IvanStorm

Being a bit tired of big MOCs, I decided to create a series of 16x16 models based on The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit. I've actually created them over the course of 2 years, but never got around to take pictures and post them, until now. Some of them are based on existing sets and even reusing whole parts of them, other are more original. The purpose was to display the minifigs and the best parts of the official sets. Rules: - Strictly 16x16, some overhang allowed. - No visible studs, if possible. - Very limited color palette. Rivendell set was the first Lego I bought in over 15 years. I was amazed at how beautiful it looked, compared to the early 90's sets. Here's my tribute to it, and a way to display the great Elrond and Arwen minifigs. White Council Thorin is brought before Thranduil, one of the best scenes in The Hobbit. Love the way Lee Pace is lounging on his throne, his portrayal of Thranduil was absolutely perfect. There's a lightbrick underneath, with a mirror directing the light into the Palantir. Unfortunately, by the time I got to take some pictures, the battery has died. I dismantled my Moria set quite shortly after building it, since I needed parts for a Helm's Deep MOC. Here's my tribute to it, and a way to display the cave troll, Boromir and Gimli.

Wow, thanks guys, the praise is overwhelming. The reason I only put the pictures up only now (I finished the first one more than a year ago) is I didn't think people would be particularly interested. Glad I was wrong about it :)

Gondor stuff is more difficult, because there are no minifigs :( And to tell the truth, I'm not that fond of Osgiliath - after all, it's just a bunch of gray ruins. Rohan - maybe. The main purpose for those builds was to display my minifigs, and I have none from Rohan or Gondor (all the Rohan ones are in my Helm's Deep).

Yes, absolutely. Have plenty of ideas in mind, and as I run out of shelf space I might also convert parts of official sets into 16x16.

After over 15 years of not touching the bricks I suddenly found myself yearning for a LEGO experience. So I went on a shopping spree, buying most of the existing Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit sets. Very soon I was browsing the internet for building techniques and marveling at the amazing MOCs people were building. I decided to give it a go myself, and 6 weeks later here's my first creation. Flickr gallery (12 photos) It's an expanded version of Helm's Deep, based on the official set and Eurolock's version. A few key decisions separate it from these sets. - I didn't really like the sand green bricks, so I got rid of them and kept to the grayscale palette. - I wanted the ramp to have a gradual incline and a gentle curve, without any stairs. - While most Helm's Deep MOCs display the moment before the battle (or battle in progress), my favorite moment was always Theoden's desperate charge and Gandalf and Eomer's arrival. So I tried to replicate that. - The wall is not anywhere as long as I'd like it to be, but the size limit was set by my shelf space. Theoden leads the charge. Gimli's not supposed to be here, but I didn't want to leave him stranded in the tower after blowing the horn. He's demonstrating to the elf that he doesn't need to be tossed and can make the jump just fine. One of the trilogy's most powerful moments. I did my best to do it justice, but the scale is just not the same. This orc has had enough! He's going back to his family in Lithlad. Unfortunately, some huorns are on the way, he'll never make it... Two Mordor orc engineers with their wicked ballista. I had to radically scale down the ballista included with the Uruk-hai Army set, as it stood almost as tall as the walls. Haldir and the Lothlorien elves are making their last stand. This event occured much earlier in the movie, but I really wanted to include it. And there seems to be only one Uruk-hai attacking them, so Haldir will probably live. Phew... The keep. The door on the right leads to the Glittering Caves (not included in this product), the door on the left to the Hornburg tower. The stairs up are hugging the round wall and were a pain to design, but I'm rather happy with the result. There are a few more pictures on Flickr

What is Middle-earth like after Sauron is defeated and elves and wizards are gone? This question definitely fired up my imagination, and the “no size limitations whatsoever” clause let it run completely wild – so that I barely managed to finish the model in time. Here’s the Hobbiton Open-air Museum, my contribution to MEC. 500 years have passed since the fall of Sauron. Middle-earth has enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity like never before. While the elves weren’t interested in any kind of innovation, men were eager for new tools and technology. It wasn’t long before an industrial revolution transformed the realm, fueled by Saruman’s designs and notes found in Orthanc. What he envisioned as tools of destruction became means of energy generation and mass-production. While men quickly multiplied and settled the largely deserted Arnor, hobbits held on tight to their rustic lifestyle. Being revered for their contribution to the War of the Ring, they were left alone by men, with the entire Shire proclaimed a cultural reserve. Tourism quickly became a lucrative industry, second only to pipe-weed exports. Hobbiton, being the most famous place, was turned into an open-air museum, receiving thousands of visitors from all around the realm. Bag End and Sam’s hole just down the road were carefully preserved. A tour group is seen exploring them here. Mostly consisting of humans, it includes one very unusual visitor – a Gundabad orc. While most orcs still continued living their semi-savage lives in the mountains, some attempted to join the human society. They were unfortunately met with distrust and heavy prejudice. This orc is clearly overcompensating by wearing a formal suit and carrying a briefcase. A couple of roleplayers are impersonating Frodo and Sam. They are taking their time snapping pictures of each other in the Bag End’s doorway, and the girl at the gates is getting impatient. A beautiful view down the road on the Water and the Old Mill. Gardeners hold special respect in the Shire, a tradition started even before Sam the Gardener made the profession famous. Assisted by modern technology, hobbits do a great job keeping the open-air museum vibrantly colorful, with well-tended little gardens, flowers and fruit trees. Another hobbit gardener at work. In the background there’s Sam’s hole and a nice open area leading down to the Water. It’s off-limits to visitors, but makes for a good photo opportunity. Thank you for reading! There are some additional pictures here, if you’re interested: https://www.flickr.c...57648646062089/ I was lucky to visit Hobbiton in New Zealand a couple of years ago – it made a big impression on me and I drew a lot of my inspiration from that. Initially I intended the model to be as close to the real thing as possible and include The Green Dragon, but in the end had to compromise and steer to what was best for display purposes (and my shelf space!). Still, I think I managed to capture the spirit of that wonderful place.

