Kumpelkante

I got mine yesterday, but i dont have enough space to build it until i have sorted my collection.

...or because "Schlucht" (like in Schluchtwall Castle) is not that easy to pronounce in english

Schluchtwall Castle is a castle built on the sides of a mountain pass. It divides the realm of the emperor and the savage land of orcs and barbarian tribes. But some times the emperor's bravest knights gather there to start their campaigns and quests. You find pics in higher resolution in my flickr stream. Also there will be uploaded additional pics soon. Brickshelf Folder, when public

I think the picture was taken in july 2010: maybe i take another after the CCIX or tomorrow so you can see the building chaos.

Hey Guys, i want to take a short break from building for the CCCIX and share and discuss some observations i made on building in general, while browsing through other AFOLs MOCs. Most of you might have noticed, that the amount of details in recent MOCs is insane. (i can say this at least for castle, dunno about other themes). But as the amount of details increases i more and more the sense of adventure. Take for example the castle theme: when i started to come out of my dark age in late 2005 a lot of castlemocs included some kind of conflict, or there where at least in knights in armour around or there was something exciting happening or about to happen. Nowadays you have highly detailed MOCs with lifelike buildings and landscapes, but there are just some lonely farmers walking or not even that, doing nothing. they are just standing around only giving a sense of scale and doing nothing else. But this shall be no rant. I noticed that there are two styles of MOCs. (well two, i want to discuss here). 1: Highly detailed scenery, but no events are happening. the figs are just "a tool, to measure the scale" or a detail like furniture. The effort goes clearly into developing or trying new building techniques. Yes i appreciate the skill of the builder, but i miss some kind of story arc. Extreme examples for this kind of MOCsare found in Castle the last years and CCCIX in particularly (dunno about city and other themes) 2. Lot of Minifigs in the foreground. Exaggerated poses. Some kind o conflict beetween different factions. But on the other hand the building techniques itself are rather basic and there is not much detail in the periphery (like greenery and such). I love to see storys/ events something exciting happening, but for me it only works, when the background /scenery is somewhat believable and creates the right atmosphere. Extreme examples for this are war or battlescenerios and of course brikwars-sessions. Hmmm im sure most builders do not consciously plan to build in one of that two styles. but this shall not be a monologue. Lets talk about building witt legos in general: Did you make the same observation the last years? Do think you tend to build more in one of the two "styles" or somewhere inbetween? Do you think im completely wrong and this is more a matter of the basic building techniques of the past and the more sophisticated present (and hopefully the future)? or do you think its more a matter of taste and castle-builders or Afols in general are more attracted by peaceful harmonic scenes than epic adventures? (btw. i personally think too peaceful gets boring fast ) Btw. this does not mean that one way of building is wrong or that is better than the other. I think that a truly great Moc (at least in minifigscale) needs enough details for a believable atmosphere but also some kind of event that is exciting to give it some kind of meaning (maybe i edit this, when i find a better word in english)

My entry for the miscellainous category. An adventuring party is about to enter a dungeon. Unfortunately the were not approaching with enough caution, so that the inhabtitants of the cave already heard them coming. Folder, when public But you can also click on the Flikr-link in my signature to see hi-res-pics.

Afte many Centuries the Kingdom is united under one King, who then hunts down all noblemen who claim land of their own. Thus Gerald Gruis'dee is taken prisoner by Dankwart the king's white Champion. Later he manages to escape from the town, where he is taken prisoner. Finally he returns to the kings castle and challenges both the King and his champion for a final fight. Folder, when public Well, originally it was intended to be a black knights quest for revenge. ...but i noticed that there is the white guy in each chapter.. well and some other guy

Unfortunately there is not, though i originally intended to build an interior. I still have to figure out how to make an interior accesible (while building a complete structure)

My entry for the hermits hovel category. It depicts the hut of a witch, which is built within the remains of an abandoned tower/keep, that secured a river a long time ago. One rare occasions knights seek the advice of the wise woman to proceed with their quests. Folder when public

Hello, I sign up for Nocturnus. New Avatar will follow this weekend. (will be uploaded by sunday)

I sing up for the eastern Darklands

Hey guy, I am warming up for the Colossal Castle Contest. Heres my first entry, which is for the Hidden Treasure Category. It shows a House of a italian town between 1400 and 1450. The town fell after a siege and is now about to be plundered. Fortunately a wealthy merchant, who is pretty clever as well, hid his most precious belongings in a cave under his mansion. THe entrance to the cave is through the the fireplace, so that nobody would dare to look there. Folder when public

Kumpelkante signing up

Hey Guys, a few days ago, i was playing around with 1x1 plates, while sorting my Lego. The result looked somehow like a spaceship so i decided to build some more. Finally i think the results look good enough to post them online. Here they are: Also i tried to build a bigger one using some 1x2 plates, too. Imho it doesn't look as good as the others. ...but reminds me of a rooster By the way, i am almost a castle-builder exclusively post-dark-age... but nevermind, what do you think of my microscale space-MOCs?

STRIKE!!! Those venetian gondoliers were my inspiration for the boat. Concerning the backgroundcolor, that was in fact my first idea, which i dismissed because i was afraid that the contrast may suffer. ...i'll give it a try anyway, its pretty easy with gimp. Concerning Clone criticism: youre right, it would be far better if the color of the water was all dark blue. its a matter of the collection So far, thanks for the compliments and criticism anyway. And keep sending in constructive criticism.

