MOC: The Yellow Castle

[Peppermint_M]

2018 is something of a landmark year.

The LEGO Brick as we know it is 60 years old. The Minifigure has celebrated its 40th.

Something that may have been missed in all the excitement is the fact that set 375, Yellow Castle was launched 40 years ago.

@Rufus has shared his project to restore the classic set, and I had a chance to discuss my plans with him at the Eurobricks Event this year.

For it's anniversary year I decided to create a tribute to that great, classic, set.

 

Oh, and I took it to an actual castle near me for a photo-shoot.

I live and grew up in the ancient Kingdom of Gwent, or a more recently, the Historic County of Monmouthshire. An area much fought over by Welsh Princes and English Kings. Thus, there are a lot of castles around me and they featured just as much as LEGO in my childhood.

I displayed this build at a local event and created flyers for people to look at. Chepstow, Goodrich, Raglan and Yellow Castle

Now some stats!

 

 

The whole build is 82 Studs in length and 40 Bricks high from baseplate to flagpole tip on the tallest tower. The whole build took me several months, on average I would build for about four hours a week. Digging out the bricks I wanted (just so much yellow!) and building with a few sketches and a lot of ideas. I have spent years building MOCs and visiting castles; Last year I visited a fair number of Edward I's Ring of Iron, so I had a good mental picture of my end result.

The printed flag was my only project specific purchase, everything else was already in my collection (Twenty Five years and counting).

I used pretty much all of the yellow 1x2, 1x1 and 1x3 bricks I own. Not to mention a lot of light-bley arches. I chose the Black Knight's flag as I love the design and the colours complemented the build and custom created the second flag using two LEGO logo stickers from the many unused sticker sheets I have accumulated (from set 3221). The printed flag decided what colours I would use for the waving flags, Red and Blue are good classic colours.

This is the best view to pick out detailing on the Keep of the castle and the styles of window built in to the structure. While only the grandest details and glazing will do for the Keep, home of the Lord and his family, the other towers have more practical and defensive considerations.

Now it is time to visit the castle.

The rise in the land made a perfect vantage point to build a fortress, but an approach has been worn in over the years.

After the castle's founding, a defensively minded caretaker decided that a Barbican would be useful to keep the main castle secure. The large doors can open wide to let welcome guests in, but the guards maintain a watch just in case. You can spot a treasure under the castle, secreted long ago.

The moat splits the castle and the barbican, the drawbridge allows people to cross but can be raised in an attack. An axle can be turned to pull the chain in through the arches and raise the drawbridge.

The tall castle gate sits within the strong gatehouse, guarded from above by stalwart men. You can also see the Lord of the Castle through the gates.

A closer look, you can see the Lord, his daughter and son and a member of staff. The well supplies the castle with fresh water all the time, saving it during siege. Opposite the well is the door into the Keep and behind the lord is an archway that leads to the wall walk and either towers.

This vantage point lets you see the Great Window for the castle Hall, the Lord's quarters also have a detailed set of windows and there is special stonework atop the keep. The staff and guards go about their business as the young lord plays with a dog.

The Kitchen Tower is closest to the well and has a great chimney for the large cooking range. It can provide meals for the whole castle.

The tower room is part home, part office for the Steward of the castle. He ensure day to day life runs smoothly at the castle and is second only to the Lord and his family.

Of course, there are plenty of staff and residents of the castle. This smily chap is one of them. He is quite at home here!

 

This Build has honestly been my largest project to date, both in scale and volume of bricks. Not only did I want to celebrate the milestones of LEGO this year, the landmarks of my home and the possibilities available with the most basic of LEGO bricks. But I also wanted to mark my 10th year of EB membership with something big to share with everyone.

[Tohst]

Nice build!

Did you base any of the features directly on the castles you were using for inspiration?  I'm thinking less like the gatehouse and more like the window decorations.  

 

Tohst

[Peppermint_M]

I can't promise anything was a 100% replica but the grandest of the windows was based on some of the features at Raglan Castle, or the artists impression of what they would have looked like in the castle's heyday. The smaller defensive "slots" are common in the castles of Edward I in Wales. 

Also, the lintels and surrounds in bley was a nod to the fact that more expensive and stronger imported stone was used for door frames and windows in castle construction.

[zoth33]

Great job.  Love the classic feel to it with the nods to real castle architecture in there.  I like the wooden parts you put in there and the gray pieces it gives the castle a nice break in color.  The windows are interesting and I like the front gate.  

