soccerkid6 Posted July 2, 2017 This build was inspired by Scottish Castles and Tower-Houses. I wanted to experiment with a modular building setup, and a new style of stonework. The keep is built on four separate 16×16 sections that can be pulled apart and rearranged. For the stonework I used brackets, headlight bricks, and brick with stud to give three different depths to the SNOT tiles. Credit for the corbel design under the battlements goes to LL. John designed the brickbuilt arches used here. Bjarn-dar Keep sits in Southern Mitgardia and is the main residence of the Bjarn Clan. Today a fresh shipment of supplies is delivered by some Mitgardian merchants. And one example of how the modules can be rearranged: See more here. Thanks for looking, comments and critique always welcome Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zoth33 Posted July 3, 2017 This is very nice. I like the texturing of the exterior. I like how you did the windows. The interior is great, I really like the floors and all the tables are creatively designed. Keep up the good work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
de Gothia Posted July 3, 2017 Right now I'm watching the serie Outlander! This moc looks like it came right out of there! Your interior building skills are amazing! Lovely colours, they make the moc looks great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TitusV Posted July 3, 2017 (edited) There's so much to love here! In no particular order (though the last one is by far the most important): °The new stone-detailing works great, and I'm surprised to see the dark tan working out so well. °The brickbuilt arches are so much better then the prefabs, @LittleJohn °Your woodwork is also superb, both on the little house and on the staircase (good use of these hinges there as well, and the 6Ls as cross-bars) °The rounded part is just awesome I'll defenitely have to get myself a few of the curved slopes as well, though I always find it hard to put a roof on round towers (a problem which clearly isn't a problem for you, the roof is again awesome!) °It's not because we've come to expect these interiors from you, that they're less cool, inspiring or well-built. The fact this build can be divided in four (great covering of the seams, by the way) so we can even more admire them, is also really nice. °Probably my favoured technique of the whole build, the corbels. So simple, yet so amazingly effective. This is what LEGO's all about sir! Edited July 3, 2017 by TitusV Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted July 3, 2017 I love how you did the round tower! And the cheese arches over the slit windows, not to mention over the door! Great interior too, and impressive job making it modular also! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrcp6d Posted July 3, 2017 This is fantastic SK! The round tower is seamlessly integrated, which is impressive with the stonework texture you went with, and of course we're treated with the standard awesome interior in your MOCs. My favorite detail is the cheese and tile arches. That said, I've got two little issues: no flag on the turret, and, the landscaping is a bit unremarkable. Solid MOC, one of the best small castles I've seen in a while. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henjin_Quilones Posted July 3, 2017 The texturing is amazing, SK! I will be stealing this for something else down the road, for sure. I love the way you did the round tower part, especially. The best part, though, is the way you did those arches; I will be stealing that, too (so thank you, LJ!). The one thing I do not like is the use of the black vents for door hinges, but beyond that, this is a very fun and innovative modular castle! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soccerkid6 Posted July 4, 2017 23 hours ago, zoth33 said: This is very nice. I like the texturing of the exterior. I like how you did the windows. The interior is great, I really like the floors and all the tables are creatively designed. Keep up the good work. Thank you, glad to hear you noticed the table designs as I was quite pleased with those 19 hours ago, de Gothia said: Right now I'm watching the serie Outlander! This moc looks like it came right out of there! Your interior building skills are amazing! Lovely colours, they make the moc looks great! Thanks dG! 15 hours ago, TitusV said: There's so much to love here! In no particular order (though the last one is by far the most important): °The new stone-detailing works great, and I'm surprised to see the dark tan working out so well. °The brickbuilt arches are so much better then the prefabs, @LittleJohn °Your woodwork is also superb, both on the little house and on the staircase (good use of these hinges there as well, and the 6Ls as cross-bars) °The rounded part is just awesome I'll defenitely have to get myself a few of the curved slopes as well, though I always find it hard to put a roof on round towers (a problem which clearly isn't a problem for you, the roof is again awesome!) °It's not because we've come to expect these interiors from you, that they're less cool, inspiring or well-built. The fact this build can be divided in four (great covering of the seams, by the way) so we can