castle help

[britsrule]

hello, this is my first post so im new. lol.

I am currently planning a large, for my standars, castle. And the castles i have built in the past, well to put it simply they sucked. i was just wondering if anyone had some hints or tips they could give me to help me along the way.

I have some plans but they are crude and not very good.

thanks

o==)==Britsrule==>

[Lord_Of_The_LEGO]

I've never built anything even remotely large, but I reccomend checking out CC's how-to section:

http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/creation.html

In particular, Bruce's article on avoiding the "Big Gray Wall" syndrome:

http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... ywall.html

And Lenny's article on how to make models open up:

http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... ingUp.html

I hope this helps!

[britsrule]

ok, i'll check that out, thanks

[ezehogan]

I hear you buddy. In addition to not having enough grey bricks to make anything worth while, my creations have always been rather poor. I THIRST to make a large, good looking castle (even if it isn't exactly HUGE, but at least larger than several official Lego castles combined) but lack the ability to do so.

Looking at some of the great things the builders around here do as well is more discouraging. I almost feel that even if I amassed the pieces needed to make something large, I would feel embarrassed showing pictures of it here as it would definately fall short of the rather high standards that have been set. For the time being I have set my focus on modifying castle sets to creater larger sets, although this simply isn't as gratifying as making something yourself.

Secondly, I wouldn't even know how to plan something on a large scale. You obviously can't just whip out bricks and just go at it, and I am at a loss on how to plan something massive.

Oh well. Someday I VOW to make something great. It'll take some patience, practice, and money.... but someday...

[doctorsparkles]

I am currently planning a large, for my standars, castle. And the castles i have built in the past, well to put it simply they sucked. i was just wondering if anyone had some hints or tips they could give me to help me along the way.

I have some plans but they are crude and not very good.

One thing that you could do is take pictures of what you have built, post them here, and the gang here will point out what you're doing right and where you could improve.
The one problem that I see most often is 'The Big Grey Wall Syndrome,' or that castle MOCs are just too plain. I have this same problem myself.
Plans are a great thing to have before building, even if they're rough. They give you an idea of what direction you're going in, and how many bricks you'll need to get there. You're most likely going to run into problems and will have to change things on the fly though, so paper plans (unless perfectly executed) are more of a guideline than a blueprint. I personally always use graph paper when I draw up my own plans.
Good luck.

[Jacob C.]

Secondly, I wouldn't even know how to plan something on a large scale. You obviously can't just whip out bricks and just go at it, and I am at a loss on how to plan something massive.

Here's a brief idea of how I get started....
First you whip out your base plate/s & lay them next to each other in what ever order you prefer so you can get an idea of your building area.
Then I would make some sketches on paper of the outline of the castle & what you want it to look like. Make sure you plot out where the towers, wall sections, gatehouse, keep, chapel & other buildings will be!
Then you take off from there!

I usually build slowly & I take lots of time to look at the construction & think of things to add or remove from the moc.
It's best not to build too quickly or otherwise you'll make more mistakes, such as building a wall section which doesn't line up with the tower it's suppose to connect to, etc.

Of course before you even begin building, you need to estimate or get a general idea of the amount of legos you have for building the castle. This will at least give you a brief idea of how large a castle is possible to construct.

Hope this helps a little, good luck on your project!

[britsrule]

thanks for all your help, im gonna redo my plans and take a bit more time, my last plans i did in my math class, heeheehee, no wonder im failing, just kidding i have a B lol.

ill check out the how to section and see if it helps.

[Troy T. Moore]

The castle I am currently working on (pics coming soon) is the first time I drew a "concept" sketch before building (this was only for the great hall/ royal quarters) Sometimes I get a good idea (at least in my opinion), but if I am not near my bricks at the time I will forget. This time I put it on paper. Just because it works on paper, doesn't mean it will work within the confines of the brick. Trial and error is what has proved to work for me over the years.

There is no "how-to" for building, as such. There are ideas, and your imagination (which is the most important element). Jacob C.'s way of laying out the baseplates is a good starting point.

One thing about building big...for me at least, there are certain bricks you run out of (for me right now it is 1 x 6 lt gray arches....

Just imagine....

[Drucifer]

There have been a lot of good points in the posts above. I just wanted to add a little bit to them.

First, I build lots of ideas that never make it into MOCs. I've got ideas for furniture, vaulted ceilings, and staircases built sitting on a shelf, but I haven't done anything with them. Most of the time I just build these experiments to see how well they'd work(or not work, which is often the case). Usually when I'm building experiments I don't care about color, I just build them with the pieces I have at hand.

Second, you should not be afraid to tear down what you've built and rebuild it. For example, the Sword Tower that I built, was torn apart and rebuilt 3 or 4 times before I came up with the version you see in the post. Originally, I built it as a straight round tower, but I didn't like how the base of the tower looked, so I added the buttresses. Some of the other rebuilds dealt with the connnection of the tower to the walls, window positioning and roofing. Oh and another note, this tower was really just another experiment for a larger castle (not completed ), where I want to use round towers.

Looking at some of the great things the builders around here do as well is more discouraging. I almost feel that even if I amassed the pieces needed to make something large, I would feel embarrassed showing pictures of it here as it would definately fall short of the rather high standards that have been set.

Please don't be discouraged by what others have created. I've seen creations by other that are not up to my "standards", yet leave me in awe, because of their creativity. Also, the "standards" really are only as high as you set them. I for one (and I'm sure there are others) would be happy to give you honest feedback about any creation. Please share, it helps all of us to see each others ideas. If you are too nervous to share your creations with everybody, please at least ask someone else that you trust to give you a critique, you might be surprised at what they like/dislike about your MOC.

I hope some of what's been posted helps you. Good luck and please post pictures. And yeah, I need to take my own advice and get some more MOCs up. What can I say, other than I'm a slacker.