If anyone's interested, I added a "proper" version, with Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Sam, Merry and Pippin. Here's the Filckr album.

It looks awesome, but it's impossible to see any details. I would definitely like to see higher resolution images.

I'm surprised that LotR projects have so much difficulty reaching 10000 supporters on Ideas - I would've expected more interest, considering how huge the fanbase is. But apart from the Minas Tirith, all other projects are not doing terribly well. Would've been so nice to get 3-5 projects past the finish line, I'm sure that would've helped TLG to reconsider the future of the LotR line.

Sure, we know that the 3rd wave is probably never coming. However, there's a small chance of getting a set or two through the Ideas - and the recent discussion has been following that angle. If you find it completely pointless, no problem, it's very easy to avoid this thread. Let us beat the dead horse in peace here :)

Was going to post the same thing and then remembered that LEGO doesn't seem to care if it's EE or not :)

Lovely MOC. Too bad the size couldn't be bigger (I understand that you can't go too wild with category A!), because the first floor looks a bit weird with one guy drinking in the corner :) I assume you used the pirate of Umbar head as a reference to the carrot-munching Bree citizen, since both are played by Peter Jackson? If so, major props. As someone else mentioned, Barliman doesn't look right. Even if you don't have a head with sideburns, it will probably look better without the beard. Also, both in the book and in the movie the Bree gate is guarded by a single old man, unarmored and probably unarmed as well :) But the gates and the inn building look great, solid work.

NZ is amazing. Being "Middle-earth" is just a very small part of it. Unfortunately, flying there costs a small fortune, otherwise I'd go every winter :) Thanks for adding me to the index!

Not bad, but not the scenes I would've picked from Silmarillion. The part with the lamps, especially, was tiny and rather insignificant in the book, I barely remember them. Anyway, I wouldn't count on any Silmarillion project to get the required support - even LotR, which is infinitely more popular, is struggling with that.

Poor orcs... In my version they are trying to blend into the human society and are somewhat accepted :) Who are the two guys? Anyone in particular?

Thanks! I hope you're not the only one who actually read it :)

I haven't even seen any MOCs based on Children Of Hurin. I think one in a billion is very generous :)

I really like your spider design - it looks much better than the Escape From Mirkwood spiders. You also managed to create a good looking Rhosgobel with relatively few parts, not an easy task. This would've been a fine official set. Good job! Not sure if Gandalf should be included. He doesn't visit Rhosgobel as far as I can remember and Gandalf is already present in enough sets to become mildly annoying :) Smiled at the "pointless playfunction" part - never cared much for those, I normally don't even bother building all the silly catapults/launchers Lego crams into their sets.

Just curious, which part(s) do you deem not true to the book? I hope you read the description I supplied, otherwise the pictures probably won't make much sense :)

Ooh, pretty flowing water effect. I will totally borrow it for one of my future MOCs :) I like how you built your own barrels instead of using the available ones. Overall, very evocative little build, I like it a lot.

Lovely build. I like the scene you picked, it really comes alive here. And the use of dark red

MEC Category B: Hobbiton Open-air Museum

Wow, beautiful work! Looks so cozy. Love the floor and the fireplace. Just a few days ago I made a hobbit hole interior with a light brick fireplace myself, but it doesn't look as good as yours. Would've been really nice to have a proper tree on top though, or perhaps no tree at all.

I have to say that I hated the original DeLorean set - blocky, ugly, awkward, Marty and Doc can't sit inside together, etc. Even before I bought it I knew it will have to be heavily modified. 1 by ivanstorm2, on Flickr I love the movies, but my main priority was to make the model look good. Which explains the curvy hood and licence plates - not very authentic, but they look good. 2 The doors took the longest time, because I really wanted them to be connected on both sides, and the front connection required a rather elaborate construction, since it's angled both horizontally and vertically. 4 I also wanted the doors to be closer to the real-life gull-wing doors, but I had to make some sacrifices to ensure they are sturdy enough (that's why the rear part is so thick). 5 Marty and Doc can sit side by side - that was the easiest part, done using jumper plates. 3 I copied the rear from someone else's MOD, looking so much better than the original. 6 Marty and Doc seem pretty happy with their new car.

I have to say I never understood people clamoring for an Osgiliath set - after all, the place is just a bunch of grey ruins, not terribly exciting. But this set looks great, I'd buy it for sure. It really captures the scene very well, something that many official LotR sets failed to do. And of course, thumbs up for the superb minifigs!