There is a LEGO builder who goes by the name Nuju Metru who is well known for his fantastic LEGO dragons other fantasy creations, and also his beautiful LEGO Minas Tirith project that has successfully achieved 10,000 votes on LEGO Ideas, and is currently under review for the possibility to become an official LEGO set. 🙂
Besides sharing his awesome creations in his flickr gallery, Nuju Metru also generously provides tutorials on how to make your own LEGO dragons and more. In one of his most recent tutorial he goes into detail on making custom wings for LEGO dragons, and I liked it so much I thought to share it with you here as well…
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 1 – SUPPLIES/PARTS: You’ll need a wing frame, claws & “pins”, scissors, a marker, and your chosen fabric. For the wing-membranes featured here, Nuju Metru uses 1/4-yard thicknesses of various colors of slightly stretchy, lightweight cotton fabrics. These should be easy to find and cheap at your local craft/fabric store.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 2 – SETTING GUIDE POINTS: Lay the wing frame on the fabric. With the marker draw dots on the fabric wherever there will be an attachment point or a corner of the wing shape.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 3 – ROUNDING/EXTENDING: Round out the attachment points so that each makes a small arc. Connect the “finger” and “shoulder” corner points to their nearest attachment points.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 4 – CONNECTING THE DOTS: Using the marker, connect the small arcs on the guide points with lines. Those on the front of the wing should be straight lines, while those on the back should be arcs.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 5 – CUTTING OUT: Cut the wing shape from the cloth, and gather wing frame, claws and pins again.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 6 – CONNECTING THE FABRIC: To connect fabric to wings, stretch fabric over the + axle hole, and push butt of claw/pin in. Connection should be firm, but not difficult or strenuous.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 7 – DRESSING THE WING: Attach wingtip claws first, then pull fabric over top of wing and push pins into finger and shoulder. Shouldn’t feel loose or be too taught to connect all claws and pins.
➡ DRAGON WINGS STEP 8 – DETAIL CUTS/TRIMMING: Trim wing as necessary, or as wanted. Add nicks, holes for more detail. To cut holes more easily, fold the fabric on itself and snip out a triangle. Oftentimes wings that are freshly cut could use more drastic arcs between the claws; this is a good time to shave away parts of the back wing.
Really nice, isn’t it? Nuju Metru also shares other tutorials in his flickr gallery, along with many awesome LEGO creations, so make sure you check them out (just follow the link). Nuju Metru is a theatre student at the University of California, and has been building with LEGO since he had the fine motor skills to put two bricks together. It is always inspiring to see the refined work of lifelong LEGO fans.
If you like to build LEGO dragons, Nuju Metru is currently running a contest on flickr. The task is simple: build your best, most imposing, most awe-inspiring LEGO dragon. If you are interested to enter, you can find all the details here: DRAGON LANDS – A DRAGON BUILDING CONTEST
So what do you think? Do you like to build LEGO dragons? Did you like this tutorial on how to make your own LEGO dragon wings? Feel free to share in the comment section below! Also, Nuju Metru kindly agreed to answer any questions you may have about this tutorial or his other LEGO creations, so feel free to ask him anything you like, and he will stop by to answer your inquiries. 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
Wow, I might try this! Are there any other tutorials
Admin?
Yeah, there are a bunch more. Just check under the building techniques section, and you can also check more tutorials on Nuju Metru’s flickr page. He has some really good ones.
I looked and it told how to make most other things for dragons, but not as much detail as I hoped. Strider’s Nazgul idea is pretty good!
Admin, I might finally make a post, but maybe when it’s ready i’ll send it to you for consultation first. It’s a stop motion video about Ancient Egypt. ;):)
Also, is this wordpress and do you edit the HTML code? I recently took a course on HTML and I’m interested.
Sure, that sounds like an interesting topic. Just email me when you are ready and we can discuss your article. You don’t have to write code. Just write your article as a simple word file. I will take care of the formatting, coding and all of that. 😉
As a dragon fan this is awesome! It would be cool to see wings done this way on a Lego Nazgul. It would be interesting to try and do cloth on both sides of the wing frame for a thicker, heavier look.
That’s a good idea, and something that can be experimented with; different materials, colors, textures for different type of dragons.
Nice effect there with the rods visible through the fabric, they do look like bones.
Yes, I like that too. :0
I like that, it looks very realistic. 🙂 I wanted to try that technique on a dragon I built recently, but didn’t have the supplies to do so. However, I may use these instructions to update the wings of my current dragon, Culruin, as I feel his wings aren’t the best, although I can’t do better with the given parts. 😐 At that point I’d try to enter that contest mentioned in the article.
I might add that LEGO has actually used this technique on their dragons, though their material is more papery, and their connections slightly different. The Ninjago Morro Dragon of this summer has this. 😉
Exactly! The upcoming Ninjago dragon looks quite interesting for this very reason. 🙂
And that makes me want it even more… but since I first saw the Morro Dragon’s image it’s been top on my “to get” list for Ninjago. 🙂
Also, I’ve just finished making Culruin a new wing using the steps in the article. I didn’t have any fabric, so I used construction paper instead, and I can’t decide if it looks good or bad. From a distance, it looks very realistic; close up, some the details I added look rather odd. But either way I learned a cool technique for wings, and I hope to use it in the future. So thanks for posting this, admin! 😀
Pretty cool! When making Elves minifigures I was always strugglnig with the fabrics for skirts, and it’s so nice to see how fabric works with the wings here. Not sure if LEGO could excute it in production line in the future.
Doriyaki, so nice to see you here! I was just looking at your minifigs version of the elves the other day! 😀
Is there a tutorial on how to make the wing frame admin
Robbie, yes, you can find a tutorial for the frame in this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nujumetru/albums/72157649157782173
Thanks admin
You’re very welcome. 🙂
Hey, do you know how to make lego dragon wings that fold?
I like the style and shape of most dragon wings, but when making a custom mountain set for my dragon, it’s hard to put it in. Could you figure out how to make the wings fold in on themselves?