The Most Price Effective Way to do LEGO MILS 

Great video. Appreciate the math breakdown. A few points of consideration. If you have access to a pick a brick wall at Lego then the 4x4 plates are more economical. With the new boxes you can get nearly 200 if you stack. That’s about 10 cents a brick. Also the big plates are great for putting modulars on but may not be best for landscaping. For what it’s worth.

ACTUALLY the most useful video for me in a long time, i plan to go MILS as well. Thanks dude!

I appreciate putting different MILS theories into practice for actual testing. Science!

Nice video showing the cost and reducing the use of 2x2’ in the middle

Also, the 16x16 is multi purpose. The Twin Lug Micropolis standard is built on a 16x16 module size.

I think it depends a lot on where you buy your bricks. Everyone should do the math if they plan on using mils plates. Personally I still prefer the old road plates and I will be continuing to use those mainly because I can't justify the money and effort spent just to raise everything by one brick. But I understand why people do it, it's just not worth it for me.

I’ve been looking for a more price effective MILS solution forever! This is perfect!

Thank you, the perfect video at the perfect time. Great stuff. Subscribed 👍👍

Great presentation. Very thorough and informative! Thank you!

you’re awesome tim, thank you for this

thank you, very helpful

For those how want to save even more Money. Alternative bricks, or in that Case plates can save even more Money. But that IS offen a Philosophic question 😉

Amazing video, clearly explained and very helpful. Thank u so much. Made my 1st ever mils using Ur final style and love it.

Honestly I don't know why everyone doesn't just use the after market fake Lego pieces and save a fortune. Yeah they are not "real" Lego but it's just to build a mils base. Then build your Lego set on top. Makes way more sense.

Great video! Very well researched and edited :)

Thank you for this, now can start doing this with my stuff

Hey, thank you a lot for the video. I have to do a couple of those for toy photography. Have a great evening.

Excellent video ❤️

I did the calculations, and where I live it's cheaper to use 4x4. Plus I managed to buy a chunk of 2x4 cheaply, and I like the flexibility of 4x4 for landscaping. My point being that everyone should do their own maths.

Thanks, very useful, I liked the demonstration of strength as well! Did you try to use Technic Bricks 16x16 from art sets?

Great to know, thank you

63805 is what I use 2 70 a piece and it's 16 by 16 with technic holes in the corners just pop 4 down and done

Fantastic video, thank you so much. The "crash test" was very helpful! Can I ask you about the MOC that we see on the left of the Medieval Blacksmith?

Mils plate is a great way to get rid of any megablox that might have ended up in your collection lol

This is a question I've had for awhile, but I never bothered to do the math, so props to you! Also, I haven't confirmed this, but it seems that for the most part, the price per stud gets cheaper as the piece gets bigger. Like getting two 1x4s would cost $0.32, but one 1x8 would cost $0.29. I assume this is true for plates and other element types as well. Cool video!

Quick tip: you can buy 4x6 roof bricks for 1 cent each

I saw your comment on your video on how to make Lego Mills and you said you were going to make a cost-effective way so it brought me here thank you

Great video gave me the idea to look through my Lego collection to see if I had something to use or something similar . I did it is the base plates for the Lego art sets which is element 65803 Brick Special 16 x 16 x 1 1/3 with Pinholes

For a baseplate that's light yet sturdy, you could try arches. Or specifically "brick with bow" as they call the small ones. Also roof and inverted roof pieces. I'm not going to have a lot of baseplates so I'm going to have the edges of mine be more decorated, and maybe be fancy with the inside and use arches or whatever else will be both sturdy and lightweight. Making inverse pyramids with plates could also work.

Cheapest way I found is by getting all the parts off the pab wall and filling the gaps in the cup(or box) with other parts

If you would put the four corner pieces in the inner ring one stud closer the outer corner wouldn't it become much stronger?

I've always wondered! Happy to have the answer before I get heavy into MILS! Too bad the big ones aren't best sellers in Light and Dark Bluish Gray. 😕

I’m just getting into city building. Mils plate is the way to go. I was a builder as a kid, technic pins not required

I suspect that the way you build some would depend on their ultimate usage. If you are doing lighting on interiors or a custom flooring on the same you would need to use the more traditional MILS plate designs. In any case, I greatly appreciate your analysis of the options. 😊

Quality original content

Hi, nice video. You are right, 16x16 plates are the best option. Congrats from MILS creator

solid argument. I personally prefer to use larger 4x2 bricks on the joins for larger plates when I want rigidity, but I suspect that's not an uncommon insight 😅

"Why do I ever need to learn math, it's so useless in the real world" So you know you can save money by buying 4 16x16 LEGO plates for $2.60 each instead of 62 4x4s for $0.20 each!

