Ayrlego

The abandoned mine turns out to contain a sizable deposit of salt.

Unfortunately this time, your prospectors have struck out, only finding rock... although it is very fine rock, suitable for a quarry

Brilliant work! I especially love the woodwork on the piers, the extensive use of the bracket piece with cross beams is really effective and something I will remember for the future. The building itself is also very nice with the year a nice little detail in the front façade. Jameston thanks you for your service in developing this factory which will allow it to finally achieve the same status as it's nearby rival, Mesabi Landing! Great work! I've transferred the agreed price and licensed for the Jameston account.

fixed!

fixed! Actually on checking they have, look in column H. The way Oleon's tax is calculated shows in column H. Column P is for those money loving greenies.... I just love how complicated our account sheet gets!!!! Actually on second checking I'm not sure what is going on. How was Oleon's tax set up again? Do you guys tax income (that would show in column P) or do you tax the previous sheet total (that shows in column H). Or is it both. It appears both for most Oleon players... so I've added the formula to column P for the LBSF.

Hmmm, let me have a look. I've done a full audit on properties in Queenston with the following results: Queenston (the account) only owns four properties: Corner Townhouse, Queenston (via Ayrlego) (+1 settlement size) Primary School, Queenston (via Bricksbypidy) (+3 settlement size) Guillotine, Queenston (via Justsomebrix) (+2 settlement size) *note this was licensed in March and will not appear until the next account sheet Sawmill, Queenston ( via Justsomebrix) (+2 settlement size) *note this was licensed in March and will not appear until the next account sheet So.... the property income for the Queenston account for Jan-Feb should be 20DB which is correct. It will increase to 46 in the March/April sheet. As for the debt, I have no records of any funds being transferred to the Queenston account to cover the costs of either the small residence or large education. So the sheet is correct there as well. To fix this I've retrospectively transferred some DBs to cover these costs. Does that all make sense?

Yep, should be good now You should - but I've forgotten to transfer you the money. Which build was it that I've missed and how much? Let me know and I'll fix it. Yeah sorry, not sure where that came from... fixed now. Fixed now, let me know if there are still any issues

Not finished yet... but due to the significant delay I'll post my working document here: Jan-Feb 2023 Account Sheet I need to add new/sister ship license fees and tMRCA upkeep and income. Any issues with anything other than the pesky tMRCA figures, let me know!

Thanks, it's a third party piece that I got from here: https://www.firestartoys.com/products/custom-design-headgear-pilgrim-hat-female.html

Thank you all for the kind words. Sorry it's taken me a while to get to this question - here is a breakdown of the swivel gun:

I have to echo Jeff here, I do also love the pike/musket formations of the slightly earlier period that you use for Eslandola. Great posing and landscaping as well!

This is a truly impressive display of Corrish strength on Oleonda. Well done!

Supply Depot, medium artisan licensed for Corrington.

In busy Port Woodhouse, the military have commissioned yet another storage depot as Port Woodhouse continues to be a growing military and administrative hub of the Empire. This was built for a presentation at my local LUG and if you haven't seen it I did a breakdown/tutorial in the main pirates forum here. I tried to use a number of different techniques that I've used in recent Port Woodhouse builds. Anyway it's March and this is my first BoBS build this year... wow... need to try and address that!

Apologies, fixed now!

This (as I have come to expect of your work) is really brilliant and perfectly encapsulates how I imagine the look and feel of Elizabethville. The landscaping around the paddocks is really well done and I am going to have a go at one of those flower stalk trees - they look awesome! for GoC!

Front page updated. Congratulations @Bricksbypidy who in an enormous effort has completed tasks "Redcoats Rule!", "Bastion of the East" and "Daily Life of the Myzec". Arise Sir Peter Nash (architect), Knight of the Order of Corrington!

