DM's LEGO Halo Ring [06/28/16: Fixed Back Design]

NEW INFORMATION BELOW

 

Hello all once again to a special project of mine that will be completed within my lifetime. If you remember, I created an LDD model of Halo, and showed it off on Skype. For those who were not on Skype at that time some odd months ago, here's a picture of it.

 

 

Now I thought about this build, and yes I did make it a copypasta model for the sake of structural completion, I decided that it would be cool to be able to own this model to build in real life out of real LEGO bricks. So, I did some math and calculations on what it would take to build this model.

 

First off, I decided to get the dimensions for one section as I would likely only be able to buy 1 section at a time. I was a bit shocked when I built an outline of a section to get an idea on the size. For 1 section, it is 48x16 studs length and width (not counting the hinge spacing on the ends), and stands 4 bricks tall (or 12 plates tall). It doesn't look or seem that big from LDD, but here is a picture of reference with my hand and a minifigure next to the section outline.

 

 

Yes. It will be THAT big. I will say the size slowed me down on the idea of this project, but it's time I stop backing down just because some details are more than expected. Continuing on calculation, I measured the section in inches, x32 for the number of sections to get the circumference of the ring. Then did the complex math to find the diameter (something about C/Ï€=D ?), and converted inches to feet. The diameter for this Halo ring LEGO model is................ ~12ft long. Yep.

 

To give you an estimate on its size, my bedroom is 15ftx11ft and 8ft tall. Without any furniture in my room, I could angle this model in a way to just barely fit. But, I seem to have a bed, dresser, piano, etc. in the way. In fact, the only place this would fit without changing the area's contents is outside, or in the 2 car garage in the backyard.

 

Now you might ask, "Why build a model if you can't fit it in your own house?" or "What's the point? It's too big!" Well that IS the point. I've wanted to do more with LEGO, and this is my opportunity to do so. Keep in mind, I won't be building this all in one day. I'd buy it 1 section at a time with several weeks/months/maybe a year in between each section. All depends on the current events at the time. So I will have a long time before I will even need to think about space for it.

 

There is but one other matter of size to take in account for. I'm sure you've been waiting patiently for it. Yes, I am talking about the price. Down below, as you can see, is a parts list that contains the quantity of each element, the color quantity within each element, the individual list price (LEGO's Pick-a-Brick listed price), and the total price for the quantity of each element. Down at the bottom of the list, you will see the total number of elements per section as well as the total price of each section (tax not included).

 

Element Quantity			Color Quantity			Individual Price	Total Price
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
672 Flat Tile 1x1			88 Dark Orange			$0.10			$67.20
					225 Dark Green
					84 White
					275 Earth blue


12 Flat Tile 1x8			12 Dark Stone Grey		$0.20			$2.40


14 Plate 1x12				14 Dark Stone Grey		$0.35			$4.90
	

16 Plate 1x4				16 Dark Stone Grey		$0.15			$2.40
	

3 Plate 16x16				3 Medium Stone Grey		$4.25			$12.75
	

48 Roof Tile 2x2/45 Inv.		48 Dark Stone Grey		$0.20			$9.60
	

8 Brick 1x6 				8 Dark Stone Grey		$0.35			$2.80
	

6 Brick 1x4 				6 Dark Stone Grey		$0.20			$1.20
	

4 Brick 2x8 				4 Medium Stone Grey		$0.50			$2.00


5 Plate 2x4 				3 Dark Stone Grey		$0.20			$1.00
					2 Medium Stone Grey


6 Plate 6x16 				6 Dark Stone Grey		$2.10			$12.60
	

6 Plate 4x6 				6 Dark Stone Grey		$0.60			$3.60


4 Plate 2x6				4 Dark Stone Grey		$0.25			$1.00


2 Plate 2x16				2 Dark Stone Grey		$0.70			$1.40
	

4 Roof Tile 1x3/25 Inv. 		4 Dark Stone Grey		$0.15			$0.60
	

46 Roof Tile 2x3/25 Inv. 		46 Dark Stone Grey		$0.20			$9.20
	

22 Plate 2x8 				22 Dark Stone Grey		$0.35			$7.70
	

3 Plate 8x16 				3 Dark Stone Grey		$2.15			$6.45
	

8 Plate 1x1 Round 			8 Transparent Blue		$0.10			$0.80
	

2 Plate 2x2 Round 			2 Transparent Blue		$0.10			$0.20
	

2 Plate 4x4 Round 			2 Medium Stone Grey		$0.30			$0.60
	

6 Plate 6x12 				6 Dark Stone Grey		$2.00			$12.00
	

3 Plate 2x12 				3 Dark Stone Grey		$0.40			$1.20
	

12 Plate 2x2 				4 Black				$0.15			$1.80
					8 Medium stone Grey	


28 Plate 1x2 				24 Black			$0.10			$2.80
					4 Medium Stone Grey


8 Plate 2x1 w/Holder,Vertical	 	8 Medium Stone Grey		$0.15			$1.20

	
8 Plate 1x2 w/Shaft 			8 Dark Stone Grey		$0.10			$0.80
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
958 Elements											$170.20

So, there you can see that the 973 piece sections will cost $171.50USD to buy. So $170, not bad, right? Remember that I still have 31 more sections to buy. The TOTAL price for this entire project (again tax not included) reaches a whopping $5488.00USD for a 31136 piece model of a Halo ring. That price is what makes this a lifelong project.

