Bricklink Designer Program Round 4 - A Win for Castle Fans

I’ve turned picking the Bricklink Designer Program round sets into a game and round 4 was the first where I didn’t get any right. You can see my failed picks here. This round was heavy on the castle theme and even another train made the pick which is cool to see as a train fan. I’ll be curious to see if LEGO brings back the castle theme based on the popularity through Ideas, Icons, and this program. Onto the finalists for round 4…

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First up is Medieval Seaside Market by user Bricks_fan_uy which contains 2,183 pieces. This one is an interesting selection with the addition of #10332: Medieval Town Square in the Icons line. I realize the differences, but it also has a lot of similarities. Either way, it’s Castle and as of late, Castle sets are super popular. This one will most likely sell out quickly.

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Next up is the Merchant Boat by user NicolasCarlier which contains 1,933 pieces. This one is something different that we haven’t seen before. I like the concept. We haven’t seen a steamboat before, but maybe there’s a reason for it. We’ll see how this one does with sales.

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If one Castle themed set wasn’t enough, this round gives us two. The Siege Encampment by user SleeplessNight contains 2,637 pieces. SleeplessNight designed the Mountain Fortress set from round 1. It’s a full on war scene with the equipment to take over a castle, some tents, and some areas to support the troops. It’s something we haven’t seen in Castle before so I suspect this one will go quickly too.

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Next up is The Riverside Scholars by user Hanwas which will contain 2,692 pieces. This one is another unique design and is tied to the Mountain Windmill set from a while back. I like the fantasy theme, but I’m not sure this one will go like the Castle themed sets.

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The last one is the Wild West Train by designer llucky which contains 2,760 pieces. llucky designed the General Store set from series 1 so he is another repeat designer for this program. It’s good to see another train set after a lot of years of no trains. This one is from a different era as I don’t think we’ve seen a western themed train set since the Toy Story train a few years back. This one should go well with llucky’s General Store set of the same era.

Set Review: #10305-1: Lion Knights' Castle - Icons

We haven’t had a castle in a while and thanks to the LEGO 90th anniversary and a fan vote, we get #10305-1: Lion Knights’ Castle. This set contains 4,514 pieces and retails in the US for $399.99. This works out to $0.089 per piece. The set was released on 26 July 2022 in the US and was announced at LEGOCon 2022. I ordered this one during a double VIP points period before Christmas 2022 and got a number of GWPs as well. I also used $200 in VIP points and a $50 gift card I received to help cut back on the cost.

This is a long review and I doubt many will make it all the way to the bottom so I’ll do the wrap up here. Overall, this was a great set. There were a lot of great building techniques and parts used and it was fun to build. I enjoyed seeing how the sections fit together and what little bits the designers threw in. There are also a lot of great minifigures to add into your collection which is awesome. It’s an expensive set and I’m not sure I would have purchased it without VIP points, a gift card, double VIP points, and GWPs. If you’re looking to buy this set, besides saving up for it, be sure to look for ways to maximize your purchase with GWPs, double VIP points, or other bonuses.

Here’s the box I received from LEGO Shop @ Home.

Here’s what it looks like when you open it up. The packaging is similar to how #42143-1: Ferrari Daytona SP3 was packaged with the set sandwiched between two thick pieces of cardboard.

Here’s what the box looks like. It’s got the old fashioned yellow coloring and the 90th anniversary logo. The front shows the full set while the back gives some details.

The sides of the box show a highlight of the anniversary and tribute to the castle theme, another view of the castle, and then the minifigures.

The set contents are some parts bags and then a box with more parts bags. Bag #26 for me was busted open. I was thankful that no parts were missing, but disappointed that this happened in a $400 set. Overall, there are 26 numbered bags (some have more than one bag per number) and an unnumbered bag. Also, the instructions are in a paperboard envelope for protection.

There are two instruction booklets. The instructions give some history of the castle theme and information on the designers. Also throughout the build, there are various notes written in an old English way talking about some of the various parts of the build.

I won’t go through each of the builds in detail, but will point out a few spots. Also, I built this set across different tables to include one that I brought outside (Florida was warm enough for outdoor building) so sorry for the different backgrounds.

Bag one builds a small market stand, a cart for the ox to pull, a beverage keg, and includes a farmer with a pitchfork.

Bag two builds the base of a section of the castle. This section is the start to a kitchen area and includes some food items.

