Darkie

Thank you all for your comments! I do appreciate it. I'm hoping to get started on the bulk of construction in the next few weeks. We'll see how that goes...

So...ya'll remember my Cathedral. Big ole' white building. This creation's gone through many phases. From it's humble beginnings, the Cathedral has grown from convention to convention, changing with each showing. But, I'm sad to say...it was time. It was time to tear down the building, sort everything out, and start anew. And while the original took me literally years to build, it only took four hours to tear apart. Buuuuut I'm not one to let good brick go to waste [And let's face it: I needed a distraction from the rest of my world, which is going the way of the previous Cathedral....]. So I'm rebuilding. And once again, I'm being ambitious. Thus I present some WIP photos. These aren't necessarily the final pieces, but they're certainly more than simply WIP. I'm putting a lot of thought and care into the interior on this one. Confessional Pulpit Base of a Statue Repurposed Stained Glass Apse of the Cross-Design Floor design work Overview What you see is about 8 hours worth of work, from laying the base, outline, foundation, landscaping. I spent about an hour working on layouts on graph paper, to figure out angles and what I want to see. And that's only three bricks high off the base! It's 3x3.5 green baseplates, or 96x112 studs. It's actually two modules, for easier transportation. The design itself is based on real-world designs for the great structures of Europe. Wikipedia has a pretty good article, if you're curious. So. Any suggestions at this point are quite appreciated. :) Thanks!

So, I actually built a MOC today. I was going to use the massive amount of dark green I got at the pick-a-brick today, but that didn't inspire me. ;-) Where this came from, I don't know. BUT! That's okay, cause this will work in the display at NWBC this year. Anywhoo. The MOC. Gallery Nothing too special. I was just playing around with ideas, and this sort of popped up. It's an armored transport for...something. Who knows. Gold? Food? Cargo of questionable legality? But! The Driver The side view Top View I'm fond of this, and I don't know why: This is where the horses are attached, if you will, to the cart itself. It just works for me. No clue why. For the record, black is a terrible color to take pictures of. Comments/Constructive Feedback welcome!

I know I'm (really) late coming to this party, but here you go. Yep, this was from BrickFest. Steve Witt provided all the pieces, and it was a community thing. You could stop by the LEGO table and build a portion of this. It was more or less just a fun thing for con attendees to do, and Steve wanted to see how big he could make this. So it wasn't really a MOC, just an activity to pass the time with. :) And an opportunity for those who don't own the Cafe Corner to see it, touch it, and work with the pieces. :)

Thank you all! To answer your question, Jipay, I'm thinking there are a few alterations (minor!) to the Cathedral to be done, then there's the supporting buildings: after all, the priests etc must live somewhere. I HAVE to redo that darned cemetery, too. I'm not happy with it as it stands, and I have until October to make it better. :)

Yep, Recluse did the casts of the headpieces for me. I'm eternally grateful to her for them. Thank you!

After it's successful debut at BrickFest, it's now time for my "official" post of my project: The Cathedral of St. Anthony. The Flickr gallery can be seen here. Without further ado! Front View Rear View Details Here there be statues. Lots of statues. There is meaning behind the statues, too, so cookies to who can figure it all out. :) And my personal favorite shot, done with my new camera: Click for bigger! At this point, not a lot of changes will happen, but if you have some constructive feedback, I'm glad to hear it. I have six months to improve this. ;) Thanks!

I'd like to present a very small portion of a larger MOC: The cemetery that is on the grounds of St. Anthony's Cathedral. (Yes, it finally has a name! :D) There's a sort of shady, partially developed storyline that goes along with this whole thing, and I suppose this explains part of it. Who knows. On to the MOC! Here's a particularly bad arial shot of the smallish cemetery. Of particular interest is the partially-dug grave, complete with tenant: The Valiant King, now long deceased. Though, why his old bones are hanging halfway out of his grave, I know not. :P I'm particularly proud of the old Oak tree that sits alongside the open grave. I worked hard on that darn thing. Finally, the military portion of the cemetery. The little wedges looked uniform, which reminds me of the endless rows of white crosses often seen at cemeteries. (No, this is NOT any sort of political statement. It's just a MOC, which really does have a context that I can't mention. Yet.) So there we go. Nothing spectacular, but I wanted to share. :)

Yep. Waiting for BL orders IS murder. The statues are handless because, frankly, I don't have white hands easily accessible. Although, it doesn't look too bad. ;) Thank you! I've still got the spires to finish, statues to order....at least those aren't from BL.

