question it is expensive. Will add so much more detail to the city though. Luckily for me it is my job and this will essentially provide me with unlimited content.
@@Bricksie I use mils yeah it cost more but it looks soooo good especily if you brick build your roads. it also allows you to run light cables and make lots of cool things. i even have tram tracks running through my roads. also you can run the "road" through the corner garage and it looks soooo good
i used a mils pattern for my forest and it made it better than my original with just extra layers of plate on top of it
I know that this makes me guilty of heresy, but that is where I use off brand parts. I figure that those parts are not an RND hit for Lego so I am fine with using them in that context.
I've seen videos from other creators showing which pieces to use, and getting the cost down to $6ish per mils. Even if it was $10, that isn't so bad, considering the cost of what's mounted on top of it, and it lets you do depth effects, hidden wires, etc... I've even seen one hiding driveshafts for power functions to put motion in places it otherwise wouldn't be able to hide.
You can do modular landscaping without using the exact “Mils” system.
You can also use “mils” without converting 100% of your city all at once. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. That’s the beauty of modular systems.just create modular transitions and move the modular transitions as you transition more sections.
Best lego youtube channel. Thank you for all you do. No one explains like you do. Brilliant!
Recently converted my city to MILS - It's just 5.5 x 7.5 standard baseplates so maybe 8 x smaller than yours - I found it painful not just for the expense but mainly for the amount of work - I had buildings that extended across multiple baseplates (even multiple 48x48 ones) so I had to completely rebuild those buildings. Also made a mess of my Lego room for a good couple weeks. Ultimately I'm happy with the result, but it's always more work than you think!
1st Happy Birthday Mrs.Briskies. 2nd I love how it's -20f out. Meaning in Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Mich and other Northern States time to put out Spring/Summer stuff and Swim suit. 3rd All Vidito is on clearance, no series 2.
Woohoo! Excited to see you and Josee take your city to the next level. It's going to take a loooong time and a huge amount of effort, but it will definitely be worth it. Fits right into your plans to work more on the city this year. Don't worry - we'll be patient. 😉
Very useful. The more recent baseplates are super flimsy, I built the Boutique Hotel using MILS and the thing transports so easily.
MILS is a super system, especially for roads. I use it myself and you are so much more flexible. For example, curved roads are possible, traffic circles or roads with turning lanes...
Moin Daniel
Thanks for the video. I have a ton of extra parts and enough to make at last a few MILS baseplates. Will give it a go!
I love using the mils system for my tabletop builds. The mils system is amazing for campgrounds, and rural areas, im a big castle builder, so its perfect for my landscaping. Definitely parts intensive.
As soon as I saw the title I thought: YES. Pleased to see you doing this at last! I’ve known about the system for years and was hoping you would one day. I agree that it’s more effective and faster than normal baseplates.
There's something I've been wondering with this whole MILS thing: how do you actually connect a grid?
Because if you use pins to connect a MILS plate on all 4 sides, isn't it making it virtually impossible to disconnect it? You'd then have to disconnect the corners MILS plates first, and then work you way to the actual MILS plate you wanted to originally disconnect... Or maybe I'm missing something?
This is exactly what I was wondering also.
Was also thinking this, anything inside the outside edge of the city is going to be near impossible to extract with the pins in, i was thinking use pins on the outside edges and leave the pins out of everything inside of it to make changing the mils plate easier. in theory it should be locked in place by the outside edge of the city.
For mine, I only pin in the plates on the exterior perimeters - there is no need to pin together the plates internally - you build them all with the connection points though - because you may need to move around buildings to be in different locations in the future.
Yeah just pin the street together and you can more easily switch out buildings
Came to the comments looking for this question. Only pinning the exterior makes total sense.
Definitely worth changing to the mils system, it’s the best thing I’ve done for my city. I don’t use the new roads though as I’ve brick built mine and this enables you to put road marking wherever you want and brick build words like bus stop in the road itself. From personal experience I would never hold modulars and roads together with technic pins as it is a real pain to change things around, I hold mine together when in tile the footpaths
We have MILS throughout our city and love it, definitely recommend!
MILs are great, not sure if it would be worth converting everything that would be a huge project! I will say I do not friction pin most my mills together because once you connect a good amount together it’s a real pain to get one section out
I totally agree. I only pin the plates along the perimeter. If you pin then all its a huge hassle to move stuff!
Yeah probably just clip the roads together or the perimeter. Then have buildings floating loose in the grid
if i have a MILS base that's 2 wide i pin and add plates ie if i put a switch which takes 1 and a half MILS plates
Gooble gobble, one of us!! One of us!! Very cool!!! The time has come!! I can't wait to see this, your city will be even more phenomenal!!
