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Miniatures Adventure => Adventures in the Far East => Topic started by: Captaingeneral on January 03, 2009, 11:09:48 AM

Title: Samurai Castle
Post by: Captaingeneral on January 03, 2009, 11:09:48 AM
Hi everyone, I wasn't sure where to post this but here goes..
Earlier this year i launched into building a Samurai style castle keep, mainly to provide a backdrop for my (slowly) emerging Takeda army.

(http://www.captaingeneral.co.uk/Warpics/samcastle%2093a.JPG)


I expect it will be pressed into service with our new Oriental adventures (Auton?) Its fully accesible with 4 floors and removable roofs etc. you can check out its construction at

http://www.captaingeneral.co.uk/Samuraicastle.html (http://www.captaingeneral.co.uk/Samuraicastle.html)

Its quite picture heavy so give it a chance to load...
As always all comments welcome and is anyone else doing Oriental stuff? I like to see whats out there ;D
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Rabbitz on January 03, 2009, 11:32:16 AM
  :-* Very nice,   i have had one on the go for about 6 months now.   Got halfway through construction and lost momentum.   Thanks to your picture I may now actually get to finish mine.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Bugsda on January 03, 2009, 11:58:57 AM
That's fantastic :-*

I'd love to have a go at building one, sadly I'd have to build an extension to keep it in first :'(
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Svennn on January 03, 2009, 11:59:21 AM
Kudos. Very well done. I have a base in the attic from over a year ago and I doubt I will get any further with it.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: anevilgiraffe on January 03, 2009, 12:18:07 PM
Earlier this year i launched into building a Samurai style castle keep

 :o it's only the 3rd of January!

looks very impressive...

dunno if you seen one in the flesh, but the stone at the base was very precisely laid and smooth on the ones I've seen... can't make it too easy for the ninjas  ;)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Captaingeneral on January 03, 2009, 12:25:24 PM
OOps! of course i should have said earlier LAST year! ;)
Verzeihung!

Thanks for the kind comments.
Earlier this year i launched into building a Samurai style castle keep

 :o it's only the 3rd of January!

looks very impressive...

dunno if you seen one in the flesh, but the stone at the base was very precisely laid and smooth on the ones I've seen... can't make it too easy for the ninjas  ;)
Yes, you are right of course, the pics in the Osprey definately show a smoother join with massive cornerstones at the base.

The other pics show huge climbing assaults without ladders! :o
So i guess there must have been a few hand holds?
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: joroas on January 03, 2009, 01:34:13 PM
Going to Japan for the summer, so may well get the bug whilst there.............
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: odd duck on January 03, 2009, 03:37:07 PM
Good looking project!! I came accross this website a while back it might be of use especially for someone visitng Japan
http://www.jcastle.info/
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Saya on January 03, 2009, 09:08:00 PM
That's fantastic !!!!! looks very impressive, man...

Congratulations
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: DFlynSqrl on January 03, 2009, 10:41:11 PM
Looks great!  I really like it. 
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: cianty on January 04, 2009, 12:08:49 PM
Very cool! This looks great! Really impressive.

Since you asked for it... Here is some of the Cathayan (read: Asian) scenery I did for the Border Town Burning (http://bordertownburning.de.vu/) supplement for Mordheim. You can see more pictures and some WIP shots at Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum (http://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/scenery-f13/cathayan-scenery-buildings-wipcompleted-t550.htm).

(http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/11/75/59/84/shrine13.jpg)

(http://i35.servimg.com/u/f35/11/75/59/84/houses12.jpg)

(http://i35.servimg.com/u/f35/11/75/59/84/houses16.jpg)

(http://i35.servimg.com/u/f35/11/75/59/84/defenc14.jpg)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Captaingeneral on January 04, 2009, 02:03:12 PM
WOW I like that alot :o :o

Reminds me to take some better photos of the castle and the troops when the weather permits.

Top stuff!
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: twrchtrwyth on January 04, 2009, 06:10:27 PM
Superb, both of you. 8)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Argonor on January 05, 2009, 11:09:14 AM
Are the roof tiles just corrugated card?

Very effective...
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: cianty on January 05, 2009, 11:22:16 AM
Are the roof tiles just corrugated card?

Very effective...

In my case, yes, they are. I actually promised the folks at TBMF to write a tutorial about how to do these roofs. Oh well...  :?

(http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/11/75/59/84/houses17.jpg)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Argonor on January 05, 2009, 11:31:08 AM
Some nice ideas for LotR Easterlings...  :D
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Captaingeneral on January 05, 2009, 03:33:17 PM
Are the roof tiles just corrugated card?

Very effective...

Yes the roofs of the Castle are corrugated card but not in layers, they have rows scored along them with a craft knife. ;)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Argonor on January 05, 2009, 08:47:25 PM
Ah, yes, got it. Two different approaches to the same task.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Grimm on January 05, 2009, 10:31:01 PM
 :-* :o :-* love it !!!
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: DrunkenSamurai on January 05, 2009, 10:59:54 PM
This is just amazing!  Between this and the Okko stuff I am doomed!  lol
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: flytime on January 06, 2009, 07:24:06 PM
they look great, both of them :o.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: majorsmith on January 07, 2009, 10:51:44 PM
wow!!!!!!!! thats an amazing castle!!!!! cant wait to see some figures from your army!

