I would like to show the process of my expansion of 10305 Castle:

first ideas forming:

20230310_173257 by pendentif, auf Flickr

let's just add a central Tower and fix the oddly cheap entry pathway:

20230313_195123 by pendentif, auf Flickr

and maybe a chapel-like-thingy on the backside:

20230313_195615 by pendentif, auf Flickr

with stained glass windows:

20230313_195539 by pendentif, auf Flickr

and just extend this over to the water mill section:

20230313_195404 by pendentif, auf Flickr

plus a little bit of interior details:

20230313_200049 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230313_200251 by pendentif, auf Flickr

and maybe I would demolish my different "under construction" castle:

20230310_173652 by pendentif, auf Flickr

to combine some existing cellar sections and create an all new castle diorama:

20230314_150740 by pendentif, auf Flickr

featuring the extended 10305 set on a hill:

20230313_193732 by pendentif, auf Flickr

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while containing the underground parts from the previous build:

20230317_142605 by pendentif, auf Flickr

like the chamber of gold:

20230317_142624 by pendentif, auf Flickr

the jail/dungeon:

20230317_142609 by pendentif, auf Flickr

and the armory:

20230317_142628 by pendentif, auf Flickr

 

 

Edited August 18, 20231 yr by Johnny_Thunderstruck

20230317_150614 by pendentif, auf Flickr

to be continued... but nethertheless open for comments and suggestions, which I would appreciate  

I like the chapel, the enlarged rooms and the added details, but there are some things I dislike : the original set has water running under the drawbridge, and it seems like you are covering up said water with rocks (or creating a needlessly small river underneath), the mixing of guarded inn and 10305 doesn't work because of how different those two sets are, I also personally prefer entirely brick-built foundations to burps, but I'll admit all of these are personal choices, and the overall layout looks great.

I really love the work here, and especially since you're showing a WIP.  The duplo buildup is great, and I like some of your ideas.  Particularly the stained glass windows and the large black roof shingles are awesome.  From an aesthetics standpoint, if you want to combine the MOC portion and the set portion more seamlessly, I'd either add more color to the set side (i.e., add the dark grey and old light grey like you did on the MOC side to the set side) and add some of the dark grey dental molding around the tower portions on the MOC side. I think that would improve uniformity and help blend it.  The tile work in the weapons room is superb and I love the details of the gutter in the dungeon.  I would not personally stack my coinage the way they do in the vault, but from a theatrical standpoint, it's very recognizable, and well done.  Depending on if you want a tad of texture to the wall, you can incorporate half round 1x1 tiles to occasionally add a small recess as if part of the wall had not been entirely uniform.  There's some other interesting techniques with jumper plates and the rail plates to make very slight offsets in texture that you could occasionally add in if you wanted more texture.  Of course, with a wall that big, it may not really be necessary, as the larger you go, the less tiny detail you need.  Nice job, and I look forward to seeing this as it progresses!

Thanks for the feedback so far!
The guarded inn will be integrated as a reference for personal sentimental reasons, but I will "update" it to try better fit in of course. The outdated wall section of the original set has to be replaced for sure.

I absolutely agree the drawbridge should be more reasonable and will try to improve this in the diorama by spanning a narrow ravine at least. Initially I wanted to elongate the bridge quite a bit to make the gap matter more, but obviously this creates new problems in pulled up state.

BURPS will all be hidden eventually (or at least all their ugly open studs), but imho are great for getting quick first impressions of the layout. Besides I absolutely don't enjoy doing rockwork unfortunately.

On your behalf I can't unsee the difference between set and MOC portion in terms of wall colours uniformity... will be much demolishing and rebuilding to fix this though. So I will delay that, despite I absolutely agree.

Oh and I maybe should have mentioned, this is my first "larger" isolated MOC, besides my previous fiddling around with quite "standard" city stuff und rebuilding some of my childhood sets around 1. the barracuda bay set and 2. the BDP saloon set. I am not out of the dark ages for very long yet and want to gain some designing and building experience with this very castle project.

20230821_082422 by pendentif, auf Flickr

I really like your work.
The arch that connects the two parts is really very beautiful.
Is it possible to have a top photo of this part?

You have your work cut out for sure.

That access bridge to the main tower does really draw the eye. And seen from a defensive  view is a good idea too. Very exposed so defenders in the tower can have easy targets on invaders using the bridge.

6 hours ago, KraK said:

I really like your work.
The arch that connects the two parts is really very beautiful.
Is it possible to have a top photo of this part?

sure:

20230821_195326 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230821_195512 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230821_195751 by pendentif, auf Flickr

2 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

You have your work cut out for sure.

That access bridge to the main tower does really draw the eye. And seen from a defensive  view is a good idea too. Very exposed so defenders in the tower can have easy targets on invaders using the bridge.

Yes, indeed. Also it won't hurt to have another exit from the monarchs private rooms in case of an attack.

The main reason for adding this passage though: the modded ("mocced"?) castle at first looked (and admittedly was) like two very separate buildings without it.

So this bridge visually and physically brings the two sections together.

 

 

Besides DUPLO, I also like Scala walls to raise the terrain.

20230314_164322 by pendentif, auf Flickr

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The availabe space fills faster then expected. 😀

I love the guarded inn for nostalgia, but you could also a build a tribute that fits in scale with your moc, something like this:

or this:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-119072/irabricks/iras-guarded-inn/#details

thanks for the input, I like those :)

some progress:

20230328_230633 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230328_230643 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230408_180025 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230408_180034 by pendentif, auf Flickr

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20230409_172006 by pendentif, auf Flickr

 

and some closeups:

 

20230406_201234 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230406_201402 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230409_172034 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230409_172051 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20230409_172141 by pendentif, auf Flickr

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20230821_082048 by pendentif, auf Flickr

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...still not finished of course

Edited October 11, 20231 yr by Johnny_Thunderstruck

That floor technique in the armory is WILD.

thanks. I saw this somewhere on pinterest 

20230821_081907 by pendentif, auf Flickr

Gorgeous. Love the small details like the excrement at the base of the privy wall and the fully stocked vault.

Stunning masterpiece with magnificent details!
I don't know if I like the room with the treasures and stacked coins more or the weapons room with that magnificent floor!

I recently moved my lego to another room and built a free hanging shelf to display the castle-, a wild-west-, and a pirates diorama. 146x87 studs each. So the castle diorama gets an extension of 28x87 studs. There I want to add a little siege scene with probably a trebuchet, as well as a small wizards an herb witches hut in the woods. 

I consider this to be a long-term-project now with the three different levels. Both wild West and pirates are just roughly sketched out for now, they may appear in separate threads here in the future.

 

20231218_143250 by pendentif, auf Flickr

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And the new city layout will distract me as well, with its major changes after moving it to this room...

20231224_113839 by pendentif, auf Flickr

20231224_113847 by pendentif, auf Flickr

Edited December 24, 20231 yr by Johnny_Thunderstruck

i really love some details like the skeletons with their chains, the gold and the armory room, not the most visible spaces but you filled them with items