ED-209

Adorable! I was expecting sand green roofing like the official sets had, but this works very nicely too. Particularly as you're basing it more on the books than the films. Well, I really like it, you've inspired me to have a go at a micro-scale MOC of my own! EDIT: Here's what I came up with, thanks again for the inspiration! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=103348

Delightful! How did you attach the flags?

Do Androids dream of electric sheep? Who knows?! 1982's noir/sci-fi classic Blade Runner is one of my favourite films, and I realised that I'd never made custom minifigs of any of the characters! So to rectify this negligent oversight, I've drawn up a design for the titular protagonist Rick Deckard. Here's a reference photo: As he's played by Harrison Ford, I based the facial design on one of the Han Solo heads: http://www.bricklink...p?P=3626cpb1044 Anyway, here's Deckard both with his overcoat and without: I went with the classic Lego hairpiece, but only because I can't think of a proper match for Ford's short, brushed forward hair in the role. Maybe this one? http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=62810 Also, Brickarms made a fantastic replica of Deckard's pistol, so I've already got that covered! http://www.brickarms...pons/M2019.aspx As always, any feedback is most welcome!

Wow, these look great! Yes they're not pad printed, I'd say probably a UV digital flatbed printer? Unless you're going to do a run of several hundred of the same torso, pad printing just isn't going to be economical. But keep up the good work, I love them!

Cool, I've cast my votes! There's nothing wrong with just talking about ideas! Very nice MOC; I like the use of the BrickWarriors parts and very cool inclusion of the dog too! One suggestion I would make, if you have the parts available for it - I'd change the plates on the tent to another colour so the canvas looks distinct from the wooden poles. Cool, I look forward to seeing what you come up with! I'm now tallying up the parts needed for the ring fort and will start the slow process of aquiring parts through multiple Bricklink orders. I've also started doing something that I'd recommend all AFOLs consider; I've been looking through the sets that were released during my dark ages, looking up the instructions, and building them virtually in LDD. One of the sets that I wasn't previously aware of was a little one from the Adventurers line - 7409 a small tomb with a pop-out skeleton: http://www.bricklink...ic.asp?S=7409-1 I felt that it would be an interesting addition to a Vikings series, a tomb or burial mound. So I made a few modifications. I enlarged it a little, changed the colours to match the snowy look of my other models, added a runestone* as a grave marker, and popped a helmet on the skeleton. All that remains is a robber looking to plunder the grave goods! Just like the 7409 set you pull the towbar piece forward, causing the lid to flip back as the skeleton flips forward. I'm not sure whether he's undead (the Norse believed in "draugr", living corpses similar to zombies), or just an inanimate corpse that when disturbed has somehow fallen onto the robber (that type of thing always seems to happen in Indiana Jones movies!) The only other point I'm not 100% sure about is whether the extra height of the helm and breastplate would affect the flipping mechanism. *I credit the look of the runestone to one I saw in a very cool MOC by Etzel (and the ravens are great too! ): http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=33621

I'm glad to hear I'm not stepping on your toes! The spear is a little pointy for an official release but they have used a 1x1 cone as the point of a flick-fire before; so that's my fallback position. Of course I don't mind, go for it! Just make sure to share the results with the rest of us! Thank you! I had wanted to have a cell from the beginning, I just needed the opportunity to get out some real bricks and test out some mechanisms. And yes, I was proposing it as being part of the ring fort set. The ground plates are the same as the two shops and have always been something of an irritation to me. They're actually eight studs deep, so you're seeing two 8x8s and a 2x6. And sadly there isn't an 8x10 plate, so it makes things a little fiddly. I'd appreciate if anyone has any recommendations. Here's another attempt that I think is an improvement: a 4x8, a 4x10, and a 4x6 under the cell door.

