fred67

mini/midi modular castle.

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So, building off of ideas from the community build and the "wanted" castles sets, and not having enough pieces to make a large scale modular castle, and not having a lot of gray... I present the beginnings of my miniscale modular castle. Sorry about the picture quality, I'm trying to get a nice setup to take pictures.

I don't know what scale you'd consider this, but most people seem to call anything less than minifigure scale "mini." Maybe instead we can call this microfigure scale.

I actually have more built than what I have in the pictures, but I'm working on a lot more pieces, including ones using hinge bricks for arbitrary angles and a non-tower corner. I'll post more (if anyone cares) when I do it.

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The microfigures are from Minotaurus.

Edited by Rufus
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Good rendition of a mini-castle! :laugh: Look forward to more modules.

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I actually have more built than what I have in the pictures, but I'm working on a lot more pieces, including ones using hinge bricks for arbitrary angles and a non-tower corner. I'll post more (if anyone cares) when I do it.

Yes please. :classic: Maybe it could be a gnome castle?

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Aw it's cute so far :wink: , great design and build 'fred67' - it will be cool to see it after you have done all the modules.

Keep up the good work and I'm a conformist! ! :sweet:

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Nice mini castle fred :thumbup: . The microfigs fit in nicely. Cant wait to see the rest of your modules.

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Thanks for the comments, everyone. Since I first posted, I received a bricklink shipment which allowed me to build some more pieces. I'm working on a large corner piece right now, but last night I was pondering the question that was brought up in the "ideas for future castle sets" thread... that is, should the walls connect with technic pins, or hinges to allow the walls to go arbitrary angles?

I figured I'd do most with pins, and a few with hinges... but then it occurred to me that I could stick with technic pins on all the main sections (walls/towers/gates) and just have a bridge-element (a piece that joins two other modular pieces) and put the hinge there. That way the modular system remains really generic, and you don't need to plan pieces that have the hinges... you just put the hinged piece in-between anywhere you want.

I'm sure that's clear as mud, so pictures are worth a thousand words, right?

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The first picture shows three wall sections separated by two "bridges." I only have gray hinge bricks. I have white hinge plates, but this was easier and honestly, I like the gray breaking up the white every so often. I also have a lot more round 1x1 gray bricks... I think I have two white ones. The round grays obviously cover up the gap left by the way the hinges work...

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If you're going to have that large of an angle, you could probably use 2x2 round bricks to hide it instead, but it doesn't make much sense to go near or more than 90 degrees.

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I'm waiting on more jumper plates and white cheeses. I find I'm running out of a lot of pieces, as usual... seems to always happen. Anyhow, I'm happy so far... I'll post the large tower when I'm done with it. The large tower will be square, since (as far as I know) there are no 3x3 macaroni curves. I've tried towers that alternated 2x2 macaroni and 1x2 bricks, but then it just looks weird... just a square with rounded corners.

Edited by fred67

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It's been quite some time since I've done any work on the micro castle (yes, let's just call it micro). The first thing I did was, after looking at many modules together, I thought it looked kind of small, so I raised the basic wall height by two bricks. The entry also looked kind of awkward, hanging out in front by two studs, so I redid it and also made bigger doors after my complaint on another thread about LEGO scale being out of whack because the King's Chariot couldn't fit in the castle. :blush:

I made a couple of square towers to go with the rounded ones; I would like to make some more rounded ones, but only have new macaroni style, which can't be offset... it's driving me crazy! What the heck good are they? AAARRRRGGGG!!!! Got some old style ones on order from BL.

I was also inspired by this thread: Tinyfigs.

The microfigures included in Minotaurus won't be enough (and cost too much), and it would be nice for some soldiers to hold weapons, so I decided to try a few. My only problem is I don't have any minifigure knives, so they're just hold plain poles right now, although knives are in my wishlist. I also tried to come up with a suitable horse, as I'd like to make a carriage at some point, and while I was in a silly mood, I made a wizard.

So... just a quick snapshot of where I am so far.

Just an overview... including the little four towered castle thing I made with my daughter when she was home sick from school:

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The entry way from the inside, just because that's where I had some new "tinyfig" style guys:

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"Tinyfig" wizard to compare with some Minotaurus guys (and closer view of the horses):

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Nice update! The tinyfigs will look great when you get some little knives or daggers. I like the horses too.

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Update: I've been playing more with microfigures than building the castle (which is a shame, because only a few more sections will make it complete... but I want a new module that can hold a catapult or ballista, but I've been having fun with the microfigures and wanted to share "the joust."

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The next thing I need, apparently, is a lightbox, or some better setup to take pictures! I'm tired of these lousy images.

Differences between last time... I decided while riding a horse the bottom half of the people should be square, not round; added "lamp holders" to hold shields.

Brickshelf Gallery, when available.

Edited by fred67

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Hi Fred.

I love your micro castle and the tiny figures too, I'm looking forward to see more later on.

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