IndyLUG's Castle layout @ C&P Expo
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:29 am
Wow! I come here to post about our Castle layout, and I find that people are already talking about it. (see thread)
On the weekend of February 25 & 26, IndyLUG displayed at the Child and Parent Expo at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. (Bruce, you hit the nail on the head.) Half of the layout was Castle/medieval themed.
Thanks to Matt Bieda, Jeramy Spurgeon, David Gregory, John Kyle, Alex Taylor, Nathan Theising and Leah Cardaci for making this year's Castle layout another great one.
The Castle area started off with a sea full of Vikings and pirates invading the shore. I've seen large groups of ships before (Evil Stevie's Pirate Game at Brickfest), but there's just something super cool when you see so many grouped together on blue baseplates. To me there's also something a little more foreboding about the Viking ships as opposed to the pirate ships; I think it's mainly the sails.
The layout also included a castle with a CCC wall around it. The castle is Matt's, and there were several people who made wall sections.
In the center of the Castle area we had a scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The scene was, of course, the huge battle from the end of the movie/book. We were hoping that lots of kids would have seen the movie in the past few months and would recognize the characters from it, and we were delighted when many of them did.
As for the White Witch's ice castle, I'll be the first to admit that it could do with a lot of improvement. The reason for its small size and underwhelming design is time. I was in a crunch to get things done the week before the show, so the ice castle was thrown together during a couple of nights after work.
And what Castle layout is complete without lots of castles, fortresses and other various medieval structures dotting the landscape?
Then there's all the neato minifigs that you just have to have.
Last but not least, the far end of the layout had a dropped down area. It's always nice to have some way to add differences in elevation to the terrain. Be sure to check out Alex's "double dragon" that he made from combining 2 of the ones that come with the Viking catapult. Lots of the nice minifigs in this valley area are Matt's.
Here are links to the whole Castle area folder and the whole Narnia folder.
Enjoy!
David "Fuzzy" Gregory
On the weekend of February 25 & 26, IndyLUG displayed at the Child and Parent Expo at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. (Bruce, you hit the nail on the head.) Half of the layout was Castle/medieval themed.
Thanks to Matt Bieda, Jeramy Spurgeon, David Gregory, John Kyle, Alex Taylor, Nathan Theising and Leah Cardaci for making this year's Castle layout another great one.
The Castle area started off with a sea full of Vikings and pirates invading the shore. I've seen large groups of ships before (Evil Stevie's Pirate Game at Brickfest), but there's just something super cool when you see so many grouped together on blue baseplates. To me there's also something a little more foreboding about the Viking ships as opposed to the pirate ships; I think it's mainly the sails.
The layout also included a castle with a CCC wall around it. The castle is Matt's, and there were several people who made wall sections.
In the center of the Castle area we had a scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The scene was, of course, the huge battle from the end of the movie/book. We were hoping that lots of kids would have seen the movie in the past few months and would recognize the characters from it, and we were delighted when many of them did.
Yeah, I was sort of torn between actually building an Aslan and using the new Duplo one. As you can see, I chose the easy Duplo route, hoping that a single piece lion would be more recognizable to all the kids at the Expo. As for the diction with the ex-statue creatures, the word "reincarnate" literally means to bring back into flesh, but your word "de-rockified" sounds more fun, so I think I'll use that from now on.Kanduu wrote:Aslan is...interesting, but an excellent size.
The main thing was the title, "Reincarnated Soldiers." I'd go with "brought back to life," or "de-rockified" , much more quickly.
Good eye on noticing the black Duplo knights. There's actyually a whole bunch of Duplo AND Quatro under the green hill that the female centaurs and Susan are on. I had a lot of fun making all the bad guys for the White Witch's army. Unfortunately, lots of kids over the weekend couldn't see past the movie icons that some of the figures carry. I was constantly bombarded with questions like, "Why is Jar-Jar in the army?" "What's the green goblin doing there?" "Why is Yoda on this side instead of the Space side?" And I thought that kids were supposed to have better imaginations that us grown-ups!wunztwice wrote:I also really like the use of Duplo elements in this set-up. There are duplo knights, and the Duplo Aslan is a great size. The various bad dudes are also perdy great, and in good assortment.
One of my only gripes is the size of the ice palace. While a neat MOC the scale is way off. I would have preferred possibly just a face, or front, or gateway or something for the same about of bricks. More detail could be added, and the scale would be better.
As for the White Witch's ice castle, I'll be the first to admit that it could do with a lot of improvement. The reason for its small size and underwhelming design is time. I was in a crunch to get things done the week before the show, so the ice castle was thrown together during a couple of nights after work.
I tried to make as many of the fauns and dwarves with Crusader lion torsos as I could (which involved a lot of bidding on ebay during the weeks leading up to the show). By a neat coincidence, the Harry Potter Griffindor torso works great with the Ogel shoulder armor, because the lame collar is hidden, but the rampaging lion emblem shows.Lord Nev wrote:I especially like how you used Gryffindor sheilds and crusader bodies as Aslan's humans.
And what Castle layout is complete without lots of castles, fortresses and other various medieval structures dotting the landscape?
Then there's all the neato minifigs that you just have to have.
Last but not least, the far end of the layout had a dropped down area. It's always nice to have some way to add differences in elevation to the terrain. Be sure to check out Alex's "double dragon" that he made from combining 2 of the ones that come with the Viking catapult. Lots of the nice minifigs in this valley area are Matt's.
Thanks. The dropped down area is actually a section that Jeramy built for a train layout. He made it for the National Model Train show last summer for his cool trestle bridge to go accross. Remove the train bridge and voila--you have a sweet valley.ottoatm wrote:Oh... and it's worth mentioning... the landscaping is very nice.
Here are links to the whole Castle area folder and the whole Narnia folder.
Enjoy!
David "Fuzzy" Gregory