AoM: Tower Phase 3: Nordheim Keep

[Umbra-Manis]

Amazing tower, beautiful base, all around awesome build!

[LegoEomer]

I really like the detail on the outside of your tower, but what impresses me most is your interior. They look so realistic I can imagine what it would have looked like if it was real. Nice job, SK.

[soccerkid6]

Oooh, that`s a mighty gorgeous tower you build there

Thanks Tomsche

Absolutely amazing! The snow the rock work, everything! This is amazing! :thumbup:

Thank you! Glad you like it

You have been putting together some really amazing stuff lately! This is beautiful!

Thanks Mike! I'm glad you've enjoyed my recent builds

a bit of drool slides down my chin...

Congratulations, SK, you've just build the best castle I've ever seen!

Thank you, that's a very high compliment

Fantastic build. I love the use of brown, for some reason that's my favorite color to see in MOC's. You took a cold wintry scene and made it look very home-y and cozy. It's vibrant!

Thanks!

Your on a roll man, keep it up!

Thanks Blufiji

Awesome stuff!

Thanks Puvel

Undoubtedly brilliant Isacc! The details are everywhere!

Thanks Jacob!

Dang Soccerkid, you just keep pouring out amazing nordic builds!

Thankyou! I've really enjoyed the various Norse builds I've done, and keep coming up with more ideas for them

Lots to like here soccerkid, your snow is top notch and that lake is just so... cool! The light blue under the transclear is absolutely perfect. Then of course, the keep itself - great work there as always, the wooden structures have an almost gothic feel to them. And a round of applause for including an interior!

Thanks Kai! I really like that color combination for frozen water

I've been awaiting this ever since you said (a few weeks ago) that your best was yet to come late this month. That is a fantastic structure and the rocky snowscape is wonderful. The largely symmetrical tapered look is really nice and the use of brown and grey looks great. The interior is good as always and I like the little details like the girl reclined by the fireplace. The leaning, tilting snow-capped palisade is brilliant and the path climbing up through the snow looks nice. My favorite detail in the whole scene is the two cardinals in the tree, fitting for such a cozy peaceful scene. Excellent work and happy building in 2016!

Thanks Captain Dee! I always appreciate your comments, and it's nice to hear you noticed the girl enjoying the warm fire, as that was one of my favorite little details. The cardinals are something I like to include now and again in snowy builds, in which I was inspired by a superb Castle builder, Eklund.

There's so much to love in this build! The landscaping is top notch and the well balanced mix between stone and wood of the keep looks great too.

A couple of technical questions:

How are the palisade logs attached? Is the water/clear ice built with a SNOTed layer of medium blue under the SNOTed trams-clear or is it som other technique?

Thanks Gideon The icy water is indeed SNOT, both for the trans clear bricks, and medium azure underneath (just slightly brighter shade than standard medium blue), I only have 1x2 bricks in that shade of blue, but it works perfectly in combination with the trans clear, because I just build a standard 1x2 brick wall, and use the clear bricks standing up for 1 stud sections. The palisade logs are attached to these plate modified pairs:

and

then I varied the height and stepped them forward or back a stud to make a nice irregular shape. Hope that makes sense.

Nice, very "clean" build, I like it :)

Thank you

Great build, SK! I like how there are details to appreciate all over. Landscaping and architecture are both jaw-dropping. The interior is nice too.

As Gideon, I am wondering how you did the palisades. :)

Thanks! Hopefully the above explanation clears up how I built the palisade

I see you're in great shape - and so are your MOCs. Another excellent build, snow-master!

Thank you, this is my favorite snowscape so far

Just stunning!!! I Love the atmosphere This moc has! The photo taken from the path showing the figs and the tower in the background is so full of life!!

Great work once again!

Thanks dG! Yeah, I really liked that perspective, even set it as my flickr cover photo

Great build- love the palisade fence!

Thanks LV!

I really like this build. The roof is great.

Thanks! That was one of the most difficult parts

Excellent build SK, lovely landscape, especially the light blue under the water and the snow, though for some reason I really love your shot of the bush, not quite sure why! Stupendous work with the palisade and tower as well, both the wood and stone-work are superb, especially the wooden sections down lower Excellent interior too, my favorite part is the grate and fire in the downstairs fireplace!

