Noctura's Keep: Behind the Build
by Isaac S
on Wed, May 8th, 2019. 11:04 am
Our third build based off of the Elves theme, this time we took inspiration primarily from #41194 Noctura's Tower and the Earth Fox Rescue.
Once again this model was made possible due to receiving a good number of Elves sets from the LCE Team.
The color scheme of the tower gave a different challenge than our Goblin Village and Elves Forest Fortress models due to our limited parts in Dark Blue and Dark Turquoise (Teal).
Keep reading to find out more about our design process.
The first thing we designed for the build was the mechanics of the remotely operated gates. A simple mechanism with some gears and gear racks was all that was needed, but it was important to make that first to ensure it fit within the tower floor.
Like the official set, we used Light Aqua plates for the base of the build.
Once we had the mechanism working smoothly we could move onto making the visible portions of the keep. Due to the depth required for the gate mechanics, stairs were necessary leading up to the first floor.
Dark Turquoise columns capped with tooth plates frame either side of the gate. We only have six of those 1x1x6 bricks in Dark Turquoise, so we opted to use them only at the front side of the keep, allowing for a pair to be used on each of the three stories. The large mushrooms are copied directly from the actual set, and those printed dishes are some of our favorite parts from the Elves line.
Bats are a must for Noctura, so the second play feature we came up with was a giant bat trap to protect the gates. With just a few modifications (mainly the wings), we copied the brick built bat design from the original set. A simple push knob setup in the second story allows for the trap to be activated.
Strangely enough, the piece we have most of in Dark Turquoise are 2x3 inverted slopes. So we used those to add balconies on either side of the tower at the second floor level.
Each floor of the tower is a couple studs smaller than the previous level, giving a slight taper to the entire structure.
As we noted in our Elves Forest Fortress post, tree branches are regularly included in Elves buildings. This time we used black dinosaur tails topped with magenta leaves for the trees growing out of the keep. At the third floor we could add three balconies once more built of off 2x3 inverted slopes in dark turquoise. Each floor of the tower is made of black plates due to our not having enough dark blue plates and tiles, though we did use dark blue plates around the outer most edges to avoid horizontal black stripes on the tower exterior.
The iron fence elements in dark turqoise were an obvious choice for the railings, and fortunately we had just enough to use one for each of the five balconies.
In this picture you can see I forgot to include the dark turquoise columns on the third story, so we had to rebuild a little bit of the tower to make sure they were incorporated consistently throughout.
For the keep's crenelations I used numerous dark blue dinosaur tails intertwined, and also was able to incorporate a dark blue nexo knight shield on the center of each side. Likewise the dark blue plant stem elements fit nicely over the arch ways to simulate elaborate scroll work carved into the stone. Elements like these are a large part of why we enjoyed the Elves sets so much.
We built the interiors last, and were able to incorporate one of our favorite details from another Elves set: bat beds build off of the walls to allow the bats to sleep upside down.
At first I was unsure what to include on the third floor of the keep, and then John suggested a table and chairs for the bats. Some reddish brown neck brackets in combination with inkwells worked perfectly to make appropriately scaled chairs.
Finally we built another dragon to allow for play battles around the keep. While the basic design of the dragon is very similar to official Elves sets,the combination of dark blue and magenta isn't found on any dragons included in actual sets.
Here is what the final scene ended up looking like:
You can see a video of the functions in action on Youtube and more pictures can be found on Brickbuilt.
Thanks for reading, and just let us know if you have any questions or comments about the model!
Once again this model was made possible due to receiving a good number of Elves sets from the LCE Team.
The color scheme of the tower gave a different challenge than our Goblin Village and Elves Forest Fortress models due to our limited parts in Dark Blue and Dark Turquoise (Teal).
Keep reading to find out more about our design process.
The first thing we designed for the build was the mechanics of the remotely operated gates. A simple mechanism with some gears and gear racks was all that was needed, but it was important to make that first to ensure it fit within the tower floor.
Like the official set, we used Light Aqua plates for the base of the build.
Once we had the mechanism working smoothly we could move onto making the visible portions of the keep. Due to the depth required for the gate mechanics, stairs were necessary leading up to the first floor.
Dark Turquoise columns capped with tooth plates frame either side of the gate. We only have six of those 1x1x6 bricks in Dark Turquoise, so we opted to use them only at the front side of the keep, allowing for a pair to be used on each of the three stories. The large mushrooms are copied directly from the actual set, and those printed dishes are some of our favorite parts from the Elves line.
Bats are a must for Noctura, so the second play feature we came up with was a giant bat trap to protect the gates. With just a few modifications (mainly the wings), we copied the brick built bat design from the original set. A simple push knob setup in the second story allows for the trap to be activated.
Strangely enough, the piece we have most of in Dark Turquoise are 2x3 inverted slopes. So we used those to add balconies on either side of the tower at the second floor level.
Each floor of the tower is a couple studs smaller than the previous level, giving a slight taper to the entire structure.
As we noted in our Elves Forest Fortress post, tree branches are regularly included in Elves buildings. This time we used black dinosaur tails topped with magenta leaves for the trees growing out of the keep. At the third floor we could add three balconies once more built of off 2x3 inverted slopes in dark turquoise. Each floor of the tower is made of black plates due to our not having enough dark blue plates and tiles, though we did use dark blue plates around the outer most edges to avoid horizontal black stripes on the tower exterior.
The iron fence elements in dark turqoise were an obvious choice for the railings, and fortunately we had just enough to use one for each of the five balconies.
In this picture you can see I forgot to include the dark turquoise columns on the third story, so we had to rebuild a little bit of the tower to make sure they were incorporated consistently throughout.
For the keep's crenelations I used numerous dark blue dinosaur tails intertwined, and also was able to incorporate a dark blue nexo knight shield on the center of each side. Likewise the dark blue plant stem elements fit nicely over the arch ways to simulate elaborate scroll work carved into the stone. Elements like these are a large part of why we enjoyed the Elves sets so much.
We built the interiors last, and were able to incorporate one of our favorite details from another Elves set: bat beds build off of the walls to allow the bats to sleep upside down.
At first I was unsure what to include on the third floor of the keep, and then John suggested a table and chairs for the bats. Some reddish brown neck brackets in combination with inkwells worked perfectly to make appropriately scaled chairs.
Finally we built another dragon to allow for play battles around the keep. While the basic design of the dragon is very similar to official Elves sets,the combination of dark blue and magenta isn't found on any dragons included in actual sets.
Here is what the final scene ended up looking like:
You can see a video of the functions in action on Youtube and more pictures can be found on Brickbuilt.
Thanks for reading, and just let us know if you have any questions or comments about the model!