Thank you! As a re-enactor, perhaps you could give me your thoughts on the accuracy of the figure designs? There are a few people who do custom printing for minifigs, and there's a couple of different types of print technology used. The best quality is what's called "pad printing", and it's what is used on official Lego parts, but the set up requires etched plates for each discrete colour - making it only really economical in larger batch runs. There's also what is often called "machine printing", which is basically similar to a normal inkjet printer, but capable of printing special UV-hardened inks onto three dimensional objects. It's much more economical for much smaller runs, but the quality isn't as good as pad printing, and you usually get a slightly raised effect from the inks. Additionally, there's the option of decals or stickers, which are more basic again, but you can do them cheaply in your own home. However they don't look quite as nice. You should drop in to the Minifig Customisation Workshop forum if you want to find out more! I'm pleased to hear about your planned Viking build and look forward to seeing it - the more Vikings the better!! I sure hope Alfadas doesn't mind me posting all my stuff in the thread! I've been trying to refine my idea of a prison cell built into one of the modular walls, and I've managed something that I'm happy with. As discussed earlier, the cell creates a conflict and adds a capture/rescue narrative to the set. The break-away wall adds an action feature. Both of these are considerations/requirements for real sets, so for that reason I'm trying to emulate them in my project too. I tried a prototyping a few different ideas in physical bricks to see how they'd work, but settled on the idea that the attackers/rescuers would have one of the new grappling hook pieces chained to a horse (or possibly a small horse-drawn wagon?), and would use it to rip out the wall section. Much like set 60043: http://www.bricklink...c.asp?S=60043-1 The four-by-six wall section is held in place by only two studs at the bottom, and has double cheese-wedge slopes on the top. You've probably seen many variants of the principal in various official models, mine is really no different to those. But I built a mock-up and it works really well! I also used the large flat roof of the cell to place a ballista (and as I mentioned before, I'm sacrificing historical accuracy here for a little artistic license!) It's smaller than the earlier one I designed, and is essentially a flick-fire. But the bolt (spear) sits loosely in the launcher, so you're not having to overcome the friction of a technic pin like in the standard flick-fire arrangement. It means that the range is a little better, but I'd think that the pointed end might make it a little too dangerous? Although I can't imagine any of the official projectiles would be much fun if they hit you in the eye! Anyway, the spear could be substituted with a six-long bar with a 1x1 cone on the end if need be: http://www.bricklink...Pic.asp?P=63965

An update on a few new models I've been tinkering with. Alfadas' suggestion of deer in the forest led to the idea of a girl gathering mushrooms and coming across a fawn. Basically because there's already a fawn from the Friends range, and I don't have the heart to include a hunter with a bow and arrow stalking Bambi! I'm not sure there's really enough of a story here, but I thought it would make a cute set nonetheless. The fawn doesn't have a printed face in LDD (at least for me it doesn't!), and likewise the red radar dishes would be the ones with the printed mushroom/toadstool spots. I also had the idea of a little Viking campsite. A small tent, with perhaps the outlaw minifig I posted on page five. Again, I'm not sure what else would round out this set; a faithful dog, a turkey leg for the fire, a chest of silver and an enemy attacking perhaps? I'm posting the bare frame of the tent, and I'd imagine a simple fabric piece printed with stripes would fit over it, so I Photoshopped that into the second pic. And finally, a couple of siege engines that could perhaps be part of a new set idea, or possibly come with the Ring Fort. (As if its piece count isn't already high enough!) A simple battering ram (reinforced with a technic axle down its core), and a firing ballista (based around the new Star Wars spring shooter, with the prod arms inspired by Captain Braunsfeld*). Now, I hear you asking "Gee Ed, did the Vikings really use siege engines like that? I thought they were basically just raiders, looting and pillaging and getting out of there before anyone knew what hit them, not settling in for long sieges?" Well, you're right. While it's probably they would have known about this kind of weaponry, it didn't really suit the type of warfare they typically engaged in. The only evidence they used siege engines comes from the writings of a monk named Abbo Cernuus, who was witness to the Viking sacking of Paris in 845CE. Some historians are sceptical of the reliability of his account, but I figured I'd use it as a tenuous excuse to build some new stuff! *I really liked the simple but effective technique: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=90468&hl=