The third bag finishes up the kitchen. It has a fireplace/oven, a water source, a large amount of utensils, and some supplies along with a cook.

The fourth bag adds another section which includes a Forestmen’s hide out area. There are some weapons, a map to the treasure, and a target. This section is accessed via a trap door in the castle on the floor above.

The fifth bag builds up the next floor with includes a fireplace and harpsicord It also has a trap door to the hide out.

The fifth bag builds up the walls. I like how they spaced in textured bricks with the regular smooth bricks. There are also some plants growing throughout and the angles fit in well. It’s great that they are not all 90 degree angles and they change throughout.

The sixth bag finishes up some of the wall section and a roof section. You get a chamber maid and a knight with a sword and shield.

The seventh bag starts up the mill section.

The eighth bag builds the mill. There’s a water wheel that spins and is connected with Technic parts to the mill area. Then you build out a section to dump the wheat into for it to fall into the grinding wheels. It’s a lot of detail for a small space. You also get a minifigure guard with helmet.

The ninth bag adds a banquet hall above the mill. This hall has a table with two chairs and then some shields on the wall with various prints (not stickers!!!!). The outside has some flowers for decorations and some plants growing up the side.

The tenth bag adds a play area for two kids. One has a Forestmen’s outfit and is holding a mini-minifigure. The other is wearing blue, but not in one of the normal uniforms from Castle. He is standing by a mini-model of the LEGO Castle #375 in my picture.

Bag 11 adds a bedroom area with a bed, small desk, rug, and a fireplace. It comes with a minifigure who has the Lion Knights’ uniform, but hair instead of a helmet. You can outfit him as a knight with some of the pieces from the armory. I didn’t picture it well here, but there’s a hidden door that opens when you open up the wall. Inside is a golden frog. I’m sure there’s a back story behind it, but it’s a fun detail to the set.

Bags 12 and 13 add in a thatched roof over the play and bedroom area. It also adds a tower for a look out to stand on. I like the piece use to make the roof look thatched.

Builds 14 and 15 build the next section of the castle. One fun part of the build was that I didn’t know what each section was as I was building it. I couldn’t tell at this point what exactly I was building. It made the builds more exciting. So don’t memorize any of the reviews you read/watch before building a set.

Build 16 puts together a wizard and a hidden treasure chest.

Bag 17 builds the dungeon with two cells and a poor skeleton minifigure inside one. It also comes with a Forestmen minifigure. There’s trap door so you can get in and out of this area. I posted pictures of the door open and closed.

Bags 18 and 19 build what ends up as an entry way through a ramp up to the castle and a connection to a draw bridge. More on that later. There’s a small armory inside with some helmets, weapons, and shields. You get another minifigure here.

Bag 20 builds the drawbridge, but you don’t make it functional until later. You add some plant growth around an archway and what ends up being a tree. I find it interesting that they chose black for the tree. Maybe it’s a specific kind? Or maybe they just thought black went better with the castle? I don’t know…

Bag 21…. I didn’t realize what this was until later on in the build…I also didn’t get a good picture of it (sorry). You build a castle bathroom here. That’s right! It’s a place for minifigures to use a medieval toilet. It’s pretty much a seat area with a hole that goes to the outside and then they have a stick for wiping I guess. And you’ll notice the chocolate frog on the ground outside. Yeah, it’s not a chocolate frog… unless that’s what comes out of minifigures. Hilarious!

You also build a door that can be raised/lowered using a textured 2x2 round brick on the outside. This blocks the entrance by the ramp when needed.

Bag 22 builds up more of the structure and adds to the armory. They apparently need a lot of weapons to defend this place.

Bag 23 continues to build this area up with some windows, a cheese slope awning over one of the windows, and arch window, and the armory.

Bag 24 builds up the tree outside. It also adds the mechanism to raise and lower the gate to the drawbridge. This is some interesting functionality as it can lock into place or be lowered quickly as needed. You also get the queen, a horse, and a knight. What’s fun about this set is you get a lot of female knight figures. It’s probably not historically accurate, but it’s a fun change to show a diverse castle populace.

Bag 25 adds some minifigures, tops off some of the towers and walls, and adds in some flags. I like the use of the rounded pieces for the tops of the towers. I’m not sure what we call these pieces, but they are fairly new to the LEGO system as I can recall.

