Schmidt
Adventurer
Lord of the Bargain
All for one, one for all, every man for himself!
Posts: 1,330 
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Post by Schmidt on Mar 19, 2014 12:30:28 GMT -8
It's quite funny actually. I have been involved in "castle" creations for over 2 years now, and have been involved in the LEGO online community for almost 2 years as well. My focus is always castle. And yet, I have never actually built a castle! So it is the current direction of my next project. I will post WIP pictures throughout, but I seek some serious input.
I do not want a massive castle. I do not want an elaborate, greebily castle. I just want a simple castle with 3 1/2 walls while the keep covers the last 1/2. I'm not looking for depth to the walls, just big flat simple walls. By looking at my WIP pictures, you'll see what I mean. I am not wanting to be a Derfel Cadarn, or a Mark of Falworth (although they are amazing), I am just wanting to be me. So I am going to start out small.
Here is a rough sketch of what I am going for.
Here is the WIP of the walls. I am building this castle in sections, as I want it to be easy to transport.
Yeah yeah, I'm a grown man playing with DUPLO 
The area on the wall to walk for the soldiers will be at a height of 16 studs, where the current minifigure is standing. You can see a single row of bricks to his back. I will have a single row of bricks on top of the 16 studs at four additional studs high for protection, with gaps spaced throughout that 4 stud wall for archer holes. On top of the four stud wall I will have tiles and slopes for a better look. The entire wall will be tiled as well with a few exposed studs here and there.
If you notice the drawn map (I am a pathetic artist!), I have planned to include the following
-Keep -Basement with armory, food storage, and dungeon. -1st floor with chapel and kitchen because the friars like to be near the food and wine (I jest) -2nd floor with the lord of the keeps room -Roof of keep with stationed archers -Blacksmith attached to a 2 story apartment -Stable -Bakery -A large 2 story apartment -2 merchant stalls -fish stall -jewelry/treasure stall -castle well in the center with small bits of foliage surrounding
On the castle walls there will be a small wooden shelter above the main gate (it is not completely closed in, it only serves as minimal protection to pour out any boiling pitch upon attackers On the two empty sides of the wall I am going to build two guardhouses with sleeping quarters as well.
I realize there are ways for me to add some possible much needed depth to the walls. I would actually rather keep the walls "depth-free" and have a more detailed surrounding environment as I do want the castle to be as "simple" as possible.
I would appreciate comments and criticism on the work in progress photos. Thanks! |
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Post by Sir Valiant~ on Mar 19, 2014 12:46:15 GMT -8
This, as well as the WIP pictures on Flickr are looking great so far Schmidt. Its great to hear that you want to build a castle, and I have wondered when you would, since you got all those masonry bricks. I love your idea of drawing up a plan first and then implementing it in LEGO. As for comments or critique, so far it sounds like it is going to be a very detailed castle. I like the idea of a chapel, and other merchant stalls, these are details that seem to be lacking in castles nowadays. Really looking forward to seeing more from you! Sir Valiant~ |
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Post by Erathor Pridenar on Mar 19, 2014 12:49:40 GMT -8
I know what it's like to have never built a proper castle!  I must say, these pics are looking great. The design looks to be simple yet effective, which in my mind works as well as making something very complicated and detail-packed. I'm jealous of the amount of masonry bricks you have! Did Silas steal them all?  |
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Schmidt
Adventurer
Lord of the Bargain
All for one, one for all, every man for himself!
Posts: 1,330
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Post by Schmidt on Mar 19, 2014 13:44:37 GMT -8
@ Sir Valiant - I ended up with about 2,000 masonry bricks, so I hope to really experiment with their uses here in this castle If I am going to keep all those bricks I HAVE to build a castle, right? Thanks for your kind words!
@ Ieuan - I have been thinking on the idea of a castle for a while now, and started with some rough sketches. Even though I've only properly built a small section of the wall so far, I am incredibly excited! I think I am going to be hooked on castles! Silas is known to do whatever it takes to get his way
Right then... the pictures in the first post were from last night. The picture I am posting now is an update from around 25 minutes ago.
The back side of the wall (where my minifigure is), is where the keep will go. If you notice on the pictures, the wall runs straight to a door which leads to the first level of the keep (not to be confused with the basement).
The front side of the wall (I placed a dark bley slope there for you to notice it), is where the gate is going to go. I am little torn on what kind of gate I should use. Whether I want a custom brick built one, or whether I should just use traditional Castle brown doors such as these. As I look at the walls, I notice I readily admit there is a lack of depth, but there is some manner of detail due to the various bricks and the larger emphasis on the masonry bricks. Since the walls are a bit detailed with masonry, I thought it might look better with a less detailed door. The more I think about it, I will probably have the door open, similar to Mark of Falworth's castle here. (If I were to be totally honest, Mark's castle inspire me to build this one )
The reason for using doors, as opposed to an iron gate, are for the size of the walls. I am convinced an iron gate will look awkward due to the shorter walls. Thoughts?
