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In progress since October 2020: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, NC. Estimated to be a little over 5ft tall and ~9000 pieces when completed. Still need to work on getting the tower together, designing the lantern room and balcony, and getting a more proper base with some grass surrounding the tower.
I’m also working on a model of Hyrule Castle. That’s been put on the backburner until this is complete. This is a model I’ve always wanted to do
Looks like it is going to be a pretty impressive model! Great job creating that spiral pattern. How sturdy is it?
At the moment it’s fragile at best. Getting the spiral of one section to line up with the next is turning out to be tricky
Impressive technique to get that rounded shape! The spiral is spot on!
For the core, have you considered using overlapping technic beams (1×16) vertically to get a rigid rod to hold it in place while still branching out with the axles at intervals? I’m sure moving that wonderful model can be quite scary.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean, but moving it is hairy to say the least. It’ll have to be moved off the dining room table since it’ll become too tall to work on as soon as I add the next piece of the spiral
Also some other things I’d like to do once I get a “first draft” of the tower done: adding windows on the tower, adding the ticket booth and fence, adding a rotating beacon in the lantern room with the proper characteristic (flash of light every 7.5 seconds). I’d like to get a minimum base version of the model done before adding in nice-to-haves.
Jordan, I recommend @rcgrier3406. I think he has some insight on circular tower superstructure.
A slowly narrowing tower, however, that’s quite the challenge!
The narrowing tower does seem like a challenge and it’s hard to get technic beams across something round unless you can find where the diameter is an exact increment of studs.
Any plans for a rotating light?
UPDATE: Tower is fully assembled for the first time. I’ve found narrowing round towers are EXTREMELY difficult. At the moment it isn’t too stable, so more work will be done to shore up the inner core. Next up is finishing up the design of the lantern room.
The plan is to have windows, a lawn, and a rotating beacon way in the future. For now, I just want a minimum viable model assembled.
I guess the only thing of note is to counteract any weight distribution problems the structure might have. The lighthouse is very top heavy, so I had to make the base and central support structure wide enough and strong enough for it to take the weight of the top parts instead of relying on the round walls to
I agree with Greg, or even do a full LUG table’s worth, 16 baseplates.
How tall is it off the floor? I am wondering what the total height will be then when it’s on a banquet table at BFL, will you need a ladder to assemble it and take it down?
I always get nervous with tall towers like that cause I’m worried that somebody is gonna accidentally bump the table too hard and it’s gonna go down, although I’ve never seen it happen in the LUG or at a convention.
I always get nervous with tall towers like that cause I’m worried that somebody is gonna accidentally bump the table too hard and it’s gonna go down, although I’ve never seen it happen in the LUG or at a convention.
That’s because you weren’t at KidsFest2012. [Steel City LUG’s debut show! Of course, everyone already knows that.]
One of the displays neighboring ours had a life-size model of the builder’s deceased dog. Some punk kid knocked it over and shattered it. Heartbreaking, with the sentimental value added on top of the labor hours we all knew went into it.
I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but it is a shame you’ve never witnessed an epic shattering of a less-sentimental build, maybe a tan overlook tower, say. That would be something to see…
Also, the lighthouse is sweeeeeet, Jordan! You should display next week, and then work on expanding the footprint with surrounding terrain as time allows!
>> You should display next week, and then work on expanding the footprint with surrounding terrain as time allows!
Yes, thanks Matt, I probably should’ve explicitly said that to be clear. We definitely want you to bring it to BFL regardless of your progress on the surrounding terrain. (Ben likes to make big long-term plans with lots of landscaping.)
>> That’s because you weren’t at KidsFest2012.
We were at KidsFest2012. We somehow failed to notice that you guys were there, and so I didn’t find out about the LUG until the following summer when Evan got blogged on TBB and I linked to his Flickr stream. I spent the majority of the time building my tower for the USA map – a tower that was poorly planned, ridiculous, and ugly, but was >gasp< not even remotely the tallest tower there. Towards the end, when I wrapped that up, we ran into a variety of PennLUG people that we knew from BFVA, and spent the remaining time schmoozing, and never noticed the Steel City display, even though we must’ve been close to it and possibly looking in its direction. I did not see the dog get destroyed though, and in fact didn’t know about it until just now.
>> I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but it is a shame you’ve never witnessed an epic shattering of a less-sentimental build, maybe a tan overlook tower, say. That would be something to see…
Haha, I totally didn’t even think of that, but really, that one doesn’t apply here. The overlook was done in by poor design by the dumbass builder because it hung over the edge of the display table in an area with no stanchions, and the overhang was small enough that it was easy to not notice when you were walking by, but large enough to make a difference if you were close to the table. Presumably, the lighthouse in question here was designed by someone smarter and it does not hang over the edge of the table.
Maybe it’s worth mentioning that I never considered putting my 2014 castle tower on display outside of the locked display case at the library, even though people suggested it. That thing could’ve gone right over, and the individual sections were heavy, and they were high enough that if a section hit a kid in the head or face, I think it could’ve been a trip to the ER or worse.
At a couple conventions recently there’s been this NASA rocket on display that I think is more than 8 feet tall, with a minimal Lego base at the bottom. The inside of the rocket is hollow, and I heard the guy say there’s a metal pole going up vertically through the rocket that’s attached to a strong base on the floor – the pole doesn’t touch the rocket and therefore is not part of the build and doesn’t support it, but it’s strong enough to catch it if it gets knocked over. I thought that that was pretty good thinking. I’m guessing though that the lighthouse is not at a point where it would require that kind of safety measure.
Also, even though it’s been more than seven years, and since Matt brought it up, I’m still not gonna pass up an opportunity to post this pic.
never noticed the Steel City display, even though we must’ve been close to it and possibly looking in its direction
As I recall, we were literally right beside PENNLUG. 😀
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