Castle on a Cloud

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:19 am

Sorry I've been absent for the last couple of weeks, dealing with job/home life stuff, possibly getting ready for a minor shift in career paths, etc. I loved the Micro-castle contest idea and I built mine around a little extra minifig that I put together with pieces of other figs that didn't really fit. He's the purple guy, the Summoner. And he managed to summon something for the contest!

Here's my entry: "Castle on a Cloud"

The base is 2 32x16 baseplates that are hinged to open so you can see what's going on inside the Summoner's cottage.
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg

Here's what it looks like open:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg

The Summoner's cottage has a laboratory, a foyer with armor and his owls and gear, a basement with a maiden in chains sharing a cell with some other unfortunate adventurers and critters, a bedchamber with a four-post bed under a mounted dragon's head, and an attic crawlspace with treasure.
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg

A closeup of the micro-castle and the dragon.
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Gomur ... esized.jpg

Comments/criticisms appreciated/welcome.

Dragonator · Post by **Dragonator** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:18 am

This is a great MOC, I love the concept behind it. The dragon is awesome, nicely done, I really like seeing good micro-scale dragons, it is a hard thing to do, or so I find. The mini castle is cute, I like how you have done the crenelations etc, it looks very cool. The details on the cottage are great, such as the burst in the roof, and of course the nice timber top on a stone ground level. The interior of the cottage is very well done, I love how you have done the cloud coming out if the cauldron, that has been very nicely pulled off. The imprisoned princess is a nice touch too.

But, a mounted dragon's head!?

How cruel...

Overall very well done, I like this a lot.

Tower of Iron Will · Post by **Tower of Iron Will** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:34 pm

What a clever way to combine normal scale with mini scale. The castle looks great along with the dragon. The cauldron being held over and off the coals to the fire is nice. The expression on the maiden is apt as it looks like she's calling out for help. Perhaps you could have someone trying to rescue her. Nicely done.
-Tower

Aliencat · Post by **Aliencat** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:10 pm

Very clever piece of work Gomur, I like the scene as a whole, as well as all the details you put into it. Both the interior and the exterior are just finished, and the micro castle on the cloud is very well done. So is the dragon by the way.
Great work!

leetspeaker · Post by **leetspeaker** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:34 am

Excellent job, the cloud itself is really very good. Mixing Micro and Minifg scale in this way is incredibly effective. I have always found it hard to make microscale dragons well, so gratz on that as well.

footsteps · Post by **footsteps** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:42 pm

Tower of Iron Will wrote:What a clever way to combine normal scale with mini scale. The castle looks great along with the dragon. The cauldron being held over and off the coals to the fire is nice. The expression on the maiden is apt as it looks like she's calling out for help. Perhaps you could have someone trying to rescue her. Nicely done.
-Tower

This pretty much summarizes my opinion as well. Definitely a "thinking outside the box" moment. I particularly like the dragon attack bit.

Alan

Gomur · Post by **Gomur** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:32 pm

Thanks for the comments, guys! The toughest parts to make were connecting the inside cloud to the outside cloud through a slanted opening in a snotted roof that wasn't at an exact angle, and getting the upper part to balance on the slim part of the cloud in the middle. The upper part with the castle is a BURP with some reinforcement, but the cloud itself is literally solid white brick, so it's quite heavy, and the balance had to be right becuase the plume of smoke is only 2x2 at one point, and it's offset instead of centered. The photos are also a little misleading because they're taken at somewhat of a downward angle to show the depth of it, but the cloud was actually quite tall, and the piece, when finished, was almost three feet tall from baseplate to dragon. So yeah... hehe... balance.

The dragon was fun. I made about four of them before I finished this piece. I found that with this scale I had to let go of the idea that the pieces would be firmly seated on one another and as long as they just had barely enough tension to stick together (like in the case of the dragon's jaws/fire), I could gingerly make it work.

I certainly appreciate the high praise from other AFOL's here, especially a couple whose work I envy a lot. Thanks again guys!