ShaydDeGrai

You had to mention the sword... If nothing else, prototyping the hilt and cross guard for the sword in the second figurine has be a wonderful exercise in why digital design will always pale in comparison to actually tinkering with bricks. I've tried mock-ups with LDD and ML-CAD and come up with several different designs that all seem okay on screen but then utterly fail to satisfy in the actual build (too many edges, not enough edges, too big, not enough detail, too fragile, too massive, etc.) In the end I declared my virtual design exercise a learning experience and went back to the tried and true method of rummaging through bins of parts and sticking stuff together to see what _felt_ right. It's taken two weeks of active building, rebuilding and higher than average cursing but I think I've got a prototype that might work for that particular detail. Now if I only had the actual figure to go with it...

Beautiful work. I particularly like the angle of the gate wall, the stepped walkway at the top of the battlement and the landscaping around the moat/river. Very nice job!

Well I thank you (and all of the above respondents) for the enthusiastic replies. I just got a 12.2 kg box of parts from Lego so (hopefully) I'll be able to get a little more done on this guy (and the companion statue) in the not to distant future.

Hi All, I've been lurking about for some time and recently signed up for an actual account so I thought I'd stop by and say hi. I've always been a fan of trains in general. My grandfather was a railway engineer in Scotland so engines and rolling stock were always cropping up in the backgrounds of the family album. As a child I lusted after big spiffy train sets that, in hindsight, I realize my folks could never have afforded and Lego kits that, while also pricy, offered a bit more versatility. My Lego collection grew one modest stocking stuffer and birthday present at a time. My first Lego 'train' was a pathetic little MOC that ran on little rubber wheels (scavenged from kits like the Legoland Tow Truck #601) on a strip of masking tape that I'd declared to be the 'track'. Over time, of course, things changed. Eventually, I had a disposable income and as luck would have it, Lego was introducing some really nice kits that caught my eye and awoke a long dormant addiction. The Technic Space Shuttle 8480 was really the turning point for me. After that one I became an unabashed AFOL. When the "My Own Train" line came out (about a decade ago) I gobbled up the entire including multiple engines and extra rolling stock; likewise for the Santa Fe line, several Hogwarts Express variations, the BNSF locomotive, the Maersk train and, of course, my favorite of the official train kits, the Emerald Knight (which reminds me of my grandfather and the Flying Scotsman as I romanticize an image of him stoking the boiler on the 10am London to Edinburgh run). As for Lego train related opinions (feel free to disagree with me): * Diesels are nice, but I think steam engines have a lot more character. * I've been slow to switch from 9v to Power Functions but the new motors and smaller battery boxes are starting to grow on me (and metal track is getting harder to find). * For compatibility with most of my rolling stock I tend to favor 6-wide construction though I've seen some really great 7 and 8 wide MOCs and recognize that their body to rail gauge ratio is a lot more realistic. * In general, I'm not that into street cars and subway lines but I'm happy to be wowed and inspired by people who've tackled these; the Lego City kits along these lines (no pun intended) not so much. Anyway, thanks for reading this. I hope to see more from all of you. -Shayd

Oh I agree. My original design used a 1x3 arch over the culvert but when I went to build it, I realized that I was fresh out of that given piece (at least in light gray). I rebuilt the thing in white and dark bley (where I did have the right part) but I didn't like the overall effect (too bright/too drab) . In the end, I went with the 1x4 arch because, aside from color, I could also tuck a 1x2 grill into the culvert to suggest bars under the arch.

Thanks. I did some quick calculations on an accurate mini-figure scale Hornburg. As it turns out the cost of the Lego bricks needed to build it was only slightly out-weighted by the cost of the addition I'd have to put on my house to house it. Thanks. I think the mountainside could be a little nicer but I'm rather happy with how the building itself turned out. BTW, this model is also proposed for Cuusoo if you'd like to support it. There is also slightly closer view of the citadel after the link.

I was sitting in my office staring at my Lego Architecture White House and thought to myself why not try the same stylized abstraction on some of the icon Middle Earth locations. Here's my take on the Hornberg at Helm's Deep. The model is about 500 pieces and stands about 6 inches / 15 cm tall. It was a simple build, but I think it got the basic forms across. I'd prefer one done to mini-figure scale, but this one at least fits on my desk. There's a slightly closer shot of the citadel here

This reinforces some ideas I was already playing with. I was thinking of dressing up the quarry side of the hill with a bit of grass and plant parts to suggest scrub growth in the cracks between the stones and then high-lighting the areas near the river with random, small brick-yellow and sand-green tiles and plates to suggest silting, weathering and moss. I figure the first step is to clean up the figure itself (once the blasted parts get here...) and then work on dressing up the points of transition between the figure and the hillside and the river versus the shore. I think if I give the background a richer, more organic palette, a mostly light bley figure could really pop out (not that it's easy to over look it now). Thanks for the suggestions.

I've been lurking around here as a guest for some time, marveling at some great MOC efforts and finally decided to sign up. I'm an engineer living in New England. I've worked in graphic design, cartooning, healthcare, military planning and high tech (just to name a few). I've written four novels (which no one seems terribly interested in publishing) and a couple text books (which I'm pretty sure even my own students didn't read). I do woodworking along with various other handicrafts and, of late, have been trying to make up for a childhood filled with Lego envy by giving into temptation every time I walk by the Lego Store. The backbone of my collection consists of Star Wars (particularly UCS), Technic, Castle/Knights/Kingdom, Harry Potter, Architecture and Trains, though I'm a sucker for anything complex and distinctive (Statue of Liberty, Ollie the Dragon, Taj Mahal, Eiffle Tower, etc.) My wife says I need to refinish the attic to store it all but, in general, she's a good sport about it. My nephew refers to my home office as the Lego museum. I'm looking forward to the release of Lego Lord of the Rings kits and have started work on a MOC design of the Argonath to get the ball rolling (I posted a couple shots of the work to date over the the Lego Historic Themes section) That's about all I can think to post at the moment. Thanks for taking the time to read this, -Shayd

Love the forced perspective. Clever design and good camera work to pull it all together as well.

Great design, wonderfully executed. I really like the attention to surface textures and color palette. It's a great piece of work.

This is my first draft of one of the two statues that form the Argonath from the Lord of the Rings. The figure stands about 24 inches / 61 cm tall and consists of about 5000 bricks. A standard mini-figure stands about as tall as the thickness of the foot which makes the scale of the statue a little less than half the size of the one in Peter Jackson's film, but certainly big enough to qualify for building on a Numenorean scale. I don't particularly care for the use of white bricks in the figure. It was an act of desperation as my supply of light grey was running very low (I have more on order and will be rebuilding the breastplate and axe head as soon as they arrive). I haven't decided about the use of dark gray in the main figurine. The purist in me wants it to be all light gray since its a weathered statue made from a single type of stone; but I also think the touches of dark gray add some character. I welcome opinions on the matter. Additional images of the statue can be found over at my Cuusoo account (search for Argonath, it's hard to miss a giant statue) I'm currently working on the design for the companion statue but that may take a while...