10255-1: Temple Assault

Set #: 10255-1
Set Name: Temple Assault
Theme: Pharaoh's Quest
Year Released: 2011
Pieces: 1421
Minifigs: 11
Recommended Retail Price: US $99.99
Price per Piece: 7.037c

It comes down to this! Tricked into obtaining the 6 mystical treasures only to have them land in the wrong hands, our brave heroes must now venture into Amset-Ra's Temple where ancient rituals are being conducted to increase Amset-Ra's power. Jake Raines, Helena Tova, Mac McCloud, and Professor Archibald Hale are the only people standing in the way of Amset-Ra's conquest for world domination. Will they be able to breach the Temple and finally put Amset-Ra and his minions to rest?!

• The open-air temple uses a hinge system for easy access to the inner court and allows for different configurations for extended play!
• Furnishings and decor inspired by depictions of Ancient Egypt in its prime! Includes an urn, wash basin, treasure chest, sarcophagus, sorcerer's table, two potted plants and two floor lamps!
• Desert Pickup Truck has seating for two and features a truck bed with room for two more passengers and a weapon crate for the assault on the Temple!
• Temple measures 12.5'' long x 9'' wide x 7.5'' high when closed and 8'' long x 19'' wide x 7.5'' high when opened wide!
• Includes Jake Raines, Helena Tova, Mac McCloud, Professor Archibald Hale, Pharaoh Amset-Ra, Snake Sorcerer Apep, 2 flying mummy figures, 2 mummy warriors and 1 Anubis statue!

Pictured is my entry for the EuroBricks.com Direct-to-Consumer contest. The challenge was to create a set that LEGO would sell exclusively via shop.lego.com and LEGO retail stores. You can see my official entry post here.



Temple Assault was a unique challenge for me. Not only did I have to show restraint to create a set that LEGO themselves would make (thus forcing me to keep to certain build techniques and piece counts in order to make the set accessible to most consumers), I also had to design it based on a theme and series of sets. In this case, Temple Assault is meant to be part of the Pharaoh's Quest line, which as the name suggests is inspired by good ol' Indiana Jones-like adventuring, except in an Egyptian setting.



The theme features buildings with desert-inspired colors like tan, dark tan with accents of gold, dark blue, dark orange and pearl gold, vehicles in dark red and would typically include a giant animal/monster (scorpion, scarab, snake, etc.). A very hard decision I had to make early on based on time and my design goals was to not include a giant monster. I wanted to keep the set at a certain price range in terms of number of pieces used and, frankly, I also had trouble deciding upon an appropriate animal to use that hadn't already been used. Still, considering the temple itself and the pickup truck, I feel I've kept faithful to the design of the other Pharaoh's Quest sets.



The contest was posted in early March, and I was excited to participate in it, especially considering the $350 first place prize. But the genesis of this idea did not come to me until late March, from there, I had a tight schedule of just over a month (also considering other obligations) to conceptualize, create and showcase my build.



I started off with a fair bit of research on Egyptian temples. I was inspired by various renditions of a particular Temple on the island of Philae (off the coast of Egypt) that I found thanks to ever-reliable google.com image searches. I decided quickly to make the temple an open-air temple.





I started building on April 9th. As you can see above, I opted from the very start to go with an empty courtyard that didn't involve LEGO pieces. The idea was to conserve pieces as well as leave room for customization and play.



Unfortunately, I had to wait for over a week before any real progress was made. I had to order pieces to complete my intended design as well as get over a bad bout of sickness. Fortunately, I was afforded a long weekend of building the weekend before submissions were due to make my vision a reality.



I was fortunate (and unfortunate in other ways) in that my wife and kids were out of town for the weekend, and this afforded me essentially three full days to build. And short of a few minor distractions (like eating, sleep and laundry), build is what I did. I found myself able to build for large stretches of time (upwards of 4 hours in a stretch before feeling the need for a break). Of course, building isn't all about putting one piece on top of another. A lot of my time was spent researching and troubleshooting, making small adjustments to make something look unique.



One thing I like most about this set is the internal decor, particularly the multicolored wall decorations. It is easy to think of Egyptian temples as dull, hieroglyph-laden structures, but not so easy to realize that these temples were often also very colorful and intricate.









A majority of one of my building days was spent designing the Desert Pickup Truck for the set. I looked at many pictures of old Ford Pickups and made many minor adjustments to the build to come up with what you see above. Mind you, a more experienced builder probably could have come up with that in a matter of minutes, but for me, vehicles are still a struggle to create in the right scale and with the right amount of details. It may not be anywhere close to the most impressive LEGO truck ever built, but I am actually very proud of the effort I put into it and the end result.



