MOC: Mini Hogwarts Castle and Grounds

[BeKindRewind]

Hello, everyone! While not officially part of the Hogwarts Community Build, it just so happened that I finished my latest project at just about the same time as that project so I thought I'd share it with you all. Before we get started a word of caution: this rendition of Hogwarts Castle is my take on it. As many of you may know, the actual look of the castle changed dramatically between the various movies to fit the needs of the film. I tried to make my model fit the overall consensus that I could find floating around the web and coupled that with my own take on a few of the finer points as well as to accommodate the limitations of Lego. If you are a bigger Harry Potter fan that I am, please note that certain towers may not be where you think they should be.

I give you Hogwarts Castle and all of its surrounding grounds:

Here's a closer view of the castle itself, where you can see the Great Hall and the large tower where the Grand Staircase is:

And the boat house on the Lake:

A look at the greenhouses and another entrance to the castle:

Yet another entrance to the castle with the walled grounds of Hogwarts. Also visible is the Whomping Willow:

Another shot of the castle from the other direction:

Here is the Clock Tower and the courtyard where I believe the final showdown takes place between Harry and Voldemort (though obviously just in the movie as the book was different.....and better):

Across the wooden bridge you head down to Hagrid's Hut and you can also see the start of the Forbidden Forest:

Into the Forbidden Forest you can see Aragog and his children in a clearing of the trees:

And here's the Quidditch Pitch. You'll note that all four houses are represented by their own colors. Side note, my idea for the Quidditch Pitch actual started this whole project.

And it looks like the Hogwarts Express just dropped off the young witches and wizards for another year at Hogwarts:

Under the lake you can see the MerVillage and the underwater forest where Harry fought off the grindylows:

And a closer view of the MerVillage where Ron and Hermione were being held:

Here we have all the challenges that faced Harry, Ron and Hermione in the first book as they went through the trap door. If you've only seen the movies, you may not understand the last two room prior to the Mirror of Erised:

And on to the second book with the Chamber of Secrets:

Here's an overview of the entire layout:

And lastly, four different shots from all four angles around the castle:

And that is my Hogwarts Castle. I hope you all enjoyed it and I welcome comments and criticisms, though pretty much at this point there's very little I can change about it.

Feel free to visit my Brickshelf account once it becomes public for even more pictures than what I have above.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=500097

[prateek]

Wow! This is the best and most comprehensive mini Hogwarts MOC I've ever seen! Kudos for adding Aragog, the under water scenery, and the scenes from HP's quest. Those details really make this stand out from other mini Hogwarts MOCs

[Commander Assassin]

I can't say that I am too familiar with the world of Harry Potter, but I can tell that you did a superb job and I instantly recognized some of the locations from Lego sets. Great work!

[chaosteacup]

Extremely well done, I really like the underground details on the side. Did you use the noble collection model as a reference?

[The Blue Brick]

This is so awesome. Brilliant. I love all the small details that make this mod stand out.

For example, the walkway down to the boat house and the chamber of secrets, and aragon in the woods.

Anyways, great moc.

Edited March 26, 2012 by The Blue Brick

[CorneliusMurdock]

Wow. The details are so wonderful and seeing it all as a whole is outstanding.

My favorite parts... The stonework bridge is amazing for the scale. The quidditch pitch is also just perfect considering how small it has to be. The Forbidden Forest looks very natural and lovely.

:thumbup:

[sok117]

Wow! This is really cool, I'm very impressed with the amount of detail and set pieces you've put into the model!

[autobrick]

Wow, this is really great! I must commend your attention to detail; the challenges from the first book and the Chambers of Secrets you placed in the base really impressed me.

What is the tan tower in the middle without a sand green roof (the one made of stacked Plate, Modified 3 x 2 with Hole)? I don't recognize it.

Looking at your MOC, it kind of makes me sad that the Harry Potter theme/movies/books are over, but I guess we can still enjoy what we've got so far.

[Nightshroud99]

Simply amazing!!! The amount of detail for a model of this size is staggering, and how it's built is just so cool! :sweet:

[Ceroknight]

I'm happy this is picture heavy because this is a brilliant MOC!

Well done!

[Dapper-D2]

This is Brilliant! I’ve wanted to try and build something on this scale and you have inspired me!

[Flipz]

Holy cow, that's impressive! Great job cramming all that detail into one model, that must have taken a LOT of effort. I really like the use of the Ninjago snake for the basilisk, and Aragog's nest in the Forbidden Forest is great, too. Where do those spider tiles come from?

