Trebuchet Attack

[soccerkid6]

I tried to make this build as much like an official set as possible. The wall/tower can hinge at two points, there is a secret door hidden in the wall, and the trebuchet works.

See the trebuchet in action here:

After receiving so many requests to put Manaor Castle, or a simplified version thereof, on Cuusoo, I got to thinking about designing several smaller builds that could all be hooked together to form a large modular castle. I know a lot of Castle fans have always wanted LEGO to produce something like that, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'd be selling the sets myself. And I'd probably put the idea up on Cuusoo at some point, or even Bricklink now that it's going to have a MOC store. I'm not worried about selling tons of sets, 5-10 a year would be plenty for me.

This is my first build/prototype for the project. I purposely tried to make this build like a set, so mostly simple building, a cool secret door in the wall, working trebuchet, and no super piece intensive techniques. I'm using official fig parts shuffled around to make two basic factions, blue/black and red/dark green. This build contains 406 parts, only one of which is a panel. There are plenty of useful castle parts: 18 bley headlight bricks, 4 bley brick modified with stud, 25 bley 1x1 brick, and 28 bley 1x2 bricks, and lots more.

I'd be selling this set for 65$ which includes shipping to anywhere in the US. If anyone was interested in the set without figs, that would lower the price to 50$; or for just the wall tower and two figs that go with it, 40$; or just the trebuchet and its two figs, 20$. I'm planning to use LDD to make the instructions for the sets. For those outside the US, I'd be willing to sell the instructions by themselves for around 2-5$. I'd really like to hear some feedback from you guys on what your thoughts on the project are, whether it's feasible, what kind of sets to do, etc. I already have a lot of possible set ideas in the 20-30$ range and a few larger ones. Anyways let me know what you think.

Edited January 12, 2016 by soccerkid6

[ManInATopHat]

Really cool! I like the secret tower door, and the trebuchet is awesome! I never would have imagined one being built in Lego bricks.

Nice work!

[ED-209]

Very cool indeed, I think it's very much in the style of an official set!

The catapult is such a simple mechanism, yet so effective. Although now I wish the half-barrel came in black!

I love the look of the castle! Mixing the tan pieces into it definitely gives it a different style. I could see TLG making a new Castle range set in a different location with this kind of look, to separate it from the normal look. Almost a warmer, southern European look perhaps? If they did altered the overall shape of the architecture a bit, and perhaps a different colour palate for the figures, I could really see it standing out from the normal Castle ranges.

I think it's a good look, and I look forward to seeing what else you come up with in your series!

I only have two criticisms: the blue and black faction looks great, but the red and dark green colour combo looks a little off to me.

And secondly the cross-shaped arrow slit at the base of the tower would probably be seen as too religious for TLG to use in an official set. Not necessarily an issue if you sell them yourself of course, more of an observation.

But other than that, I'd probably buy a set without figures depending on postage costs to Australia. Or at least the instructions - particularly if you make the whole modular castle!

[soccerkid6]

Really cool! I like the secret tower door, and the trebuchet is awesome! I never would have imagined one being built in Lego bricks.

Nice work!

Thank you

Very cool indeed, I think it's very much in the style of an official set!

The catapult is such a simple mechanism, yet so effective. Although now I wish the half-barrel came in black!

I love the look of the castle! Mixing the tan pieces into it definitely gives it a different style. I could see TLG making a new Castle range set in a different location with this kind of look, to separate it from the normal look. Almost a warmer, southern European look perhaps? If they did altered the overall shape of the architecture a bit, and perhaps a different colour palate for the figures, I could really see it standing out from the normal Castle ranges.

I think it's a good look, and I look forward to seeing what else you come up with in your series!

I only have two criticisms: the blue and black faction looks great, but the red and dark green colour combo looks a little off to me.

And secondly the cross-shaped arrow slit at the base of the tower would probably be seen as too religious for TLG to use in an official set. Not necessarily an issue if you sell them yourself of course, more of an observation.

But other than that, I'd probably buy a set without figures depending on postage costs to Australia. Or at least the instructions - particularly if you make the whole modular castle!

Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback. I'm going to try just selling the sets myself for a bit, and I'll probably be doing 5-10 set designs.

Do you have any suggestions for what color scheme I should give the defending faction? I tried to use colors/torsos that are readily available/reasonably priced.

I'm just getting the instructions made, and I'll look into what shipping would be to Australia

[Gunman]

Nic eidea Issac. Question: Wouldnt the trebuchet look better in reddish brown?? Or you want its colors to fit your army?

[soccerkid6]

Nic eidea Issac. Question: Wouldnt the trebuchet look better in reddish brown?? Or you want its colors to fit your army?

Thanks Gunman, and yeah I wanted the trebuchet to color match the army

[ED-209]

Thank you

Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback. I'm going to try just selling the sets myself for a bit, and I'll probably be doing 5-10 set designs.

Do you have any suggestions for what color scheme I should give the defending faction? I tried to use colors/torsos that are readily available/reasonably priced.

I'm just getting the instructions made, and I'll look into what shipping would be to Australia

No problem, happy to help! (If I am helping that is! )

I can completely see that you're using the colours that are commonly available in order to keep the prices down, and I do think that's a very good idea. But seeing as you're giving people the flexibility of buying the set without figures, maybe that could be your "budget" option, and your "deluxe" might include slightly more expensive minifigs? I'm not sure what other buyers may think of that idea though...?

But if you were looking at in that way, I think the dark green would work better if you removed the red. Lose the knight's shield, and replace the soldier's torso with something along the lines of these two:

Seeing as there's no red printing on those torsos, you could switch the arms to any colour you please and it would still make for a cohesive figure.

Or you could perhaps go in a different direction again? What about using the CFM knight as your defending faction?

Seeing as he's got a white feather, you could extend the ranks with a "white and silver" kind of look? Give the soldiers white arms and legs, and either use either of the torsos I mentioned earlier. Personally I think that would look really sharp, and we've not seen white as a castle faction colour since... well possibly as far back as the old yellow castle set?

(You might just need to make use of the "CMF stand as roof" technique in one of your sets, if you wind up with too many leftovers! )

Anyhow, I don't know if any of those ideas are helpful or not, but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the rest of the models in the series!

[soccerkid6]

@ED-209: Thanks for the ideas, they're very helpful. I'm trying to make these sets as flexible as possible, so I may just have different factions available with the same set for different price points. I've used white/silver figs a few times:

and really liked how they looked. So I may try that color scheme.