Part Four - Detailing With the roof now on, the building is basically complete - but not finished! Firstly the balcony area looks very stark and exposed and well... a bit boring. Lets add a barrel and a minifig in addition to the torch we already added. It still looks a bit bare. I'm planing on a palm tree on the opposite side of the building so some green would help balance things out on this side. Also standing in the sun all day must be very hot for that redcoat sentry! Let's add a pergola! The poles are built using simple 1x1 round bricks with some brown flower pieces for decoration. The cross beams on the top are brown plates. As you can see the poles are offset by half a stud using jumper plates, this works out ok with the top plates as you can connect the round 1x1 bricks to the offset middle studs in the bottom of the plates. This way the poles are offset by half a stud, but the cross beams still line up with the rest of the building. The vine on top adds the colour and shade. Don't forget to show how the vine gets from the ground to the pergola - we don't want a floating plant with no roots! We also need to finish landscaping the base plate. The SNOT sides are smoothed over with some slope bricks, plates and tiles. Using a mixture of colours also helps make the landscape look more natural and blend everything together. While it depends on the look you want to achieve; I like using a lot of tiles in the landscaping stage. Some exposed studs look good (not everything should be tiled), but in general more tiles makes the build look less blocky IMO. Again it depends on your personal taste here! The other thing to note is the bley detailing around the base of the building. This is important to help blend the building into the landscape. Some more shots of the landscaping. In the first picture you can see the flower insert for the flower box. Again this just sits in place (sorry purists!). At this stage add some interest to the scene with some barrels and chests - or if you are lucky enough to have some, the scala vases that I was inspired to ship out all the way from Europe by the work of @Gideon (Jonas Wide). Lastly I've added the palm tree. The design is not original - it's been used many times - I think @Full Plate ( Emil Lidé) may have been the originator - you can find lots of great vegetation builds in their Flickr stream or website. So apart from the final photography, that is the guide part of the build pretty much done! I'll post the final build in it's own thread in the BoBS forum once I've taken the photos and link here. Please feel free to ask any questions on any of the techniques or anything else here. I hope this was useful, I'm not the most creative or advanced builder but I'll happy to try and share my thoughts and techniques if it helps anyone!

Part Three - The Roof The next part is to add the terracotta style roof. This technique will work for pretty much any length roof and can be adjusted for different heights and pitches but for this building I have two roof sections each six bricks in width of very similar height and pitch. If you are using this technique on larger roofs, you may want to add more attachment points as the larger the roof, the flimsier it becomes. I start with the four roof sections which are made with a mixture of dark red, red, reddish brown and dark brown 1x1 round bricks. You could also mix in any of the nougat colours and dark orange for a different look. After some basic experimentation, I found that a stack of five round bricks gave me the right height for the roof. A brown 1x6 plate is added for stability in the middle (although for this size roof technically this is not strictly necessary) and at the top. The bottom is a 1x6 tile. Note the attachment points on each section where I have replaced a 1x1 round brick with a 1x1 round plate/1x1 round plate with bar/1x1 round plate stack. You could add more of these for extra stability but for this size, one is plenty. You can attach the roof to the ceiling in a number of different ways - here I use two examples. The first above uses a 1x1 brick with stud on the side, then a 1x2 plate with clip to attach to the bar on the roof. On the second section I've used the same basic technique but this time with 1x2 plates with clip on top. Lastly both sections are finished of with a stack of round bricks/plates sitting in the crevice created by the 1x6 plates at the top of the roof. These are held in place by gravity and a small amount of tension. If you're a purist who can't stand the thought of unattached bricks, you could attach them to the walls with a technic brick (tricky to get into the correct position but possible). And that's the roof done!

