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Hello, everybody!
Well, parts of it have been on exhibition before, and even the current
setup has been on display once, but now I took the opportunity to take a
few pictures of the completed model. It was about time, too, as the MOC
will meet the DARK SORTER after this very exhibition.
The Inn at the Olde Road
<http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album223<http://festum.de/1000steine/album/album223/2005_08_17_imgp0076.sized.jpg>>
Designed and build by Christian Treczoks
Building Time: Approx. 3 years, mostly for the acquisition of parts. If
I had to start over, I’d propably need 2 to 3 weeks to rebuild it.
Number or Bricks: Approx. 50000 to 60000. The tree alone consists of
about 3500 bricks.
Weight: 50 Kilograms.
Size: 144x192 "studs", about 115,2x153,6cm (about 4 by 5ft for the
metrically disadvantaged)
The model is based on a map I once drew up for a fantasy roleplaying
game. It does not depict any specific historic example.
Description of the buildings
<<http://festum.de/1000steine/album/album223/Schema.sized.jpg>>
The "Inn at the Olde Road" is the only caravanserai and settlement along
the "Olde Road", a trading route that runs through a dreaded forest. The
dangerous woods spread a good days way to the east and west from the inn.
1. The Olde Road – An important, yet dangerious trading route. No one
travels on this road without guards - for good reason.
2. The Hague – A thick and dense hedge protects the houses surrounding
and supporting the inn.
3. The Hague Gate – One of the few passages through the hedge.
4. The Horse Barn – The horses for the royal courier service are
stabled here. Upstairs, the innkeeper and his mother[1] have their
quarters.
5. The Main Gate – There is quite some traffice in the morning and in
the evening hours..
6. The Guest House – Downstairs are the kitchen and the dining room,
upstairs are the guest rooms
7. Construction Site – A new house is being built.
8. The Wall – The surrounding woods are quite dangerous, therefor the
Inn is fortified. Guards are keeping an eye or two open day and
night.
9. The Old Gate – The rear entrance of the inn, used maily as cattle
gate.
10. The Corn Barn – Here, the forage for the guests’ animals is stored.
11. The Servants Quarters – Such a big inn needs a lot of manpower for
upkeep and service. The house is built atop the ruins of an old
castle.
12. The Court – With its own spring and fishponds.
13. The Stables – The building is part of the castle that once stood
here. Only two thirds of the old main hall still exist, and the new
owners just patched the building up with boards and beams to make it
usable.
14. The Blacksmith – Wherever a lot of horses, carts and carriges come
along, a blacksmith can be quite handy.
15. The Tree – An old, large oak tree gives shadow to the court and the
fishponds.
Setting it all up at Dinger's Gartencenter in Cologne
<http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album224<http://festum.de/1000steine/album/album224/2005_08_17_imgp0053.sized.jpg>>
PLMKWYT!
Yours, Christian Treczoks
[1] Back in the olden days, when I mastered this gaming session, the
name I gave the innkeeper was "Norman Bates". And yes, he talked about
his old mother living "up there", and there were tales of a blonde lady
travelling alone, and now missing ;-) What a nice red herring... He was
mentally totally sound, only a little worried about rumors he heard (and
therefor nervous), and his mother may be old, but she was still alive.
And the girl was missing - well, all the traders and travellers hire
protection for the route for a reason. She did not. Ah yes, and in the
next playing session, the players arrived at the harbour city and
learned that the only ship going in their direction was the saling ship
"Nostromo". And they thought that this was a red herring, too. Boy, were
they mistaken...
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Christian Treczoks wrote:
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Hello, everybody!
Well, parts of it have been on exhibition before, and even the current
setup has been on display once, but now I took the opportunity to take a
few pictures of the completed model. It was about time, too, as the MOC
will meet the DARK SORTER after this very exhibition.
The Inn at the Olde Road
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Very nice work. I love that tree. I like how you have it spilt into two large
trunks near the top. The under construction building is very nice. I’ve always
liked the town versions, but yours, which matches your other buildings, is a
different animal. The stables have an excellent look to them, very much a church
or main hall feel. The servants quarters are HUGE. The Hague is very well done,
extremely thick.
With all the buildings gone, its much easier to see how much landscaping you did, wow. I’d
have liked to see a few more detail pictures, say of the Hague or the old oak.
I’m curious why you went with two studs thick on a lot of the first floor walls.
What is the large red thing is
this
picture? A gardencenter is an interesting location to display your creation,
how did this come about?
Well done, thanks for sharing.
Jason Spears | BrickCentral | MichLUG | CLB
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Jason Spears wrote:
> Very nice work. I love that tree. I like how you have it spilt into
> two large trunks near the top. The under construction building is
> very nice. I've always liked the town versions, but yours, which
> matches your other buildings, is a different animal. The stables have
> an excellent look to them, very much a church or main hall feel. The
> servants quarters are HUGE. The Hague is very well done, extremely
> thick.
OK, some annotations here:
The history of the buildings can be sorted in three stages:
First, there was an evil wizard, who had his castle and tower built in
(and beyond) the rear (north) part of the inn. The wizard created
horrible monsters that roamed the woods and drove away the people who
once lived in the forest, and made it so dark and dreaded. Then some
heroes came by, killed the sorcerer and destroyed parts of the castle.
