enigmus_2000

Thanks WarSquirrel. I eventually plan to do other Washington DC landmarks to a similar scale...well at least a scale that can be displayed in a normal indoor space and not a size found at LEGOLAND! I think I'll take a crack at the White House next.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT PIECES: 4128 DIMENSIONS: 15” L x 15” W x 51 ½” H WEIGHT: 10.15 lbs The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington (1732-1799), once commander-in-chief of the early Continental Army and the first president of the United States of America. He exemplified the core ideals of the American Revolution and the new nation: republican virtue and devotion to civic duty. Completed in 1884, the monument, constructed of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is the tallest stone structure in the world, standing at 555’ 5 1/8” tall (169.294 m). It was the tallest structure in the world until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, France. This sculpture, created entirely from 4128 official LEGO® pieces, faithfully reproduces the elegance of this incredibly impressive and instantly recognizable monument. The completed scale (1:131) of the sculpture captures the awesome presence of the real monument. The Washington Monument is deceptively difficult to design to proper scale with available LEGO® pieces while also capturing the graceful angles of the obelisk sides and top pyramid. By gradually stepping-in the sides of the monument, the completed sculpture is able to very closely capture the 88.8 degree angle of the sides and the 72.6 degree slope of the top pyramid. As part of design modifications in 1876, the monument entrance was modified as shown in the model. Today the entrance is covered by a temporary visitor screening center, erected in 2001. The screening center was omitted from the design to better capture the look of the original monument. Today the monument is situated in the center of five concentric rings of light and dark circular stone pavers. While capturing all the stone rings to scale would create too large of a display footprint, the first three rings were accurately captured to scale. The modern monument is also ringed by 56 flags (one for each state and U.S. territory), but due to the designed scale only 24 flags are used to capture the effect. Typically many LEGO® models are designed “studded” in appearance. However, this particular model was designed to eliminate the appearance of LEGO® piece studs. This “stud-less” look adds an incredible level of realism to the final model.

Amazing work. I agree that it is likely that it could withstand some of the weight but I think there would be far too much torque on the lower outcrop area without some additional reinforcement. Renderings of massive projects are great, but there is a big difference between what works in a computer and what can really stand up when built for real. Top notch concept.

Awesome micro scale. Do you have plans to do other historic tanks like the Panzer and Sherman? It would be a great collection.

Awesome detail for micro scale! The building is hard enough to do at a larger scale but do capture so much with so little is a great achievement. As some of the other members stated, you might want to tweak the towers a little, and maybe extend the length of the building another 5-6 studs since it is a little too "squished". With those couple of minor tweaks it would be a real winner on LEGO Ideas.

Everything is awesome...including your MOC! Nicely done.

Nicely captured scale and detail. It would be great if people could put aside the tragedy of 9/11 and respect what these buildings meant as architectural accomplishments and the historical impact on the NYC skyline. Keep up the great work.

Amazing detail. I really liked the realism you were able to place in the giant red tree. It looks incredibly natural. Keep up the great work!

Thank you for the compliment. I bought my Statue used years after it was released. After building it, it just felt incomplete without the pedestal and other versions I saw people create just seemed to fall short, which is why I decided to attempt my own design. It went through four versions with LDD and MLCAD until I felt content with the design and compromises I had to make with piece selection. When it comes to cost, it really depends on what you are willing to spend. Obviously we all have our regrets on produced sets when they were first released and are now worth a fortune now that they are discontinued. You can still find used Statue sets for a reasonable price, and the instructions for the pedestal are available for sale as well on ebay. Regardless, glad I could share and inspire others. Hopefully my next MOC will turn out as nicely! Thanks Ceroknight! It was my first MOC. I tried to be as detailed as I could, but building with LEGO usually means compromises somewhere in the design. Statues are expensive but not totally unreasonable if bought used from the right seller. Actually after I finished the pedestal I debated going back and reworking the statue itself with my own design to make it more detailed...but alas I want to focus my next MOC project which is the New York Stock Exchange building. Thanks Legocrazy81! Thanks for the compliments! I saw several tan versions of the pedestal posted on ebay and forums but I thought they were lacking in detail and I wanted stone gray and not tan bricks because I never think of the pedestal on a tan color. The studless look really does make a big difference in the presentation. You can find more closeup pictures on my ebay listing for the instructions. Since you have a pedestal already I'd be willing to cut you a deal on my plans if you want to save some effort in your design effort if you move forward with such a project. Otherwise, glean what you can and see if you can take it to the next level of detail for the enthusiasts out there! Cheers!

STATUE OF LIBERTY PEDESTAL PIECES: 6193 DIMENSIONS: 15” L x 15” W x 19 ¾” H WEIGHT: 17.25 lbs When LEGO® released the Statue of Liberty #3450 set in 2000, it was missing one key element, the iconic pedestal on which Lady Liberty stands. In real life, the statue stands at 151 feet tall and the pedestal adds another 89 feet. Therefore, more than 1/3 of what most people think of as the Statue of Liberty was missing from the original LEGO® #3450 model. I could not allow such a magnificent Lady to not be placed upon her pedestal. Therefore, in the spring of 2012 I began to design and build a quality pedestal model to properly complete the LEGO® Statue of Liberty #3450 set. Nearly every detail of the pedestal that could be captured with official LEGO® pieces has been accurately reproduced in this exquisite design. The entire model is designed to be properly scaled to fit with the LEGO® Statue of Liberty #3450 model. The balconies, brick patterns, shield details, slopes, columns, and many more features have all been faithfully recreated. Typically many LEGO® models are designed “studded” in appearance. However, this particular model was designed to eliminate the appearance of LEGO® piece studs. This “stud-less” look adds an incredible level of realism to the final model. The pedestal model is constructed of 6193 pieces. The model is approximately 15” (384 mm) wide, 15” (384 mm) deep, and 19 ¾” (501 mm) tall. The weight is approximately 17.25 lbs (7.8 kg). When combined with the LEGO® Statue of Liberty #3450 model, which itself is 33” (838 mm) tall, the overall presentation proudly stands at nearly 53” (4 feet 5 inches or 1.34 meters) and weighs approximately 27 lbs (12.24 kg)! Depending on the time of day and lighting, the stones of the real Statue of Liberty Pedestal can appear a variety of colors. Other builders that have done pedestal designs have typically used tan LEGO® pieces, but I usually think of the pedestal in some shade of gray. Therefore, the model was designed and built using the light bluish gray color (LBG), which is also known as LEGO® medium stone grey.