WesternOutlaw

KD- I can always count on you for taking the time to comment. Thanks for your feedback as always. As a WW and Ghost Town fan, I'm glad you like the coach. It is one of my favorites, and sometimes pictures do not help capture a good creation. This is why I'm photo editing these Grave Stone creations, along with wanting a nice set of standardized good-quality photo edited images.

Drifting a bit away from the desert of the Mohave, the 12th Grave Stone MOC introduces somewhat of a new geography, a bog or swamp, with the Putrid Creek Mill. I was getting a bit bored from the traditional Wild West buildings, so I decided to introduce a creek and mill as a change to the Grave Stone collection. Inspiration Probably the oldest vision in my head of a swamp or landing is that of the Laffite's Landing from Disney's Pirates of the Carribean. Picturing the old man with pipe resting outside his shack provided the perfect inspiration for Putrid Creek Mill. Putrid Mill would replace the old man with a new Castle Skeleton, called Morty Perkins in the story. The Story Some believe that the waters of Grave Stone have long since dried up, but tell that to old Morty Perkins who fishes along Putrid Creek every early morning just before sunrise. Old Morty haunts Putrid Creek Mill, a dilapidating wooden mill that was build during the gold rush. Not much is known about Putrid Creek and where its waters come from, but some say that it is a mysterious river that only appears at midnight during a full moon, its dark waters flowing from the canyon of the Shadow Mountains. There is a legend that a greedy band of miners found the burial cavern of an ancient Indian people in the Shadow Mountains and dared to desecrate the tomb by stealing some of the sacred objects found within. An ancient Indian curse was unlocked along with a grotto filled with water that flooded the cavern drowning most of the miners within. The water was cursed and is known to some as Putrid Water for no living thing can drink the poisoned water and survive. Legend also tells that the Putrid Water can be used to resurrect the dead, if the ancient Indian spirits are called. The old mill stands at the end of Putrid Creek before the waters enter the underground caverns and grottos beneath Grave Stone. Old Morty Perkins knows the secrets of Putrid Creek and even knows how to venture upstream through the canyon to the source of the waters, but who knows what he dares catch in the dark waters near Putrid Creek Mill. The Story Revealed The source of the Putrid Water is mentioned as coming from the Shadow Mountains. The ancient Indian legend will be expanded in a future creation, the Haunted Mine. I had also planned to utilize an Indian Canoe in a future MOC as a great Wild West/Grave Stone impulse creation. The MOC

I think I like Boulder Cliff Canyon the best. It comes with all the essential elements contained in Rapid River Village, just smaller (except for maybe the Chief which comes in some of the smaller sets). The price was almost half making it more obtainable. I also like the design of the Boulder Cliff.

I love it KD! I must admit that I wasn't a big fan of the Indian sets after obtaining 6746 Chief's Tepee while collecting the Cowboy sets. But after rebuilding a few of these sets after a few years, my appreciation for them has really grown. I actually have the larger sets MISB with plans to one day open them. I'm really glad Lego re-released them through SAH. As seen in your pictures KD, Boulder Ciff Canyon looks like a great set for playability, as do the majority of the Indian sets. I wish Lego had mixed the Indian and Cowboy sets similar to what Playmobil offered. I like the entrance to your village and that great little river. The Indian canoes look terrific! Have you considered using some landscaping and background to your village KD? If I had all those great sets built, I would set them up on a tabletop and add some surface material, and a nice printed background. Your set-up is certainly fantastic though. Great sets!

One of my all-time favorites of the Grave Stone collection was this Nightmare Stagecoach. I had wanted to build a very detailed stagecoach since my early Grave Stone vision and had several attempts over the years, never quite satisfied with the final result. One of my earliest creations was this Wells Fargo Stagecoach. I think stagecoaches are hard to build because of the unique rounded shape. Many come out "boxy", too round, or too high. I was pleased with this creation; however, and loved using the new Castle skeletons for articulated detail. Inspiration I have long since admired Wild West builders who have created stagecoaches. Unfortunatetly, there is one particular yellow coach that I could not find a picture of - my personal favorite among the Lego community. In regard to the story below, I spent most of my time on building and revising the Stagecoach not placing much emphasis on the story to go along with it. That's why it's a bit short, for those of you following the Legend of Gravestone. The Story The Bone Brothers have decided to hop in the Nightmare Stage Coach and raise some dead in the Town of Grave Stone. As they ride through the town, one of the brothers shoots two pistols into the air to ward off other Grave Stone haunts that might decide to hold up the stage coach. Watch out! Someone has a dynamite stick! The MOC One of my personal favorites!