[soccerkid6]

It's always fun seeing yellow castle MOCs
You did a wonderful job making an interesting layout, and capturing the classic castle look The gatehouse and barbican area is my favorite section

[Peppermint_M]

Thanks all. This build is going to be the feature of my display at a local comic con, so I will be building structures to create the village that surrounds the castle also. There are hundreds of historic buildings, centuries old farms and houses in my area so I am looking forward to building them and sharing them here. 

[Grover]

Very nice!  I think it's amazing you got to take pictures of it in a real castle!  I wish that TLG would release a tribute castle to the old 375.  It was always one of my favorites growing up.

[PxChris]

What a fantastic idea! And the photo scenery is top notch.

[Legogal]

Pepp,

First class build again!  Glad to see the Welsh input and background as my family is Welsh, too. 

 

375 was such an iconic set that it is wonderful seeing your redo of it. The setting is perfect on the plates you selected. Thanks for such an entertaining build!

Change in plans...had to cancel Amsterdam visit this week due to a family member's medical emergency in California. Looks like I will be around here for several months helping with the recuperation. If anyone is visiting the Bay Area, feel free to holler. We are just six miles from SFO in San Mateo. At least I'll get to build some with my granddaughter again, and that always is fun. 

[Skalldyr]

I just saw your build now... I have to say it is truly amazing!! The mixture of nice building techniques, a good arrangement and the classic feel make it stand out

[Peppermint_M]

Thanks everyone for the kind words 

I will have more historic builds and hopefully something of a layout to go with the castle in the coming months.

[AmperZand]

What a brilliant castle! Some of my favourites creations are inspired by sets of the '70s.

And you have goat - cool 

[rodiziorobs]

Wow, there is a lot to like here--my favorites are the tower room and the barbican. And of course the old Crusader livery.

Thanks for sharing here, and of course for the on-site photo shoot.

Edited November 16, 2018 by rodiziorobs

[KotZ]

Amazing job! The gatehouse build terrain really reminds me of the pre-fab baseplate from who knows how long ago. It's like a brickhuilt version of it, and it's a great update.

[Peppermint_M]

Thank you everyone! I loved working on the terrain and while I admire the highly detailed work of many historic MOCers, I love making things that still capture the simplistic classic LEGO design.

I miss those baseplates, even if I probably wouldn't build on them like LEGO sets did.

[x105Black]

I absolutely love this tribute to the original Yellow Castle set.  This looks fantastic!  The redesign uses a lot of the original concept, but adds so much more.

Great work!

[Peppermint_M]

On 1/3/2019 at 1:51 AM, x105Black said:

I absolutely love this tribute to the original Yellow Castle set.  This looks fantastic!  The redesign uses a lot of the original concept, but adds so much more.

Great work!

Thanks,high praise indeed from a big fan of classic castle 

It was a lot of fun to build and great fun to display too, castles really are part of the fabric of Wales so all the local children learn about at least one historic site. 

[Darkdragon]

I love this build, it's a really great update the iconic classic castle.

[Peppermint_M]

As featured in the October Brickworld Virtual, for the Eurobricks room.

It was great fun to participate and a chance to share a MOC that would be very hard for me to bring across the Atlantic to display in Person. 

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Hi Pep,

As someone who still owns the original Yellow Castle, let me add that you did a fantastic job in creating a modern expanded version incorporating aspects of the later Grey Era.  You added some nice details, esp. that little corner structure within the castle walls.  It's always fun to see builds like this reminiscent of Classic Castle.

Well done and nicely photographed!

EDIT: Just realized you posted this back in 2018.  Oops, still a very nice creation. 

[Peppermint_M]

12 minutes ago, WesternOutlaw said:

Hi Pep,

As someone who still owns the original Yellow Castle, let me add that you did a fantastic job in creating a modern expanded version incorporating aspects of the later Grey Era.  You added some nice details, esp. that little corner structure within the castle walls.  It's always fun to see builds like this reminiscent of Classic Castle.

Well done and nicely photographed!

EDIT: Just realized you posted this back in 2018.  Oops, still a very nice creation. 

Cheers  I love this build, it was a no-brainer to take advantage of the virtual-con for a chance to display it for FOLs everywhere. 

[John Cromwell]

Sweet! Very cool!