10305 Lion Knights' Castle 90th anniversary set

[SirBlake]

That widening really worked out. Well done!

[Shiva]

Ohh, nice!

[RichardGoring]

Looks very impressive!

[cehnot]

Many of the newer forest guardian and viking parts are available on pick a brick. I grabbed 20 of each torso and green hat while supplies last.

[Black Feather]

On 10/27/2022 at 5:24 PM, Sir Dano said:

With the Lord of the Rings license back I don't think we'll be seeing any Castle sets again any time soon unfortunately.

I would be surprised if they didn’t put out a couple sets like they have been.  They are making so many sets and themes now, why not throw us a few bones here and there.  Especially when they have so many parts already available to use now.  It’s not like they have to go to great expense or take a big risk.  They know they’ll make money.  I am still really hoping for full forestmen set sometime with brown hats and additional torsos.

[Shiva]

Viking parts?

[eldiano]

58 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Viking parts?

The mini figure parts, hair, torso, from the Viking set were all available in stock at Pick a Brick, with that said so were the forestmen parts earlier today

[Follows Closely]

Forestmen: https://www.lego.com/en-us/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=&page=1&includeOutOfStock=true&filters.i0.key=variants.attributes.appearsIn&filters.i0.ranges.i0.from="40567%3A"&filters.i0.ranges.i0.to="40567%3A9999"&filters.i1.key=variants.attributes.categoryId&filters.i1.values.i0=7&sku=40567

Viking: https://www.lego.com/en-us/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=&page=1&includeOutOfStock=true&filters.i0.key=variants.attributes.appearsIn&filters.i0.ranges.i0.from="31132%3A"&filters.i0.ranges.i0.to="31132%3A9999"&filters.i1.key=variants.attributes.categoryId&filters.i1.values.i0=7&sku=31132

 

 

[MAB]

6 minutes ago, eldiano said:

The mini figure parts, hair, torso, from the Viking set were all available in stock at Pick a Brick, with that said so were the forestmen parts earlier today

All three Viking torsos were available to me (in UK) earlier. Now the 6399356 one is OOS, but the other two are still there.

Edited November 1, 2022 by MAB

[Shiva]

Ahh, cheers :)

[Sir Dano]

3 hours ago, Follows Closely said:

Forestmen: https://www.lego.com/en-us/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=&page=1&includeOutOfStock=true&filters.i0.key=variants.attributes.appearsIn&filters.i0.ranges.i0.from="40567%3A"&filters.i0.ranges.i0.to="40567%3A9999"&filters.i1.key=variants.attributes.categoryId&filters.i1.values.i0=7&sku=40567

 

You forgot to check minifig accessories for that link: https://www.lego.com/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=&page=1&includeOutOfStock=true&filters.i0.key=variants.attributes.appearsIn&filters.i0.ranges.i0.from="40567%3A"&filters.i0.ranges.i0.to="40567%3A9999"&filters.i1.key=variants.attributes.categoryId&filters.i1.values.i0=7&filters.i1.values.i1=6&sku=40567

[iragm]

I posted these links in the PAB thread, but they are relevant here:

Vikings

Animals

Updated 90's castle figures

Feathers, beards and misc accessories

Weapons

Shields and armor

Helmets

 

FYI, if you strip the /en-us/ bit from the URL, it'll localize to other people's area so they will get their local prices.

[eldiano]

8 hours ago, iragm said:

I posted these links in the PAB thread, but they are relevant here:

Vikings

Animals

Updated 90's castle figures

Feathers, beards and misc accessories

Weapons

Shields and armor

Helmets

 

FYI, if you strip the /en-us/ bit from the URL, it'll localize to other people's area so they will get their local prices.

Did they removed the blue forestmen torso?  Will they bring it back next month when the 10305 castle parts go live?  What about the dark green lower pants?  Any luck as well, thanks?

[Sir Dano]

Do you mean the hat? They haven't made a blue Forestman torso.

The hat is still in stock: https://www.lego.com/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=6370037&page=1&perPage=200&sort.key=CREATED_AT&sort.direction=DESC&includeOutOfStock=true&sku=

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Sir Dano said:

Do you mean the hat? They haven't made a blue Forestman torso.

The hat is still in stock: https://www.lego.com/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?query=6370037&page=1&perPage=200&sort.key=CREATED_AT&sort.direction=DESC&includeOutOfStock=true&sku=

I think they mean this one.

