derEselausErgste

Apropos: the mentioned Varäger attack(think thats Varangian in English) leads us to the location of the castle. Somewhere at the coastline or near a bigger, shipable river. In real life we should look somewhere in the Baltics for a Building like that.

You're welcome Honestly, my building techniques are really oldfashioned, and so is the result. Four weeks ago i never heared something like SNOT, and 95% of my creation is just sticking bricks on one another like 50 years ago (ok, 40 to be exact). After all I can say I am learning when building, slowly but surely. i still don't have a clear plan what this castle is going to look in the end. My first plan has been to build something like Hogwarts, but in Minifig scale - 2x 71043 and 2x 75954 are still awaiting to contribute their bricks for this purpose. As their colour as well as style differ a lot from the actual stone grey I am using for the first buildings, the idea is to have an "old" part, an once castle which now is used as an outer baley (thats why I am talking about the "old" pallas), and a "new" part that is a palace as well as a castle. However we will see where this train steams to. What will be next? Aside to the keep (which in practice is more a "Bergfried" than a keep as it is impossible to live within) there will be the gatehouse with a drawbridge and a portcullis. Next to the pallas we will have the guard barracks, and then a small woodden gate for daily use, marketeers, farmers and so on. Inside we will also find some half-timbered buildings, stables and storage buildings. And least the palace itself... All in all: a lot to do. P.S. I like Your Avatar. It reminds me on my first castle set 383 - i was ill staying in bed, and my mother brought this one when she gets home after work. But I am sorry, the guy with the black visor always lost P.P.S the fireside in the pallas looks ridiculous, I think I have to make a new one...

The pallas got its roof - but still no interior. The round shields remind of an Varäger attack long time ago...and they add at least some colour...

Very nice! Lots to see on a small space - I like it a lot!

Thanks mates! But if i go on like before, it will take months until I am finished Lets have a quick look on todays work. Its not a lot, as my time has been limited. I just went on with the old pallas building. The intermediate ceiling is in, and also a part of the roof. I am still lacking any interior, and i am not happy about the base of the roof itself, but in general its quite ok so far. But as already mentioned before, this will take lots of time.

Sunday afternoon, time for an update. The tower so far is finished. OK, mostly finished. I spent some time thinking about the design, and in the end i decided against woodden battlements AND a roof. The battlements will be used for other buildings, thats für sure. And a roof would have blocked the view into the stairhouse. So we have some kind of open platform at the moment. I'm still not satisfied and i think there will be changes, but for now it's ok. What I don't like: - the battlements seem to playful, esp. these at the corners. The actual design looks like a mix from Mordor and Northern Italy - details are missing, esp. the gantry girder needs some rework - the black door should be brown, but i could not find any of my brown doors, for what reason ever. Time will solve the problem - at least I should add some kind of woodden canopy The shape is the most simple you can think about, but in principle it's ok. There are hundreds of Middle-European castles with keeps like that. Also the height seems suitable - remember the roof on the pallas is still missing. And thats what will follow next, the pallas roof. And to get an idea about the actual size of the tower:

Just found this topic. A wonderful micro-scale MOC, and as a Berliner (people from Berlin, in greater parts of Germany the name for a typical doughnut also) i know what i am talking about. Just for additional info: exactly 3 month after You posted this topic, Breitscheidplatz became known for a terrorist attack, when an islamic fundamentalist attacked the local christmas market with a stolen truck, killing 12 people. Breitscheidplatz was the centre point of the „old“ West Berlin before the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today he lost lots of his relevance, as the centre of the re-united city moved back to „Unter den Linden“ and the surrounding areas in „Mitte“. For travellers visiting Berlin and interested in Berlin History (and gossip of course), i can offer guided tours, amusing my „Customers“ (no, it’s for free) thanks to my very German English :-)...just ask. Rudolf Breitscheid, eponym of the square itself, has been a socialist politician who was killed by the Nazis in 1944. P.S. Just about the doughnut: for whatever reasons, the „Berliner“ is called „pancake“ in Berlin and parts of Brandenburg, although it is not flat at all, and it is not prepared in a pan (at least not nowadays). You may find this confusing, but please remember the „Wiener“ (Vienna sausage) is called „Wiener“ in Frankfurt but „Frankfurter“ in Wien / Vienna. To be exact, both kinds of sausage differ in details, but thats of interest only if you are a butcher.

It took me 90 minutes to find out that removable Hurden look ok if they are installed, but without the tower looks ugly, and You need a hell lot of bricks which You can spend in better ways (is this still English?!). Tomorrow i will install fixend ones instead.