The problem with the fishing boat set, at least to me, is that the boat itself is not really any different to the one that came in 7016 (Viking Boat against the Wyvern Dragon) or 79013 (Laketown Chase). So while I like it, I don't think it really makes the strongest case for an Ideas project. http://www.bricklink...ic.asp?S=7016-1 http://www.bricklink...c.asp?S=79013-1 I also don't think you can have several sets in one entry. The project guidelines page specifically states "One project = one LEGO set". I think you could have multiple builds (a building and a vehicle for instance, or two freestanding buildings, etc) if the intention was for them to both be part of the same set. It may be possible to include other sets like the boat and the blacksmith's forge in the background of some of the images, in order to give an overall sense of the spirit or flavour I'm aiming for? Thank you very much! I did try it with all 2x2 round bricks, but it just looked too plain to my eye. The idea was that the pillars would be both carved and painted, with the barrel representing the carved area. Plus as the barrel pieceis five plates high, it allows a single plate of a different colour, without increasing the part count.

Thank you kind sir! And I agree, you can always have more female figs. Answering your question about the programme, I use Adobe Illustrator for my figure designs. I wrote up a bit of a tutorial a while back detailing the techniques I use: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=67532 Thank you, I loved them too! Speaking of hairy, I'd love to see the beard/hair combo from the CMF caveman released in other colours. I think it would be perfect for some unruly Viking characters! http://www.bricklink...Pic.asp?P=87999 I've only seen the Japanese catalogue that had the six figures displayed, but have TLG ever actually stated anywhere that it's Athena? Or any goddess for that matter? I mean she's certainly a warrior woman from Greek or Roman antiquity, but how do you know she's not Hippolyta, Penthesilea, or anyone else? I'm sure TLG could do a nameless muscular Viking warrior with red hair and beard (like the caveman piece I just mentioned!), and arm him with a hammer... and just let people draw their own conclusions as to who he might be. That approach might be more palatable for them? Or as you say, it could be that they're just less concerned with dead religions. If they were do a more fantasy/mythology based theme, I'd love to see giants, trolls and other beasts built out of those new joints! I wonder if they'd consider using a LOTR warg as Fenrir? LOL, thank you and yes, I know I'd gone "over budget" like I always do! But I was trying to be more concious of limiting the palate this time, and with a little more tweaking (raised the collar like you suggested, and removed the broaches) I've brought it down to only four printed colours now: I also tried out the pillar ideas you suggested and I agree there should be more brown than just the barrel, but I think I'm still favouring number three from the earlier batch: I'd also like to thank everyone for being so supportive and helpful with these designs, I really appreciate it! What do you guys think, if I had to pick one model to put forward as a Lego Ideas proposal, should this be it?

Thank you, I'm leaning towards either the 2nd or 3rd myself. But I'm always keen to get others' input! I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work! Cool, cheers! While I'd have no complaints about figs of the Norse gods, I think the bigger problem is that Lego take a pretty strict stance against religion, don't they? I mean, the Lego Ideas project guidelines specifically state that "Religious references including symbols, buildings, or people" don't fit their brand values. That's why you never see churches in the Castle sets (or even in the City sets I suppose). The figs of Thor and Loki from the Avengers might blur the lines a little, and I suppose the Ark of the Covenant from the Indiana Jones sets does too. The policy is perfectly fine with me mind you, but I think it would be unlikely to see such religious content. Beowulf on the other hand would work, but I don't really know if it's any more marketable than just Vikings in general (either "Vikings vs Vikings" or "Vikings vs Monsters".) They could certainly take their cues from the saga though. But as I've said earlier in the thread, quite literally any Viking sets at all would be fantastic IMO! Thank you, I'm still scratching my head over that one! Well spotted, yes the colour choices were indeed intentional! Cheers, I'll try out the patterns you've suggested and post the results. I've also done a design for a witch/sorceress/seer/herbalist minifig. I think I'll just refer to her as a witch for the sake of simplicity! But she'd ply her trade in her little hut against the fortress wall, selling medicines and telling people's futures:

That is so strange! I've had a couple of sets over the years that have had a part missing or damaged, but it's very rare. And nothing like this with some random other part instead!

Simply gorgeous!!

Oooh... I'm drooling all over my keyboard!! I can also confirm that they used to ship with the heads already attached to the torsos. I guess that means I'm old! I can't remember, but did they stop doing that at the same time that they introduced printed faces (with the Pirate range)?