The tenth Grave Stone MOC happens to be a creation based on a Classic Town set, 6379 Riding Stable. I ran across the set browsing Brickset, and thought to myself, "I should print the instructions to this little stable". I did so through Peeron, and built the set with alternate colors. Initially, I used white windows, door, and fence, later changing them to yellow. I liked the MOC with yellow much better. I must admit that although the creation is okay, this is probably my LEAST favorite MOC of the Grave Stone collection. I think I prefer this classic with the traditional bright colors used in the mid 80s. The Story Ghostly green lights and skeletal figures have been seen lately outside the Sinister Stable. What eerie mystery lies within its rotten wooden walls? Clanking sounds of a hammer hitting horseshoes can be heard coming from the barn. Perhaps the Phantom Rider is having his black steed prepared for his midnight journey; or rather, it may be one of Grave Stone's Ghastly Steeds being saddled. And what is that shiny object that hangs in the hay loft? Perhaps the object can unlock some of the mysteries of Grave Stone... The Story Revealed This story serves two purposes: 1) It sets the stage for the next creation to come, Nightmare Stagecoach; and 2) It provides a key to unlocking the chest found in the Shady Inn. The MOC

Nice job Apache. I had never seen a minifig depicted in this style of artwork/rendering. It's very nice. I like the colors and the almost comic book-like style you've captured. Do you plan to build the same fig in Lego?

Grave Stone MOCs #9 & #10 utilized official Lego sets and/or designs to create something fitting of the Ghost Town theme. The result was this Prospector and Sinister Stable (revealed later). About this Creation During my first visit to Legoland California, rather disappointed that I didn't find any exclusive sets at the time, I did pick up one single small set. The set was 5903 Johnny Thunder & Baby T; and what a terrific little cart it included that, with just some minor modifications, would serve as the perfect prospector's cart. About the Story For those of you following the Grave Stone series, each story is intended to expand on the Legend of Grave Stone, revealing more clues about the Phantom Rider and what haunts Grave Stone. This particular story tells of Tex Grimwell, a very important character to the legend. The story can also be linked to that of the Haunted Mill. Inspiration Some inspiration (particularly that of Tex's diary) was drawn from HP Lovecraft's story of Abdul Azred's Necronomicon (although no occult inferences were intended). The story also contains elements from the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine. Blending aspects from both stories/legends made a great addition to the Legend of Grave Stone. Early inspiration may have also been drawn from the story of the Lone Ranger. The Story Not many individuals still living in the town of Grave Stone remember Tex Grimwell, the old prospector, but somewhere in a cellar below Grave Stone is his story. Old Tex roamed the desert for months at a time searching for the "Mother Load", the largest gold vein in the west. During the cold nights in the desert with a small campfire and the dim light from a kerosene lantern, Tex wrote about his fabulous journeys. The book was hidden somewhere in Grave Stone years ago, but within its tattered yellow pages, Tex tells of his discovery of a lost mine. Some discount his stories as the ravings of a mad man that went crazy looking for gold, while others believe the book to be actual stories of Tex's survival in the desert. Some even say that within the book is a map to the lost mine. Then there's the question of where Tex Grimwell got the money to buy Sutter's Mill before he perished? Some say it was Jeb Stotworth, his long-time friend who may have poisoned him. But these secrets lie burried in Grave Stone, where few dare to visit... The MOC NOTE: the background image for this MOC is actually part of a railroad/mining tunnel (looking out).

I love it! What a clever little building, and very unique. Aside frome a pumpkin and maybe a Sponge Bob house, you don't see orange used in too many creations. This is fantastic. I like the simplicity of it, yet it has a great amount of detail at the same time. I'm sure this one has a story - I'm going to have to check it out. Blogged!

Tough choice KD - and a great poll too. Thanks for the kind words. It's nice to see that you're still into the WW theme, although I don't think you traveled too far out of Legoredo. I have two favorites, and they are Gold City Junction and Bandit's Secret Hideout. Both sets are particularly nice, but I think I like Gold City just a slight bit better because of the rarity of the pieces, and what you get in the ovreall set (two buildings - the general store with green door and windows, a great armored wagon, two black fence pieces, and a lot of extras). I love the mine as well, because I've always been fascinated with old Western mines. In any case, I think it's Gold City for me followed closely by the mine.

