[MOC] The Fortress of Falkenholt

[HarrisBricks]

This build is a large castle/landscape display featuring The Knights of the Black Falcon and The Forest Guard.

First and foremost the aim of this build was to showcase what I love about those classic mid-80s Castle sets and specifically my two favourite factions. I have drawn inspiration from the original sets featuring each faction, specifically what I loved about them as a child and aimed to contrast that with what appeals to me as an adult builder.

The build features two fortresses side by side, Falkenholt Castle, the fortress of the Knights of the Black Falcon and an underground network of caves and tunnels that comprise the fortress of the Forest Guard.

Some of the elements that I am most happy with in this build are the level of detail and texture, the cross-section style cutaway on the edges of the build showing the internal structure of the castle as well as the geological layers of rock, clay and soil and of course the three varieties of trees that make up the forest.

More photos here: https://harrisbricks.com/project/the-fortress-of-falkenholt/
 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by HarrisBricks
Resized images

[Sir Jedrus]

very nice landscape!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love it!

[NOD]

Great diorama!  The castle and the landscape are beautifully built. The various rooms in the castle are detailed, interesting and varied. The underground tunnels look amazing.

[Elephant Knight]

Oh wow, this is STUNNING! I LOVE this so much. Especially the underground tunnel system. I'm always a suck for Forestmen tunnels.

I also really like how there isn't a crazy amount of techniques involved. It's mostly basic studs up building. Castles that are full of crazy techniques just don't look like a good sturdy castle. and the landscaping is simple as well, but very well done.

EKnight

[HarrisBricks]

11 hours ago, Sir Jedrus said:

very nice landscape!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love it!

Thanks, I particularly enjoy building terrain.

6 hours ago, NOD said:

Great diorama!  The castle and the landscape are beautifully built. The various rooms in the castle are detailed, interesting and varied. The underground tunnels look amazing.

 

Thank you, I'm glad you like it!

1 hour ago, Elephant Knight said:

Oh wow, this is STUNNING! I LOVE this so much. Especially the underground tunnel system. I'm always a suck for Forestmen tunnels.

I also really like how there isn't a crazy amount of techniques involved. It's mostly basic studs up building. Castles that are full of crazy techniques just don't look like a good sturdy castle. and the landscaping is simple as well, but very well done.

EKnight

Cheers, yeah I have used techniques where I need them to achieve particular angles etc, but for the most part it is built pretty simply. I am more about detail and texture than crazy techniques.

Edited January 19, 2022 by HarrisBricks

[natesroom]

Can you post some closeups of the custom shield, flags etc?

[HarrisBricks]

4 hours ago, natesroom said:

Can you post some closeups of the custom shield, flags etc?

Here are some images from when I designed them (I did not use all of them in my build):

https://harrisbricks.com/2020/forest-guard-shields/

https://harrisbricks.com/2020/black-falcon-shields/

 

[Lego David]

Incredible scenery! Not only is this incredibly detailed on the outside, but on the inside too! I think the various rooms in the castle are probably my favorite parts.

[Professor Thaum]

That's really awesome guy !

There are so many good stuff.

I love this underground cave and thoses trees but this castle is jaw-dropping !

 

Well done !

 

[HarrisBricks]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

Incredible scenery! Not only is this incredibly detailed on the outside, but on the inside too! I think the various rooms in the castle are probably my favorite parts.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Professor Thaum said:

That's really awesome guy !

There are so many good stuff.

I love this underground cave and thoses trees but this castle is jaw-dropping !

 

Well done !

 

Thank you!

[Zork]

WOW!!!

Wonderfull diorama. I like your landscapeing and the tons of details. Like EKnight already mentioned, simple but very pointed techniques. Makes it smooth and interesting.

Thank you for sharing.

[Follows Closely]

I appreciate that you created a moc with playability in mind, that is often overlooked and sacrificed. Well done.

 

P.S. I am surprised by the lack of dark grey. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Follows Closely
added ps

[_TLG_]

Wow, it so cool, so many details!