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by MAB

[eldiano]

Yes, that one was on sale a while back from the CMF line up, I almost bought it thinking I had more time because I was waiting for the green torso to be in stock, I managed to get some green torsos but now see they removed the blue ones and I’m crossing my fingers it would be brought back in December I hope 🤞 

[Sir Dano]

Oh, the bard torso. Should be back next month along with everything else in the set.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Sir Dano

[iL01]

I finished developping my own upgrade of castle.
- throne room and mage room were added
- I connected forestmens rooms in one location. Now it is like catacombs with secret enter
- little features were added like ballista for killing the dragon, wine room, blacksmith and right tower was increased and turned
- and other little changes

In overall my upgrade consist in 4000 parts.
For now its just digital version, not real building.
Main concept was taken from this

[natesroom]

1 hour ago, iL01 said:

I finished developping my own upgrade of castle.
- throne room and mage room were added
- I connected forestmens rooms in one location. Now it is like catacombs with secret enter
- little features were added like ballista for killing the dragon, wine room, blacksmith and right tower was increased and turned
- and other little changes

In overall my upgrade consist in 4000 parts.
For now its just digital version, not real building.
Main concept was taken from this

Images not working, repost...

[cehnot]

I finished the front of the gatehouse. It has changed a lot over the course of the 2 months. I am struggling with the back side of the gatehouse because I want it to be used when opened up in another configuration. The concept is maintain a similar shape of the original set. When you swing open the castle hinges you add on the expansion parts using clips and technic pins. 

The gatehouse originally was expanded into a 7 studs wide set of towers. Then I made them 11 studs. Once I did 11 studs I began building the dungeon and came up with the inner hallways idea. I then needed to expand the entire thing by 6 studs to make the dungeon line up correctly. This is why the entire thing went to 13 studs wide. The 36 stud wide gatehouse towers over the 28 stud wide set. The gate was too short and I needed a taller one. I moved the drawbridge forward 1 stud and curved it off with the 1x2 round plates which made it slide into the arched area, yet covering almost the entire inner gate. I left the subfloor the same height, but raised  the ground level by 4 studs I think. This made the entire tunnel tall enough to fit a horse and knight easily through it with a lance and flag setup connected to the side of the saddle. I then raised the second floor 4 studs to give the towers a taller look. The side walls on the original set were a bit taller than a minifig on the ground level and I felt that they needed to be about 25 ft or higher like real castle walls. So proportionally, I made them about 25 to 30 studs high. With this said, the wall on the left that goes to the living quarters appear shorter, but in reality can be accessed from the second level based on the same level height as the gatehouse like most real castles. 

I still need to build walking platforms on the walls. I think those will be made from stone. I may move the protruded section with orange roof down a few studs to line up vertically with the door on the ground level. It will give me enough width to make stone platforms. 

I added the vertical lag designs from the 3in1 castle set. I love the simplicity of them. I may make the dark blue back to normal blue. I like the color contrast, but I think most people associate the bright blue with their flags. I may turn them black. 

The rocks are an extension of the set. I tried widening the caves and felt they would collapse under the sheer weight of the castle. I literally shoved them to the far edges without much change to the designs. The largest change I wanted to do was get rid of the panel in the front hiding the ballast from the drawbridge. The new drawbridge design has a huge 6 stud wide ballast and is 1 stud longer than the set. I think this will counter the new bridge design. I removed the 8x6 slope and placed 2x4 tiles under the new bridge design. There is just a stud height distance from the bottom of the drawbridge to the tiles. The new rock design feels more natural and I added a structre surrounding the hidden compartments on the right side instead of a tree. Trees were cut down around the castle to prevent invaders from accessing the walls. 

My revisioned history, The Lion Knights failed as securing the castle and the thriving Black Knights began reconstruction immediately to enclose access points around the caves. No more black bar windows in a prison cell looking into the cave. 

I

The hideout is deeper inside the rock because of the new dungeon cells I added. 

The new dungeon contains 8 jail cells. There is a jail cell door on both sides for the pit below the drawbridge. They allow soldiers to kill the remaining enemies and access the pit for cleaning out the bodies. In the front of the pit are 2 new jail cells with windows facing the pit. This gives the soldiers another angle to attack the fallen enemies during battle. 

Another angle of the dungeon and first floor. Based on the various information about gatehouses. Many of the basic uses were dining and storage. The one thing missing from the set were arrow holes. I wanted to make this section a death trap. 

With this in mind I made 6 murder holes above the gatehouse tunnel. The struggle I have with the other part of the gatehouse I am designing. How to exit the gatehouse. The other side I have began working on is another porticullis. This would line up with the section above and exit the building to the ground level. This would give me a proper gatehouse design. The design would also include a stone stairways that spiral up the two towers. Both sides would have stairs going up from the dungeon designed like those tunnels on the front. I do not want the cells to meet each other. I think that this would give them an advantage point in case time of war and use one side for weapons and extra storage while the other side could be cells. I also debate whether I should redesign the dungeon and make one side cells and the other side partitioned rooms for storage without cell doors. 

Those holes with the 1x3 arches facing the drawbridge are suppose to act like a cross between murder holes and machicolations. Though they do not sick out from the walls, they funnel rocks or hot liquid onto the enemies attacking the main gate. I felt that they needed to be accessed from the second level. I created a sloped access hole on both sides of the front gatehouse that would shower down on their enemies in those pesky blindspots. 

