A Fort for the Port

[Landlubber]

As promised, here's the first in my MOC's series.

I'm guessing this will sit on the hill overlooking the town ala Pirates of the Carribean Curse of the Pearl (saw the second one the other day, wasn't really that impressed.) Anyways, I built this to use up all my big grey castle wall pieces and because soldiers need somewhere to ..... soldier.

Please note. Historical accuracy plays no part whatsoever in any of my creations. I build what looks good to me and what I have the bricks for. POTC is basically my limited knowledge on pirates and what they do.

[Mister Phes]

Ahhhhhhhh what a fine fort, what be its name?

[oo7]

This is really nice *y* and a good change from the traditional and less realistic white and yellow, I've always wanted to do a stone fort like this, you beat me to it. If you just add a staircase or two instead of ship rigging it shall be pretty historicly accurate.

looks like you have quite a collection of castle there Mr. Landlubber! Just what I expected from a landlubber, your first post didn't really (okay, didn't at all) coinside with your name!

[babyjawa]

I saw watched the first one again a couple of days ago, and thought that I would make something based on it. I guess great minds think alike, eh? ;-)

I think you have a great concept, but I think it needs a little more detail. In Castle, we call this, " The Big Grey Wall Syndrome." Here is a how-to on how to avoid using it. I'd use the add some other colors to it for yours.

Hope I was of some help,

bj...

[Captain Roger]

it appears to be a castle MOC and not a pirate MOC but is a nice fortress.

I think it would be cooler with a prison

[Sir Dillon]

I think it's a nice start, but to me, it looks just kind of like a big grey box with a tower in the middle.

It would probably look better if you changed the shape a bit, so that it doesn't look so much like a square. Also, if you qould move your tower over and attach it to one of the walls, I think that could also improve the overall looks.

Adding some buildings to the inside would be nice too, maybe some sort of store room, where they can store food and weapons, or a room with beds, or maybe make some sort of shelter so the higher ranking soldiers won't get soaked if it rains.

I would also suggest taking a look at the article that Babyjawa linked to. At the moment, while you may not really have the big grey wall syndrome going on, it looks very repetitive and a little boring with all those window pieces, if you tried to add some sort of pattern, like arches or slopes, I think it would better.

Well, this is all just my opinion, and you don't have to listen to any of it, but hopefully it's able to help you to some degree. :-)

[El Bucanero]

Good fort, armament could be better, but it is a very nice start

it appears to be a castle MOC and not a pirate MOC but is a nice fortress.

I think it would be cooler with a prison

Doesn't seems a castle MOC to me, castles don't have cannons and aren't crewed with Imperial soldiers this is a fort for a port, so it is more a pirate MOC then a Castle moc....

Mr Tiber

[SkaForHire]

I am in the middle of trying to build a fort for my imperials myself, I don't have as much grey as you do... but i am using alot of the same pieces (ie: black falcons fortress right?)

Your fort is alot like a hybrid between a blockhouse and a small fortress, and i think it looks good. I am all for continuing boring grey because its more realistic, i wish i had the pieces to do that! I think this is a very striking building, and placed with it's battery facing the sea, i think quite formable. If you bring the tower over to a side or corner it will make it more realistic and leave room to build small buildings inside. also i would agree with the arches statement, though you may be like me and not have many grey arches... i would put a small arch over each cannon in the battery. I would also try to get some guns on the walls with swivels, just incase the enemy comes from land. Though it is realistic that your battery only faces one side, because usually forts are built expecting the enemy to come from one or two directions, at least coastal fortifications that is.

also if you dont like the square shape and want something more realistic to a major fort in the new world try this shape ... ok i cant find the shape i am looking for... but here is a link to a fort that guards the begining of Lake ontario (correct me if i am wrong canadians) Its a fun place to visit actually, but thats off topic.

the shape i am looking for was a standard for forts built in the new world it was square but had squares on its corners... hard to explain through text... though this is not a coastal battery design it was pretty common...

eww eww... heres a map of a huge fortress, if you look in the middle fortification, it is kinda what i am talking about only this one has five outer square thingies... lol

anyway hope it helps a little. oh yea, stairs would be better then rigging! but i like your fort.

This is just the kind of fort i wish i could build for my town....

[Landlubber]

I did have a prison in there. There were 2 cells next to the tower which were the main supports for a walkway which ran the whole way across the middle. I took it out though cause I needed a cell door to build a Rock Island Refuge. I know, it still needs work. I basically kept building till I had a few little useless bits in my container of grey. A few dark grey bits scattered throughout might break up the "grey block" look but I have bugger all of those dark grey bits. Staircase is on my list of things to do, cept I don't like those big stair peices. Each step is too high for a minifig in my opinion so as soon as I get a pile of 2x6 grey plates I'll be whacking some decent stairs in there.

As for the block shape of the structure, if I was an Imperial army building a stronghold, fancy design wouldn't be my number one priority. I'd be building it strong before Captain Barbossa came along and blew the crap out my garrison. More cannons would be good but they're hard to come by and the ships tend to deplete my supplies.

As for a name, haven't thought about yet. Throw me some suggestions.

[Landlubber]

. also i would agree with the arches statement, though you may be like me and not have many grey arches... i would put a small arch over each cannon in the battery. I would also try to get some guns on the walls with swivels,

Yeah, I wanted to put arches in but I didn't have any and I was relying on grey wall peices to make up the bulk of the fort as my standard grey bricks were limited as well. Arches tend to be heavily reliant on your 1x1, 1x2 and 1x4 bricks I've found. It looks a bit plain in the photo's cause theres nothing around it I think. Needs some landscaping.

[Berry Syedow]

Admirable effort, Landlubber! I'll just say that I agree with most of the points already mentioned and leave it at that. A bit of landscaping would help, and in this case may be necessary if no arches are at your disposal. Then again, perhaps you could use that creative noggin of yours and achieve an entirely new technique! One more thing, you should abandon the portcullis and slap a pair of doors on the entrance instead.

This is really nice *y* and a good change from the traditional and less realistic white and yellow.

Is that true? I've been contemplating whether my first imperial fortress should be white or grey. I've always imagined that the white represented a form of plaster. Like this picture with the plaster peeling off:

[Landlubber]

Major rebuild is underway. More cannon, more detail, and many suggestions taken into consideration.

[Mister Phes]

We probably could benefit from a link to the rebuild thread, and a link back here in the rebuild thread. I suppose I'll be the one to do that one I can be bothered, but if someone wants to take care of that in the meantime then feel free!

[Landlubber]

No problems Phes.

Here's the link to the new thread with the full rebuild.

http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...topic=6034&st=0

[Mister Phes]

Excellent work Mr Landlubber! So which does everyone prefer, the original or this? I suppose some of the answers will be found in the other thread.

[Captain Ironhook]

I think this version looks more a castle Moc than a pirates Moc because really i am used to have the white and yellow walls for pirate forums.

while i am used to have grey walls for castles. but the other version with its rocks make it look more like its on coast.