82 replies to this topic

[KimT]

Recently I was introduced to the fantastic "Unofficial Advanced Building Techniques Manual"
And it got me started. (This topic it was)Something in the way I think and build LEGO has slightly changed.
I've tried to use some of the techniques and I'm sure I've seen more than a few of them used by other members.
Are you lost at what I'm speaking about? Then click >here<
My thought was that we could share ideas and techniques in this topic.
That way we'll have it all in one spot

Index of useful topics on construction and building techniques:
~VBBN~'s tutorial on SNOT roads click >here<
The Unofficial Advanced Building Techniques Manual click >here<
Tedddy's tutorial on Angled Walls click >here<
James Mathis Train Snot Tutorial click >here<
LEGO Builder's Guide Grids click >here<
Jamie Berard's Lesson on Stressing the Brick click >here<
Holger Matthes' World Of Bricks Site click >here<
Foot to brick conversion click >here<
Carbohydrate's topic on SNOT studies click >here<
Athos' topic on roof building techniques >here<

Feel free to post more links to topics, manuals and stuff like that and I'll add them here

Edited by KimT, 01 November 2009 - 10:41 PM.
more useful links found and added

[VBBN]

Looks great! And I will see about the Rounded wall. I don't have that many 1x3's, so I too would like a better solution.

[KimT]

I'll start off by asking a question and then share some pics of what I've tried out so far.

Q: When building a round wall (as the yellow one in the pic below) is there a fixed amount needed for me to be able to build on top of it. At first I used 15 1x3 bricks and 15 1x1 round bricks. This made it very difficult to built on top of. Now I've expanded it to 16 bricks of each and it's nearly 21 studs wide. Nearly . Has anyone got any experience in building round towers or has anyone seen any, that I can look at to get ideas and be inspired?

Now the pics of my birth in the advanced techniques world

[Lego12]

This is a good idea KimT! Those rounded walls look really cool!

Lego12

[KimT]

This is already going fast.
So far I've added Teddy's tutorial on Angled Walls, VBBN's tutorial on SNOT roads and a link for the Unofficial Advanced Building Techniques Manual.
It's great to share and learn this way

[CopMike]

KimT, on Oct 7 2008, 10:28 PM, said:

Has anyone got any experience in building round towers or has anyone seen any, that I can look at to get ideas and be inspired?

Well, I did a small well for Brickworld 2008:

It uses 1x2´s and 1x1 round bricks. Doesn´t look as good as your 1x3 but gets the diameter down.
More pics here.

And here´s a big pic from Legoworld in Oslo 2008:


CopMike

[KimT]

Thanks for sharing CopMike.
I'll definately try the 1x2 brick and 1x1 round brick technique.
Do you have any idea how they made the top of the oil tanks?
I need to discover/invent/whatever a way to build a top floor on a cylindrical tower.
I'm not sure wether it's going to be my yellow version or a smaller one using the dimesions of your well.

[Pickerel]

On this picture of Steve DeCraemer's wonderful MOC, he uses a wonderful building technique for making rounded SNOT walls. Picture from Hinckley's wonderful site Brickzone. I'm just in a  wonderful mood today, aren't I?  

Although it is very shaky you can have a curved wall using something simialar to Copmike's well that uses 1x2 tiles (to represent real life bricks) attached to headlight bricks. Not sure If this is my idea or if someone came up with it before me, or if it's of any use to this thread. I don't have the time now, but I'll try to picture this sometime to show what I'm talking about.

The sight called Lego on my mind that you mentioned in the PDF that has a lot more techniques that deserve mentioning like this, and this.

Also note worthy is Count Blockula's hip technique .

I've never seen the 1x1 diagonal technique before, are there any MOCs that use this?

This topic's a great idea!  

EDIT: Links to Erik Brok's website dont go where I'd like them to. The section where it does go has most of his ideas I was talking about.

Edited by Pickerel, 08 October 2008 - 12:31 AM.

[KimT]

Inspired by Copmike's pictures I resized the cylinder using 1x2 bricks and 1x1 round bricks.
Later I'll show how it ends in my Yellow Castle Modular topic in the H&A forum.
Pics:

[CP5670]

The advanced building pdf in the first post has some excellent ideas. However, there are a few methods in there that I would not advise using, either because they are too flimsy or they do long term damage to pieces (and which TLG internally considers illegal for that reason).

[Fluyt]

KimT, on Oct 7 2008, 11:49 PM, said:

Thanks for sharing CopMike.
I'll definately try the 1x2 brick and 1x1 round brick technique.
Do you have any idea how they made the top of the oil tanks?
I need to discover/invent/whatever a way to build a top floor on a cylindrical tower.
I'm not sure wether it's going to be my yellow version or a smaller one using the dimesions of your well.

