Blej Posted July 4, 2022 Hey guys! A nice person directed me from my Ideas page to share this here. Actually, I have been to this fantastic forum many times just enjoying the MOCs and gathering some inspiration when I modified the Creator ship for my childhood Imperial soldiers. The ship build inspired me to design a wharf and island base, something large enough that wouldn't be dwarfed by the scale of the ships. Here we have Imperial Island Outpost. I started with the tower first using real bricks to finding some interesting techniques to set the curves half-stud. It was really just an experiment but the Island started to tell a story too large for my own bricks that I wanted to finish digitally. My favorite part is the hidden entrance at the side with a moving minecart through a cave for collecting a secret stash of treasure underneath the island. The open back interior was a real challenge but the levels are connected properly and it really makes for a fun, playable set full of surprises. Style inspiration was largely from my favorite set Lagoon Lock-up, hence the prison cell, blue/red awning and 'tavern' arrangement. I always wanted an Eldorado Fortress but I never got one so here I've added a black crane, wharfs and pivoting cannons. All the best bits! I'm sure some of you have seen it on Ideas already, thank you for voting if you have already! Your votes are appreciated! But really I'm just happy to share this nostalgic build with as many people as possible. https://ideas.lego.com/s/p:f3c556c1e122464d8ef56e98475d07eb Cheers! Keen to hear your thoughts. A couple of pics below, and more on Flickr or Ideas. SUPPORT Front angle where you can see the prison high up in the tower. Side angle showing the wharf and secret entrance: Front on showing the complex multi-level design of the island: Back view showing the fully detailed rooms and caves (and spider): Top down footprint: SUPPORT Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marooned Marin Posted July 4, 2022 Well, there is lot to appreciate on your vision of Imperial Outpost. The build is well packed and full of play potential. I just love the bougainvillea growing along the tower. You nailed it great! How long did it take you to finish your design? Also, welcome to the forum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mister Phes Posted July 4, 2022 9 hours ago, Blej said: Here we have Imperial Island Outpost. Thank you for sharing your wonderful outpost with us! 9 hours ago, Blej said: What we need is a big red support button in your first post: https://ideas.lego.com/s/p:f3c556c1e122464d8ef56e98475d07eb SUPPORT Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blej Posted July 5, 2022 (edited) 10 hours ago, Marooned Marin said: Well, there is lot to appreciate on your vision of Imperial Outpost. The build is well packed and full of play potential. I just love the bougainvillea growing along the tower. You nailed it great! How long did it take you to finish your design? Also, welcome to the forum Thanks!!!! Have to admit it took me about 2 years on-and-off to get it to this point. I've had bigger versions, full tower modular style, versions with more cannons, smaller versions, all sorts! This was also my first attempt at stud.io, takes a little while to learn the bits efficiently. Thinking about the next projects now! I'd like to build this one physically this year especially if I get some momentum on Ideas. 4 hours ago, Mister Phes said: What we need is a big red support button in your first post: Cheers I wasn't sure the protocol on this. Edited July 5, 2022 by Blej Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marooned Marin Posted July 5, 2022 9 hours ago, Blej said: Have to admit it took me about 2 years on-and-off to get it to this point. I've had bigger versions, full tower modular style, versions with more cannons, smaller versions, all sorts! I think your effort paid off in spades, it really looks like a well thought build. The underground section is just fantastic. Are you planning to build this Ideas-version, or you gonna go BIG and build full modular tower? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blej Posted July 10, 2022 (edited) Thanks mate, it was harder than I anticipated working in small spaces in stud.io and getting it all squeezed in especially the prison. Really appreciate the kind words! I quite enjoy the surprise of moving around a big model and seeing an open interior. I'll build it as near as possible. Wouldn't mind sitting it on a more expanded watery baseplate of trans tiles with the black edge. They look really cool and it'll open the window for me to make some more little islands and join them together into a bigger scene. Getting keen! Edited July 11, 2022 by Blej Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mister Phes Posted July 11, 2022 Another splendorous wonder! I be supporter #602: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PxChris Posted July 15, 2022 This is a great Idea - supported! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blej Posted August 25, 2022 (edited) Hey guys! Thanks so much for the support. Very happy and surprised to hit 1000 being such a large thing. A friend of mine has offered to collaborate on a MILS scene involving this tower and, well, I guess I need more islands! I've put together a smaller tower using the same style and type of half-stud techniques but completely different from the big tower. I suppose the inspiration was partially Sabre Island but with the cannon inside. Unique things about this is the hatch that opens and lifts the ladder (rope not rendered), the offset angle of the main structure and the boat slide. A couple of soldiers took the boat to re-supply but haven't quite made it back to post yet! Here it is on a stand-alone MILS base: I'm not going to put too much effort into 'marketing' the big tower until I've built it starting with this smaller one and moving from there. Thanks for looking! Edited August 25, 2022 by Blej Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marooned Marin Posted August 25, 2022 It's cool! And I like the cannon inside the tower, instead of 'on the tower', it gives small touch of realism in play, but not too much to become too serious. There is a fine line between, and I think you got it right with this small MOC. In the future, if you are sharing something new, not entirely related to the previous build, make a new topic about it and give it a name. You can always make a reference to the previous build with a link inside to post. So, what should we call this island? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blej Posted August 30, 2022 Cheers man, Yeah I just wanted it to feel a bit stout, fortified and strong. I didn't necessarily want to to make a new thread as these will be part of larger scene. It's not really a show piece, the tower has no name haha. Glad you like it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Braunsfeld Posted September 4, 2022 I like this very much. Great style! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zinnn Posted January 8, 2023 I love those two designs and how rich the colours make them look. Not 100% sold on the rounded edges for the towers, but both large and smaller set are fantastic. Supported on the Ideas page. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marooned Marin Posted January 11, 2023 @Blej you have been on the Classic-Pirates.com Good luck on your LEGO Ideas project Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iragm Posted January 11, 2023 (edited) This is an extremely impressive build. Your use of color is excellent, whether it's the yellow surrounded by white near the window, or the yellow curves highlighting the tower and drawing my eye around the scene. I like the use of lighter colors higher up and darker colors lower (you made me look up whether the bush base 6065 exists in dark green, and sadly it does not). The dark gray>light gray>dark tan>green in the jungle section looks pretty good, although honestly the jungle is the weakest part of the build -- not that it's bad, it's just been done quite often. Dark brown at the base of the palm trees doesn't really work for me, I would use reddish brown at the base and top. Although, it might look better in a physical build than in a render. The use of curves is better than anything I think I've seen, I especially like the curved half-height wall that slopes down away from the tower and and curves around, (around the black-gloved figure) -- it's so clean and smooth, and contrasts perfectly against the "wild" jungle next to it. It kind of echos the smooth curved railings on the barracuda bay ship (in a good way). The proportions of the build are excellent, they seem to follow the rule of thirds very well. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it's great. Very nice work with the dock, I really like that it extends into nothing without a plate under it, it breaks up the scene very nicely. The awning looks great, too. This is one of my favorite pirate builds, I would put it on par with SleeplessNight's builds "Lagoon Lockup Revisited" and "Sabre Island AD 2021" on rebrickable. Definitely supported, and I hope you'll make the io file available so I can take a crack at building this. Edit: if you haven't already, post this to reddit so more people see and support it. Edited January 11, 2023 by iragm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
