The Lego Madhouse and Me


Welcome to The Lego Madhouse,

My name is Christopher Pearce, perhaps better known as CapnRex101 throughout the online Lego community. I am based in the UK and recently decided that I would embark on a somewhat ambitious project, that being to create my own MOC of Arkham Asylum.

On this blog I will document my progress surrounding the MOC, from initial designs to build pictures right through to the finished article, as well as giving some of my views on more general Lego news and sets.

Saturday 23 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - I Need Your Help...

Up to now I have only been presenting the aesthetic elements of my design, which I hope will only be a part of the final MOC I produce. I also intend to include plenty of functions and features which will help bring the asylum to life.


However, I have little experience with Technic or Mindstorms construction, and therefore I am looking for anybody who is particularly interested in Technic or Mindstorms to assist me with creating some of the more challenging (perhaps even impossible) functions which I have envisaged. If you fall into this category and would like to help, please contact me either through my Brickset profile or via Flickr Mail, and hopefully you can help in considering how some of the functions I have in mind might work. I already have some ideas, but I would prefer to consult others about them rather than overcomplicate my solutions or simply miss them altogether! Many thanks in advance to those of you who can assist me.

In my next post I will discuss some of these proposed functions and possibly some of the early solutions which I have created through discussion with Technic enthusiasts from this article.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Construction Concept Two..

In a continuation of my previous post, here is the second in my series of small models demonstrating the look I hope to achieve in some areas of my Arkham Asylum MOC. You can see in the images below that I plan to use mostly dark greys and greens, although I will likely disperse a bit of light bluish grey through these cliffs to add a bit more variety and break up the colour. This particular model, like my last, was built with a fairly narrow selection of parts, so in the final version, expect some improvement. Once I have made my first Bricklink orders, which as I have previously mentioned will consist in the main of rock pieces, I will try and post another little model built with an improved inventory of pieces.


Due to my inexperience in the field I have recruited the assistance of one or two experienced cliff builders over the last couple of weeks who were able to give me plenty of tips on creating realistic and organic rock shapes (which is easier said than done if you ask me). Nevertheless, any opinions on the model I am showing here and how I could improve my technique on constructing rocks are most welcome in the comments.


By my next post I should have some Bricklink related news to bring you, so stay tuned for that, at last I can get down to some proper building of the first section. In the meantime, I have opened an account over at Flickr, there is not much to see there at the moment, but when I start building I will be posting loads of images over there hopefully as well as here at The Lego Madhouse so keep an eye on it.

Saturday 16 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Construction Concept One...

After a month or so of sketches and designs, I think it is time to show one of the concepts I have actually built in Lego over the last few days. As you can see in the images below, this is just a tiny model, built to demonstrate how I might go about constructing small water outlets in the sewers and Killer Croc's lair. I imagine this exact design will not make it into the final model, as this was created with a relatively limited parts palette, but it certainly gets the idea across. I hope this design also conveys the atmosphere of decay and dilapidation which I am hoping to include in my final model.


I was recently able to get my hands on hundreds of 1x2 and 1x1 translucent plates from my local Lego Store, as they were available in the new and improved Pick-a-Brick wall there. These will be very useful no doubt for creating more water effects like you can see here, as well as the ice details I plan to include in Mr Freeze's cell when I get to that stage.



This will be just the first in a series of small models to demonstrate planned building techniques which will continue throughout this gargantuan project. For the moment however, tell me what you think of this design for achieving a watery effect, any constructive criticism and suggestions are of course very welcome.


Monday 11 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Progress Updates...

After my aspect sketches in my last post, on this occasion I am presenting one of my concepts which shows what kind of look I hope to achieve in this area of Killer Croc's subterranean lair.

As you can see in the image below, I am looking to include some bizarre rock formations, such as that large stack which goes from floor to ceiling, as well as smaller cave recesses and perhaps a couple of shafts of light coming in from outside. The dark patches on the floor of the cave represent the small pools of water which will feature prominently in many of the caverns beneath the asylum.

Cavern Sketch
In another point entirely, I hope to make my first Bricklink order for this MOC later this week. Of course, light and dark bluish grey rock pieces (slopes and bricks) will be the order of the day, of all shapes and sizes. Look out for more news on that later in the week.

Before that however, I will be posting an article about a small vignette which I constructed, as more of a practice effort than anything else for creating these vast caves.

Sunday 10 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Modular Section One Plans...

Over the last day or two I have been working on some fairly accurate sketches of what I hope to achieve when constructing this first section of Arkham Asylum. This particular area covers none of the building itself, only the island on which the asylum is set, and is therefore reasonably sparse on details.

In my first sketch you can see a bird's eye view of this section of the model, which shows the layout I am planning here. As you can see, I intend to include a statue of Jeremiah Arkham and a round driveway here, as well as the bridge to the mainland.


The second image is my plan of the first section from the side. You can see that on the surface is a statue of Jeremiah Arkham and the legendary 'ARKHAM' sign which looms over the main gates. The driveway cannot be seen from this angle. Beneath the island, as I have mentioned in previous posts, I plan to include some caverns and basement areas, part of which is shown here as a section of Killer Croc's lair.


In my next post I will look at this section from other aspects with some detail sketches, as well as discussing the Bricklink order which I hope to make for this section later this week.

Saturday 9 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Modular Modelling...

