Tips for designing a Ninjago modular building
Posted by Huw,
This article has been contributed by Kim Plata:
Whether we’re Ninjago fans or not, when we saw the Ninjago City Gardens, we nodded and told to ourselves, “yeah, that’s a cool set!” and after seeing all 3 official sets combined with all the diversity and details packed in 4 base plates, I decided that I wanted to expand on it using parts from my collection.
As I built & studied the official sets and looked at other Ninjago MOCs, I learned a few things that make Ninjago sets look the way they do. Even though it is modular in essence, the overall style sets itself apart from the modular buildings, Harry Potter and other themes.
Here are some tips and guides to help creators design and build MOCs that can connect and expand on the Ninjago modular sets. They are in no particular order and designers can choose to apply all or some of them as they see fit.
1. Layout – the layout of a Ninjago set or MOC is generally split into two; one half is for the gray base where the main building is placed. A key note to consider is the placement of the 2-brick high, 4-stud wide pathway that can connect to other Ninjago sets. The pathway is placed 3 studs from the edge of the base plate.
The other half is the trans light blue water placed on top of black, dark green and green plates to create the appearance of changes in the water level. Use black for wide open spaces and transition into dark green and green as it moves closer to the main structure. Small structures can be placed in the water area to make good use of the space and ensure that the MOC is as dense and diverse as possible. As an example, a watermill has been placed beside the water area.
It is also very important to note that most rooms are 6-7 bricks high and average about 8x8 studs in size. Ninjago sets excel in making use of small spaces and packing them with so much details.
2. Establishment Compatibility – a Ninjago building would usually have 3-4 levels; of which, the first 2 are in the old oriental style and the top levels are in a modern/futuristic steampunk style. One can imagine that the lower levels are for the work life and the upper levels are for the party/night life.
For the first 2 levels, it is best to think of establishments that people use on a daily basis. The docks and city gardens have a fruit market and a noodle shop respectively. Adding a fish market, meat shop and other essential shops would fit well with the existing businesses from the official Ninjago sets. A tool shop is shown below as an example of a business that can be placed on the first level. The second level is a living space for the tool shop owner.
For the top floors, more vibrant businesses are ideal. A LEGO store with oriental features can be added. Placing it beside the ice cream shop of the city gardens or the arcade of the docks would make sense and give the impression that this part of the city is for the younger minifigs.
3. Color Scheme – the great part about building a Ninjago extension MOC is that you can use any color you want. The overall style does not limit itself with solid colors throughout the building; however, there are recurring patterns that the official sets have shown.
The first 2 levels use earth tone, muted colors like white, sand green and gray with brown frameworks. This color scheme ties in with the intended old oriental style. On the upper levels, the color scheme is vibrant and rich ranging from bright light orange to blue or turquoise to lavender. This is where a designer can go wild with his imagination.
One thing to note when choosing the color is to consider the other establishment beside it. It is important to use a color that would not clash but also not blend too much that it would get lost in the overall scene. As an example, the yellow store has been placed between 2 structures to break the monotonous blue color.
4. Frameworks – In all levels of the building, the main purpose of the frameworks is to break continuous or monotonous colors and maintain visually interesting facades.
As previously mentioned, the oriental structures are framed in brown columns and this distinguishes them from the upper levels of the building. Plates are also used in between to break the wall into 2-3 sections. It is ideal to use these colors to get better blending with the official sets; however, if you do not have them available, white, tan, dark tan and other earth tone colors are also viable options.
For the upper levels, frameworks are also used for the same purpose of breaking continuous wall. Colors used are usually darker tones of the main color of the structure. As an example, Dark blue is used as frameworks for the medium azure ice cream shop.
5. Greebles and Accent Pieces – Ninjago sets are full of greebles and accent pieces on walls, roofs and every other surface. They make the whole set look busy and visually stimulating. In every corner or angle, you can see bits and pieces of unusual shapes that looks very cohesive in the overall façade.
If you have unusual pieces that won’t seem to fit in any theme, Ninjago is the place to find use for them. The use of gold, gray and/or black pieces make an otherwise plain surface interesting. The trick is to place just enough pieces as accents but not too much that it will look cluttered.
6. Roofing – while modular buildings tend to use different colors with the light bluish gray as the base, Ninjago sets use mostly black pieces that tend to look like roof shingles. Use parts like treasure chest covers, hinge plates, knives and inverted slopes to make oriental style roofing. This would tie in really well with the existing sets.
7. Interior – Regardless of the available space inside a room, Ninjago sets take advantage of it by using the walls as part of appliances and furniture. Stickers, printed tile and other minifig utensils are usually placed on walls using modified plates with clips to save on space. Furniture tend to be smaller than what would be seen in a normal modular building.
8. Stickers & Printed Pieces – Ninjago sets are notorious for using a lot of stickers. These are usually signs, adverts and logos that make the set look busier and more interesting.
