Gabe

Thanks mate. Yeah it was a bit of a rush job, i'm still dirty at myself that i didn't manage to finish it in time for the joust! I'm glad you like the deck detail.

Thanks Gideon! Glad u like it. Very interesting to hear about the similarities with real world architecture too!

Hooray, another chapter! I'm getting rather invested in your storyline. Although i know you are not completely happy with it, i think your build successfully sets the stage for your characters. I like the wall texture of the upper floor with the half-stud offset (Although part of me wants to see it on the bottom floor as well), the bay window and the splash of greenery out the front. Btw, that bow in the bay window columns (the 1x1 round bricks) near the roofline looks like it came about because you've gone from 10 studs wide at the base to 8 or 9 at the roof, which is an easy fix. Your ground floor is a little cramped but that is also easily remedied. I tend to make the floors in my buildings a minimum of 7 bricks high at minifig scale, and often make the ground floor a brick taller than those above them as it seems to make for more pleasing proportions. I think the part of your structure that could use the most revision would be the black roof on top of the bay window/tower - the shape is somewhat indeterminate and feels a little cut off. I would expect to see a round dome or something that rises above the roofline there, something that would have made a more striking statement. Looking forward to the next chapter already!

Another beauty of a dragon... i'm loving the shaping on this one and i have to say the neck doesn't bother me that much either. It is quite straight, but because the neck isn't that long i don't think it matters too much. It makes him look rather alert, if anything. The base makes for an awesome presentation too - love the lava, although i reckon it would look cool spilling over the edge of the base!

I think i actually asked on another thread! That's hard being away from your bricks for periods of time - i know i would struggle with that.

Your microscale has a really moody, almost mythic feel to it - it reminds me of Odysseus sailing over dark seas to land on strange, uncertain shores. I love the amount of thought that has been put into the colour scheme and the land formations to make it seem realistic in scale (your 'water palette' is very interesting, although there are even more permutations when you consider that multiple layers of transparent tiles and plates can be used). I think it's barren nature suits it, but i feel like it could use a mix of different textures on top of the outcrop to break it up a bit. Perhaps a few tan tiles or grille tiles in places near the red vegetation might have helped the bushes stand out a little more?

Introduction:Anuar of Peregrinus - also, where's Erudhalion/Erland? / Gabe / Kaliphlin Avalonian timber mill / Gabe / Kaliphlin Kaliphlin cog / Gabe / Kaliphlin

Nice to see your sigfig Windusky, even if it is a provisional one. Looking forward to the full introduction later! Where is your character and his family based, btw?

Thanks LordOfBricks, adde, glad you like it.

Thanks LordOfBricks, glad you like it! I've been building water this way for a while now, and i still think it does the job, although it may look a bit blocky to some. Thanks for the detailed feedback Henjin! I like brick-built hulls too, i find too much reliance on pre-fab hull peices can tend to make ships look a little same-y. It's interesting that you say the ship seems to be sailing too high in the water... that occurred to me too as i was building it, but the images i was working from showed they had really deep, boofy looking hulls, so i left it as is. The problem i think is that the sides taper in too much near the waterline, which is especially noticeable as the ship is shown rolling a bit. I noticed this after i finished it, but had no time to change it and just went oh well! It is a bit of a shame really. Thanks Windusky! Cheers Gideon! Ooh, a harbour scene of Barqa would be awesome! Can't wait to see it.. Thanks everyone! The rigging is very simple on this style of ship, hence why i could rely on the Lego string to do the job. Plus i'm too lazy to make my own rigging!

Thanks Issac, Basiliscus! Just got around to re-photographing my cog - topic is here.

Another freebuild that i originally built for the Summer Joust and only recently got around to re-photographing with Kaliphlin personnel. Not all of the Kaliphlin fleet are huge dromons or lanteen rigged ships. On the west coast of Kaliphlin in particular, Avalonian style cogs are popular among patrol ships for their hardiness and troop carrying capacity. Here a Kaliphlin patrol ship plys the waters around the island of al' Esterbroke. I have to say, i quite like this design - i hope you have enjoyed it too! C & c welcome as always.

Ah, good stuff! The ship's wheel as the centre of the waterwheel is perfect, i'm so mad i never thought of that! I look forward to seeing your designs in some of your MOC's in the future. Thanks for the comment about my nascent shipyard as well... just x'ing my fingers it all comes together!

Maybe i should! But then, if i do, i will have less time for building...

Lovely build mlongworth! I especially like the cantilevered first floor, the bold choice of red, the slightly raised ends of the roofline and the laden cart. The upper side window with the wooden shutters and flower pots is a lovely touch too. As others have said, i would concentrate on your presentation. Having the cart be contained entirely on the baseplate and using a simple black border would emphisise the unity of the build and make it look a lot cleaner.

