But Where's the Ninja?

The Classic Castle Contest is currently under way, and I'm loving it. Every couple days, there are several absolute gems that pop up in my feed. This peaceful Oriental bridge scene by 'LL' is one of my favorites so far. The bridge perfectly evokes classic Eastern architecture, and very cleverly uses the old rope bridge pieces for the arch. But what I like best about this build are those trees. The grey trunks compliment the fall leaves very nicely, and the addition of some roots really makes them look accurate.

Norse ship!

Get it? Nice...Norse... I know, I know. I'm sorry. Anyway, Mark of Falworth built this awesome Viking-esque ship for CCC 14. It seems that building a curvy wooden ship like this would be difficult, but Mark does a fantastic job with it. The shaping on the bow is phenomenal: it has a nice curve overall while still looking like individual planks, just like in real life. Also, the subtly shaded green water makes for a nice change from the slightly unrealistic bright blue water we're used to seeing.

Secret Cottage in Farnor Forest

I believe that the secret in Farnor Forest is not actually the cottage, but the forest itself. Upon first glance the trees of the forest look to be standard fare, but look again and you will notice some very cool new designs. Realistic looking tree trunks have always been difficult to pull off and over the years many new techniques have been added to the collective design base. Builder Ben Tritschler has a shared a few new concepts with us including some some Ben 10 parts for the trunks of the larger trees and the mini shooters for the smaller ones.