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Don Bruce Hogwarts MOCs

Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:51 pm
by Bruce N H
Harry Potter juniorized? Not if you're Don Bruce. Check out his micro-versions of the Hogwarts castle:

Image
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=87197

Don has created all or parts of Hogwarts at three different scales, and his work is currently on display at the New Mexico State Fair. If you're anywhere near Albequerqe before this next Sunday, be sure to check it out.

Or you could just enjoy his Brickshelf gallery from the comfort of your computer at home.

Bruce

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:32 am
by lil Jon
I've seen that a lot on brickshelf. Even though I'm not much of a fan of the movies/books I like what he's done.

It's pretty noticable that its Hogwarts from looking at it... I mean i could tell

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:38 pm
by erikut
holy green dokey crap. ive seen that before but just not all of it put tohether like at that pic up there

its really good

Erik

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:48 pm
by jon_p
Yes, that is some great work. The detail in the micro scale is fantastic, the castle looks just right. The sand green work really well in these small scale mocs, which is something I think it doesn't do in the sets. Too bad I can't check it out in person though :(

Jon.

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:25 pm
by Robin Hood
Wow that is an awesome bunch of MOCs. :shock:

Dan :wink:

Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:46 am
by Luís
Pretty good loking, it's really fine.

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:23 am
by lil Jon
Wow, i just read the article on the main page. I wasnt aware of his other microscale stuff.

Using a small number of bricks is tricky. He must have a nice understanding of how to use pieces.

I've never tried to build micro, but i do respect it.

Mini-scale Hogwarts

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:50 pm
by Don41
My Lego Hogwarts model was to be built in mini-scale. That way I'll have enough light gray bricks and sand green roof slopes. Hahaha!!! The first version of the combined Great Hall and Entry Hall almost fit into the palm of my hand. Almost!

About six versions were eventually built till I got it right, more or less. It only got slightly larger with each rebuilding so I was off to a good start, or so I thought.

It didn't help that details sometimes changed from photo to photo. I didn't use the five Rowling books hardly at all, but instead have relied on the Warner Brothers' film versions of what it all looks like.

Only having found a half dozen Hogwarts film Posters and fewer photos from online at that point, it was easy enough to create a small enough 'fortress' building complex with its grass patio to sit adjacent to the Great Halls complex.

My enthusiasm to build Hogwarts with Lego exceeded my desire to surf the net for more Hogwarts photos, and I knew that later on I would pay a price for this with constant rebuilds. But, there is always something that needs correcting anyway.

The fortress unit was minus the great arch, as I had mistakenly flipped one photo to add a wet moat - of all my crazy errors. The fortress unit included the tallest tower, where Dumbledor had his office, and the Gryffindor tower at the opposite corner, even though I didn't know this at that time.

The 'church' unit across the long causeway, which also had a grass patio, was begun equally small.

But the two traveling 'aerial' shots from the CoS DVD looking down at the fortress and church units implied that these were much larger buildings than the Halls unit, assuming that the aerial cameras stayed horizontal to ground level until their final dives.

So both units ended up being rebuilt again, and then again, and then a third time, bigger, and lower, each time. It was still a mini-scale model of part of Hogwarts with Harry and his friends roughly 1/16th of an inch tall as best as I can estimate.

These aerial passes over the big exterior model Warner Brothers built (or was it all computer generated) appear in CoS about 31 minutes in and again about 1 hour and 33 minutes into the film. One ends above the greenhouse open ceiling window where Professor Sprout is teaching, and the other ends above the 'church' complex grassy patio where the Trio whisper about Hagrid's possible guilt, at least until he joins their converstaion.

Finally finding the Hogwarts illustration commissioned for the Sunday Times Magazine confirmed for me at least the large size of the fortress and church buildings. I didn't even know such an illustration even existed until I found it.

Have seen the third film very recently, am eagerly await the release of its the DVD on November? 23rd? 2004? to continue construction of Hogwarts. All I have built so far is the Halls and church units that face Black Lake. The large version of the fortress unit is up one floor so far, and yes, I'm including the huge archway entry into the grassy patio this time.

The third film (PoA) concentrates its aerials (and 'still' shots) on the opposite side of the castle from the lake, so there is at least hope that I can build the rest of the buildings in the huge complex. But the third film appears to move some of the land around beneath these buildings to some extent, unless I am confused yet again as to what is where.

The third causeway with the suspension cables may be the rickety bridge featured in the third film. The tower adjacent to the church unit grass patio may be the clock tower. Am referring to the Times illustration here in both cases and tyring to relate what it shows to the PoA film.

On and on it goes a little at a time until maybe someday it will all get built if zi don't run out of light gray bricks, of course.





