Glassjaw

So I’ve always flip-flopped between sci-fi and fantasy themes. After spending several years firmly building spaceships I’ve decided to give a castle and medieval village build a go. My style is always with play in mind and some leeway towards historical accuracy. This is very much a work in progress. My aim is to make something sort of modular, not just to rearrange but to make it easier to move to allow my kids to play with it. I have another experimental build I tried, a half timbered house in the black and white style that I want to try and incorporate. Thoughts and comments very welcome! So you can see the overall plan, a quadrangular castle with a central keep, able to be closed up and opened. All off the corner towers and wall sections are connected with pins. Gate section. I intend to add a drawbridge style gate to the front. With chains if possible. Apart from some small variations in the colours, all four corners are the same. The two side walls again are quite similar. The SNOT bricks I plan to use for some kind of climbing foliage. I also plan on making small sub builds to connect to the inside of the walls; a forge and smithy, a pig pen, a small half timbered lodge, a storage pile etc. Something to give it some life. The longer of the two rear wall halves has the bridge to the keep. And the keep itself. I plan on another floor, which may have some half timbered extensions, and a roof top access. Interior-wise, the bottom floor has the dungeon and cellar. The middle will have a small hall and for the top I think a bed chamber makes sense. I want to add details to this section like torches on the walls, trophies, other decorations. I’ll add more pictures of the half timbered house I’ve started, as well as other sun builds and progress pictures as I go, as well as the figs I think will inhabit here. I welcome feedback and suggestions for other details and sub builds. Thank you for taking the time to go through this.

It's been a minute but I've updated this build and it's taken quite a big change. The original model was quite big which while good for me, was not so good for my two kids who struggled to move it and use the way it connected/disconnected, and with the way they played the large area the model took up wasn't quite right for them so I've made a much smaller and simpler tower which means I'll be able to make several smaller buildings they can move around, open, and play with. I've also changed the small house that was going with it. http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr As you can see it's just a single tower, almost like a keep. I'd tried to loosely base it off of a Norman style donjon (a simple square or rectangular shape, no initial curtain wall). First floor level entry and a balcony. The SNOT points have since been covered with foliage and flowers and I intend to add some banners or flags to the outside as well. http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr Very simple on the inside. Making it big enough to have lost of play room inside made the whole thing too tall and wide that it became unwieldy for the kids, so I've made it closer to what they wanted which was enough room to put 1 or possibly 2 figs in (they sometimes play with the micro dolls that come in some of the Disney sets). A cellar, a fireplace which lights up, a bedroom and I've since put a small throne into the other second story room which I will get a picture of as I keep updating the builds. The fireplace was the real highlight for them. Pun intended. The half timbered house I was working on has evolved into a blacksmiths. http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr Fairly simple, I wanted to retain the black/white look up top and brick built on the bottom. I am aware of the absence of a chimney however again this is mostly for my kids to play around with so they've not noticed that this is missing. http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr Only had room for a few details, for the top level a bed, table and animal skin rug was enough to make the space feel real and still provide enough room for a fig or two, the ground level is really about the forge and the well for me. The little grinding stone was a suggestion from one of my kids and they gave me the 'wheel' section of it and asked for a way to get it in. Some of the details have been inspired by the blacksmith set such as the rug. I'm going to build some more buildings in this pseudo-medieval style for them to play around with. They enjoy having multiple smaller buildings they can open up and move around and play on the floor space in between. Currently in idea stage is another 'castle' tower similar to the first but with some kind of moving part like a drawbridge, a farmhouse (thanks to the goatherd minifig), a stable, a tavern which may have the stables as part of it's build and finally a wizard tower. As always I'm open to suggestions and will always appreciate comments and critique.

As mentioned I’ve got the pictures of the half timbered house I’d started. When I reconstruct this as either an addition to the castle or it’s own stand alone building I think I’m going to have to redesign the short sides of the walls, possibly in grey for a stone effect and have the roof tiles sandwiched between them instead of the overhand I currently have so that it doesn’t interfere with the opening action of the building. Currently, the roof sections need to be able to hinge upwards to allow the building to open so this should eliminate that problem. Interior design will come much later down the road, and this was only really an attempt to see what I can do that isn’t a space ship or battle mech. I’m enjoying stepping out of my comfort zone. As always, thoughts and comments appreciated.

Very helpful thankyou!

Great build, love the realism. How many tread links did you use in the end and do you have one pictures of the internal structure?

I saw this in there too! It was a good watch of a great build.

Yes, yes! Yeeeeeessssssssss! This is brilliant, loving the space ship/submarine feel, excellent colour scheme, fantastic shaping and the details and greebling really bring it to life. Well done sir.