UPDATE: February 4, 2007 Bricklink orders arrive, and things happen. Yeesssss. I've built up most of the main body of the building. I need to create a roof, and finish some detail work. I'm also getting a myriad of statues to use as well. Suggestions are great appreciated. :)

By spires I mean, more or less, the pointy bits at the top. In this photo, it's the statues...but from the ground, they don't look much like statues at all. ;) A ground view. Gargoyles Various bits of architecture. (BFPDX is BrickFest in Portland, OR and NWBC is Northwest BrickCon, in Seattle WA)

Thanks! I do plan on doing the roof similar to the original; I have plenty of tile to do so. I plan on making the spires pointy, and the stained glass at the back with definitely be various colors. As for the flying buttresses, I have some ideas as well as some pieces to experiment with for a few gargoyles or something else of that nature. As I progress, I'll keep posting more photos.

Update, February 4 2007: I've posted below, but here's the link of the new additions: Click the picture to see more. :) Hello, EB! For those of you who might remember, I created a cathedral for NWBC this year. I was happy with it. After seeing the massive display, though, I was inspired to, uh, upgrade. So I am. I'm in a bit of a rut, though, because I've got a few ideas, not the right parts, and I'm waiting for trades and BL orders to start arriving to progress to the next portion. But since I'm in such an early stage, I thought I'd ask for basic comments, criticism, and constructive feedback regarding the general design. So, here's some photos: An arial shot. This shows the general shape and patterns on the floor. I'm going for semi-historically accurate, so that's the immense size and smallish offshoots. This is, for those who don't know, the classic Latin-cross design, as seen in many old churches. The altar and pulpit, as well as one of three tombs. The brown thing is the Bible, if you will. One of hopefully many stained glass windows. I'm not sure how I like this, but those are generally the colors I have to work with. I have plenty 1x2 clear, 1x1 green, and 1x1 clear plates in both square and round...but that's it. I like how random this turned out, so I may stick with this sort of design for the smaller windows. It's the big ones at the top behind the altar and pulpit that I'm stumped on. As far as decorations go, I've got statues in the works (all white figs) and I've got some ideas for breaking up the monotony of the white walls. I also will have arches. Many, many arches. I'm also looking for a decent name for this, so if anyone has any ideas, I'm open. I hope to have this done for BFPDX in March, and definitely for NWBC07. Any thoughts? Ideas? Comments? All are appreciated!

I'll be uploading pictures over the course of the next few days, but this photo from Andrew (dunechaser) gives you an idea of the immense size of the Castle layout. It was actually twice the length shown in this photo. :)

My creation is complete! And part of a much, much larger whole. ;) This is the piece I've done for NWBC. I'm really quite pleased with it. I'll have more pictures as the con goes on, and as I get it home for better photos. Some of these were just reference pictures. But these will do for now. :) Thank you all for your excellent feedback. It helped immensely! I promise, more photos in the next couple of days.

So, here's an update: I've completed all the buildings, paved the road, and am waiting on some green plates to finish landscaping. I took some excellent advice here, and expanded the church substantially. It looks nothing like the old one. So, thanks for all that! And since that's come to a screeching halt, I've begun work on some things to populate this. Cause I'm cruel like that, I won't be posting overall pictures until after NWBC, where this will be making it's debut. Either way, here's some little things I've bee working on: A plow based on paintings I googled. I'm trying to fix how the horse are attached with the chains, but am having difficulties. Eh. A cart. I figure he's haulin hay or some other tan-ish looking crop. Either way, it looks really cool in person. I'm particularly proud of this one.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Here's an update: An overall shot. The various colors are going to be hidden. It's the base of the landscaping. The tudor-style house is sitting with me much better than previously. I've also expanded the field a bit. You can keep checking the orginal gallery for updates. :) I anticipate a better cemetary soon, with better fencing. Again, that was more or less a place holder until I could work on something better. Thanks!