 

[06/28/16]: Price has changed to $170.20 for 958 pieces per section; $5446.40 for 30656 pieces total.

 

I know someone might mention that the most money is going to the little 1x1 flat tiles at $67, why not trade those for larger tiles and make custom decals for it? Well, as much as I know it would look better with decals, I've never been one to actually use them on LEGO sets because after building one, I often dismantle them to build other things. The decals prevent me from doing that. Sure you can just peel them off, but there's only so many times you can do that before they wear out. This way, there is endless customization that will last longer.

 

And when I get each section, I won't copypasta them as I did with the LDD model. I'll likely design a more sophisticated looking world to the Halo ring. Also, in case you are wondering about the stability of the completed ring when time comes to have it all together, each section has 2 holes running end to end inside them in case they need internal cable braces. I've thought a lot about this.

 

So there you have it. This is my life long project that will be completed in the distant future. If you guys have any questions that were not covered in this novel, please leave them down below and I will answer as I see them. I really want to see what the community thinks of this, so hand me any and all feedback you've got. And, you know, if you have donations, those would help too.

 

Thank you for your time to check this out, and I hope it will be an enjoyable experience for not only me, but everyone here! Please see the checklist below to see progress.

 

EDIT: I forgot to give a comparison of my model with a real Halo ring. My model's diameter is 12ft. Using an official sizing guide, a Halo ring has a diameter of 32,809,920ft. I'll let you do the math.

Changelog
-------------------------------------------------------------
[11/25/2014]
------------

Spoiler

 

-Removed 32 elements per section
-Added 38 elements per section
-Replaced snaplock hinges with smooth hinges
-Relocated hinges from top to middle of section edge
-Gap between sections looks cleaner and is smaller
-Smaller holes through sections for braces
-Updated the Parts List

Screenshots [11/25/2014]:

 

 

[06/28/2016]
------------

-removed 27 elements
-added 12 elements
-fixed ring back design to make it more accurate
-Updated the Parts List

Hello everyone, and welcome to the grand un-burying of this topic. I've decided to come back to this project with high hopes to acquire the needed pieces to build this giant ring. I have also made a slight change to the design. The backside of the ring sections are now more accurate to the actual ring from the game. I plan on putting aside the amount needed for one section and ordering the pieces in the near future, as well as making a video of building the section. Hope you will all enjoy!

Drill Master's LEGO Halo Project Resource Checklist

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Sections Ordered:   0/32

Sections Received:   0/32

Sections Built:   0/32

Total Ring Completion:  0%

Edited June 28, 2016 by Drill Master

There are levels of insanity, and then there's this.

 

Now get moving; the corps ain't paying you by the hour!

When you are done, attempt to suspend it from a rope on the ceiling .

Still, this is one heck of a large project. Are you really planning on doing it solo? If you do it with help you can shorten the amount of time to buy/build it, plus they can come in handy when it comes to moving the large ring (which, compared to the weight of one lego brick, will be really blooming heavy).

Holy... What in the...

 

Drill Master. That is a big ring. A REALLY big ring.

If you manage to complete that monster, be sure to bring it with you to a convention or two.

 

Have fun buddy.

One ring to rule them all...

Frog Blast the Vent Core, that thing is... HUGE. I don't know how you're going to do this. But don't give up, you have to do it for John-117.

 

 

One ring to rule them all...

 

Sauron is commanding the covenant. All hail the prophet of darkness.

Wowzers, this is going to be one behemoth of a model. Good luck in its construction, DM! I think it's great that you're making this a long-term project, it's almost like drawing height lines on a wall as a child grows taller.

 

When it's finished, I dare you to stand inside it and twirl it like a hula hoop. EDIT: Oh wait, it's 12ft in size. Eh, get your family in a circle to do it.

Well, that is quite the undertaking, I applaud you for that.

Just one question- how do you intend to display and transport it?

Well, that is quite the undertaking, I applaud you for that.

Just one question- how do you intend to display and transport it?

Well for transporting, the sections can be stacked and bundled for transport, and obviously I'll need room to put it fully build, but that will come later down the road.

I can't wait to see the final thing, it already looks awesome.

 

On 11/23/2014 at 7:32 AM, jamesster said:

One ring to rule them all...

