[WIP] Fantasy castle MOC

[Glassjaw]

So I’ve always flip-flopped between sci-fi and fantasy themes. After spending several years firmly building spaceships I’ve decided to give a castle and medieval village build a go. My style is always with play in mind and some leeway towards historical accuracy.

This is very much a work in progress. My aim is to make something sort of modular, not just to rearrange but to make it easier to move to allow my kids to play with it. 
 

I have another experimental build I tried, a half timbered house in the black and white style that I want to try and incorporate. Thoughts and comments very welcome!

 

So you can see the overall plan, a quadrangular castle with a central keep, able to be closed up and opened. All off the corner towers and wall sections are connected with pins.

Gate section. I intend to add a drawbridge style gate to the front. With chains if possible.

Apart from some small variations in the colours, all four corners are the same.

 

The two side walls again are quite similar. The SNOT bricks I plan to use for some kind of climbing foliage. I also plan on making small sub builds to connect to the inside of the walls; a forge and smithy, a pig pen, a small half timbered lodge, a storage pile etc. Something to give it some life. 

The longer of the two rear wall halves has the bridge to the keep.

And the keep itself. I plan on another floor, which may have some half timbered extensions, and a roof top access.

Interior-wise, the bottom floor has the dungeon and cellar. The middle will have a small hall and for the top I think a bed chamber makes sense. I want to add details to this section like torches on the walls, trophies, other decorations.

I’ll add more pictures of the half timbered house I’ve started, as well as other sun builds and progress pictures as I go, as well as the figs I think will inhabit here.

I welcome feedback and suggestions for other details and sub builds.

Thank you for taking the time to go through this.

[Glassjaw]

As mentioned I’ve got the pictures of the half timbered house I’d started.

 

When I reconstruct this as either an addition to the castle or it’s own stand alone building I think I’m going to have to redesign the short sides of the walls, possibly in grey for a stone effect and have the roof tiles sandwiched between them instead of the overhand I currently have so that it doesn’t interfere with the opening action of the building.

Currently, the roof sections need to be able to hinge upwards to allow the building to open so this should eliminate that problem. 
Interior design will come much later down the road, and this was only really an attempt to see what I can do that isn’t a space ship or battle mech. I’m enjoying stepping out of my comfort zone.

 

As always, thoughts and comments appreciated.

[Feuer Zug]

Good looking start to a modular castle design. Depending on your castle, I might modify the entrance to have a portcullis or two. Maybe with murder holes between them.

[Matt_T]

Great use of those tiles you get with minifigures for the roof

[Glassjaw]

It's been a minute but I've updated this build and it's taken quite a big change. The original model was quite big which while good for me, was not so good for my two kids who struggled to move it and use the way it connected/disconnected, and with the way they played the large area the model took up wasn't quite right for them so I've made a much smaller and simpler tower which means I'll be able to make several smaller buildings they can move around, open, and play with. I've also changed the small house that was going with it.

http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr

http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr

http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr

 

As you can see it's just a single tower, almost like a keep. I'd tried to loosely base it off of a Norman style donjon (a simple square or rectangular shape, no initial curtain wall). First floor level entry and a balcony. The SNOT points have since been covered with foliage and flowers and I intend to add some banners or flags to the outside as well.

 

http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr

http://Castle update feb ‘24 by J T, on Flickr

 

Very simple on the inside. Making it big enough to have lost of play room inside made the whole thing too tall and wide that it became unwieldy for the kids, so I've made it closer to what they wanted which was enough room to put 1 or possibly 2 figs in (they sometimes play with the micro dolls that come in some of the Disney sets). A cellar, a fireplace which lights up, a bedroom and I've since put a small throne into the other second story room which I will get a picture of as I keep updating the builds.

The fireplace was the real highlight for them. Pun intended.

 

The half timbered house I was working on has evolved into a blacksmiths.

http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr

http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr

http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr

Fairly simple, I wanted to retain the black/white look up top and brick built on the bottom. I am aware of the absence of a chimney however again this is mostly for my kids to play around with so they've not noticed that this is missing.

 

http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr

http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr

http://Blacksmith by J T, on Flickr

Only had room for a few details, for the top level a bed, table and animal skin rug was enough to make the space feel real and still provide enough room for a fig or two, the ground level is really about the forge and the well for me. The little grinding stone was a suggestion from one of my kids and they gave me the 'wheel' section of it and asked for a way to get it in. Some of the details have been inspired by the blacksmith set such as the rug. I'm going to build some more buildings in this pseudo-medieval style for them to play around with. They enjoy having multiple smaller buildings they can open up and move around and play on the floor space in between.

Currently in idea stage is another 'castle' tower similar to the first but with some kind of moving part like a drawbridge, a farmhouse (thanks to the goatherd minifig), a stable, a tavern which may have the stables as part of it's build and finally a wizard tower.

As always I'm open to suggestions and will always appreciate comments and critique.