Pirate Imperial Fort Wall Texture Techniques

evancelt

I have seen a number of MODs to imperial fort sets recently on social media and they often use the newer LEGO masonry profile bricks to add some color to the plain white walls.

Over the past few years I have learned a number of fun wall texture techniques and I wanted to share more about how to use them!

Often combining one or more of these techniques can make the walls look more natural.

When using 1x white bricks, I think using small 1x2 and 1x3 bricks looks more natural than larger 1x4, 1x6, or 1x8.

Using masonry profile, log profile, or line profile bricks can add surface roughness to the wall.

By using 1x2 non-white plates (tans here), you can add some random color shapes to the wall. This is my favorite wall texture technique.

Jumper plates positioned halfway into the wall can be used to stick partway out and add some depth. 1x2 rail plates can add larger extrusions. Jumper plates can also be used to inset windows slightly back into the wall.

1x1 round plates and round bricks can break up the monotony of a wall. I especially like 1x1 plates because they add small details.

SNOT bricks can be added to the wall and 1x1 and 1x2 tiles can be attached on the outside of the wall. Headlight bricks can be turned on the their side to include a LEGO stud-sized circle protrusion from the wall.

In this recent Naval Intelligence Office in Port Woodhouse MOC I made, I combined the techniques described above to try to add some natural textures to the wall. Colored 1x2 plates attached to the top/bottom of masonry bricks help make them blend in more naturally.


If you add a whole bunch of tile protrusions from the walls, it can give it a rougher style texture. This cottage is from a recent Produce Farm MOC build.

Hopefully some of these techniques can help add some details to your imperial fort walls in your next build!

CCC

These are fairly standard MOC techniques. I'm not a fan of aligning joints, I don't think it looks natural and it is better to use a longer/shorter brick if at all possible to avoid such alignment. Of course, it is not always possible but is avoidable above.

The first MOC is nice but I think you have overdone it in the second one. 

evancelt

CCC said:

I'm not a fan of aligning joints, I don't think it looks natural and it is better to use a longer/shorter brick if at all possible to avoid such alignment. Of course, it is not always possible but is avoidable above.

Good point - yeah it's a good idea to avoid aligning joints. I made these little tutorial vignettes quickly in one sitting and while the first plain wall avoids aligned joints, the other vignettes that focus on other techniques don't.

The goal of this post was to show some other techniques that a beginner builder could use (perhaps 2 or 3 at a time) to add some complexity to their builds.

CCC said:

The first MOC is nice but I think you have overdone it in the second one. 

Everyone has their likes/dislikes :) The second one was made intentionally blockly like a rough whitewashed stone farm house

pxchris

Hey @evancelt, been seeing your posts a lot in the Pirates groups on Facebook lately and have been enjoying your MOCs. We definitely need to see some Imperial love from LEGO!

evancelt

pxchris said:

Hey @evancelt, been seeing your posts a lot in the Pirates groups on Facebook lately and have been enjoying your MOCs. We definitely need to see some Imperial love from LEGO!

Hey @pxchris - Thanks! I hadn't posted on Brickset for quite a while before this post, but Eurobricks is down for server maintenance :D Facebook is a great way to have tons of niche LEGO groups.

Hoping for some Imperial love as well (though looks like Bionicle is gonna win the classic competition)!