Lego Build: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Gathering (Part 3/5)

This is gonna be my fiftieth post! Woo! If I'd realised sooner I would have done something a little bit more special but I'll make up for that another time okay?

Previously; Stage 1, Stage 2

In case you needed a reminder this is what was complete at the end of stage 2

So, Stage 3.

From the instruction book it can be seen that there's not one, not two, but THREE minifigures here.

So exciting!

So no time was wasted getting it tipped out and sorted

There were a lot more smaller pieces than in the other two stages but that was probably due to the fact that this stage had much of the detail in the interior and garden whereas the other two were mainly structural in composition.

So, minifigures!

We have Gandalf, Balin and Bofur! Which is nice as they're Bilbo's particular friends (in the movies anyway, Bofur doesn't get much in the way of character in the books so we've no way of knowing if he wasn't Bilbo's friend there too)

I was more excited than usual about these minifigures than normal as they have so many parts to them. Like, they each have a cloak and weapon the the casts for their hair and beards are so cool!
 I missed Gandalf's beard as it was in one of the smaller bags separate from the rest of the pieces but once I found it all was well.

Minifigures out of the way it's time to get into the main building phase!

This stage had so many small bits to it that I ended up storing them in a shot glass so as not to lose then during the build. In particular the brown studs that were used extensively in this stage were so numerous that they got their own container.

This is probably as close as I'll ever get to actually gardening

Sticker sheet in action on the fence!

With the plants in place and the fence all put together it was really starting to look like a pretty little hobbit hole.

But it's not a proper hobbit hole if the inside is bare so it was time to activate my powers of interior design! and fit a writing desk, a dining table, six chairs amongst other things which included a very nice selection of maps and... The Red Book of Westmarch.

*insert angelic chorus here*

It's not called that yet but it is that very same book and it makes the Tolkien nerd inside of me curl up and giggle like a five-year-old on a sugar high.
For anyone who doesn't know just what the significance of it is; it's the book in which Bilbo records the story that we know as "The Hobbit" in and Frodo later does the same with the "Lord of the Rings" before passing it on to Sam. Sam then adds to it up until he also sails West, after which Sam's decedents are left in charge of it. (this is all found in the LOTR appendices at the end of RotK which can be really boring at parts but are worth a read for anyone interested) So you can imagine why I'm just a little bit giddy over it.

Anyway, once the furniture was in and everything that could be secured was, it was just a matter of laying out the items that couldn't be secured, getting everyone into view and taking some final photos.

Poor Bilbo, all of these Dwarves invading his lovely Home!

Nice and safe until next time

 I put all of the unsecured extra bits of scene dressing that weren't into the shot glass just to keep them all in one place for now.

Next time! Stage 4!

Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Special features.

Lego Build: The Hobbit, An unexpected Gathering (Part 2/5)

Previously on Surrounded with pretty things... Stage 1

Now for Stage 2!
The weather was better this day so I got a more consistent light for the photos.

Initial predictions from the instructions

From that it's pretty obvious that this stage will be finishing the exterior walls and Bag End is getting it's iconic green door complete with cirth 'G' for Gandalf (that OAP of a vandal!) as well as the lovely coloured window in the study/kitchen/dining area that you can see on the exterior of the box.

No minifigures in this stage so it was right into construction!

There were four smaller windows that went around the walls the has a slight hinge to open them.

When placed correctly with the panes closer to the external edge they completely lost this feature because of the way they interacted with the circular frames on the outside. I found that by switching the panes to the internal hinge points I was able to salvage some to the opening action but not completely. That didn't effect the overall appearance of the windows other than that the panes are set a few millimetres deeper into the wall than they would normally be.

and here's the finishing point for now with the instruction page for comparison

I was mistaken about the window being coloured and there was more to the interior that I thought but I'd say that otherwise looks about right don't you think?

Back on the bookshelf with you

Next up! Stage 3!

Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Special Features

Lego Build: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Gathering (Part 1/5)

So, in the previous post I said I would be doing a better job of recording this build than I did for my last big lego build. So here I go. The light changes a lot between each image because of weather variations.

Stage 1 is comprised of the first brick bag, the three large plates found loose in the box and the first half of instruction booklet 1.

I changed the background to a solid colour to get a better contrast.

Tipped out and sorted it ends up looking a little like this...

Which according to the instructions should produce something a little like this...

As per standard for lego minifigures must be assembled before any construction can take place. (if only a disapproving presence when you fail to complete their home)

Block separator included for scale

Isn't Bilbo just a little cutie pie? The build progressed pretty quickly on from there and once I had the basic flat base I figured I should stop and have something to eat (because 3pm is pushing the definition of 'lunch' a bit much. I'd make such an awful hobbit). It also happened to be a good spot to take a progress shot!