Great video! I’m new to mils plates and I wanted to do the 16x16 plates, but everyone else seems to use small plates and I was worried I was doing to wrong

Great vid - it would be helpful if you added ALL parts needed to the spreadsheet - baseplate, the 1x1 studs and the technic sticks + connector pins... just saying :)

Color is a factor. Building white mold plates for a winter village. Can’t touch 16x16 in white in any decent quantity for less than 7 bucks a plate on brinklink but can get 4x4 for 9 cents a piece.

You forgot to link the connect bricks in the corners. Nice video, thanks!

Only downside I can think of to using the much larger plates, is it limits your ability to build inset ponds/etc, as you'd need to replace with some smaller plates anyway, however just keeping a couple dozen in storage for whenever you want to do that type of terrain/decorations, other than that v useful info, thank you!

I only use the 16x16 plates from the pictures/mosaic sets. The cost per piece are 3.38€, means 4x 3.38€ = 13.52€.

A very informative video. Thanks. Have you done this for 48x32, which would be for modulars like Assembly Square and the Natural History Museum?

I know its controversial, but for everything MILS plate, what we did was buy alternative brand lego parts, since they aren't visible. They work just as well, and literally, the entire cost of a MILS plate with all its pieces costs anywhere between $2-5, depending on the size.

What about using 1x1s

Imagine spending hundrets upon hundrets of €/$ to recognize that you have to buy more just to ensure a basic “function”.

Have you considered theb16x16x1&1/3 (so 4 plates high) art pieces? don't know how much these cost in the US but on Europe lego sells them for 3.5€ aproximately (so about 14€ per baseplate, solid AF and you only have to use 4 pieces lol)

I've been doing my mils like this day one I must be a genius 😆

do you not like the 1 high 16x16 technic plates? then you do not have the price of base plates at all? and just need pins as required.

Great video thanks from a beginner working with mill plates. 😁

How much are the 32x32 base plates

how much would 1 32x32 cost?

Why wouldnt you just buy 32x32 for top and bottom??

Wait $2.5 for this tiny piece? Wow I'm glad I purchased Minecraft 10 years ago instead of purchasing more legos

"Pin connector that has 1 hole"? I'm pretty sure they're just called 1x2 technic bricks...

I didn’t even know there were 16x16 plates 😂

Ok, the elephant in the room: if you want to be cost-effective, you have to use alternative brick brands. Easy as this, the cost is divided by 3 to 5.

The Most Price Effective Way use: non original brick :D

Where's the sound?

Go to your local dollar tree and look for plates

How about not buying that overpriced LEGO stuff? By now alternatives are cheaper and better.

There is a more inexpensive way..use other vendors ;)

The cheapest solution is using 1pcs 32x32...... and sometimes you can get it with 50% discount....

To late

I'm not your opinion. My first MILS were the classic 64 4x4-plates with 2x2-bricks underneath. Then I found 16x16-plates and realized how much money I could save. But soon I got disappointed because with the 4 16x16 plates you're not nearly getting as solid MILS as with the 64 4x4-plates - even when using the same amount of 2x2-bricks underneath. So you can build other, cheaper plates than MILS plates. But I wouldn't call them MILS-plates, as they are not as good as the original. Call them "MILS-compatible" if you will.

bricklink new pieces will still be cheaper

Alot of misinformation here first, it's not MILLS it's MILS second, you don't have to remove a modular from it's included baseplate for it to work with a MILS plate, it sits on top just fine and at the same height too. Most LUGs and AFOLs do it this way too so they have a higher curb than the roads third, using 16x16 plates is not recommended because they warp the MILS plate (curling). 4x4 plates are the best option because it not only reinforces the structure, but you can literally peel off the 32x32 baseplate and it will stay together. so it's an easy transfer to another baseplate or if you need to change out some parts with other colors, it's easier this method. fourth, having the gaps on the sides where it connects to the technic brick is a bad idea, you lose structural integrity this way and then you have to use 16x16 baseplates which cause a MILS to curl and it limits your capability to make streams, lava, etc. Your side bricks will come apart when you try to connect your technic bricks with the pins to another MILS because your forcing that part to take all the stress rather than evenly distributing the stress of those parts across the entire edge. You definitely don't have the IQ to be talking about this as advice if you're not considering what you are giving up vs how much you are paying. MILS wasn't meant to be cost effective, it was meant to be display effective, durable, easy storage and transport. If you want a cost effective way just use the 32x32 baseplate without the MILS. What you're recommending isn't a MILS plate with that kind of loss in structural integrity.

Ill be honest Id rather use roblox instead of lego because unlike lego roblox studio parts are free and its so much easier than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on actual lego bricks

yes but the MOST price effective mils plates are chinese offbrand lego plates. you dont see them anyways so just use real lego at the top!