Rufus's 375 Yellow Castle Restoration Project

[legomonk]

Soda crystals.

Good luck with the project, I did something similar with my Black Seas Baraccuda, it feels great when you're done.

Looking good, quite fun to read this topic.

I also did one with my BSB (black seas barracuda) I had some trouble with the cloth pieces restoring them i had a lot of fraying and general nasty coloring.

I am really enjoying this thread reminds me of my childhood staring glossy eyed at the Lego displays.

[Rufus]

Chapter Four: Making New Decals

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Initially I had hoped to score a replacement sticker sheet from Bricklink, but it was not to be . There are simply none for sale, and I didn't fancy spending the better part of two grand on a MISB set just for the stickers. My old stickers weren't in too bad condition, but they were dirty and poorly applied, so in order to get the set looking better I knew they had to replaced:

There was nothing for it - I was going to have to make my own. This is uncharted territory for me

My next best bet was to find a good quality scan of the original sticker sheet, but neither Bricklink nor Peeron could really help in this regard. Bricklink's version has been abused by flash and mysteriously elongated:

... while Peeron's is better, but still skewed and in low resolution:

So I had to resort to some Photoshop artistry.

Designing the Decals

There were three elements to this: choosing the colours, measuring out the decal shapes, and copying the designs. For the colours, I loaded Peeron's photo of the sticker sheet, and used the Eyedropper tool to capture the colour for the relevant bits, then made a few manual adjustments to get what I hoped was the right look. I knew that the colours of my own old stickers wouldn't be accurate, having faded with sun exposure or darkened with grime, so I tried to use the box are for reference; however, if you look at the box picture, you'll notice that the grey tones are much lighter than those of the sticker sheet - I suspect the box photos were made with prototype stickers.

I also wanted the colours to stand out, so I employed a little licence here, making the greys a little darker to stand out more. What I didn't expect was the effect of printing the colours, as we shall see later.

For the sticker shapes, I measured the respective parts - the shields, the vests and the flag - carefully, then using Photoshop's Shape tool, made templates as accurately as possible. As we shall see, I didn't get it quite right. The shield shape, for example, was made with two ellipses, one moved sideways relative to the other, and the intersecting area forming the shield shape:

This is just an example to demonstrate - the original one wasn't quite that shape (this one is better! ). But you can see how, if the intersection is cut in half, it makes roughly the right shape.

The detail designs were a lot more complicated. I started with the crown, again using overlapping and intersecting ellipses, and eventually came to a design I was happy with - even if it is fatter and more curved than the original:

The banners were made from arcs of colour, displaced relative to one another, with grey blocks in between. To get the flared ends of the banners, I had to resort to brushing by hand.

The Result

A few hours work produced the above result. I've arranged the decals in a similar manner to the original sticker sheet. Note faint white outline which is meant to represent the actual part size in each case; actually, the shield is a little too fat, but that's no matter as the decal can be cut down to size; however, the vest outline turned out to be ever so slightly too small.

If you look closely at the applied original stickers, you'll notice that there is a slight overlap between print layers:

I chose not to try to replicate this, as I feel it looks untidy. Instead I've gone for a cleaner look. I also considered darkening the pink surround to the Crown logo, making it a more regal purple; however, it's clearly pink on the box art so I stuck as close to the original as I could here, figuring (wrongly), that it would print darker anyway.

Printing the Decals

Here again I was in uncharted territory, and really had no clue what medium to use. Sadly, not one stationery shop that I could find sold photo-quality sticker paper, so instead I tried paper stickers and transparent labels. Here were the resulting sticker sheets:

On the left is transparent sticky acetate, designed for window-prints. In this, the decals are too see-through to be of any use. In the centre, the decals are printed on clear labels; this is better, but again the resulting decals are a little too transparent, and there's the added complication - which I didn't realise beforehand - that white prints as clear. This would only be important for the white-on-red cross design, but even so, these decals are of limited use. On the right is plain paper label - this prints nicely, but is still looks ultimately like paper, and therefore a little cheap

My next step was to order some glossy photo label paper; I also took the opportunity to buy some waterslide decal paper for later experimentation. The glossy sticker paper proved to be a winner:

I printed double quantity to save paper, but the right-hand side has unfortunately attracted some ink residue from my aging printer . As they come, these decals are prone to showing fingerprints easily, so I sprayed them with a few fine coats of acrylic lacquer, which I hope will hold in the colour better.