Taadaa!

I then moved onto the walls and interior steadily building up the hill aroud the outside. This eventually ended up looking like so.

The rain was really heavy so I had to move somewhere else to get enough light

Which looks pretty much like...

So I guess that would be considered a sucess!

In a book case to keep it safe and to lessen the temptation to build more.

Next Time - Stage 2

Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Special Features

I'm about to spoil you lot rotten with posts

An amazing thing happened today!

The Lego set that I wasn't expecting until Monday arrived!

I mentioned in my last post about how I was still considering which set from the Hobbit Lego I wanted to buy. I finally decided on The Unexpected Gathering (aka Bag End) as it's a fairly large set that get's me started off with six members of the company (or five plus Gandalf if you prefer to think of it that way) 

As soon as I got the box and heard the rattle of the pieces I knew exactly what it was. I did however manage to contain my excitement for long enough to take pictures and clear a space big enough to be able to store it safely during the build and display it when it's done. (I also ate breakfast and got dressed but that's beside the point)

There was surprisingly little packaging considering amazon's track record

As it's a big set it's been pre-split into four stages with two instruction books making it super easy to ration the build.

Unboxed it contains: four brick bags, three large flat panels, a sticker sheet and two instruction booklets

Over the next couple of days or so I'll be writing and publishing one post for each of the stages and maybe a final post with my favourite features of the build.

Onward, to Stage 1!

(These will be updated as I go with links to each post as they're published)

Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Special Features

Who's for some LEGO?

Who wants to listen to me talk about Lego?
I do, so I suppose you'll just have to deal with it.

Let me just begin with saying I fucking love lego.

I'm not joking here, I don't think  there's been a time where I haven't loved lego. There's been times when I didn't have my own money or sufficient pester power to acquire it (because it's bloody expensive) but I've never looked at it and gone; nah.

A couple of summers ago I has some money saved up and was on a serious avengers kick. Amazon thew up some of the smaller Lego sets in my recommendations and further prodding about turned up some of the bigger sets. Long story short, I ended up in possession of two sets: the huge Quinjet set and the much smaller set of Captain America's Avenging Cycle because what are the avengers without Cap? (he didn't come with the Quinjet).

These two images are approximately to scale with the size difference of the boxes.

The huge box that arrived had my family's interest immediately especially as I refused to let them see what was in it (this was actually necessary as my mum loves lego as much as if not more than me and while my sister is not as enthusiastic she still won't say no to it). Almost the entire assembly process happened with me hiding up in my bedroom to keep it my project (seriously, I once ended up sitting behind a door to hold it shut preventing my mum from taking lego away from me and building it herself). I put together the Avenging Cycle set first as it was so tiny and you know, Cap is the First Avenger so it's only right to assemble (heh) him first.

I decided to ration the Quinjet build to get the most enjoyment out of it as possible. This was made possible by the fact it came pre-divided into five stages, with the bricks separated into bags for each stage with their own instruction booklet.

I didn't take any pictures of the build because I didn't think I would be posting about it and I don't really want to separate it out and build it again at this moment in time but here's a few of it completed

Top view

Side view

Front view with the cockpit and passenger area opened up

Passenger area, there's space for two with some displays.
If you look in the top left hand corner you'll see the fire extinguisher I mentioned earlier.

Top view from the back showing the top door into the rear space of the jet.

Back views with the ramp up and down into the rear space.

As the quinjet only came with the minifigures for the Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor and Loki and I got Captain America in his own set (both sets had two Chitauri in each also but I don't count them) but I was still missing The Hulk/Bruce Banner and Hawkeye. I looked at
the minifigures for the Hulk but what I really wanted the one that was the one that was proportionally accurate to the actual Hulk. The only problem with this is that it only was produced as part of another large set and as such is grossly overpriced to buy on it's own (approximately 50% of the price of the full set) eBay netted me one for about 35% of the set's price (I'm not saying an exact price but I was happy with what I paid for it). Hawkeye in comparison cost pennies and practically fell into my lap and came with extra things like handcuffs (promptly put on Loki after confiscating his staff/sceptre), binoculars, a walkie talkie and a fire extinguisher (a little additional design point that has really impressed me with the Marvel lego sets as there was also one on the Quinjet). I also ended up buying the minibuild set of the Quinjet as the full sized one was just too big to keep in my student flat and I also didn't want to transport it across country. 

Quinjet minibuild. Pretty accurate I think.

Avengers Assemble! (finally)