Didn't know about the MILS System so far, very good explanation! At 5:47 it is visible that the combination of the new road system with MILS is cramped. It's a workaround for missing basic Lego parts to make the new road system complete: The side stripe you built out of a dozen sideways plates should be a two part per side moulded brick with printed white Line. The Lego Road Plate should have an additional "Standard Version" without middle of the road holes just with a printed middle Line pattern.
So in Overview it would be 5 parts for the full width road itself and a few parts more for the elevated Sidewalk add on. I think that would sell like hotcakes.
Plus: A curved road plate should be added as well. With moulded side bricks filling curve and elevated sidewalk.
I had a feeling you were gonna do this! Excited to see how it goes.
Awesome!! You're absolutely gonna love it! I've slowly converted my city to MILS over the last year or so; definitely worth it, but not an overnight change for sure.
I'm starting just a somewhat big lego castle moc and I quickly decided to switch to mils plates while I can because transporting is easier and its easy to attach baseplates together and take them apart
I needed this. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the changes!
Coming back to this video, the mills is so much better
One advantage is that you can design your baseplates with the choice whether the sidewalk belongs to a building or the road. Having 16x32 road only base plates would save parts, and allow you to have space for more buildings, rather then more sidewalks.
Wow, sounds amazing. Can’t wait to see this come together
Initially I thought the thumbnail said MILFS, I was way more excited than I normally am for LEGO.
Until you're done converting, there would be a new road system.
Also the MILS system looks "dirtier" compared to the old one. Too many line breaks in the road. I prefer the old system.
I thought that too, until I built a couple plates and realized the endless possibilities and flexibility of MILS is incredible
you also begin to look past the line breaks in the roads - and many of them get covered up when you start populating with cars
this is a great idea, bricksie! good luck converting the city 😄
Its a great idea. I can't wait to see how it looks. Keep up the great work.
I think the MILS system looks awesome, i'm gonna like you overtime convert all my modular builds to the MILS system.
At early stage of my Lego city construction so will adopt the MILS method straight away, huge amount of bricks and plates to buy though! Agree with another comment about the issue with the technic pins making it impossible to remove plates that are within the grid though, otherwise it’s a great method. Love your collection, keep up the good work! 👍
Would you consider using 2x2 thin instead of 2x2 bricks to create a thinner intermediary layer, or would two 2x2 bricks to get a thicker mils plate be better way of getting a contoured design? And would you stack them or try to build a custom scaffold for the mountain? How did you handle the castles/temple in your set?
I like the idea of MILS, especially the 3D effects and the landscaping of unique terrains. Its OK if you have the time and money to invest in it. I've only recently added the dark grey city plates, but I've a lot of the original 70s/80s ones. And the focus on my layout is modulars and filling the space I have lol 😆
Lets face it - you love a challenge and the fact that this sounds exciting for you is your answer. Yes it is expensive and time consuming but as you said all part of your job also. I know I would run screaming but I certainly will be watching this project as it unfolds.
Cant wait for the content during the process good luck💯
I am building a lego space launch facility with runway and wide transit road and have decided to use the mils system. However since the roads are yo be used as runways, I plan on using the road plates straight onto the bricks much like a plaub plate which is then tiled over.
When you are a City Builder and have such a beautiful city like yours, it's definetly a huge upgrade to convert the whole city to MILS. Beside the needed ressources, it definetly has only advantages and alows a much higher grade of detail. I would love to see you converting your city!
I think the switching will be great. I love MILS but am so worry about the cost and time. Admire your determination. Will follow your progress step by step.
That's a neat idea I do like the Mills roads because it's a lot more stable and as a start off with a tiny city might consider getting the proper pieces to build at least a couple for builds that I have now and for the future as a only own two sets of the new system makes life easier when cleaning
Plus, you can route wiring through them for lighting and motors.
MILS system is the best way. Can't imagine the work you were having doing changes in the city without MILS.
When I build my own city, for sure I will use MILS, from the start.
Good luck with this huge endeavor. I'll keep following to learn the news and see how it is going.
I have all LEGO modular buildings but have never created a city. I do have plans to create a city just waiting on Ikea to get more Adils table legs in stock. I do like the MILS system & looking forward to your video on converting your city to MILS.
Do the down town core to MILS but make sure you can ramp down to the old road plates. I see a great advantage when wanting to move or rearrange the roads in the downtown area.
Next rabbit hole: illumination
Otherwise a great idea as it allows a big deal of liberty on road design, train integration, rivers etc. infinite possibilities!
