[MOC] Blackwail Castle

[ProvenceTristram]

Situated on the fringes of the Great Flenshly Marsh, a saltwater tidal basin on Pembermile Sound famous for its thick fogs, looms the seat of the Duchy of Tiverton: Blackwail Castle. The fortress can attribute its somewhat grim name to the calls of a local seabird, whose mournful notes are often mistaken by unfamiliar travelers for the wail of a banshee (or so people tell themselves. It is Lego - you never know :P). Lacking a curtain wall, the enlarged keep nevertheless boasts fairly strong natural water defenses, and - probably owing more to its remote location than any other factor - has never been taken in a siege. The castle alone is approximately 3,800 pieces, while the base adds up another 1,300 or so - an exchange I'm not *fully* convinced it worth it (though I do like the marshy part). 

Exterior shots. The single tower contains a bell and functions (on the top level only) as the access point for the roof. If constructed, I would also add a 4-pole-supported cloth sun-screen to cover a portion of the roof area, but as the 4 beams would just look naked in LDD, I left them out. There's a small fishing/high tide-usable pier to give the marsh some context. As an aside, I have much grander Pacific-Northwest style pine trees that I had built intending to use with this structure, but they wound up looming over the castle (accurately; most of it is only 3 stories tall, after all), and I felt like it reduced the overall impact, so I swapped them out for dinkier specimens:

As usual, even though the whole facing-left side of structure swings out dollhouse-style, I had an immense amount of trouble making bluerender cooperate with lighting. Therefore, after a single gloomy photo, I just took screenshots directly from LDD. The result is less dramatic, but at least shows off details. The first (and second) floor features a checkerboard tile base, two suits of armor, three candelabras, a raised walkway, fireplace, kitchen (not pictured, but it's below the white 'house' wing), tapestries hanging from the ceiling, grandfather clock, a spiral staircase reaching the third floor, a feasting table, and a requisite throne.

The Tudor-style second-floor wing is home to the castle's resident wizard. The roof here is designed to lift out with very minor parts removal. I tried to make the space look somewhat cluttered, but the effect is lost in this screenshot, since you can hardly see the bed or the book shelf.

The front of the top floor isn't really intended to be accessible, but would only require removal of a portion of the roof to get at, so I went ahead and did a (very basic) interior. This is the servants'/guards' quarters, with two bunk beds, a book shelf, and some storage. 'Fun'-unfun (for me) fact - I am so colorblind that LDD's reddish brown looks green to me the entire time I am building a model.

Finally, we have the King's (or, in this case, Duchess') chamber/solar (with walk-in closet!). The room features a fireplace, English settee, canopy bed, larger bookcase, and desk (which you can't really see, but is located in the swing out). A kitten has bitten off more than it can chew by cornering a large, black rat in the closet space. I don't much like cats, but I hate rodents. Kill 'em good, Mr. Mittens.

And that's pretty much it. As is typical, it is probably too grand a design for me to ever build, but I am at least finally satisfied with the end-product (I've built like 3 other castles since I last posted here that I didn't bother putting up).

Edited November 13, 2017 by ProvenceTristram

[LegoRacer1]

Fantastic Castle.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Really good looking!

 

[deraven]

Excellent!  A nice balance of classic feel with good detail and techniques.  The simple but interesting terrain, and the timbered section of the castle are both really nice and add a lot to the build, and all your interior details are outstanding.