Norton74 Posted April 7, 2020 LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE... Gypsy wagons have been around for a very long time, having primarily been seen with travelling circuses, before being adopted by gypsies. The "Horse drawn, painted, one roomed house on wheels with a stove" is believed to originate in France in the early 19th Century. Gypsies themselves adopted them around 170 years ago. Its Romanesque characteristics, its baroque carvings and bright colours are likely to have been picked up from wanderings in Central and Eastern Europe. The Gypsyes' name for their wagons is a "Vardo", from the Iranian name vurton, that means cart. There were six main types of wagons and they were made of oak, ash, elm, walnut and pine. Most caravans were pulled by draft horses.I've always been intrigued by Gypsies Wagons and in the past few weeks I built a couple of them. Inspiration come mainly from a coffee table book my wife gifted me, "Les Roulottes, une invitation au voyage", a big source of colourful and funny caravans. It was very funny designing and building these caravans and also choose the right Minifigures from old sets and Collectionable Series. If you are wondering why Jack Sparrow is in the MOC the answer is that I think he has the perfect look of a yesteryear Gypsy :) A few pictures below Below the Wagons pulled by horses... And the back views... Hope you like it. More info and pictures on my Flickr. Thanks for stopping by! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pdaitabird Posted April 7, 2020 Nice! I may have to steal - er, borrow your technique of using tires as horse collars! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Svendp Posted April 8, 2020 This is so nice. I like the colors. You also don't see mocs like this very often. Have you considered putting it on Ideas? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Perterz Posted April 8, 2020 These are fantastic! Unusual but lovely color choices, well done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taratears Posted April 12, 2020 This is gorgeous! I see so many new things to test out. I don't recognise the tassle like dangling peices at the roof corners, don't think I've ever seen those. I love discovering new ones! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoModularFan Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) I’ve seen these on Flickr, they look brilliant! Just so many little details and NPUs got packed in, I particularly love the use of several hats and chest lids as flowerpots, and coiled whips, tassels and gold tails/trunks as details! Great color choices as well. Keep it up! Edited April 13, 2020 by LegoModularFan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Merlict Posted April 13, 2020 Really cool, love the horse collars and blinkers I think the carriages could be a brick or two shorter, the heigh is getting a bit much compared to the horses Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Norton74 Posted April 13, 2020 On 4/7/2020 at 10:26 PM, Pdaitabird said: Nice! I may have to steal - er, borrow your technique of using tires as horse collars! On 4/8/2020 at 10:43 AM, Svendp said: This is so nice. I like the colors. You also don't see mocs like this very often. Have you considered putting it on Ideas? On 4/8/2020 at 12:24 PM, Perterz said: These are fantastic! Unusual but lovely color choices, well done! Thank you very much! 20 hours ago, taratears said: This is gorgeous! I see so many new things to test out. I don't recognise the tassle like dangling peices at the roof corners, don't think I've ever seen those. I love discovering new ones! Thank you! I'm happy you discover the hanging tassels, I discovered them few time ago too. 12 hours ago, LegoCowboy said: Amazing job! Thank you very much! 47 minutes ago, LegoModularFan said: I’ve seen these on Flickr, they look brilliant! Just so many little details and NPUs got packed in, I particularly love the use of several hats and chest lids as flowerpots, and coiled whips, tassels and gold tails/trunks as details! Great color choices as well. Keep it up! Thank you very much, very appreciated your remarks about the details! 27 minutes ago, Merlict said: Really cool, love the horse collars and blinkers I think the carriages could be a brick or two shorter, the heigh is getting a bit much compared to the horses Thank you! You are probably right, but it is the usual problem about Minifig proportions, and animals, with the rest of the build. Anyway thanks for the tip. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neonic Posted April 13, 2020 Just ... great Never seen such a build, like it. Looks great and nice to see all those details and stuff, like the luggage on the roof, the hanging tassels and all that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sander1992 Posted April 14, 2020 Interesting builds and great use of the basic colors. I really like the use of the palm tree piece on the roof and the elephant pieces in the front of the left wagon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Norton74 Posted April 15, 2020 On 4/13/2020 at 6:09 PM, neonic said: Just ... great Never seen such a build, like it. Looks great and nice to see all those details and stuff, like the luggage on the roof, the hanging tassels and all that. Thanks happy you like the stuff all around! On 4/14/2020 at 7:26 PM, sander1992 said: Interesting builds and great use of the basic colors. I really like the use of the palm tree piece on the roof and the elephant pieces in the front of the left wagon. Thank you very much, glad you like these little details :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darkdragon Posted April 15, 2020 Wow, these builds have blown me away. When i first got back into the Lego scene in 2009 I had a dream of building such wagons. I