Paddles' Inn

[MetroiD]

#33 in the Community Build: Paddles' Inn.

Paddles' Inn was one of the first buildings to be erected in the Pirates' Town. After a successful stint at sea, Jim Paddles decided to return to his landlubbing habits and invest his earnings, rather than squander them. That also gave him a nice opportunity to put his interesting surname to good use and even implement it in his Inn's design. He was only given a small piece of land by the Town Council for his guest house, but he still managed to fit 2 bedrooms on the second floor, and a nice master bedroom on the first one - with an outhouse conveniently placed in the yard of the inn. During the annual Pirates fair, Jim would move out of the master bedroom, even though his wife was never too happy about having to sleep in the reception hall - but that big bedroom is definitely a nice place to stay the night and gives plenty of reason to charge the customer obscene amounts of money... Who says being a landlubber can't be lucrative!?

Right now however, the town's pretty quiet, no ships are docked and no captains have returned with a seizable loot to squander. The only visitor in Paddles' Inn is the aging self-proclaimed Terror of the Seas, Captain Doublebeard. Unfortunately, the only thing that's terrible about him is the amount of bread crumbles his beard is capable of storing after dinner - other than that, ol' Doublebeard hasn't really managed to win any significant battles, or find any great treasures. That's all about to change though - or at least that's what Doublebeard thinks after having found a treasure map in the drawer of his bedroom. Little does he know that such maps are included in the drawers of every single bedroom and this tradition would later on evolve into inns and hostels all over the world placing certain books in their visitors' drawers.

If there's one single person (?) who's really enjoying this lazy, quiet day at the inn, that's Yumkee the Monkey who, unlike his owner, does enjoy a glass of good rum. Or a bottle. Whichever comes first. Jim says all that drinking does is waste your hard-earned money, but seeing as that's the only kind of remuneration Yumkee requires for his labour (related to the outhouse, but better left unexplained), Mr. Paddles sees this as a justified expense.

Busy humming her favourite pirate tune (which she heard on 'Behind the Helm'), Lora Paddles hasn't noticed that her cleaning is not very effective and is actually helping drive away one of the few potential visitors of the inn...

Last but not least - the overhead shot:

You can find our other Community Building - the Town Square - here

More photos available @ flickr and Brickshelf (when moderated).

[the Inventor]

Great entry, MetroiD.

I really like your Inn, it has a nice roof of treasure chest lits.

Although I like those stairs, I think they are a bit to small.

the Inventor

[Admiral Croissant]

Good MOC Of course the treasure chests on the roof are very great.

I also like the window in the roof and the wall around the building.

One thing: maybe something like a 'signboard' would be a good addition since it's not very clear that it's an inn now.

But the MOC itself is still very nice

[MetroiD]

Thanks for the comments guys :) It's my first Pirates MOC (if it could be called a "Pirates MOC" actually), so I'd be happy to get as much feedback as I can. I've implented a few techniques I've seen here on EB - most notably, the chest lid roof was something I'd been wanting to use for some time now; credit to SlyOwl for that.

One thing: maybe something like a 'signboard' would be a good addition since it's not very clear that it's an inn now.

Thanks for the tip Croissant - as a matter of fact, I did have a sign just outside the wall (attached to the outhouse), but I didn't really like how it made the whole building look. A bit too stereotypical, which is not what I was going for. Besides, I specifically wanted this one to have a Pirates look and feel to it - we've seen way too many Castle Inns and I wanted to refrain from using typical Medieval European Architecture and too many other common things you'd expect to see in/around an inn.

As to the staircases - I know they're both too small for a regular minifig, but anything bigger would look pointless given the limited space. I like the way the outer staircase turned out, and I've tried many different variations for the one leading to the storage room under the roof, but this one still worked best. I'll definitely be recycling this design in my future Pirates Town, so I can assure you I'll try to get spacier stairs

[Rick]

Great entry, especially for a first Pirates MOC. I'm really impressed at what you managed to squeeze on a 16 x 16 footprint. Mr. Yumkee in the attic is hilarious and I'm pretty sure I've seen Mr. Paddles before, he sure looks familiar. I like the folded back sheet idea in the 'master bedroom'

[Ratshot]

I'll be quite frank with you, this is one of the top 3 entries yet.

Good Luck

[L-space]

Great work.

My favorites are the waal and the roofing.

Looks like only the monkey has got what it takes in this tavern.

[lightningtiger]

Okay, how do I say this.........easy..........AWESOME !

16x16 mega detail without overcrowding it - excellent !

That small frontage with loo (outhouse) and stone wall plus roughly made gate - is very period and again excellent !

The interiors are simple, but effective - I really like how the beds are made - what no hospital corners ?

Fantastic design work you have done here 'MetroiD' and I'm a conformist! !!

P.S. Love the monkey on the turps....... on the roof ........banana liqueur .......eh ?

[JimBee]

Nice entry to the PCB. I just wanted to drop in to say that the use of treasure chest lids for roof panels is genius- very authentic-looking. The stone wall and greenery add some nice details to the outside.

I like what you did with the monkey there.

[MetroiD]

@ Ratshot and lightningtiger - Thanks a mill guys, this means a lot to me!

Mr. Yumkee in the attic is hilarious and I'm pretty sure I've seen Mr. Paddles before, he sure looks familiar. I like the folded back sheet idea in the 'master bedroom'

I really laughed out once I saw how that photo of Mr. Yumkee turned out... I might be using him as an avatar soon, replacing the (mini)figure which seems to have gotten way too familiar.

Oh, and I'm glad you actually saw the folded sheet - I was a bit worried that the interior photos weren't very well taken

Looks like only the monkey has got what it takes in this tavern.

But it's not a tavern matey! It's an inn, and Mr. Paddles likes to keep things calm for his customers

I just wanted to drop in to say that the use of treasure chest lids for roof panels is genius- very authentic-looking. The stone wall and greenery add some nice details to the outside.

Thanks Jim. I came up with the idea of using treasure chest lids because I really wanted to have a roof structure that looks interesting from up above. Credit goes to SlyOwl for that, I think I first saw him use that technique here.

[Waterbrick Down]

Wonderful job of fitting so much in to such a small space. Excellent inclusion of the wall surrounded courtyard. Also as previously commented a good use of the treasure chest lides for the roof, I'm going to have to try that technique at some point.

[Captainkiwi]

I can't explain how amazing this is!!! As the picture loaded down my screen it got more and more amazing!!! I absolutely how you did the roof!! This is very well one of the best smaller land mocs on EB!

[Admiral William]

I absolutely love this creation! It has everything in so little space! Very nice, a lot of small but very cool details.

[Captain Becker]

i love all the details and the story Good job, keep it up

Captain Becker

Edited March 20, 2010 by Captain Becker

[MetroiD]

Once again, thanks a lot guys :) While building this, I sampled a lot of different techniques I'd seen used by Pirate MOCcers here on EB and so I can only express my gratitude towards this great community!

[Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor]

Oooh, very original design elements here, definitely looks like a rundown in the Pirates would frequent! I like it!

[Dreamweb]

I like this MOC a lot. Especially the roof and the yard with very good looking walls and gate. Expect it to be

soon

[ikensall]

Nice roof idea still not sure about the bicorn banister??? random

Edited April 4, 2010 by ikensall