# Castle emerging slowly



## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

_I thought I would transfer this topic to the new boards in order to provide updates to anyone interested in this project. So forgive me if you've already read this post on the old archives.
_
After much delay I finally started on the castle for my layout. I've been 'thinking and planning' this project for a while. Kind of want it to be fashioned loosely after the Disney Castles and/or Neuschwanstein.

Thanks to Rudy A. for his corespondence and advice from his excellent Helms Deep castle.

The form is foam, ABS pipe and some assorted plastic containers. Plan on covering it with sanded grout and imprinting the 'block wall' into the grout. Will build the windows and cover the roof as well. Always a lot of trial and error every project of course!

I plan to light this structure both interiorly and exteriorly. Just have to figure out the details.







Have another structure lit by Malibu lights inside but want to also use mini christmas style lights on the outside. Any advice on this subject is much appreciated. If I could wire it into my existing low voltage system and have it on the auto timer that would be ideal.









A few pictures of the early progress....



















Blue foam was suggested for the ease of carving and detailing but at the time I could not find any. I've done a test section of sanded grout over the white styrofoam with an imprint of a the backside of a Plastruct sheet. It turned out pretty good. I will update this when as this evolves.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions you may have.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By hans911 on 02/16/2008 8:44 AM
_I thought I would transfer this topic to the new boards in order to provide updates to anyone interested in this project. So forgive me if you've already read this post on the old archives.
_
A few pictures of the early progress....










Thanks for any comments or suggestions you may have. 


Definitely out of my area of expertise, but a unique and worthy project worth following. Keep us updated on this one.

--Ron in Alaska


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## SandyR (Jan 6, 2008)

Hans, some years ago, Jim Strong had an excellent article in Garden Railways magazine showing how to work with vinyl patching cement over blue foam. I don't know if it might be available on a PDF...Rene, could you help? 
SandyR


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## SandyR (Jan 6, 2008)

Just went through my stash of GR magazines. The article is: Sculpting Concrete Structures, by Jim Strong. Garden Railways, April 1996, pp. 35-39. 
SandyR


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## Guest (Feb 19, 2008)

the easiest way to make castles that i found is using styrofoam.
marking with black marker, cutting the openings with a sharp knife, drawing the stones with a welding-iron, pinning everything with nails and finishing off with wall colour (first dark, then the blocks with lighter colour)
to "weather" them i make some spraycan-mist with ligth and dark green, some brown and a little black.

round towers i make out of icecream containers.

can't show any finished castle, they all were razed during playmobil wars by my daughters.
here parts of an unfinished one:




























korm
.


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Castle building is progressing slowly. Though it is coming along. The covering is sanded grout with a Plastruct sheet indented to form the stone like print. 

Hopefully after some painting, details and weathering it will look like something.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Hans, I like what you have done. The not so perfect stones make it look more real. It's coming along better than I thought. Nice! 

Excellent use of the plastruct pattern sheets! Genius!


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

I've painted it and begun the slow process of roofing. Will gradually add golden windows, a balcony, flags up top and whatever else I can come up with. Also plan on using mini Christmas lights and a low voltage spot to light it at night. 

Any and all suggestions and comments are certainly welcome and encouraged!!!


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

I like it! It has the look of ancient stone. 

Caleb and Ethan once wanted to build Minas Tirith at a scale of 1/100 it would be like 7ft tall and 14ft wide. Susan allowed them a place outside, but the scale of the project proved daunting and they never got farther than some drawings.


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## VillageRail (Apr 25, 2008)

I am planning a castle, but I'm not sure I have time for building one entirely from scratch. I do like the effect from the sanded grout with a Plastruct sheet to make the stones. The problem I have is it will be outdoors. Right now I'm looking at some of the toy plastic castles to see if they can be sufficiently modified and painted. I was thinking more of a "Knight's Castle", but since it's going into a theme park area. The "Princess Castle" concept would fit right in. 

Paul


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## MrCaliman (Apr 25, 2008)

Hi 
when I was building my Disneyland layout in HO scale I got a paper castle off of a website called http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index301.html actually thats for the Haunted mansions of the Disney parks. 
heres the Castle site: http://www.disneyexperience.com/models/castle_model.php 
I hope this helps


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By hans911 on 05/13/2008 8:55 AM

I've painted it and begun the slow process of roofing. Will gradually add golden windows, a balcony, flags up top and whatever else I can come up with. Also plan on using mini Christmas lights and a low voltage spot to light it at night. Any and all suggestions and comments are certainly welcome and encouraged!!! 

















I have absolutely no expertise on this kind of project, but I sure am liking it! I see all kinds of possibilities developing here.


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

After starting this project over 6 months ago it finally found its way outside onto the railroad. I have installed a string of 20 mini Christmas lights around the edge that go on automatically with the Malibu/low voltage system in the evenings. The drawbridge remains in the shop and will be added shortly. Am thinking of adding a colored spot illuminating the front of the castle at night to further light the structure. Ideas, ideas.....! 

Here are a few pictures of the castle during the daylight hours. Hope you enjoy them.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

That's cool.


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice! Thanks for posting the pictures. 
Best, 
TJ


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Great, job, but are you going to make the dragon breathe fire sometime in the future?


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Not a bad idea! If I can just get the other lighting issues worked out maybe that will be next on the list./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

You gotta show us a U-tube video if you get the fire hooked up


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Before I can even think about adding fire I have to get the lighting issues ironed out. Hooked up a 20 buld mini Christmas light string to the Malibu 12volt system and burned out the string in a week or so. The string came from a 4 AA battery operated pack originally. Figuring I need to somehow drop the voltage or up the voltage capability of the next string. Anyone have any ideas???


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By hans911 on 08/30/2008 12:21 PM
Before I can even think about adding fire I have to get the lighting issues ironed out. Hooked up a 20 buld mini Christmas light string to the Malibu 12volt system and burned out the string in a week or so. The string came from a 4 AA battery operated pack originally. Figuring I need to somehow drop the voltage or up the voltage capability of the next string. Anyone have any ideas???




The string was made to operate on 6 volts. You need to take two strings and wire the pair in series. With a 12 volt Malibu transformer, this will then be the proper voltage for each bulb.


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## VillageRail (Apr 25, 2008)

Glad to see the castle made it outside. Looks good on the layout. My castle is backed up behind over a dozen building kits I need to get around to. For better or worse, I've taken off the last two months from adding to the layout due to a string of vacations and weekends away. Now that summer is over i should be getting back on track. I'm leaning towards using an existing castle structure and modifying it for outdoors. I did find a plastic tower that I painted heavily for weathering, and it looks decent on the layout. My castle will be part of a theme park area, so the Disney look works. I laughed when I saw your Disney figures on the castle. I bought around two dozen (mostly princesses) when they were on super discount. Right now my daughter plays with them, but I figured I could always repaint them later if necessary. 
Paul


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Here is one final photo of the castle after being lit up at night. I have one small Malibu spot light zip tied to a nearby tree as well as a short line of 10 mini Christmas lights along the front edge. The Christmas lights took some trial and error before I could get the right setup. But thanks to Todd B. (Toddalin) and his expert electrical advice I was able to rig them up nicely to work with my already in place Malibu system and go on automatically.


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## astrayelmgod (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice. But, it needs....something.... I know, a beacon. Yes, a beacon to lure unsuspecting travelers. Perhaps one shaped like the Holy Grail. Sorta like this: http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail-11.htm


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## DougArcher (Jan 2, 2008)

converted to Link.



http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail-11.htm


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