CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
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Bluesecrets
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CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Bluesecrets »

Image

This castle was built as realistic as possible for castles in England. (There are castles with yellowish/tan bricks in England.) You will notice there are no trees within this build for no castle would have trees close to it, as they had been used for building the castle, furniture, and firewood. There is a wooden walk way extending from tower to tower of this castle, providing access to the upper entry ways for the King did not wish easy access into his castle, which explains the moat, portcullis, drawbridge and multiple arrow slits. Standing on the balcony, you will find our King and Queen dressed in their purple splendor for attending the Violet Ball in a neighboring kingdom. We are at a time of peace, but the army of 65 highly trained Black Falcons remains on guard as their King and Queen prepare for their journey. In true medieval style, the walls are built strong and thick for battle, leaving the tops of the towers the only place for decoration. But as the Queen of our fair castle, does not enjoy large amounts of mud in her castle, the entire courtyard was paved with cobblestones. The land around our castle, while lush and green is meticulously attended to as to provide complete access to the full view around the castle leaving no weak area to defend.

There is a Bricklink folder for entry into the CCC (which is not approved yet). See here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=518555

There is also a Flickr folder of many many photos. See here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48243528@N ... 245654483/

You will notice that I put a lot of time and effort into focusing on the details for interior, exterior, figs, landscaping, historical accuracy, and my story line. Figs are appropriately placed in interior spaces (you will get glimpses).

Interesting facts:
More tiles were used in the building of this MOC than bricks
65 Black falcons is a portion of my army and yes they all have shields
That is only about 1/5 of the tan I own
All four colors of grey/bley were used as well as both browns
Tan has color variations…which will be seen in this MOC…but it helps break up the “big tan wall syndrome”
Tan 1x1 bricks with one stud on the side are a very very very nifty brick
There are 28 doors in this castle
As with every single MOC I build, I placed over 30 Bricklink orders to complete this
Tiles…can you ever have enough?! I ran out of tan and blue tiles multiple times.
One of my evil ant army (if you don’t know about that, well you should) is in attendance.
And pure evil is present…yes three little kittens of EVILNESS

Disclaimer:
Building is the best. Photography, while I enjoy it…I get to the end and just want it finished. And I really am not good at photo editing nor do I want to be. Keep that in mind. I had to turn my hallway into a light box…with material, a kids table, and a bed sheet. I think it is time to just paint the whole entire hallway white. Big MOCS are a pain in the *a cannon fires* to photograph.

And to complete this post:
*GASP* BLUE BUILDS?!?!?! *GASP*

Yes, yes she does...and she has the title, and the wins to prove it. :wink:
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soccerkid6
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by soccerkid6 »

Very realistic castle! It's pretty neat to see something of this scale built so realistically, I really like the walkways on top of the walls as well as the crenelation details.
Love the landscaping and moat as well. I feel your pain about running out of tiles, I'm just starting to get a halfway decent collection.
Quite impressed by the number of black falcons you have and their excellent condition :o
After hearing about your collection of tan I've been wanting to see something built with it all, this definitely doesn't dissapoint :D
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Mark of Falworth
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Mark of Falworth »

Excellent work! The fact that you've tried to be as realistic as possible is very refreshing! :)

Tan is a beautiful color to build a castle in! Best of luck, Blue!
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by mencot »

Whoa what an awesome castle, most realistic design indeed. I really like the images that show the courtyard, looks really good and also like the gatehouse.
And this is just 1/5 of your tan bricks! :o, whoa, like soccerkid said it would be definetly cool to see you build something with all the bricks :D
A great job and good luck
Btw awesome collection of Black Falcon troops
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Quickblade22 »

Love the look of this castle as being both classic and realistic. It looks like you mainly used pieces that were available in the 80's during the "classic" period of Lego castles, as opposed to some of the newer bricks like cheese slopes and curve bricks. The lighting isn't as bad as you think. 65 Black Falcons is impressive, but a little birdie (a black falcon to be exact) told me that you once had quite a few more that you gave to a friend up north.
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Justin M »

Very well done! Lovely castle. :)
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by nanuck95 »

As others mentioned, the "realistic factor" gets major points for this one. The wooden walkways and marbled grey floors really break up the interior and add a nice contrast. The arrow slits and arched details at the top of each tower came out really well and there are lots of interesting details to look at. Overall it looks really cool and the thought and time you put into it certainly paid off.

I agree that overall your pictures turned out really good and the details showed up nicely. I enjoyed your annotations on flickr as well.

Thanks for sharing, good luck in the contest!
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by mrcp6d »

I like how you've embraced the "big grey wall", even though it's tan! It certainly lends a more realistic--and imposing--feel to the structure.

I'm also pretty envious of your Black Falcon army...
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Bluesecrets »

Thank you for all your nice comments. I really appreciate them.

Its not hard to get a nice army of figs...if you start with just buying torsos and shields anytime you are placing a bricklink order and they are in the store. Just pick a pair of legs that don't cost a lot and a head either. Over time, you will end up with a nice little army. But this isn't my biggest army, I have more scorpion knights and my desert army is near 100 or something.
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Medieval Guy »

I like the arrow slits quite a bit.
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by LettuceBrick »

Amazingly realistic castle! My only minor gripe is that the landscape is a bit flat. The overall build is fantastic though.
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Bluesecrets »

My only minor gripe is that the landscape is a bit flat.
I agree and it is one of my dislikes of this build. I was limited to the space of a standard card table, because it is the Holiday Season (for those not in the US...this began being built early November which is pre-Thanksgiving...in my family...huge holiday). It couldn't be placed on the dining table, for Holiday dinners happen there. With the moat, and the space issue, I couldn't elevate as much as I would have liked, which limited my ability to vary the landscape some. I also don't like how square-ish shape of the moat, but again, it was due to space issues. The other dislike is my pictures...build big and space and photography become a pain.
I like the arrow slits quite a bit.
Me too. I think I'm most proud of how they look. Well until my nephew said "Why do you have a bunch of shovels in the wall of that castle?" And then, well I just had to laugh.
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Re: CCCX: Castle New Beginnings

Post by Maedhros »

Really nice! I especially like the (big surprise!) clean studless look to it. The battlements and windows are other details that caught my attention. I wish I could have seen some of that interior though.. ;)
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