Baladil Plantation, Hacienda

[Scaevola]

Baladil Plantation, Hacienda

I'd like to claim a UoP credit for:

Anthropology: Life in Kaliphlin

005 by scaevola11, on Flickr

Due to current developments in the Quatarian civil war, Imperator Baladil of the Urgaul Pact called for a council of war with Haladin, his Archduke of Greater Quataria, at his luxurious plantation near the town of Urgaul.

Baladil: With the assassination of the Chancellor at Anemaquar, the Principality is in shambles. A swift, upward thrust at their forces in Quataria City would force them to sue for peace

Haladin: Wherefore our armies are currently occupied in harassing the border governates, it seems it would be prudent to regroup before we strike, perhaps at Ramon

Baladil: Our element of surprise is more important than a few more centuries (a Roman word for a group of 100 troops; is the root of the English word). Few forces will be concentrated in the metropolis since we have been prosecuting our campaign on the border townships. Therefore, the ramshackle shantytowns around Quataria City will be nearly devoid of soldiers.

Haladin: Well stated. If we ardently and effectively achieve this objective, the war will swing greatly in our favor.

(From left to right: Imperator Baladil and Archduke Haladin)

Now for a general description: This hacienda is one of several extravagant plantation houses dotting the colossal Baladil Plantation, in the Township of Urgaul. The workers cultivate a variety of different crops, but mainly Quatarian staples such as plantains, sugar cane, tobacco, and black lotus. Black lotus is the primary article, being a powerful hallucinogen inducing flower (the violet-colored flowers in front of the hacienda; named for black seeds and ooze). While the effects are intoxicating, the lotus is still highly coveted by priests as a method of "communing with the gods" via burning them in pyres and inhaling the smoke. Baladil, being the planter, is in charge of the overall administration of the plantation and sale of goods.

009 by scaevola11, on Flickr

A close up of the ornamentation

013 by scaevola11, on Flickr

An angled view

There are more photographs on my flickr . Critique and tips are welcome as usual.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Scaevola

[Lord Vladivus]

Nice build! Love the use of battle droid heads!

[HammerBro]

Great siding!

[MassEditor]

Cool tower! Some neat techniques here - it took me a minute to realize those were droid heads. Great stuff!

[Kai NRG]

You've really got your own unique style, pretty neat! Like that siding technique, going to have to try it out one of these days!

+1 for the credits, it would be helpful if you edited your post to include the claim.

Just a comment on your photography, it's pretty sharp but could use a bit of brightening up. Where are you taking the pictures? Outside in the shade or on a cloudy day usually yields the best results (at least so I've found).

[Gunman]

Lovely tower dude... I prefer this kind of texturing with the cheese slopes rather with the 1x1 round plates you used to texture the walls.(more relaxing to look at) Nice!

Edited May 22, 2014 by Gunman

[Simon_S]

Nice wall texturing and there are many nice details in there . Brick on!

[krono111]

Nice building! I love how you made the flowers.

I suggest to replace some bamboo leaves with stalks.

Edited May 22, 2014 by krono111

[Scaevola]

Thanks everybody for your comments

@Kai I've been taking the pictures outside on cloudy days, but in the shadow of my house. Maybe I'll try taking the photos in my yard. Also, I edited the post to include the claims at the top of the post

@krono111 Thanks. I tried the stalks but I couldn't really get behind it (it seemed to leave a lot of gaps, and it was hard to insert them with the other foliage pieces already planted)

Edited May 22, 2014 by Scaevola

[Gabe]

Another nice build Scaevola, you certainly are refining your style with the use of different wall textures, window and roofing options. Your photos are still very dark though - have you looked into GIMP yet? Some quick adjustments could brighten your pics considerably. UoP +1 for Life in Kaliphlin, however for dense foliage i would like to see just a little more than just one story of ground cover - i would prefer to see a mix of several different kinds of plant life for that credit. (This could be as simple as placing a layer of 6x5 or 3x4 plant leaves underneath your bamboo peices, or adding the stalk parts to the top of the bamboo - mix it up for different effects! )

[Kai NRG]

If it's already cloudy it would be a good idea to do it outside of the house shade. I usually find that a lightly cloudy day - just enough to cast very light shadow - is the best. On a sunny day though, shade from your house ought to work well.

[soccerkid6]

Very unique architecture The cheese slope siding is neat. The building seems to be missing a door though

[Thomas of Tortuga]

Nice job! There are some really good siding techniques here, especially the battle droid heads. However, when there are several different techniques so close together, they seem too disconnected to me. I think picking, say, two of the wall techniques to carry over the whole building would look better. Those parapets on the top seem a bit high for your minifigs +1 for Life in Kaliphlin, but I have to agree with Gabe about the landscaping. In addition to mixing up the plant types, I've found that making some of them different heights will also add visual interest.

[Scaevola]

Thank you everyone

@Gabe I can see what you mean about the dense foliage (and it should be fairly easy to do in another moc) so I'll withdraw it from the claim. I haven't looked into GIMP yet simply due to time shortage (my athletic season was at its climax, and I have to study for my final exams, but I should find time soon)

@SK Thanks, I couldn't find a door I liked, but I see now its absence is quite conspicuous

@Thomas of Tortuga Thank you. I completely agree with you about the parapets ( I mostly used the figs as an afterthought to tie it into my storyline). The foliage is actually spread on three 1/3 brick high levels, hence the slight overlap for some of the pieces. Due to my shortage of baseplates though, I couldn't heighten the hill like I wanted to.

[Emma]

I like the variety of textures incorporated into this build, the colour combinations work very nicely as well .

One other thing about the photos - they turned out a bit too blue-y; depending on what your using to take the photos, this can probably be fixed with changing the 'white-balance' setting if available. (There's often a few choices like: daylight, cloudy, tungsten. fluorescent, auto...). One of these will make it look less blue (although, if you change where you take the photos, this setting will probably need to be changed again)...

[Scaevola]

Thanks. I'll see if I can refine my pictures some more for the next build

[Gideon]

Lots of interesting details on the tower, I especially like the wall design on the upper floor and the transition to the top part

I think the photography can be improved however, more light (shoot outside in the shadow or on a cloudy day?) and try to not crop the build in the overall shots (this is perfectly fine in detail shots however)

UoP +1 for Life in Kaliphlin.