Bag 26 builds up the ramp to get to the castle. It also adds some of the Black Falcon knights who look like they’ve journeyed to visit the castle. There is a knight of sorts on a horse, a guard on the ground, and then the poor minifigure with the huge pack to take care of the horse.

If you don’t like the minfigures in this set then you’re not into the castle theme. Ten Lion Knights (including the queen), 3 Black Falcons, 3 Forestmen, and 5 others to include the wizard. Oh and the skeleton that I forgot to include. Tack on 2 horses, an ox, a baby sheep, and a few birds, and you get a lot here. It’s a great selection!

Here’s the final set all assembled without minifigures from a few different angles. The first two pictures show the draw bridge up and then down. There are a couple of other views as well.

Bonus points if you’ve made it to the bottom of this pose. You can open up the castle for play purposes and to see inside into all of the different rooms. Having this option is nice as it’s more than just a model castle, but one that you can play with.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Happy building!

UPDATE: Free Castle Polybag (or not a Scam)

On 10 August 2022, the actual 90th anniversary of LEGO, fan media highlighted an opportunity to get another exclusive set. I saw a similar post on The Brick Fan, Brick Fanatics, and Brickset so I assumed this was the real deal. Here’s how it works. You order $50 or more of LEGO sets from an approved giant list from Walmart, then you go to https://www.lego90offer.com/, type in a bunch of personal information, upload a copy of the receipt, and they will process sending you a polybag for free.

It sounded like a good deal to me. Walmart runs a lot of sales of various themed sets and sometimes they are fulfilled by LEGO’s warehouse. I went on and ordered $59 worth of items as of course you can’t get $50 or $51 to be just over the limit. So then I went to the site to upload my receipt… As mentioned above, it is lego90offer.com. The site has logos for LEGO and Walmart along with some official terms, but that’s about it. I couldn’t find anything on the offer on Walmart’s website and it doesn’t show up on LEGO.com’s offers either.

So when you go to upload, you provide a name, address, email address, optional phone number (I didn’t list it), and then a copy of your receipt. My receipt was from an online order so it had my address and name as well.

It felt a bit awkward putting all of this personal information onto this random site, but I went ahead and uploaded my receipt and information anyways. I soon thereafter got an email stating that my order was received and would be processed in 24 hours.

We’ll see what happens. Am I the only one who found this process to be rather sketchy? The terms say you can only get one so I’m not going to try again.

Let me know if you get your copy. Post a comment here or email me at store@bricksforbricks.com.

Happy building! (I hope.)

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6 September 2022: It’s been almost 4 weeks and a yellow padded envelope showed up in the mail with what sounded like bricks inside. I opened it up and my guess was correct.

This takes “only the best is good enough” to a whole new level. It looks like someone bought a bunch of plastic bags, got the bricks on Bricklink, put a printed card and instruction booklet in, and called it a day. I guess it’s Walmart though so “save money, live better” is their slogan. My opinion, this lacks the luster of a promotional set given it’s presentation and quality. Maybe LEGO should consider how they do their future Walmart promos.

I was going to add this to my BrickLink store, but a quick check showed that people were trying to sell this thing for $75 to $90 each. Really? Come on! I will wait to post it in the store until the pricing comes down to a more reasonable level.

Classic Space and Castle Themes Back to Drain Our Wallets

If you follow any of the LEGO Fan Media sites or LEGO itself, you saw that LEGOCON 2022 had some big set announcements. I was surprised at the number of announcements and also the scale of some of the sets. It wasn’t like an introduction of the LEGO CITY line for the next year. There were some big drops which is pretty cool if you ask me.

The set I’m most excited about is #10497-1: Galaxy Explorer. This is probably because I was a big LEGO Space fan as a kid (M-Tron was one of my favorite themes), but it is cool to see a set like this show up. It has four minifigures, 1,294 pieces, and with a retail price in the US of $99.99, it works out to $0.08/piece which isn’t too bad. It’s available starting on 1 August 2022, but you can pre-order it on LEGO.com now.

The box design is reminiscent of the sets of the past with the yellow coloring and packaging design. This started with #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay and returns here. I’m looking forward to putting this set together some day.

