moc

Further Lego 6075 Wolfpack Tower Remakes

This year i’ve already remade Lego 6075 Wolfpack Tower in a big way, it’s one of my favourite childhood sets! Afterwards, I tried a few further variations of the set, one, as a minifigure habitat, and two as a microscale effort. Both are huge trends in AFOL building, so I thought i’d apply the base set again to both of them.

The former is as part of a Lego contest, the latter is just for fun. An excellent builder on instagram had already beat me to a microscale version- I added a small wartable scene to mine to punch up the effort.

Next year, I promise I wont be building any Lego Wolfpack MOCs…!

MOC: 6075 Wolfpack Tower Remake

With my previous Lego project being so Forestmen heavy, the next thing I wanted to do was make similar big forts and dioramas for many of the other Lego Castle factions. Next up, was the Wolfpack.

The Wolfpack faction subtheme of Lego Castle released in 1992, a perfect year for a VERY six year old me, admittedly, but regrettably a theme with only the three sets. These minifigs were pretty kickass while I was younger, and while, sure, the Wolfpack are on the surface very much a reskin of the Forestmen faction before them, I like to think they’re probably the more crass and less charming rivals of their tree-swinging Robin Hood-esque counterparts. With so few sets released and no big appearances I feel they’ve been somewhat sidelined as a faction, but worse, not really given their own identity.

For my MOC I wanted to remedy that a little. I wanted to build a crumbly ruined inaccessable base away from prying eyes, on an island in the middle of a swampy marsh. The forests belong to the Forestmen, the Wolfpack, I guessed, would take whatever they could get. The end result is something that accidentally became a remake of 6075 Wolfpack Tower. This was lots of fun to do, but also good practice for me in a lot of ways.! First, i’ve never tried tiled water, but I think all the trans light blue tiles here look superb. Secondly, i’ve not really dabbled in angled building like this before either, but I think it actually came out alright! As a third deviation, the island is elevated on a DUPLO footprint to build height- this was a bit tricker than I had anticipated. Overall it’s a bit different from it’s source material set, but hopefully it still looks recognisable enough too.


The Lion King’s chief enforcer, Ser Galien, The Warden, has been tasked with ‘cleansing’ the kingdom. His current quest finds him at a long forgotten derelict tall black tower, on a small island in a swamp. The band of hoodlums he finds there call themselves The Wolfpack…

MOC: Widmore in Fall

Earlier this year, I built a Lego Castle, with the plan of displaying it at Lego shows. That never happened, but I kept it built nonetheless, just in case. Last month, and with my Lego User Group’s meet-up scheduled for the end of November, I gave it a Fall/Autumnal refresh. Storm Arwen coincided that very same weekend, and with snow showers, sheet lightning, and plenty of fallen trees on the road during that drive down, the event was rescheduled, with display, again, postponed. Nonethless, the MOC got a new lick of paint, and it’s all set once again for showing online!

Structurally it’s the exact same model as before. The landscaping is a little bit different -hundreds of leaf pieces!- and there’s a little bit of time progression and new character detail, but other than that it’s a seasonal reskin. I’m already planning the Winter version, which will, I expect, look a *lot* different.

“Widmore in Fall. As Autumn lands in the great forests, the despicable Lion Knight stronghold lies empty of prisoners. With their comrades free, the Forestmen now strike for greater riches.”

A small lighthouse in a big sea

For the most recent TartanLUG Zoom build challenge, the brief was to build something using 20 Lego parts or less. I was sadly unable to attent the Zoom Meeting on the night, but the end-result of building on and off for the week prior was the microscale lighthouse below. As an AFOL i’ve spent most of my Lego life amassing more pieces to build bigger and better things, so having to be thrifty with piececount was definitely not something I was used to!

I struggled quite a bit with this challenge- I didn’t like my entry initially but I’m reasonably happy with how it turned out. With some experimentation, nineteen pieces were used in total, but I would love to add more and make something even bigger with more detail. Conceptually, I think the photos do a lot of heavy lifting. After I entered (and won!?) the contest, fellow builder Stewart Lamb Cromar created this excellent animated gif of the model, and this definitely sells the build further.

smalllighthouse.gif

The build challenge was fun, and definitely something I’m interested in pursuing again. I might continue in a microscale format or try something else. I just need to tidy the desk and organise the collection a bit more first!

MOC: Medieval Blacksmith 21325 Barn

Earlier in March I built and streamed Lego 21325 Medieval Blacksmith on Twitch. The set is great; it’s incredibly detailed, tall, and looks fantastic on display. It’s been on my desk since, with a rotating cast of knights and peasants minifigs next to it every so often. Since then, I’ve wanted to build something to sit next to and accompany it, so this month I decided to build a barn, as much in the same style as I could.