bought a lot of interesting things and tried a lot of renditions and never liked any of it. Yours are just perfect. The right amount of artful look and livable look, the people and animals are perfect for the wagons too! Wonderful details and little touches, like the horse blinders. Amazing work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Norton74 Posted April 15, 2020 17 minutes ago, Darkdragon said: Wow, these builds have blown me away. When i first got back into the Lego scene in 2009 I had a dream of building such wagons. I bought a lot of interesting things and tried a lot of renditions and never liked any of it. Yours are just perfect. The right amount of artful look and livable look, the people and animals are perfect for the wagons too! Wonderful details and little touches, like the horse blinders. Amazing work. Thanks a bunch @Darkdragon for your kind words, very appreciated Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jerry McGlade Posted April 15, 2020 So cool, it feels kind of steampunkish to me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JopieK Posted April 16, 2020 Really nice job! Instantly recognizable etc. Next step would be to add a road with e.g. a small stone bridge or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ravelino Posted April 16, 2020 oooh these are nice! cool colors and like someone said on Flickr NPU on those flower baskets with the chest lid and the 3633 fence piece. they do look a bit high but otherwise those doors wouldn't fit and hey! even roma minifig need living space! I like those fences with the lever base and lattice piece on the red and yellow wagon although for an official set that wouldn't do I would guess only thing to nag about is how the guy with the doggies looks too much like Jack Sparrow to me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Klaus-Dieter Posted April 18, 2020 Very well done, @Norton74! I esp. like all these colorful details. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Norton74 Posted April 18, 2020 On 4/16/2020 at 1:54 AM, Jerry McGlade said: So cool, it feels kind of steampunkish to me. Thanks! Steampunkish... On 4/16/2020 at 9:42 AM, JopieK said: Really nice job! Instantly recognizable etc. Next step would be to add a road with e.g. a small stone bridge or something. Thank you! At the beginning I thought of creating a background, but then I preferred without it, because in this way the carriages are more visible, and you can focus attention on the details. On 4/17/2020 at 12:55 AM, Ravelino said: oooh these are nice! cool colors and like someone said on Flickr NPU on those flower baskets with the chest lid and the 3633 fence piece. they do look a bit high but otherwise those doors wouldn't fit and hey! even roma minifig need living space! I like those fences with the lever base and lattice piece on the red and yellow wagon although for an official set that wouldn't do I would guess only thing to nag about is how the guy with the doggies looks too much like Jack Sparrow to me Thanks for your remarks and suggestions. About the 3633 It was completely random, I was looking for something to attach the chest lids and that piece happened to me... I think the wagons have the right height, take a look at the real ones, they are huge seen close to a man. I think the horses are probably too small compared to carts, but I think the overall view is proportionate and pleases the eye (imho). 4 hours ago, Klaus-Dieter said: Very well done, @Norton74! I esp. like all these colorful details. Thank you very much! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ravelino Posted April 18, 2020 (edited) @Norton74 I agree on both accounts I meant that even in real life they look a bit high. where one could easily make them a half length longer with an extra set of wheels to divide the weight better but that’s today’s engineering on yesterday’s inventions. LEGO horses are a bit on the small side. I use the old molds for mares and the new ones for stallions but I feel we could use more types of horse Edited April 18, 2020 by Ravelino Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jerry McGlade Posted April 19, 2020 Sorry about that, it was just the colour schemes reminded me of steampunk. It’s fantastic job.?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
legolux1973 Posted April 20, 2020 @Norton74 These carriages are awesome and really cute. And the photos are extremely well put into scene. A very nice presentation of your MOC. Great. Regards, legolux1973 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Norton74 Posted April 20, 2020 On 4/18/2020 at 3:20 PM, Ravelino said: @Norton74 I agree on both accounts I meant that even in real life they look a bit high. where one could easily make them a half length longer with an extra set of wheels to divide the weight better but that’s today’s engineering on yesterday’s inventions. LEGO horses are a bit on the small side. I use the old molds for mares and the new ones for stallions but I feel we could use more types of horse 22 hours ago, Jerry McGlade said: Sorry about that, it was just the colour schemes reminded me of steampunk. It’s fantastic job.?? No problem at all @Jerry McGlade! thanks for stopping by! 3 hours ago, legolux1973 said: @Norton74 These carriages are awesome and really cute. And the photos are extremely well put into scene. A very nice presentation of your MOC. Great. Regards, legolux1973 Thank you very much! Glad you like them Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peedeejay Posted April 22, 2020 The amount if details is fantastic! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Norton74 Posted April 24, 2020 On 4/22/2020 at 7:52 AM, peedeejay said: The amount if details is fantastic! Thank you @peedeejay :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