[The Last of Nergoue]

This build is amazing all around. I especially enjoy the inclusion of the interiors of the castle and the caves. 

[HarrisBricks]

On 1/19/2022 at 11:08 PM, Zork said:

WOW!!!

Wonderfull diorama. I like your landscapeing and the tons of details. Like EKnight already mentioned, simple but very pointed techniques. Makes it smooth and interesting.

Thank you for sharing.

Thanks, glad you like it!

On 1/20/2022 at 4:26 AM, Follows Closely said:

I appreciate that you created a moc with playability in mind, that is often overlooked and sacrificed. Well done.

 

P.S. I am surprised by the lack of dark grey. 

Thanks, I definitely built this one for nine year old me.
There is a little bit of dark grey, but not much. I see a lot of light grey castles built on dark grey rocks, which doesn't really make sense to me as the castle would be built from the stone that surrounds it, but I also made a decision early on to base the colour scheme of my build primarily on the 1980s colour palette (I did break this rule along the way with dark orange and dark tan). I have also tried to use different textures rather than different colours to denote different materials (eg: cut stone versus natural stone).

12 hours ago, _TLG_ said:

Wow, it so cool, so many details!

Thanks!

8 hours ago, The Last of Nergoue said:

This build is amazing all around. I especially enjoy the inclusion of the interiors of the castle and the caves. 

Thank you, I had a lot of fun with the cutaway/cross section aspect of the build.

[BenA]

Gorgeous! I'm a sucker for cutaways, playability and fantastic detailed scenery. This has all three. I especially like the way you built the layers of rock and dirt in the caves, and the angles on that castle are so clean! Brilliant work 

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Fantastic castle. How long did it take to build?

[natesroom]

On 1/19/2022 at 2:22 AM, HarrisBricks said:

Here are some images from when I designed them (I did not use all of them in my build):

https://harrisbricks.com/2020/forest-guard-shields/

https://harrisbricks.com/2020/black-falcon-shields/

 

Nice did you do them as Vector in Adobe Illustrator?

[Feuer Zug]

Incredible build. Insanely detailed, both above and below ground.

[HarrisBricks]

On 1/21/2022 at 11:57 AM, BenA said:

Gorgeous! I'm a sucker for cutaways, playability and fantastic detailed scenery. This has all three. I especially like the way you built the layers of rock and dirt in the caves, and the angles on that castle are so clean! Brilliant work 

Thank you!

On 1/22/2022 at 3:49 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Fantastic castle. How long did it take to build?

I like to build very slowly in my spare time, I build this over 18 months.

22 hours ago, natesroom said:

Nice did you do them as Vector in Adobe Illustrator?

Yep.

11 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Incredible build. Insanely detailed, both above and below ground.

Thank you, I really enjoy the detail.

Edited January 25, 2022 by HarrisBricks
Changes

[Sarophas]

I am speechless! This is so incredibly beautiful and well designed/built, love it!

[BardDandelion]

This is so good. One of the best castles I've seen recently.

Love the focus on the details.

[Regenerate builder]

Exquisite! A feast for the eyes. 

[Actionfigure]

I like the brick texture!

[HarrisBricks]

On 1/24/2022 at 1:49 PM, natesroom said:

Nice did you do them as Vector in Adobe Illustrator?

Yes, I did.

On 1/25/2022 at 1:29 AM, Feuer Zug said:

Incredible build. Insanely detailed, both above and below ground.

Thanks

On 2/6/2022 at 9:02 PM, Sarophas said:

I am speechless! This is so incredibly beautiful and well designed/built, love it!

Thank you!

On 2/10/2022 at 12:26 AM, BardDandelion said:

This is so good. One of the best castles I've seen recently.

Love the focus on the details.

Thank you

On 2/11/2022 at 3:01 AM, Regenerate builder said:

Exquisite! A feast for the eyes. 

Cheers!

On 2/11/2022 at 8:21 PM, Actionfigure said:

I like the brick texture!

Thanks, I spent a fair bit of time deciding on this texture.