NWBC=NorthWest BrickCon. It's the convention in Seattle, and it's in a month. Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it.

Long time, no post! So, I'm in need of some feedback. This is a yet-unnamed diorama/display MOC that will be going to NWBC. I plan on expanding it by a few base-plates. Included in the extension are a few more buildings of some sort. I hope to actually do more landscaping, but I havent' gotten there yet. Included will be cobblestone pathways and an expanded cemetary. Without further ado, the MOC. The church sits in the corner. It's got a simple interior. This building needs help, I think, with the roof. This was what I could throw together. (Alternate view) A crop with tool shed. A Small house. I need to do something about this. It's...uneven. I don't like it being uneven. :P A bad arial shot. Flickr Gallery with the rest of the shots. The cemetary is a placeholder. That'll be changing. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms?

It is now. :) Clicky Clicky Again! No, Click me! One more Clicky...

Mmkay. I've been fiddling with this. I've come up with a different sort of design for the sides. Clicky! Thoughts?

I haven't come up with a background story as of yet, but I'm thinking a smaller merchant vessel. I'd imagine somewhere in the Middle ages perhaps, so not a lot of open water travel. I'd imagine that the cargo would be supplies, perhaps some trade goods that need to go down the coast. Right now I've stuck two barrels on it for show, plus a couple in the cargo hold. As for a name, I'm kicking around the Red Wolf. It's a bit of a play on the name of my boyfriend's 41' Morgan, The Red Witch.

PAB works by the cup at official Lego Stores. They have a smaller $6.95 size, and a larger $12.95 size. I prefer the smaller size, because it's not so tapered and I use the cups for storage of special parts. As long as you can tape the lid shut, anything goes. They have all sorts of different parts. I do enjoy PAB. Many of my MOCs are inspired by what I find at the wall. As far as color goes, it'll be based on what I can afford. If red is cheapest, I'll go with red. I don't have the parts yet for other ships, which is why this one is the guinea pig. The reason for a smaller scale is because the ships will end up in a larger display, so I'm confined by that size frame. I'll be building two larger (longer?), and one smaller vessel. So yes, a brig is a medium sized ship, but it's all relative to the scale I've actually got to work with. On a side note, I don't ever recall saying this was a pirate ship...I'm thinking more of a merchant vessel. These, to my knowledge, will be in safe harbor, not open water. ;-) I've decided to expand the stern a bit more, as i'm not digging the current design. SuvieD, I tried playing a bit with the figure head. Your idea of having it stick out of the mouth sounds excellent, but the way it's set up now won't work. I'll have to fiddle with it some more to see what I can do.

Phes, I used the tan 1x1 round bricks because I have those en masse. They're usually at my local Pick a Brick, and I use them to fill in space to get more economy out of the cups. In some way, I also chose the tan because it fit with the exisiting color scheme of the boat before I began modifying it. There will be other small ships that follow this basic design, so this one is totally for experimenting. As for the color, I like red. Building in LEGO asks one to suspend reality anyway, so who's not to say I can't have a red ship? ;) The only other thing is that it needs to be smaller than a normal scale. Because of this, I originally had the masts set up as a sloop. I prefer the look of squar-rigged vessels, which is why I decided on a sort of brig. A very small brig.

Wow. Thanks for all the great insight! Mostly, I used tan because that's what I have available. Oh, I do love PAB.... There will be sails and rigging, when I get to that point. That'll the last detail on, especially with the masts so fragile at this point. I recieved a comment, suggest clip plates for rigging, so I'll try that. I like the idea of using jumper bricks to offset the deck. I started with a older set and went from there, so that's why it's so...boxy? Thanks! I'll use your suggestions and work on a revision. Thanks!