Senor Polomar and another fig in a cowboy hat? I love it! Your pictures are very nice as well. I really like the classic red roof. I used a red roof (with wider red roof pieces) for a simple train depot I built a number of years ago. Here's a shot: This is very nice. It has a lot of activity that really makes the scene look like a train that's just around the corner. The color selection also works very well. Great job!

Nim: First, let me say welcome to Eurobricks. What a nice creation. I'm loving the classic town DB train. I just wish I had one of these little guys. Your bridge scene is too nice for a carpet and furniture background, so I did a little touch-up for you. I hope you don't mind. Very nice scene! Blogged! EDIT: I couldn't get the dust off for you though.

I guess you like this one. Thanks Lego12. Yes, I actually took a few pictures of the interior from the 2nd version. The interior wasn't good at all, but here's some close-ups. I built this in March/April of 2007. It's been long-since destroyed. Thanks Cap'n. I think most have said that the 1st version looks a bit better.

After the Fall & Winter of 2006; in March of 2007, when everything began to thaw out, I returned to Grave Stone once again with an attempt to re-create a very early Ghost Town creation called the Shady Inn. I wanted to utilize light green bricks that I purchased from Legoland Pick-A-Brick a year earlier, with prior attempts not turning out well. The trick behind the Shady Inn was to build it large enough to have interior room for a bar and hotal rooms, making it much larger than traditional Wild West buildings (at least from Lego). While the interior never came out as well as I wanted it to (due to a lack of useful bricks at the time), I was quite pleased with the exterior., esp. the color palette of light green, dark orange, and white. Inpiration The inspiration behind the Shady Inn was based on no single source, but rather a continuously haunting desire to build a large hotel for Grave Stone since the beginning of my visions for the town. Very early inspirations may have been from a Pink Panther Cartoon called Pink Panic. The thought of a haunted hotel within a Ghost Town has always been fascinating and even modern horror films have used the concept. About the MOCs No other creation from the Grave Stone collection has been re-built as many times as Shady Inn. I must have had at least five different Shady Inn MOCs over a two-three year time span, never quite happy with the final creation. I think of all of these versions, Version I (pictured first), was my favorite of the creations; however, Version 2 had a secret door in the upstairs closet that opened to the roof top, an addition that I particularly liked. Shady Inn Version 2 would include more custom minifigs that I had ever used throughout the Grave Stone collection. Four Western figs (including a buffalo soldier) would find themselves outside the Shady Inn being chased by skeletons as they loot the Hotel (not mentioned in the story). The Story Have you heard of skeletons in your attic? There may be skeletons in your bed in the Shady Inn Hotel. Within the desolate town of Grave Stone stands the Shady Inn. It's a horrifying place with boarded windows, creaking floors, and terrifying spooks that haunt the dark rooms within. Legends say that the Inn was built on a graveyard, while others believe that the land beneath was the ancient burial ground of American Indians. The shadows play tricks on ones sanity within this horrific hotel for those who have dared spent the night have seen those terrifying visions of apparitions and the undead, calling for someone to join them in their shallow graves. If you are unfortunate to have stumbled upon the ghostly town of Grave Stone, you may want to think twice about spending the night in the Shady Inn. About the Story The Story of the Shady Inn embraces two different concepts: 1) That the hotel was built on a graveyard (Poltergeist inspired) and 2) That the Shady Inn was built on an ancient American Indian Burial Ground. A similar Indian burial ground concept would be used again in the story of the Haunted Mine. The MOCs Version 1 Version 2 Looking back at the Shady Inn(s), I appreciate them much more now, than I did upon building them. I think the revised graphics help enhance them as well.

Thanks for the feedback, Pr0visorak, TLV, CommanderCody, Cap'nBlackmoor, Zorro, and Lego12. Unfortunately, I never took any images of the inside with the roof off. I'd be glad to share if I did. No mystery here.

Strange to see that this set is back. I picked one up last time it was available. It's not a bad castle, just not the best. The torture chamber is pretty neat. I also love the ghost.

