THE CASTLE EXPERIMENT 3

 I know I should figure out all the design for the castle before I start working on the interior but I'm impatient to see what the Great hall will look like. So I convinced myself that I needed to finalize the wall paneling to make sure it all fit. :) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The gallery floor took a few tries to get it to sit properly. One door on the gallery leads to the next part of the castle and the other will lead to a walkway on the castle walls.

I'm not sure how many roof trusses will work so I just added the end ones for now.  I have a castle chandelier put away that is already wired. Now I just have to find it. I originally made it for the Hungerford Manor and then lost it. So I made a second one. Of course once it was done I found the original. I put it carefully away.  Somewhere.
In the mean time it is on to the next section of the castle; the main keep.

THE   CASTLE  EXPERIMENT -2

Ok It is official. I HATE STAIRS!!  They either don't fit or are too wide or they don't join properly to the lower flight.Or I was a twit and cut them backwards. How do you even do that??  I think I cut these about a million times. Or at least it feels like it. But  'by jove we've got it'.. Finally. 

The stairs are done and after several tries they fit in the tower where they belong. 

Quick glue them in before they mutate.

These are some of the parts that didn't fit so far. I could build a crooked castle with these. or maybe two.  The number of rejected stair parts was too depressing . I threw those out as I went along.

But now things are starting to move. Or they should until I hit the second set of stairs in the next part of the castle.  Here is the finished Great Hall waiting to be decorated.

Next up is wall paneling and the roof trusses.

cheers

Gayle

www.petworthminiatures.com

THE CASTLE EXPERIMENT

Sometimes it feels like some sort of cosmic connection is at work. Small and Small group started talking about doing a castle challenge and I just had to laugh . This is what was sitting on my drawing board waiting for me to get started.

It is turning out to be a big project and I thought you might like to see how it develops. There has been a lot of re-cutting and changes as it goes along and i will try to keep this up to date as I go.

Once I decided on the basic style of the castle it needed to be sized and configured. If I did it to anything close to the scale of most RL castles , even in 1/4 scale, it would take over my house. So the challenge is to work it into a size that is reasonable but still gives the feel of a soaring majestic building. or as close as I can get to it.

 I really like the one photo I found of a castle on a rocky cliff. That will give me a chance to play with paper clay and make rocks. I love doing that!  It also meant I could design it with an undercroft or basement area. If I make it with peep holes through the cliffs that should be fun. There is something about looking through little openings into another world that is a big part of the fascination of miniatures.

The foot print also had to be smaller than 12 x 12. If this ever becomes a kit it has to fit into a shipping box. :) 

 I couldn't do it. So I divided the base into 2 parts. Now that works.

The lower level will have a big kitchen and what may turn out to be an armory or maybe a stable. There are 2 smaller rooms that I think will be a wine cellar and a dining room for guards and staff.

The large openings on the outer walls are the peep holes and all the sides will eventually be made into cliff walls. 

Before I can build up I have to do the interior wall treatment or I will never be able to get in there to decorate. The next floor sits on top with tabs so I can remove it and work in the basement but I want to do some of the finishing because I can't wait to see what it looks like.

It will only be seen through the peep holes so I decided to just use printed stone walls and floor rather than scribe the stone into a plaster coating. I also have to get the stairs figured out. Those are always a problem and theses have to fit with the ground floor above and the next flight up to the 2nd floor.

It took awhile but I think this is a good start. I'm going to add lighting eventually and some ceiling vaults in the smaller room bit I can't do that until the ground floor is ready to install on top.

The next step is the Main floor and the stairs. Those have to be figured out before anything else. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers

Gayle

www.petworthminiatures.com