Wurger49

I really enjoyed reading your technical review @jtooker

Did you get to finish your MOD with the 2nd set?

You can get nice Gondor minifigures from AliExpress, since LEGO didn’t and won’t produce any, they are a good choice. https://customizeminifiguresintelligence.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/quick-review-of-koruit-lotr-gondor-knight-minifigures/

Haha, bricklink is so powerful with wanted lists, it opens up so many opportunities after you figure out how to create Wanted Lists. In terms of the pieces you used for the MOD, how do you know what pieces are required for your MOD? it's always been my problem, hence I just buy 2 sets and go from there. There were no prefab pieces as it's a creator set, makes it easier to modify in a sense. Yes, the original ship is very stuby, so can add a mid section the balance it. Here is my attempt at modifying it, lengthened the forecastle and aftcastle, and raise the main mast with bigger sails.

I stare at my creations quite a lot, a bit of self-indulgence really. It comes with the problem of realising things are not in the right place and needs to be changed. When I did cliff base, using the original LEGO corner with dark and olive green slopes, the rest the of the base are made with dark and light bluish gray bricks and slopes arranged with no regard to the tower as it wasn’t built yet. Now I have created base of the tower buttresses using light bluish gray bricks, ones on the cliff base don’t match up for the weight transfer. I had to rearrange the bricks and slopes, so the light bluish gray slopes line up beneath the buttresses on three corners, and left the green slopes as they were. I opened up the base so you can see I used some inverted and slope pieces to fill in the gaps on the face of the cliff. Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr

I stare at my creations quite a lot, a bit of self-indulgence really. It comes with the problem of realising things are not in the right place and needs to be changed. When I did cliff base, using the original LEGO corner with dark and olive green slopes, the rest the of the base are made with dark and light bluish gray bricks and slopes arranged with no regard to the tower as it wasn’t built yet. Now I have created base of the tower buttresses using light bluish gray bricks, ones on the cliff base don’t match up for the weight transfer. I had to rearrange the bricks and slopes, so the light bluish gray slopes line up beneath the buttresses on three corners, and left the green slopes as they were. I opened up the base so you can see I used some inverted and slope pieces to fill in the gaps on the face of the cliff. Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr

The Imperial Watchtower is up to Version Four, on 28th June 2021. Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watch Tower Version Four by R Y, on Flickr After building my Grand Castle MOD by deconstructing the second Medieval Castle, I was left with the rocky green base from the gatehouse, a staircase and a bottom of a battlement, plus some wall sections and what seems like a lot of spare pieces at the time. Instead taking those apart and sorting them out, I thought why not build something instead. From building four towers, and studying the instructions of B Model, I decided to use that experience and knowledge to build an Imperial watchtower, overlooking an waterway or the sea. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr I used the 8x16 brick yellow plate as the base, the dark azure plates surround it to create the coast and two olive green half circle plates for grass lands. I know that each level will be six bricks. I have three 4x8 dark tan plates to build as the cliff top, a 2x4 dark tan plate will be the base of the staircase also connecting the 4x8 half round olive green plate to the 8x16 tan plate. Using this knowledge I can gauge how far to build the cliff base from the edge of the plate, ten studs long, I still don’t know if I have enough pieces, I used inverted slopes where possible, placing the flat face on the outside. The two reddish brown 1x5x4 arch pieces are sitting on a combination 1x4 light bluish gray arches and 1x4 2 studs plates, and 1x6 dark blue tiles completes the steps. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr The tower is built like the original LEGO model, 6x6 studs side by side. I had six dark bluish grey panels left, they made up the walls with other bricks bordered by 1x1 round bricks. A black door frame was removed from the yellow wooden keep to make the entrance. I also have four 1x2x2 castle windows left as I removed them from my Grand Castle MOD, I needed black lattice diamond pane for the yellow keep. I was still short on dark bluish gray bricks so I needed to have more opening. I designed a bow window recess to free up a wall of dark bluish gray bricks, using reddish brown round corner windows and light bluish gray round corner macaronis, sitting on two inverted slopes, a dark blue slope and corner slopes for the roof. I really like the bow window recess as it provides a 180 degree view out to the sea. I managed to build up a two floor tower, again using inverted slopes to make up the numbers. I used the beautiful gargoyle design from LEGO model B, two are facing out to the sea, acting not only as elongated water sprouts directing water into the sea, they protect the tower from evil spirits. I introduced a bit of colour using the SNOT yellow wattle and daub panels sitting on two inverted brackets, I put one blue and one white 1x1 tooth plate to act as coat of arms on the yellow door sign. This made the tower ground floor one stud taller than the six bricks height of others. I didn’t initially use the dark tan 6x6 plates as the tower is enclosed, but realised they are required to provide structural rigidity to the body of the tower. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr That was my first watchtower attempt after many rebuilds, moving the light and dark bluish gray pieces around so at least the opposite walls on each level has the same colour and brick patterns. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr The next day, my mate was asking me about the Grand Castle MOD that I posted here, are the walls of the yellow wattle and daub building facing the great tower blocked off with bricks, or was it open access? I said it was open access on the first floor, closed on the second floor; then it dawned on me I can remove the two panels on the second floor, and possibly build up a third level. However, I still don’t have enough gray pieces. I know I have sacrificed the trebuchet design many times already, what is one more time… well, I had to take it apart completely this time. The counterweight provided the gray pieces, the frame provided five reddish brown tiles to swap out the dark blue ones on the staircase, two reddish brown 1x4 bricks were swapped into the roof of the keep for two dark bluish gray ones to go into the Imperial watchtower, four 1x1x5 solid studs and one 6x6 plate became the core of the roof. Two reddish brown arches went to the ground floor wooden columns to match the arches from first and second floor inside the yellow keep. Two 1x12 bricks are used on the cliff top to free up more grey bricks. As the tower got higher, I had to increase the height of the corner buttresses to balance it; they went from two bricks high, to three, and finally four, 2x2 corner bricks are used as I do not have enough 2x2 bricks. I moved the tower one stud inside the cliff, due to the round corner window piece broke up the line of light bluish gray edge, which is visually displeasing and break in weight transfer. Moving the whole tower in by one stud allows me to continue the edge from top down to bottom, with the brown window frame siting on the outside of the 1x1 round bricks, they are linked by two 1x2 round plates. One extra stud of space allowed me to create a nicer dark blue roof with a plate of yellow underneath. I had to take another black door frame from the yellow keep, on the second floor facing the tower, to support the back buttresses. I tend to hold the tower on the buttresses; as the bow window recess, built with 2x2 round corner bricks, is no longer in between the 2x2 bricks, the force of my finger grip would push in the buttresses and nearly collapsed the whole towel; the door frame solved this issue, a simple but very effective fix. The big 1x4x3 window with two pearl gold pane are used to provide the big opening on the third floor, I was literally on the last usable small gray pieces when it was built, the stepped pattern of dark and light bluish gray bricks is for looks and also due to the lack of bricks. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower by R Y, on Flickr I wanted a pavilion roof originally, but do not have any 3x3 corner pieces left, so made to do with a dark blue gable roof. I was also short of a 1x2 yellow brick for the gable ends, so had to take one from the keep roof, replaced it with a yellow technic holed brick, hidden away from view. Dark blue 3x2 slopes stacked on top of each other with a 2x4 brick inside for support completed the roof with one flag on each gable. So here it is, after many rebuilds, my Imperial Watchtower made from the spare pieces of my Grand Castle MOD of 2 x 31120 Medieval Castle. Please share your thoughts on comments! MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr

thank you.

Thank you, hope it's useful to you if you bought the castle set.

