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Looking for a bit of help on an MOC project of mine, so thought I'd post where I'm at right now. (That and photographing my version of 6087 Witch's Magic Manor is going to be an absolute bear, so I'm currently playing for time as well.) For the past few months I've been working on re-imagining (or modifying, really) all of the larger Fright Knights sets. As of right now I'm most of the way there, with the only set left to do being the big one from this subtheme: 6097 Night Lord's Castle. While my initial plans called for lightly modifying all the existing sets, using only the colors available back in 1997, along with a few newer parts in those same colors, I came around to the wider selection of new parts and colors pretty quickly after mucking around with Traitor Transport. That being said, moving in this new direction presented some fresh problems for me, since it removed some of my self-imposed guardrails. Fortunately after working on several of the small and mid-sized sets first, I created a slightly updated design language for this faction while still preserving what makes them unique for me. Regardless of these stylistic choices, there are three core tenets I've tried to implement with each set modification or MOC I've created thus far: Each set must be sturdy Each set must have some of the original play features (or an acceptable substitution) Each set must be accessible Overall, a pretty good ethos to have in place, and one that's worked out so far. But this last set has me stumped at the foundational level right now, so I thought I'd share my progress so far in order to see if anyone might have any ideas for improving matters. Anywho, you can see my idea for the initial foundation of this set below. The light bluish-grey 16x16 plate (with three 2x16 LBG plates) will form the first half of the ground floor for this castle, after passing through the portcullis and a pair of stockade doors. Seeing how this is one of the taller castles LEGO made, I want to get as much height out of my version as possible, which is why I went with that scalloped effect using overlapping dark bluish-grey plates. Unfortunately, this presents a bit of a problem for me, as I initially wanted to create a staircase (with a pair of banisters) beginning on that 8x6 DBG plate at the front, which would lead to the main entrance. Naturally, this staircase idea, coupled with the layered plates, looked better in my head than in reality. Now it looks like the slope is too small and too gradual for the staircase to be of any use, so I'm considering an increase in the height of the foundation. At first I considered using two of the 8x8x6 corner MURPs near the 6x6 curved DBG plates, but I fear that would increase the height too much, and I can't say I have any plans for making use of the available space I'd gain from that much height. After looking back at the original castle, I shifted gears somewhat, electing instead to use bricks to increase the height of the foundation a modest amount. The only problem is how high I should go. 8 bricks high seems a tad drastic, and I'd almost certainly want to create caverns or another fun detail, something I can't say I have too much appetite for. But a height of 1 brick is pretty much where I'm at now with those plates, and I'd prefer to keep the rounded edges, instead of being locked into a more angular style. I'm considering using some DBG 4x4 round corner bricks for the edges, but don't know if that would look too man-made. Either way, it's clear I need to play around some more with this foundation before getting to the fun part of building the castle proper, so I'll leave it at that. More photos here on my Bricksafe folder. If I find a foundation design that works for me, I'll be sure to add to that folder. But thanks for reading, and again, any suggestions would certainly be welcome!