LEGO.com

LEGO.com

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The other big reveal was #10305-1: Lion Knights’ Castle. This one will also be released on 1 August 2022 in the US and I don’t believe there is a pre-order option. The set will contain 4,514 pieces and will retail for $399.99 in the US. That will work out to $0.089/piece which isn’t too bad. I count 21 minifigures which may or may not be accurate, but is pretty darn close. This one is pretty pricy, but it’s great to see Castle finally come back in a big way. I suspect this one will fly off the shelves and will be hard to get for a bit.

LEGO.com

LEGO.com

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Andres Lehman from Zusammengebaut.com just recently posted an interview he did with the set designers from LEGO. Mike Psiaki and Milan Madge are well known from previous set designs they’ve had and they show some of the cool details and functions of these sets. It’s worth the just under 16 minutes of your time to see what is up.

Happy building!

Set Review - #21325-1: Medieval Blacksmith - LEGO® Ideas

I was not a big Castle theme fan as a kid, although I did have a few small sets. I recall having a few knights, a glow in the dark ghost, and some horses. I was definitely impressed when I saw #21325-1: Medieval Blacksmith be released as Ideas set #33. I was not a day one buyer when it was released on 2 February 2021, but I grabbed one when it was available with a good gift with purchase. This set retails for $149.99 in the US. With 2,164 pieces it works out to $0.069 per piece which isn’t bad.

My set box got a bit beat up in shipping, but I can’t complain. The front shows the full set with all of the minifigures. The back shows off some of the details of the set. The box is branded as 18+ as well. The back, upper left shows how the set is built like a modular in that you can remove the different levels and the roof to have access to the internal details. The back also points out that a light brick is included.

Before moving on, I’ll just say I’m not sure the light brick really adds anything to this build. I think we could have done without it and saved a few dollars on the set or added another minifigure or two in. As an 18+ set, I don’t think most adults like the play feature of being able to turn the light on and off. My preference would be to rig the set up with LED lights instead. That’s just my opinion though. Thoughts?

The set contains 14 numbered parts bags, a 15th bag without a number that contains some of the larger parts, and the instruction book is wrapped up. This set contains zero stickers. WHOOHOO!!!

Like most of the Ideas sets, this one contains information about the fan designer and LEGO designers in the beginning before you move onto the build.

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I lumped bags one and two together as they both start on the base of the build. Bag one builds the base plate area. I like how LEGO has gotten away from just using a base plate and had switched to using plates of different shapes and sizes to achieve the desired design. It adds in some curves as well which is nice. Bag one comes with the blacksmith minifigure and a husky dog figure.

Bag two adds to the base. The blacksmith’s shop starts to form, the stairs to the second level are started, you get more foliage around the outside, and the area where the water well will be is built up slightly.

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The third bag builds up the blacksmith’s shop. Besides the walls getting higher, the kiln is built with the light brick. A brick built blower is used to trigger the light which was a clever idea.

On the outside, there is a small garden with a few pumpkin like vegetables growing. Nearby is a bone for the dog.

The inside has a shield and some armor hanging on the wall that you can assume the blacksmith created.

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The fourth bag mostly finishes up the blacksmith shop. On the inside, you get a bunch of tools, some extra “material” to use for tools, a completed helmet, an anvil to work on, and a brick built door with some printed wood patterned tiles. The outside has another anvil and then a barrel of swords that either need work or were finished.

I like what is done on the outside with the mixture of bricks, tiles, and textured bricks to create the medieval style of architecture. The use of brown to show wooden supports is also cool. This is especially apparent on the side with the veggie garden.

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The fifth bag adds a female archer with bow, arrow, and quiver of arrows.

For this build, the biggest part is the apple tree. It’s a different type of tree than we have seen before and I like how they did it. At first I was confused as to where it was going, but it all came together, and I think it looks good with the lime green and green leaf pieces along with the red apples.

You also top off the water well with a small roof over the well and a bucket nearby.

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The sixth bag starts the second floor. This starts work on the kitchen and includes a beverage barrel with tap, a table, a butter churn, and a stove. The stove is in line with the rest of the chimney area on the building and it fits together well.

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The seventh bag continues floor two. You get some brick built chairs which are larger than most we are used to seeing, but actually fit minifigures. You also get some food on the table and there are candles on the wall. On the other side of the kitchen, you finish off the stove area and add in a pot holder attached to the wall. You also get a food preparation area where you get a few tools and a carrot with a section cut off.

On the outer section, you get a small awning with roof pieces and a sign for the blacksmith shop. The sign is printed on a tile. No stickers. YAY!