Part 2 - The main structure/building For this example, I am going to build in the classic stucco style often associated with the Lego pirate theme's Imperial factions. For this style you'll primarily use white bricks, with some earthy highlights. I use light bley, tan and dark tan in this example but any of the nougats and even sometimes dark red or any of the yellows can also work. I also make heavy use of old yellowed white bricks. For this style - the nastier the scratches and yellowing the better! So if you are lucky enough to have a stack of old neglected white bricks - this is the style for you! To begin with, let's lay the foundation. I'm going to use light bley for a foundation in this case. Lay out the foundation in the shape that you want the building. At this stage you should have a decent idea of what you think the finished building will look like (although typically I change my concept midway through this stage in this very build!). Things to consider are placement of windows and doors. In this picture you can see I've temporarily laid out some windows to make sure I have good spacing. There is nothing more annoying than building up to the window stage only to realise you need to extend the whole wall by a stud to get the symmetry right! Build up your foundations between one and two bricks in height, varying the height randomly as you go. I have also started to mix some tan in at this stage for added detail. Also remember to place your doorway(s) at this stage. In this example the door will be where the 1x4 bley tile down is located. Now for the repetitive part - building the walls. Using a mix of plates, round plates, headlight bricks, masonry profile bricks and normal bricks, start laying down the walls. Uniformity is the enemy here. Make the layers as random as you can. I love to use headlight bricks on there side to make a two plate high exposed stud - this gives the walls a nice texture. My sigfig also makes an appearance here so I can judge the height of the windows. The window height can vary depending on the type and style of building/window. In this build I've gone seven plates high (six if you don't include the rail plate I've used as a window base). You'll notice in the next picture I've modified the height of the walls around the window as I designed the window frame. Here I've used a simple window frame design. The arched windows are framed by 1x1 round bricks with a white flower piece inbetween for added detail. A 1x4 arch is placed on top with a wheel guard sitting on top of the arch. The wheel guard won't clip into place and there is a gap visible between the top of the window and the guard itself. We'll secure the wheel guard with bricks and plates in the next steps. Now let's make the door. Using three 1x4 (you can use one 2x4 and one 1x4 - it doesn't matter) make the back of the door. It is important these plates are at the bottom of the door. The top two studs should just be tiles - if you have backing on the top two studs the door is not going to fit into the arch in the next step. Place at least one 1x6 tile for stability on this base then make up the rest of the door using tiles of varying lengths. Try not to have the joins of the tiles in the same place on adjacent tiles. You can place a ring or a 1x1 round plate as a door knob. Now place the top on top of the tile you laid earlier to mark the doorway. The walls each side of the door should be exactly 11 plates (three bricks and two plates)high. Now place a 1x6x2 arch on top of the doorway, sliding the tiles at the top of the door into the hollow part of the arch as shown above. The door will slide around but we can fix that in a minute. Using some plates/bricks, build a stopper to prevent the door sliding inward. The door is not joined to the base here (although you probably could if you really wanted to). To stop it sliding outward, you can place a plate next to the tile the door sits on. You'll see this later on as I build up the pathway around the front door. Continue building up the walls adding windows as you go. Remember to plan for other features such as putting in bricks with studs on the side to attach vines or torches. Clips if you wanted to add racks or other accessories/details. A top view. This building won't have an interior (most of mine don't) but I've added an interior wall for the back tower part for stability later on. You'll notice on the parts of the wall that won't be visible from the outside, I haven't bothered texturing. Save your parts (and time) for the visible sections!!! At this stage my plan was for a simple one story building with an offset roof over the door and a tower at the back in the centre of the building. This would soon change.... For now however, I continue with the original plan. The walls around the smaller door section are at the right height so I add the end section using curves and a decorative technic brick. I have also closed in the ceiling with a plate. This will make attaching the terracotta style roof much easier in a later step. Also you can see that I've started adding some pathway around the door including the exposed stud I mentioned earlier to stabilise the door. The side view of the roof end showing the curved bricks and decorative pieces. You can add some little details like the torch as you go, or all at the end or like in the case, a combination of both. Thinking about the details now is good to prevent you having to rebuild sections later to add the attachments to the wall. Here is where my plans for a simple single story building got... well funky! I wasn't happy with the bare wall at the right hand side and wanted to add an overhang. As I did this a new plan for a second story evolved. This is a great example of being flexible in your planning and changing things on the fly as the inspiration takes you. Overhangs need support! Here I have used some SNOT curved bricks attached to the wall with bricks with studs on the side to create some support for a small swivel gun emplacement. Purists won't like my swivel gun design as the handle part doesn't exist in black so I spray painted a trans-clear one. You could simply use a black tap piece instead... but I digress. Here is a breakdown of the swivel gun as requested below by @NOD. I decided that the second story would have an outside section around the gun emplacement and a small room between the balcony and the roof over the front door. For some variety, a new window design is called for and this design will have a flower box underneath it. I have placed two headlight bricks on there side six bricks apart at the bottom level of where the window will sit. This is how we will attach our flower box. Now add 1x1 bricks with the stud on the side in reddish brown. The stud on the side should face down towards the ground. Next add a 1x6 tile to the bottom of the box. And a 1x6 tile to the side of the box. The flowers won't be attached to anything but will simply sit in the box. I'm not big on strictly sticking to the 'rules' when it comes to everything must be connected!! Again there is probably a solution out there but I'm simply not that invested in finding it! Now the final shape is starting to take place. The front window is constructed using similar techniques to the bottom ones so that the style ties in. Lastly I've added the front façade for the roof and the tower section at the back. The crenellations on the tower are rather castle like in style and are fairly simple to construct. Again I've used the technic bricks with the axle hole as a decorative feature.