Placing the Stickers

You may remember this teaser picture from the last chapter:

The decal on the right is made with the clear label paper (centre in the third picture up). On the white background, this works really nicely, but it doesn't really cut the mustard against darker plastic. I've used the glossy sticker paper for the majority of the rest.

Here are the different varieties of sticker on the crown shields:

Left to right: the original; clear label; paper; and glossy. As you can see, the clear label paper comes out looking a little dark and lifeless against the grey plastic; the paper shield is brighter but still a little lacklustre, while the glossy sticker looks vibrant. These are prototypes - you'll notice I haven't cut the glossy sticker especially carefully!

Once I'd got the hang of applying the stickers with extreme care (I used a scalpel to cut the excess away once the sticker was applied squarely), I placed the other designs. Here they are lined up with their predecessors for comparison:

The decal designs aren't a perfect match. Mostly, the home-made designs are larger than the originals, and if you look at the green and yellow chevron shield, you can see what I meant earlier about the shield shape being a little too fat. Also, the grey surround has printed almost black, but I actually think this looks smarter so I've decided to stick with it. I'm delighted with how bright the colours are.

My ever-so-slight error with sizing the vests is apparent when their new decals are applied:

You can see clearly the white outline which is meant to the edge of the sticker . It looks a lot worse in the photo than in real life, and in my opinion better than poorly cut stickers that show a little grey plastic around the edges. If my 6-year-old sticker application exploits are anything to go by, applying them without a handy overlap to hold in a pair of tweezers would result in them being a little crooked to boot. Still, I could easily correct this on the original photoshop file (but that'll have to wait for another time).

When I printed the transparent labels, I had the foresight to make a pink banner without the yellow surround, and this works nicely on the yellow brick:

I've even put it on the right way up! The original is on the right for comparison.

Finally, I found another handy flag so I could apply the glossy sticker to this one:

The flag of the Netherlands had to make way for this one. Sorry, Rick! It was on upside down, anyway Here again you can see how much more vibrant the colours are on the glossy sticker (centre).

That wraps it up for the decals! I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, even if they aren't exact copies of the originals.

Just waiting on one more Bricklink order, then we'll be ready to build!

[SuvieD]

The decals turned out marvelously. Other than the fixable vest prints I would have to say these look superior to the originals even with the larger sized emblems.

You didn't say how much it cost you to get these printed up though. Would you mind telling us? Also, do you plan on sharing the corrected file?

I know that right now EB is trying to ensure the history forum remains exciting and I can see that having some of your templates in a photoshop or illustrator file could be put to good use by other members trying to design decals.

I am excited to see this finished up.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Wow, those decals look amazing. It's almost like stepping back in time and seeing what they would have looked like fresh out of the box.

I can't wait for the next step. The castle in all of it's glory...

[Fred Daniel Yam]

Wow! Those decals must have taken a looooong time to make but the result is really nice. Even though I am a purist, this is one of those instances where decals are allowed.

[Gareth]

The Decals are good and I prefer your interpretation better than the originals.

This is good info on finding the stickers, I have been watching a seller on E bay he seems to have a few sheets very similar to yours but they go for around £10 to £20 at auction.

I've been thinking of biding for my castle but seeing you do some have you ever thought about making some sheets and selling them?

[Rufus]

The decals turned out marvelously. Other than the fixable vest prints I would have to say these look superior to the originals even with the larger sized emblems.

You didn't say how much it cost you to get these printed up though. Would you mind telling us? Also, do you plan on sharing the corrected file?

I know that right now EB is trying to ensure the history forum remains exciting and I can see that having some of your templates in a photoshop or illustrator file could be put to good use by other members trying to design decals.