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Bag eight wraps up the second floor. Besides finishing off the walls and adding windows, you get the brown tiles on the outside which make it look like wood boards. Having been around Europe, I have seen houses with this look and I think the designers did a great job capturing that style of build.

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Bag nine starts the third floor which is the bedroom area. It is mostly the floor with the start of supports for the roof. There is a brick build animal rug on the floor which is a cool design. There is also an area for writing to include a quill and a tile with printing. There is also a chest with a compass and backpack. This is a reference to fan designer Clemens Fiedler and his passion for hiking and being outdoors.

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Bags 10 and 11 add in some more supports, a small window outcrop, a bed with a fun patterned blanket, and more roof support pieces.

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The 12th bag adds one side of the roof and another window outcropping. The roof pieces are blue, dark blue, and black. There is also some sand green as moss. I have seen a few complaints about the roof and how it was built in other reviews, but I am a fan. I like the coloring and use of tiles and bricks. As I’ve heard from other reviews, feel free to use your own brick stash to adjust the roof if you aren’t a fan of how it was designed.

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The 13th bag completes the roof. On the previous side, you add in the chimney which is in line with the stove on the second floor and blacksmith area on the first floor. The other side of the roof is built in a similar way, but with a few different details. There are some missing tiles where you can see exposed “wood” and then more “moss” on the bottom edge of the roof.

At the top of the peak, there is more sand green and then some brown pieces to complete the top.

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Bag 14 provides two knights. One is an older male with armor, a sword, and a shield. The other is a female with a battle ax and armor. They both come with hair pieces and then helmets.

Additionally you build a horse and carriage. The horse can either be attached to the carriage or you can add in a brick and tile to fill up the space so the horse doesn’t look too weird with the carriage attached.

The carriage comes with an additional shield, a plastic molded bag, and a lantern attached to the carriage. The horse can turn so the carriage turns too. The wheels remain in the same position, but the horse can pivot.

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Here is the final build with the full assembled building. While I have to admit I like the fan design better, I can’t complain about this design. It definitely has the medieval style of architecture and would look great in a castle styled scene. It makes me want to expand to set into a scene… how many times have I said that before? I need more time for building… what is this stupid work thing I have to go to?

Overall, I highly recommend this set. It’s a great build of a great theme of LEGO past. Not sure it will ever go for a discount, but look for opportunities to get a cool gift with purchase, double VIP points, or other bonuses if you want to pick this set up.

Happy building!

LEGO® Exhibition Visit - Kloster Machern, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany - Part 2

Here’s the second part of my visit to the LEGO® Exhibition in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. If you missed the first part, you can see it here.

Star Wars did not have a big representation at this show, but there was a hangar of ships on display. Next to it was what looked like Lego Digital Designer and the build of the MOC on a computer screen.

Some nostalgia for you… here is a large 12V train set up with some of the old LEGO sets. It might not be some of the massively detailed train displays you see LUGs set up, but it was still cool to see the 12V trains chugging around the track.

I don’t know if this is a MOC of an actual train station or not, but I thought it was very impressive. I like how the designer incorporated the CITY base plates in the front. There’s a lot of action going on with a tow truck getting a car, construction on the tracks, and a painter at work near the pizza truck.

Next to the train station were a few trains. I would have preferred to see them going around a big display, but I’ll take whatever I can get.

The picture next to it is of a large church with some great lighting behind translucent colored bricks. This would have been cool to see with the lights off.

Next up is a large country western scene with a mid-1800s US-like Army and some Natives about to harass them. The scene was very detailed with the desert scene on the outside of a pretty detailed fort. I took the picture as the builder was showing off the inside of one of the buildings. If I spoke German, I would have more to say about this, but I don’t so just enjoy the pictures.

Not to be outdone, nearby was another country western scene. This one included a train, settlers with horses and wagons, the Confederate Army fighting the Union Army, cattle herders, a steam ship, and some Natives harassing some settlers and their wagon train. This scene was another one where it was hard to know where to look first. I can’t image how long it took to set up each and every single minifigure here. Very impressive!

This display was one of my favorite at the show. I apologize for loading all of my pictures that I took of this one, but as a fan of modular buildings I thought this Venice scene was awesome. The use of different colors helps the buildings to really stand out and the pieces used really create some cool details. I think about some of the pieces that I have and how I often don’t know what to do with them and then I look at buildings like these and realize how I could use them to make some very striking details on buildings.

