[MOC] Watch tower for the Dragon Fortress

[The Reader]

This is my latest MOC, a watch tower for the Dragon Fortress (set 7419), meant as an extension for the Adventurers' Orient Expedition subtheme. I got the inspiration for this MOC from Ninjago set 71795 "Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores". The tower is a bit taller than the Dragon Fortress itself. Instead of the red horse battle helmets (part 6125) I used modern cattle skulls (part 13695) for decoration. The tree is built in the Dino Island subtheme style. 

As always, comments and critics are very welcome.

 

 

 

 

[Slegengr]

@The Reader Great side build for the Dragon Fortress!
The tower is immediately recognizable from the source reference.  Stepping the roof in at each level gives such a great appearance and shaping to the tower.  That is a nice inclusion with the roof over the doorway similar to the original Ninja sets from the late 90's.  I also like the basic, mostly empty interior much the same as sets of that era where they could be expanded upon and detailed according to the preferences of each builder.

Though they are a bit chunky and simple, the trees in the style of Dino Island are okay here with a nice tie-in to other Adventurers designs.

One thing I'd like to see is the use of this printed panel instead of the plain dark gray one:
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=30156px2#T=S&C=10&O={"color":10,"ss":"US","rpp":"100","iconly":0}
It also would be nice if the tower actually connected directly to the original set somehow... maybe that is for a later day with the addition of a wall extension that ties into the fortress battlements.

A new piece to me is the cow skull piece in red; I was not aware that existed (probably due to Ninjago somewhere along the line?).  Though I do not like it quite as well as the original Dragon Masters horse headgear, it does work well enough as a modern replacement.

Over several years now, I've had plans to expand upon the original sets similar to this (especially for the Dragon Fortress), but I have not had the time yet to actually build from my dreams yet.  Most of my LEGO time today is spent sorting vintage sets and building them with my nephews.

Edit: I just read your description and realized I did not read it before commenting, so a few of my points are redundant from your description!

Edited 1 hour ago by Slegengr