Nice introduction Spud! Great idea to have a cleric, and i am curious about what religion Amos practises, given that this is a fantasy setting. I'd love to hear that fleshed out a little more! Your chapel build has a lovely roof and some nice texture on the walls, but i think the 2x2 tiles you have used as corner blocks look too big for the building... 1x2 or even 1x1 would have been a better size to use. The gates are a nice addition though. I look forward to seeing how your character develops on his travels!

Ahh... its good to see a fresh Nocturnus build. It does feel strange that it's not a playable guild for the moment, it might not have had the most builders, but it had some very talented and imaginative ones. I love the story about skeletons desperately trying to keep thier crumbling bodies together by magical means, and the build is the perfect setting for thier desperate last stand. Great way to humanise the travails of being undead!

Such an interesting take on the category and very moving. The posing and minifig expressions really sells the emotion, and it's a nice use of the new candle peice and flame. Having said that, I think possibly you could have pulled back the shot a little and made it even more powerful... say for instance if you had an area of unoccupied space to the left, with an empty chair where the father would normally sit in the evenings. It would really emphisise the sense of loss and absence experienced by the family.

Thanks so much Basiliscus, Narbilu and Henjin! Yes! I certainly did have that pic in my reference folder (alongside some gifs of a mill you could buy in Second Life, lol). So there you go. It is quite stunning concept art, for sure. Thanks Ayrlego! If you don't mind me asking, where in Australia are you from? Thanks so much Issac! Yes, you have hit the saw blade on the... well, whatever... they are indeed Uruk-hai swords. Good eye! Thanks for your lovely detailed feedback Capt. Dee! Regarding further images, I have a few more pics of the mill on my Flickr, but sadly none that are closer, and the build has now been dismantled. Sorry! As mentioned above, the sawblades are actually Uruk-hai swords from the LOTR sets. I know exactly what you mean about the waterwheel being too small, i had similar misgivings.Thanks heaps for the pic of all the waterwheels, they look AWESOME and i would have loved to have been poring over them when i was building this! (My google-fu failed me big time in that regard) Are they yours? Props if so!

Cheers Gideon, glad u like them! Mosaics are fun, i've taken a lot of inspiration from Katie Walker and Benjamin Jakobson in the past, they are always good to look at and get ideas from. Thanks for your very kind comments Cptn Dee! I'm very glad to hear that story is working for you also.

Huh? But yeah, otherwise, everything that you said! The birches shedding their leaves are stunning, they really set the scene and elevate the entire build. I also like how the yellow in the leaves is echoed in the yellow on the shield - very harmonious. The house and timber shed are lovely too. I'm really enjoying your clean, uncluttered style of building.

Lovely! Your building has very pleasing shape to it, with the many levels, balconies and walkways. The recessed windows on the towers and the main doorway with it's sand green door are especially nice, and the dark red and dark orange bands on the towers are very striking. I also like the brickbuilt winch lifting the dome, and all the bustle in the courtyard. I'm not so sure that the archways on the central balcony are as successful though - the shapes don't seem to match up so well, either between the inner and outer layers, or with the surrounding windows and archways. I'm also a little curious about how the workers on the lower side balconies are going to get down! Looks like Mophet is coming along very nicely indeed!

Thanks Windusky, Kai! Wow Gideon, that dome is sweet - perfect use for the slight curve on the droid arms! Such a useful size too - not outrageously huge. Regarding the water, i used med blue, blue and dark blue for the base plate layer, topped with trans-clear, light trans-blue, dark trans-blue and dark blue tile (and a few plates and round plates for texture). It's pretty straightforward. Cheers Titus! Yeah, i guess it's a beach? Whatever they build boats on in drydock. I am thinking about having rails leading down from the drydock to the deeper water, to show how the ships are launched - i day say some of that nice tiling will get ripped up in the process, but i wanted to see how it looked first! The tool is a palette knife - i have a few for peeling up tiles, especially tiles that are surrounded, where there really is no other way to get them out. The tip of the knife is thin and flexible enough to get underneath tiles and lever them out, and it doesn't scratch or gouge them either (it might scratch if you are rough, but there is no need to be). Great for seperating large plates too. I highly recommend them - v. useful. Ooh. nice adde, I will have to go and take a look! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shipyard WIP update - Not much progress yet, just building up the rockwalls and drydock areas. I say go for it!

So i made a start on y challenge I build the other day... still at a bit of an undecided stage, despite the extensive tiling. It's going to be loosely based on an image of a Venetian shipyard that i found... plus some other bits and pieces. C&c welcome!

Another beautiful dragon! Despite belonging to the element of air, this is one solid looking beast! The colour scheme is magnificent too - the purple, white and gold of the dragon look perfect against the lime green and tan base. Feathers are very tricky to render in lego - although i think the wings still look good, the feathering still seems a little spindly to me. Did you consider using the chima wing peices at all? I have previously found them very useful to depict feathers. The hinge plate 1x8 with angled side extensions can also be useful, although maybe more so for larger models. I also recall that Cara made a brilliant dragon back in book I, with feathery wings made up of gold scimitars!