Really looking forward to your many future postings!
I’ve been switching over. It’s expensive but worth it for detail and stability. I recommend using 1x2 bricks on the edges, as it will save a good bit of money.
You would be crazy not to go to MILs plates especially considering how often you restructure your city. I started my city last year and I went MILs. I am so glad that I did and I have no regrets at all. There are 2 other significant benefits you didn't really touch on. 1. The ease for adding lighting down the road. (get it? lol) Having the space to run wires and keep them hidden is huge. I know lighting isn't for everyone, but at least the MILs system allows for much easier integration later on. 2. The other is just how much space you can save in your city by not having double sidewalks and being able to customize the width of your roads now. This can easily allow you to add at least one more street or two in each direction.
what's the most cost effective option to do MILS plates? seems really expensive to get all those extra plates/bricks to raise it up just for the convenience to move a few buildings once in a while
I love the MILS system, it would personally bankrupt me though! 😂😳Fabulous if you can go for this option! 😛
I saw a video from a different creator showing which parts to get, and if you don't mind the giant bottom plate being a different brand, then you can build a mils plate for $6.
If you don't want to immediately go through the hassle of moving modular buildings onto MILS plates, you could leave the top plates off and just put the modular with its baseplate on top of the bricks
It isn't that much of a hassle. I don't have as many modulars as Bricksie. But it only took me about 30 minutes to pull the downtown diner off the baseplate and move it to a MILS plate. And the diner has more tiling on the first floor than most. He could move all of them over in a day or two once he builds all the plates.
@@koloth5139 Sure, but you can also save a lot of parts initially if you go this way, focusing on the roads the most
M. I. L. S. is an amazing idea, as it (if you stack a few more layers) allows you to have a proper basement in a building, which is normally impossible.
Very interesting point of view. Thank you!
Hmm, mixing MILS with Lego's own new road plate system felt surprising. I thought one selling point of MILS was its flexibity.
It will probably make it more fun and easier to try out new things. Go for it! Maybe you could sell some stuff to pay for it. Like expensive sets like Colosseum that you already built and done videos about.
8 minutes in and I'm sold on the mils system.😮
Great idea, gonna look even better!
I really like/prefer MILS. Luckily for me, being relatively new to LEGO, I jumped right into MILS on my second modular set. My “city” is relatively small still (~20 baseplates) but having MILS makes changing things easy and even fun. The one piece I would give is be careful with adding technic pins…they are great for structure but if you have them gridded together it can make moving things around more difficult. It’s best to play around with you setup and really figure out your plan before adding the pins in at the end.
I am extremely tempted, especially after todays leak of the ‘new’ baseplates we’ve been waiting for which are the same base plates just re numbered.
I know it’s sacrilege but I have been putting my Modular’s on strictly briks baseplates. I know it isn’t official LEGO but it saves so much time and pieces for $15 on Amazon and they come in all different colors. I did it with the first modular I bought (daily bugle) to make it level with the new road system.
Your sacrilege is my golden path lol
Thx for tip!
I'm a pretty new newbie to this and wanted to know how I should get started building my city. What should I start investing in, the base or the city itself? Any tips would be apprecited.
@Bricksie, AS you get closer to implementing MiLS plates in BricKmonten, will you likely delay major Construction changes to the Downtown Core, Zoo, Farm, etc until the appropriate areas are MILS'ed
What about using Mills between two tables, so you can make the roller coaster still work, but go underground?
Question for you or your followers...I am looking to start converting to MILS plates and I was wondering how you tackles Assembly Square for modulars. Did you make a 32X32 and a 16X16 or just 3 16X16?
The new roads are nice.
Is there a nice way to move roads between classic road plates and new roads on MILS?
Is is possible to use the old road plates with MILS?
Would you move road down onto the old plate, or would you cover it all?
What bookcases do you use for your displays in the background
All its missing in my eyes is a cheaper way to raise existing base plates to the MILS height. A new connection that can align with the holes on the bottom of a base plate, so you dont need to many tiles and bricks
What would you do around the perimeter edge of the MILS plates to not see the layers of them if you don't have a permanent edge/lip built around your layout tables? I know I wouldn't like seeing those edges/sides of the MILS plates, it wouldn't look right and be kind of ugly.
I haven't watched the whole video yet, but can a person use regular grey base plates for the bottoms of each unit?
How does it offer more versatility than the current city? Couldn’t you could keep the current system but tile it off with 1x2s instead of 2x2s that connect plates to each other?
What about curved roads or corners? How would you go about making those look ?
