Classic-Castle.com

Hi everybody!

It's been a while since I visited CC and to be honest it has been a while since I've build anything castle-y, but here is something to make up for that! I have been part of a collaborative layout at LEGO Fanwelt 2012, last week in Cologne. The layout was part of the Lowlug display. Lowlug had a Castle-layout in the previous LEGO Fanwelt (in 2010) and you can check that layout here

Anyway, this year Lowlug is back! And I think we found another way to surprise you guys: on this display Koffiemoc, pj_bosman, MOCkingbird and I worked together on building an island chain, rather than having a huge landscape. Wait, let me show you a picture first.

Castle-layout in LEGO Fanwelt 2012
Pictures: here and here



As you can see: it's a group of islands on parts of snot-water. We decided to go for islands instead of a landscape to break the standard baseplate-system. I think this layout showed the visitors that LEGO doesn't have to be square: not only the base is very natural, but I think each of us achieved a very organic feel on the islands as well.

But that's not all: we wanted to take castle to a next level, by adding moving objects to give a sense of awe on the visiting children. Each of us added something that moved. The island of MOCkingbird had a moving waterfall and a bouncy ship at the docks. Pj_bosman built a lady waving goodbye to her lover, a dancing druid and two thiefs chasing down a hallway. Koffiemoc's island featured a big tower with a dragon flying around it. And my part showed a Kracken attacked a ship. I made a video to show you guys, because we are very proud of the effects. Especially the kids were very entertained and almost hypnothised by the movement and it was great to see that even some parents were having problems believing their eyes. Sadly enough, I don't have videos from all the movement, but here's an impression of the bouncy ship, the flying dragon and the Kracken.

VIDEO HERE!

Especially the movement in this layout is a result of the great community Lowlug is: some of us castle-builders needed some help from the technic-MOCers we have at Lowlug. So this display was a real collaborative piece of work, not only of us castle-builders. Talk about collaborative: let me show you who built what.



That's it for now, I think most of us will upload pictures of our islands in the coming weeks or so.
I hope you like it, let us know what you think!
Again: lots and lots of pictures here and here.

Bye!

WOW! Great work you guys! The detailed mocs are awesomely constructed! The realistically shaped islands are excellent! And I love the motion effects! The Kracken in particular!

Superb building!

Wow, extremely well done you guys! Nice work!

Thanks for posting this! I always love seeing collaborative projects and the moving parts put this over the top

Hey,

Very cool. I won't comment on individual models since at least one of them is a CCC entry and the others could be (assuming they weren't publicly displayed before last month), but the whole idea is a great one for a collaborative display. The way you guys put these islands on little pieces of water means that you could easily add or take away pieces or rearrange them to have an ever growing and evolving group display. One minor suggestion for future displays would be to have a blue tablecloth underneath them all.

Bruce

Bruce N H wrote:The way you guys put these islands on little pieces of water means that you could easily add or take away pieces or rearrange them to have an ever growing and evolving group display.

We noticed that during the planning, since one builder had to step back and wasn't able to join the event, sadly.

Bruce N H wrote:One minor suggestion for future displays would be to have a blue tablecloth underneath them all.

We had another colour first (dark gray), which looked better, but it didn't fit with the fire regulations. We were offered a yellow cloth instead, but that would undermine the island effect even more. So we were happy the MBFR turned up with the light grey ones!

What what a great group of builders! These pictures are a bit decieving as far as scale. I clicked through another pic and saw someone standing next to them and then it hit me how big they are! Great work!

I wish i could build that awesomely

Bruce N H wrote: The way you guys put these islands on little pieces of water means that you could easily add or take away pieces or rearrange them to have an ever growing and evolving group display.
Bruce

The same suggestion was made by some people at fanwelt. They were very surprised to learn that we built these islands especially for fanwelt, and we will be taken them apart very soon after returning home. Maybe take some good pictures but then everything will return to loose bricks to be made into something new.

Awesome creations from all of you. Great idea with diffrent islands

This is a stunning collaboration. Each of these models is absolutely beautiful.

MOCkingBird wrote:

Bruce N H wrote: They were very surprised to learn that we built these islands especially for fanwelt, and we will be taken them apart very soon after returning home. Maybe take some good pictures but then everything will return to loose bricks to be made into something new.

That's the beauty of Lego!