[GoC] WTC Coffee Plantation, Quinnsville

[Darnok]

Their offices in Quinnsville had just recently been set up properly, but the WTC had already establish local business opportunities some time ago. The island of Cocovia was known for its fertile grounds, especially for coffee and cocoa, so it seemed natural to claim some new land from the jungle for an agricultural venture.

 

With cocoa already grown on a large plantation nearby, and another one near King's Harbour, it had been decided to go for coffee. Highly profitable, coffee was still yet to be grown in commercial quantities in Corrington - so the WTC might have a first mover advantage on the market!

 

Having... acquired... the necessary seeds from an ETTC research site in King's Harbour, the first coffee trees were growing already, while parts of the plantation were still in the process of being set up. Fighting back the jungle proved to be easier said than done!

..

 

The local WTC Operator was discussing the progress with the plantations foreman:

"We need to get this up and running as soon as possible. I promised results to Mr. Mordo, and I do not plan to disappoint him."

"But sir, I need more men. The conditions here are tough, and even then the trees only grow so fast. It will take time, no matter what."

"I guess. Still, hasten your efforts. The sooner we can sell overpriced coffee to gullible minifigs, the better."

"Will do, sir. By the way, what is it with all the gold?"

"We are a royal trade company after all! It also helps with moving our income around. For tax purposes, you know. The last thing we want is to pay the Crown..."

 

=================================

 

Licensed as a medium plantation in Quinnsville.

 

A wide shot of the full build:

 

One more aerial view:

 

Since this is for the GoC-initiative, a shoutout to @Ayrlego, @Bregir, @Captain Dee and @SilentWolf. If possible I would really appreciate a quick response if this build is fine, since it takes quite a bit of room, and I fear our cats might soon find it... interesting.

I was unable to pick coffee as a category when licensing this, which I found very odd (I picked "Tropical Fruit" instead, which coffee technical is). An oversight in the licensing form? This also might call for an update of the island bonus list.

 

As always, C&C are appreciated, thanks for watching!

Edited October 18, 2019 by Darnok

[Ayrlego]

I like your take on the coffee trees - seems a much more practical approach in real bricks to the digital examples I made.

Up front it's a from me but I will attempt to offer some constructive feedback below in the spirit of the GoC challenge and present some ideas in how I think this could be easily transformed to 'next level'.

The layout itself works well with the four 'bays' for the coffee trees and centralised plantation house. Like I said above I quite like the tree design which is both practical and I think true to the actual trees in Lego form. The clearing of the jungle in the background is also well executed with you using all those new bulk leaves to good effect, although I pity that poor worker removing them one by one! Personally I feel the jungle could benefit from being a little more varied in height and the edges are a little square in places - these are minor things though. Additional vegetation at a level between the undergrowth and palm trees would also help sell the thicker jungle look. The path looks good and I know from experience how painfully tedious it is to lay a path like that. At the same time, I think that varying some studs up pieces into the mix and maybe a different colour like dark bley may help break it up a bit. More importantly, making the path slightly less straight would make it seem more natural; or maybe 'sinking' it into the ground by building up the dirt level around it? Similarly the dark tan ground could do with being broken up somehow, maybe a mixture of plates and tiles used to create slight variations in the level?  The building and fence are quite simple but effective. A little too much gold for my taste, but perfect for the ostentatious WTC!

All in all a nice job, and well done on the first (soon-to-be) functioning coffee plantation in the new world.

[LM71Blackbird]

Another wonderful build for the settlement of Quinnsville! Cocoa can have some thick jungle, but I'm sure the inventive WTC will figure a way through it!

[Captain Dee]

Nice build. Definitely approved for GoC  from me.

I think @Ayrlego makes some good points. I also like the trees, and the overall layout is pretty good. Perhaps you could vary the ground textures a bit, but I really like the smoothness of the path. And the gateway and fence are nice.

4 hours ago, Ayrlego said:

A little too much gold for my taste

Dude. There's, like, no such thing as too much gold, man. 

[Bregir]

I'll give you my thumbs up too

In general a good build, but as Ayrlego says, it might be a bit too regular in the wrong places (jungle, ground level, path), which you can consider for your next build.

The story shots and dialogue is very WTC-esque (you decide if that's a good thing ), and I absolutely love the first shot through the gate. Well done!

[Darnok]

Sweet. Thanks everybody for the kind words.

