GoH 10 B: The Great Lighthouse of Barqa

[Gideon]

Great Lighthouse of Barqa

The Arkbri River has been a major trade route through the heart of Historica since ancient times. Where the great river meets the sea, the port city of Barqa is ideally positioned to connect the inland river shipping with the sea traders, making Barqa a major hub for trade between all corners of Historica.

To ensure a safe haven for the valuable shipping, fortifications have been guarding the harbor of Barqa for centuries. Over time this has grown into a strong harbor citadel. To guide seafarers into the port, it has been a long tradition to keep a fire burning on the top of the citadel and this platform has been built higher and higher over the years, becoming one of Historica’s most prominent lighthouses.

This lighthouse was however heavily damaged in the elemental attacks at the culmination of the Revolword war, and it also fell further into disrepair when the trade along the Arkbri river was disrupted by the Kaliphlin civil war. As the trade resumed when the hostilities ceased the prosperity returned to the city. The city council, led by chancellor Gideon, could therefore commission a major restoration and expansion of the lighthouse. Its peak now soars higher than ever before, dominating the Barqan skyline. 
In daytime, the new whitewashed upper section is the first thing seafarers spot sailing into the Arkbri estuary. When darkness falls, the fire - burning bright thanks to being fueled by Kaliphlin naphta - is now visible farther out to sea than ever before.

Great Lighthouse of Barqa, as seen from the Arkbri estuary. 

Great Lighthouse of Barqa, as seen from inside the city. (To be continued...) 

The upper balcony of the lighthouse is an excellent platform to keep an eye on all maritime traffic passing in or out of the Arkbri estuary.

The harbor side of the lighthouse, with some roofed stalls for storage or fishmongers, next to the docks.
One of the main offices for the tax collectors of the port of Barqa is in this fortress, protecting the not insignificant share of the wealth passing through Barqa which is mandated to remain in the city.

Chancellor Gideon, always in a hurry, has visited the fort. Probably for a meeting with some tax inspector manager or some other bureaucratic duties, quite far from the life of a wandering warrior he lived 10 years ago…

As the citadel has been expanded over time, only some small portions of the original rock it is built on is still visible. Some persistent seagulls however still try to claim their ancestral home.

This is a re-interpretation of the lighthouse I built for Challenge II of Book II:

I also built the orginal lighthouse to display at Brickworld Chicago 2014, but since I had to dismantle it (to keep the bricks safe from losing clutch power in a hot parked car during our 2 week roadtrip following Brickworld ), it was one of my shortest-lived builds. However, that build is also one of the most special in my AFOL journey, since Brickworld 2014 was my first convention abroad and the first time I got to meet some other GoH builders in real life. Special thanks to @Rogue Angel who helped get my build a spot at the EB tables, where I had a great time haning out with the EB people there over the weekend!

 

One of the reasons I chose to revisit this build was that I wanted to improve on the blocky “brick” arches over the windows. I also really wanted to try my hand at more advanced water building at a large scale, which I hope is an improvement over the original build’s poured round plate technique. 
The water in the new build is based on a 3-layered technique, with different shades of blue in the bottom layer, trans-dark blue/trans-light blue/trans-clear in a middle layer and finally trans-light blue on top. This enables both a better sense of depth of the water and mixing “new” colors, to achieve a better gradient. I also added some waves at the end, with trans-clear plates as foaming water next to the shore and a pattern of waves out on the open water, at an angle against the “grid”. Building several layers of small pieces creates quite a lot of stress on the plate, so as only building it on a baseplate creates a quite substantial “banana effect”. This was counteracted by having a full Moduverse plate underneath the water to provide additional rigidity to keep the water flat.

The corner turrets were a particularly challenging part of this build, especially the domes. I borrowed the concept of using the dinosaur tails for a dome from @adde51, but figured out myself that if I staggered their mounting points it was possible to create such a dome with only 8 studs diameter. Thanks to the tile revolution in recent years (particularly the 3x3 curved tile finally filling the gap in the rounded tile lineup!) I also managed to completely tile the interior. Not that anyone will notice when exhibiting the build, but I know that it is there  

Interior of one of the corner turrets.

This is also intended to be the first section of a long-term project with more parts of the maritime side of Barqa being built - and hopefully also being able to be integrated with some of my older builds for future exhibitions. While the original lighthouse basically exhausted my supply of tan and medium nougat, this only scratched the top of the tan bins in 2023… 

Lighting by LifeLites, “candle flicker” diodes by the entrance and a eLite Advanced kit (the size of a 2x4 brick) controlling 8 individual diodes in a fire pattern at the top.

Film of the fire at the top of the lighthouse.

The battery box is hidden inside the city wall for ease of access:

[Grover]

I looked at the first picture and thought "Oh, Gideon built a microscale lighthouse.   Wait. Is that a minifigure?  Whoa!  That's HUGE!!!" This thing is amazing.  It is a tour de force in bricks.