Quote
As always all comments welcome and is anyone else doing Oriental stuff? I like to see whats out there

im doing samurai in 1/35th scale, my dad painted the start of my collection as a christmas pressie!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v430/majorsmith/DSC09919.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v430/majorsmith/DSC09915.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v430/majorsmith/DSC09914.jpg)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: BigMecha on January 09, 2009, 04:31:01 AM
the castle is outstanding!!

and the Samurai's are awesome! 

great painting work!!
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Captaingeneral on January 09, 2009, 04:43:05 PM
Thankyou you are all very kind ::)

wow!!!!!!!! thats an amazing castle!!!!! cant wait to see some figures from your army!

As soon as I can get some good light, I'll try and do some nicer pictures than the odd one on the website, with some nice terrain, but be aware they aren't in as good as yours. 8)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Schweizer on March 14, 2009, 03:53:48 AM
For someone who's never looked for corrugated card before, any ideas as to where I might find some?  I put in an order last week for the Zvezda Samurai Castle only to be told that "they no longer exist," so I'm itching to scratchbuild, but thought the roofs too daunting.

Would it be the inside of packing envelopes?

Clanty - if you DO writ a tutorial, please, let us know!
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Rabbitz on March 14, 2009, 07:01:43 AM
Most storage places do it along with the other packaging materials.    You know the places where people can put all there belongings into storage.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: white knight on March 14, 2009, 08:52:57 AM
I found some the other week in a "paper" shop (the kind that has all sorts of paper, cardboard and such for crafts  and school).
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: fastolfrus on March 15, 2009, 08:37:42 AM
Going to Japan for the summer, so may well get the bug whilst there.............

You used to be able to get plastic kits of castles/temples etc although most are quite small scale (1/300 or smaller) - we have a couple that look ok as backdrops for 15mm games, but there may be bigger kits available that you wouldn't get to see over here.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: fastolfrus on March 15, 2009, 08:42:12 AM
For someone who's never looked for corrugated card before, any ideas as to where I might find some? 

Card crafting (or scrapbooking) stores might be a starting point for a search - but card crafters pay ridiculous amounts for some of their stuff. I think there's an American store called Michael's ? Not sure about that.
Card crafters actually have a gadget to make your own corrugations - might be called a ribbler ? but not sure how useful it would be.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Onimusha on March 16, 2009, 12:18:56 PM
The castles look just awesome, I have done one myself and try to make a picture tonight when my lighting is good. Here is another japanese temple I made
(http://www.grauenacht.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/japanese_temple.jpg)

After seeing the okko scenery board I was hooked on that game since I always had a weak spot for japanese miniatures and the beautiful scenery was just too much for me to resist :D

For the rooftiles on the temple I used strokes of cardboard with thin bamboo straws cut in half to glue vertical.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: MadMö on March 16, 2009, 12:43:52 PM
Great work.
I especially liked the "how to".
Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: sukhe_bator on March 17, 2009, 12:10:45 PM
Nice treatment of the roofs and the timber walkways!
I had a go at one in 15mm - basing it more on the earlier Sengoku-Jidai mansions than the post 1600 castles familiar today (There's a lot more earthworks and timber, and a lot of open bamboo fencing a la 'Ran'). My internal buildings will be simpler with wooden shingles weighted with stones and horizontal lathes, a feature of peasant houses, rather than fancier tiles, but the key is to get the proportions right. All houses were based around number combinations of the tatami matting.
Apparently some of the best preserved examples/recons are in Korea. I can thoroughly recommend Stephen Turnbull's recent offerings on Japanese castles, early and late.
This is quite early in the build. I had the additional problem of making the supports for the timber walkways wide enough to allow the multiple-based figures underneath. Not a problem with individual basing.
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x200/sukhe_bator/samurai/sengoku-jidai004.jpg~original)
A view of the fencing and wooden hoardings, with beginnings of the Tenshu mound (actually quite a small structure is planned)
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x200/sukhe_bator/samurai/sengoku-jidai006.jpg~original)
The main gateway will have extensive 'ironwork' on the doors and 'plaster' fireproofing
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x200/sukhe_bator/samurai/sengoku-jidai005.jpg~original)
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: The_Watcher on March 17, 2009, 11:57:02 PM
Totally blown away by the castle, great work! Seeing stuff like yours totally gets me in the mood to make something like that for my own. Must find more styrofoam (meaning, nick it from local construction site ;) )
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Kinokawa on June 05, 2009, 01:48:47 PM
Great stuff :-*
I dream of following in your footsteps, one day ...

While dreaming, I found some old pictures of japanese castles on a japanese newspaper-webpage:

http://mainichi.jp/select/wadai/graph/japaneasecastle/

Not the best quality but still might be interesting for future projects.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: sukhe_bator on June 08, 2009, 10:56:23 AM
Great site for reference. The earth and timber versions that preceded these magnificent castles, like the motte and bailey castles in Europe, do not survive so well, unfortunately.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Doomsdave on June 17, 2009, 08:00:11 PM
This page has some good photos of traditional style Korean homes.   
http://ata.hannam.ac.kr/korea/k-house1.htm (http://ata.hannam.ac.kr/korea/k-house1.htm)


I have pics from my time there but they are sadly not digital format.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: HerbyF on June 18, 2009, 09:09:47 PM
Quote
Clanty - if you DO writ a tutorial, please, let us know!
                                      If you do a tutorial I would hope you would post it here too. Or at least a link to it.
Title: Re: Samurai Castle
Post by: Super_Gibbon on June 19, 2009, 01:11:14 AM
I can't keep up with who is doing what on this thread but its all gorgeous and you are all awesome.

Where can you get those 1/35 scale samurai? I checked ebay and it was a bit barren.