Medieval castle (scratch built)

[Paul]

Every bit made from polystyrene foam sheeting
From this;

to this;

More pics here

[zizi666]

That's a fine build, but what about strength ,
did you reinforce the walls or do you trust your fellow gamers that much ?

[OccasionalWargamer]

Nicely done! Did you just draw/inscribe the stone pattern in with a pen?

[dr willetts workshop]

Really effective, well done Paul!

[Deep One]

Definitely I need some polystyrene foam. Great work!

[Paul]

Thanks 
The strength? The whole castle weighs a few grams, so even if it´s dropped there will be no damage..or very little..and a lot less than say a plastic castle. I construct my buildings like this;(not brilliant as it´s for a medieval hut, not a house, but the main idea is there)/
http://paulsbods.blogspot.com/2011/06/medieval-hut-how-to.html
The trick is to use the lines in the back of the foam as "structural supports". For wall etc I make sure that the lines run from bottom to top..it gives strength. If the are built with the line horizontal then the walls bend / sag.
The walls of the castle are made up like a sandwhich, two sheets of the blue foam to form the outer wall, one sheet of 20mm white foam and a sheet of blue foam inside. it had to be made like this so I could inscribe the brick pattern.
The chimeny and the "abbort" are made from thick blue insulation slabs.

The brick pattern? Yep...just by using a ball point pen, Dr Willets knows this trick as well (Hi  ) and has a couple of good detail shots on his blog.

The foam has to be this type, It´s used on Pakett flooring as an insulation/sound barrier. There´s some that comes in rolls or has no lines on it...it´s cheaper but don´t try it...it doesn´t cut or mark very well...when you try to write on it ..it "rips".

[Paul]

Oh...and the drawing in of the stone work...it took nearly a week of sitting down in the evenings after work and just getting on with it...very boring 

[BattlePenguin]

Great work mate! There is a German chap who does stellerly great work with this material. He also gouges out bits to recreate old cracked atones and the like.

I wish I could remember his links:O(

[archangel1]

Nice work.  The hardest part about doing random stonework is trying to avoid repetition, particularly over a large area.  The human eye tends to look for patterns and it's very easy to get caught out making them.  Fine for bricks but not stones.

[Sheerluck Holmes]

  wow! that is awesome!  Great work and thank you for sharing this 

[zizi666]

Nice work.  The hardest part about doing random stonework is trying to avoid repetition, particularly over a large area.  The human eye tends to look for patterns and it's very easy to get caught out making them.  Fine for bricks but not stones.

true, You can also press some of the stones inwards like in this nice (german) tutorial of a magnificent castle:
http://gidian-gelaende.de/Material_HP/Wolfgang/Tut_Vampirburg/album/index.html

[archangel1]

Missed that one! I've bookmarked some of his other stuff but this one slipped by me.  Nice and brooding! In a sense, though, it's 'spoiled' by his 'happy' little fir trees in the finished shots.  Needs some ancient, twisted oaks or such to continue the mood.

Another guy who does brilliant work in foam is Jeff Clapham ('Theomar Pius').  His work can be seen here.

http://public.fotki.com/dandanjobarnicles/

[zizi666]

Another guy who does brilliant work in foam is Jeff Clapham ('Theomar Pius').  His work can be seen here.

http://public.fotki.com/dandanjobarnicles/

  Sweet ! didn't know that one =>  bookmarked.

[Paul]

true, You can also press some of the stones inwards like in this nice (german) tutorial of a magnificent castle:
http://gidian-gelaende.de/Material_HP/Wolfgang/Tut_Vampirburg/album/index.html

!!!! That is something else...chucks mine in the shade !!! I love the way he has done the round tower...very clever. In fact all the stuff he has done with the castle...excellent...I´ll be pinching a few of the ideas.  Thanks for the link 

[Gun bunny]

 nice job and well done, bravo.