Dead Man's Bridge was the sixth and final creation of the Grave Stone wave built in October of 2006. Unfortunately, I never took a picture of the complete town with Dead Man's Bridge pictured. Inspiration The story would introduce an entirely new or "literary" concept to Grave Stone, and that is the infusion of the famous story, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. This is a story that I had always enjoyed hearing, esp. around Halloween. Dead Man's Bridge serves as the entry and exit to the dreaded town of Grave Stone, and the story mentions that it is the one pass leading out of the town. Later, stories surrounding the Ghost Train Collection would hint at another possible way out of Grave Stone. Similarity can be drawn between the Headless Horseman and Grave Stone's signature icon, the Phantom Rider; and Dead Man's Bridge is only one of a few creations that pictures the Phantom Rider as part of the scene. The Story Along the outskirts of the desolate town of Grave Stone, a spooky wooden bridge stands as the one pass leading out of the forsaken town. A mysterious fog engulfs the rickety covered bridge and it is said that many have entered the bridge but few have reached the other side. It is best to take one's chances spending the night in Grave Stone than trying to get out through Dead Man's Bridge! The MOC

Clever creation SeaKing. It does have that Classic Town-style about it. Nice use of 33 pieces. I really like the pilot. Blogged!

What an awesome set, even though I think $100 (USD) is expensive for a single train engine with one train car. I'm going to overlook the price; however, for the great set that it is. I'm loving the large train wheels and the design of the engine. It appears by the Lego SAH description, no motor is included. As others above have mentioned, I'm really curious as to the power system. I hope that this new system is not battery powered; but if so, a rechargeable battery is what Lego designers have incorporated.

Interesting topic LME. I enjoy reading others' view points in regard to themes like Knights Kingdom. While I don't exactly hate the theme; for me, KK was very similar to the collection of Town sets in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Design really god bad. Larger pieces were used and with KK, Rainbow Knights with large silly-looking swords served as the figs. Lego really drifted from the very high quality design and detail that was Classic Castle. I actually own a number of the KK sets, and while I somewhat like a few of them, they're just not Classic Castle. While the new Castle theme is nice, I'm not totally impressed with the castle structures (like 7094 King's Castle Seige). It's a lot better than KK, but still not Classic Castle. It's all about the detail and quality of the design.

Apache! It's nice to see you coming around these parts again. -haven't seen much of you lately. I like that signature! Yes - just something fun to photo edit in. I'm glad you commented about the bell. I had no idea how to create one with a small bag of limited bricks. A yellow bell would have probably been better, but I just picked up a few pieces that I had at the time, and it came out pretty good. Yes. Good point. I was never looking to create a very spooky church with this MOC. In retrospect, some erosion would have helped spook it up a bit. I think it was Batbrick who once mentioned the difficulty in making a new MOC look old (with his Post-Apoc creations). If I ever attempt another stone structure like this one (for Grave Stone), I would try to destroy it a bit. I sometimes think of angels when I think of trumpets. Plus the use of some shiny pieces seems to help convey the grandeur of a church (even if this one is sinister). Yes, I've photo-edited the cross out of other pictures, but with the background, the cross seems to be hidden in the shadows. Don't ask me why I used the green shutters? I think at the time, all my grey ones were being used in other buildings. I don't believe I have any black. It's the bright white color. I actually tried with grey, but I liked the picked white fence for a chapel. Thank you Lego12. I enjoy reading your comments and critique. It's great to hear that these creations spark your interest in the History & Adventure Forum.

Someone above had asked if the mill has an interior. It does not, but there is some action in the outhouse: And another little brown barrel.

Nice job. The small radar dish actually works pretty well. 7416 Emperor's Ship had two great Chinese hats, but a little more heavy-duty. I also like the jedi torso that you used. That works well for a robe. Ninja torsos might also work well.

You're kidding? The elephant was also contained in 7414 Elephant Caravan, a very nice set as well. He is an awesome Lego dinosaur-like creation.

Thanks Lego12, and also for commenting on my site. I appreciate reading the feedback about Grave Stone, both Lego MOCs and story. I saw that tan barrel. I'm not sure that I really like the color though. It is a great part, but I think I need to have it in my hand (in tan) to appreciate it. I do look forward to all the new Indy sets though, as I'm a huge fan of the Indy Theme It's that classic town design. These types of creations are easy to build and timeless.