Greetings traveler! Come aboard my ship, and follow me to a place unlike anyone you've ever seen. For we're not going at sea, no, we're going up, up above the clouds, to the village in the sky.

This model has been designed by Syrdarian and I, Leewan.

It measures 27x23x28cm / 10.6x9x11in (Width x Depth x Height), and features 14 floating islands and islets, which are home to a whole village. It may be a small model, but it's filled with details! There are a lot of houses and farms, but also a watermill and a windmill, a wharf with its lighthouse, and, towering the village is the lord's castle, with its own lighthouse. Rope bridges connect the islands, but there are also three flying ships, that can be used to move people or goods between the islands, or even to other villages and cities.

It is not only a display model, it is a kinetic scupture : turn the crank to see the islands move! The crank can be placed on either side of the base, but you can also connect an electric motor to the back to make the islands move by themselves. The model can also be displayed without the crank - there is an extra cloud module that can be used instead.

A word from the designers :

Leewan : When I was a kid I liked watching the animated series Dragon Hunters, which was set in a medieval fantasy world full of floating land masses. I was fascinated by this setting, and I remember that at one point I've built a small island using two LURPs upside down. Since then it's a subject that I've always wanted to revisit, and I thought it could make an original BDP entry.

Making it microscale felt obvious to me - this gives the possibility to have a variety of islands, with several buildings on them, without having to worry too much about parts count and stability. But one key element about floating islands is that they, well, float in the sky. They're not static. So to me it was essential to make them move, to actually recreate the effect of floating. So, before even beginning of designing any island, I've created a sturdy frame that would house a Technic mechanism, with gears and linkages. They took a lot of refinement, because they had to be quite slow and slight, display a variety of movements so that not all of the islands moved in the same way (that would be boring and feel less natural), all the while being reliable and easy to build. All of these mechanisms were hidden in the cloud that make up the base, so they're almost invisible on the final model.

Syrdarian : Although I've seen Dragon Hunters a few times, I didn't watch it live like Leewan did. Instead, my passion for sky worlds with floating cities and other features comes from my time spent building in Minecraft, where, surprisingly, I spent a lot of time creating stuff. Naturally, this passion jumped into Lego. To be honest, I haven't played a lot of medieval fantasy video games. This isn't because I don't like the style; rather, it's because most MMORPGs don't allow me to create. Yet, as most of my mocs show, I have a genuine passion for the fantasy style.

I've experimented with microscale buildings a few times, and even though I don't think I've fully explored the possibilities, I've found myself having a ton of fun creating microscale worlds. I really enjoy creating landscapes, but they typically require a lot of room. However, at the microscale, more things can be done because fewer components are needed. Micro flying islands have been on my wish list as well, and I'm happy we were able to make it happen.
In this project, I’ve tried to make the terrain of the islands as aesthetically pleasing as possible while maintaining their solidity and ease of construction. It was far from being an easy task, as, I must admit, my creations are not recognized for being the most sturdy because they are only built for photography purposes. It was quite challenging and refreshing. Additionally, I’ve given careful consideration to the colors chosen, the details, and the composition with the various placements of the islands and buildings. Working with Leewan was fantastic. I’ve learned a lot about model buildings, and I think we work well together on projects like this.