LEGO fences for a modular build
Having a beautiful staircase leading up to a platform and raised garden requires an equally beautiful railing to prevent minifigures from falling and hitting their heads. 🤕
The following post showcases the different prototypes and iterations I explored while looking for the best fence/railing for my ambitious MOC LEGO project.
If you are curious about how it all started, you can read an introduction to the project in a previous blog post:
Urban Haven — a LEGO modular build
In short, I’m trying to build a raised garden that fits in with the other modular buildings from LEGO. I want the raised garden to be safe for minifigures and at the same time radiate a sense of history, which is what a rustic fence would do.
After seeing a modified version of the LEGO Friends #41757 Botanical Garden on Pinterest, I experimented with using the part: Plant Stem, Curved with Bar, Thorns, and Swirls.
Though they look good and have potential to look even better with some polish, they are too low to convincingly keep minifigures from falling over. Even with the Harpoon introduced in the last iteration, in some places the railing falls below a minifigure’s hip. The look would fit much better on the roofs of old buildings, creating a feel similar to that of #10297 Boutique Hotel and #11371 Shopping Street. The Harpoon, however, led me to my next experiment, dropping the Plant Stem entirely.
I was actually very happy with this next iteration from a visual point of view. It was simple yet stunning. The corner fit more naturally than the previous low railing, which also required extra 1x1 tile to cover the distance to the corner (yes, look closer on the above image).
But this new iteration had another problem. The flowers would exceed the baseplate and collide with modular builds on either side, preventing my MOC from being used together with other modular buildings… which kinda defeats the purpose. Notice the flower highlighted in red:
Instead, I tried using masonry bricks as decor, as they sit flush against any adjacent plain wall.
And I think it looks really good, but the textured cone with the flowerpot doesn’t exist in Light Bluish Grey. Sand Green on the other hand exists and I have loads from some Harry Potter sets. But is that really an option?… In my opinion, it doesn’t look as good.
While iterating on the fences, I also came up with a couple of other designs that are too dense for my MOC, but still worth sharing.
This use of small arches and unicorn horns gives the design a slightly more Eastern feel.
Back to the rustic fences for a wrap up. A colourful flowerpot corner might be a bit over the top when the details start competing with the rest of the MOC for attention, but on its own it looks absolutely gorgeous. A Light Bluish Grey cone would have been perfect because it would complement the masonry bricks, making the corner “fit in” with the entire wall. A plain 2x2 round brick, with or without grills, makes the corner feel out of place.
I had hoped to use Light Bluish Grey for the masonry, but Dark Tan might also be an option:
I haven’t settled on a final design yet, but I am fairly certain that it will involve the Harpoon element 😅