The_Cook

Troll Town [photos re-uploaded 04/07/2020]

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On 7/5/2019 at 6:38 PM, Aine said:

And I thought myself original when I envisaged a Black Knights tribe of some 100 minifigs? Laughin' out in silence.

This is pretty cool! The only area where you could have been even more courageous are the female trolls. (Trollesses? Yeah, trollesses...) If you have the possibility and money to print the heads, you could have made even more feminine trollesses.
I don't like how the orcish, trollish (and often times the dwarven) females are depicted in most of the pop culture, and it'll be cool if you'd made them quite the opposite of the males, more of a green-skinned beauties than beasts. There may be a true sexual dimorphism amongst the trolls, so the males could sport the fangs and what not, while the females could have none of those. I understand that it's not a cheap hobby to have printed tens or even hundreds of female heads, but still, what do you think about it?

Edit: But honestly, this is a really very minor criticism, I really, really love what you've done. Seeing such a project, one last question remains: how do you walk with such a massive balls of thine? :-)

The lack of male/female balance isn't my preference but is driven by the lack of suitable female parts from which to assemble minifgures; unfortunately it's not a 1:1 ratio out there. City has become more balanced over the years, but the modern torso's are not transferable into the city setting. Ninjago often provides the best pickings.

I do have one or two extra female head designs that I might still print in the future; a winking variant. In my mind theTrollesses are the equiavlent of 18th century working class women in a costal fishing town; independent whilst the men are at sea, tough as nails from hard physical work and likley to give as good as they get.

I am still tinkering with Troll Town, all of the sets are still assembled and carefully stored, but work patterns means I'm regularly away from home and a young son means that time at home is spent with Duplo Trains. Progress is excrutiatingly slow but; I've been tinkering with designs for a Sawbones based upon the pattern of the most recent city hospital. However I've not yet had a design that convinces me to invest time in locating the parts so it's still all in LDD.

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That's some cool reasoning behind the trollesses, and yeah, it makes a lot of sense! If the trolls are either fishing or raiding most of their time, the females must take care of themselves and the families, so they'd be pretty strong, just like in your example!
good luck with your design, it's truly epic! Maybe your son will share your joy in coming years, once the trains won't be enough for his fancy! :-)

Cheers!

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On 10/16/2013 at 6:06 AM, The_Cook said:

An index to jump straight to the various parts:


It's been a while since I've posted any new creations here, mostly due to the fact that my home office, and therefore build space, has been taken over with storage boxes whilst a major redecoration of the rest of the house is being undertaken. However, I have had a couple of projects lurking in digital form that are now starting to take shape as the decorating finishes and a slew of Bricklink orders start wending their way across the country to promote them from bits to ABS. So I thought that it's time to post now and we'll add to the thread as the ABS arrives and the various models take shape.

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My usual stomping grounds are 80's castle and I've quietly been amassing a small (possible understatement) army of Lions, Falcons and Crusaders in order to try and stage one of the large battle scenes as seen in the catalogues, complete with beige ground and orange from the box covers; but that will have to wait until the last of the real world decorating is done and I get some space to erect the photo stage. Meanwhile, I've been somewhat taken by the Trolls from 2009's Fantasy Era. Whilst 7097 Trolls' Mountain Fortress is modular I was a bit disappointed that TLG never released any extra modules to build out the castle in the same way that they did with the 80's castles. I can fix that...

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The first idea was the Trolls' landing. I needed somewhere to moor my Troll Warship!

For some months I've been toying, unsuccessfully, with a concept in my 80's range whereby a gate in the wall opens out onto a beach or quay with a small rocky outcrop and beacon at the end. Thumbnails of the original 80's style are shown below to give you an idea of how the concept has progressed over several months and across the differing styles of the two eras.

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But these are Trolls, everything has to be rockier, spikier, more exuberant. A rocky outcrop with beacon becomes a towering outcrop with a massive flaming torch. There would be steps to the outcrop, then steps carved into it then a ladder to the top where the beacon burns brightly.

Even with the above in mind my first attempt at rebuilding the above in Troll style was pretty lame.

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The rocky outcrop was so-so, the quay a black plate to the gate, the flame not quite massive enough, the steps up just didn't have the awesome epic-ness that I'd had in my mind and most importantly of all the design DNA from the 7097 just wasn't present; it didn't look Troll-like. Time to step away from the drawing board (or it's LDD proxy) and to do some research into just what makes Troll architecture look Troll.

I pulled out one of my many copies of 7097 and actually set about building it. Surprisingly this was the first time I've ever built the fortress itself. I built it slowly, deliberately looking for the techniques, the colour schemes and the motifs that make a Troll building Troll.