See if you can pick out some of the pieces used to create details. I really like the scorpions and the Star Wars Battle Droid legs for detail. I also like how the one building uses the ball joints. Awesome work!

Here are 2 more buildings. One appears to be maybe an Asian restaurant while the other appears to be a LEGO® Brand Store.

While a lot of the builders were adults and many were from a LUG, there were also a few teens there displaying some items. I didn’t get pictures of them all, but this group stood out to me. They had a number of mechanical devices to include the amusement park below. They also had a rubik’s cube solver, a machine that held a pen to make some cool drawings, and a few other machines. Here’s a picture of their amusement park.

These may have been the best part of the show. The creativity here is astonishing. They took existing sets and built them using what I can only assume was with parts they had on hand or could get to easily. They had #21303-1: WALL-E build out of various pieces and then the two sets pictured below. The first was #71043-1: Hogwart’s Castle. I first looked at it and was like, that’s a cool looking castle. Then I was like, wait! That’s a real set only with different pieces. How cool is that? That’s some impressive work, but it was probably substantially cheaper than buying the actual set. Next up was #21315-1: Pop-Up Book. They took the design, used the pieces on hand, and added in I <3 U as the item that popped up.

My inability to speak German hit me here as I couldn’t ask questions, but bravo to the person or people who built these. They did an awesome job and did something I have never seen done before. They definitely get my best in show award.

Congrats if you made it this far and thanks for checking it out. I hope to get to more shows in Germany before I depart.

In the meantime, happy building!

LEGO® Exhibition - Kloster Machern, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany - Part 1

I found out about a LEGO® Exhibition in Germany from 1-3 November 2019 and decided to go check it out. It was located in Bernkastel-Kues which is along the Mosel River. We picked a good day to go as the drive there let us see some great fall colors in the trees and it wasn’t pouring rain like it has done a lot this fall in Europe. The exhibition was located in Kloster Machern which used to be a monastery. Now it is a museum and with some eateries and an event room. This place was just outside of Bernkastel-Kues and it was tucked into the valley along the river. There were some great views and if the exhibition was disappointing at least we got to see a cool part of Germany.

Here’s a picture from the parking lot of the monastery.

A few closer shots of the outside of the building.

Here is the sign… Google Translate tells me that “ausstellung” translates to “exhibition.” The cost was 10 Euros to get my family in and the show ran across a 3-day weekend. Our ticket would let us back in all weekend, but we just went for one day.

Upon entering, there were a number of tables of vendors selling sets, loose bricks, and other brick related paraphernalia. The first build we ran into was this tall building and its miniature replica. The building is an office building in Neunkirchen, Germany. It was an impressive MOC, but I didn’t get to enjoy it much as there were no barriers and my little guy really wanted to play with all of the cars on the roads surrounding the building.

Lauter Steine EV. was there in full force. This is the same LUG that displays at the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

There was a big Christmas themed display with a lot of the Winter Village sets and the Winter Village train looping around the scene. It was a good use of the sets along with some other minifigures and parts. There were some creative scenes and and a few hidden minifigures like Storm Troopers. A bigger sized Uni-Kitty stood guard over the display.

There were a lot of castles on display. Here are just a few.

A Fabuland display and then a bunch of different items to include some space sets, a rocket launch, some vehicles, and some imaginative MOCs.

This is a MOC of Castle Pfalzgrafenstein. It was a castle built in the 14th century to collect duties on the Rhine River in Germany (according to the sign posted nearby). I thought this was pretty cool because I took a short trip on the Rhine River with my family this past summer and we saw the actual castle. A picture I took is shown so you can see the real thing. I think the builder did a good job at replicating the actual building.

Here is an amazing MOC of the Reichstag building in Berlin. For those in the US or anywhere else not familiar, this building is like the US Capitol. It’s where the German Parliament meets. I think the MOC is incredible. They really captured the details well. The sign nearby said the model took 4 years to make and contains around 450,000 bricks.

A large castle scene…

Here is a replica of an old building near Bernkastel-Kues in Morbach (a few minutes to the southeast of Bernkastel-Kues). I’m not sure if the building still exists today or not, but It’s cool how they show a picture of what it looked like.

Props to you if you look down this far. I’ll post part 2 shortly.