First Bigger Keep: Dragon Master's Keep

[Lord Felix]

This is a dragon master keep I created.



I just posted it so the gallery will not be public, but the pic is a link JIC (Just in Case)

Deeplinks:
The whole Keep:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dandin/Keep/02.jpg
Looks like a peddler wants to sell some high quality rope! Look at his cute monkey!
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dandin/Keep/09.jpg
Uh oh. Some scheming Black Falcons are trying to figure out a way to sneek in!
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dandin/Keep/10.jpg
The patched eye BF is probably saying, "Should we use this rope, or climb those vines?"
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dandin/Keep/05.jpg
Inside:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dandin/Keep/18.jpg
And last but not least for deeplinks is my personal favorite, a guy asleep in his bed on the third floor:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dandin/Keep/44.jpg

After it is public, you can see it from all angles and closer up on those floors. It is opened up by a hing in the water, which I added yesterday. Before it just opened into two pieces, but it couldn't close enough for my liking so I added a hing to make it close tighter.

Thanks,

[smcginnis]

Very nice. I like the BF's trying to sneak in. I don't have very much time to comment right now, 'cause some relatives just arrived, but I'll try to help. To get a thumbnail, right-click (control click on Macs) on the thumb in your gallery, and select 'copy image address' from the pop-up menu. Then paste that address into your post with the tags around it. I usually make thumbnails links to the gallery as well. To do that, post this (with the urls, of course): [img](insert%20image%20url%20here)[/img]. Hope that helps (I'm pretty sure it will).

~smcginnis

[JoshWedin]

It looks good! The mottling is very nice. Its hard to make a good black MOC as the details usually "disappear". I like how you avoided that by using the light grey for the highlights. The landscaping is simple yet quite effective, I like it. The bridge is nice touch and looks good with the 2x2 round plates as cobblestones. The only thing I don't like is the battlements. They don't look finished somehow. They could be improved and then this would be excellent. Keep up the good work!

Josh

[The dark tide]

I like the black and light grey mix, it helps to add more detail to the MOC as apposed to a plain black keep and seaside MOCS are always cool.

[Lord Felix]

The only thing I don't like is the battlements. They don't look finished somehow. They could be improved and then this would be excellent.

Yeah, I somewhat agree. I didn't like the look of them, but it has a classic-castle feel to it. Many lego sets do not cap the battlements off, except in KKII with the Morcia castle, but they where capped in blue (UGLY!). I might use this piece: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=3048 or maybe http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=3044 to cap off the tops, but I don't have many, so I would have to make a BL order...

The bridge is nice touch and looks good with the 2x2 round plates as cobblestones.

Once again, I agree. at first I wasn't going to put the bridge sticking out like that, but I realized it would look better then just stopping where the base plate stopped. I used the 2x2 round plates because they look good as cobblestones everywhere else but not on bridges. I did it in my Watch Tower (not that great) and here is the link for that pic: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1787708 I liked the way it looked, so now I continue to use it when I make a simple bridge. To me it adds a certain action to the bridge.

To get a thumbnail, right-click (control click on Macs) on the thumb in your gallery, and select 'copy image address' from the pop-up menu. Then paste that address into your post with the tags around it. I usually make thumbnails links to the gallery as well. To do that, post this (with the urls, of course): [img](insert%20image%20url%20here)[/img]. Hope that helps

I'll think about these instructions and figure it out. Thanks for the pointers!

... seaside MOCS are always cool

I have to agree. I love seaside MOCs.


I do apologize up front for the bad photography; I don't have a light box and at this time no available white sheet to hang behind. These were taken in my back yard.

Any other comments?

[JoshWedin]

Yeah, I somewhat agree. I didn't like the look of them, but it has a classic-castle feel to it. Many lego sets do not cap the battlements off

Actually, I wasn't referring to capping them. They look rather irregular, unlike similar crennelations in the classic sets. Also you use 1x2s for most of the castle and then you used 2x2s in other parts. Just looks a bit odd. But like I said in my previous post, it still is a good MOC.

Josh

[Lord Felix]

OH I understand what you mean now. It is 2x2 in that one spot because the windows below are sticking out of the wall, which makes it 2 thick instead of 1. To make it more structurally sound, I decided to make the battlements attached to the window piece.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I was thinking of capping them off before you posted, and so when you said they looked odd, I instantly thought of capping them to make them look better.

Any more comments?

[Jacob C.]

Awesome!
I like the mottling you did with the grey bricks.
Mottling is almost necessary for black castles.
The black falcons trying to sneak in is a good idea.
Those vines will serve them well!

The interior is looking real good too.
I like how you built those beds and the guy sleeping in the bed.
That's a good idea using that white tile as a blanket.
The landscaping looks great as well.
I like how the keep sits on a big chunk of sand.

Ocean front property is prime real estate!

[smcginnis]

Ok, now I'm back and I have time to comment. I like this a lot, as with most of your other stuff. I like the way you made the landscaping blend with the wall and the water, and the keep going below water level is nice. The interior is great too. The guy making the bed is a great touch, and I love the gallery. I haven't seen many of those, and now that I think about it, it doesn't make much sense. As far as my limited (and probably very skewed) knowledge of medieval buildings goes, galleries were in the majority of great halls.

The keep is very nice overall.

~smcginnis