From Space to Castle: Building Emerald Keep

LEGO builders should venture out of their comfort zones more. Often this will result in a neat surprise, just like this keep built by Taylor. You wouldn’t expect this to be built by someone who usually builds space MOCs—especially not on this scale. The name he chose for this keep is one that suits it very well, it’s truly a jewel!

The different heights of towers and walls make it imposing, and the level of detail is pleasing to look at. For example, those Nexo Knights shields used for the crenelations are used perfectly. The walls have a good texture to avoid the so-called “grey wall syndrome.” And the use of several green tones makes it truly deserve the name “Emerald.”

Of course, I was curious how this keep came to be, and Taylor was kind enough to answer questions I had about the MOC.

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Marco: Your keep is amazingly detailed and the size is impressive. It even won a well-deserved Best Dark Ages Award. But how does someone who builds mainly space-related MOCs decide to make a castle? And as you've mentioned, you were planning to build a small castle on a 32x32 footprint. But the result is far from that. How did that happen?

Taylor: The original idea for a castle started at BRICKSPO 2022 where a group of friends and I brainstormed a collab to do for BRICKSPO 2023. The idea of doing a castle kingdom collab came up, and although I had never built a castle, I was excited at the prospect of working with my friends on a collaboration, something I had never done before. We brainstormed ideas through the fall and winter of 2022.

At the end of 2022, I decided to create a small 32x32 castle tester for myself to see what I could come up with. Around the same time I was contacted by somebody who had discovered my previous creations and asked me to take part in a project related to LEGO that involved larger scale models than I was used to. This was the first time I had ever been asked to contribute my LEGO building skills to something. I built only space, mainly small ships, so I was wholly unprepared for the task asked of me.

My largest creation before the castle was just over 100 studs long and a few thousand pieces at most. So I had no experience building at scale. I figured I needed to actually build something of scale, and the castle was the perfect test. The castle collab ended up not coming to fruition (my friends were still focused on their incredible Scarif collab), but I went full steam ahead on mine anyway.

Marco: How long did it take you to build, and do you have an estimate on the bricks you've used?

Taylor: I started in December 2022 and finished the week before BRICKSPO 2023 at the end of this July, so eight months. I would say that the last two months of the project was when I started working on it for hours every day after work. For piece estimate, it's hard to say but I estimate 15,000 to 20,000—there are lots of piece-heavy details such as the texturing on the wooden buildings, the floor, and the water.

Marco: As a space builder, did you have enough bricks for a castle on that scale? And how do you acquire your bricks: BrickLink, PAB, sets or some other way?

Taylor: I have an alright collection of pieces but I quickly ran out of light bluish-grey brick and bought pieces from every source I could think of—bulk buys from friends and local BrickLink sellers were my primary source followed by shipped BrickLink orders and the occasional PAB find. I had the benefit of not caring about damaged or discolored pieces, so I was able to buy bulk lots of bricks that would normally not make the cut for a BrickLink store to send out.

Marco: What is your building process? Do you sketch, build digitally or do you just start building?

Taylor: For better or for worse, my building approach my entire life has just been to start building until I achieve a result I like. This led to me rebuilding sections of the castle multiple times to achieve a result I was pleased with (as you can see in my Instagram build log). Often times with spaceships in particular I will find a specific piece I like and build around it. Since that didn't really translate to scale like this I went through many different revisions of the early castle before I found a footprint I liked.

Marco: Looking at that build log, you can see a wonderful overview of the entire process, showing some WIPs along the way. Were there any specific challenges during the building process? I can see plenty of angled walls that might have been a struggle to integrate into the whole structure.

Taylor: My biggest challenge on the castle was building sections strong enough to support potential weight on top. Since I just built as I went, I had no idea what height I would end up at and had to go back to sections and backfill with Duplo a few times to support the weight. The angles were decided completely on the fly based on how I thought they would look in a particular section. I often had to build sections out a little further to reach the angle I created in a different section. I like to imagine the inhabitants of this castle took on the ideology of "add on stuff as you need it"”

Marco: Do you have a favorite part of the castle?

Taylor: My favorite part of the castle is the section directly above the wooden boat launch gate—I just love how I brought the little hut additions together. But really, I love how the project came together as a whole. I'm proud of every section I did.

Marco: There are some interior shots, but are you planning on adding more or expanding the castle? Will the castle be displayed at other events?

Taylor: There are very few interiors due to the support structure needed on the inside, so for the most part what you see is what is there. A few buildings with open doors have floors in place for me to add interiors in the future, but it is mostly limited to structures near the top.

I have plans to add a town in front of the castle with a similar 4ft x 4ft footprint, but I am not sure when. I have a handful of buildings ready to transplant that were built in the early stages of the castle but as of right now, I have not even finished unloading and repairing the castle from BRICKSPO. I plan to bring the castle to Brickroundup in Calgary, AB on October 14-15 and then after that, we'll see what happens with the town plans.

Marco: Are you planning on building more castles in the future or did it check a box on your "want-to-build list"? Or maybe you have other bigger projects in mind?

Taylor: This will definitely not be my last castle. I enjoyed the process and came up with ideas for new, different castles with different architectural styles and colors while working on this one. I am in the middle of expanding my LEGO workspace at the moment and will have a fresh 6ft x 4ft work table to use, so we'll see what happens there. In the meantime, I have a few ideas for smaller things I want to build in various themes. Things I wouldn't have attempted before this castle because I thought I was only good as a space builder. But now I may as well try it out, maybe it will come out okay like the castle!

Marco: Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll build next!

Inspired to build your own castle? Just be aware that a small project can get gigantic really fast!

Have you ever built something out of your comfort zone? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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