 

4 hours ago, Ayrlego said:

The layout itself works well with the four 'bays' for the coffee trees and centralised plantation house. Like I said above I quite like the tree design which is both practical and I think true to the actual trees in Lego form. The clearing of the jungle in the background is also well executed with you using all those new bulk leaves to good effect, although I pity that poor worker removing them one by one! Personally I feel the jungle could benefit from being a little more varied in height and the edges are a little square in places - these are minor things though. Additional vegetation at a level between the undergrowth and palm trees would also help sell the thicker jungle look. The path looks good and I know from experience how painfully tedious it is to lay a path like that. At the same time, I think that varying some studs up pieces into the mix and maybe a different colour like dark bley may help break it up a bit. More importantly, making the path slightly less straight would make it seem more natural; or maybe 'sinking' it into the ground by building up the dirt level around it? Similarly the dark tan ground could do with being broken up somehow, maybe a mixture of plates and tiles used to create slight variations in the level?  The building and fence are quite simple but effective. A little too much gold for my taste, but perfect for the ostentatious WTC!

All in all a nice job, and well done on the first (soon-to-be) functioning coffee plantation in the new world.

Wow, thank you for the detailed feedback, I appreciate it a lot. As to your points:

• I agree on the "jungle variation", I am a bit restricted by my parts collection. I will try to build some more medium sized vegetation the next time around.
• The "path" is meant to be a proper cobblestone street, so the width is intentional. Again, I can only work with what I have, and that's 1x1 and 2x2 round LBG tiles. I might invest in some other colours in the future, but funds are a bit tight right now.
• Same for the "flat dirt": I don't have small plates in dark tan, something I definitely want to change in the future.

 

35 minutes ago, Captain Dee said:

Dude. There's, like, no such thing as too much gold, man. 

What he said!

 

26 minutes ago, Bregir said:

In general a good build, but as Ayrlego says, it might be a bit too regular in the wrong places (jungle, ground level, path), which you can consider for your next build.

As mentioned above, the street is build as intended, and the rest is due to parts restriction. I'm working on it.

26 minutes ago, Bregir said:

The story shots and dialogue is very WTC-esque (you decide if that's a good thing )

Well, there is nobody near to eavesdrop on them. Rest assured that the revolution is planned in more secluded places. And you didn't read this.

[SilentWolf]

All the good advice has already been given, and most of the good compliments. I do want to point out that I like the usage of the teeth at the top of the building just beneath the gold sections. It adds some nice texture and the gold adds the flair of a nice building. I also have to echo the others that your first picture through the gate is a great shot. I love both the angle and the focus of the camera on it. Great job there. Lastly, I want to praise the use of the palisades to break up the sections of the farm. It helps add some depth and texture while not being too much. Great choice there and I will probably steal that idea in the future. 

You don't need it from me as you already have 3 but you do get the .

[Darnok]

Since it might be useful for somebody:

 

How To Build: A Coffee Bush

To do an exact replica of this build, you will need the following parts: 25x plant brick, round 1x1 with 3 bamboo leaves, 3x plant 4x3, 1x plant leaves 6x5 (all in green), 1x antenna 1x4 - flat top (reddish brown):

I will suggest a few alternative options at the end.

 

1.) Put four of the 3-leaves to the underside of the 6x5-leave part, then stick it on the antenna:

 

2.) Put one 3-leave on the centre (i.e. stick it on the antenna), and add nine 3-leaves spread on the upper side of the 6x5-leave part. Also put one 3-leave on the underside of two of the three 4x3-leave parts:

 

3.) Now put the 4x4-leave parts on the antenna, spreading them so that the 3-leaves on their underside fit in the gaps left below. Maybe you need to remove some parts on the lower stage, or maybe there is room to add even more:

 

4.) Put two 3-leaves each on the 4x3-leave parts, be careful to make it not look too regular:

 

5.) For the last step, simply put the final 3-leave right on the top in the centre:

 

Options:

• the antenna part is not necessary, you can represent the stem by a round 1x1 brick in any brown, or even use another 3-leave
• I suggest putting some bar into the centre of the build though, for stability reasons - you can leave this out, but then the whole thing becomes pretty fragile
• you can switch the position of the three 4x3-leave part and the one 6x5 leave part, as well as replace either with the other option - this will generate slightly different shapes for the bushes, resulting in a more natural look on a plantation
• for really large bushes you can use more than one 6x5-leave part per level...
• ... or use more than two levels
• play around with the amount and positioning of the 3-leaves!
• note that there are no coffee beans represented on this build - you could do so by adding either light green or red round 1x1 plates for immature/ripe beans

[Ayrlego]

Great tutorial Darnok, thanks for posting!