The Swamp Walker

Swamps. Muddy, stinky, and generally not desirable places to live. But if you need to, it’s way better to be mobile. Why lock yourself into a single location when all of them are available!? Jake (Mountain Hobbit) shows us exactly what this would look like with his wonderful Swamp Walker MOC. We also get to pick his brain a bit on how he went about designing and engineering this.

Inspiration

Chris: What was the inspiration for this build?

Jake: The idea for this build came from a piece of concept art that I found while looking for build inspiration. I didn’t have much of an idea of what I wanted to build, just that I wanted to make something swamp-themed. I came across this piece of art and knew I had to try building it.

cONCEPT aRT BASED ON Bridal Procession on the Hardanger

I actually followed the concept art very closely, recreating almost exactly what you see in the photo. I don’t usually follow concept art for my builds so it was fun to mix up my design process. I found that following a piece of concept art really helped me get the legs to look natural. I’m not very good at character builds, so I often struggle to create dynamic, natural looking poses.

Challenges

Chris: What was the most difficult aspect of the build to design?

Jake: By far the most difficult aspect of this build was the legs. I needed to be sure that they were strong enough to hold the weight of the house while still maintaining the long skinny look I was going for. Because the legs were the first thing I built, I had no idea how heavy the upper platform would be. I decided that the best way to ensure the legs were strong enough was to use Technic pieces. This probably would have been an easy task for anyone familiar with the Technic system, but I am FAR from a technic master. I don’t have many Technic pieces—I hardly ever use them, and barely even knew what pieces were available to use.

Most of my builds are pretty fragile, and I don’t usually need to worry about them being weight-bearing. The entire build exploded twice during its construction. Early on in the build process, I came up with an aesthetic design for the legs that I really liked and then realized that it was not nearly strong enough to support the house. After a couple of attempts, I came up with a design that was strong enough.

Details

Chris: Do you have a favorite technique in the build? Maybe something that isn't apparent right away or some connection you are proud of?

Jake: One technique that I liked from this build, while rather insignificant, was the large barrel in the back of the platform. I attached 1x4 tiles to some tank treads and then wrapped some string around them to create the hoops on the barrel.

Colors

Jake is known for stunning color schemes throughout his builds. Check out some of these other MOCs he’s done!

Jungle Alter
The Glowing Grove
The Old Birch Cottage
The Spires of Sand

Chris: The colors flow so well, from the swamp below to the house and roof. What is your process for choosing colors for a build?

Jake: When choosing colors for a build, I usually have a certain feeling or vibe that I want to create, and then choose the colors based on that. I also go through lots of trial and error, testing out different colors and combinations. For this build, I knew I wanted to go with a murky swamp color for the water. I also know that I prefer using solid colors for water since it looks a bit more animated and suits my style better. Ultimately, I decided on a sand blue and sand green color scheme with little “swirls” of olive green mixed in.

Closing Thoughts

Chris: Do you have anything else you want to say about this build or the process if you are displaying at a con somewhere?

Jake: I had a ton of fun working on this build. It's a bit of a different theme than my usual work and is definitely my favorite build of mine to date. My plan is to display this build at Bricks Cascade 2024, but I need to make a few changes to make it stronger and more presentable. I still don't have complete faith in this thing’s ability to stand up for a whole weekend, and I worry about what would happen if someone bumped the table. However with a little bit of reworking, I think I should be able to make it sturdier. So if you are going to Bricks Cascade next year, hopefully this build will see you there.

Chris: Thanks for taking the time to chat about this build and your process! I know I am excited to see it in person at Bricks Cascade.

Inspired by this creation? What swampy build would you make? Let us know in the comments below!

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