Then, many years later, the first inn was built atop the ruins of the
castle. The new settlers boarded up the open side of the main hall and
turned it into stables, and built the old main house - which are now the
servants quarters on top of the ruins of another castle building. They
did not tear down and rebuild from scratch, but they used what was there
and patched up what the needed to make the whole thing habitable.
So this "Old Inn" consisted of the buildings that are now servants
quarters, stables, the old gate and some of the walls. The blacksmiths'
was a later addition to the Old Inn. The watch tower, for example, is
set atop the remains of one of the pillars of the old sorcerers tower.
Then the traffic grew and grew, and the inn had to expand, so they built
the new main buildings at the front and the forage store. Around this
time, they also dug the fish ponds, primarily as a water reservoir in
case of a fire. The tree that once grew in front of the inn is now in
the center of the court. One detail to point to ist that the design of
the tudor framework - the old buildings have a more plain design, the
newer ones in the front have a more playful, elaborate design (rounded
corner beams, and if I had to rebuild it, I would even make them
"painted", i.e. with blue and red and yellow plates 1x1 round mixed in).
> With all the
> <http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album224/2005_08_17_imgp0053
> buildings gone>, its much easier to see how much landscaping you did,
> wow.
That was a massive undertaking, I can tell. The landscape is one brick
high at the front (south) and 5+ bricks high at the rear (north), and it
is build with duplo bricks and two large boxes of my pre-dark-ages lego
underneath. The box with the twelve ground plates is quite heavy...
> I'd have liked to see a few more detail pictures, say of the Hague or
> the old oak.
I will take some more detail pictures at the end, and will definitively
include the Hague. Basically, the Hague is made from leaves 2417 and the
smaller version of it (don't have the number handy) and "light saber
bars" AKA "HP magic wands" in light brown (or dark orange, or whatever
that colour was). I'll put some details on how I built the hedges online.
The tree is much easier: It had been on (solo) exhibition before, and
there is a "making of", too.
The Tree: http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album193
Making Of: http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album59
> I'm curious why you went with two studs thick on a lot of the first
> floor walls.
Well, originally I wanted to build the buildings with a full interior,
so, naturally, the exterior walls were thicker. OK, to be 100% correct I
should have done the outside walls three thick, the walls to the court
and the main wall (that one with the chimney) two thick, and the other
walls one thick. But, alas, I gave up on doing interior in this MOC, and
will start with a new design twist in the next MOC ;-)
> What is the large red thing is
> <http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album224/2005_08_17_imgp0058
> this picture>?
It is an oven, of course. Actually, most chimneys in the display are
built to work, i.e. you could blow smoke in the fireplace, and it would
come out at the top. This oven in the blacksmiths house is quite special
in respect to it's functionality: The hot air and smoke from the forge
can either run directly up and out, or can be "switched" to run through
this oven first, and heat it (moderately), too. The oven itself has no
fireplace. A perfect oven to bake german pumpernickel bread...
> A gardencenter is an interesting location to display
> your creation, how did this come about?
Well, Dinger's (the _big!_[1] garden center) organizes a childrens
festival each summer. For about a year now, "Legopapi", one of our
german AFOLs, is employed there, and suggested this Lego exhibition to
draw additional customers (and press attention!). Lego has set up shop
there, there are price drawings, play areas and such.
> Well done, thanks for sharing.
Well, thanks for your reply and comments!
Yours, Christian Treczoks
[1] Well, when I arrived, Legopapi showed me the place where to set up
the MOC (the models are not in a single location, but spread all over
the shop). I went to the car, fetched a cartload of boxes, and lost my
way searching for my table... I have to have a map of this place - it is
BIG!
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What a triumph! There is so much to look at here. Excellent Build!
(still looking)
Wow, very very well done, LOOK at that tree and landscape. Terrific.
e
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> The Inn at the Olde Road
Wow! Absolutely stunning. I'm going to take some time over the next few days
to enjoy, and then re-enjoy all the pics. I would LOVE to see this MOC in
person. I also love the back story. In the end, it's all about story-telling,
isn't it?
Kudos to you.
Regards,
Robin Sather
Brickville DesignWorks
www.brickville.ca
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Christian Treczoks wrote:
> Hello, everybody!
>
> Well, parts of it have been on exhibition before, and even the current
> setup has been on display once, but now I took the opportunity to take a
> few pictures of the completed model. It was about time, too, as the MOC
> will meet the DARK SORTER after this very exhibition.
>
> The Inn at the Olde Road
Christian,
That is an incredible MOC. From the landscaping to the buildings and on to the
story. I love it how it all comes together so nicely. I had admired that tree
in the past and plan on redoing some of my trees hopfully half as good as yours.
You mentioned that you didn't detail the interiors but with as much "activity"
you have going on outside I don't think you needed to do the interiors. On my
display that is something that I'm lacking, lots of "activity".
Again, awesome MOC.
Thomas
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Christian Treczoks wrote:
> Hello, everybody!
Amazing work Christian! I'm a huge fan of realistic layouts and this is so full
of incredible details that really bring it to life. The more I look the more I
see. Fantastic.
I have to say at first glance I thought the house under construction was
actually a house that had been burned out! The black timbers gave me the
initial impression of wood that had been charred by fire.
Anyway, once again, amazing work! Truly inspiring.
J
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