Project: Building a Tower!

[Dharkan]

Hello everyone,

As topic kinda mentions, I'm thinking about to start building a tower. What kind of tower that would be, I'm planning to be a wizard tower or something, so it'd be both medieval style and fantasy style. Now you might ask why did you open a topic about that, you are telling us what you want to do anyway!

My question is; my lego resource is not that large. I mean, it is okay but mainly (almost completely) SW sets so I have loads of white pieces and really little of gray, tan, brown, reddish brown etc etc. So It doesn't help me at all. But that project is on my mind for like almost a year so I want it to make it true. Do you think it is possible to completely plan all details and pieces on my mind and write down etc? Or should I start buying some kind of castle sets or medieval market village for example, I don't know, anything that would give me useful parts. I wish I could use LDD but it is really limited partwise so I don't think it'd be enough for making the tower I imagine.

So that is my question and I'd really really apreciate if you can help me with your precious ideas and comments.

Kind Regards, Dharkan.

[Gabe]

My question is; my lego resource is not that large. I mean, it is okay but mainly (almost completely) SW sets so I have loads of white pieces and really little of gray, tan, brown, reddish brown etc etc. So It doesn't help me at all. But that project is on my mind for like almost a year so I want it to make it true. Do you think it is possible to completely plan all details and pieces on my mind and write down etc? Or should I start buying some kind of castle sets or medieval market village for example, I don't know, anything that would give me useful parts. I wish I could use LDD but it is really limited partwise so I don't think it'd be enough for making the tower I imagine.

I don't bother with LDD when i'm planning a MOC. I've only used it once or twice but i find it takes too long and stifles my creativity too much. If i were you i'd go on an internet image hunt for structures that look roughly like what you want to build - or have elements that you want to steal for your creation. Then i'd do some rough sketches of how i'd put it all together. You can even do some scaling in studs so you have an idea of how large it's going to end up. To this point, all of yr planning is free, and it can really help crystallise in yr mind what yr going to need to build it.

After that, i would try to build my idea with just the bricks that i have, even if i know i don't have enough of the right kind of elements. At this point, i'm just playing, mucking about, seeing what i can get away with. I'm not concerned with colour at this stage, just shape (It's easy to BL parts in the right colour later). Try it - it's a lot of fun, and often you can come up with some interesting solutions to problems in this way. Take it as far as you can!

If you do want to buy a set or two to bolster yr collection of bricks for MOC'ing, then it's hard to go past the MMV for all those little bricks. If it's panels that you want (more limited in use, but they do throw up a castle wall or tower very quickly) then the recent lion knights castle (7946) is pretty good. Idk. Have a look around, pick out sets with colour schemes or elements that appeal to you, i guess.

Good luck! Have fun building!

Edited February 28, 2011 by gabe

[ziljin]

The cheapest way would be to design it with LDD and then buy the bricks individually from bricklink or pick a brick seeing which is the cheaper option.

If you don't want to do that, you could try buying the King's Castle. It has a big price tag, but has lots of bley bricks AND comes with a lot of wall panels which are a cheap filler for your castle structure. There is also The Fire Brigade and Grand Emporium. They have lots of gray bricks too, but are more expensive and also have lots of other colors which may or may not be useful.

And if you are having trouble with designs, you could try searching for pictures of lego castles/towers in google/brickshelf/flickr or even search for some castle building instructions available free for download at Lego's website.

Bigger sets usually have more pieces which is good, but make sure you check Bricklink for the set inventory to make sure those numerous pieces are useful to you.

Edited February 28, 2011 by lego40k

[lisqr]

I love making towers. Here's an advise if you are limited in bricks: use plates!

Here's an example:

SNOT plates are a lot more efficient than bricks.