For a while I wanted to make a LEGO dragon. I knew it would probably become a large one.
Earlier this year I built a baby dragon while at a birthdayparty of a nephew (see my other MOCs on brickshelf).
Later this year we were on vacation to LEGOland Denmark with clubmembers of 'De Bouwsteen' and there I built a dragon-head and took a lot of pictures of it (also in my MOCs on brickshelf). I still can't believe how many positive responses I got on that from my fellow Bouwsteners.

After coming back from Denmark and sorting all the bricks and sets purchased there (took me several weeks!) I started building a new dragon-head based on the one I had made in Denmark.
The head itself was finished in two evenings, but then: what to do with it. Of course: build a full dragon with it!
As a test I first built a small dragon to see what I would like to build. It just cost an evening and enabled me to see -what- I wanted to build and -what technical problems- I was likely to encounter. Pictures can be found in the subfolder "test-dragon-1".
I was counting on this projeect to become large, but after building this test I found out that it would become about 2 meters (or 6 feet) tall!
Technically difficult would be the rahter thin ankles and the large wings, all at unusual angles.
That size would be way beyound the scope of my brick collection. The technical difficulties could be overcome, but not before I have some more experience in building big.
So I decided that I would not build the dragon this way (yet). Maybe some other time.

The next evening I built another test dragon, but this time a good size smaller.
Fewer and less difficult spots and also fewer bricks needed.
Pictures can be found in the subfolder "test-dragon-2".

First started building on some baseplates which were to be removed later.
Using the mini dragon as a guide I first set out the basic sizes of the model.
The size of features on the mini dragon were multiplied by 6 to get the basic features on the large dragon. This was carefully set out using monorail-pylons and normal bricks. These bricks were removed layer by layer as building progressed layer by layer.
So as to use as few red bricks as possible, the dragon is hollow and the inside is a different colour. I chose to use mainly yellow on the inside as this was a colour I wouldn't need in the near future and had a lot of.
During building I often 'planned' ahead and set basic shapes up in yellow bricks. This way I could first think of what shape to build an then how to build it. Otherwise I would have had to think of the overall shape over and over again with every brick I built. That would have taken much more time (and probably give me a headache).
After the first few layers of the body I first made the 'chest-plate' with scales. After that I could build the rest of the body around that.
For the chest-plate I first had to come up with scales. Earlier I had found a bag of 'Plates 3 x 6 without Corners' and had already thought of using these as dragonscales.
A scale is two of these plates, connected by a 2 x 3 plate behind then, and then placed on a hinge.
Using some technic to go SNOT I then first made a test piece with one single row of scales to find the right shape for the chest-plate. It has some curves to form the chest and the belly. After that the final chest-plate was constructed at the right widt, scales and all, and then fitted to the model. The rest of the body was built around the chastplate.

Basic building of the model progressed, the tail and the lower part of the legs. The feet were to be built at a later stage to use some SNOT on them, but more on that later. Instead some bricks with studs on ther sides were already built in so the feet could easily be attached later. Care was already taken with the precise positions of these side studs so that the feet would rest on the floor.

Next the feet were built.
To see how a foot would connect to the lower leg a yellow test piece was built on the leg stump. The shape of this piece was drawn in the computer using the simplest of drawing programs: Microsoft Paint! Simply zoom in as far as possible and draw one pixel for each stud.
Around the shape of the stump the shape of the foot was drawn, and after that the shapes of the callousses under the foot. Having first determined WHAT I wanted to build I then could concentrate on HOW to build it. I found that this method of seperating the thinking of WHAT an HOW saves me a lot of time.
Basic idea of the feet was to have the studs show at the the underside of the foot, but also I did not want to see the underside of bricks at the upper side of the foot. Therefor a foot is built in two halves which each have the studs facing outwards. These halves were then put together with some SNOT tricks. See if you can find it in the pictures.
The finished feet can now easily be attached to the model. They can also easily be detached for storage and transport.

About this time the baseplates were removed. They were not needed any more.

Continuing with the body, I decided to add some technic beams to increase stability around the shoulders and in the neck. Basically some technic beams run from the chest-plate all the way up to the top of the neck where they connect to technic bricks from the head. These beams are connected to the rest of the structure all along their length every fifth brick layer.

About this time my supply of red and yellow bricks got really low and fortunately my wife found an online advert of someone selling secondhand bulk bricks.
After acquiring and sorting out 30 kg of mainly red and yellow bricks building could be continued.

Because of expected considerable forces on the shoulders (from not only the arms but also the wings) the shoulder area has been built solid. Also the neck has been built solid.

At this point I didn't really know what I was going to do with the arms, so I decided to use a pin and socket system to attach the arms later. That way I could first finish the shoulders and neck before deciding how to build the arms. It also has the advantage that the arms are removable for storage and transport.

The way the wings are attached was actually found by accident. One time I was fiddling around with some wedges 2 x 3 and found that spaced only a stud apart a brick still fitted between them, but then was at an angle. This angle I used for the wings.
The wedge bricks form slots in the dragon's back in which pins on the wings have a tight fit.
For now only a few stumps were built and inserted in the dragon's back.

Now the shoulders were ready the neck followed next and only a little modification was needed to attach the head to the neck.
Now the heighest part of the dragon was built.

Next followed the wings.
These are basically one stud thick walls. The thicker parts being the 'bones' of the wings giving the wings some stability. Actually, the wings are more stable than I had hoped. The wings are detachable for transport.

Last were the arms and hands. The left hand was built similar to the feet. Then it was roughly put in position to set the 'pose' and to see how the arm should be built. As the arm really hangs from the shoulder the upper arm is reinforced with some technic beams for stability. For the same reason care has been taken to include some long bricks in the forearm.
The right hand was built using my own hand as a model and a little imagination (I have five fingers on each hand, the dragon three) and is holding a lollipop.


The finished dragon is divided in ten (easy to assemble) sections:
- main body with head and tail
- left foot
- right foot
- left arm
- right arm
- left hand
- right hand
- lollypop
- left wing
- right wing

80 cm tall.

Detailed areas (head, hands, feet, scales, lollipop) heavily use SNOT techniques. E.g.: the head uses seven different SNOT-ted areas.
Upper body, neck and upper arms are reinforced by vertical technic beams.