When the set was announced late 2020/early 2021 one of the most common requests and ‘complaints’ from AFOLs (in my circles at least) were the absence of goats from the set. The goat element in question had only appeared in one set previously, 7189 Mill Village Raid, and now goes for astronomical prices on the aftermarket: anywhere between £40-£100. Fan anticipation was hoping the Blacksmith set would bring the piece out of retirement or reissue it, but the original mold for the goat has since been lost. The set designers confirmed this. So my barn MOC is a means to continue the civilian castle theme, remedy the original set, and mostly just flex that I own goats. Yes, really.

The MOC was built independently from the set but continues the same colour patterns, and for the most part building techniques, with plenty of SNOT bricks and tiling on the sides. I’m not very good at building roofs so I designed a flat log roof instead using log pieces; no where near as complex or advanced as that of the host Blacksmith building, but as a simple barn for livestock, why would it be? I wanted to introduce a bit more colour so there’s more crops and some flowers too at the base. The barn doesn’t physically connect to the Blacksmith set in any way currently, but the curved plates both structures share allow for some nice pasture land in between for the goats and apple picking.

The MOC did really well on social-media channels and I even had a message from someone asking for instructions. As far as AFOL inside-memes go, I guess I’ve officially made it! Along with Widmore Keep previously I’d really love to display the MOC in public, and that’s my hope, maybe even with more goats. The Barn will probably stay built and on the desk for a while in case that opportunity ever presents itself.

MOC: Farmer Red vs the Green Knight Army

In place of Lego displays and exhibitions, for the last year my ‘local’ Lego Users Group TartanLUG have been having regular Zoom video calls. I’ve attended a few and it’s been great seeing what others have been building, buying, or collecting Lego wise; everyone sharing stories and ideas. Each meeting has a Build Challenge to inspire others to build something- a virtual show and tell!- with the theme for the meeting this past weekend “Monochrome”. I wasn’t able to attend the call, but I still built something for it all the same.

Farmer Red vs the Green Knight Army came together pretty quickly- from the outset a monochrome minifig was something I wanted to do, but this still proved pretty challenging with my Lego collection. Minifig head and torsos generally have printed designs so this ensured only certain colours were possible. When I started equipping the minifigs again, I was limited by what pieces I could use, but the whole build ultimately allowed me to show off with some rare and uncommong Lego pieces. One minifig as an entry didn’t feel substantial enough so I cheated the theme (somewhat) and built two to place them in a duel.

  • The Cowboy Hat in Red (3629) only came in two Lego sets from the 1970s, 372: Texas Rangers in 1977 and 365: Wild West in 1975 respectively. Im too young to have ever owned either set, but interestingly, they’re sets that never had printed minifigs, much like the finished MOC.

  • Utensil Pitchfork Type 2 in Red (95345) is a new recolour (and a new mold) of the older brown element that appeared in five fantastic Lego Castle sets 1984 onwards. The new red variant debuted recently in the 2020 Monkie Kid sets, notably 80010, 80013, and 80009. These sets are from a terrible new theme clearly not aimed at me, but the piece recolour is very nice!

  • The Castle Helmet with Neck Protector (3844/15606) in Green is an exciting one! Helmets in this colour were never formally released in a set, though did accompany a minifig called Rascus, again, unreleased. This might have been a promo item or a catalogue/retailer error, though Bricklink numbers the minifigure/set as 5996. So mysterious! I managed to snag three of these back in 2005ish through a Classic Castle fan jambalaya trade but only have two now. Sale prices for this piece range from £5-£13, with only 11 of them currently for sale. Rare!

  • Modified 2 x 4 with 2 Studs and Curved Sides (88000/17514) appeared in two sets in Green, 30071 and 7595 in 2010, and one set in Trans-Clear, 70809. The piece is very uncommon for set appearances but doesn’t actually carry much value on the aftermarket, with lots of people currently selling. I’ve used these pieces a few times before in builds mostly as landscaping, as I have here.

This is my first MOC since Widmore Keep. This is nowhere near as big or clever, or even as immediately striking, but with any Lego build it’s always about the pieces and colours used. I had lots of fun putting this together- I’ll be trying something similar again in the future!

MOC: Widmore Keep

After two lockdowns, several weekend builds, and a great supply of Light Bluish Grey bricks from my Lego User Group, Widmore Keep is finally finished! The MOC is a remake of a Castle I built 11 years ago, but expanded, bigger, and with a few new bricks and building techniques from the subsequent years. This was something I was building with intentions to display at a number of Lego fairs and exhibitions last year, and while that’s still the plan, it’s entirely dependent on the world (and it’s governments) sorting itself out again. The castle and scene are inspired by many of the Lego catalogue dioramas from the late 80s with armies of minifigs battling and trying to attack castles. Impossible for me to ever fully recreate as a kid, but fortunately the images and ideas were brought forward with me to where we are now: an Adult Fan of Lego! I’m very happy with how it turned out, so there are plenty of photos and some narrative text below while some making-of pics can be found here. There will be a video at some point- it’s taking a bit longer to sort out. Enjoy!

