Derfel Cadarn

A Guide to building a Medieval Village

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Your instructions are amazing Derfel Cardarn. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your amazing building techniques.

I just ordered some parts from bricklink so I can try some of the building techniques. *doing my part in pushing up the price of 1x1 round plates :laugh:

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I will not be able to get to some serious MOC building for some time due to financial reasons but, I would like to say that I really appreciate the time and effort you are putting into this guide. It is very interesting to see some of the building techniques you are using and I do plan on using this guide for reference in the future when I do start building giant MOCs. :classic:

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Very nice to have such a tutorial!

I imagine it to be a lot of work and it's great you share it with the Lego community! :wub:

Since you are a designated landscape expert I couldn't imagine a better person to do this.

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This tutorial guide of yours, is definitely going to be my favourite handbook to build a good nice medieval MOC. Thank you for taking your time to do this. It is going to help me to hone my MOCing skills, which I am seriously lack of. Thanks Derfel.

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This is so awesome, and even though I may never build a medieval village, the landscaping techniques alone are well worth subscribing to this thread.

One minor suggestion if it is not too much trouble: Could your photos somehow link to larger versions of the photos? Sometimes I want to see some small detail close up like the structure of the water wheel, and it would be great if I could see a photo 3 or 4 times as large to really figure out how it was constructed.

But that is really a minor issue as most everything is very clearly represented in the photos.

Again, thanks for taking the time to share your top notch building methods. I will certainly be a better builder because of this!

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Thanks for the tutorial, this is really great.

Would've been nice a few months earlier, when i was trying to rebuild "Ye old forge", but hey ;) I think that was also part of the challenge and fun, trying to recreate it from three tiny images :D

Am still working on some part of the roof and the interiors though.. should pick it up again soon.

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Derfel Cardarn, I must say your building skill is just mesmerizing to watch. I feel like I'm learning secrets that I should not know.

Fantastic work, you are doing many many people a huge favor.

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Your comments are much appreciated!

The waterfall section has now been posted.

This is so awesome, and even though I may never build a medieval village, the landscaping techniques alone are well worth subscribing to this thread.

One minor suggestion if it is not too much trouble: Could your photos somehow link to larger versions of the photos? Sometimes I want to see some small detail close up like the structure of the water wheel, and it would be great if I could see a photo 3 or 4 times as large to really figure out how it was constructed.

But that is really a minor issue as most everything is very clearly represented in the photos.

Again, thanks for taking the time to share your top notch building methods. I will certainly be a better builder because of this!

For anyone who would like to see bigger pictures, here is the link to the set on Flickr where you will be able to see all the images in a larger size if you need to.

Thanks all

DC

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Thanks a lot for this guide, it has given me a whole new view or at least better appreciation of your works! The thing that always bugged me in them, which has even made me react like "oh it's again a building by Derfel Cardarn, moving on to the next topic", is that your creations are so busy, so full of everything that mere pictures just can't handle it, as well taken as they are. Your creations would have to be seen live and inspected closely to really understand their worth, I think. But it appears that this guide is the second best thing, as one can see the scene building up slowly from the said details. And obviously there's a lot to learn from your well-written instructions (though I hope not everyone will start copying your round plate technique, because personally I don't like the look of it that much - just my personal taste of course). In my opinion the highlight of your guide thus far has been the water technique, which looks awesome. If only those 8x8 plates weren't so expensive and rare on BrickLink... As a recently woken (and poor) afol I can only envy your brick collection! :sceptic:

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I love your guide Derfel :wub:. Thank you for doing this! I'm not much of a medievel builder myself, but I can see a lot of your techniques being useful for other themes as well and your guide is giving me loads of inspiration :excited:.

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THANK YOU!!!

As a novice that collects/makes stuff for my son to play with, until he gets older and is ready to build more advanced stuff, this is so awesome. I always want to see the build techniques on these incredible MOCs. I love the suggestion of Duplo for building up the base, I would never have thought of this and this would save a ton of bricks. I would also never thought of putting a base plate on top of bricks, but I guess it gets anchored down enough with the other plates/bricks. I doubt I will ever build anything this great looking, but now I am better armed if I decide to try. Now I just need to get about 1/8th of the bricks you have.

Thanks again and your work is truly awesome.

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This is wonderful to watch. Thanks for sharing.

I am concerned about moving such a large MOC. Most large-scale builders use some sort of modular design that allows the larger MOC to be "broken" into smaller segments for moving that are easily reassembled onsite for a display. Either that or they get their friends to help shift them onto large plywood boards for carrying. How do you move these?

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Thankyou!

The next section has been posted, the mill is now finished!

Thanks a lot for this guide, it has given me a whole new view or at least better appreciation of your works! The thing that always bugged me in them, which has even made me react like "oh it's again a building by Derfel Cardarn, moving on to the next topic", is that your creations are so busy, so full of everything that mere pictures just can't handle it, as well taken as they are. Your creations would have to be seen live and inspected closely to really understand their worth, I think. But it appears that this guide is the second best thing, as one can see the scene building up slowly from the said details. And obviously there's a lot to learn from your well-written instructions (though I hope not everyone will start copying your round plate technique, because personally I don't like the look of it that much - just my personal taste of course). In my opinion the highlight of your guide thus far has been the water technique, which looks awesome. If only those 8x8 plates weren't so expensive and rare on BrickLink... As a recently woken (and poor) afol I can only envy your brick collection! :sceptic:

Yes, I agree, many times I have taken a picture and thought that it doesn't show the moc as good as it looks in real life. I've always been one to cram a moc full of detail, so it can be heavy on the eyes sometimes.

As for those 8x8 trans plates, I started collecting them at the begining of the year after getting 2 in one of the Winter Village sets. I instantly thought they would be great for water and so I have been buying them here and there all year. They arn't cheap, but you just have to keep watching Bricklink as they do often show up in a big batch for a very reasonable price. I think i have got 40 something, but I doubt I will buy anymore unless I really need them.

This is wonderful to watch. Thanks for sharing.

I am concerned about moving such a large MOC. Most large-scale builders use some sort of modular design that allows the larger MOC to be "broken" into smaller segments for moving that are easily reassembled onsite for a display. Either that or they get their friends to help shift them onto large plywood boards for carrying. How do you move these?

Yes you are right about a modular design. I sometimes build them so they split in half, which is probably what I will do with this one. I will cover all that at some point in the guide :classic:

Thankyou all

DC

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Wow, I am absolutely blown away with this. Its a huge treat to be able to see how you buid your MOC's and see them come to life. One of the things I like is that while we may not have all the bricks, this guide isnt even centred on that. Its a thread of techniques and tricks. Anyone can do it, even if there on a 16x16 baseplate or a 48x48, you have done a great job with explaining and I am so thrilled that you decided to make it. :thumbup:

I may have missed it, but how big do you intend this to be, or will it be expanded as you feel like it?

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This is so great Derfel!

Two questions.. One that Teabox asked a little earlier... is there a reason to have tiles under the river instead of plates?

What part have you used to build the tree in the pic? I would love if you could give me a bricklink number. They look so awesome! :)

6241911368_e272cac2bd.jpg

Guide to building a detailed medieval village 084 by - Derfel Cadarn -, on Flickr

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Mr Derfel Cardarn,

Thank you very much for this great post, your work is amazing and we are learning a lot!

I do not know if you are considering to write a book, a guide, try to talk with some Book Editor, this will be a best seller book! I think some of people like you (MOC Master) can teach a lot. I am plastic scale modeler and there are tons of books for tanks, planes, modeling, painting, airbrush and those help me a lot to improve my skills so one big book of how to make your own creation with LEGO will be a big hit!

Once again thank you very much!

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What part have you used to build the tree in the pic? I would love if you could give me a bricklink number. They look so awesome! :)

They should be Hose Rigid 3mm, unfortunatelly the reddish brown/brown one's are very rare. :cry_sad:

Edit: maybe I was wrong and possibly they are Hose soft and not "rigid".

Very inspiring guide Derfel, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to peep your construction stages.

Edited by papercla

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This is such a fantastic idea Derfel.

Just wanted to say it is coming together great and I really appreciate the time you have taken to share your tips and tricks of the trade with everyone. It is people like yourself in the Lego and AFOL communities that make it such a fun hobby.

thanks again and keep up the great work!

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Thanks for the tutorial! I love your attention to detail.

I just used some of your water techniques in a small moc i put together last night.

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