I also spent a surprising amount of time on minifigure customization. I opted to make just subtle tweaks (if any) to the characters that LEGO features in this line of sets so as to not stray too far from what fans of the series are used to. While the characters may look very similar (or even identical) to the characters available in retail stores, I did attempt a lot of hair, torso and leg swapping to try to switch things up (even if few of those changes stuck).



I did however opt to introduce one new character to the mix: a "Snake Sorcerer" mummy that was a last minute addition/revision; something I'm very glad I took the time to change before final submission.



My final hurdle was the unexpected challenge of capturing the set in a picture. I am not a novice with the camera by any stretch of the imagination, but I am definitely new to taking photography of LEGO. A simple problem to overcome was my problems with lighting. Because I can typically only build at night, I therefore typically only take pictures at night, and artificial light just doesn't cut it. In addition, I'm used to taking pictures in a natural setting, like my kids at a park or a tree on a hill. Capturing a LEGO set without also capturing my dining room table where I build or any of the other items around proved to be a challenge.





Fortunately, my darling wife was helpful in distracting the kids on a day I left work early to take pictures while there was still daylight. I also took the time to do more shot composition with the very primitive, but somewhat effective method of using a bedsheet to provide a consistent backdrop. Compare the two pictures above for the difference.



Another thing I'm not familiar with is using Photoshop to do some minor editing. I managed to figure out how to remove the background in my photos, but I ended up not having the time to properly edit the picture to my liking (see above). Something to learn in the future, perhaps.



All in all, I'm very happy with what I've created, and I'm hoping for a good showing in the contest. The other entries I've seen have certainly been impressive, but I think that my entry can stand toe-to-toe, even if I may not end up with any prize to show for it. I would be happy simply to know that my work is appreciated and maybe even admired by some.

Especially given the fact that this is my first publicly available (and complete) MOC (not counting the small vignette I had previously featured), I feel like I have made a good showing, and hope you agree!

The Dark Tower: Build Update

It has been almost two weeks since my last post, so I figured I needed to get an update out to all my avid readers.

Progress on The Dark Tower has been slow, but steady. I will be able to finish the first half of the Dark Tower sometime this week (presuming I have enough pieces!), which will finally allow me to take on the challenge of the upper half.

In the last two weeks, besides being sick, I've spent most of my time adding to and organizing my collection. Being able to know where to look when you want a LEGO piece is a challenge that all LEGO enthusiasts face, and I am still trying to refine my system so that my build time isn't bogged down by the hunt for an elusive piece.

Also, as previously eluded to, I am working on another project for a contest that I will hopefully also be able to share soon.

My family is out of town for the week, which is granting me plenty of time to build, but unfortunately, my wife's also taken our camera with her and so I won't have anything outside of iPhone snaps to show until next week, but hopefully the final product will be worth the wait.

The Dark Tower - Halfway to the Top

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers from Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series of books).

The thing about large projects (especially for someone like me who is just starting a collection) is that you're always going to randomly find yourself short of one specific piece in order to jump the next big hurdle.

I'm currently on hold on the project while I wait for more pieces to arrive in the mail. In fact, I would have done far less than what's pictured if not for a "lucky" find of a fresh batch of 2x1 Black Bricks at a nearby LEGO store's Pick-A-Brick wall.



At this point I've completed three out of the eight 2nd level walls and I'm somewhat pleased with the look. I think I could still do a little more styling to adjust for the fact that the 2nd level is actually taller than the 1st, but I do like the way the windows compliment the tiling.

In the meantime, I'm working on a project for a contest that I will post when complete. My large order of bricks should arrive sometime this week, so expect to see some significant changes to the Dark Tower in the near future.

Pick-A-Brick

Last Friday, I made a "brick run" to a nearby LEGO store (I am fortunate to live near not one, but TWO!) to check out what they had at the Pick-A-Brick (PAB) wall.

The way PAB works is that you get to fill one of two sizes of cups with as many pieces as you can (it isn't weighed). The small cups go for $8.99 and the big cups are $14.99, but if you bring back an old PAB cup, you can get a 50 cent discount.



This ends up being one of the most economical ways to stock up on pieces.

As a reference point, a typical, well-priced LEGO set will average 10 cents a piece (with rarer pieces and/or licensed sets like Harry Potter/Indiana Jones/etc. averaging closer to 15 cents a piece). A big 50% sale on a set can bring that price point down to around 5 cents a piece.

For this trip, I ended up getting 3 large cups and counted a total of 1085 pieces not counting the large amount of 1x1 flat pieces that were used to fill out the empty spaces in the cups.