Oh no! What about something like MLCAD? It's not as slick as the official LDD software and can be a pain to set up initially, but it does have much lower overheads? http://www.ldraw.org...win/mlcad.shtml For anyone who is interested, here's a "blank" section of wall to play around with. Feel free to do whatever you like with it, and please share anything interesting you come up with! www.deviantart.com/download/466999057/viking_wall_blank_by_edward_the_red-d7q1es1.lxf?token=393a8992484d979e184f230e721c4b5644ee7326&ts=1404990001 Thanks! It was the Viking range that brought me out of my Dark Ages - I still think that's a tad ironic. I think you're probably quite correct about the strength of the roof, but as I'm trying to keep the part count as low as I can, I'm thinking that I'll wait until it's built to decide. If it's still too flimsy, then I'll build up some support above the pillars. So in an effort to further reduce parts, I'm trying to come up with an alternative to the design of the pillars. Here are some that use fewer parts, with the original on the left: I'd be interested to hear what people feel about them. Are any of them better than the original? Or at least a good compromise? Or any other suggestions?

I'm afraid no, not really. Unless you have access to professional/idustrial kinds of printers, you'd not really be able to get such light colours to show up on such dark torsos.

Thank you everyone for all the compliments! My initial crack at the longhouse was rather disappointing, so I started over and came up with this one. So we're already on the Mk 2 version here! Yes, I certainly plan to build it, but even once I've ironed out all the kinks in the design it will take a while to get all the parts ordered from Bricklink! I really enjoyed the process of designing the little Blacksmith's forge set, then making it in real bricks, and I'm betting the fort will be a hell of a lot of fun! That's a good point actually, would the sets be more "realistic" if the Longhouse was separate from the ring fort? I hadn't realised the LOTR sets were built like that - I was taking my inspiration from the old 6040 and 6062 castle sets! On a side note, would it be worth me publishing a Lego Digital Desiner .lxf file of a blank section of wall for others to play with? See if anyone else wants to make a compatible "add-on" set? Yes, I think the shorter crossbeams will be better too. Me too! I'm really getting into this project a lot more than I expected (and I expected to get into it a fair bit!) I like the kind of craziness of the giant beams, but I agree that realistic is probably for the best. Oh yes, I certainly keep my (non-licensed) figs in yellow as TLG do. But I realise not everyone follows that convention, it was just a response to the requests to see a fleshie version. And thank you for insights Cook, this is exactly the kind of thing I need to work through to try and streamline the design! This is really only the second iteration and there's plenty of room for improvement! There are lots of areas where the brick use isn't efficient, but they're almost all there because of some other engineering problem which I'll need to be solved in another way. The most obvious one is the huge number of 1x1tan cones along the walls. The problem here is that I can't think of a lower-part method that wouldn't completely lose the look of the sharpened points of the logs. I tried having cones only on every second or third stud, but it looked worse than no cones at all! I do want to keep the idea of a prison cell, but I think I'll need to play around with real parts to get the trigger/explosion mechanism to work. And then build the look of the cell around that. But as the walls are all modular, I can drop that in later without a problem. I've made several of the modifications you suggested, fewer barrels and boxes, fewer parts holding up the roof of the hut, more panels in the meadhall walls, etc. The snow on the roof of the meadhall has also been altered to save parts, and I've replace the underside with 2-wide plates. In fact I made them brown to suggest rafters! Those are very good ideas and "quick wins"! The roof was intended to be made of multiples of six, but I had an unforeseen problem. It may be hard to spot, but there's a 2x2 cutout in the roof above the hinges, hence the jumble of 2- and 4-wides instead of another 6-wide. The geometry is such that the roof overhangs the side walls slightly and prevents the hall from swinging open. The only other solutions I could think of was to make whole roof pop off like a Modular (but that seems unlike a normal set to me), or to bring the hinges out by one stud (but that would make the hall a lot flimsier). Maybe make the whole hall two studs longer, and replace the 4-wides in the roof with 6-wides? That would use more parts though. I'm sure there's a solution, it'll just take some more fiddling to work it out! So anyway, here are the updated less-MOCish pics: Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Odin's blood! I'd forgotten how poor the clutch on those helmets was! It was so bad it felt like they'd spin around and fall off if you even looked at them. TLG has an exceptional record of consistently high quality, that helmet was a rare lapse. I think