The tower grows - slowly but surely. On level with the remaining stairs will be the ballustrade - some additional 9cm round about - and it's then when I will have to decide how to implement the "Hurden". In "real life" these could be installed and removed easily, and oftenly they where only used in times of trouble. I hope I can manage something like that... One additional question: should the Tower get a roof or not??? The outside stairs on the third pic are just a reminder - here the stairs will lead to the gatehouse in the near (?!) future. P.S. Hedwig looks quite big from this perspective. P.P.S: the halberd fits better than the sword before. P.P.P.S: the pillars beside the tower entrance look to tiny and fragile - i will replace them.

Simply outstanding. Wish I could do something like this!

Huge? I think it will be - and I am not really happy about. But proportions should be ok more ore less, otherwise it will just look like a toy...

...what brings us up to the actual construction progress: Once again sorry for the bad quality of the pics. Taking photographs is something I'm even poorer in than building bricks...

Cheers! So, after struggeling about the basement, the tower startet growing. At the beginning i was not sure about how to fix the stairs, but fixing them with two girders each work quite well - and looks nice. At least i will add four levels, perhaps five. If i can find a way of proper installation, it is planned to add some protruding woodden battlements - called "Hurden" in German, i do not know the english term - on the top level, but at the moment i dont have any idea how this can work. We will see.

I will try some brick-red-coloured roofs later on, i promise but i fear i can afford only small roofs made with this technique as it comes quite costly. Dont know the ID of the sword either, but i think its from the LOTR series - at least it is genuine LEGO as the imprint tells. In general I like weapons and armour from 3rd-party-manufacturers, but their swords mostly are to big to look aesthetic. Mom, if my magnifier is right, the ID should be 98370...

I tried the shingle roof - and to be honest i like it! And the dungeon got some kind of roof also...

Ok, just a quick update. Sorry for being so slow, but my time to spend is limited, and being inactive for so long (except building original sets) shows effect. Just for the basement of the tower i needed more than 3 hours So lets have a look. First i am happy the former armoury - now the castellans "office" - got a proper door. Looks much better i think: The towers basement is complete...ok, more or less complete. The castles dungeon is located here. Its not what the donkey would call a SPA, but it should be allright for those spending their time herein. At least there is a small window. Lateron i will try a scenery like the first minutes of "Ivanhoe" - dont you think the smart guy in front of the dungeon looks a little bit alike Robert Taylor?! And he is all in black - beautiful! Here is where we are at the moment. The clumsy brick on the left is the tower basement.

Once again thanks for your replies Nothing happened the last two days, but i still ow you some pics, so on we go. The front wall has been extended a little bit, as well as the left buttress has been modified. The pins will hold contact to the adjacent module, a tower and the gatehouse. Apropos gatehouse, i'm not quite sure about the gate itself: a drawbridge? a woodden gate? or perhaps a portcullis? just one or a combination? I have no idea yet. Next we have a small side wing (part of the armoury). As already told, i will have to rework the door, and i do not like the design of the pediment which will get a rework too - i think i will remove the window to the back part of the building. For the roof itself i tried some ideas and found a solution which (as i think) fits quite good. The two pins do stabilize the roof to be centered, and the slopes on both sides hold the roof. Just simple, but seems to work. I think the roof will get shingles in light and dark grey, but i'm not quite clear about at the moment. Next i will have to finish the pallas (which is not used as a pallas anymore), add at least some basic interiour, and start with the tower.

Thanks for your comments so far I spent yesterdays evening working on the small side wing marked by the woodden door. This building will house ohne part of the armoury, and i think i found some nice solution for a removable roof - pics will follow midweek. Unfortunately the damn door is hinged to the wrong side, so I will have to create one on my own. Thanks for the advise about the vegetation. I will add some just to make a try, but for a real landscape i will have to invest some money later on. Apropos investment: the donkey posseses more than enough black, beige and brown bricks, but the light grey ones will become a problem, and light grey basics are hard to find. So i will test some alternatives like woodden battlements - hope this will work. Best regards Martin the donkey

Hello to this Forum! After more then 3 decades out of action, the donkey (thats me) decided to try a castle on its own. I am not quite sure if it is allowed to post WiP here, but I hope it will be no mistake if I do so. The following pictures - sorry for the bad quality - are the result of my yesterdays first building session after more than 30 years, so there is no question the results are bad. I would be grateful for every hint, idea and critics that may come along, so please feel free to add Your comments. Right at the moment i do not have a clear idea what the castle will look alike in the end, so I just got started with a pallas builing, which will be accompanied by a gatehouse in the near future. Lots of best regards Martin the donkey t