Looking good, nice colour scheme and the shaping is wonderful, very sleek. The tail is fantastic.

I love it, the colour scheme and the design. I’ve enjoyed building with the current space sets, the white is very clean and classically futuristic IMO, and the orange highlights just make the models pop. Well done, I’m a fan

Greetings! It’s been forever since I last put up a post but I’ve finally gotten round to making some more ‘mechs! Rather than make a new topic for each one I’m going to keep adding more and more to this, and I’ve even remembered to take some work in progress pics as well which I will try and add as I go along as there’s always room for tips! And now, first up is the SPN-Ae “Egyptian” https://imgur.com/a/9jLXfTC A slight challenge but a very pleasing build over the course of several months (I get about 15-20 mins free build time most week days) and I’m very satisfied with the end result. I think the shaping is good, streamlined, and putting in the orange was a big step for me in deviating away from the more plain colours. A lot of all the new parts I have to build with have come from the recent City Space range and that’s largely where the colour scheme comes from, and I’ll often not use stickers if I’m buying sets purely to build with but I think they work well here and add something to the builds. I still need to fill a gap on the inside of each leg, just in front of the joint. I need either a single square stud or to change a piece on the inside to fill it. The other change I may make is to fit a ball joint on the two shoulder stud launchers to allow them to move a lot more. As always; thoughts, comments, constructive criticism. Like all my mech builds this one is also loosely based off of a dinosaur, any guesses as to which one? Bonus WIP pictures for it that I forgot to upload at the time: https://imgur.com/a/Jyz8gdJ

Thank you! Are there any bits you really liked or anything you would have done different?

This is extremely valid. I will often buy Lego sets with the pure intention of breaking them down for parts. If I see a set that has some good minifig pieces and interesting parts to use, I’ll get them, never build the actual model and put whatever I don’t immediately use into an ever expanding pool of parts for later use. Also don’t forget with renewed space exploration going on ( Three launces in a week from different countries all going for Mars) there’s going to be sets reflecting this as there is a newer interest in space. The most recent City Space set was fantastic, and the new creator 3-1 is also decent. Classic Space will always be that: Classic. Again, direct hit. My only desire from the classic sets is the return of shaped base plates. The old moon craters were fantastic and served as good foundations for building, display and play.

Trying to use the deep link option with a phone but the flikr app doesn’t give a download menu, once you hit save it just downloads it. Does this need a desktop to work?

If you want to get some more biological looking elements have you considered the whip piece? A couple of those would look like mouth of tentacles as they are very thin and curved? If you want to get some more biological looking elements have you considered the whip piece? A couple of those would look like mouth of tentacles as they are very thin and curved?

Great model, I’ve got plans for smaller tripods when I finish my current projects, and it’ll be based around the Nexo Knights shield holder pieces. I’m a big fan of this build, and I like the colour scheme. I really rate the way the top ‘head’ looks like a tank turret, very efficient. The inclusion of a cage and a black smoke launcher makes me very happy, I read the book often so I’m glad you added them. I always pictured the black smoke launcher being represented by the old pirate cannon piece from the descriptions but your modern update on it all is really well executed.

This is brilliant, the Blacktron colour scheme fits well in W40K though I think you’re more of a heretic than a loyalist! The details are what make this shine, the flags, the chains, the dragon, all little details that would be on an actual Titan. Seems a bit small for a Warlord Titan, would be crazy big otherwise, though it’s size is good for an Imperial Knight. Overall, fantastic.

I knew it! Also where can I find more of that tank?

Nice compact build, reminds me of the Nauvoo/Behemoth/Medina station from the Expanse series.

I managed to get 12 in one purchase off of eBay! Came with all of the nexo power plates as a bonus

Arrows and birds both fly, both work with aerodynamics, there’s a reason they’re of a similar shape! Outstanding build, love the neo-classic space look

This is excellent. I get your reservations (I did the same with a mech that I didn’t post until I’d completely rebuilt the legs and touched up the torso, check it out). I love the dinosaur/ giant bird/ mech design, it’s what I went for but more to the mech side. Stability is always an issue cause there isn’t something intelligent actively controlling balance. The built in flamethrower is a great touch!

Asymmetric space ships are beautiful I never have the guts to do it! Just can’t not build symmetric! And the space aircraft carrier look is glorious, this is definitely a work of art.

I’m looking forward to this expanding more. I want to get 4 of those old moon plates and make a base in the middle of a crater

The colour scheme is excellent, I’m loving the Arctic space crossover. Keep it going!

The shaping is just beautiful, how is the articulation?