A Castle-y sort of WIP

[Darkie]

Long time, no post!

So, I'm in need of some feedback. This is a yet-unnamed diorama/display MOC that will be going to NWBC. I plan on expanding it by a few base-plates. Included in the extension are a few more buildings of some sort. I hope to actually do more landscaping, but I havent' gotten there yet. Included will be cobblestone pathways and an expanded cemetary.

Without further ado, the MOC.

The church sits in the corner. It's got a simple interior. This building needs help, I think, with the roof. This was what I could throw together. (Alternate view)

A crop with tool shed.

A Small house. I need to do something about this. It's...uneven. I don't like it being uneven. :P

A bad arial shot.

Flickr Gallery with the rest of the shots. The cemetary is a placeholder. That'll be changing.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms?

[Starwars4J]

Well, it's REALLY nice, however I'd try to smooth it out just a bit. Now this isn't space and I'm not suggesting a SNOT-laden MOC that's all smooth, I mean minor things. For instance, the cross-shaped window on the church, under the 3x1 arch, maybe instead of a 1x1x1, use two 1x1x1/3 plates, with a smooth 1x1x1/3 plate on top to get rid of that stud.

The landscaping looks really nice (a feature I need to work on!), but for the cemetary gate, could you change the 1x1x1 tan cylinders to dark grey?

This is inspiring me to take some shots of my castle-ish WIP ;-)

Great job, keep us updated!

[chewie]

Everything looks awesome!!

I would however make some suggestions regarding the roof of the church, I like the overall look of it (its fantastic) but I would perhaps change the roof of the church from all studded to all smooth, or a ring of studs on the outside of an all otherwise tiled roof.

As well, perhaps add some brown tiles onto the stairway of the church to make it look a little bit more like an entrance into the church rather than just grass.

Other than that everything looks fantastic.

Chewie

NWBC, what is this? A LUG?

[Darkie]

NWBC=NorthWest BrickCon. It's the convention in Seattle, and it's in a month.

Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it.

[Darkie]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Here's an update:

An overall shot. The various colors are going to be hidden. It's the base of the landscaping.

The tudor-style house is sitting with me much better than previously.

I've also expanded the field a bit. You can keep checking the orginal gallery for updates. :)

I anticipate a better cemetary soon, with better fencing. Again, that was more or less a place holder until I could work on something better. Thanks!

[Brick Miner]

well, i don't know if i agree with all this SNOT talk... but i would suggest making the structures taller. usually churches have higher ceilings than a home dwelling. and i think it would give the buildings a much more impressive stature !!!

- BrickMiner

[highlandcattle]

Just an Idea:

In europe the cemeteries usually lie around the church, the church should always be the biggest building in town

[Darkie]

So, here's an update:

I've completed all the buildings, paved the road, and am waiting on some green plates to finish landscaping. I took some excellent advice here, and expanded the church substantially. It looks nothing like the old one. So, thanks for all that! And since that's come to a screeching halt, I've begun work on some things to populate this.

Cause I'm cruel like that, I won't be posting overall pictures until after NWBC, where this will be making it's debut.

Either way, here's some little things I've bee working on:

A plow based on paintings I googled. I'm trying to fix how the horse are attached with the chains, but am having difficulties. Eh.

A cart. I figure he's haulin hay or some other tan-ish looking crop. Either way, it looks really cool in person. I'm particularly proud of this one.

[Starwars4J]

I really like the cart with the hay too. As for the plow, maybe instead of the 2x1x1 black brick, you could use two 1x1x1 bricks with the stud on the side, positioned so they're both facing outwards, followed by a 1x1x1/3 round black plate on each of them to move it away from the horse a bit. Then attach the chains to the plates? That way you could keep the overall shape of it, have the chains attached to the side of the harness, and still keep the appearance of the harness just fitting over the body of the horse instead of going into it?

I'm in my apartment at college now, so I don't have access to the pieces to test this, but from what I'm picturing it should work...I hope :-P