mokka

Hello again, The base of the main dome of the Frauenkirche consists of a circular cornice, topped by a false balustrade. This drum-shaped section contributes to the unique bell shape of the main dome, by making it appear slender and higher than it actally is. The basic structure is a chain of 1x2 bricks, bent to a ring. The tension inside the ring must be stabilized with hinge plates. The false balustrade is built with small window arches (partly upside down) and small wall sections behind them The lesenes of the dome ascent continue across the false balustrade. With one stud offset, the lesenes divide the main dome surface into eight panels of nearly equal size. The thick outer wall and the thin inner wall of the main dome are connected by radial wall slices (ribs). This strong structure withstood cannon fire during the Prussian-Saxon War (1756 to 1763) and even the bombing at the end of World War II. Actually the Frauenkirche collapsed, after a fire had been raging inside for two days. The wall sections are connected by hinges.The ring is further stabilized by the disc-shaped floor. A spiralling ramp between the inner and outer wall was used to transport the heavy sandstone blocks during construction of the dome. Nowadays this ramp is part of the visitors' path towards the viewing platform on top of the dome. For reasons of stability, I built steps instead of a ramp. Southeast view of the completed main dome base with the false balustrade: Construction of the main dome will follow soon. Greetings, Justus

Hi there, The apse is topped by a pointed, tent-shaped roof. The removable roof module rests on a tiled surface: Supporting arches are covered with sandstone plates. This structure resembles the wooden framework of a roof or ship's hull. Not surprising, as the master builder of the Frauenkirche George Bähr was a carpenter by profession. For the half-round surface I used different slopes (standard, 15672, 28192) and some jumper plates. This combination leaves only small gaps remain between the partial areas. When the Frauenkirche was rebuilt, the weathered remains of the apse roof were stripped down to the elevation of the rain water gully. A water-tight seal was applied and the roof was covered with new sandstone plates. Dormer windows lighten the interior. Stairs inside the apse roof lead to the main dome. For sufficient headroom some of the 2x2x2 slopes are replaced by slanted bricks with cheese slopes below. You need to look closely to see the difference (-: Greetings, Justus Sorry, I did not take photos there. I found a nice video, made by PatSonBricks: Schwarzwälder Klötzlestage 2026 The Frauenkirche appears at 2:25 minutes.

Dear All, The upper part of the inner dome is attached to the floor of the main dome above. 16 wedges form a circular disc with center opening. This opening lets daylight shine from the main dome into the nave below. At first I built a spiderweb-like structure to find the matching points. The studs of the wedge plates meet in every 5th circle, where hinge plates are used to connect them. Different wedge plates are combined for minimum visible gaps in the floor. The wobbly disc is stiffened by the vertical walls of the main dome base. The main dome base does not match the grid of the dome ascent below. Therefore it is just set onto a layer of tiles and centered by the frieze, circling around the main dome base. The closed ring is remarkably stable. The studs of the lower inner dome segments are also covered with tiles. Now this is for the nerds The upper wall sections of the inner dome are attached to the main dome floor, using hinges. The ridges shown in the left picture had to be moved by 1/2 stud each, for a proper ratio between large and small wall panels (right picture). In the following, the areas between the ridges were filled again. The ceiling paining of the Frauenkirche shows the four Evangelists in the large panels of the inner dome. The allegories in the smaller panels in between symbolize Christian virtues. At first I transferred each painting to a mosaic grid The wall segments of the inner dome are two studs thick. With bricks, plates and tiles in sizes 1x1 and 1x2 plus some longer strips a stable structure was built, showing the colored pattern. Sloped bricks make smooth edges along the sides. The inner dome top fits seamless onto the lower wall segments of the inner dome. LED lighting illuminates the inner dome, from where the light is reflected into the nave. Removing the apse leaves a large opening for unobstructed view into the nave. The mirror image of the inner dome can be watched from a comfortable standing position. This setup was well received by the visitors of a convention last weekend. Greetings, Justus

That is sooo beautiful ! The apse of the chapel and the towers with their domed roofs are magnificent. I really like the seamless transition between the rocks and the castle walls. The architecture reminds me of the Red Keep from the Game of Thrones series. Except for the grey colour, of course (-:

