LUGNET News : ~330/FAQ/Castle/technic


Cary Clark / FAQ / Castle / technic

How are lights, pneumatics, or motors used in Castle creations?

From James Brown: !

I use 9 volt lights and they work fairly well, although they are a bit dim. However, with a red cap they work well as ‘glow’ from a fireplace. I use them behind stoves, and underneath fires.

I put the light brick right into the back wall of the fireplace, and piled the fireplace high with trans-red, trans-yellow and trans-orange 1x1 round plates. This makes a really cool-looking effect, especially with 1 or 2 flames sticking up.

My kitchen has a bread oven, a stove and a kettle all side by side. In this case, I put several lights behind the wall, and just left holes in the backs of the stove et. al. to let the light through. It works, but it is very dim. (That might be because I’m running several lights off a single battery pack.)

The model backs into a mountain, so all the wiring is hidden on the back side. I used 1x3 arch bricks to keep the wire runs neat.

My wife hides the wire runs in her castle in the chimneys and under the floors.

From Frank Filz: !

As you string more lights together, the individual lights will dim. Be careful; a battery under a heavy load can dump its energy quickly, and get very hot.

From James Brown: !

Here’s an illuminated fireplace:

http://www.lugnet.com/castle/~11/blankshields/mount2c

From Stuart Curtis: !

I used a motor in a castle was for a working water-wheel jutting from the side of the castle into the river-area. By building a fairly large wheel out of bricks and Technic elements, and gearing the motor down slightly, I managed to make the wheel turn at a very slow, realistic pace. The motor was built into the the castle wall, the battery box had a couple of BURPs covering it. A technic rod activated the concealed battery box button.

The same castle also utilised a pneumatic system for the drawbridge.

From Eric Brok: !

I used pneumatics to make a castle tower extend as a telescope.

The Frost Castle is in the Buildings section of my web site.

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