[Book IV - Chapter 1 - Category A] Archeology at the Shrine of Luna Venatrix

[The Stad]

Posting to fulfill the WIP requirement for Category A of the challenge.

Spoiler

 

Starting with the rail system at the top and bottom, but incorporating some additional internal structure for a couple of reasons - I want sturdy attachment points to the base, I want extra rigidity for applying larger elements to the sides, and this particular assembly is for a large tree that will have a large, spreading canopy, so I need some tensile strength to keep the cantilevered branches from pulling the whole thing over.

The other rail is for a gently-curving wall that will use 2x4 tiles for cladding, more images to follow.

Spoiler

Note the brackets holding the inner branch fastening point down.

Edited yesterday at 04:21 AM by The Stad

[Henjin_Quilones]

Looking exciting!

[Grover]

On 4/23/2026 at 12:20 PM, The Stad said:

this particular assembly is for a large tree that will have a large, spreading canopy,

I will second @Henjin_Quilones in saying I think this looks exciting. It certainly is a large scale, and I can't wait to see what you do with it!  As for the center structure, I would caution anyone building a cylindrical artificial structure against this for the simple reason that you lose the perfectly round shape since the diameter is not *exactly* however many studs (with likely a few exceptions for very carefully designed coincidence).  In fact, you can see a bit of that in your picture where there are 'flat spots' in your circular track where the bricks attached aren't exactly the same diameter. Additionally, the connection points make it difficult to put a stick there, so you either have to have a SNOT bracket as you have, or a lower and upper section with protruding sticks.

However, in your case, since you say this is for a tree, all of that goes out the window, since trees aren't perfectly round and would look pretty weird if they were.  Funny enough, you almost have the opposite problem in the SNOT brackets at 90° from one another almost being too regular. I would recommend offsetting the SNOT plates and tiles on these a bit to keep a more organic looking trunk if you go for thin layers. If you have more layers, it will probably bury itself.  

If you do decide you want a more round trunk, you do have some other options for connections.  For a solid base connection, you can slide a bar down through the stud holes in the 1x2 rounded plate tracks into another part with a hole for a very solid connection.  On the interior, you can add bricks with studs on the side (the 1x1x1 2/3 with 2 vertical studs on the side comes to mind) onto the back of the sticks and build off the studs on top all the way around. If you want a more solid center, you can have a central hub with technic axles as spokes going out from it to various parts, and these can be connected via technic bricks to brackets, bricks with studs on the side, etc. to connect to the back of the sticks on the interior to allow for a strong, yet infinitely scalable diameter that is not based on studs.

Great work!  Can't wait to see the finished product!