Forest Rock Hollow is a giant tree growing out of a rocky knoll. The forest people have turned it into a stable, cider press, workshop, and home. Three major sections (main tree, high rock,low rock) plus a fourth mini-section (upper side tree trunk) each pivot 90 or 180 degrees on hinges for display and access to the interior.
The main tree has multiple arched lookouts, plenty of Forest Stag Sigils on shields, lookout platforms, vines and other handholds, and blue slanted roofs as a call back to the Forest Hideouts [6054 (1988) and 40567 (2022)]. The construction is as knotty and gnarled as my brick collection demanded, with both square and round tree sections and multiple branches that pivot. It features a side trunk that pivots out on the 3rd and 4th floors, revealing the complete path upwards to the castle turret and the fourth floor living quarters of the tree.
Inside the main tree, the cider press takes up the first two floors. Grinding barrels up top chip fresh apples to pulp, then tip to dump them into the two story press. It slides up and down on its post to squeeze the apple chips into the tap and barrels below.
Floor 3 is the workshop, with tools and storage. Floor 4 is the living quarters.
The higher rock section is more "organized pile of rocks" than "castle" - I imagine the forest people to be fine wood crafters and probably not as polished in stone masonry as the lion knights or black falcons.
The low sloped rock section harkens back to 6066 Camouflaged Outpost (c. 1987), my favorite set from childhood, preserving the look and secret pivoting blackrock side door, plus a wide opening panel suitable for horses and hay.
The rock sections house the upper half of the cider mill and a lookout tower. Stables are below. The hay stack has a slide-out secret treasure compartment that holds barrels of treasure (is it gold, or is it cider?).
As you can see, overall construction of my rendition has all the makings of my childhood MOCs - mismatched pieces, spliced beams and floor plates, using up all of the leaf parts I had on hand, a mix of modern curved and old school angular pieces, two shades of grey plus the faded old ones from yesteryear, and plants and fungi scattered and randomly colored. A Production model should fix a lot of that, but maybe not all of it. We all started creating with a hodgepodge of pieces and perfection isn’t the goal of the Forest People.
The Black tree color is the only way to go for the forest people’s trees… they harken from a time when brown lego wasn’t a thing.
There are 6 ground-floor entrances and exits - one or two of which are obvious and the rest covered by leaves, pivot doors, and/or hatches.
All folded up, the model base measures 39 studs by 47 studs (about 10” x 12” or 25 cm x 30 cm).
Opened wide, its 65 studs from right to left (about 20” or 50cm). In this configuration it could fit on a shelf about 7” deep (18cm)
Height to the top of the branches is about 16” (38cm). The tree structure ends about 13” high (32 cm).
The three sections have footprints of:
Main Tree: 18 x 26
Medium Rock: 16 x 21
Short Rock: 18 x 18 studs
Five forest people live and work here, and they keep two horses and an ox for transporting themselves and their hay, apples, cider, and woodcrafts. My dream is the return of the black quill feather piece for at least a few of their caps and some flags with the stag sigil to complement the shields.
The forest people are a lot like us ...they use their imaginations and hands, build with what they have, and love to hone their craft and their friendships. Here's the place they do all that, tucked away in the woods.
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