Hello again, The inner dome with its fresco paintings roofs the nave, like a stone-made heaven. This impression is amplified by the bright daylight, shining through the large center light and the eight openings around the base. The inner dome vault reflects sounds back into the nave. Thanks to its good acoustics, the Frauenkirche is an excellent and popular concert hall. A tunnel circuit connects the staircase towers to the dormer houses in the side walls and the stairs, leading into the main dome. The inner dome circuit just above the transverse arches gives access to the rooms beyond, e.g. for inspection and maintenance of the anchoring system. The circular steps may have been used as seats or stands for musicians in former times, but I’m not sure about that. Whatever, the view into the nave from above must be phantastic! The lower half of the inner dome is formed by the inside surfaces of the dome ascent modules. Eight ridges divide the half sphere of the inner dome into four large faces and four small faces. Openings to the dormer houses and the staircase towers provide daylight and ventilation. The staircase towers on the east side are part of the visitors‘ way towards the main dome. The related openings of the inner dome are glazed for noise protection. The barrel vaults of the openings intersect with the spherical inner dome surface. Sloped bricks are used to reproduce the intersection curve. The curved wall segments are built with layers of bricks and plates. Plates, covered with tiles, reproduce the protruding ridges. For the model, the half sphere shape is approximated with 16 curved segments. After trying different ways to build the curve, I chose the solution shown on the left side of the images above. Every second or third layer is fixed with hinge plates to the backing. The gaps between the segments are filled with small panels, slopes and tiles. The modules must not get caught, when inserted or removed! Spotlights attached to the circuit railing illuminate the nave, e.g. during concerts. The stairs of the visitors’ path are visible behind the glazing of the large opening in the middle. Starts looking like a dome … The tan-colored areas will show ceiling paintings. More on that in the next episode Greetings, Justus

Dear All, From square to circle Thanks to its unique shape, the dome of the Frauenkirche is known as the “stone-made bell”. The curved roof ascends from the square outline of the nave to the circular dome. The roof surface is formed by sand stone plates, laid onto radial arches. The surface of the plates is curved in two ways: concave in radial direction and convex in circumference. The old masters shaped and fitted each plate individually, just using gauges and good sense of proportion. For the reconstruction, a 3D computer model and CNC mills were used to shape the stone plates with high precision. In the model, the eight modules A to H and the extensions of the pillars make a radial grid with 16 divisions: The ascending, concave outline within each division from A to H is formed by wall slices, covered with increasingly sloped bricks on the outside. The convex surface in circumference is reached by displacing the wall slices. Small offsets (½ stud sideways or 1 plate thickness in height) let the curved surface look smooth. This technique might also be useful for building hulls of ships. For reasons of stability, I did not build arches, but solid wall slices. The gaps are hidden under rectangular plates, attached to the extensions of the pillars. These plates, covered with tiles, represent the protruding strips (lesenes) which divide the dome outside into eight panels. The outer wall slices of the large modules B, D, F and H are in line with the grid of the adjacent small modules A, C, E and G. There are no visible gaps along the division lines. The roof above the apse was added later. It took some trial and error to find the proper outlines. Dormer houses are set into the North, South and West side of the dome ascent. Large windows let the daylight shine into the nave. Surfaces with little inclination and located in shadow areas don’t dry easily. Moisture and algae let the sandstone appear darker in these areas. The previous image shows the North side with slope bricks in dark colors in the lower part of the dome ascent. Rainwater gullies run along the square outline of the roof. Hidden behind a low sandstone ridge, they are not visible from outside. Rainwater leaking through the sandstone caused permanent moisture penetration inside the historic Frauenkirche. In the rebuilt sandstone roof, rainwater leaking through is caught by a waterproof seal underneath. The grey round plates 2x2 under the rainwater gully reproduce the water drain openings. Southwest view of the dome ascent, including the frieze underneath the circular cornice: The dome ascent modules also support the lower parts of the inner dome. Stay tuned ! Greetings, Justus

Hi Gui, Cool MOC and quite big I like the score tables and the players' shoe prints (studs) on the ground. The net seems a bit massive to me. Why did you not use LEGO fences 3185 ? They are available in black, dark stone grey and even green. Greetings, Justus

Dear friends of baroque style, Four spires surround the mighty dome of the Frauenkirche. In particular, I like their curved shape and the richly decorated roof tops. Besides their baroque appearance, the massively built spires are important elements of the structure: Their heavy weight diverts the horizontal loads from the dome’s weight downwards, like the pinnacles on top of the buttresses in gothic cathedrals. The spires used to provide ventilation by natural draught, like a chimney. At first, I took spoked wheels 30155 with tyres for the exhausts at the roof tops. Later the wheels were replaced by spoked hub caps 62701. When the church was rebuilt, a modern heating and ventilation system was installed. The spires are accessed from the staircase towers below. Inverted slopes reproduce the arched roofs of the staircases. They also fix the spire's position by fitting into the "negative shape" (left picture). Each spire contains a large chamber with a small chamber on top. Large chamber under construction: The lesenes along the curved outer edges are built with 2x2 corner and facet bricks, set into grooves. These bricks are held firmly in place by the brick layers above. The tower roofs intersect with the sloped surface, ascending towards the main dome. The bare stone roofs of the historic Frauenkirche were prone to weathering and needed frequent repair. The rebuilt roofs are protected with sheet lead, which is easy to shape and will not stand out against the sand stone. Light bl[uish gr]ey slopes indicate the sheet lead roofing. Fun fact: "bley" resembles ancient writing of the German word "Blei", which means ... lead. The small chamber in the southwest tower C holds the church clock with 3 dials. The oval frames of the dials and windows are reproduced with mudguards 50745. The spires C and E on the west side house 4 bells each. A test setup of the bell frame already exists: I hope, you enjoyed reading. Please keep watching. Greetings, Justus

@Siroco @Shiva Thank you My pleasure!