Excellent MOC, BeKindRewind!

[The Penguin]

Simply outstanding! Very well done! I've always admired people with "micro-vision", since in most cases it's much harder to get the shape you need.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[Big T]

This is absolutely incredible! You've done a great job capturing the feel of the castle and it's surroundings, and all the little underground features really set it off. A great display piece for sure

[BeKindRewind]

Thanks everyone for all the kind responses. I'm glad you all like it.

Chaosteacup: I actually hadn't seen the Noble Collection until you pointed it out. That's a nice model that I wish I had seen before I began work.

Flipz: the spider tiles actually come from the original Aragog set 4727, but they also had them in Draco's Encounter with Buckbeak 4750.

Autobrick: the tall flat-topped tower is one that I struggled with the most. It's somewhat triangularly shaped in most of the pictures I've seen leading me to use the pieces I did. In a few screen shots (but I can't tell you from which of the movies) the tower is flat on top, but in other movies it has the traditional pointed roof. I debated which to do but ultimately settled on flat since another sand green point would blend in with the rest of the castle and I wanted some variation to the towers. If you all think I should put another cone on top let me know as I have been debating this for a while.

[Seaber]

This is phenomenal, well done!

By the way, your castle most represents the one that appears in The Half-Blood Prince, with the Astronomy Tower and all :)

Have you thought of adding the Drumstrang ship or the Beaubaton Carriage?

[JackJonespaw]

Very nice micro Hogwarts! I like all of the details you pack into it! Great job!

[TheLegoDr]

Very impressive. I love the mini details everywhere. The added features of the tasks and Chamber are simply brilliant period, especially on that scale. Instantly recognizable.

You should definitely Cuusoo this right now. I doubt it would be made (but I doubt anything will really be made other than the Japanese market), but I would love to see this exist in my house!

I am also building a micro scale Hogwarts, but is nothing like yours. Mine is bigger. If you imagine the Great Hall on a 6x8 plate, that will describe the size. Maybe I should consider taking a cue from you and making it smaller. It will be much easier to display full time than mine (which was only being created since I wouldn't have room to display a fuller scale version like the Official Lego version.

Keep up the great work. I will return to this post many times to look at all those details.

[Parrothead Rasmus]

This is absolutely fantastic! Easily the most complete and aesthetically pleasing mini-Hogwarts to date. Great work!

And, if I were you, I'd put this up on LEGO Cuusoo. I'd vote for it in a heartbeat.

[Flipz]

Does anyone else think this should be frontpaged?

[badboytje88]

This is absolutely brilliant!

[BeKindRewind]

Seaber: I had originally thought about the Durmstrang ship and the carriage, but in the planning stage took them out thinking that they might distract from the overall look of the castle. Now that it's all done and you bring it up, I might had to revisit that idea, especially the ship (without the horses the carriage might not be easily recognizable and I'm straining to think how I would make it). My wife mentioned having small rowboats heading towards the castle as well for the first years, but I nixed that idea as a rowboat would just be too small for the scale (an upside down tooth piece might work but then I couldn't attach it easily and they don't come in brown).

TheLegoDr: I'd love to see your rendition of Hogwarts so when you are done please post it so we all can see! Size was my biggest concern here as well as I wanted to be able to display it but still show the surrounding areas. I starting out on a 32x32 baseplate but ultimately needed more so I stuck with a 48x48 baseplate. It's quite solid and can be moved around easily.

As for Cuusoo I don't want to even think about how much this set would end up costing (I spent quite a bit on bricklink orders and completely depleted my green plate supply).

[Remus_Lupin]

I'm speechless, that is just phenomenal. Well done

[TheLegoDr]

For Cuusoo, I don't think it matters because they won't use this exact set (I don't think). It would just give TLG ideas that Harry Potter is still on the minds of buyers and cool version in mini scale might be worthwhile for certain sets/themes. I mean, they always have polybag versions of mini Star Wars ships and whatnot. Maybe a slightly larger scale Hogwarts would be right up their alley.

[Leela]

It's absolutely amazing! I like it that you added the underwater world, the Philosopher's Stone scenes (according to the book!), put Aragog in the forest. Love the Chamber of Secrets and Basilisk, great idea. There are so many awesome details that I can't name them all and the castle itself is so impressive.

Love the hoops in the Quidditch Pitch