Great looking ship, much prefer the brick sails

With time, I try to see if I can improve on my designs, as LEGO blocks do not need glue, a lot of building and dismantling before coming to a satisfying solution. I wanted to increase floor space of the ground floor by filling up the spaces between the buttress corners. I studied the instructions of the LEGO Model B, learning how its ground floor is enlarged. My main concern is still whether I have enough dark bluish gray bricks for the expansion. Each six stud wide tower wall requires a space of twenty four 1x1 dark bluish gray blocks in the middle; by expanding to an eight stud wide wall, thirty six 1x1 blocks are required, I don’t have enough. I designed an opening with one 1x4 arch and two 1x1 round bricks, that frees up eight bricks of space. I moved one light bluish gray 2x2 brick from the first floor to the ground floor, as I wanted no more than three 1x1 round bricks on each corner of each floor, to create a coherent look. With two 2x2 bricks used as foundations for each corner, this saves another four blocks of space, so I am back down to twenty-four blocks of dark bluish gray bricks for each ground floor wall, success! Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr The door frame is made with reddish brown bricks and arches, the gaps between the buttress are filled in with 1x2 slopes. I expanded the bow window recess by three 1x2 bricks in the middle, I can’t believe I didn’t do that from the start, as my first attempt left a big gap below the corner window frames. The base of the recess is raised by a stud as I pushed the recess out over the cliff edge by one stud, the connection is done by a dark tan 2x4 plate onto the ground floor. The black 1x4x3 window frame is moved down one block, to create a coherent line of light bluish gray blocks beneath the battlement. Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr

With time, I try to see if I can improve on my designs, as LEGO blocks do not need glue, a lot of building and dismantling before coming to a satisfying solution. I wanted to increase floor space of the ground floor by filling up the spaces between the buttress corners. I studied the instructions of the LEGO Model B, learning how its ground floor is enlarged. My main concern is still whether I have enough dark bluish gray bricks for the expansion. Each six stud wide tower wall requires a space of twenty four 1x1 dark bluish gray blocks in the middle; by expanding to an eight stud wide wall, thirty six 1x1 blocks are required, I don’t have enough. I designed an opening with one 1x4 arch and two 1x1 round bricks, that frees up eight bricks of space. I moved one light bluish gray 2x2 brick from the first floor to the ground floor, as I wanted no more than three 1x1 round bricks on each corner of each floor, to create a coherent look. With two 2x2 bricks used as foundations for each corner, this saves another four blocks of space, so I am back down to twenty-four blocks of dark bluish gray bricks for each ground floor wall, success! Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr The door frame is made with reddish brown bricks and arches, the gaps between the buttress are filled in with 1x2 slopes. I expanded the bow window recess by three 1x2 bricks in the middle, I can’t believe I didn’t do that from the start, as my first attempt left a big gap below the corner window frames. The base of the recess is raised by a stud as I pushed the recess out over the cliff edge by one stud, the connection is done by a dark tan 2x4 plate onto the ground floor. The black 1x4x3 window frame is moved down one block, to create a coherent line of light bluish gray blocks beneath the battlement. Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower Version 3 by R Y, on Flickr

Looks so fresh! beautiful ship

That archway door looks so much better than the bland rectangle door!

Thank you, this topic is amazing!

I didn't know the difference between dragons and wyverns until this week, haha, reading up on reviews on the 31120 and researches online, I thought Smaug in the Hobbit movies was a dragon, but it seems Peter Jackson created his own version compared to Tolkien's 4-legged dragon. Four legs made the model more substantial and balanced.

Thank you! yes, as an extension to a coastal defence fortress with heaps of cannons.

Yeah, quite interested in the Bowser Airship, can get two, use the bow pieces for both the bow and stern of the ship like the old Pirate ships.

My first modification of the dragon turns out to be a wyvern, what I thought to be front legs on the wings are just clawed wrists of their wings, dragons have four legs that are independent from its wings. Three plates are the distance required so the wings and front legs on ball joints do not interfere with each other, I used a green 2x4 plate plus two dark tan 1x2 plates to build up the torso that has eight ball joint plates. I made the front legs shorter and slimmer by removing the large 1x3x2 arch and using the just the smaller green slope, with two flower plates as support. I changed how the single claw is attached on the wing wrist by using black brackets, the dark green open clip tile sticks out too much. The expanded wingspan and longer tail balanced out this four-legged fire-breathing dragon. I love this brick-built dragon, the same ball jointed torso design idea can be applied to many other animals. Four-legged Dragon by R Y, on Flickr Four-legged Dragon by R Y, on Flickr Four-legged Dragon by R Y, on Flickr Four-legged Dragon by R Y, on Flickr Four-legged Dragon by R Y, on Flickr

thank you, goes nicely with ships and bays! That is the original LEGO design from the gatehouse, I built everything up from that corner. Thank you, it was great fun doing the different builds with the different colours!