even more admire them, is also really nice. °Probably my favoured technique of the whole build, the corbels. So simple, yet so amazingly effective. This is what LEGO's all about sir! Thank you Titus, the brick built arches are something we will use a lot in the future I'm sure. Funny how they still require prefab ones though LL has used that corbel design several times before, and I've always wanted to try it myself. It seemed a good fit stylistically for this keep. 8 hours ago, Kai NRG said: I love how you did the round tower! And the cheese arches over the slit windows, not to mention over the door! Great interior too, and impressive job making it modular also! Thanks Kai! That round turret is probably my favorite part of the build, and the modular aspect of the keep did end up working nicely. Though it got to be a little tiresome disconnecting and reconnecting modules for pictures 6 hours ago, mrcp6d said: This is fantastic SK! The round tower is seamlessly integrated, which is impressive with the stonework texture you went with, and of course we're treated with the standard awesome interior in your MOCs. My favorite detail is the cheese and tile arches. That said, I've got two little issues: no flag on the turret, and, the landscaping is a bit unremarkable. Solid MOC, one of the best small castles I've seen in a while. Thanks Mike! Can't believe I left a flag off the turret The landscape is fairly standard, but I just wanted something fairly simple to set off the keep. Admittedly, I also just wanted to finish the build by that point. 1 hour ago, Henjin_Quilones said: The texturing is amazing, SK! I will be stealing this for something else down the road, for sure. I love the way you did the round tower part, especially. The best part, though, is the way you did those arches; I will be stealing that, too (so thank you, LJ!). The one thing I do not like is the use of the black vents for door hinges, but beyond that, this is a very fun and innovative modular castle! Thanks HQ One suggestion I received on flickr about the wall texture, is to mix in some of the accent color to the base brick layer in addition to the SNOT tiles, which I think would definitely make this technique even more effective. I had mixed feelings about the grill tiles on the door myself, sometimes I thought they gave a metal bracket look, other times they just seemed out of place. So thanks for your thoughts on those, I'll avoid them in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cozei Posted July 4, 2017 Neat idea to challenge your great building skill! Similar to your one build in multiple seasons I guess. I like how you give yourself these challenges. As many have mentioned the round turret fits well. I can't imagine making it any smaller and it blends nicely. For rearranging, the stairs seems like the weak link since it spans two quarters. Maybe it could have wrapped around that corner and stayed on one section? You'd know better than me. :-) Anyway, interesting idea and well done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muakhah Posted July 4, 2017 Really well textured tower. The Bjarn Clan stronghold is very impressive with great details inside and out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunman Posted July 4, 2017 Amazing work mate, I really like your texturing and the round part of the wall. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
en_zoo Posted July 5, 2017 wowow awesome job here, SK! the texture turned out fantastic and so did the round tower also really that type of detailing underneath the battlment - I'd never seen it before. finally, LJ's arches are super cool! oh wait, and the small bear in the interior lol xD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blufiji Posted July 7, 2017 Great color scheme, but the thing I like most is the fact you packed so much detail into so small a space. Great work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MassEditor Posted July 10, 2017 This is fantastic. You're really perfecting this style of texturing and designing stonework. I really like the technique you used to create the lower part of the battlements. The wooden stairs and tower addition is a great touch, adds just the right amount of color. Nice work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted July 12, 2017 Very nice build, SK! There is a lot to note, and many others have already noted details, but I have to comment on some. The plate and tile arches are great! The texturing of the walls is just the right amount for a rougher-built Mitgardian keep. The round tower is just excellent and fits into the wall very nicely. The stairs, hoardings, and black roofs add just the right contrast to the gray/dk tan stonework. The interior is nice as usual, especially with the use of the bear shield color scheme. The amount of landscape and foliage is a nice contrast as well to balance the scene and make it more realistic. The battlements are marvelous, both the tops and the under-structure! The doll-house split technique for interior access is just a perfect finishing touch! Though it will probably never happen, I dream of the day that TLG would make some sets akin to this MOC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
