I saw this beautiful Mayan Pyramid MOC on flickr (called "Ancient Temple" by W. Navarre) and I'd like to build one exactly like this for my own collection. Any tips on getting started, what parts I will need, etc? I have been building LEGO sets for many years but have not done much custom building, perhaps this will be too difficult without more experience? Any suggestions or tips are welcome! For example, from just the picture, is it possible to get a rough estimate of how many bricks are used? What might it cost to order all those pieces, and how difficult would it be to recreate without any instructions?

Link to more pictures here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/josdu/35713210173/in/photostream/

 

 

Hello !

It's quite ambitious to begin by such a Pyramid but, hey, why not after all...

from what I guess this pyramid is using a sloped wall technique. Good point ! It's not so part consuming ?

You just need to brickbuild each sloped part and build the pyramid main frame with a big bunch of slopes. The inside of the build doesn't necesarily need to be fully filled, good point for economy !

The number of parts could be hard to estimate but it's legit to bet on the most light grey you gave, the better it'll be.

each of the largest panels are around 8-10 studs long upon 5 high. Not so big ! But you have 2 of them per face (and I am not counting the upper ones)

then you have 2 smaller walls and 2 very little ones on the upper floors. Lets count them as other 2 large panels : that woukd be near 4 panels of 8/5 studs per face. the stairs are quite small using just 6studs long (so just 3 bricks) of textured masonry bricks.

well, I think it's doable but with a good bunch of grey parts from all sort.

try something out and let us know (show us pics) how the work will progress here. Don't hesitate to create a Work In Progress topic if you want comments on the building process.

I agree its a stunning model and id love to build it too. I've only recreated one MOC from pictures alone and it was small, and simple. I've made a few that were around this size using only the LDD file, and that was very challenging. this is a pro-level build, I'm sure theres lots of brilliant building techniques hidden in there. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I wanted to give my opinion before you commit time and money.

On 8/12/2018 at 9:49 AM, labevr said:

I saw this beautiful Mayan Pyramid MOC on flickr (called "Ancient Temple" by W. Navarre) and I'd like to build one exactly like this for my own collection. Any tips on getting started, what parts I will need, etc? I have been building LEGO sets for many years but have not done much custom building, perhaps this will be too difficult without more experience? Any suggestions or tips are welcome! For example, from just the picture, is it possible to get a rough estimate of how many bricks are used? What might it cost to order all those pieces, and how difficult would it be to recreate without any instructions?

Link to more pictures here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/josdu/35713210173/in/photostream/

 

 

Why don't you ask the creator him/herself? He might have a list of parts or auto-generated building instructions from building software like Stud.io

5 hours ago, Brick2x4 said:

Why don't you ask the creator him/herself? He might have a list of parts or auto-generated building instructions from building software like Stud.io

He doesn't.   This was built by one of my brothers, and he eyeballs his MOCs, so to speak - no software involved!

This would definitely be a tough nut to crack as far as re-building, even I who am familiar with my brother's building style and am fairly confident that I have the pieces to hand would feel swamped by a project like this.  My advice would be, cast your eyes over it carefully first and make sure you can see how most of it is fitting together - if not, you might want to call the project off (this is definitely a pretty high-level MOC, but there is lots of space inside for awkward connections - although my brother is known for delicate MOCs, so it might be hard to build a sturdy version!).  If you already have a collection that could come close to building something like this, I would start building, and use random colors for pieces you don't have until you have enough missing that you can start to order pieces.  If not, trying to recreate it digitally might be the way to go.  It would just be extremely complicated to count all the pieces even that you can see by looking at the picture, much less the inside structure.

I have reverse-engineered from pictures a couple of my own old MOCs, and that was some of the hardest building I've ever done.  

Also as I recall this MOC had no 3rd or 4th sides.  I think it certainly should be possible to add them on, but of course that would add to the complexity/part count.  I'm terrible at estimating parts count, but the size of this is not insignificant - I think it's well over a foot high.  Definitely a serious project!

22 hours ago, sovietxrobot said:

I agree its a stunning model and id love to build it too. I've only recreated one MOC from pictures alone and it was small, and simple. I've made a few that were around this size using only the LDD file, and that was very challenging. this is a pro-level build, I'm sure theres lots of brilliant building techniques hidden in there. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I wanted to give my opinion before you commit time and money.

Thanks, I appreciate the honest feedback :)

4 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

He doesn't.   This was built by one of my brothers, and he eyeballs his MOCs, so to speak - no software involved!

This would definitely be a tough nut to crack as far as re-building, even I who am familiar with my brother's building style and am fairly confident that I have the pieces to hand would feel swamped by a project like this.  My advice would be, cast your eyes over it carefully first and make sure you can see how most of it is fitting together - if not, you might want to call the project off (this is definitely a pretty high-level MOC, but there is lots of space inside for awkward connections - although my brother is known for delicate MOCs, so it might be hard to build a sturdy version!).  If you already have a collection that could come close to building something like this, I would start building, and use random colors for pieces you don't have until you have enough missing that you can start to order pieces.  If not, trying to recreate it digitally might be the way to go.  It would just be extremely complicated to count all the pieces even that you can see by looking at the picture, much less the inside structure.

I have reverse-engineered from pictures a couple of my own old MOCs, and that was some of the hardest building I've ever done.  

Also as I recall this MOC had no 3rd or 4th sides.  I think it certainly should be possible to add them on, but of course that would add to the complexity/part count.  I'm terrible at estimating parts count, but the size of this is not insignificant - I think it's well over a foot high.  Definitely a serious project!

I would love to see this on the Lego Ideas platform, but perhaps too complex? Or even on MOCHUB where you upload instructions and a part list. I realize it would be a lot of work but I bet a lot of people would be willing to pay for the instructions/part list. Ask your brother if he is interested please :)

1 hour ago, labevr said:

I would love to see this on the Lego Ideas platform, but perhaps too complex? Or even on MOCHUB where you upload instructions and a part list. I realize it would be a lot of work but I bet a lot of people would be willing to pay for the instructions/part list. Ask your brother if he is interested please :)

Sure, I'll let him know about your interest!