aidenpons Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 I made Dol Guldur's front gate, complete with bridge, gargoyles, and bats. (If you want dramatic stuff I've shoved it down to the end) Reveal hidden contents (You can't see the gargoyles in this picture) Reveal hidden contents (nor in that one) (The sand brown stuff is my generic baseplate*) Reveal hidden contents This is a close-up of the gate. I thought I did well to not make it look bland. Reveal hidden contents I had to reinforce that gate SO HARD. As you can see, I had to resort to Technic. While I was there, I thought that I could hang some bats up there Reveal hidden contents A dramatic view looking out of the gate... ok, I'd said I'd leave the dramatic stuff 'till the end. You can actually see the gargoyles. They're a little like this: Reveal hidden contents _ <-- with a stone dinosaur sitting on the top. Those are the baby _|_| Tyrannosauri reges in dark grey, which we got from Indiana /_._| Jones and the Temple of the Thingy with the other Thingy... Doing the bridge was fairly easy, with a MASSIVE amount of 6x12 plates (there's 8 on the bridge alone, plus two for the doors) and then six 14x1x1s with holes in them, which I then attached studded plates to by putting one stud in each hole, and for the part between bricks that had no hole I put 1x4 plates with the assistance of these bricks, hence the occasional light grey filled-up hole. However, the width of 12 studs gave me a problem. The gate was also 12 studs wide, and having the parapet end where the gate swung out to didn't look... right. Eventually, I decided to make the bridge widen at that point, conveniently offering me to put something decorative (in this case, burnt-out torches) in front of the gates. For the last bit of the parapet, I used a normal 1x10x1 brick without holes in it. While I'm on a structural (but not dramatic ) rant, the bridge holds together veeeerry nicely thanks to this: Reveal hidden contents You'll see it's very fluffly (different to fluffy, semi-like mucked around but not so heavily, pronounced fluff-lee) by the gate - that's because the aforementioned widened parapet didn't exist when I made the bridge. The gate occasionally comes off from its floor, but that's not too common and one goes without the other, meaning it's easy to fix. If you take a look at the hinge design and back of the gate (which I didn't take a picture of, clever me ) you'll see the hinge isn't attached firmly. (You can sort of see the hinge design on the close-up of the gate - it uses these two pieces. It has four of these such hinges, two for each door (did I really need to tell you that ), one at the top and the other at the bottom ( ). The bottom one comes off rarely, but the top one never comes off. Back onto the hinge design, it only has the top two studs on the gate - albeit firmly. I would have liked to make it stronger, but then it wouldn't shut properly due to the fact that it shuts perfectly at the moment and putting a brick up the top would hit against the roof. Oh, and here's a nice view of the entire thing: Reveal hidden contents I also said that there was the Witch-King in here. Well, here he are! (Yes, I know that's horribly butchered grammar, but you'll see why as soon as you click on the spoiler... click on the spoiler... click on the spoiler... ok, I'd said I'd leave the drama. Reveal hidden contents The one on the left is the Witch-King armed with a Lego-confirmed (you'll see what I mean by that) Morgul Blade and a morning star. The morning star is of my own design, consisting of a 1x1x1 with studs on all sides, except the bottom. Then I put teeth on it and a short chain on the bottom. The one on the right is the Witch-King as he appears in ghost form, either attacking Radagast (which I did take a photo of ) or stabbing Frodo (which I would take a photo of as soon as I can find a couple of 'missing' bricks which with to build Weathertop). He is holding a non-Lego-confirmed Morgul Blade that I thought looked a lot like a Morgul Blade. (It was in fact, NOT a Viking sword but Vladek's (in minifigure form) sword. The helmets are indeed from Vikings. A smiley to anyone who spots the difference. All right then, it's drama time! The ruined fortress of Dol Guldur stands towering into the mist, its braziers long extinct since the Witch-King of Angmar, a dreaded foe, took this fortress alone and scattering its residents. But any fortress has to have a gate before a tower, and this combines both (ok, it's a small tower ). The gates of old still hang from the hinges, anxiously waiting for the moment of their return when they will swing shut against any besiegers and sit proudly in the gateway. But the only person who has ever entered this fortress of late, excluding orcs, is Radagast. But he is not alone... ** Reveal hidden contents As he looked around the abandoned courtyard, Radagast heard something click. More worried than usual, he looked up... And what he saw might be the last thing he saw. Reveal hidden contents www.rockraidersunited.org/uploads/gallery/album_432/med_gallery_7851_432_1575015.jpg He strained to lift his staff upwards against the weight of the Witch-King, so bent on defeating him ***. This stalemate had to end somewhere. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he thought of his little rabbits on his sled. He muttered a curse and thrust upward, forcing the Witch-King to retreat at least a small - but necessary distance. As the Witch-King dropped his sword on the stony ground, echoing around the courtyard, Radagast decided there would never be a better time to leave. **** RANDOM NOTES: The skulls make it look more Dol Guldur-ish and not so much of Barar-dur (can't be bothered finding a circumflex ). The entire model is 54 studs long. This contains four animals - two bats and two T. reges. Originally I had the torches with a straight flame piece in them, but then I thought that it didn't suit a ruined fortress. The bridge is only this long because I thought this was long enough. It could easily be made longer. * Our family are very lucky to have a holiday batch, which paradoxically is only an hour's drive from home (It's NZ). There I keep nearly all my Lego (nearly meaning everything except Hobbit and LoTR stuff, and the early Bionicle). I made this at the batch, then took it home. The reason for the sand baseplate was that I don't have any at home. **The statue I nicked from Dol Guldur Battle, which [url='?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>]I did a review on. I also nicked Radagast from that set. ***As I type, he's still in that position by the statue ****Actually, the longer he stayed there the better it would be for him to leave. P.S. No, not all my MOCs have a description this long. EDIT: Found that piece. STUDZ, Yajmo and Seaborgium 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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