amazing: Mike Gallagher's SNOT roads

[Steffen]

Mike Gallagher has found an awesome technique to create your own roads
when baseplates are not enough.

This opens a universe of possibilities.
Just wanted to share this with you.

Of course he uses LDRAW.

http://gallaghersart.com/forums/viewthread/9/

http://gallaghersart.com/forums/viewthread/11/

[Tim Gould]

To be a little pedantic Mike didn't discover it. I've even got some varieties of my own from many years ago and it was around long before that.

But Mike has certainly been very and excellently comprehensive with it

Tim

[Michael Horvath]

I'd like to see how he would handle going up and down inclines.

[Tim Gould]

Hi Michael,

You hinge the road bits


Ol' Brit @ Show by gambort, on Flickr

Tim

[Michael Horvath]

Is there a way to do this where the road still lines up with the neighboring objects? Or a certain ratio of pieces where the road comes back into sync with the town?

[Tim Gould]

In principle you could work out the triangle rules. But when I hinged that road I simply joined a bunch together and adjusted it until it connected at both ends. It saved me doing any trigonometry

You can also join roads at an angle by using slope bricks.


Ararat 1972 by gambort, on Flickr

Once you break the usual flat grid it all becomes much harder, but these SNOT roads at least give you the chance to do it. For me it's a really important part of making accurate dioramas.

Tim

[Michael Horvath]

OK, I guess I will just have to eyeball it if there are not any "good" ratios.

[Tim Gould]

Remember that LEGO itself has a bit of give. So getting things exactly right isn't vital. Just need it mostly right (within about 2LDU).

Tim

[Michael Horvath]

OK, he actually has some sloped roads on his site:

http://gallaghersart.com/LEGO_forums/viewthread/8

I wonder if he has written a generator to create these slopes. I'd hate to have to piece them all together by hand.

[Mike Gallagher]

A generator would have been nice, but in my case it was just brute force attempts until something nice came out while watching TV. Same way I created my trusses for my bridges. But in those cases the math is very obvious.

I have been working on a meandering road around a hill with the road also slopping to the top. So far my attempts have not been what I'm sure LEGO can do. But I basically have sections of road that are parts, more like my big curved modules that have several parts that fit together to make the whole curve.

In order to make it look "right" I have to have the hill bricks over hang the sides of the roads. This also locks the parts in place, but has been a night mare to get correct.

I have also notices that over time the 1x2 bricks that make up these roads surface do not stay "smooth". Over time they adjust a little and their end sides become off set a hair or so. Not broken, or at least I hope not, cannot see any damage with my eyes.

But as far as straight slopes I create a 1x2 and no larger bricks road sheet much larger than what I want for a slope. You will have an upper transition, the middle and then the lower transition. As long as these 3 areas are locked down to other bricks and supported you will have your sloped road module. then just build up the sides until you have what you want.

The problem I had with this solution was the support structure could still break up into manageable sizes but the road surface still need to be one continues piece. And transporting this to Shows was hard, but not impossible.

You can also substitute a single 1x2 brick for
• 1x2 tech brick with pin for a stud
• 2x 1x2 plates, 1x2 tile with no Bottom Tube, 1x1 plate. To make a slider to raise above the road to hold cars and such on the slope

I do suppose there would be a "safe" flexing of 1x3 sheets of brick math. Basically the upper and lower section that start off flush with the road surfaces than flexing to the desired angle for the middle section. In one of my images and source file I do have bricks that would line with the slopped road for that instance. I did not give much thought of the math back then, and looking through my pictures I do not have any of the support structures without the road on top.

Also I may have these Ldraw slopped road MOCs as unbuildable. I cannot remember for sure, brain power weakening..., I may have applied to much of a curve to these models than what the real bricks may do. But at the same time I "think" I started with the ramp_02 first and used the tiles and legally stacked bricks as the template for the max flex I could get out of the 1x2 bricks. In real life once all built this was to steep of an angle, was more of a roller coaster looking..

I no longer have these built but I think you can get the angle and brick placement from my ramp_02 source file from this page http://gallaghersart.com/gallery/view/category/roads

peace,
Gallagher

[Michael Horvath]

Thanks for responding! I was also wondering if you had encountered some "magic" ratios whereby sloped roads fit together with non-sloped roads. I.e. correct angles and distances. I'm worried there will be gaps between the sections when I start building them for Datsville.


Mike

[edit]

Also, I currently have lamp posts attached to the sidewalks. How would you recommend attaching them if the road is sloped?

[Michael Horvath]

Can anyone figure out how the black road surface is connected to the yellow and white curb in the attached model? There are smooth yellow tiles at the edges, but they are not connected to both the road and the curb as far as I can see.