Thanks, 3001/8! About the cost, I'll reveal all at the end. The decals cost more time than money (I printed them myself). I'll share the file to interested parties once it's all done

Wow, those decals look amazing. It's almost like stepping back in time and seeing what they would have looked like fresh out of the box.

I can't wait for the next step. The castle in all of it's glory...

Cheers, 3001/86! To be fair, I don't think mine look all that like the originals, even when they were new. A happy accident of the paper I used is that they have a lovely metallic sparkle

Wow! Those decals must have taken a looooong time to make but the result is really nice. Even though I am a purist, this is one of those instances where decals are allowed.

Thanks, volcanic! They didn't take that long to make (the first time ), but the revisions and printing took quite a long time, not to mention the eons I spent appying them carefully (and they're not all done yet ).

This is good info on finding the stickers, I have been watching a seller on E bay he seems to have a few sheets very similar to yours but they go for around £10 to £20 at auction.

I've been thinking of biding for my castle but seeing you do some have you ever thought about making some sheets and selling them?

Thanks, Gareth. If I'd found a mint sticker sheet for that little, I'd have bought one.

I'd be happy to share the file when it's finalised; if I can find a printer that will make them into ready-cut stickers then I'd think about selling them on for cost.

Chapter Four Part II: Decal Revision

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I've made a slight revision to the stickers: I've fixed the size of the vests, the shape of the chevron-shield, and made the pink colour a darker regal purple:

The newer shield is a better shape, but the colours haven't come out looking so lively, for some reason I can't explain

I might stick with the originals here.

I'm happy with how the vests have turned out; the white border has now gone:

Personally, I prefer the darker purple. Here are the flags: the original, the latest, and the previous:

The centre one is closer to the original colour, though perhaps a little closer to burgundy than magenta (it does look redder in the photo than in real life).

I'd actually be grateful for everyone's opinion on this, before I finalise the decals. Do you prefer my original (pink) stickers, or the newer purple ones? Which are closer to the original? Which look best in your opinion?

Thanks!

[Rick]

I didn't comment on your previous step, but I'm impressed at your designs 82! They look a lot better than the originals. I really like the 'fatter' crown. And I'm glad you managed to fix the chevron shield, because that shape was looking a little weird. So, I'd definitely replace that as well. Too bad it doesn't look as shiny as the first try. Did you apply acrylic lacquer again?

I'd actually be grateful for everyone's opinion on this, before I finalise the decals. Do you prefer my original (pink) stickers, or the newer purple ones? Which are closer to the original? Which look best in your opinion?

Anything that looks closer to dark red wins of course.

Seriously, I much prefer the new colour and whereas it's a little darker than the original, I think it looks a lot better than the original and combines much better with the blue torsos.

[TheBoyWonder]

I also feel Dark Red works best. It looks more Regal, and a bit more authentic. I look forward to seeing the finished product!

[fhomess]

I'd actually be grateful for everyone's opinion on this, before I finalise the decals. Do you prefer my original (pink) stickers, or the newer purple ones? Which are closer to the original? Which look best in your opinion?

The new, darker one looks a lot more like the originals, IMO. At least from the photos. I'm a bit sad I hadn't seen this thread before you went to all the work to design the shields yourself, as I had previously found fairly high resolution mockups of these online through Google a few months ago (for an entirely different type of project). The shapes were consistent and all I really needed to do was update colors a little. The biggest problem with color is that it varies with paper and the printer you have. So you often have to print a sample and then adjust the color on screen and reprint. The vests look MUCH better now, too. Nice work.

[Rufus]

Thanks for the responses!

I didn't comment on your previous step, but I'm impressed at your designs 82! They look a lot better than the originals. I really like the 'fatter' crown. And I'm glad you managed to fix the chevron shield, because that shape was looking a little weird. So, I'd definitely replace that as well. Too bad it doesn't look as shiny as the first try. Did you apply acrylic lacquer again?

Cheers, 59! Yes, I did use the lacquer again. It came off the printer looking less colourful; I don't understand why, as I used the same settings

Seriously, I much prefer the new colour and whereas it's a little darker than the original, I think it looks a lot better than the original and combines much better with the blue torsos.

