I bought and built a recently discontinued set from the Little Mermaid the other week. Like many smaller sets, it was a bit incomplete. It had some very nice objects in it, but one thing it was sorely lacking was water. There are a few ways to do Lego water. I basically only needed a surface. Chris builds everything of a certain size on something called a MILS. This is useful for big buildings, like the Lego creator buildings that have a city feel to them like Brick Bank because it makes them a lot easier to move around and connect. It also allows you to do more interesting things with a surface. This is what I wanted it for. More than that, I wanted to put the boat in the “Kiss the Girl” at an angle, since in the movie and in real life, boats rarely go quite as straight as the studs on a Lego base board.
With the MILS board, I was able to do a mix of plates and tiles:
1 X 4 plate
1 X 2 tile
The boat was attached to the studs of plates in place, but the tile allowed it to sit flat. I also added some more sea creatures and plants, as the lagoon was positively teaming with life in the movie.
Here’s the video: