Wither Woods Windmill

[Kai NRG]

The agricultural zone of Kaliphlin may be small compared to its massive desert, but it's one of the most populous regions due to the easy availability of food.  An enterprising miller has recently constructed this large mill to harness the power of the wind for grinding the region's grain.

I wanted to try something with a function and a windmill seemed to hit the sweet spot of being a little complicated, but not too much for a first attempt.  There's more to this than first meets the eye though.  Of course the sail spin, but the whole roof can also rotate in order to catch wind coming from any angle.  Here's the back of the windmill with the sails turned to the right.

I had fun adding little details like sunflowers and wheat sacks.  The stone base technique is also a variant on those blocks that I used for my Fighting Pit!

The real challenges of the mechanism are inside of course.  Connecting the vertical shaft to the horizontal (slightly angled) sails would have been pretty difficult but fortunately I remembered this worm piece which has a unique combination of an axle hole but no friction.  That way the roof can be removed and replaced easily.

So the whole thing is designed to come apart into these three pieces, the base with the interior, the walls, and the roof.

I did a time lapse for this build just like for my Fighting Pit--and I also put it on LEGO Ideas if you'd like to support it!  And as usual there are more pictures on my blog if you'd like a closer look!

Hope you've enjoyed this creation, feels good to have another large build for the guilds again.  I took a pretty long hiatus before the Fighting Pit I know, but hopefully there'll be more coming this year! 

C&C welcome!  Thanks for checking it out!

[NOD]

Wow!  That's great! When the windmill turns, the millstone also turns and produces flour. The construction inside the mill is very interesting. The mill also looks good from the outside.

[LordDan]

I love the cartoony style of this build with the bright vibrant colors, clean lines, and fun details like the sunflowers and cows. Also, the fact that it not only functions but also has an interior is crazy! I also really really like the stone technique you used for the base, I will have to try to use that sometime if I can ever get enough of those hinge pieces 

[kahir88]

Wao! really nice! especially the inside mechanism!

Damn, I was this close to making a windmill myself soon, but need to wait a bit longer, so the hype could  settle down :D

[Toastie]

@Kai NRG

I watched your entire build-video. No fast-forward. And it is a fantastic experience.

Let's take the equally fantastic MOC - for a minute - aside. Experiencing (your video is much more than "seeing") how you create this "windmill" is something I have not felt for long. The way you push back your glasses, the changing light, your "changing" clothes (all this gives a deep temporal perspective) but most importantly: There seems to be no "instruction". Please tell me there is. Please tell me that you have - a hundred times - practiced putting your windmill together. I know (one can see that) you did not. 

To me, your video is a demonstration of vision, planning, (superb) building skills ... and tranquility. I don't know why, but to me, this "stop-motion" and the same time fast-forward movie - is enjoyably slow. 

The windmill itself, particularly the functioning interior, is beyond anything I can encompass.

Thank you very, very much for sharing both the video and your MOC.

All the best,
Thorsten 

[Blufiji]

I enjoyed the video, great work on design and functionality especially after what i am assuming are several redesigns in the top. 

[Sympatik Brick]

Really nice work.

I have already done my windmill. Now I’ve seen this : I’ll need to make it functional.

I love and will probably re-use the sunflowers!

Edited January 23, 2022 by Sympatik Brick

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Fine construction with a simple, but effective mechanism.

And congratulations for being front-paged!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks everyone!  

On 1/19/2022 at 11:34 PM, LordDan said:

I love the cartoony style of this build with the bright vibrant colors, clean lines, and fun details like the sunflowers and cows. Also, the fact that it not only functions but also has an interior is crazy! I also really really like the stone technique you used for the base, I will have to try to use that sometime if I can ever get enough of those hinge pieces 

Thanks Lord Dan!  I hadn't thought about the style here being cartoony but you're totally right, it is!  That's fun, I like doing clean lined, bright color builds a lot, so I will have to be more intentional about it being cartoony next time!

On 1/20/2022 at 11:21 AM, kahir88 said:

... need to wait a bit longer, so the hype could  settle down :D

haha, don't be intimidated, go for it! 

On 1/20/2022 at 7:55 PM, Toastie said:

@Kai NRG

I watched your entire build-video. No fast-forward. And it is a fantastic experience.

Let's take the equally fantastic MOC - for a minute - aside. Experiencing (your video is much more than "seeing") how you create this "windmill" is something I have not felt for long. The way you push back your glasses, the changing light, your "changing" clothes (all this gives a deep temporal perspective) but most importantly: There seems to be no "instruction". Please tell me there is. Please tell me that you have - a hundred times - practiced putting your windmill together. I know (one can see that) you did not. 

To me, your video is a demonstration of vision, planning, (superb) building skills ... and tranquility. I don't know why, but to me, this "stop-motion" and the same time fast-forward movie - is enjoyably slow. 

The windmill itself, particularly the functioning interior, is beyond anything I can encompass.

Thank you very, very much for sharing both the video and your MOC.

All the best,
Thorsten 

Thanks so much!   Of course, you are right... there are no instructions, the video is very "real," I just build in that sequence.  Although I do sometimes get lazy and don't change the battery right when it dies, so there are some gaps (such as all the tiles on the outside).

I'm really glad to hear how much you enjoy the stop motion.  I know some builders do reverse stop motion when they deconstruct their MOCs, but I always thought it would be more fun to see the back and forth of deciding what piece goes where and the real order a MOC gets built in--usually not the deconstruction order!  So it's great to hear that others appreciate this less "edited" approach!

On 1/21/2022 at 4:56 PM, Blufiji said:

I enjoyed the video, great work on design and functionality especially after what i am assuming are several redesigns in the top. 

Thanks Blufiji!  Yes, getting that roof sturdy was tough!

19 hours ago, Sympatik Brick said:

Really nice work.

I have already done my windmill. Now I’ve seen this : I’ll need to make it functional.

I love and will probably re-use the sunflowers!

Looking forward to seeing yours!  And I'd love to see you reuse my sunflowers.   In case it's not obvious, the top and bottom aren't actually attached--what I did was sandwich one leaf (top) between two leaves (bottom).  Pretty sturdy actually but not a very "official" technique 

17 hours ago, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Fine construction with a simple, but effective mechanism.

And congratulations for being front-paged!

Thanks Captain!  That took me by surprise, but thanks to whoever was responsible for that too! 

[jtooker]

Great job with the mechanism.  I like the little details around the windmill best - like the sun flowers, steps and the crops at the edge of the MOC.  It is great to see more Wither Woods builds!  I think Kaliphlin's border may be moving north soon!

[Kai NRG]

10 hours ago, jtooker said:

Great job with the mechanism.  I like the little details around the windmill best - like the sun flowers, steps and the crops at the edge of the MOC.  It is great to see more Wither Woods builds!  I think Kaliphlin's border may be moving north soon!

Thank you!  Little details really do make or break a build!