My first Castle MOC in 7 years! (Work in Progress)

[Dan]

Seeing the new BrickArms' Claymore prototypes on Flickr inspired me to take on a Scottish keep as my first castle MOC and custom kit in 7 years. I'm about 75% finished and plan to display the finished model at BrickCon. Here are some WIP pictures so far:


The front entrance. The technic pin holes are to connect this with a modular wall system for future expansion.


Of course this opens up for maximum playability. The lower room has a well while the upper has a fire place. The walls of this side wing are a relatively thin 3-studs wide.


Here is the main tower open. The finished keep will be three stories high and have a peaked roof of dark blay tiles.


Close up detail of the main entry way. The door can be easily secured and every window has shutters on the inside. The walls of the main tower are 4-studs wide.


The stairways are embedded in the walls.

Larger images are on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brickmania ... 417772366/

I hope to have updated pictures posted as soon as more parts arrive in the mail!

Comments, criticism, etc. welcome.

Thanks for looking!

Dan

[Hound Knight]

Awesome! I love how you built the corners.

[lefty]

That is beautiful in its simplicity. The modularity is great and the model just looks nice overall. The uniformness of the roof and walls looks especially good.

[Karrde]

If you padded out the inside with some nice details that would be the icing on the cake. As it is; it's a very delicious slice of WIP

[ben_toy_tech]

Love it. The exterior details are fantastic. This LEGO moc reminds me of the home in Monarch of the Glen (an equally fantastic BBC show). All it needs now is some colorful foliage, perhaps morning glories or bougainvillea.

[Username]

Very cool and detailed. Can't wait to see the final product.

[DraconisTerrena]

Excellent! It looks like it has a great playability.

[architect]

Dan,

Your latest moc looks great so far. I particularly enjoy the thick walls with slopes inside the windows, interior wood shutters, stone staircases, quoins, and exterior window stone arches.

Ben

[Teherean]

Excellent! I love those windows! Good luck finishing it.

[Dan]

Thanks everyone for looking and commenting!

I'm actually almost finished with it already! While I'm waiting for more parts to arrive (in the mail) I'm busy rendering it in Ldraw for the instruction book. It's a lot slower going than working with actual bricks...


Only 5 rows of height completed and the piece count is already 729. This is easily going to be a 4000+ piece kit!

I'll post another round of "work in progress" pix after I see what's in the mail today (and hopefully build some more)...

[Karrde]

Only 5 rows of height completed and the piece count is already 729. This is easily going to be a 4000+ piece kit!

Wouldn't making the walls hollow cut down on bricks a bit? (Forgive me if they already are)

[Dan]

Hollow walls would only save about 2-3% of the overall brick count and would severely weaken the structure. I like to make my castles "playable" for my kids, which means they basically have to be indestructible! Even though this castle is "made up," I'm a stickler for architectural accuracy and that means thick walls. I'm also a real fan of using actual bricks the way they were intended to be used and not take short cuts or uses a lot of POOPs.

[Tycho McKorley]

Dan, I've always been a fan of your work. I remember when I first saw Blood Stone Keep, I was blown away. That said, it's nice to see you building again. This MOC looks great.

[castlebuilder100]

It looks awesome. I really like the tiled roofs.

[Dan]

I was able to build some more over the last couple days...




Will from BrickArms has agreed to supply me with prototype Claymores for the kits!






You won't find such amenities in an official Lego castle set!