I think it's made with wedge ("wing") pieces like these, arranged in a "circle" (not a perfect circle, but it'll do I think) and the center is filled with "ufo" pieces like these. Not 100% sure on the wedge plates, there are more ways to do it.

Edited by Fluyt, 08 October 2008 - 04:19 PM.

[KimT]

Fluyt, on Oct 8 2008, 04:19 PM, said:

I think it's made with wedge ("wing") pieces like these, arranged in a "circle" (not a perfect circle, but it'll do I think) and the center is filled with "ufo" pieces like these. Not 100% sure on the wedge plates, there are more ways to do it.

Thanks for the help.
I've managed to work my way around it.

Topic indexed

[Phaz-Ing]

I disagree with some of the advanced techniques (sorry) -- I'm specifically talking about the ToPLES technique (where you put a plate between two studs). Even though it was official, i'm still very hesitant to use that kind of technique. I tried implementing it in LDD, and it didn't allow it.

Ah well, maybe its just my taste.

Otherwise this list is super-great!

[Captain Zuloo]

Phaz-Ing, on Oct 21 2008, 06:35 PM, said:

I disagree with some of the advanced techniques (sorry) -- I'm specifically talking about the ToPLES technique (where you put a plate between two studs). Even though it was official, i'm still very hesitant to use that kind of technique. I tried implementing it in LDD, and it didn't allow it.

Ah well, maybe its just my taste.

Otherwise this list is super-great!

However in some of the really old sets this technique was used. For instance: that plane with the tail.

[CP5670]

Yes, the plate between two studs is fairly standard and has been done in some official sets.

In general though, I also avoid some "advanced" techniques I occasionally see people using, because of their low strength. I prefer simple but strong assemblies over anything flimsy even if it is complex and looks nice. That probably comes from being a Technic builder, where strength is a high priority to ensure that models work properly.

[Buttons]

How about the classic coaster/drinks mat design?


Or even better this?:

[Front]

As an expert on geometry, I have been interested in Platonic solid for a long time.
Platonic Solids on wikipedia
The dodecahedron is a 12 sided solid consisting of 5-sided polygons as faces.
The Icosahedron is a 20 sided solid with 3-sided polygons as faces.

These two are each others duals. If you draw triangles from the center of each face on the 12-sided Dodecahedron, you get a geometry with 12 corners and 20 sides, and that is the Icosahedron. Similar you can arrive at the Dodecahedron by drawing Pentagons from each center of the triangles on the 20-sided Icosahedron.

Similar, they can be made with the exact same Lego elements.


12 sided Dodecahedron (left) and 20 sided Icosahedron (right). They have the same number of edges (30), which is why the can be built with the same number of bricks.

60 hinge plates (forming the corners in the triangles or pentagons)
60 pairs of "grip" and "bar" hinge plates (forming the angle between adjecent faces).
60 1x6 plates (or tiles is in the picture).

Some 1x6 reinforcement plates on the inside can help making the structures sturdy.

---

Archimedean solids on wikipedia can be derived from Platonic solids, in most cases by cutting of corners.

With the building technic shown by me here, it is not possible to make those structures. That is because the solids have different polygons (e.g. 5- and 6-sided polygons in the famoues Truncated Icosahedron solid, which is used as a pattern on soccer balls). The actual edge lenght of the two structures in my pictures, are not 6 studs long as the plates would indicate, but a bit more depending of the number of sides on the polygons made (3-sided or 5-sided in the pictures).

I will have to figure out a good way to make Archimedean solids with Lego elements in the future.

Front

[MoonCheese]

Those could be some huge tabletop RPG dice.

[Skelotic]

Front, that is just amazing.  I mean to be able to create something like that I would have to make a huge bricklink order (I mainly have classic bricks and some new Star Wars sets due to just coming out of my Dark Ages.

[Buttons]

Not mine but still great  

[Teddy]

Buttons, on Dec 13 2008, 09:52 PM, said:

Not mine but still great  

Dear Buttons,

thanks for posting that!
That's one cool cube.

Dear Front,

I really like those structures you made!
That's some amazingly crazy 3D building.  

kind regards,

Teddy

[KimT]

Added this fine question:

Foot to brick conversion click >here<

[Capt. Kirk]

This technic is from Nathan Todd... and it's a nice solution for round towers.

[LuxorV]

Capt. Kirk, on Feb 12 2009, 01:46 AM, said:

This technic is from Nathan Todd... and it's a nice solution for round towers.

Well, that'd be Norro's site .


LuxorV

[Capt. Kirk]

LuxorV, on Feb 12 2009, 10:15 AM, said:

Well, that'd be Norro's site .
LuxorV

Sorry didn't know that Nathan Todd = Norro... you cannot know everyone...  
My source: brothers-brick.com

Edited by Capt. Kirk, 15 February 2009 - 10:46 PM.