I'm glad you like it . Actually, there is a version of the stickers that has a darker background and lighter greys. If you look at this picture from an ebay lot I found, there are two different kinds of the purple stickers:

Mine's kind of a hybrid of the two

I also feel Dark Red works best. It looks more Regal, and a bit more authentic. I look forward to seeing the finished product!

Thanks! Coming soon

The new, darker one looks a lot more like the originals, IMO. At least from the photos. I'm a bit sad I hadn't seen this thread before you went to all the work to design the shields yourself, as I had previously found fairly high resolution mockups of these online through Google a few months ago (for an entirely different type of project). The shapes were consistent and all I really needed to do was update colors a little. The biggest problem with color is that it varies with paper and the printer you have. So you often have to print a sample and then adjust the color on screen and reprint. The vests look MUCH better now, too. Nice work.

Thanks, fhomess. Following your post, I found two things which would have been very helpful : This custom sticker sheet from Brickshelf, and this page from ClassicCastle.com which details how to make the stickers (and even provides psd files ). Still, the latter doesn't seem to have templates for the vests. Plus, I've learned a lot from making them myself, so it's time well spent

[Rufus]

Chapter Five: The Finished Castle

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Ok. I got fed up of waiting for the final Bricklink order to arrive, so I bought a couple of lots from ebay which had the parts I needed, and I'm finally ready to go

The following Bricklink orders had already come in:

As you can see, I ordered an unnecessary quantity of shields and halberds, but I figured the spares would come in handy! The remaining Bricklink order which never came should have contained - amongst other things - a similarly excessive number of vests.

The decals are applied:

I'm still not 100% happy with the clover vests - the clovers reach too closely to the edges, and the blue is a little too deep, but they'll have to do. Otherwise, I'm delighted how they've turned out.

I also didn't match the yellow correctly for the banner decals:

If I have time in the future, I'll replace these with transparent stickers like the bottom one, but with the deeper purple.

Starting again at the beginning ...

In the end, I couldn't get the box any better than this. I even tried weighting down the lid for a few days, but it remains crumpled. Short of ironing it, which might cause irreparable damage, there's little else I can do.

Here it is, open, with all the clean parts sorted and ziplocked:

It's amazingly full . With the extra space taken up by the ziplock bags, the lid doesn't quite close properly. 767 pieces doesn't sound so much by today's standards, but these are for the most part large bricks rather than cheese wedges or 1x1 round plates.

The Figures

The eight dudes of the home side line up for their team photo!

The clutch of the heads onto the torsos is quite weak in some cases, whilst that of the helmets onto the solid stud heads seems super-strong. This makes attaching the helmets correctly a little tricky at times, but happily does make posing the figures a little easier. Unfortunately it also means that the vests don't always sit on straight, as you can see in the second figure from the left .

The away team:

The red squire's got his legs back! I now wish I'd made the grey surround to the black figures' vests a little lighter - it came out almost black, which looks great on the shields, but not so hot on the vests.

And here are the knights on their blocky mounts:

Simple they may be, compared to their modern one-piece counterparts, but I really like these brick-built horses. You might not approve of the method of attaching the 'ears' - most likely considered illegal by LEGO nowadays - but they have a surprisingly realistic shape. I'd be tempted even to modify them to give them individual legs, and I might even make one or two in brown.

The Castle

Building the castle was a joyous trip down memory lane! It may be monotonous - literally, in terms of colour - but the simple brick-on-brick design makes a refreshing change from today's penchant for large castle wall pieces. There are even a few surprises, particularly when constructing the supports for the walkways, as seen in this in-build shot:

I'm referring specifically to the inverted slopes used to support the walkways at the front, and the 1x1 pillars halfway down the sides. Today I'm sure they'd use larger single bricks for many of the pillars in this set.

Note also the three 1x4 bricks attached incongrously to the baseplate and nothing else - two at the sides, which keep the opening sections locked in place, and one in front of the rear entrance, which serves no purpose I can see I had thought that these would be temporary, and removed later to be used elsewhere, but no, they are extra parts which come with the set.

