Castle for the Grandboys

[JiffyRobert]

A Christmas present for my 3 grandsons …...

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[_fly_]

I really like it.
Lot of work in that, (where was the WIP).

Not sure the arrow slits were ever done like a christian cross but the kids won't know.
(although Wray castle was close)

Very very nice and it doesn't need batteries, always a winner with me..

Pete

[fozzy767]

This is so cool. Looks real, that's the best part

[elderly]

Excellent.

[crowie]

That's a ten out of ten project Robert....Many hours of fun, imagination and play ahead...
Whose plans did you use please?? Cheers, crowie

[JiffyRobert]

I didn't have a real plan just a layout sketch on a napkin drawn up over dinner one night, but in hindsight I should, and will in future, invest the time in drawing something in more detail.

The attached video shows the work in progress and the end result.
Thanks for the positive feedback.
Robert



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[crowie]

No Plans - wow it just gets better..... Very Well Done Indeed........

[Dalboy]

Great castle should be hours of fun playing with it.

Would have loved to see plans but like me I quite often build things with none. A great piece of workmanship I really like the brick effect how did you do it and how big is the whole castle.

[fozzy767]

Every time I look at this. It just amazes me how realistic it looks. In my opinion, this is the fil greatest thing I have ever seen.

[JiffyRobert]

The castle walls are all made from 6mm mdf sheets which I ran through the table saw at 10 mm spacings using a thin kerf blade raised just high enough to cut the horizontal mortar lines. I then used a narrow gouge chisel (Swiss Made 11/2) to cut the vertical mortar lines at 20 mm spacings. It looked good but more like modern house bricks than medieval stones.

So I experimented on a piece of scrap mdf with the same lines cut using an engraving tool ($19 at Buntings - I don't have a Dremel yet) with a round steel gouging bit (looks like a little ball with sharp ridges). I just quickly ran it along mortar lines to round off the edges paying a bit more attention to where the vertical and horizontal lines meet - the effect was more stone like as you see in the photos. I worked outside in the breeze wearing a dust mask to do this as a generates a fair bit of mdf dust.

The doors were made from off cuts of decking cut to about 6 mm thick on the ridged side.

The door surrounds are 3 mm mdf sheet cut to the shape of the door with a single gouge line every 20 mm to make them look like larger blocks with a keystone at the top.

The white corner blocks on the square structures were made by routing 10 mm deep groves in a 20 mm thick piece of pine (like you would do for box joints) and then ripping it lengthways on the table saw about 3mm thick. I cut them to the size of the structure and glued on 2 per corner alternating the "teeth" to look like individual blocks.

The buttresses are just off-cuts of molding (Bunnings again) that I ran through the table saw (blade hieght about 5 mm lower than the thickness of the moulding) and cut out every alternate 20 mm section. I ended up with long lengths of buttress that I could cut to the length of the wall sections.

For the finish I used cheap "sample" pot paints from Bunnings - Dulux "Stone effect" - that has grit in it to give a stone texture (grey for the walls and sandstone for the door surrounds, corner blocks, steps and walkways). I high-lighted the top left hend corner of each stone with white ceiling paint to give a bit of a shadow effect.

Thanks again for the interest guys I appreciate your comments and encouragement.

[Dalboy]

Thank you for the run down on how you did the brickwork