Carbohydrates

SNOT studies

Recommended Posts

indexed.gif

Hello! As mentioned in my introduction thread, I'm just now getting back into LEGO after a long hiatus and am working in CAD as I don't really own any physical bricks - only 3 sets at the moment.

I've recently been fascinated by the way bricks go together. Their dimensions are so precise, it allows for some very creative SNOT work. This has led to me playing with a few concepts here.

First off, this is a pretty rudimentary technique. 5 plates tall = 2 bricks wide, and you can turn a section sideways to "frame" a 1x2 brick. Like I said, this is pretty basic, but I'm posting it for reference.

snottiles001.png

Okay, but I wanted to use this as decoration in a pillar, but the problem is there's that ugly technic brick with the half pin showing on the side, so I came up with a different way to hold it all together.

snottiles002.png

The four side panels are two pieces, with one held in place by a headlight brick. The other one is held in place by the form of the first and is not actually connected by studs anywhere. Put together, the whole unit is actually very solid.

snottiles003.png

Here it is built into a pillar:

snottiles006.png

Here's another application of the general technique. Potential castle decor?

snottiles004.png

Assembly:

snottiles005.png

Part 2493, The 1x4x5 window frame, has an opening that's 8 stacked plates wide by 5 studs tall. This allows enough space to use it to house a bank of windows, composed of two halves. The studs facing left and right keep the assembly from falling out of the frame, as long as there's something behind it as well.

WindowArray001.png

WindowArray002.png

Application in the form of a mini-scale skyscraper:

WindowArray003.png

I was reading Classic-Space earlier today and there was a thread on fitting 45 degree slope bricks together without the gap. I went ahead and made this, which turned out to be much more difficult than I thought it was going to be. The goal was to build a 4x4 octagon into the wall with no gaps and only 1 brick depth. I wish it was cleaner, but I've tried a few designs now and this is still the best. I think I'll tackle it again in the future, though.

octagon001.png

This turned out to be good practice for 1/2 plate vertical offsets:

octagon002.png

Works as a window as well:

octagon003.png

Finally, there's no real practical application for this, but it was fun to build. This is mostly just practicing the nestled headlight bricks technique (is there an official name for this?), which is a favorite of mine.

ball001.png

ball002.png

ball003.png

Anyways, thanks for viewing! Let me know if you found this interesting, useful, or incredibly boring!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I really like the first one the best. It has the most uses, IMO. I'm sure these will be put to good use.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is genius! :thumbup:

All of these techniques are superb. I didn't realise you could do that with the window frame - that's definitely something to keep in mind. My favourite is the angled wall without a gap! That's a fantastic technique that must have taken a long time to figure out.

I'd love to see you build these for real!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Anyways, thanks for viewing! Let me know if you found this interesting, useful, or incredibly boring!

Boring? The work you 've done is absolutely great! It's like a very good tutorial to SNOT techniques!

Amazing SNOT techniques, and very useful, specially the windows! :wink:

I couldn't agree more. The windows technique is probably the best!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow! Those are great, they must have taken a while to think up. I might have to use one or two of those SNOT techniques some time, they're genius! :thumbup:

:skull:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very interesting. That last technique is used extensively for building tanker for trains. I don't recall them being that refined, though. I also like the pillars.

For the green square with white octagon, replace the nestled headlight-bricks with a single 1x2 brick, and the lower half, replace the plates and tiles with a 1x4 plate and 1x4 tile. That should give it a nice, clean look. Besides, there's no need to overcomplicate things. Indeed, eventually you will notice that the "nestled headlights"-technique isn't perfect when used in rows, as there are some 0,01mm or something there that causes some extraordinary stress to the bricks.

Also, seeing your interest in extraordinary building techniques, here's an interesting article written by Jamie Berard - creator of Café Corner and Green Grocer, about stressing bricks with do's and don'ts.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very interesting techniques, Carbohydrates! (funny name, btw) :sweet:

I bookmarked this page. :thumbup:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
For the green square with white octagon, replace the nestled headlight-bricks with a single 1x2 brick, and the lower half, replace the plates and tiles with a 1x4 plate and 1x4 tile. That should give it a nice, clean look. Besides, there's no need to overcomplicate things. Indeed, eventually you will notice that the "nestled headlights"-technique isn't perfect when used in rows, as there are some 0,01mm or something there that causes some extraordinary stress to the bricks.

Thanks! As I said, that's one of my most recent builds so it's really in "first draft" stage - compared to the others, it's pretty sloppy and unrefined. I took your idea also cleaned up the bottom-right a lot more by rearranging the bottom section and I'm much happier with it now. It's much cleaner, I think:

octagon001b.png

octagon002b.png

Thanks for your advice and the link to the article, I'll go ahead and view that as well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A very smart and useful work, thanks for sharing these interesting techniques! :thumbup:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

thank you for sharing your great SNOT.

it will be useful for our MOC.

thanks again. you're really creative indeed.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Two words: THANK YOU.

I've been trying to develop some good SNOT techniques with the older bricks & parts (90s sets) but it's really not been too easy. This sheds light on why it is precisely that TLC is on a winning course with the newer range of parts enabling builders to use various SNOT techniques.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.