Well, the moat was a SWIMMING success... huh? yeah? you see what I did there? Thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

I started laying out a good sized build of a castle using the TLX planner, including a couple interior buildings and such. Maybe it's more of a keep than a castle. Anyway, totally beside the point. The point is, I wanted to run a stone catwalk around the outer walls to give it more of a chunky wall feel (and giving guards a place to stand) without totally violating the principles of TLX.

Lair of the Dragon God has 1" catwalk pieces, so I figure there's precedent for TLX catwalks. Yay! Not only that, but they would support attaching crenelations at the top-most level. Yay! But, I'm not sure I'm keen on the column supports in the context of my castle build. If I want a stretch of, say, 18" of catwalk, I'll need several supports underneath. The columns would likely be very sturdy, but I'd need a whole bunch, and I'd think they'd really get in the way of the playing area. So, I'm trying to come up with TLX-ish ways to support a catwalk. The supports should be easy to build, fit into posts or on top of anchors, and it should be relatively flat. If something already exists, maybe I just haven't seen it.

Lest anyone think that little paper pieces are as simple as pulling out scissors and snipping away...



I did a lot of trial and error here. Here are some clear misses:



So, I had this thought while at work. Build a 1" square base support. On top, I can put these little lip pieces in the corners or along the middle. That would help hold the 1" catwalk in place. It seemed brilliant in theory, but a couple of things failed. First, the piece is wobbly. It doesn't anchor to anything. Second, the posts get in the way, so I can't position these where I need them. Finally, it certainly doesn't fit in with any TLX style pieces. Oh well.

After that attempt, I went really basic:



Well, this certainly is kinda TLX-ish. It slots into the posts, and is really flat and easy to build. Unfortunately, without any width, it doesn't do much to support the ends of the catwalk pieces. NEXT!

I've got a metric tonne of walls sitting on my desk right now, and many of them have the anti-warp triangular edge on them. Wait a minute... triangular edge! That's what I'll do!



Sadly in my rush some basic math eluded me. I was going to make a box, so I measured out each edge 1/4". But then I decided triangles are good enough for WWG, they should be good enough for me (and they're sturdier!). So I lobbed off one flap, and glued it into a triangle. As you can see, this causes the top to not be flat. The darn hypotenuse needs to be longer than the sides.



I like this one. It again slots right into the wall, but it's got ledges on both sides for ample support of either the ends or the middle of a catwalk piece. It's still not perfect - I'm going to try to make it easier to build a more reliably flat top. I might also try making some sort of... I don't know... something that might hold the catwalk piece in place more snug. Still trying...

Any good ideas?

Very intriguing work.

For keeping catwalks snug, what about utilizing double height walls/posts that have the notch in them for tiles? I am not sure if it will work, but it might help give you another idea.

For sure, I'll be making use of the double-height posts with notches in them, however I don't think that alone won't offer the suppose I'd need to make the catwalks stable. I'll be on vacation for a couple days which will give me some time to prep more pieces. Hopefully this weekend I'll have all the 2-story posts and the catwalk pieces ready to print.

I was looking at the promo pics of the existing sets, and I was intrigued by this one:



That balcony - is that a 1" wide platform, with supports underneath? It looks from the picture that the wood "supports" don't quite reach the tile below. Maybe that's just my eyes playing tricks on me. What do they attach to? If they really do act as a support for the platform above, that might be the style I'm looking for...

They're just balconies - they plug into the relevant tile. (so probably not what you want if you're butting them directly to a wall).

Aw. Ok. Well, when I get back from vacation, I'm going to pursue the solution I've arrived at. I'll experiment some more with ways to make these supports that slot into posts, have triangular places to rest the catwalks on, and maybe even corner braces to hold the catwalk in place better...

Welcome to the wonderful (and mostly frustrating trial and error) world of TLX engineering!

That bottom design looks promising though and if you ensure the top is flush, you'll be in business! The balconies themselves will also need a hooking mechanism to keep them from shifting around. Possibly a simple tab that slots down into the posts they sit above. Hmmm...

Rare earth magnets perhaps?

Why not something like this :

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Test.png [ 6.49 KiB | Viewed 12759 times ]


Sorry for the bad drawing : it has been done with Word...

So the rectangle would receive the catwalk texture, the triangular tabs would reveive a wood texture and the flaps slot into posts.
It stores flat, as you only have to unfold the catwalk to store...

Would that maybe need a support in the middle Akmor? I'm guessing that the bits that go into the posts would stop the tendency for the tabs to rise back to flat.

Interesting. I must admit I was kind of thinking a lip at the front underneath the crenellations and make the catwalk part of that.

But your way could have a catwalk 1/2 way up a wall.

Nice!

@Akmor - I like the simplicity of what you've thought up, but my gut tells me to go the TLX catwalk route. As I bash up the catwalk pieces, I'll try out your (perfectly well drawn!) idea just so people can see it in action and maybe get inspired to try it too. I think between removable post supports and anchors on both the top and bottom of the catwalk, I will get what I want. Here's a list of my reasons for wanting this:

1) It's already a part of the TLX system. I'll be following the files already present in the Lair of the Dragon God set, reusing the geometry and the cut files.
2) The catwalks have TLX tab slots and anchors. This means I can add posts and walls to them and I can add railings to them. This will come in handy for crenelations and hoardings I'm planning on using.
3) The catwalks use foamcore, so they will be nice and strong, and they will line up well with other floor tiles.

I've finished up the first batch of walls and posts, and will be focusing on getting maybe a dozen floor tiles of various sizes put together. After that, I'll work in earnest on the catwalk system, and will post pics of my results.