Dear All, According to the original plans, the dome of the Frauenkirche should be a timber construction, covered with copper plating. Later this construction was replaced by the famous "stone-made bell", allegedly to save money. The builder George Bähr wanted to keep the light atmospere inside the nave without adding heavy visble structures: The idea was to combine the vertical load of the main dome with the sideward push from the inner dome. The horizontal component would distribute the massive weight of the dome on the pillars and the adjacent 16 wall slices. Unfortunately this brilliant but daring concept could not be realized in adequate quality with the means at that time. Construction was stopped in 1736, after irregular settlings of the foundations had caused cracks in the stonework, which left the slender pillars overloaded. Work on the dome was resumed 5 years later, after heated discussion and several improvements, e.g. iron reinforcements. Despite its structural weaknesses, the historic Frauenkirche stood for 200 years, albeit frequent repair was necessary. The structural stability of the rebuilt church is significantly improved, e.g. by better quality of the stonework inside the pillars. In addition, a tie anchor system was installed to convey the load from the dome’s weight in a controlled manner. A polygon of connecting rods surrounds the nave interior above the transverse arches. Tension rods tie the polygon to 16 reinforced concrete blocks. These anchor blocks are set on top of the wall segments between the pillars and the outside walls. Their surfaces are inclined normal to the flux of force, to avoid shear in the stone layers above. The tensioning system is reproduced with LEGO slopes and technic parts. Tightening is not possible, thus it is not functional. Nevertheless I didn't want to leave out this important technical feature. Thanks to the studs, shear is no issue when building with LEGO bricks. So long! Justus

@Shiva Thanks a lot that's exactly what I was looking for. It works fine with different image sizes by copying the URL of the downsized image into the post. I must add the link to the original high resolution image to be in line with flickr's terms of use. That would be fine for me and less work, compared to compiling several pictures. However, each image must be stored individually on flickr. Example: For all images included in this thread so far, the total image count would rise from 55 to 77. Compiled pictures help to keep the image count low.

Thanks for your explanation - I understand. When I deeplink photos from my flickr album, they appear full size in the post. I'm afraid, that too many large pictures would involve a lot of scrolling and make the post difficult to read. So far I worked around this problem by combining several photos to one. In addition, I could upload the individual photos with their original resolution onto my flickr page. Is there a way to make deep-linked photos appear smaller in a post, somewhat like a preview? Greetings, Justus

@GameyRaccoon, I sort by part or type first. Large quantities of parts are then sorted by color or color group second. I prefer to store everything in one place, thus bags and boxes with overflow are included. My storage solution with two racks holds about 100 k of parts at present, with quite some space left. The racks can stand without wall mount. The shelves and trays are more than 1 foot deep, which provides much more volume than the small drawer boxes. Therefore, I think that even just 1 rack could hold 100 k. Greetings, Justus

@Shiva, Thank you for still responding here. However, I do not understand your last comment. Too many pictures? Greetings, Justus

And here we go again: The nave is enclosed by a pillar octagon. A further pair of pillars marks the transition from the chancel to the altar room. The distance between the pillars is wide around the main galleries B, D, F and even wider around the chancel for best possible viewing conditions. The shorter distances between the pillars in front of the staircase towers are beneficial, because the major part of the load from the dome’s weight is concentrated there. The nave side of the pillars has a colored marble structure painting. The sides of the chancel and apse pillars are also painted with strips of marble appearance. The pillar capitals are formed by two sills with colored areas in between. The lower sills are decorated with stucco ornaments and numerous cherubs. The pillar capitals were still existent in the apse ruin. No painting was added on the altar side, to show that the complete interior is a reconstruction, including the coloring. The gaps between the pillars are bridged by a row of alternating wide and narrow arches. These transverse arches, together with the pillars and the adjacent walls, bear the weight of the dome above. The inner surface of the arches is inclined towards the nave. This pendentive forms the transition from the pillar octagon to the circular base of the dome. A stable inverted U-shaped frame defines the outline of each arch. The arch itself is a chain of bricks, connected by hinges. Slopes 28192 reproduce the stucco edges of the arches and hide the irregular edges of the frames. Yellow tiles and plates indicate the baroque paintings and ornaments. The transverse arch elements stand on the tiled top surfaces of the pillar capitals without visible gaps. The arches get wider towards the outside, while their height does not increase – virtually not buildable. Therefore, each element consists of three individual arches. Finally, I ended up with this strangely shaped structure: The picture shows the view from below, with the arches standing upside-down. The roofs, ascending to the staircase towers are reproduced by two arches again. Large, vaulted roofs close the spaces between the arches and the outside walls. These roofs are built firmly into modules B, D, F, and H of the model. They also consist of several arches, fixed by a stable frame. Without this embedding everything would fall apart – no glue was used! In addition, the massively built box frames stabilize the structure of the side wall modules. The transverse arches are inserted from above with tight fit. Dome base level with completed arches and roofs: To be continued ... Greetings, Justus