Traditional Christmas Dinner

It's been too long since my last post.  The beginning of a new school term means I have to spend a little extra time at work so I have found it hard to find time to build.  Stupid paper work.  Some weeks it can be a real uphill battle just to get a little time to myself to do some quality building.  Poor me!

This is definitely my favourite interior so far.

The black and red is very effective here and I think the wall decorations worked out pretty well.

Next step is building the last sliding rear wall in which I hope to include a medieval toilet.  Even minifigs need somewhere to relieve themselves.

Progress!

There's finally something worth blogging about.  It's been a difficult couple of weeks.  Work and home life have been a little busier than usual and it's been hard to find the time to build and post.  I've had a couple of part shortages too, most especially 1 x 1 modified bricks with a stud on one side and headlight bricks.  I have tried to keep it down to one order a week so far, and I must admit, I feel guilty typing that out.  But it's mostly been for little things and costs have been relatively low.  And it's not like I didn't realise what I was getting myself into when I fist started.

This is a view from the rear.  The roofing is complete but I'll cover that in more detail in a future post.  The entire rear wall of this section slides up and out to reveal the interior.

I'm still not happy with the flag poles and am likely to change them in the future.  The two roof sections look slightly out of place here but works quite well when the interior is not exposed.

The wall section slides into slots in the rear walls.  It was a lot clunkier than I originally anticipated do to the inherent misalignments in the bricks but actually improved over time and use.  It would be great to get some lighting working in this model, but I am really unsure which method would work best between the 80's lighting kit, yellow, battery powered light bricks, or a custom solution.  If anyone has any suggestions let me know in the comments.

WIP update: Interiors 'Complete' for Upper Level

After a long and frustratingly UN-LEGO week it was great to get back to my project.  I had started on my interior earlier but was waiting on a bricklink order to arrive so I could complete it.  I tinkered a bit here and there and encountered some issues with the roofing - I'll cover that in a later post - and went over some of the interiors I had built in the past to see if I could inspire myself.

Looking back at some of my older castle themed builds I noticed the interiors were often added as an afterthought, and always added at the very end.  I remember there was often a sense of rush when I was adding these details - the exterior was done and I was keen to get it posted, mostly because I believed my building defined my participation within the community.  If I wasn't building and posting then I wasn't part of the game.  And let's face it, few people will follow the links to the more detailed pictures, it's very much about that first image.  My last few builds - the medieval village - has no interiors at all.

Well, no rushing this time round.  I have limited time as it is so I was determined to take it easy and make this right.  I have tried to put as much effort into these two rooms as I would a creation that was solely an interior diorama without an exterior.  Originally I wasn't to make the scene into a mini vignette just for this shoot but I was so creatively drained I couldn't think of a thing!  Of course once the shoot was finished multiple comic scenarios occurred to me but by then it was too late. 

Fighting that creativity drain can be hard.  I currently work as a music and guitar teacher so I am playing music and flexing my creative muscle all the time.  Sometimes my brain muscle is just too exhausted to think beyond my previous planning.  It's weird to explain, mostly the inspiration just flows, but in times like these I feel like my head is empty.  It's like you can hear the wind whistling through my ears.  Stupid wind's too loud, it won't let me think!  I think next time I'll put it off for twenty four hours and approach it with a fresh head.

Still it's not like the interior didn't work out!  It's just not as funny as it could have been - which was totally hilarious I assure you.  Maybe next time...