CCC IX: Maison de la Motte (wooden castle)

[koffiemoc]

Now that it's not on the naughty list any longer I dare to post my moc here: Maison de la Motte.



It's supposed to be a castle from France, around 840 A.D. Charlemagne died some years ago and lesser men started to build their own little empires, securing their richness with wooden castles like these. A merchant is approaching the castle, coming out of the edge of the forest. Part of the forest is taken down, to make place and supply wood for the castle, and to give a view over the surrounding area. The castle is quite young and new, the motte overgrown with nothing but very short grass. A bridge han't been made yet, as the moat is only a small, muddy ditch at this point in history. Some stepping stones have been laid there though.

I wanted to try my hand at a larger moc for quite some time and when I saw the wooden categorie on CCC I couldn't resist no longer. I had an idea how it should look almost immediately. It took way longer than I expected to shape the earthen walls and motte, while keeping it all in nine seperable modules and sturdy enough to transport it. But I really wanted to give the moc a somewhat realistic impression, though I would never be able to turn it into a real scale model. When finishing the trees I realized that they were actually to close to the castle to give the watch a good look over the land. And there wasn't room -nor bricks- to make a palissade around the motte and keep. The bailey is too cramped to take a good look inside (with the camera). In general I couldn't take the pictures I had dreamed about, because I wasn't paying attention to the points-of-view while building it.

But nevermind, I had great fun building it and I have learned some things from my first big castle layout ever. 1 I should reckon on twice the time I guess I need. 2 Build the modules as sturdy as a rock, I should keep in mind that the things on top are inevitable fragile when transporting the lot. Especially palissades, trees and other green life. 3 Compute necessary amounts of crucial parts (as: green slopes) and order them in time. Too early would be even better. 4 Big trees are top heavy and can't wait till the very last days if I want them to be strong as well as good looking. Postpone the small buildings instead, they come quite smooth and quickly. 5 Make pencil sketches of the pictures I dream to take with the camera, and make sure the moc grows in line with these sketches. 6 Building on the table is better than on the ground, because I take pictures with the moc being put on a table. 7 Read the rules of the contest in time and again at the end and make sure to apply to them, I dummy!

[Blego7]

The green slopes are so well played, as are the wooden roofs.

[Mark of Falworth]

Splendid!! Great wooden castle!! The hills look very nice. Good luck in the contest!

[Karrde]

Despite your misgivings, I think you've got a great little castle here; it also sounds like you learned a lot from the building process too, which is good.

[jovian]

I like that the walls are made of stacks of 1x1s instead of log panels. Definitely gives it a more authentic look. Great job on this!

[DARKspawn]

Very charming. As metioned before the slopes used for terrain and the wooden roofs are quite effective.

3 Compute necessary amounts of crucial parts (as: green slopes) and order them in time.

Yeah good luck with this one. Certainly it's a great idea to build within the scope of your collection, but be prepared for the unpreparable, compromises will still need to be made. It seems with my builds it's always a compromise between vision, elements availability and income. Never think you are prepared to build anything, the LEGO gods are cruel masters indeed.

5 Make pencil sketches of the pictures I dream to take with the camera, and make sure the moc grows in line with these sketches. 6 Building on the table is better than on the ground, because I take pictures with the moc being put on a table.

Wise words. Building "for the camera" is so important. Realising the camera's limitations displaying your model is essential in my opinion. I have built details many times into MOCs that can't be captured on film for one reason or another and it can be quite heartbreaking to leave these features "on the cutting room floor" so to speak.

[Shadowviking]

This is excellent, great stuff! Motte and baileys are so underbuilt in LEGO, glad this contest got a decent number built. This is a really great example. I love the hill especially. The trees are also excellent.

[Left4bricks]

The technique for the motte is not my prefered one, but is an interesting manner. in the contrary, i particularly love your wooden structure, especially the one for the bailey. the left tree is wonderful. The whole scene looks like a little wooden castle in expansion (with the peasants and the field). I hope that thhe "wooden castle" catyegory will continue to grow after this contest, that's changing from big stone castles.

[Teherean]

This might be the best motte and baily castle I have ever seen in Lego. People complain that the hills are too smooth, but I actually like it this way. It really looks like they were man made, as was often the case with motte and baily castles.