There are a couple of decent ways of doing it, if you google 'Dujk' he has some good corners.
What about the size of the roads are going to be alot smaller ! I remember you talking about that quite along time ago ! That was one of your concerns ! You may want to check the mils plates road size against what you already use and see if that is a concern or not for you. Just something to check on, before you dive into it. Otherwise, sounds like an interesting idea.
It's a perfect idea now that you have filled a lot of the area that will create a lot of work to do with the customization possibilities and the ability to make quick changes.
I like that with MILS you could make all different sized roads and you could have ones with zebra crossings and ramps and things, unlike with the baseplate old versions
Have you figured out what the least expensive option is to cover a 32x32 base plate? I'm leaning toward 64 4x4 plates just due to having the most to start with.
I am new to Lego building and would like to use this process from the start, what is the best way of getting the brick parts?
Bricklink
I've gone MILS and its key if you plan to do any lighting as well
MILS plates will make your life so much easier and just FYI for every new road plates sets it will make 2 MILS roads and honestly the hardest thing is the conversion process
I like the new road plate design I just wish they would give more plates in the box. I feel they could've had the trees and signs that come with as accessories that you could buy and put more plates in the set.
Hmm.... The idea seems pretty good, but wouldn't it take a long time doing the conversion? The Lego city looks stellar now, but in the end it's your choice bricksie! Love the video!!!
hi great city! really enjoy watching your clips. ive collected lego for years but im a beginner when it comes to building cities which im now starting to do is there anyway i could have a list of the bricks needed to build these plates other than the initial road plates that come boxed ,just so i can bulk buy were possible cheers.
Would you “rebuild” your Modulars on the MILS plate or just set it on top? I lock mine together because sometimes the corners of the baseplates lift just enough to annoy me
Yeah I tried just sitting the modulars on baseplates on top of MILS but it annoyed me haha
How do you handle the train tracks and the MILs system?
The MILS plates are looking really good!
I stated converting some months ago :) Nice video thanks!
This would work perfect with a lot of the second market baseplates which are superior in a lot of ways.
How does it work with smaller buildings such as the town homes Modular’s?
Works fine, just create a tiled off space for them and you can rearrange them how you like
I think you'll really dig this change - especially with every new update to the city.
This is going to be a very nice upgrade to your city. It should also make things easier when you want to switch out parts of your city and change things up. I would still love to see you make a little Star Wars city since you already have so much of the stuff.
Will you pin all four sides or just two?
I’ve actually been thinking of starting to use mils for my city
Great video! As someone who just go their first modular, I am so happy that I found out about this system. I had already built the first two bags of Boutique hotel but took it all apart after learning about MILS. Currently waiting for my pieces to arrive from BrickLink so I can make my first MILS plate and get back to work :D
This is where I am at - I have the Police Station and Bookstore already built, with Assembly Square and the Botique Hotel in boxes. Should I switch to MILS now?? Would it mean rebuilding the two modulars I have already done?
@@philipmacgovern7311 While you wouldn't have to fully rebuild them, you would have to take apart the first floor and all the tiling that is on the baseplates. Hopefully you could try to take the walls and furniture of the first floors off in larger chunks so they won't take as long to put back together.
I totally agree with all you’ve commented on Bricksie! Yes, the MILS system is going to be pricy, as well as labor and time intensive … but all the pluses the system provides will be well worth the cost and effort in the long run! Nobody ever said this AFOL hobby would be cheap … or easy! We make the “hard” choices because we LOVE what we can create with LEGO!! 👏💯
This would be massive in cost, bricks and time. It would probably take ages just to do one area but I think it is a great idea. If only you just started the MILS system at the beginning rather than now. 🤷♂️👍😊😉
Yeah I agree. With a mediocre sized city it would make sense to build then, but with how huge this city is it would cost a fortune to make
@@idontcarebricks8253 ya but he does this for a living. So for him it makes sense to do this
@@nobonesaboutit7639 but that’s what I’m saying. It probably costs 20$ a plate. And that’s 300 plates like he said in the video. So that’s about 6,000$ plus removing everything from the city and replacing, plus the train system, plus have to remove modulars from the middle would require moving other baseplates just to get access to it
@@idontcarebricks8253 whelp, just keep watchin his vids and helping his commission and he should get there lol
It's going to be a journey! It will add a lot more detail to the city and thankfully provided me with unlimited fun content. It's a win win. I'll most likely only clip the roads together and the modulars will float loose in the grid
I haven't yet seen any truly convincing corner roads done with MILS and the new road plates. They don't lend themselves to angles. Are there any corners in your city?