Another view from the front:

I really like the little mini-towers which flank the gatehouse at the front. It would have been all too easy just to make the castle a perfect square, but these add a great little detail to make the front more interesting. This view is also perfect for admiring the embrasures which line castle walls in all sides, and the machicolations of the tower crests, picked out beautifully with the black inverted slopes.

Side elevation:

There's a lovely gradient from front to rear in the tower heights, though from the side the gatehouse looks a little puny. It's a stark contrast to most later LEGO castles, which tend to have a massive gatehouse (in order to accommodate a portcullis) with much less behind. You can see here the regularly spaced arrow-loops in the curtain wall - It's just a shame none of the guards have bows in this set! Bows weren't invented in mediaeval LEGOLAND until the advent of the grey era, six years after this set.

Here you can also admire the black fence-pieces which are built into the structure of the rear tower - quite what purpose they serve is unclear, but they're a nice way to break the yellow monotony - and also see where some of the extra shield decals go (though there are four spare crown shield decals, and only three places to stick them ).

The third shield sticker goes on the central rear tower:

I remember as a kid being a little bothered by the towers having little substance to them - they are just walls with walkways through them. This rear tower has a lovely window design on the front; surely it should contain the king's chamber?? But there isn't a king with this set, and if there were he'd be a little drafty!

There's also no easy way for the poor guards to get up and down from the tower roofs, and it's a mighty long drop from there

The central towers can be walked through:

Steps are conveniently placed to enable the figs to negotiate the change in levels easily. Shame there aren't steps up to the walkway from the ground, though . If you look closely, you'll see that there are two 1x1 grey plates on the top of each step - this isn't because I was missing the right parts, it's actually the way the set is desgined. Perhaps those 1x1s are needed for alternative builds, but I've never tried to recreate any of the other designs on the box.

This aerial view shows the castle layout off nicely:

It's a bit of a shame that there isn't much going on in the castle courtyard, but I guess it's an empty slate to be filled by one's imagination. If only I'd had enough bricks and figures to make it more intersting back then! But then space figures would look a bit out of place here

One of the amazing - and innovative, for its day - features of this set is it's ability to open out, allowing easy play access to the central courtyard, but also making the structure look much more impressive:

Anyone lucky enough to own two of these could place create a massive courtyard from two sets together

The drawbridge is raised and lowered with ease, just by cranking the winch:

I had worried that it might stick, but the use of the old technic frictionless pins allows the weight of the drawbridge to lower it when the rope is unwound. I'm sure Rick will be pleased to know that I found two old grey pins in the end!

It's a shame that there appears to be a gap large enough for attackers to crawl under when the bridge is raised, but they'd have to find a way to cross the moat first - oh, hang on a minute

The rear of the castle features two large gates allowing alternative access (or an easier place for the besieging army to attack). The passage through from front to rear looks lovely here. Again, there are interesting steps in the rear walls to break up the 'perfect square'.

As you can see, one of the banner stickers is placed here to welcome people to the tradesmen's entrance .

I think the opposite view from the front of the castle is just the best:

The gatehouse alone may be a little puny, but with the bulk of the castle behind it, it looks really imposing, sure to intimidate an attacking army. Note the slight asymmetry of the drawbridge ropes - the designer could quite easily have added another 1x2 technic brick on the other side, but this would have added a degree of complexity in securing the rope's end, which might have been a little too much for the average six-year-old.

Finally, I've recreated the box cover picture for your delectation:

A procession of knights from other imagined kingdoms arrive for a jousting tournament, and are welcomed by the castle garrison. Let's hope they find somewhere to stable their horses!

This concludes my restoration project! I hope you enjoyed following along; let me know what you think! If the remaining Brickling order ever arrives, I might throw in a restoration of 383 Knights Tournament as a little freebie In the meantime, further pictures are available on my Flickr.

I'll post my decal designs in the MCW at some point; if anyone wants a copy, let me know. Thanks for reading!

Best wishes,

Rufus.

[boba_jagoda]

The result looks very nice. Congratulations on a nice set.