  • Windows: Formed by Slope 75 2 x 1 x 3 facing inwards in Light Bluish-Grey and Slope, Inverted 45 2 x 1 also in Light Bluish-Grey, again facing inwards.
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  • Walls: A mix of BURPs, LURPs, Rock Panels and Tower pieces. The big pieces create a lot of wall quickly with small bricks used for infill and detailing. Dark green 1x1x2/3 slope detailing on the BURPS simulate moss or foliage. Black inverse slopes and small reddish-brown highlights are used to represent Troll constructions over the rocks. Towers and other major masonry sections are Light Bluish-Grey, rocks are Dark Bluish-Grey. Troll constructions are typically topped by Dark Red 1x1 cones with white horns inserted.
    1381917854m_THUMB.jpg
  • Arches: Brick built using slopes to provide an angular construction.
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  • Gates: Plate built in reddish brown with deliberate spaces between the plates to create an open yet formidable gate.
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  • Tower tops:Brick, Arch 1 x 5 x 4 Inverted are used to create crown type structures.
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I still feel the concept of gate, quay and beacon will make for a good set but it needs to incorporate the Troll design ethos listed above. For inspiration I analysed around some of the other sets, 8876 Scorpion Prison Cave and 7093 Skeleton Prison Tower. Although the styling is very different there is a certain DNA that they both share; they're both towers and they both have prison cages hanging off of the side. I'll steal the prison cage idea.

My first beacon was a solid lump of BURPs topped with a back-to-back pair of LURPs. Solid... lump... great play features... not! For the next attempt it would be good to open things out, I steal the arches from the giant Troll guard towers on 7097 and open the solid lump of BURPs out so that it becomes a cave. Better, we now have more play value, we can hide things in the cave.

My initial attempts to incorporate steps carved into the rock were soaking up too many bricks for too little benefit. Nice though the idea was it wasn't adding to the playability of the design. Sometimes you have to "sacrifice your darlings", the rock built steps had to go.

I drew heavily on the top of the main tower in 7097 to create the platform for the beacon. Tall inverted slopes in black support the platform which utilises the inverted arches in dark red to make it uniquely Troll. A ladder at the back to an intermediate platform supported on more inverted slopes with a set of steps taking us down to the quayside.

The gateway draws on the brick built arches to provide the angular troll arch with a single gate design based around the spaced slats used in the main gate of 7097. Slope 75 2x1x3 with inserted horns provide the spiky adornments of Troll architecture.

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It's a better attempt but it's still not quite right. The cave isn't accessible and the quayside is just a boring expanse for flat black plates. There's more work to be done...

A second side of the cave is opened up and I realise that I can insert a boat into the cave. Suddenly the landing has an immediate purpose more than just an add-on for the Trolls' Warship. The jetty gets rebuilt into a much more rickety form, copying some techniques that I tried in the Troll King's Hall that can be seen in the town images above and will be described in a later posting. A skeletal prison cage and a Dwarf's head on a stick give the proceedings some more ambiance although I still feel that there's more to be done raising the tower another brick or two higher but I need to think about how I can achieve that and more in terms of mooring posts on the jetties.

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A new day, a clear mind.

I remove the jetties from the model and condense the mass of blue base-plates down to a single 16x16 plate. Without the jetties it all fits on, just. I'll come back to the jetties later, they're an intrinsic part of the set but I have some modularity in mind, partly inspired by the Heroica sets.

I pull the tower apart placing the top section to one side. I'm happy with the top, it's the base and middle, particularly the middle that isn't quite right. I start layering up bricks, typically the big 2x8 bricks, but it's not working, it isn't coming together to form a suitable support for the upper portion of the tower. I stop, pull it all apart again and go back to the 7097 instructions to find out how the big Troll guard huts were topped off; the TLG designers built the back and side walls up square and level and then used a large plate across the top. I decide to try that, a couple of large 1x12 bricks bring the sides up level but then I find myself back to using 2x8 bricks to bridge the gap and form a base. I'm back to the same problem I had moments ago, but two bricks higher. What I do notice is that the space is 10x8, just right for a pair of back-to-back BURPs and that those BURPs narrow to the right size for the LURPs that form the starting point of the upper section of the tower. The whole rework has probably cost another 20 bricks but has given me an additional 6 bricks worth of height.