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AK_Brickster
Innkeeper
Scouting the Lenfel Border
Posts: 3,272
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Post by AK_Brickster on Mar 19, 2014 19:52:57 GMT -8
Looking good so far! I think you're going to find that you are going to need to compromise on some of your various features if you're planning on keeping this, "small". If you wanted to add some detail to the wall, you could make the corners fortifications protrude from the wall by a stud or two. As for doors, I really like the pre-fab doors, but brick-built ones would be great as well. Now that you mention it, I have never finished a "real castle" either! I just don't have the space for one, but I may have to try one someday soon Looking forward to seeing this come together! |
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GyustSil
Lenfald
Overseeing works at Oakenfort, for the Great Lenfald!
Posts: 212
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Post by GyustSil on Mar 20, 2014 0:45:06 GMT -8
That's a neat looking castle! Both from the drawings and from the WIP, I bet this castle will turn of very nicely.
I belive that using doors will be a very good solution for the castle entrance. I belive, though, you could build a gatehouse, or something like that, if you want to build an iron gate. But, considering the size of the castle/walls, the doors would fit in better, IMO.
Looking forward to see how it will turn out!
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Post by soccerkid6 on Mar 20, 2014 10:45:57 GMT -8
I really like how you plan to include plenty of interior buildings, such as the stable and blacksmith. I don't think we see those included often enough in LEGO castles. I'm also excited to hear that you'll be doing full interiors. About how large of a footprint will the castle have?
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Schmidt
Adventurer
Lord of the Bargain
All for one, one for all, every man for himself!
Posts: 1,330
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Post by Schmidt on Mar 20, 2014 18:04:59 GMT -8
Hey guys, thanks for the continued comments and suggestions. Currently, I am going to revise my structure quite a bit.
After building the first section of wall pictured above, I have decided the castle will be WAY TOO SMALL to include all the additional details. I realized this, right about the time Jordan made his post. I was experimenting with buildings and apartments and ultimately felt the castle size was too small to include everything mentioned.
Rightfully so, he above drawing will be the focus of my next project. Also, I feel the walls are too wide for the overall size of the castle, but I am going to proceed with the project anyway and see how it turns out. I am currently finishing up the front gate, and will post some pictures soon.
Rather than make this a castle with an emphasis on peasant living, I am going to change some things up and make this more of a military barracks/keep for housing soldiers.
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Post by Erathor Pridenar on Mar 20, 2014 21:58:35 GMT -8
The W.I.P. pic you posted on Flickr recently makes the castle look really good! It's come on nicely, hasn't it? |
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Schmidt
Adventurer
Lord of the Bargain
All for one, one for all, every man for himself!
Posts: 1,330
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Post by Schmidt on Mar 21, 2014 8:18:10 GMT -8
Thanks Ieuan.
It has grown quite a bit. Here is a picture from last night.
And here is a up close picture of the front gate (which fully opens and closes nicely).
Once the four walls are complete, I will start the keep itself and then include as much of the original design as possible. The surrounding environment is going to be quite flat and bare, with a few stones here and there.
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AK_Brickster
Innkeeper
Scouting the Lenfel Border
Posts: 3,272
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Post by AK_Brickster on Mar 21, 2014 8:32:21 GMT -8
I would change the horizontal tiles on the door to black, as they presumably are iron bands which hold the doors together
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Post by Sir Edwyn on Mar 21, 2014 9:12:21 GMT -8
I would change the horizontal tiles on the door to black, as they presumably are iron bands which hold the doors together Agreed. |
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Schmidt
Adventurer
Lord of the Bargain
All for one, one for all, every man for himself!
Posts: 1,330
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Post by Schmidt on Mar 21, 2014 9:53:40 GMT -8
Thanks for the suggestion. Will do!
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David
Minstrel
Working on Site Details and gathering resources.
Posts: 113
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Post by David on Mar 21, 2014 10:03:37 GMT -8
I have a ton of comments for this and will take a look tonight. I would have commented sooner, but I am frantically building for ECCC.
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Post by SEdmison on Mar 21, 2014 13:49:35 GMT -8
One thing to consider is that even with 2,000 or so masonry bricks, they'll only go so far. On the other hand, they only have to go so far, as one of them every so often can suggest brick texture over a whole section of wall. So you might want to consider using them sparingly, along with regular brick, grill brick, palisade brick, lantern holders and tile, and other things to create texture without using up your whole stash.
Cheers,
Sean
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LoR - Myles of Lenfald --------- 
