Model of Spasskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin

Article | 15.08.2008 | 17:14 | Author: Hor | Своими руками

This model was built by two members of DoubleBrick Dan and Hor, and was first time shown to public on LEGO World Show 2008 in Oslo.

The idea of building the Spasskaya Tower came to us as we were discussing which model to build for LEGO World Show 2008 in Oslo. It was the first time a team from Russia participated in such show. That is why it was vital to create not only a beautiful model that was no worse than others but it also had to be easy to recognize. During our discussion we decided to build the walls of red bricks, since they are a typical feature of our national architecture.

So, the number of candidates for the model diminished instantly and we came up with the Spasskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin. For many times it had been used as a symbol of our country, so it should be known to foreigners quite well. At the same time, it's quite a fresh thing for such shows since, say, St. Basil's Cathedral had already been build by LEGO not once (in miniland of LEGOLAND in California and for "UNESCO Treasures" fair.

And here is, the beauty.

The first element for the future model was the merlon of the wall. It seemed that the design was very good-looking for such a difficult and important sector. But later we found out that it was too early to rejoice. The design of the merlon was indeed suitable (it was not later re-designed and remained a small masterpiece) but we had many more difficult sectors ahead.

After he model's been chosen we started collecting materials for it. Initial attempts to make a virtual model were not successful due to the complicated structure of the model. So we had to build (and several times re-build) the model with bricks searching for the details at the last moment. But the basic material for it – red bricks was ordered on BrickLink beforehand. Our small research showed that the most advantageous variant was to use 1x4 bricks. Later such bricks formed about a half of all, used to build this model.

This photo clearly shows the design of the merlon.

Photos that can be found in the Internet or in publications of the Tower are usually made from the same position every time. No doubt that this view is one of the best, but to create a model of the Tower we needed photos from it’s every angle. We were surprised to find out that there were no photos from the inner side of the Kremlin, beyond the wall. We were about to visit the site ourselves when our friend (ZED) gave us the required photos of the Tower, which he hsd made during his visit to the capital.

From the very beginning we did our best to make the model’s transportation process as safe as possible. We were to place it in the plane’s storage area, so we had to make the model be able to be deconstructed into several segments. And we succeeded with flat segments of the wall. Nevertheless they were severely damaged during transportation. As a result we had to spend all evening and the following day to reconstruct and assemble the model. In fact, due to dramatic lack of time the Tower was first fully assembled only on the show itself. Before that different segment were being constructed by each co-designer separately. But our careful and correct calculations didn’t let us down. Finally, all segments were on their places to form the whole Tower. Of course, we had to finish some small details later, but no problems or discrepancies arose later. And by the time the Show was on, the Tower was completed.

Yellow brick pillars support the upper part of the model. Black technic-connectors allow deconstructing the Tower to different sections.

The walls of the Tower itself and fragments of the Kremlin wall may seem to be the simplest and dullest parts of the model. The second statement may be true, but – other segments are far more interesting to build, but they sure are not that simple in design. This segment should not only look like its real prototype, but also be able to bear the weight of the upper levels and be dismountable. This was the hardest challenge to make it sturdy and dismountable. The problem was aggravated by the fact that there were no LEGO elements in required quantity. But finally the walls were erected and we managed to preserve the original pattern of the wall’s laying with all its apertures, curves, etc.

The Kremlin's chiming clock.

One of the most interesting features of the Tower is its clock. It is the only part of the model that is made not of LEGO bricks. The hull of the Tower has four small clock mechanisms. Our calculations told us that in order to make the clock mechanism of LEGO parts and pieces we should have made the Tower twice larger (from initial 1,5 meters to 3 meters high). But it’s a great idea for a new project! Naturally our chiming clock showed Moscow time (2 hours disparity between Moscow and Oslo). And it sometimes puzzled the visitors of the show.

We managed to build the clock-face with minimum use of SNOT-techniques; however, its shape is very close to a round one. Generally speaking, during the creation of this model we had to use non-standard bricks connection variants quite frequently.

Eight-facet cupola.

The scheme of 45 degree angle connection.

Here's a notable example: the part above the chiming clock. The very first variant implied the use of hinge elements. At first this way seemed the natural one. But later, while assembling this part and other fragments it turned out that the space between the sides made it very difficult to connect it to the square part with the clock. So after some brainwork an easier way out was found. In the standard range of LEGO connections variants one interesting combination was found. It allowed fixing 1x8 brick in three points under 45 degree angles. And here's the ultimate advantage of plastic bricks in comparison with virtual modeling. In case of the latter variant such "freedom" can't be achieved. Every four "horizontally-vertical" constructions inside were connected by plates, what made the construction quite solid even though some of the fragments were not that strong. The gaps between the walls are not that visible and do not spoil the impression.

The design of the cupola. From some distance it looks much better.

The cupola deserves special comment. It turned out to be one of the most difficult sections to build. Several variants were considered before the current one was accepted. We had to deny the idea of building each section of the cupola separately with the use of plates. Every angle of incline created huge gaps, and there was no way to fill them. Plus to that they spoiled the image of the cupola greatly. So, we decided to use a standard LEGO-sculpturing technique: when all bricks are oriented vertically and round or diagonal forms are created by a selection of "ladders". In order to have a more detailed structure of the cupola, we used jumper plates, and tiles.

Rectangular bricks can make absolutely "non-rectangular" forms and the example here is five-angled star.

A ruby star that crowns the Spasskaya Tower was created from bricks, plates and tiles of trans-red color which turned out to be similar to the color of the real one. An attempt to use a trans-red 1x2 slope bricks ended as a failure. Despite the fact that it looks more realistic that way their slope stood out of the design of the star. That is why in the final version the star is made with "ladder" technique.

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