My plan with the jetties is to make them modular and therefore configurable to suit play. I design a basic crossroads jetty piece that fits onto a blue 6x6 plate, this gets replicated three times. I design a length of jetty that fits onto a blue 10x6, replicated twice and a shorter 6x8 that holds a small bridge section. Black technic connector pins hold everything together and the jetty walkways themselves replicate the design style that I had tried earlier. I change the overall colour to brown and everything looks good. It's probably cost me another 30 bricks to do the jetties this way but I think it's definitely preferable. The disadvantage is that the model can't be picked up as a single lump, the connections are just a little too fragile for that.

A quick pass of the model attempts to minimise the number of unique elements by ensuring that every brick type is only present in one colour. The fact that the colour palette blends so well and that the construction already contains a degree of colour mottling to achieve it's affect means that this isn't anywhere near as problematic as it sounds.

I replace the bone cage with one based on the prisoner cage present on the 7094 Trolls' Warship. It saves me about 15 bricks and blends in better with the rest of the Troll Architecture.

Minifigs are added, I initially started out with 4 trolls but quickly sacrificed one of those for a Crownie that could be a prisoner. Prisoners on their own are no fun, somebody needs to rescue them so another troll was sacrificed for a second Crownie soldier. Of the two remaining trolls one is armed with a cutlass, the other gets a flaming torch to light the beacon. I add a spare sword and oars to the boat and the jetties get barrels and fish. A couple more minor tweaks here and there and it feels like it's done. Maybe a skeleton in the cave... but I can't see any suitable attachment points.

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There's at least one more element rationalisation pass whereby I try to standardise the colours of various bricks across all of the models to ensure consistency across the range. Having looked at the element listings for 7097 I realise that I'm probably being more ruthless than I need to be, but the engineer in the back of my mind is thinking that if I mix two bricks of different colours in a single bag then no matter how many times I weigh the bag I can never tell whether I've got the ratio of one colour to another colour correct. The more I think through this problem the more respect I have for the TLG engineers that run the packaging process, getting the apparently simple process of putting the right bricks in the right bag correct time and time again is much harder than it looks.

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Which leaves me waiting for the ABS to arrive, almost a dozen BrickLink orders have been placed and one order with TLG customer support, but I realise belatedly that I've not ordered the key 16x16 plate in blue! Which means I'm stuck until I place another order or locate one of the sets that contains the 16x16 plate... However, once enough of the orders have arrived I should have enough parts to build up one or two of the other sets: Trolls' Forge, The Troll King's Hall, Troll Training or the Troll Engine Docks. Expect something within the week...

LDD file for those that are interested.

can ask you something please?

 

On 6/29/2020 at 10:16 AM, The_Cook said:

Yes I speak English.

very nice. I would like to know what it's the best trolls' mocs? would you make? I am making a troll moc on my own. I would like to know the boat engine dock its' including the the troll battle wheel also the troll siege tower. it worth making it. I want it to be a have different it. Could you show me your design please? 

Edited by Legofan2005

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MOC pages has gone down and I don't have an alternate means of distributing the LDD files at the moment; PM with me with an email address and I can attach the relevant files. Uploading the images to Flickr and updating all the earlier posts is on my list of things to do; but other more immediate concerns keep getting in the way.



As to which is best; it's entirely up to you and what you want out of the model. I try to make sure that they've all got some degree of playability in them.

If you've got 7048 Toll Warship then the Fishermans Landing, Graving Dock or Prison are all water/boat orientated. If you're more interested in building out a town and the industries within then Blacksmith, Marketplace or Guarded Inn would be more approriate.

The bricks you have access to (either directly or through BrickLink) might also be a constraining factor, Graving Dock is definitely the biggest, Marketplace and Blacksmith are much, much smaller. Some pieces are fairly scare and that is reflected in their price on BrickLink, Troll Sails and Dark Brown Viking Hulls are the obvious ones but interestingly the Dark Brown Inv 75 Slope hasn't been used in a set in over a decade so are increasingly scare and expensive.

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17 hours ago, The_Cook said:

MOC pages has gone down and I don't have an alternate means of distributing the LDD files at the moment; PM with me with an email address and I can attach the relevant files. Uploading the images to Flickr and updating all the earlier posts is on my list of things to do; but other more immediate concerns keep getting in the way.



As to which is best; it's entirely up to you and what you want out of the model. I try to make sure that they've all got some degree of playability in them.

If you've got 7048 Toll Warship then the Fishermans Landing, Graving Dock or Prison are all water/boat orientated. If you're more interested in building out a town and the industries within then Blacksmith, Marketplace or Guarded Inn would be more approriate.