After building my Grand Castle MOD by deconstructing the second Medieval Castle, I was left with the rocky green base from the gatehouse, a staircase and a bottom of a battlement, plus some wall sections and what seems like a lot of spare pieces at the time. Instead taking those apart and sorting them out, I thought why not build something instead. From building four towers, and studying the instructions of B Model, I decided to use that experience and knowledge to build an Imperial watchtower, overlooking an waterway or the sea. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr I used the 8x16 brick yellow plate as the base, the dark azure plates surround it to create the coast and two olive green half circle plates for grass lands. I know that each level will be six bricks. I have three 4x8 dark tan plates to build as the cliff top, a 2x4 dark tan plate will be the base of the staircase also connecting the 4x8 half round olive green plate to the 8x16 tan plate. Using this knowledge I can gauge how far to build the cliff base from the edge of the plate, ten studs long, I still don’t know if I have enough pieces, I used inverted slopes where possible, placing the flat face on the outside. The two reddish brown 1x5x4 arch pieces are sitting on a combination 1x4 light bluish gray arches and 1x4 2 studs plates, and 1x6 dark blue tiles completes the steps. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr The tower is built like the original LEGO model, 6x6 studs side by side. I had six dark bluish grey panels left, they made up the walls with other bricks bordered by 1x1 round bricks. A black door frame was removed from the yellow wooden keep to make the entrance. I also have four 1x2x2 castle windows left as I removed them from my Grand Castle MOD, I needed black lattice diamond pane for the yellow keep. I was still short on dark bluish gray bricks so I needed to have more opening. I designed a bow window recess to free up a wall of dark bluish gray bricks, using reddish brown round corner windows and light bluish gray round corner macaronis, sitting on two inverted slopes, a dark blue slope and corner slopes for the roof. I really like the bow window recess as it provides a 180 degree view out to the sea. I managed to build up a two floor tower, again using inverted slopes to make up the numbers. I used the beautiful gargoyle design from LEGO model B, two are facing out to the sea, acting not only as elongated water sprouts directing water into the sea, they protect the tower from evil spirits. I introduced a bit of colour using the SNOT yellow wattle and daub panels sitting on two inverted brackets, I put one blue and one white 1x1 tooth plate to act as coat of arms on the yellow door sign. This made the tower ground floor one stud taller than the six bricks height of others. I didn’t initially use the dark tan 6x6 plates as the tower is enclosed, but realised they are required to provide structural rigidity to the body of the tower. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr That was my first watchtower attempt after many rebuilds, moving the light and dark bluish gray pieces around so at least the opposite walls on each level has the same colour and brick patterns. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr The next day, my mate was asking me about the Grand Castle MOD that I posted here, are the walls of the yellow wattle and daub building facing the great tower blocked off with bricks, or was it open access? I said it was open access on the first floor, closed on the second floor; then it dawned on me I can remove the two panels on the second floor, and possibly build up a third level. However, I still don’t have enough gray pieces. I know I have sacrificed the trebuchet design many times already, what is one more time… well, I had to take it apart completely this time. The counterweight provided the gray pieces, the frame provided five reddish brown tiles to swap out the dark blue ones on the staircase, two reddish brown 1x4 bricks were swapped into the roof of the keep for two dark bluish gray ones to go into the Imperial watchtower, four 1x1x5 solid studs and one 6x6 plate became the core of the roof. Two reddish brown arches went to the ground floor wooden columns to match the arches from first and second floor inside the yellow keep. Two 1x12 bricks are used on the cliff top to free up more grey bricks. Keep Tower by R Y, on Flickr As the tower got higher, I had to increase the height of the corner buttresses to balance it; they went from two bricks high, to three, and finally four, 2x2 corner bricks are used as I do not have enough 2x2 bricks. I moved the tower one stud inside the cliff, due to the round corner window piece broke up the line of light bluish gray edge, which is visually displeasing and break in weight transfer. Moving the whole tower in by one stud allows me to continue the edge from top down to bottom, with the brown window frame siting on the outside of the 1x1 round bricks, they are linked by two 1x2 round plates. One extra stud of space allowed me to create a nicer dark blue roof with a plate of yellow underneath. I had to take another black door frame from the yellow keep, on the second floor facing the tower, to support the back buttresses. I tend to hold the tower on the buttresses; as the bow window recess, built with 2x2 round corner bricks, is no longer in between the 2x2 bricks, the force of my finger grip would push in the buttresses and nearly collapsed the whole towel; the door frame solved this issue, a simple but very effective fix. The big 1x4x3 window with two pearl gold pane are used to provide the big opening on the third floor, I was literally on the last usable small gray pieces when it was built, the stepped pattern of dark and light bluish gray bricks is for looks and also due to the lack of bricks. MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr Imperial Watchtower by R Y, on Flickr I wanted a pavilion roof originally, but do not have any 3x3 corner pieces left, so made to do with a dark blue gable roof. I was also short of a 1x2 yellow brick for the gable ends, so had to take one from the keep roof, replaced it with a yellow technic holed brick, hidden away from view. Dark blue 3x2 slopes stacked on top of each other with a 2x4 brick inside for support completed the roof with one flag on each gable. So here it is, after many rebuilds, my Imperial Watchtower made from the spare pieces of my Grand Castle MOD of 2 x 31120 Medieval Castle. Please share your thoughts on comments! MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr MOC Imperial Watchtower 31120 by R Y, on Flickr