9. Geometry – Ninjago sets are never block and organized. The best way to describe it is chaotic yet cohesive. Geometry plays a big part as well, buildings come in all shapes. You can use angled doors, inverted slopes, arches or just build the upper levels offset by 1-2 studs. This again breaks what would otherwise be straight, clean cut structure.
The sample MOC is by no means perfect and the tips and guides above have barely scratched the surface when it comes to building Ninjago style MOCs; however, I do hope that they have given you some ideas and helped you visualize what you plan for your own Ninjago sets. The key is to just keep trying and improving the MOC as you learn new techniques.
To see the selection of MOCs I have created so far you can visit my shop on the Belle-Ve Bricks website.
I hope you enjoyed this article, if you would like to read similar posts by me on the Belle-Ve Bricks blog.
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20 comments on this article
Nice, I’ve been building one myself, and I’ve been trying to convince my friend to do the same. This will help greatly! Thanks!
I always love seeing extensions to the Ninjago City sets! The purple spire at the top looks especially striking.
Nice article!
Fantastic article, and I love your build especially the tool and Lego shops. It's also worth thinking about the time line, the first two levels would have being built in the last century using traditional materials and designs with space in-between and areas for tranquility. Then as there was no more land left in this century, the modern buildings are built literally above, but need structural support to the ground and also more packed sharing communal walls and walkways.
More articles like this!
Thanks for this article, I prefer to buy the Ninjago modulars when I can myself but this is mighty helpful.
I was hoping for a more detailed recipe for the measurements to get the modules to line up...
The baseplate sideholes matches the modulars, and the waterfront walkway is easy enough - but how high up (and in) is the upper walkway placed exactly?
Nice! One small correction: there are 4 parts to the complete Ninjago City, but 5 baseplates. The Ninjago City docks is comprised of a 32 x 32 and a 16 x 32 baseplate combined together, which technically makes 5 baseplates.
Anyways, great article!
Thats so cool!
Really wonderful article. Thank you for sharing this!
@Jacopyright said:
"I was hoping for a more detailed recipe for the measurements to get the modules to line up...
The baseplate sideholes matches the modulars, and the waterfront walkway is easy enough - but how high up (and in) is the upper walkway placed exactly?"
I’ve built many Ninjago District extensions and have found the Unofficial Ninjago Baseplate standard published by TBB to be very helfpul.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brothers-brick.com/2018/10/20/ninjago-city-collaborative-display-at-brickcon-2018/amp/
One important thing not mentioned in the article, although not demonstrated: easter eggs. Not just Ninjago easter eggs, but to other themes as well. Mostly on stickers in official sets, in the example MOC you can see the plane from 10270 Book Shop and the telescope from 75969 Hogwarts Astronomy Tower.
There's tons of modular MOC, but so few for Ninjago City. Anybody has a list of decent ones to look into?
Great article, Thanks! The Ninjago facades are super cool and versatile.
For the ones that are less savvy in building modulars themselves, TLG should create smaller Ninjago modular sets with different funky facades that can be integrated with each other, even with CITY and Creator neighborhoods. Can make it like 400 + pieces, 2-3 figs or so ($35 range), just like the ones in CITY and Creator. This will allow everyone with different budgets to build up or diversify their cities, or neighborhoods, or street for that matter. If they can make modular sets as small as 31050 Corner Deli, they can do this too.
@Norikins said:
"One important thing not mentioned in the article, although not demonstrated: easter eggs. Not just Ninjago easter eggs, but to other themes as well. Mostly on stickers in official sets, in the example MOC you can see the plane from 10270 Book Shop and the telescope from 75969 Hogwarts Astronomy Tower."
For the plane you mention I think you mean the one on the roof of the Lego store in which case would actually be from 60268.
Love this, very useful and inspiring!
I'll dig out this article when I finally get around to building all of the official sets. We'll definitely need some MOC blocks otherwise the Destiny's Bounty and the Monkey Kid tug boat docked or floating in the surrounding waters are going to absolutely dwarf the city itself...
Very nice article. I hope you can do one for Harry Potter Hogwarts sets too.
Great article. I'm surprised we don't see more Ninjago modular MOCs.
The first moment I saw that original Ninjago City set, I fell in love with the format, and how it managed to use vertical space very efficiently while swapping cars for boats. Now I'm planning to make a Lego city of my own using that format, so this article was very informative and useful. I wouldn't mind reading more on the subject.
@Phoenixio said:
"There's tons of modular MOC, but so few for Ninjago City. Anybody has a list of decent ones to look into?"
I think it's easy to find content online. But "decent" sounds pretty subjective. What one likes, the other not necessarilly likes, too.
For instant, this is my Ninjago-themed MOC, first displayed in September 2019. Posted on Eurobricks. https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/177551-moc-ninjago-city/