The porticullis needed a stronger chain connection in my opinion. Not necessary, just wanted to use those awesome brackets. 

You can see the nice architectual designs each of those muder holes in the front of the gate make for the ground level. I think the inverted slopes help give the ground level some simple, yet effective design elements to the boring walls. The arches also help give the room a nice design. I know its hard to see but there are 1x6 arches connecting the larger arches near the walls as added design elements. They create a nice cross beam concept above the outer tower walls above the arrow slits. I like the centered arch design that creates a nice long beam to the rear of the room as well. A good connecting point for the arches and shapes the roof. You can also see I added a set of 3 vertical flags in the center room. I think it was quite boring in there and the vertical hanging flags add a nice touch to the room.  The weapons racks are able to fit on the outer walls and such surrounding the top floor. I may build a few more for the other part of the gatehouse that needs built. 

The good part about the rear section for the new gatehouse is the face that I can copy and paste the front part mostly to the rear. The rear will not be as deep as the front, most likely be 9 to 11 studs deep instead of 15. I only need room for the gate and maybe 1 more arrow slit and set of murder holes from the second floor. The interior design is sorta already mapped out. The tower stairs are already finished. I just need to replace the front facing and connect everything. Maybe 3 to 4 hours of work. 

 

The gatehouse rear section will not have a door entering the ground level. I basically want to make sure the gatehouse doesn't have too many exits or entrances to the whole thing. You need to access the door on the ground level, go up the stairs to the second level, go across the floor through the 2 doors into the armory room. From there you can go down the stairs to the other tower into the dining room or basement to the dungeon. 

The second floor of the rear gatehouse will have a door access to the outer curtain wall in the rear. I think this would be the only area you can access that wall facing the harbor. 

Expanding the castle:
The three layouts I keep referring to how it will work. 
Instead of relying on the castle using 5 wide towers I am using the basis of 11 to 13 towers. And in a few instances 15 studs. The problems I tested are those pesky 5 stud wide towers that use hinges to angle weird with the 1x3 and 1x2 wedge plates. If i double the width i get 10 studs. If I triple I get 15 studs. In order to fit within those parameters I need to make sactifices in some areas to make this idea work. I love that they figured out the flooring to fit these angles and such. But for me to use it I need to work with those concepts. I can use those angles for flooring rotated 90 degrees as well, which will mean I can achieve 7, 9 or 11 studs on the floors. Its a matter of reconfiguring the flooring, but it will work. So I can do 11 studs on 1 side. With this solved already, tested and such I can do many of these design elements you see in the layouts. 

Layout 1: The enlarged castle enclosed to fit the original set concept. You enter the gatehouse and enter the courtyard containing the barracks or small dining hall. The harbor fits inside the new design. The pier and platform for boats. You enter the arched bridge in the back. 

Layout 2: The Harbor fortress. You enter the gatehouse from the bottom. There are no barracks for soldiers here. For the tired traveler, you rest in the inn centered in the pier. You can also make port and enter from the pier side. The great hall sits in the rear, connects to the tower that resides the wizard above. The keep is large with a throne room and plenty of beds for the royal family. 

 

The dollhouse expands on everything to reveal the massive connecting castle on the lake. Swing open the parts and reconfigure the entire thing. Clips, technic pins and a little moving around pieces then the newly designed castle will be revealed. This will be a nightmare to do. I solved most the connections using plates and trying to solve the layout before building. I think most of it is figured out in studio. 
 

Color coded to each section. 

 

Hopefully I can get this solved in Studio. 

I think its about 8 to 10 sets. I won't know for sure how large, but I am thinking a lot of extra parts will be necessary. 
 

[cehnot]

16 hours ago, iL01 said:

I finished developping my own upgrade of castle.
- throne room and mage room were added
- I connected forestmens rooms in one location. Now it is like catacombs with secret enter
- little features were added like ballista for killing the dragon, wine room, blacksmith and right tower was increased and turned
- and other little changes

In overall my upgrade consist in 4000 parts.
For now its just digital version, not real building.
Main concept was taken from this

The page says the images are only stored for 2 hours. I suggest opening up a bricksafe account to store images. They are a great service to put your images of lego creations on it. 

[Shroffy123]

The breastplate in this set. What color is it? Dark pearl Grey?

[Lyichir]

2 minutes ago, Shroffy123 said:

The breastplate in this set. What color is it? Dark pearl Grey?

Flat Silver, by Bricklink standards. Standard "pearl" silver color since 2011 or so.

[Shroffy123]

55 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Flat Silver, by Bricklink standards. Standard "pearl" silver color since 2011 or so.

Thank you 

[iL01]

5 hours ago, cehnot said:

The page says the images are only stored for 2 hours. I suggest opening up a bricksafe account to store images. They are a great service to put your images of lego creations on it. 

thanks for the advice:) 

As I said above, here is my update