the newer round shield with stud would be ideal for the Vikings: http://www.bricklink...asp?P=91884pb04 http://www.bricklink...asp?P=91884pb01 They could do several different brightly-coloured prints on it, like they did with the 4x4 dish shields in the earlier range. I too would be thrilled with "Vikings vs Vikings" as the basis of the theme, but I'd quite happily settle for mythological creatures if that's what the focus groups tell them would sell better. In fact they could get some very nicely detailed giants built out of the small ball and socket joints now found in the Chima Legendary creatures sets. I think the sad reality is they'd probably need to use the horned helmets to get the average consumer to realise they were meant to be Vikings. They've released two Viking figures in the CMF range, and they've both had horned helmets. The woman's helmet was even a completely new mould, so it wasn't a cost saving decision there - I think it's just marketability. I think the old conical helmet with neck protector is acceptable, but it's so heavily used in the normal castle ranges that it wouldn't really have any impact here. I think your idea of the Rohan helmets is a very good one. Makes me wish they'd thought of making the horse crest a removable part! That would have made the helmet a much more flexible piece. It's true that helmets were expensive enough that most Viking raiders probably wouldn't have had them. Same with maille shirts - most wouldn't have had armour at all. And swords were so expensive that only the wealthiest of men could afford them. I read one estimate that calculated a single sword as being the same cost as an entire landed estate! I'd also like to see the CMF caveman hair/beard piece in different colours! I'd be happy to post fleshie versions of the figure designs, if you'd like? I used yellow because, as an unlicensed theme, that's what TLG would do. But here's an example if you like, the first fig design re-done in light flesh: I've also been working on the design of my big Viking ring fort. It's sort of wound up moving away from a real set concept and became more of a MOC, I think. Certainly the part count would be way too high for an official model. This saddens me, because I really do want to try to make it authentic to the spirit of a real set. But nevertheless I enjoyed making it so much, and I'm very pleased with the outcome. So in the end, it's a half-MOC, half-official-styled hybrid - a Viking MOC in the style of the 80s castles perhaps? I wound up scrapping the blast-apart cell on the right wall, even though it had that "action feature" box checked, I was just never happy with how it looked. I replaced it with another shop to compliment the fish stall opposite, this time it's herbalist's hut: Attached to the back wall of the fort, and occupying most of the space inside, is the Jarl's Longhouse or Meadhall: I'm thinking the curved beams coming out of the roof are just too over-the-top, and may change them to be duplicates of the ones seen at the opposite end of the hall. Any thoughts on this? I can't take credit for the idea of using barrels in the pillars, I saw someone do that in a LOTR MOC, but can't seem to find it again to give credit. If anyone knows please tell me! The Longhouse is hinged to open up for play, with bench seats down both walls, a throne for the Jarl, a fire bit for heat and cooking (including red light brick! ), and plenty of supplies in the rafters to last out the winter: And here's the Longhouse and herbalist's hut integrated into the ring fort: As always, any feedback is most welcome!

Have you tried putting a Fez on top of a 2x2 or a 3x3 radar dish? They all come in black: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=85975 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4740 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=43898

Oh I'd certainly like a moulded deer too, I was just offering an "official" brick built option as it's probably the best we can do at the moment. Although there is a small fawn from the Friends range: I think it would scale correctly with a minifig, so it may be useful. Although to be honest I prefer the boxier look often present in Lego animals. To me they're somewhat reminiscent of Scandinavian flat-plane wood carving, but perhaps I'm reading too much into things! Blackstone, thank you for the offer of support; I'd love to go for a Lego Ideas entry! One problem is that of course the Ideas entry has to be a single set/model, not a whole theme like we've been discussing - so what set would be the best to propose? Something that adequately captures the Viging feel, and is marketable enough to gain 10,000 supporters (and marketable enough from Lego's perspective to produce). Does anyone have any ideas? A longship seems to me to strike the right chord, but would probably be too similar to their earlier longship set, and would certainly be more expensive than $50 (which the track record suggests wouldn't help things). I'm sure TLG would continue with the horned helmets. The reality is they're a business and that means selling what people/kids expect vikings to look like, regardless of the reality. But then I switched all mine for Brickforge helmets, so I'd just do that again I suppose!