The bricks you have access to (either directly or through BrickLink) might also be a constraining factor, Graving Dock is definitely the biggest, Marketplace and Blacksmith are much, much smaller. Some pieces are fairly scare and that is reflected in their price on BrickLink, Troll Sails and Dark Brown Viking Hulls are the obvious ones but interestingly the Dark Brown Inv 75 Slope hasn't been used in a set in over a decade so are increasingly scare and expensive.

Yeah I’ll give you my email address. Yeah I take a long look at them. Thank you. I don’t know if I do have the troll warship. I rather have it regular warship. Not a dragon on board the troll warship. I don’t want a dragon in the troll fortress. I am going to have to at least 2 more of them. Do you have at least 10 trolls mountain fortresss’? Do you have 4 troll warships’ ?  

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My inventory is somewhat haphazard; but from where I'm sat I can count:

  • 2x 7048 Troll Warship
  • 1x Dragon Carrier
  • 1x Small Ship from Graving Dock
  • 1x Sailing Dinghy from Fisherman's Landing

I'm fairly sure I've got at least another 2 warships in dismantled; boxed state with parts to build at least 2 more (or into other variants such as the Dragon Carrier).

I've been watching Hungarian Horntails slowly increase in price over the last 5 years but careful Bricklinking and eBay purchases mean that I can mount two airborne divisons of 10 dragons each.

I have one Trolls Mountain built, two disassembled and several that have been parted out; only the minifigures are unique in the Fortress.

Edited by The_Cook
Punctuation

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17 hours ago, The_Cook said:

My inventory is somewhat haphazard; but from where I'm sat I can count:

  • 2x 7048 Troll Warship
  • 1x Dragon Carrier
  • 1x Small Ship from Graving Dock
  • 1x Sailing Dinghy from Fisherman's Landing

I'm fairly sure I've got at least another 2 warships in dismantled; boxed state with parts to build at least 2 more (or into other variants such as the Dragon Carrier).

I've been watching Hungarian Horntails slowly increase in price over the last 5 years but careful Bricklinking and eBay purchases mean that I can mount two airborne divisons of 10 dragons each.

I have one Trolls Mountain built, two disassembled and several that have been parted out; only the minifigures are unique in the Fortress.

That is very cool. You have many different LEGO sets. 

yes I do have a flicker account. 

I saw at least 7 or 8 3” troll from the troll mountain fortress. With the Black Armor with sand green and dark tan. Yes I did the troll warships’. Yes I did see the troll battle wheel. Yes I did see the siege tower. 

Yes I well buy my Lego’s from Bricklink and, brick owl. I’ll see if toywize has the right LEGO sets I am looking for 

Edited by Legofan2005

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Here is my plan for my trolls fortress 

playability

big front door Guarded with 2 big trolls  why I want a lager door ?

taller siege tower ( getting 4 of them) 

battle wheel ( getting 4 of them)

assault wagon ( getting 6 of them)

 

Batting ram ( getting 1 of them)

billistas (getting for 4 of them) 

post towers 

post walls

 

 

 

 

I am have more to say 

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Hey so your designs are top notch. I got a big troll army but no where really to set them up. How would I go about getting directions to build this troll village?

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With MOCpages gone distributing the ldd files is a little more challenging ;-0

If you send me a PM I can probably find some form of file distribution site that I can post a zip of the LDDs to.

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3 hours ago, The_Cook said:

With MOCpages gone distributing the ldd files is a little more challenging ;-0

If you send me a PM I can probably find some form of file distribution site that I can post a zip of the LDDs to.

Sorry to butt in, but I think Brickshelf might be a good choice, as it allows lxf files to be uploaded.

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Ah, you're new to the site.

There are restrictions on what new sign-ups can do to prevent abuse.


New sign-ups are not allowed to send PMs until they've made a certain number of posts. You are up 2 at the moment; make a few polite and useful comments on some of the other threads and after (I think) 10 posts you'll be able to send PMs.

Oh, and welcome to the community  ;-)

Edited by The_Cook

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The things we do for legos. I been a fan of the trolls when they came out some 12 years ago or so. Was looking online for some sort of MOC as the troll mountain fortress wasn’t really big enough and didn’t do the troll justice. Went to google and came across a few of your pics and said BINGO. That’s what I’m looking for. So here I am and the quest continues till I can PM.

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14 hours ago, AlaskanBear said:

The things we do for legos. I been a fan of the trolls when they came out some 12 years ago or so. Was looking online for some sort of MOC as the troll mountain fortress wasn’t really big enough and didn’t do the troll justice. Went to google and came across a few of your pics and said BINGO. That’s what I’m looking for. So here I am and the quest continues till I can PM.

Welcome to Eurobricks!

I am a huge fan of the various medieval Lego themes, and I am excited to see what creations you come up with!

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