Round Towers and Angled Walls

[Elbadar]

Hi everyone
I was hoping to get together a list of usefull teckniques on the best ways to make rounded towers and angled walls, as mine always have something off about them. I have a sort of list if anybody would like to help fill in the blanks.
I'd like help (and pics) of the best ways to make round towers:

using the 1X1 rounds and 1X2 tecknique.
using the 1X1 rounds and 1X3 tecknique.
using hinge bricks.
with battlements.
with roofs.

I could also use some advice (and pics) on how to properly angle a wall so as to make a castle less square. Thanks in advance for any responses and for taking the time to help with my trivial castle-building needs

[Ye Olde Republic]

I think what you're asking is something that is very difficult to explain but there are some articles on classic-castle that may help you. At least as a start. This answer may be the most trite and cliche one I can give you but: check out pictures on the 'net and try to replicate some of what you see. This can be the best way to learn what works best for your collection or personal aesthetic.

[shmails]

I have to agree. The best way to figure out a new technique is to jump in and try it. No one is judging you at home, so making mistakes is actually a good thing as it is how you will learn. The best thing about figuring it out yourself is that you will inherently add your own twist on it, making it your own. Find pictures of what you want to recreate and study them. Ask yourself "what did he/she use to do that?", find the pieces and try it. If it does not work, try again. The effort of doing the research will be more valuable than anyone giving you a step by step guide. Good luck!

[Elbadar]

Thank you for the replies

I have seen those articles before, and now upon looking again they might have more too them than I thought last time I looked, so that was helpful. As for trying, I recently built two castles with two or more rounded towers, and the fact that I couldn't make everything perfect ( though I dare say it's pretty good) is the inspiration behind starting this thread. I have tried searching the web, but as this has proved more difficult than I had hoped I started this thread as a sort of aid by which anyone who knows where to find some good creations utilizing the aforementioned features could share their finds with me. Aside from those, I don't believe I've ever seen a round tower with a round pointed roof so I'm rather curious to see if anyone here has made or could make one. I'll probably continue searching for a bit now and maybe try some of what you two suggested, but if anyone has a particularly good example I'd still like to see.

Peace.

[TooMuchCaffeine]

Here's a technique I've used a lot recently.

It's really good for attaching walls to it without clunky gaps, and it's not bad for half-circles as well.

I suppose it's pretty parts-intensive but you gets what you pays for...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24681250@N07/4181633092/

[Bruce N H]

Hey Elbadar,

If you want to put together a how-to article with all of the different techniques, that would be really cool!

Bruce

[Elbadar]

TooMuchCaffeine; Thanks I think I can recall seeing this when you first posted It, but I had long since forgotten about it. Now I'll have to make a real effort to buy a set with those treads. Great tecknique bye the way!

Bruce; you know that is a great idea, then if I or anybody else need to find these things again it would all be right where you expect it to be. I think that I'll put that on my to-do list, and hopefully have enough for an article by this spring. I look forward to the project, Thanks

[jediknight219]

I hate to be picky, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Two things I've noticed about TooMuchCaffiene's method:

- The blue half-pins don't look like they click into place in the 2x4 bricks. This means a) they're under stress and b) they're not firmly attached. Also, a 3/4 pin would connect better to the tank tread.

- The yellow round piece in the middle shouldn't be necessary. The outside walls should hold the circular shape just fine. Which for one thing, means you can play around with different size towers.

Here's my version of this trick from a while ago:
http://mocpages.com/moc.php/92430
My version's more circular, but harder to install windows and doors.

And here's a version using smaller tank tread, which I've been too lazy to post detailed pictures for:
http://mocpages.com/moc.php/162909
The big goal here was to have room for an interior. You can make bigger towers with these tricks, these are about as small as you can make them.

And while I'm here:
More with tank treads: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=147124

Another round tower trick: http://www.ntbricks.com/Creations/ForgottenBeacon.html

[mystuffiscool]

...the circular shape...

AHA!! IT'S NOT ROUND, BUT DECAGONAL!! BWAHAHA!!!

[TooMuchCaffeine]

- The blue half-pins don't look like they click into place in the 2x4 bricks. This means a) they're under stress and b) they're not firmly attached. Also, a 3/4 pin would connect better to the tank tread.

- The yellow round piece in the middle shouldn't be necessary. The outside walls should hold the circular shape just fine. Which for one thing, means you can play around with different size towers.

The blue pins click in just fine - no stress, firmly attached. And a 3/4 pin might connect okay, but so do the blue pins and I've got a truck-load more of them than the 3/4 pins.

The yellow gear is absolutely neccessary if you want this thing to be remotely stable. The outside walls do not hold the circular shape without additional support, they splay out under their own weight. I also used the yellow gear to allow me to easily put axles up the centre to give it more support when you add further units on top, allowing for higher towers.

Further, you need the yellow gear to give it shape if you only want a half or three-quarter outside wall - something which I'm not sure an unsupported track inside structure would allow for.

I appreciate that the "decagonal" tower isn't perfectly round, but hey, it's LEGO. And this version makes it easy to add doors and windows.

[jediknight219]

Ah, I got around the stability issue by having two sets of tank tread, one at the top of the tower and one at the bottom. With one set it definitely wasn't stable.

I've been trying to pull off quarter and half towers by building in extra support to hold things in place every 90 degrees. It takes a bit of playing with it to get it to come out right and not put too much stress on stuff.

I'm still not convinced about the stress on the pin, but I'll say no more, except to use it as an excuse to share this resource from Brickfest 2006:
http://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberar ... s-bf06.pdf
My favorite bit is the difference between technic and system dimensions.

[mystuffiscool]

I appreciate that the "decagonal" 9tower isn't perfectly round, but hey, it's LEGO. And this version makes it easy to add doors and windows.

I wasn't accusing the fact that it's easier to add doors and windows, (which is nice anyway) I just pointed out that "round" is an extremely vague term for something so... Decagonal?

[Elbadar]

Thanks for the further examples . In my opinion the "decagonal" tower is round, although my perspective is far from absolute law. I find myself partial to some of the more commonplace styles, but the fact is that these could add a great level of variety in a large castle build when used with other rond and square towers. Thanks