Thanks Garmadon, I was rather fond of the bush picture too, hence my inclusion of it here. Good to hear you noticed the grate in the cooking fireplace as well

You really do some of the best snow I've ever seen............

Thanks! I certainly do a lot of it

What a magnificent build! The frozen water, the way you did the snowy hill, the winding path towards the gate (probably my favourite part of the whole build, it fits so great into the landscape), the crazy palisade, the harmony between grey and brown as colours, the straw roofs with patches of snow - so many things to love. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! The winding path was something I knew I wanted to be in the build right from the beginning

Love that snow and ice!

Thanks Adair! And thanks for suggestion a angled palisade on one of my previous builds, I think that's what got me to do this one

I agree that this is one of your best yet. Once again the interiors are great! But also the whole landscape, the frozen water, the snow, the rockwork - they all look fantastic. This is a wonderful build. I'm impressed by the number of builds you pulled out for the CCC, but also by the quality they are.

Thanks Simon! I put more work into my CCC entries this year, than previous ones, glad it's showing

Lovely tower an atmosphere!

And amazing snow-job! Good work!!

Thanks!

Amazing tower, beautiful base, all around awesome build!

Thank you

I really like the detail on the outside of your tower, but what impresses me most is your interior. They look so realistic I can imagine what it would have looked like if it was real. Nice job, SK.

Thank you, nice to know you enjoy my interiors

[Gunman]

Amazing work SK... lovely

[Kayne]

You have really grown as a builder through your time in GoH that I have been around for! Fantastic job, and good luck in the Master Builder running!

[KlodsBrik]

This is just gorgeous. Lovely textures and techniques all over the place.

Wish i could turn into ABS and shrink myself to go on a long vacation to this castle.

That ice technique for the edge of it looks stunning. I might just borrow it !

Awesome MOC !!

[Graham Gidman]

Such an impressive build, Isaac! I absolutely love that wooden wall and snowscape!

[Sigolf Brimabane]

There should be a super-superlative form of "awesome" to describe this x) The æsthetic is extremely good!

[ZCerberus]

That is a sweet tower. Vintage SK with the open back. Awesome work!

[Dzoni90]

Fantastic build! Everything looks very good and wooden palisade is just perfect.

[Slegengr]

Fantastic build, SK!

The Mitgardian look is absolutely spot on! The snow and ice is great, as is the rockwork and the stone tower. The wooden hoardings are marvelous, along with the irregularly angled wall logs. the size of this build is great with the superb level of detail! The interiors are great, and are definitely reminiscent of vintage LEGO, though I personally still prefer MOCs that appear complete from any angle and open to reveal the interior.

Keep building, SK!

[soccerkid6]

Amazing work SK... lovely

Thanks Gunman

You have really grown as a builder through your time in GoH that I have been around for! Fantastic job, and good luck in the Master Builder running!

Thanks Kayne! Still waiting on results for the Master Builder, but I think Nocty will prevail with Dubbadgrim receiving the title

This is just gorgeous. Lovely textures and techniques all over the place.

Wish i could turn into ABS and shrink myself to go on a long vacation to this castle.

That ice technique for the edge of it looks stunning. I might just borrow it !

Awesome MOC !!

Thank you very much for the comment!

Such an impressive build, Isaac! I absolutely love that wooden wall and snowscape!

Thanks Graham

There should be a super-superlative form of "awesome" to describe this x) The æsthetic is extremely good!

Thanks man!

That is a sweet tower. Vintage SK with the open back. Awesome work!

Thanks ZC, always appreciate hearing your thoughts

Fantastic build! Everything looks very good and wooden palisade is just perfect.

Thank you, I was pretty pleased with that palisade design

Fantastic build, SK!

The Mitgardian look is absolutely spot on! The snow and ice is great, as is the rockwork and the stone tower. The wooden hoardings are marvelous, along with the irregularly angled wall logs. the size of this build is great with the superb level of detail! The interiors are great, and are definitely reminiscent of vintage LEGO, though I personally still prefer MOCs that appear complete from any angle and open to reveal the interior.

Keep building, SK!

Thanks Sleg! And yeah, I do prefer the complete build, with some other way to access the interior. But sometimes if I feel pieces might be low, or for simplicity's sake, I go with the old open back