Building 10237 Tower of Orthanc

[matt1147]

I finally picked up the Tower of Orthanc. Here is the build.

First, the box:

The contents. 17 numbered bags 1-15 (two 3s and two 5s), the eagle bag and the manuals/stickers:

Bag #1 contains an Orc and Treebeard's lower half:

Bag #2 finishes off TreeBeard:

Bag #3 builds the base/dungeon of Orthanc:

[matt1147]

Bag 4 starts level 1 of the tower. The trap door leads straight to the dungeons:

2 bags #5 build some of the sides for the base:

Bag 6 continues the sides with SNOT and the front stairs:

Bag #7 starts the 2nd floor, Sauruman's Office and includes Sauruman and his palintir (light brick!):

[matt1147]

Bag 8 continues the office level:

Bag #9 finishes the office:

Bag 10 starts the Potions room on the 3rd floor and includes Grima:

Bag 11 finishes the potions room:

Bag 12 contains the 4th floor - the "library", lots of great details on this floor and the tower finally seems BIG:

[matt1147]

Bag 13 contains Gandalf and begins the 5th level - the attic. The attic stores extra weapons and armor and has a drop-down ladder:

Bag 14 starts the top of the tower - the "spire":

Bag 15 puts the finishing touches on the spire:

The finished product:

Overall, it's a very impressive set at around 30" tall! TreeBeard is 9" tall and the 5 minifigs + eagle are pretty sweet. (Although for $200, it would be nice to have a couple more figs).

The tower is, obviously, nearly 1 color; but uses nice building techniques and contains lots of cool details.

I expect this set to appreciate nicely after EOL.

[tabc59]

Very cool set. I'm tempted to buy one for myself.

[joch29]

thanks for the pics.  I need to get one of these for myself!

[Bold-Arrow]

Nicely done... How long did it take you to build?

[steakyboy]

Great display set, not a fun build at all, sorry. Tons of black, obviously, but basically grab 10-15 black pieces, put them together, rinse and repeat 3x, 4x, 6x... Rinse repeat over and over. Pretty tedious actually. But man it looks great in a Ikea Detolf glass case.

[jaisonline]

very nice.  you are making a fellow build / review poster proud

if possible, try to make the pics a tad brighter next time.  feel free to sitemail me if you ever need help.

[matt1147]

  On 9/10/2014 at 2:01 PM, Bold-Arrow said:

Nicely done... How long did it take you to build?

It actually only took about 3 hours I think - it was hard to tell with many "daddy" breaks in between.

[matt1147]

  On 9/10/2014 at 3:19 PM, jaisonline said:

very nice. you are making a fellow build / review poster proud

if possible, try to make the pics a tad brighter next time. feel free to sitemail me if you ever need help.

Thanks man - ya, my iPhone pics aren't the best in low light. Bad lighting in our house unless it's daytime. If I was going to do a full-blown blog, I would need better pics!

[Sauromosis]

  On 9/10/2014 at 4:03 PM, matt1147 said:

It actually only took about 3 hours I think - it was hard to tell with many "daddy" breaks in between.

 

My daddy breaks involve a 1.5 year old pulling everything down/dumping out every box.  I basically have to build when he's not around.  =)

[Orthanc_Residen]

Hmm, it is quite a shame all pictures have gone in the meanwhile...

I

  On 9/10/2014 at 1:33 AM, matt1147 said:

I finally picked up the Tower of Orthanc. Here is the build.

First, the box:

Expand  

Is there a possibility to get those images back to work?

Thanks!