AnalogPanda

Thanks, Captain Braunsfeld. At some points, I realized I couldn't make things as ambitious as I had wanted. So I chose to scale them back rather than let them look "half-built".

Thanks for the constructive feedback, everyone. It's great to hear from more experienced builders! @MiloNelsiano - Thanks for all your thoughtful and detailed input! I totally see what you mean about the mismatch of color and shaping on either side of the path. Making them more consistent (or at least less contrasting) would help it all flow together, and could probably make the path pop a little more. Also, great point about attaching the house at an angle - I though about this, but then went the safe route. I really should have been more brave! @everyone - even though I mentioned my limited parts collection, please feel free to suggest better alternate parts/techniques. I may not have the parts you suggest, but I do plan on growing the collection =) Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to give some feedback. It really helps a lot!

Hi all, Here's my first not-super-small MOC. I don't have a huge brick collection, so this pushed the limits of what I have on hand. I don't think it's perfect, and I wanted to do so much more with it. But I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. Flickr album with lots of pics is here I'd love to get some feedback with how I could improve the building techniques. Photography feedback is welcome as well (but I already know it's pretty bad!) I just build for fun, so there's no backstory. Thanks, and I look forward to your input!

Wow. This is lovely. You really captured the essence of the building. I think your focus on window placement and overall proportions really paid off. Thanks for including the background and history of the building too!

With a little more color, I could see this being an official set. Nicely done!

Love this! Lots of wonderful details. And wow... those are some prolific fishermen! =)

@MiloNelsiano Wow! Thanks again for your tips and advice! I hadn't found brickmerge.de yet - it's great! I also wasn't aware of the Bricking Bavaria group. My German isn't so great, but this group might be a good way to improve my German and my Lego skills at the same time =) We've been to Legoland in Günzburg once, but this was also the trip where we learned the hard way that trains split and go in different directions. Next time we'll have more time to spend in the park rather than on the train!

Thank you ArmstrongYong, brickmeistro, and MiloNelsiano! @MiloNelsiano Thanks for the tips. Do you happen to know of any LEGO user groups in Augsburg or Munich? Also, do you know of any retail stores in Germany with good deals on LEGO? I happened to see some discounted (-20%) sets at my local Tengelmann but I think they were just making room for newer sets. Also it seems like the prices at Galeria Kaufhof are around 5% or so off by default. Anyway... thanks! Wow. I just read the new member guide for Guilds of Historica. Way too much cognitive load for me! For now, I'll stick to free building, but I'm sure I'll lurk there quite a bit =)

I'd definitely buy this set - so many great pieces for castle/fantasy MOCs packed into one small set. You have my vote on LEGO Ideas!

Ah ok cool. Thanks for the info!

Awesome! I love the inclusion of the forest creatures. I can't wait until I have enough pieces to do some Legend of Zelda scenes. Does the minifig use custom pieces? (shield, sword, head, hat, etc)

Hi, I'm Andy (AKA AnalogPanda). I was born, raised, and lived my whole life in Sacramento, California, USA; and then moved to Munich in Feb 2015. I Loved lego as a kid from the early/mid 80's to the early 90's. I started with Fabuland (which I wish LEGO would bring back now that I have a daughter). I then moved on to Town, Space, Castle, Technic, and Pirates before going dark in the early 90's. I'm now building again with my daughter's bricks which consist mainly of a few Friends sets and the Creative Supplement Bright (10694). So at the moment I use a lot of pink =) I have a few small MOCs up on Flickr: https://www.flickr.c...os/analogpanda/ I'm still really into castle/fantasy/midieval type of stuff, but I also like to make spaceships and robots. I hope to build and post some more soon. I'm not really into collecting or set building all that much. I mainly just like to make my own stuff. I kind of think of LEGO as any other artistic medium like paint or clay. What really pulled me back into the hobby was seeing the "The Secret World of LEGO" documentary. I was curious about the Bricks Culture magazine that was featured in the movie as it seemed really high-end. When I checked out Bricks Culture online, I saw the amazing work of César Soares (https://www.flickr.c.../124546590@N03/) in the magazine and I was completely blown away. I've been using and really liking http://brickset.com/ Especially because they show price-per-piece for sets. This is a big factor for me when deciding which sets to buy. I've found that the Creator sets are a good value (although the parts tend to be a little basic). Mixels also have a good price-per-piece ratio (the parts are small, but they have some handy/interesting joints, hinges, clips, etc). I got each of the Series 7 Medivals Mixels because they come in colors that lend themselves to castle building. I love the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Lone Ranger sets for their parts, but they are just so expensive on a price-per-piece basis. As I've been getting back into the hobby, I've been bookmarking a lot of stuff. So I decided to create an email newsletter to highlight the most interesting MOCs I find each week. (http://mocbuilder.com/). You can check out the first issue without signing up. I'd love to get your feedback. I don't think I'll be building like César Soares any time soon, but I look forward to learning from the other members here and improving my techniques. Thanks!