First of all, i have no clue, in which theme this MOC finally fits in. Originally it was intended as a fantasy/castle-moc, but with some ideas that i incorporated it does look like something else. Though its set in a fantasy-world, it would fit the 19th century. Anyway, if Historic Themes is the wrong forum... move it. However, this little scene depicts the hut of an witch, which is built around an old abandoned tower in the swamp. It looks a bit better in real life, but i hope the weird spooky voodo-ridden creepy atmosphere i tried to create comes across in the pics. Brickshelf-Gallery when public flikr

If you build town: yes it is... if you build historical mocs: yes, unless it are battle scenes if you build star wars or harry potter: can't deny it. come on its star wars and plastic, how can anything that is platic and related to star wars or trek not be nerdy? If you are into Lego technic, thats not nerdy at all. Thats for geeks. and i have to admit other builders can't compete with their building skills. But if you build mighty strongholds, savage battles or giant robots, that can destroy whole eco-systems: that is... wait for it... heavy metal! by the way i consider myself a nerd and listen to heavy metal. so i can build anything i want. (except technic, because thats for geeks ) Well i in fact i do think that collecting and building with Lego is slightly nerdy and geeke, but i cannot take this topic seriously. Guys, just collect, build and enjoy it. And despite all nerdyness almost all of my past girlfriends enjoyed lego as well. So is there any reason left to fall into another dark age again (for those of you who are between 20-24 years old)?

actually i thought it would be like buying a bad movie on dvd( ed wood-bad and worse... also for 5€ most of the times)where it would be so bad that it would be good. well in that regard i was not disappointed considering the quality of the fig and the box art. (i love to laugh at other people's severe incompetence )

Well i also spent 120€ on lego... and still feal guilty. I am not impressed either, and would not have posted if the fig did not went so horribly wrong. But as i said the qualitiy of the bricks is reasonable for the amount of bricks you get for that price... still by far not as good as lego. wont buy a ministeck-set again, but probibly going to collect one sample of each clone product (and bootlegs as well) Taking a second look at it: i noticed that there is a busload of stickers i did not care about anymore when i finished building the set. also: take a look at the box art. two brick do not properly clutch at the back of the car. it is ridicolous!

Hey folks, today i was getting some lego-sets, i bought a Ministeck set (german or same chinese clone stuff for a german seller) too. I noticed some things, i want to show you, so is not a real review but just some funny pics. (and preparing for writing reviews in the future) It was this one. It includes a lot of pieces for 6€ and at least it is build out of basic bricks, but the colour does not really appeal to me. (legos red is much more vibrant) Too bad i will not use them with my collection. Also the build is bulky and the thing is not in scale with the fig somehow. Speaking of the fig: It looks almost like a classic lego fig, but has some serious flaws. first it came pre-assembled with the hat put on reverse (i first thought it was a baseball-cap but it is a fire fighter helmet) Look at the box, you do not see the figs head there. When i realized it, i removed his helmet, which was hard to do compared to changing head gear on TLG's figs. When i finally put off the head gear i saw this. I... have... no... words... for... this... !... well, maybe one: FAIL! Wait a moment. Considering that the head gear was harder to remove and he came preassembeld, it probably was not intended that head gear could be changed. But then it still looks bad and the fact that the head gear was put on the wrong way... lets move on. Also the legs are different. So, when you try to sit down a fig, this does not work that well. Fortunately this isnt necessary, because the car does not provide a possibility to sit him in the driver seat anyway. (that black piece is supposed to be a seat-piece like the one from lego) Btw. there were some accessoires too. THe came in one of those frames like that other brand and i broke one of it by trying to remove it. All in all: you get a handfull of mostly basic bricks. The Quality of the bricks is not as bad as i was afraid, but by far not as good as Lego's. Also the red isnt as vibrant as Lego's. THe fig was... just terrible. Maybe it did not cost much, but definetily that was too much. BTW. What do you think about the set and the fig? What should i change consider when i plan to write revies about good sets in the future?

Never mind, i just post, to say... happy new year of course... and HEY! do you realize that this "coby" great sets will be released THIS "enlightened" year? I "pepe" cannot believe it.

Well i have method cleaning my lego, that might be a bit more time consuming, but is way more fun and a lot simpler imho. First i put off all the fig from the set or moc and put them in a box. Then i carefully dust of the set/moc with a very soft brush wich was originally intended to make ink-drawings (pic one of the larger ones though). Then dust of the figs and reapply them. Simple but fun, because you dont need expensive tool and can "play" with your Lego all the time (well, sort of).

Well, thats an interesting part, nice to see parts like this in a historical moc. Need to get some of these on BL, without having to buy SW sets.

Finally... a moc based on one of my favourite movies. Nice work on blondie and tuco but i am somehow not convinced by the fig in the background that should depict sentenza. maybe this face does resemble lee van cleef (who played sentenza, for those who havent seen that movie yet) a bit more or this one for the kind of mustache as far as i remember the movie As it is part of a larger project: will it contain a graveyard or a bridge? However, its a nice vig that reminds me that i want to build a moc based on different spaghetti-western next year or when i have ordered the parts at BL.

yes, i mean that thing on the base. Sorry, my english is not always the best