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Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:10 pm
by jon_p
Its nice to hear about your inspiration Don. I know myself that searching for certain images online can be a pain in the... I searched google for loads of shots of helms deep and only found about a handful of useful ones. Then I watched TTT EE about 12 times in slow play to give me more ideas.
But onto your work again.
You say that there are a few changes to castle in the PoA. Well, when I watched the film I noticed that the castle looks alot different. The layout seems changed, probably due to the new director. It will be good to see what you do next and thanks for sharing your work.

Jon.

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:43 pm
by Bruce N H
Hi Don,

Great to see you could join us here. Welcome to C-C.com!

Bruce

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:09 pm
by Bruce N H
Hey guys,

Don has added to his Brickshelf gallery. Especially check out some of the detail work he's done for the windows.

Bruce

Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 2:24 pm
by jon_p
Cool, all those black bars and various pieces work well to make the windows. He sure puts lot of detail into his work.. both minifig scale as well as micro-scale.

Jon.

Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 3:10 pm
by Don41
The Harry Potter Hogwarts windows that Bruce refers to are studies for a mini fig scale model of a small section of the 'church' with cloisters (what I call the grassy patio) building complex.

Being built is the inside corner where 'crossing' and 'nave/chapels' intersect on the lake side of this building complex. Outside is the tall tree and the start of the green houses (on the opposite side from the greenhouse where Professor Sprout taught herbology).

If the above makes no sense at all, the CoS DVD (on my computer screen anyway) shows this area frozen and centered on my screen at about 00 hours 31 minutes and 07 seconds into the film.

Will put a photo of the start of this model up on brickshelf.com shortly. That may help for its Hogwarts location to make more sense.

What I am building is intended to be fairly accurate, but I have taken some liberties, too.

1. To conserve bricks column details will vary in color from floor to floor. The first floor will get the brightest colors. Upper floors will get darker and dustier and may be a good place to use some of the HP animals.

2. Window tracery is being built in black, as it stands out more effectively against the light gray bricks. (Light gray or even tan would be the correct color as these delicate shapes were carved from stone.) Also, I have closer to enough of the necessary pieces in black.

3. Arches will be rounded as much as possible as in Romanesque, but the window tracery is to be as Gothic as I can make it look. Other details will run from Roman to Early Christian to Romanesque to Gothic to Renaissance depending on what looks good.

4. As is usual with me, the vertical scale of the floors will be a bit exaggerated.

5. The checkboard floor is made up of both 2x2 tiles and 2x2 pronged bricks. Have no where near enough 2x2 tiles. There are even Mega Blok tiles in there. Heaven forbid!

6. The first floor window tracery will be rebuilt into two separate 'halves' as per the frozen image from the CoS DVD.

The main source for this project, besides the Warner Bros images as seen on the DVDs and in posters, etc., is the Bannister Fletcher book called A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. I got a battered 1928 copy on ebay.com for just under $10.00 including shipping. Don't pay $150.00 and up through the rare book dealers that I saw on amazon.com, or even about $50.00 for a new copy from amazon.com.

Will get the pictures taken and up onto brickshelf.com now.

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:31 pm
by Don41
New photos added to bricklink.com at mid-day Monday, 09-27-04. The HP Hogwarts 'church' building inside corner section is built up mostly to the top of the first floor. The ceiling/2nd floor panels have not been added yet.

The 'caged in' with wrought iron 'chapel' rectangular area was authorized by Dumbledore so the Professors could have extra storage outside of their own crowded offices. The Professors were advised that this area is not secure. This scene is not from any of the five books.

Or I might change my mind and build a tomb for this enclosed space.

The two smaller Gothic tracery windows one above the other is probably not accurate as per the Warner Bros. model in the film. Not even sure if the lower window should be there!

The Norman (Romanesque) style two-door entry with the sculpture display area above it may not exist in the WB model either, but it was sure fun to build.

The Dumbledore party of five in the nave is a scheduled visit by three ranking Goblins from Gringotts. It is what Snape might be up to with Draco and his bully stooge that has caught Dumbledore's eye, and caused him to stop his group in its passage through the 'church'. Gilderoy is lost in his own thoughts and hasn't caught on that three of the other four have stopped. This scene is also not in any of the five books.

In fact, no scene has taken place yet in the 'church' building itself in any of the first three books. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:31 pm
by Don41
Finally finished the first floor (except for a very colorful tomb for a Knight and his Lady behind the wrought iron barrier), got the ceiling/2nd floor on (sandwich construction using three layers of plates), and put in the 2nd floor window frames and tracery, and then added the column bases up to the first black/dark gray band.

Put a huge vertical columned and rose pattern window on the 2nd floor even though the Warner Bros. model clearly shows that there is only one on the 3rd floor. Still taking lots of liberties with this Hogwart's mini figure scale inside corner 'church' section.

Running low on parts already, so there may never be a 3rd floor.

Pics up on bricklink.com now, but they may not be approved yet as per Monday, 04 October 2002, 4:20 PM DST.

Enjoy!