Not counting taxes, I paid $43.47, which averages a mere 4 cents a piece. The price would get even lower after factoring in the hundreds of 1x1 round lime green pieces I got (that will hopefully be reasonably useful for grass landscaping in the future).

Now, your mileage may vary because the PAB selection can vary greatly from "useful" to "useless" depending on what you're building. In this case, I stocked up on 1x2 Black Bricks that I needed for the Dark Tower, and I also scored a bunch of 1x8 black, white, blue and red tile pieces. Other times though, you may be able to get a good price point, but not find the right pieces or colors you're needing.

I've found it beneficial to check on the selection often, as it changes quickly. I had actually made this recent trip based on a report from my sister that there were clear glass doors and bamboo plant pieces available, but they were all cleared before I was able to get to the store 6 days later.

If I didn't have to factor gasoline (if only I could pay a fixed amount for as much gasoline as I can pump into my car!!), I'd be visiting my local LEGO stores on a weekly basis.

The Dark Tower - Accents and Stability

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers from Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series of books).

I've spent the last two nights working mainly enhancing (in terms of the visual) and reinforcing the frame of the Dark Tower.



For the exterior, I've completed tiling the entire first level, as well as redone the windows to create a more striking look.



The interior also has undergone a little transformation, mainly deploying black fencing along the spiral staircases. I don't intend for all the holes in the Dark Tower to be filled, but it should be such that any minifigures won't have an easy time falling through any of the cracks.



I've also started building the third flight of stairs leading to the third landing in the Dark Tower. To do that, I also had to spend some time reinforcing the base to ensure that whatever I built didn't come crashing down under the typical pressure applied to pieces while building.



Above you can get a glimpse of the unsightly inner workings of the Dark Tower that are needed just to make sure it stands the test of time. I actually find myself being proud of the fact that the tower can be tilted on its side without falling apart.



A lot of that definitely has to do with the balance between function and form. One "function" based decision I settled upon was to keep the back wall free from any decorative elements that would jut out off the wall. This not only provided more stability for the structure in general, but also allowed me to have a place to hold on to when moving or transporting the entire work.

There's still a lot to do (and yet more black bricks to buy!), but I feel like I've finally found my groove, at least for this bottom half of the Dark Tower. I should be able to finish the bottom in the next 2-3 nights of building. At that point, the challenge for me will be to create a top half that separates from the bottom and rounds off the look of the entire structure.

The Dark Tower - (Spiral) Stairway to Heaven

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers from Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series of books).

Creating the spiral staircase of the Dark Tower has probably been the most challenging aspect of this project.

My initial idea was to create a smaller inner section that represented the spiral staircase and have doorways to take Roland into the various rooms and levels of the Dark Tower, but I found that while this would probably have been more faithful to the book, it just wasn't practical; there would be no good way to really physically move LEGO minifigures through the small spiral staircase, and it would be hard to photograph/etc.



So I eventually settled on a few sets of winding staircases and bigger hallways and rooms that you can see in the picture above.

On first glance, it is an easy detail to overlook, but in truth, figuring out how to create the right angles as well as have reasonable stability (so that the staircase doesn't fall apart by simply touching it) was quite challenging.



It starts with the simple concept of Angled Walls that I learnt from a great post on Eurobricks.com.

The idea is that you don't have to place a LEGO piece directly on every stud beneath it. As long as the LEGO piece has room to turn, there are certain points and angles where you can comfortably place a piece at a diagonal angle in an imaginary rectangle or square.

Further more, you can get more interesting angles by using Jumper plates to allow you to count studs by a half measure instead of a full measure.

I used this technique to create the spiral staircase in the Dark Tower.



Using tile pieces to cover studs, and filler pieces (pictured in red and orange) to ensure that there were no empty spaces that the plates could squeeze into (thus causing instability and the staircase falling apart), I was able to come up with two different sets of staircases that make the interior of the Dark Tower come to life.

Notice how the steps pictured above are slightly narrower than those pictured below (and in the rest of the post).



A lot of this, for me anyway, has to do with experimentation. While I do like crunching the numbers in some cases, it simply doesn't help to keep those numbers in a vacuum. You could envision one thing in your mind, but the actual requirements of a build in the actual environment can make you rewrite all your formulas.

Last night, for example, I made a breakthrough.





I found out that by simply shifting a couple pieces around (see above for picture comparisons), I was able to maintain the same angle, but have a much more stable staircase. The former would pop out every once in awhile if pressure wasn't appropriately applied, but the latter sits tight.

I can only imagine that I'll have to keep experimenting and coming up with new angles as the Dark Tower grows higher and closer to completion.