Thank you, all of the designs are based on the original LEGO builds, I had to arrange and connect it cleanly and in the same design language of the rest of the castle.

Cheers, let me know if you have any questions when you build your one, unfortunately, the Ideas Blacksmith is no a bigger scale to the castle

LEGO MODs are an ongoing process for me, with more time on my hands, I look to improve the model where I can. With feedback from fellow AFOLs, the empty door frame on the keep next to the staircase is an eyesore, it was a rush job as the it’s a piece that can hold up the upper level. I decided to fill up the frame with the 1x1 yellow bricks and round plates, and 1x1 brown plates; to find just enough 1x1 yellow bricks, I had to gut out the counterweight of the trebuchet for its bright yellow bricks and replaced them with dark stone grey ones. I even had to remove two bright yellow bricks on top of the windows, replaced them with two reddish brown ones, this actually turned out well as it created a nice diagonal pattern following the slope of the roof. I was short of two 1x1 reddish brown plates, so I had to use two 1x1 round plates on the two inside columns as they are hidden from view. Finally, I had to sacrifice the trebuchet again by removing the 1x10 back plate so I can connect the arch columns. I quite enjoy this improvisation when working within the limitation of the official LEGO 31120 pieces. I moved the staircase inside by one stud to allow for the wooden beam and column, it was easier than I thought, just had to change out some bricks one the wall and move the nougat brick holder to the edge of the plate it is sitting on. As I was adding to the wooden keep, I nearly knocked down the great tower, I realised that it was missing a stone column on the ground level! The original LEGO model only had a wooden column as there was a small house on top, I didn’t think to reinforce the inside corner leading to a wobbly tower, all fixed after two 1x1x3 bricks. I still managed to have a working trebuchet even after taking away a lot of the original pieces, the hole plate is moved higher one, so the chain does not dangle as much while in resting position. The arm is longer due to the pieces I had to work with, the longer arm had the unexpected benefit of balancing the counterweight, the original LEGO counterweight is slanted as it’s only connected on one side by a single peg. As I am in the mode of improvements, I reinforced the front legs of the dragon with a 1x1 green flower and 1x2 sand yellow plate each, the original single stud connection is weak, the front legs keep on falling off with play. That was the first step of the to improve on the keep section, however, the location of the staircase is still creating an awkward space where a door would not make sense. Now I know it’s quite easy to move the staircase I decided to move it completely to the watch tower section. This allowed me to complete the flooring on the keep, add in a dining table and an inward-opening door, plus an extra treasure chest. The nougat brick holder now sits on an inverted roof tile. I changed the base plates of the watch tower to one 6x6 and 2x2 brick yellow plates, moved the stairway there locked in by two 2x4 sand yellow plates. I connected the staircase one stud from the edge of the section so it sits centerline of the castle. I finished this section with an armory crate of twelve 1x1 round bricks sitting on two 2x2 reduced plates. Looking forward for comments and feedback please. 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr\ 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr 31120 MOD Changes by R Y, on Flickr Thank you, just made some change interior changes.

Definitely, I made a self-imposed rule of using pieces from the 31120.