MOC: Bluecoat Académie des Mousquetaires

[Plaid Beard]

On the Bluecoat-held Caribbean island of Sainte-Salacious lies the most ancient and prestigious Académie des Mousquetaires, where the bravest recruits for the Bluecoat Army receive their training as musketeers. While at the Académie, recruits learn swordsmanship, marksmanship, some light typing, and occasionally are beaten with raw fish. When they graduate, the recruits join the ranks of the most elite unit of the Bluecoat Army, the illustrious musketeers, who dream of little else but the day when they will meet their Redcoat foes in battle, and then afterward type up the after-action report.

The building, itself, was built in 1562 by the Spanish as part of the monastery of Saint Salacious, who was martyred in the 9th Century while trying to introduce non-alcoholic beer and anger-management to the Scots. The island was named by the Spanish explorers who landed there in 1517 and contracted trichinosis from eating the local wild pigs.

And now, here is my MOC, which is part of my larger building project to document life on the strange little island of Sainte-Salacious:

Sometimes the musketeers do charity work, such as this musketeer teaching swordplay to a young street ruffian as revenge for the boy's mother saying she doesn't date soldiers.

The monument to the greatest musketeer of all time..... whose name escapes everyone....

The Bluecoat guard on the left is not overly thrilled to be wasting his youth guarding a door, while the guard on the right is just plain tickled not to have been posted to an actual combat unit.

The roof comes off for ventilation on very hot days. Apparently.

A bizarre little ritual, but a necessary part of the training.

Apparently some of the bricks in the wall started to separate when I carried it downstairs to photograph it. Ah well, free lighting.

I had wanted to use more vegetation in the courtyard, but I'm saving my trees for a different project.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Plaid Beard

[Graham Gidman]

That roof is awesome!

[Plaid Beard]

That roof is awesome!

Thanks! The roof took a while to figure out for many reasons, but one of the difficulties was that building the roof that way makes it ever so slightly longer than the actual space allows, which was fixed by.... well.... just jamming it in there between the two upright peaks on either end.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Plaid Beard

[Sigolf Brimabane]

Are we allowed to steal the roof technique? :) The build looks great and the fish-slapping looks fun, unless you're on the receiving end : P

[James Wellington]

Wow. Love the roof technique! Very interesting build, we don't get many of these. Great work!

[Mr. Townsend]

Awesome MoC Plaid Beard! Its so clean and tiled. I'm a big fan. Statue looks great too. I enjoy seeing the monochrome combos people come up with.

[blackdeathgr]

Really nice moc and well documented! Love the statue and its base

[Plaid Beard]

Are we allowed to steal the roof technique? :)

Steal away! I'm not actually sure where I got the idea for it - seems like I saw it on someone else's project, but I don't really remember. The main reason I did it was because I ran out of roof slopes, but I ended up really liking how it turned out. It would also explain the lack of trees on the grounds.

[Captain Dee]

This is an excellent addition to the Pirates theme. The roof is great but the whole building is superb and shows once again that standard building styles can be beautiful. It looks very period-correct and the brown-and-gold arched windows are lovely. The courtyard looks fine with the tall fence and various earth tones on the ground. The interior is great with all the minifigs and accessories. I especially like the decorative bits, such as the musket with axe-blade and other medieval weapons. The floor design is nice too and a little easier to replicate than the elaborate mosaics; I just might copy it sometime. My only advice would be to make the trees a little taller; otherwise I think it's great. Excellent work!

[Gary The Procrastinator]

Outstanding! The courtyard with the black statue is perfect, and the building is very realistic.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Very fine creation, my favourite is also the statue.

And this strange fish-slapping fight

[Plaid Beard]

I just remembered that I used some of these musketeers before in a comic I did a few years ago...

[knight_40k]

This is nice, so much detail everywhere.

[Cousarmy0001]

What pieces did you use for the statue pedastal?

[Plaid Beard]

What pieces did you use for the statue pedastal?

This picture shows how I built the pedestal. I don't remember if the round pieces came from a Castle set I got in the late-1990s (back when Castle lost its way) or if they came from a very old Space set I had from the early-1980s.

The base is pretty straight-forward. I love this color blue, but for this build I would have preferred a darker blue to better match the Bluecoat flag.

[ThunderWarrior]

Love this! Great one dude!

[2maxwell]

Great moc, and I love the detailed story! The fish slapping, and the dude's face as he's being slapped is priceless.

[Plaid Beard]

Great moc, and I love the detailed story! The fish slapping, and the dude's face as he's being slapped is priceless.

Thanks! I don't remember which minifigure originally came with that head, but when I thought of the fish thing that was the head that I knew I had to use. What's more manly than a muscled-up dude with Elvis hair grunting while being beaten with raw fish?

[Rotaser]

Really nice build with lovely details. Can't wait to see what you've planned in addition.

Besides, the "engraved pillar blocks" can't be from the 90's. Would need to look up at brickset to be sure, though. They might be part of the city set "museum robbery" (or similiar) 3 years ago (about).

[Plaid Beard]

Really nice build with lovely details. Can't wait to see what you've planned in addition.

Besides, the "engraved pillar blocks" can't be from the 90's. Would need to look up at brickset to be sure, though. They might be part of the city set "museum robbery" (or similiar) 3 years ago (about).

Thanks! I do have a few more projects up my sleeve for the Fall. I've been trying to think where I got those pillar blocks - I know they weren't from Museum Robbery, because those were tan, pretty sure, and I didn't get that set. And I didn't get any sets in the 2000s that would have had them. I did take apart several of the "castles" I got in the 1990s (they weren't great sets, and I just got them so I'd have something to build) to use for pieces, so that's the only place I can think that I would have got them. It's possible they came from one of the Adventurer sets from the 1990s, because I also took apart a couple of those (a couple Egyptian-themed ones) recently, as well.

[Rotaser]

Just looked t up: we were both wrong (me more than you, though). The Museum break in is indeed in tan, but no "striped" round bricks at all. The grey one comes in various sets, but none earlier than 2003 (ca.).

Alas, you really want us to wait until fall before we see more of these marvelous creations?

[Plaid Beard]

Just looked t up: we were both wrong (me more than you, though). The Museum break in is indeed in tan, but no "striped" round bricks at all. The grey one comes in various sets, but none earlier than 2003 (ca.).

Alas, you really want us to wait until fall before we see more of these marvelous creations?

Hmmm. That's very odd then - I have absolutely no idea where I got those pieces!

At the most a couple weeks. Going on vacation this week, and hopefully I'll be starting my next project when I get back!

[Jreacher]

The roof is really unique and awesome. I love this build, the little details are very nice looking. The outer wall looks great and the building is nicely done.