It's 3.2mm in diameter. Good luck with the helmet!

Maybe hunters would be a little too violent, but perhaps some sort of forest scene without the bow and arrow? Keep the deer, and add a couple of mushrooms to be gathered up? Or apples perhaps? I think the apple would be a bit too big, but I wonder if the cone+dish mushroom would fit in one of these baskets? The mushroom gatherer could be a man or a woman, a boy or a girl. Either way it would be easy to add your own archer to the set if your Vikings felt like some venison with their mushrooms! In fact, there is the reindeer in this year's Christmas set if you're looking for an idea on how to make one (I think its head is made from a Star Wars battledroid torso with a 1x1 brick for a snout): You're right of course that the polar bear wouldn't really be in a wooded area, but it's such a great piece that it'd be worth coming up with some sort of excuse to use it somewhere! Maybe a couple of vikings travel north to buy furs from some Sámi trappers when they get attacked by a bear? I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with Alfadas! I agree with you Giantorange, I'm not too keen on seeing more catapults and dragons either. But that being said, if they did make a new viking range I'd still buy everything and just omit the dragons! A narwhal is a really good idea! I wonder if a new head piece for the old Pirates shark would be a cost effective way of doing it? They made a sawfish head that way. I believe there was a brick-built World Serpent in the original Viking range? Doesn't mean they couldn't do it again of course. What about a giant squid and/or a kraken? I made a mythological Thor minifig ages ago (when TLG first released those little goats!), and made a simple little brick-built Mjölnir for him like this:

LMAO! I wish I'd thought of that!! OK, I'm going to have to make sure I get one in my next Bricklink order!

So straightforward, but such a great idea! For a second I thought that the lighting was making some of the black parts look dark grey... then I laughed at myself when I realised they actually ARE dark grey to simulate the patched and primed (but unpainted) parts of the bodywork!!

Thanks for the input Alfadas, and for such kind praise! I don't know if the Vikings would have made a palisade around only one building, but I can't see why it wouldn't have been possible! And I think regardless of the historical accuracy of it, the needs of the model would be best met by a single house attached to the back wall of the fort. So that's what I'll aim for. Cook, you're quite right about the piece count. And I must say, I'm finding it really difficult to keep it down - I have a new respect for TLG's set designers now! If this were the kind of thing that were ever to go into production I think it would either have to be made smaller, or possibly the moulding of new parts might help? Putting all those 1x1 tan cones across the tops of the walls made me wish there was a 1x4 brick that was moulded to look like four spikes. It could be used as claws or teeth in other sets even? Anyway, I do agree with you but I can't really figure out how to reduce the piece count without sacrificing too much of my vision. If I put the project on Lego Ideas and ever made it to the consideration stage, I might have to leave the part-pruning to the professionals! I always loved the modularity of the old 80s castles, and I'm definitely channelling a little of that here. There are plenty of other Viking trades/crafts that could make for some nice MOCs, but unless they heavily feature action/conflict I can't see TLG really considering them. But I did make a blacksmith and fishing boat earlier in the thread, and tried to put a bit of action into the sets. Just brainstorming: other things could be a weaver at a loom, a tanner, fabric-dyer, carpenters/woodcarvers, ship-builders, various farmers, hunters, traders, jewellers, etc. There could be sets themed around an event, a feast with meats over a big firepit and barrels of mead and ale. A viking funeral, either an elaborate ship set ablaze, or a simpler burial with a bunch of grave goods (they often placed stone markers around a grave to create the outline of a ship). I'd not thought of it before but you're also quite right about the number of printed colours on the minifigs. I'll have to keep that in mind in future. I also tweaked the shape of the eyepatch as you suggested. I think this is an improvement: