Former Total Noob (now just noob) starts Castle Project

[BardDandelion]

WOW, such a cool topic. It's so awesome that you keep everyone in the loop with your castle progress. 

[derEselausErgste]

1 hour ago, BardDandelion said:

WOW, such a cool topic. It's so awesome that you keep everyone in the loop with your castle progress. 

Thanks a lot 

I am always a little bit afraid this thread might be boring to read, and I am astonished how many people are visiting this topic - people I fear which could be disappointed about the castle itself and the speed with which I am going on. The buildings themselves are not the most interesting ones, and it will take a lot of time until I will get finished. I have just made a calculation, and I think the castle itself won't be completed before June, the little bit of surrounding landscape I have planned should take additional two months.

At least I am trough with my vignette for our "Game of Thrones" competition, and so I can go on with the main gate, latest on weekend. 

[derEselausErgste]

The photobackground has arrived - unfortunately I lack any kind of feasible artificial lighting, so I have to wait for tomorrow - and hope for the sun. In the meantime the maingate is growing - just in my mind, but I'm sure I can spend some hours on the weekend for practical realization.

[IzzyLEGOFreak]

This is an amazing MOC, you should make YouTube videos on this!

[derEselausErgste]

Time to go on. Not a lot to report, but better than nothing. I started to work on the gate house - or at least at the gate itself. The portcullis will be connected to the surrounding landscape via a bridge - if wooden or made of stone has not been decided yet. This bridge will cross a swamp - most parts of the castle will be sorrounded by a swamp to be exact. Thats the reason the portcullis sits 3 bricks above the ground level. To the left of the gate the gatehouse will form a side wing that leads to the back parts of the castle - unfortunately this is only a plan at the moment, 

From the backside there is...simply nothing to see at the moment. Even the wooden gate is not installed yet. The horse marks the place where two horse boxes will be located, including a small stocking area for hay and straw. Its always a good idea to have a horse on your fingertips if you need one - for example if you have to send a messenger or a scout. Of course this is not enough space for the castles horses, and a bigger stable will be placed somewhere in the back parts of the castle.Left from the horse boxes stairs will lead up to the tower and to the battlements of the main gate.

 

Edited February 24, 2019 by derEselausErgste

[Cyberfounder]

As long as you don't start to post progress brick by brick, I think we can handle it. 

That rocking is looking good! 

Small edit: some green 1x1 round or square flat bricks give rocking that little extra. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Cyberfounder

[derEselausErgste]

8 hours ago, Cyberfounder said:

As long as you don't start to post progress brick by brick, I think we can handle it. 

That rocking is looking good! 

Small edit: some green 1x1 round or square flat bricks give rocking that little extra. 

Thx  those green bricks are already parts of my shopping list, as I have exactly zero of both of them presently on stock.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2019 by derEselausErgste

[Grover]

Very nice work!  I enjoy seeing the progress as you build your castle and get back into Lego after a long time.  I was in my dark ages for probably some 15 years, but am now back into it again myself.  It's a fun process of rediscovery!

Also, I believe the English word for Huren is "Hoardings", assuming that you mean the wooden structures built over the crenelations that extended over the walls:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding_(castle)

As for your minis, I wouldn't sell them either: you never know when they will come in handy for a large Historican army!

[derEselausErgste]

2 hours ago, Grover said:

Very nice work!  I enjoy seeing the progress as you build your castle and get back into Lego after a long time.  I was in my dark ages for probably some 15 years, but am now back into it again myself.  It's a fun process of rediscovery!

Also, I believe the English word for Huren is "Hoardings", assuming that you mean the wooden structures built over the crenelations that extended over the walls:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding_(castle)

As for your minis, I wouldn't sell them either: you never know when they will come in handy for a large Historican army!

Thanks a lot Grover - thats exactly what I was looking for!

By the way, it is called „Hurden“ in German - „Huren“ means harlots...does a brothel count for Hospitality or Entertainment- or is it forbidden? At least this enlights a nice idea...

[Grover]

Whoops!  That was a typo on my part.  I wrote that on my phone.  The brothel is pretty funny, though!  And yes,you can use a brothel for hospitality or entertainment (take your pick).  There have been some writings on that before.

Also, if you want a single piece, the gate from the Rancor pit is about the best portcullis I've seen:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=11216&idColor=120#T=C&C=120

[The Last of Nergoue]

Looking very nice!

[derEselausErgste]

It will take some additional days until I can post new pics - drowned my smartphone last week, but a new one is on its way. I am still working on the main gate, and this will not be completed until the end of next week as I fear. 

[Cyberfounder]

Drowned your smartphone... Moats can be tricky.

[derEselausErgste]

13 minutes ago, Cyberfounder said:

Drowned your smartphone... Moats can be tricky.

Especially these kind of moats with flooding modus 

[jimmynick]

This is going wonderfully; very glad you were able to fit the portcullis in without too much trouble. This castle has such a classic feel - it's really nice to see.

