Roman Walls and Villa

Redbullgivesuwind

So I have started to build a section of the Aurelian Wall that surrounds Rome. And was hoping for some feed back on it about accuracy and just general views about it. I will replace those horrible castle walls with windows at some point as I plan to buy more grey 1x8 and 16's.

[EDIT : Moved to Building and Techniques]

richo

hi mate,

good start, I would do a couple of additional things.

I would make sure that walls, arches, some windows etc, are either inset, or given some additional detail, like tan rendering. I think the Aurelian wall has inset arches, but also, check this attached picture of a typical roman fort.

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Arbeia_Roman_Fort_reconstructed_gateway.jpg

In addition, my last tower isn't anything special, but you can see on the attached work in progress pic, where I inset windows and doors to give some additional detail and feeling of depth.

I would also be tempted to set the model a bit back on the baseplate to allow you to put some more scenic detail at the front.

Rich

ps: I have sent you another Roman today. lol

CCC

Concerning accuracy - when built they were about 4x a man's height, and later remodelled to twice this. So heightwise, not too bad for the original walls. There were not many sharp 90 degree corners though. Colour - they were brick faced rather than concrete on the outside, so tan might be better if you have lots available.

And you've got about 12 miles to go ... so get building.

I like it. It would look better getting rid of those castle walls though. It will look more brick like with the bricks in place.

Redbullgivesuwind

Cheers @Richo, Yeah I see what you mean it does give it alot more of depth and detail pulling your eye in. I will have a play especiually with your door design.

@CCC ha ha! I am not doing all 12 miles its a small section with a villa placed behind it. I wondering although you suggest tan if i could get away with a red? Ah I didn't realise there were few right angles, there are some awful online pics and the books I have dont show the wall. I shall adjust that thank you.

The height I am working with one 1x1 equals a meter so should give me just the right height.

CCC

Lego red is too red for bricks in my opinion. I'd go with greys or tans, or a mixture of the all different shades within these two colour groups.

Redbullgivesuwind

Thats a good though to mix them in as it would give varied texture, and stone colouring is never the same. I have tons of lego red need to do something with them

richo

In one of the last castles I did, I added a load of tan one side as if the castle had been repaired with stone, and it looked great. If you can pick up the Ramses pyramid game cheap on ebay, it has a tan baseplate and quite a few tan bricks. Its a lot cheaper than buying on bricklink etc. I managed to get one for around £4.50, and got the tan baseplate and 200+ useful pieces for around £8 all in including postage.

Redbullgivesuwind

@richo thank you I shall do an ebay search for it. Do you have a link so I can see what you mean and how it would look?

prof1515

Just a note: the reconstructed gatehouse at Arbeia is typical of construction on Hadrian's Wall (though Arbeia is across the river in South Shields, it was a supply base for the Wall) while the walls of Rome were city walls and much different. While I took a lot of photographs of Hadrian's Wall, Roman forts in Britain and the old walls of Londinium, I unfortunately didn't photograph much of the walls of Rome aside from around one of the gates. If I remember later I'll upload a few of them though I'd imagine a little searching online could turn up a plethora of photographs.

Redbullgivesuwind

Thank you @prof1515. One question is did the towers have an internal door as medieval ones did or were they steps up to it as i found in one picture. I thought the Roman london walls (what little survives) were diffrent to rome in that they used the circle towers of the shore forts and diff designs?

Stu83

As a source I recommend the following book:

The Walls Of Rome
Nic Fields
Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781846031984
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/The-Walls-of-Rome_9781846031984

Lots of nice pictures and reconstruction drawings and looks to be about half price from the publisher at the moment. A good general read on the subject and at 64 pages paperback, not a weighty tome.

Redbullgivesuwind

^cheers i shall get it ordered :-). I like weighty tomes. Should see some of my history books lol