Burg Ez-Zefer

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
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Buford
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Burg Ez-Zefer

Post by Buford »

I was looking at my favorite book of castle photos and I came across this 90 degree gatehouse concept. Drawbridge empties onto a platform that is surrounded on 3 sides. Gatehouse features an elbow shaped passageway.

I wanted to put the castle on a raised platform with a sloped base to discourage tunneling under the walls. Look under the drawbridge and you can see what I meant when I said that 75 degree slopes do not line up exactly with 75 degree sloped panels.

I wanted to play around with posterns. My castle has 3 so far.

Rear corner is the beginning of a castle keep. Front wall will have 4 towers.

I still have about ¼ of the foundation to build, I am fresh out of slope panels, so the last ¼ may be faced with 2+ high LURPS & BURPS.

Another gatehouse and smaller building could finish the missing ¼.

I have used up ¾ of my 2 thick brick and maybe half my one thick brick, I don’t know if I’ll get things finished. Towers lack floors much less nice interiors since making a raised base can put plate at a premium.

This is my first project at anything like this scale. So don’t be too cruel.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=256055

Oh this is still a work in progress. so....

I have learned a little putting this together, this was a test of concept.
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Paladin
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Post by Paladin »

That's a really cool concept, I like what you have built so far.

However for the raised part you might consider a technique I've seen used by some of the show guys that do Lego model railroading...

Build yourself a platform out of a piece of plywood to the exact size of your building / castle's main level then make legs for the platform out of 2x2's or some scrap wood to raise the platform the exact height of the sloping walls that make up the raised base. That way you won't need to waste baseplates or fill bricks under the castle that will never be visible and the castle will be rather sturdy sitting on the platform. Then wrap the sides of the platform in the slope panels, BURPs/LURPs or whatever brick-built masonry / landscaping you want. Same look and feel, but better stability, and less cost ('cause wood is cheaper than brick :D) .

That is of course, if you aren't planning on building the lower level as a dungeon or something along those lines...:wink: (and you don't consider that cheating it :shock:)

If you are going to build the underpart, you might consider getting a couple of tubs of Duplo and making the raised stanchions / under-fill out of it, at least for areas you can't see. Duplo is super sturdy and you can put 2x brick on it.
Buford
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Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:27 am

Post by Buford »

>That is of course, if you aren't planning on building the lower level as a dungeon or something along those lines...

next time I may snake through the base, peirce the slope for a dungeon or postern. Those hollow slope panels don't "play" well. I tried putting a cave exit in LURPs & BURPs but when I tried to put a small door through slope panels and fill in the trim with 75 degree slopes nothing really fits too well.

I also constructed walls to "part" on base plates, if I lost fringe area with the two tall slopes. Because of that I couldn't just put a upper baseplate in a tray and still have walls line up so walls still part.

does that make sense?

I also like hinged walls so buildings can open. That is difficult to do well when so many of the corners are thin 3x3 corner pieces.

this was mostly a learning exercise for me.

thanks
Buford
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Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:27 am

Post by Buford »

Paladin,

please look here at your work,

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1064825

where did you get those round thin wall castle pieces that you used to make rounded towers?
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