Avalonia Task 5: Valley View Hall

[MiloNelsiano]

Valley View Hall is the seat of the Farwinds. The Farwinds have been Lords in the surrounding lands since shortly after Olaf Farwind landed on the shore nearby after leaving Mitgardia. The castle sits atop a high hill in the plains of Avalonia overlooking a mountain valley in Mitgardia.

This is a pretty basic build for the time being. I plan to (at some point) finish the castle on all sides, and add quite a few more details. Also, please note that building with Legos is my hobby, not taking pictures of them.

C&C please!

Edited August 10, 2015 by MiloNelsiano

[mccoyed]

This is a very nice, clean build. Your photo is also good. Lighting is way way more important than background if you ask me, as long as the background doesn't interfere with or distract from the build. You accomplished that just fine here, IMO.

I'd like to see this with some figs and maybe a bit more variation/details in the grassy parts.

[Gunman]

Beautiful moc man and regarding photography I was going to say that you did the thing we usually advice for photography. Shoot outdoors and not in direct lighting. Great photos.

[Hammerhand]

Looks pretty cool so far! My only advice would be to maybe replace the 1x3 plates on the doors with tiles, just to make it a bit smoother, and blend in with the wood, since the studs seem a bit out of place. Can't wait to see this build finished!

[Lord Vladivus]

Very nice! I'd maybe tile the top of the wall, so there's no exposed studs.

[mccoyed]

My $0.02 is that the studs on the door look like frame rivets as you'd actually see on medieval wooden gates. The studs on the walls could be smoothed with tiles, though, as the others say!

[Yzalirk]

Very nice build, I like the corners of it with those bricks that curve and how certain parts extend a bit out. My only dislike is the lack of trees and bushes, it's just all tall grass but it seems a bit skimpy. Other than that, the wall and gate came out awesome.

[Alfadas]

Looks good! Like the arrow slits, and the curves at the top of the wall. Like the look of the gate. Excellent work.

[LordDan]

Nice castle! Looks very sturdy, and is a very clean build!

[TheRedViper]

That looks like a well structured castle, good for defending Avalonia.

[Bregir]

I really like this castle - it has some nice proportions and a nice texturing on the walls.

The studs on the gate are a great details for me. As someone said, it looks like the rivets on some steel band holding the door together.

However, I agree that the studs on the top of the walls makes it look a bit unfinished, so tiling it could be a good idea.

I am really looking forward to seeing more builds from you, and seeing this castle complete is on my bucket list!

Edited September 5, 2014 by Bregir

[IenjoyLego89]

Very clean build :) love the corner design of the towers (?) on the sides :)

[MiloNelsiano]

Thanks to all for the kind words and a bigger thanks for the advice. The greenery around the castle is not at all finished. Ideally I'd like some trees and rock work as well as possibly a small stream. However most of these pieces that I have are a few thousand miles away at the moment. The studs on the doors were in fact meant to look like rivets, but I can understand if they look out of place to some. For some reason tiling the top of the wall had not yet occurred to me, but I can definitely see the need for it. It will unfortunately have to wait until my next bricklink order (or longer).

[mrcp6d]

In this case, I don't think it's really the studs on top as much as it's the choice of brick. The harsh angle created by the inverted slope looks odd and unsupported. Going with 1x2s instead would have helped I think--studs or no studs. Or, if you've got the pieces, start the inverted slopes a level lower and then bring them back with a regular slope, kind of like this:

ZC (left) and Torgar (right) both brought the battlements out a stud with an inverted slope and then pulled them back in with a right-side-up slope(s).

[MiloNelsiano]

I actually tried this but couldn't get it to look right. I'll give it another shot though, after looking closely at some more pictures. Thanks!

[TheLegoDr]

Also, I think Avalonia's colors are dark green and sand green. You might want to switch the regular green flag to a dark green one.

[plew2000]

Wow, the cross shaped windows and green grass is breathtaking!

[Scaevola]

Very nice build, really great windows and door

[BrickCurve]

I really like how you did the door.

[MiloNelsiano]

Thanks for the kind comments. Ah, the green flags. I was hoping no one would notice. That was a brick linking error on my part. They will be replaced sooner or later.

Edited September 6, 2014 by MiloNelsiano