“Widmore Keep- a small holding fortress recognised across the country and on the borders of the greater forests. The High Sherriff William Thomas holds court here, a keeper of key and shrewd to the core, he wants to outlaw and punish many of the forest bandits, rogues, and families for apparent crimes against the crown. Assisted by Quartermaster Wulfstan Reede, Master Bowman Edeline Mille, and a small infantry, the walls are thick and defences are kept secure. Master Dolfair the appointed leader of the Forestpeople has been wrongly captured and sat in a cell for months now, long forgotten, his imprisonment is a cruel ongoing message. Enough is enough- his protégé, Rowan the Cunning, a folk legend hero of break ins, breaks outs, and brimming with deviousness, plots to break him out…”

A Lego Castle WIP

This year -amongst other things- I was planning to attend a few Lego shows across Scotland, and most excitingly, display some builds too. I’ve written previously about plans and how big a fuck up 2020 as a whole has been, and the same unfortunately extends to my ambitions for Lego-based travel too. Nonetheless I’ve had a great year pottering away and building those projects, particularly the big Castle MOC I was planning. This was a build that was supposed to be finished for display in April but as one thing led to another and deadlines changed to July, it still remains sadly unfinished...

So, here it is, in not quite but almost there completion! I’m posting it here because it represents quite a bit of my time this year but it also serves as a big to-do reminder for the upcoming months, where -hopefully- it will be getting displayed publicly. The other reason of course is that while all photos and videos of Lego MOCs online are brilliant, there’s a certain fascination to seeing something not quite finished; a work in progress, rough and ready, where techniques and inspiration can be found. This isn’t the most technical or complicated Lego Castle out there by any means but hopefully someone will find it’s development interesting, or at the very least, inspire them to do their own! I’ve been posting regular updates over on my Lego specific Instagram, but here they all rounded up to show the progress.

I’ve built Lego Castles before -this is going to be a bigger, better, and more complete iteration of my Widmore series- and it’s great seeing that progress over a big 15 year AFOL period. Keeping the mostly same landscaping and shape make comparisons easy, and it’s just satisfying having that all play out like a little child. I’m building for me. Send this back in time so I can play with it! There’s still trees and more landscaping to add as well as further interior details and the addition of actual Lego minifig knights to populate it. With good intentions and a few more weeks it will be finished soon- assuming I don’t get distracted or -more likely- try to make it even bigger!

(MOC) A Big Lego Loser

A political disaster in 95 bricks. This morning I made a Lego model of the current Big Loser from the instructions going viral at the moment for a friend. They weren’t the easiest to follow and the figure is a bit cumbersome, so it’s all very in keeping with the man himself. It was difficult to get that orange-cheesy-wotsit-fake-tan-coating right so I made a darker variant, a clean one, and a lime green one for when he was sick with Covid and/or is later revealed to be a space alien. I joke about that, but honestly at this point it would not surprise me at all.

I recently made an instagram account just got Lego-specific content so I’ve posted the above over there too and I’m doing weekly work-in-progress Castle updates. It’s going great! Go give me a follow or a like if you want to see more.

(MOC) Batman Oneshots: ASSAULT ON ACE CHEMICALS- LAB 26

I havent really built anything significant out of Lego for a while. This year I was planning to build quite a lot for display at a number of Lego shows and exhibitions later this year, but like lots of other events, they’ve now since been either postponed or cancelled. There goes all that creative urgency…

New Elementary recently ran a contest to Switch My Lantern Up, a Lego contest using the new Green Lantern um…lantern piece as a seed part of something else. I found it really difficult to use it in a way that’s not obviously Green Lantern’s lantern, and my entry was nowhere near as good as the winners of the contest but I gave it a bash anyway. Collecting Lego DC minifigures has been something ive been doing for as long as they’ve been making them, and in the last year and a bit i’ve started making dioramas or scenes to use them fully. It’s taking a lot longer than it should if i’m honest as i’m very slow at getting things started, but im happy with what ive done so far. There’s a few already in my Lego gallery, so for the contest I decided to build another:

Batman03R.jpg

Dastardly Dr Jonathan Crane aka THE SCARECROW is at it again! Creating FEAR TOXIN in a hidden lab at ACE CHEMICALS, our valiant hero BATMAN shows up to give the doctor a taste of his own medicine! Production is already underway however, and the fright formula now ready for bottling! Can our hero overcome his enemy’s chemical onslaught and save GOTHAM?