Classic castle

[branolego]

I recently bought a bin of LEGO and in it was the complete kings castle set from 1984. The armor shop was also in there as well, and so it made me think, since the kings castle can be added to using all the smaller sets, such as the armor shop and blacksmith shop, why did they use thick base plates on the additions and thin base plates on the castle. Were they meant to be used on the knights castle instead? Just a curios thought. Figured I would throw this out there seeing the classic castle addition by Brickscape, which is very fitting i might add.

Any body have any ideas as to why this is?

[Brickscape]

That is a curious detail and one I don't have an answer for. I don't have the King's Castle and didn't realize it was on a baseplate and therefore not at the right height for the additions. All the castle sets I own from that era are on regular plates (like the Knight's Castle). Nice find though (jealous, I want that King's Castle).

[Kez]

Im not too sure either, but there is a user on here-Lego historian, he knows lots of information about lego, I'd maybe suggest asking him

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showuser=1550

[The_Cook]

You could look at it a continuation of the design ethos of 375 Castle which utilised baseplates. Flat baseplates were also used in 6085 Black Monarch's Castle from 1988 but subsequent large castles moved towards raised baseplates.

For the smaller sets the use of standard plates rather than baseplates gives more flexibility both in sizing and articulation. From a sizing perspective it is tricky to get the 5 stud wide 4444 panels to match against the baseplates which are typically a multiple of 8 studs. From an articulation perspective something like 6062 Battering Ram would not be possible if baseplates were used.

I agree that the difference in heights is frustrating but I'd much rather have the articulation of the 80's castles over the modern castles which although modular are constrained by their use of right-angles.

For those partial to classic 80's castle follow the link below to my MOCPages gallery or track down the Moc threads that Ive started.

[branolego]

Thanks for the input and comments fellas. I see your point The_Cook. plus the size of the models would have been larger also and therefore increasing the price more than likely.

I guess ill just have to modify the sets to my liking.