There are, as far as I know, three versions of the stickers, one from the 6075, e.g:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=496975

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=496976

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=496977

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=496978

[K-Nut]

Bravo! This set looks soooooooo great in these pics.! You're a lucky guy to have this. I enjoyed following this and hope to see more of these in the future.

[CorneliusMurdock]

It's so very lovely, Rufus! I think the decals all turned out marvelously (even the ones you didn't think were perfect). Makes me want to make a castle of my very own. Someday...

[Rocketbilly]

Beautiful! what a brilliant project - somehow I've managed to miss this topic over the time it's been updated, but now I've found it I'm overwhelmed by all of the work you've put in. Very professional, and the end result is magnificent. Great job with the decals, too. Shame the Bricklink order didn't turn up, though. I think this is the closest I'll ever come to seeing pictures of this set brand new, and I must say I can certainly see why it's regarded as a classic.

[Rick]

This turned out great Rufus. I'm impressed at how you managed to convert a box of chewed, grimy bricks with badly worn stickers into this.

And you top it off with an excellent review.

As you can see, I ordered an unnecessary quantity of shields and halberds, but I figured the spares would come in handy!

Right, moar LEGO is always 'handy'.

The clutch of the heads onto the torsos is quite weak in some cases, whilst that of the helmets onto the solid stud heads seems super-strong.

I think that has to do with the 'black dot' on the front of the 'neck' wearing over time: I also noticed it reduces friction and makes some heads come off with the headgear, which can be annoying because heads get stuck in the helmets and for the knights you'd need a torso with enough friction to remove them.

I really like the little mini-towers which flank the gatehouse at the front. It would have been all too easy just to make the castle a perfect square, but these add a great little detail to make the front more interesting.

Because the castle is built on baseplates, the hinges only work on the edges of the baseplates. So, it's a necessity, but - I agree - a nicely executed necessity. Now that I think about it, that's probably also the reason why a lot of 1980s castles were built on 2-wide plates instead of larger (base)plates.

The third shield sticker goes on the central rear tower:

Too bad some of these have to be applied across multiple pieces. TLG does a lot better in that respect these days. But then again, they also have larger pieces available to make sure the stickers don't span multiple pieces.

I'm sure Rick will be pleased to know that I found two old grey pins in the end!

I'm delighted. (I was just surprised that being such a perfectionist in other areas, you were willing to settle on bley).

If the remaining Brickling order ever arrives, I might throw in a restoration of 383 Knights Tournament as a little freebie

Do eet!

[vmln8r]

Fabulous work Rufus. It's been fun following your progress, and your experimentation with decals has saved me (and I'm sure many others) a lot of time. Thanks!

[Dustin]

Woah! What an old set that is indeed.

Looks great so far.

[prateek]

Fantastic. Just amazing. The pieces look so new, and the decals are flawless

Have fun with your new (old) castle!

[Bonaparte]

By accident I stumbled on this thread and really enjoyed reading how you have restored the 'mother of all classic sets'.

Especially the way you've restored the stickers shows a lot of devotion and passion!

[Lorentzen]

Sorry to bump this thread but I must say that your restoration project has left me in awe. Your set looks so extremely wonderful, and your decal work is excellent!

I think I'll try this sometime in the future. I've done it with the Black Seas Barracuda, the Imperial Trading Post and the Eldorado Fortress :)

For those interested, they can check out my restored Black Seas Barracuda in my review of the set here on Eurobricks.

[legomonk]

I am really impressed with this thread. it is just an awesome restoration job on a set that should never be forgotten. Brick built horses we have come so far!

[Lorentzen]

A really fine, unused original sticker sheet from the 375 set just sold for 153 USD on eBay

(the only stickers that were not there were the two for the flagpole)

just fyi - because I really didn't think that there were any sticker sheet of this fine quality out there anymore.

[deanorth]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, this bring up memories for sure.

I was cleaning and browsing my old lego (got the boxes back yesterday), and I have all those parts, alongside the mini.

Even the instruction are still ok.

Damn, that was like...long ago. great thing you did there:)