Mini Tirith

[Dark_Avenger]

First things first, guys. Hopefully, some of you remember my Helm's Deep Expanded. Granted, it still remains to be my favorite model I've built, but as much as it pained me to do away with it, it wasn't serving any useful purpose. Therefore, on Tuesday morning of December 21, 2004, I deconstructed Helm's Deep and held a brief funeral ceremony for it:
The funeral.
The flower-covered grave.
Minifig KX delivers the eulogy.
The crowd remains in solemn silence.
A box full of every single piece that went into the construction of Helm's Deep.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it safe to say I'm one of the first people to hold a funeral for their favorite MOC and take pictures of it?

With that out of the way, let's continue..

Shortly after deconstruction, I whipped out the huge green baseplate and made a 1-brick-high plan for the wall formation. Didn't get much further that day (other than the outer wall). The next day was totally spent on an 11-hour Lord of the Rings Extended DVD marathon. Thursday was when the bulk of construction got done; I tell ya, I can't remember another situation where I've slightly repositioned pillars and walls so many times. Late the next morning (Christmas Eve) I put the finishing touches on the city and finished up the mountain. So yes, my Mini Tirith has been sitting on display atop a shelf for nearly three months now and I've never taken pictures until tonight. Why? I procrastonated it, forgot about it, was busy, was lazy... A slew of factors. But I always intended to get it done, and by jove it is done. So enough chatter -- on with the pics.

Introduction with my Knight pals. *thanks to BZPower member Groucho Marx for making an animation outta my photography*
The whole thing.
The gate.
The courtyard.
View of the cliff from a courtyard building.
The Citadel.
The bridge leading to Denethor's pyre.
City from the front...
...the side...
...the back...
...and for the heck of it, the top.
End of the Knights' lil' journey.

So, why did I decide the build this knowing that I wouldn't compare to the Helm's Deep that would have to come down to make way? Few reasons, actually. First, I've never gotten over disappointment in myself for that terrible excuse for a minifig-scale Minas Tirith that I made up over Christmas break the previous year. I soon saw that the city looks at its best when you see the whole thing. Armed with the knowledge that it would take a lot of time and even more bricks to do a proper-scale city, I went with a mini version (which, in the end, turned out a lot less 'mini' than I thought it would). Much inspiration was drawn from the little model of Minas Tirith that comes with the boxed edition of the Return of the King Extended DVD.

I'm pretty sure that's all I wanna say. If I think of anything else, I'll add it in. But anyways, comments? Complaints? Any criticism at all? I'm open for anything.


EDIT:
Oops, just realize someone saw this on BrickShelf and started a topic. My bad.

[Snap Dracone]

I was wondering if you were here, KX! Interesting that we both have different screennames here vs. on BZP.

Anyway, I'm not sure on the protocol regarding which topic remains open, so I'll post a summary of what I said this morning:

The only things that irk me are the sheer height, which strikes me as a bit too tall (but I always thought the movie version was too tall as well), and the lack of houses, shops, etc. in the streets which could be easily achieved by various small bricks of appropriate sizes and shapes.

I love the MOC, of course – the citadel is excellent and I love the bridge behind it leading to Rath Dínen. The walls are excellent, but I think the first and second inner walls need to be shorter by a few bricks to avoid an infeasible look. The gate is excellent, and I love the detail in the first tier of the city; if it's possible, that's what I suggest doing for the rest of the levels.

I do quite believe that you are the first to build an actual funeral for your MOC, but whenever I take apart an MOC that I especially like, I always have a moment of silence beforehand and then take it apart very reluctantly. I do love the funeral MOC, however.

See ya around!
–Snap/ToM

[flying dutchman]

Wow i realy think this looks the best like minas tirith of al the moc's i've seen of it but i only wonder why you made the gate blue?

[Dark_Avenger]

Wow i realy think this looks the best like minas tirith of al the moc's i've seen of it but i only wonder why you made the gate blue?

Teal, actually. And this is why.

[HenrytheV]

Why did you make it teal again? It looks great other than that

[TheBohrok]

EDIT:
Oops, just realize someone saw this on BrickShelf and started a topic. My bad.

Sorry about that, I didn't know you were a member here!
This Minas Tirith looks very good and the colors blend together really well, like the bulk of rock in the middle.

[Sir Kohran]

Very neat! I don't have time to post a full review, but I will edit this post when I get back.

[Bruce N H]

Very cool micro-scale Minas Tirith. I really like the shape you've gotten and the scales of the walls. Then only thing I might add would be to put random-colored 1x1's between the walls to represent the buildings. I've got to do a micro-scale version myself one of these days (although at a smaller scale) for some scenes from my LotR story.

Armed with the knowledge that it would take a lot of time and even more bricks to do a proper-scale city,

LOL! Quite the understatement. According to Tolkien, the Tower of Ecthelion stands 1000 feet above the plain (I don't have the book here, so I don't remember if that's the base of the Tower or the top). Assuming a fig is supposed to be somewhere between 5 and 6 feet tall, this translates to a MOC between 18 and 25 feet tall, and that is just for the city, which is built into the side of a mountain that should go much higher still.

Bruce

[Thrall1138]

Very cool, I like the gate and the white tree.

[Jojo]

Hello!


So it's yours! I enjoyed the Minas Tirith model on BrickShelf.
The Monty Python quote is very funny.

You should really get a better camera, though...


Bye
Jojo

[Dark_Avenger]

18-25 feet high, Bruce? Hm... In that case, maybe it's a job best left to Ersh, eh?

Thanks for the comments, all. And Jojo, it's not a better camera I need, just a better photographer. That, or something to steady my grip. It's safe to say that my hands are put to better use in a pile of bricks than around a camera.

[TheBohrok]

LOL! Quite the understatement. According to Tolkien, the Tower of Ecthelion stands 1000 feet above the plain (I don't have the book here, so I don't remember if that's the base of the Tower or the top).

Yes, the tower is 300 feet tall and the top is 1,000 feet high.
That would be a huge model!