 

 

This looks awesome.

 

One thing occurred to me, how are you making the joints, that you'll have structural stability?  It'll need to stand up to its own weight somehow.  Will you use an exoskeleton?

The joints previously were the snaplock toothed hinges, but due to the angle between each section is 11.25° which would be illegal to the snaplock hinges' adjusted angles. (The lowest they go is 22.5°, but LDD doesn't care, and thinks it's just a normal hinge.) I'll have to switch them out with normal smooth hinges (or something else to suffice). As for structural integrity, as I said each section has 2 holes that run the length of the sections for either metal or cable braces. 

 

Each section has 8 alternating hinges on each end of it. With the snaplock hinges, 8 hinges between each section would actually hold to a decent ammount of pressure. (I've tested this as I have a lot of those hinges.) They would probably stand alone with minimal bracing. However, with those hinges unable to work, I'd have to switch to normal hinges and the ring would have to rely on friction instead, which wouldn't work, and would need more bracing.

 

I'll browse hinge options today and see what would work best for this.

either metal or cable braces.

 

CHEAPSKATE

 

I'm just going to say that I wish you luck with this project.

But one question: Why?

 

either metal or cable braces.

 

CHEAPSKATE

 

I'm just going to say that I wish you luck with this project.

But one question: Why?

 

One answer: Why not?

 

As I said in the topic,

"Now you might ask, "Why build a model if you can't fit it in your own house?" or "What's the point? It's too big!" Well that IS the point. I've wanted to do more with LEGO, and this is my opportunity to do so."

 

Obviously, this is my biggest project ever, not just for LEGO, but any project I've done. I've been here a bit over 2 years now, and I don't have as much to show for it as I'd like to.

 

There's your answer.

As I have already mentioned in a Profile Feed; If you made several of those rings and managed to attach them to each other, side-by-side (with a few modifications to each piece to fit perfectly), you could build a Lego planet.

 

Of course, you'd have to spend a huge amount of time to build such a thing, and taking it apart in sections and putting it back together will be a hell of a challenge.

One ring to rule them all...

 

Sauron would be too big to fit in Ea if that ring fits snugly on his finger. If he did, he'd have no trouble at the Battle of the Last Alliance.

 

 

If you made several of those rings and managed to attach them to each other, side-by-side (with a few modifications to each piece to fit perfectly), you could build a Lego planet.

The problem with that is supporting it. It'll probably become far too heavy to do anything with, especially with those metal cores.

 

Speaking of which, how much do you think this'll weigh, DM?

 

One ring to rule them all...

 

Sauron would be too big to fit in Ea if that ring fits snugly on his finger. If he did, he'd have no trouble at the Battle of the Last Alliance.

 

 

 

 

If you made several of those rings and managed to attach them to each other, side-by-side (with a few modifications to each piece to fit perfectly), you could build a Lego planet.

The problem with that is supporting it. It'll probably become far too heavy to do anything with, especially with those metal cores.

 

Speaking of which, how much do you think this'll weigh, DM?

 

I'm not sure on weight yet. I'll weigh a section when I get is then post the weight here. If I were to guess, MAYBE a pound per section, 32 pounds total? It's too early to tell right now. Maybe more, I don't know.

I'm not sure on weight yet. I'll weigh a section when I get is then post the weight here. If I were to guess, MAYBE a pound per section, 32 pounds total? It's too early to tell right now. Maybe more, I don't know.

 

What I'm concerned about are the internal braces. Those will be the large quantity of the weight, especially if they're metal. Yes, aluminium's not very dense, but it'll still be sizeably heavy.

Don't drop it on your toe

 

(Also, for those who are interested, can you upload the .lxf (LDD file) of your ring so we can see a little more detail? Or just take more screenshots?)

I'm redesigning the hinges right now, and editing the element list accordingly. More pictures are on their way as soon as I finish up with the redesign.

Finally, I am going back to this project! Made some changes to the model. All new information can be seen in blue text next to the seizure ball. Enjoy!

Great to hear of the revival.

 

A question though, with the grand size of this ring, will those connector joins be strong enough to support the weight and size?

23 hours ago, Cyrem said:

Great to hear of the revival.

 

A question though, with the grand size of this ring, will those connector joins be strong enough to support the weight and size?

Here's to hoping

 

I've been thinking about that too. Not that I'd want to put LEGO pieces under a stress test, but that's exactly what this would be like when completed. I guess the best idea would be to first obtain a finished section and see how much it and the whole ring would weigh and go from there. It's going to be a while before I get anywhere near when I'll have to worry about that though. I would have preferred the original hinges to the new ones, but the illegal angles made me change them.

 

As time goes on, I may find a better connector piece to replace them, or make a rigid internal brace that would support the shape, but it's still too soon to know for sure. In the meantime, I'll check out other options and see what pops up.