After some consideration, I have made a couple of decisions on how I will go about building my Arkham Asylum MOC. It seems to me that in many large MOCs, detail is sacrificed in place of size, but I hope to avoid this in my model, keeping every tiny section of the asylum as detailed as possible. Hopefully this extra effort will pay off in the end with an impressive model.

I am of the opinion that the best way to do this is by constructing my MOC in modular sections which, much like the Lego Modular Buildings sets, will fit together using Technic pins as shown below. That is not the only advantage however, building in stages will also allow me to easily transport the model, which I hope will be displayed at one of the Lego Shows in the UK at some point in 2014. Last of all, building in this manner will mean that I can easily blog my progress once the building process has begun.


The first area I have planned out in detail is the area of the island in front of the asylum's main entrance, for which I will be making my first Bricklink orders over the next week or two. That plan however still needs some further touches in my opinion, so I will complete it, and then display that in my next post which should be expected in the next day or two.

Monday 4 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Building Cliffs...

To construct the kind of island seen in the Batman: Arkham Asylum video game, vast and sheer cliffs are required, and building such things can be easier said than done. An example of how the cliffs look in that video game is shown below, with the brightness turned up a little to make everything a bit clearer.

Screenshot from the Batman: Arkham Asylum Video Game
Therefore, having encountered some challenges in creating these kinds of cliffs, I have consulted a few people who I consider have shown off a particular talent for creating rock walls in Lego. One such person who I have spoken to is Simon Pickard, creator of this brilliant MOC recreating the Battle of Thermopylae which includes some very impressive rock walls. He, among others, gave me some excellent tips on this aspect of Lego construction, particularly on how to make these notoriously fragile type of walls as sturdy as possible. This will be key for my model as a great deal of weight will need to be supported.

However, more advice is needed, so if you have any suggestions or advice on building rock walls, please post a comment below and help me out on this.

Saturday 2 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - A Few Certain Inclusions...

I thought it was worth posting a quick update to explain which features are already decided for my final Arkham Asylum MOC. These are the components which will definitely be included:


  • The asylum will be set on an island - This is something which I have been certain of including since I first considered an Arkham Asylum MOC last year, as I believe it makes the model more interesting as well as allowing me to place some rooms and areas underground without raising the entire model off the ground which would be far too expensive to do for me.
  • The legendary 'ARKHAM' sign will be present - As a mainstay of almost every incarnation of the building, this is really an absolute must-have for an Arkham Asylum MOC in my opinion. It will no doubt present a great challenge later on, however some possible solutions have been discussed over on the Brickset Forum which will be of great help.
  • Killer Croc will have a lair beneath the asylum - One of the elements in the Batman: Arkham Asylum game which struck me the most was the interesting placement of Killer Croc, who was essentially dumped down in the sewers as a form of incarceration. Therefore, I decided it was something which I would hope to include in my MOC from early on in the process.
  • There will be sewers beneath the asylum - I wish to include a reference to Christopher Nolan's fantastic Batman trilogy, which is difficult since Arkham Asylum has only fairly fleeting appearances in the series, almost exclusively in the first of the three, Batman Begins. Therefore, since one particular scene was particularly enjoyable in my opinion, I have decided that I will try to include the sewer junction seen in that film as well as Killer Croc's lair in my model.
  • The Scarecrow will be imprisoned in a tower - This idea is purely from my imagination, but is nevertheless something which I feel strongly about. In my mind The Scarecrow should be in some kind of hay loft style area within Arkham Asylum, not just a regular cell, and a tower seems suitable for this.
  • A satellite Batcave will be placed in the cliffs - If you have ever played Batman: Arkham Asylum, you may recall that a small Batcave is found on the island which Batman placed there in case of breakouts. This is a fascinating idea in my opinion, and one which I will certainly be including.
  • Some of the more 'sane' villains will be incarcerated in Arkham Asylum - While obviously most of Batman's rogues gallery are far too unhinged to be placed in a standard prison, there are a few who are not completely insane, and therefore are usually placed in Blackgate Penitentiary in the comics. However, no Batman MOC of this scale is complete in my opinion without at least including the vast majority of the most famous villains, so characters such as the Penguin or Bane will likely find their way into the model and have their own cells.
  • The model will be huge - Perhaps most important of all, while there have been some great Arkham Asylum MOCs in the past, none have been of the scale which I am aiming for. You may have noticed on the layout sketch which was included in my previous post there are some very vague ideas for the dimensions of the model (in Lego studs of course). These are just ideas, but I think that in both width and depth, the island as a whole will be at the very least 100 studs, most likely even more.

In my next article I will move on to discussing one of the most prominent features of my envisaged model, that being the enormous cliffs which will surround the asylum, and how I will go about constructing them.

Friday 1 February 2013

Arkham Asylum - Proposed Layout...

Following the result of the recent poll to decide which of my four initial concepts was the best, I have drawn up a quick plan of how I might organise the asylum on Arkham Island. Keep in mind that this will almost certainly change and is simply a vague idea of how the buildings might fit together, so there are plenty of adjustments yet to me made.

Arkham Asylum Layout Concept

I have not included much detail on this particular image as it is just an idea, not a final layout design. If anybody has any suggestions of how to improve it or what more to include, do not hesitate to comment. I have not included the majority of the bridge, nor the small section of Gotham City which I might place at the other end of the bridge in this sketch.

In my next post I will go through some of the features which will almost definitely be included in the final model I create.