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[Derfel Cardarn]

A lone arch and some crumbling walls are all that remain of an old castle. A retired sailor lives by the ruins perched above a dangerous cove. A peacfull life it would seem? But he knows strange and sinister things are going on beneath the cliffs. Hes seen the strange lights and pirates in the cove down below him. They come and go often, but what are they using the cove for? If only he knew what they were hiding in the dark caves!

This is an idea ive had for a while, and i was originally going to just have a big ruined castle with a secret passage way down into the cave below. But i realised while building, that to do it propperly i would need a much bigger cave and the model would have to be twice the size. So i changed it to what you now see. Allthough i do plan to build the large original idea in the near future.

Enjoy













For more and larger versions of the pictures, visit my flickr: http://www.flickr.co...s/45244184@N04/

This post has been edited by Derfel Cardarn: 23 February 2010 - 12:47 PM

[Dr. Steve]

AMAZING MOC! The detail on the rock and cave is excellent.

This should be Pirate Front Page!

[Rick]

Great. I really like secret hide-outs...

[L-space]

Wow, amazing stuff here.

I like the way you built to ruins, but have to get used to the same round plates as walls for the house.''

Is there a passageway from the cave to the house or castle?

[Fires-storm]

Wow amazing detail! an excellent cave, the skulls at the back are quite clever, and the rocks came out perfect! and now I just HAVE to ask, is there a rock building tutorial somewhere I could use? my cliffs end up looking like wall extensions

[GT-Vince]

This is amazing, all those little details, a parrot in the tree, the fruits and flowers
Very, very good

[Swash Buckler]

These gigantic dios are great- cave is excellent addition- so piratey -but there is one problem- all are similar looking- because of those rocks- they are great- but i would like to see flatter island for a while- like the sandy beaches of Bahamas (like in the works of Howard Pyle) or something similar- however i know that building giant rocks is more funny than flat beaches

[Admiral Croissant]

Man this is so awesome again!
Great that you can see inside the cave on the back of the MOC, and all the details are just stunning!

[Loganwan]

Ooh, the back is great. What a fun surprise, since the backs tend to be not only blank, but also built out of many colors. Excellent.

The details on top are excellent as well. I have seen a bit of the style of using round 1x1s to make buildings look rocky. I think it looks really good in the crumbling castle, and even better in the cottage. The use of some round and some square pieces really give an interesting look. The roof is really well done with SNOT plates and it looks like some of the boards had to be replaced.

The rock cliff is top notch. The rocks are great, as they blend into the jungle/heavily planted area up-top. Very well done.

[Bonaparte]

Just stunning!

It's safe to say you have become one of the best LEGO Pirate builders around.

The details you include in your work are overwhelming.

[Ratshot]

Great cave Derfel Cardarn, you've been spoiling us with all of these great MOCs lately and I love it

[Nightshroud99]

Stupendous! Thats some excellent work there!!!

[Blackheart Brit]

You are so consistently good. This one is my favorite of yours. All around excellent.

[Derfel Cardarn]

Thankyou for all your great comments, I have been busy with pirate mocs this last month for the JRC. Only 1 more and my community build and then I have some castle mocs to work on. But I have some new pirate ideas that i'll start after that.

L-space, on Feb 23 2010, 01:12 PM, said:

Wow, amazing stuff here.

I like the way you built to ruins, but have to get used to the same round plates as walls for the house.''
Is there a passageway from the cave to the house or castle?

No, i abandoned the passageway as I'd like to do it on a larger scale in a later moc.

Fires-storm, on Feb 23 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

Wow amazing detail! an excellent cave, the skulls at the back are quite clever, and the rocks came out perfect! and now I just HAVE to ask, is there a rock building tutorial somewhere I could use? my cliffs end up looking like wall extensions

I might make a basic tutorial for rock/cliff building as it seems quite a few people have trouble with it. In the meantime it might help you to take a look at real life pictures of coastlines to get some ideas.

Swash Buckler, on Feb 23 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

These gigantic dios are great- cave is excellent addition- so piratey -but there is one problem- all are similar looking- because of those rocks- they are great- but i would like to see flatter island for a while- like the sandy beaches of Bahamas (like in the works of Howard Pyle) or something similar- however i know that building giant rocks is more funny than flat beaches

Yes, they do look similar, but that is the modular style ive been working with, so they can make a coastline. I have tryed to not make them as often now, as the last one was back last year. There is so many formations and ideas that you can do with the cliffsides. I plan to make the rock work on future mocs much more interesting with lots more caves, coves, rock pools and other hidden things. I have got some flatter mocs that i plan to work on, but like you say, making rugged cliffs and caves is a lot more fun.

Admiral Croissant, on Feb 23 2010, 06:54 PM, said:

Man this is so awesome again!
Great that you can see inside the cave on the back of the MOC, and all the details are just stunning!

Thanks fors the blog!

Bonaparte, on Feb 23 2010, 07:21 PM, said:

Just stunning!

It's safe to say you have become one of the best LEGO Pirate builders around.

The details you include in your work are overwhelming.

Thankyou, always great coming from a ship moc master such as yourself

[Broken Bricks]

Wow!

Impressive!

So many cool things in this MOC it's hard to name just a few...but to keep it short:

I love the vegetation!! It looks very dense and tropical-like!

I also like the ruins on the right side! I think not too many MOCs go for the "ruins" look, but it's something I definitely like too see!

And the rocks...I see Swash Buckler's point about cliffs/rock formation being a little overused around here, but I have too say you've done a pretty good job at adding variety to this style. I don't mean just the cave. I also like the big pointy rock protruding from the sea a little in front of the cliff and the fact that the cliff is not too symmetrical, with that part extending out on the right side. It looks very realistic!

A question for you Derfel:

Do you reuse parts from old MOCs to build new ones or do you have all of them next to each other?

If the latter is the case, you should have quite an amazing island going on by now!