The half-stud offset as it increases in height is subtle and quite nice. The detailing in bricks on the way up is amazing.  The details like the seagulls on the rocks are very nice, although I would argue that there is not nearly enough seagull droppings all over this huge structure to be realistic! (You'd need a TON of white for that!)  I like the way you've color blocked the levels, and the light kit looks great.  The sand green house at the bottom looks good, and the statue is a nice touch.  Really amazing work.  I'd love to see this in person at a show!

[Gideon]

10 minutes ago, Grover said:

I looked at the first picture and thought "Oh, Gideon built a microscale lighthouse.   Wait. Is that a minifigure?  Whoa!  That's HUGE!!!" This thing is amazing.  It is a tour de force in bricks.

The half-stud offset as it increases in height is subtle and quite nice. The detailing in bricks on the way up is amazing.  The details like the seagulls on the rocks are very nice, although I would argue that there is not nearly enough seagull droppings all over this huge structure to be realistic! (You'd need a TON of white for that!)  I like the way you've color blocked the levels, and the light kit looks great.  The sand green house at the bottom looks good, and the statue is a nice touch.  Really amazing work.  I'd love to see this in person at a show!

Thanks!
If you come to Skaerbaek at the end of September it will most likely be displayed there, perhaps even with some more of the harbor built by then  
It is however way to big to ever travel over the pond as its predecessor got to do (albeit that was a one-way trip for it)

I really see your point about the missing seagull droppings, realized that already when taking the photos but with not enough time to correct by then...but I should correct that for future exhibitions!

[Grover]

4 minutes ago, Gideon said:

I really see your point about the missing seagull droppings, realized that already when taking the photos but with not enough time to correct by then...but I should correct that for future exhibitions!

We will just say there are a LOT of servants with scrub brushes!

I don't think I'll be in europe this year, and I understand about transporting it. How much does this weigh?  I'm guessing 20+ kg?

[Gideon]

Just now, Grover said:

We will just say there are a LOT of servants with scrub brushes!

I don't think I'll be in europe this year, and I understand about transporting it. How much does this weigh?  I'm guessing 20+ kg?

More likely the guano from the birds gets harvested regularly for use as fertilizer for the rich horticulture inside the city!

Good question, the lower part of the fortress is fairly hollow but the upper part and the octagonal section is quite sturdy to support its size. The plates of water are also quite hefty.
I'll make sure to put it on the scales at some point  

[adde51]

This turned out great man. Been awesome watching it slowly take shape and I can’t wait to see it in person as it does indeed look insanely huge  

[Gideon]

4 hours ago, adde51 said:

This turned out great man. Been awesome watching it slowly take shape and I can’t wait to see it in person as it does indeed look insanely huge  

Thanks! And thanks for all the feedback along the way 
See you in 3 weeks!

(Most WIP projects must be "slowly" for someone who can crank out 50+ high quality MOCs per year )

[W Navarre]

While I like the original you for sure to it to another level here, this is glorious! 

[zoth33]

The structure itself is gorgeous.  The roofs of the little guard towers and the lighthouse part give off a very nice aesthetic.  The color choices for the lighthouse are great and make for a great visual.  The water looks fantastic with the waves.  Really just a lovely build.  

[soccerkid6]

Mind blowing scale, yet without sacrificing any of your signature polish. So so good

Your new arches over the windows are super satisfying with the two layers of depth and smooth use of macaroni tiles. The buttresses of the top octagonal section are beautiful, and between you and @adde51's use of those dino tail domes I'm adding them to my list of parts to stock up on in bulk

Such a smart dome design, and it fits perfectly atop your corner turrets. Also really like the touch of the soot stained columns near the flames

[LordDan]

This is incredible! The original was a extremely impressive build, but the new one blows it out of the water! The new water technique looks very nice, each of the staggered layers looks unique but fit together well, and I like the inclusion of the city interior sections at the base.

[Kai NRG]

It's fantastic, magnificently large but without sacrificing any detail or texture.  In fact, the huge size makes the texture all the better and keeps it from being overpowering.  I love the way the bottom section gets smaller as it goes up, it looks almost like it's sloping which is a great effect!  The lines of medium nougat and dark orange add the perfect bits of color and the horn domes are perfect, making me want to stock up on horns!  The little corner of the city inside is great too, really helps show off how huge this lighthouse is!

One subtle thing I really like: the way the posts holding up the roof right above the fire get sooty farther up.  Such a tiny detail on this massive MOC, but it really shows how you didn't skimp!

Edited April 6, 2023 by Kai NRG

[Ecclesiastes]

Another great example of seeing how a builder evolved over the years. Of course new parts help, but you can clearly see you are more creative with parts now. Those domes, snotted tower, the texture of the waves and arched windows are all perfect examples of that. And while doing that you've managed to make it clear it was based on your previous lighthouse. It has been a pleasure to see all your builds over the years!