Let Your Imagination Be Your Guide With Lego's Grey Base Plate!
Written: Jan 20 '05
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Pros: Great for expanding a play scene, sturdy, allows for a solid base for larger scenes.
Cons: The color does limit what you can do with it sometimes.
The Bottom Line: Sick of having your creations fall apart? Tired of being limited to the smaller scenes? Enlarge, enhance and expand with this awesome Lego base plate!
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO - Grey Base Plate |
One of the basics of any Lego junkies collection is a well rounded selection of base plates. Regardless of their color or size, they are essentials to building or creating a large scene. Without one of these we wouldn't have been able to connect all the Harry Potter sets nor would we have been able to make a mock up of the Stargate. You can build scenes without a base plate but the larger you get, the harder it is to keep things stable or move them around to clean. Early on I scoffed at base plates and said that I would never throw my money away on them but that tune changed when the boys started getting more and more creative with the basic bricks they had. While they might seem over priced for a piece of plastic less than an eighth of an inch thick, they are something that will allow you to build things you never thought imaginable. They provide a base [hence the name base plate] for you to anchor things to, allow you to add foliage or other building, can easily be moved from place to place and help kids get a feeling of scale and size when building.
Large Lego Base Plate
The older styled base plates used to have the sharper corners on them but most of the newer ones have rounded corners that make it a little more difficult to join them together but are safer for kids to work with. If you are going to use these and try to connect them together you may have to plan to have building and other objects cover the gaps. It's a small gap so don't get obsessed with it but it is a gap nonetheless. You can arrange all the base plates then start putting the building or objects on it or just wing it and fill in the area with a small piece, tree or animal. That's the beauty of this item, it's so simple but there are literally millions of things that you can do with it. If the color isn't to your liking then you can try to find the smaller green and blue ones but this is one of the biggest base plates around [except the 15 x 15 size that is].
So why would you ever need a base plate? Well, if you have kids they are a great way to get them to build larger things. Sure you can build a skyscraper or the whole Star Wars scene but what are you going to do with it when you are done? More over, what happens when your kid uses the dining room table to build a masterpiece but you need to have it cleared off for the holiday meal? Trust me on this one; investing ten bucks in this eliminates a lot of the usual hassles that come along with building larger things. But don’t forget, it adds stability to the bottom sections of the piece so that taller larger things can be made without the common pitfalls that can accompany building on the fly [or without a base plate].
Fitting To Size
A few years ago the boys wanted to build a large castle scene with a huge mote around it. They liked having the gray base plate but it wasn’t the shape that they wanted to work with. I started playing around with different things and experimenting with the smaller ones that had seen a lot of use. I finally came up with a way to cut or trim the plates without having them break or cracking the process. You will end up with some waste pieces along the way but if you do it slowly and take your time you will come out with a great looking unique piece. The easier way I found to cut through this is with an X-Acto knife. That might sound crude but it works. You have to have a completely flat surface to work on [wood or a self healing piece of plastic] and mark out the areas that you want to cut away or keep. Use a Sharpie marker to get this job done but remember to cut outside the line so you don’t have to worry about getting the ink off. Working small section and use a thin metal ruler to guide your cuts. If you try to make too large a cut at once you will end up with an uneven line and when you go to pop the piece out or bend it you will end up with an uneven line. I successfully cut out areas inside the large base plate so the boys could have them stacked five high and have a large clear pole inside the plate. This is how they built the sectional / cut away model of one of the Star Wars ships. It showed all the different levels of the ship without having to have exterior walls to support it. I can’t take credit for the design because that was all their doing but I was the one that did all the cutting and sanding down of the edges. You may need to make a few passes with the knife so make sure you use a ruler or metal edged level to guide your cuts.
Keeping It Clean!
Most of the dirt and dust that accumulates on the base plate can be cleaned with a light brush or a can of air but when they are really dirty you might need to soak them in some warm water to loosen the dirt then use a finger brush or scrubber to get the rest off. These shouldn't be put into the dishwasher since there is a chance that they could warp. Unless you get something really nasty on the plate it should be a snap to clean. Fingers have a natural amount of oil on them so unless you are planning on building your creations while wearing gloves, chances are that over a period of time you will notice a build up of dirt on the tops of the plates. These do clean up easily but you will want to give them plenty of time to air dry before you go to use them again.
Things To Know
This shouldn’t be confused with the extra large or jumbo sized base plate that measures 15 x 15. That one can run as much as $15.00 in stores and while it's worth it, the size can be a hindrance to move around or store
The Bottom Line
The base plates are a great way to provide a solid base to build on; they might cost a little more than you want to pay but in the long run you are getting a solid piece of plastic that can be used over and over again for a multitude of things. These won't work with Duplo sized bricks but there are specialty Duplo base plates that can be purchased. If you are looking at building a large scene or are planning to join smaller sets together, a base plate of this size is a great way to get things started. If your design gets a little out of control you can always attach other plates to it as needed or invest in the larger 15 x 15 size.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Space Port Accessories
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Brick Separator
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Lego Classic Building Set
Lego Creator Board Game
Lego editorials ...
Learning To Speak Lego
What Should You Know About LEGO
What Should You Know About Construction Toys
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $11.00
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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