[Witold]

That will be a huge castle!

[derEselausErgste]

Good morning my honoured Lords and Ladys,

After quite a long period of illness the donkey is back. Sorry for the interruption, but it has been...necessary. I will go on with my work on the castle immediately and will post pics of the already known (bad) quality. I stopped when working on the gatehouse, and this is where I will start over again. Unfortunately the gate itself has been slipped by half a knob, for what there has been a reason why - but I can no longer remember  

[Lordofdragonss]

Great you will be updating <3

[Cyberfounder]

Great to see this project coming back to life. 

[derEselausErgste]

So here we go. Slowly, as I lack the routine to go on fast, but it should be ok.

As You can see, the gatehouse still is WiP. Looked upon from the frontside, there is a small shelter for the gatehouse guard. Inside it is as simple as it can be, but at least it's equipped with a small fireplace - i took the one from the Harry Potter Advent Calender  right to the gatehouse the owl tower will join the front.
The left wing will house the castles storage as well as the Cellerars office - I just added some crates and barrels to get a first idea of the appearence. From the back side, you can see the two horse boxes, and on the right side of the gate another shelter...without fireplace this time. The left door wing is still missing.And - as always - no details yet.

 

If we add the gate house to the already existing modules, we can get an idea how the castle will look from the front side:

As I lacked the space needed, the module of the guards house (to the right behind the old palas building) is absent. The total width of the castle is 140 studs presently, or 109cm. So when the surrounding landscape will be added, the width will be arround 200 studs...but this will take a lot of time.

The next step will be to finish the storage house. Afterwards I have to decide how to go on. In the back i have planned a keep with some surrounding buildings, sitting on top of a low cliff and so being a little bit elevated from the ground. The castle inside will be filled with some shops and houses, tudors mainly, and the rest of the wall has to be finished also. A lot to do, not 40 percent of the castle are "finished" at the moment, not to talk about the landscape and all the details. 

 

Thanks a lot for all the patience!

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by derEselausErgste

[Louis of Nutwood]

It's already looking really good, man!

It is great to see the evolution, step by step, as you progress from just a few bricks to a beautiful keep and battlements. 

Can't wait to see it grow. Keep it up, mate!

[zoth33]

Coming along nicely.  This is looking pretty good so far keep up the good work.  

[derEselausErgste]

Greetings!

 

Nothing new from the castle walls so far. I worked on the storage house, but not enough to show any pictures - this will have to wait until next weekend.

Just to do something different but the same grey walls on and on again, I tried something else. The castle will need some non-military buildings as well, shops and so on. So I tried my first tudor, a small bakery. Small indeed, as the castles kitchen will bake bread and cake also. Some things will have to be changed for sure: the door hinges have to be changed to black, the small woodden shelter at the backside is ugly and will be replaced. Most important I will have to change the roof. I had no idea about the colour, and so I choosed dark grey slopes, but I dont like it. Slopes are allright for the castles structures, but for the private buildings the roofs should be more delicate. Any idea will be welcome.

 

 

Then I had to think about the castles "speciality", some goods or crafted work unique in style or quality. Not so easy. There are dozends of breweries and wine presses already, and the master black smiths count in hundreds. Another one will be just another one, and I was looking for something really special. At least I decided for some brickworks. Bricks are needed everywhere i nAvalonia and beyound, and those made here are the best you can get for money. The special quality is the result of generations of brick masters that made the really best out of it, but the real hidden secret is the oven and the linked technology of burning perfect bricks. And so I tried to made an oven - big enough to burn quite a lot of bricks at a time. The result seems not too bad for me. I would have preffered dark tan as the ovens colour, but as I lacked the bricks I had to switch to dark grey. Now the oven looks a liitle bit like a kind of medieval crematorium, but who cares. The oven is feeded from the front, while fire and maintenance are operated by two doors on the left side. The stairs to the upper maintenenace door looks a bit too clumsy presently, so I will switch to a 3-stud-wide one and will add a handrail also. And of course it will need a small workshop as well as a  warehouse for the burnt bricks. 

 

[Robin_IV]

It is very nice to have you back. I appreciate your work and I'm a bit jealous. ;)

I wonder what Held der Steine would say about this model if once finished. :D

[derEselausErgste]

On 1/13/2020 at 11:43 PM, Robin_IV said:

It is very nice to have you back. I appreciate your work and I'm a bit jealous. ;)

I wonder what Held der Steine would say about this model if once finished. :D

Thanks a lot. Regarding "Held der Steine": I think he wont care. He is fighting his own wars with the Lego company 

I am just collecting bricks for the keep I am planning. To be exact it will be no real keep but something like an "inner castle". As it will be part of the northern battlements as well, it will help me also going on with the curtain walls. With a little luck I can show first steps on weekend - but I fear it will be more or less just the groundwork and some rocks perhaps.

Edited January 15, 2020 by derEselausErgste