Hi everyone! This is my attempt to share some building techniques, tips and general thoughts on my building process. Although my MOCs are not generally very complex, I get a lot of requests for instructions so I thought there may be some interest. This is not a step by step tutorial, although hopefully you should be able to create something in this style fairly simply by following along if you are so inclined! Here is the final product which you can also find in this thread here. Part 1 - The (basic) base Although it may seem a logical place to start, somehow I often don't start with the base! It does make things easier generally if you do though! A raised base tends to add to the scene, giving the impression of depth. For this build I'll use the basic raised base that I use a lot. It's a modified version of a base that you can find full tutorials for on BrickBuilt. The first step is to get a bunch of 2x2 plates of varying length. I have used black because I have a lot - but the colour at this stage isn't really important as you likely won't actually see any of these in the finished product. Place the plates out in the rough size/shape that you want to make the base. IMPORTANT: You don't have to get the exact size/shape right first time. This method is easy to modify as we go - I fact by the time I get the end of this build I'm certain I will modify the base! The next stage is to join your 2x2 plates with 1x1 plates around the outside of the base. It is important that the outside edge is two plates high. Now we want to re-enforce your base - this is especially important if you plan on moving your MOC around. You can use any size plates to connect the base together but it is important that none of this form work exceeds two plates in height. Now we begin on the SNOT sides. Line the outside edge of the base with bricks with the stud on the side. Again colour is not that important, although if you have bricks in the base colour of your landscape that can help. In this example I have not used bricks with studs for the corners but rather have used ordinary bricks in dark tan - which will be the primary colour of the landscape in this MOC. The reason for this will become clearer in some of the future steps, but it means you have the option of varying the height of the base in the corners, which can break up the uniformity of the edges and make them look more 'natural'. We can now start to lay down the ground level. Expand your support bricks below as you go using normal bricks and more plates as required. You can see I'm using lots of 2 wide black bricks to give the top plates extra support. Better to use more than you need here as there is nothing worse than pressing in parts later on only for the base to collapse because there isn't enough support underneath. And here is the basic base competed. We'll modify it and finish texturing the sides as we continue with the MOC. Note the one plate lower corners I mentioned before. For now; however, let's continue with the exciting part - the building!

Absolute gold!! Love this explanation!

Nice showing the trails from the chests in the sand! Better luck this time... not sure if it meets the definition of glorious, but the team have uncovered a substantial copper deposit.

Unfortunately, the prospectors have struck out this time only finding rock - although analysis shows it would make ideal building material and a quarry would be viable.

A beautiful build and very welcome addition to Jameston. I have really enjoyed your sugar builds for this GoC task but this may just be my favouritism of the three. Well done and for GoC of course.