"Building a Medieval Castle from scratch" Topic

OK, it's easy to build Afghan, African, Chinese and South American castles/forts with foam board (assuming it is stucco'd finish, with just a few areas where brick/stone work shows through)

How do I build a medieval castle? From foambaord?

(This is 54mm for a playset for my grandaugher, so expensive materials that would be cost effecvtive in say 15mm would be a little steep for what I have in mind.

Were any classic castles stucco'd over at the time?

I'm at a loss.

I already have a very cool collection of Timpo and Marx knights, and always wanted to make a classic castle.

Thanks.

You might be able to find a play set that has dressed stone. I am almost done with my roman frontier fort. I used foam packing material. It was already rectangular in shape so I just cut and glued pieces until it was a rectangular form.

I was lucky during Holloween I found vinyl cobblestone at Michaels. I cut the vinyl to size and glued it on. It looks pretty good.

Use your foam core with plastruct or similar brand plastic stone sheets
From model railway stores or hobby shops. They are available in different
Scales. The larger scale G scale might work good for 54mm. At the railroad store, there are all kinds of balsa and basswood you can use to make drawbridges,doors, and various wood trim items.

Smokey, I have a bunch of round hard 3" or 4" diameter card tubes, used for carpeting, etc.
These make great round corner towers.
Contact me via PM or email if you want them.

I have done several castles in foam core… I do not have a tutorial, but can provide some pointers and pictures if you are interested.

Like Hlaven I use plastic sheet for the outer covering of my scratch building. Plastruct, Evergreen, and JTT all make many options for stone and planking in plastic sheet. Unlike Hlaven I prefer to build my structure's inner core out of Duplos or Legos (mainly Duplos). The Duplos provide structural strength and consistent height and angles as well as a surface that is easy to glue plastic sheet to. You can see the results in pics 1, 32, 33, & 35 (wharf and harbor fortification) of my Pirate Gallery and pics 47 (pub and row houses) of my Victorian Gallery. The above pics can be seen at warin15mm.com/Pirates.html and link

I should have included this gallery as well; my castle is resin but I built the hoardings out of Evergreen plastic (no Duplos or Legos). You can see the results in pics 2, 3, 5, and 23 at warin15mm.com/Medieval-.html

I saw a tutorial on using foam core to make buildings but pulling off one side of the paper and using a sharpy to draw the stone pattern on it. Specially if your ok to skimp on the scale details and just get something cool with a brick pattern on it. Heck you could print the stone and glue it on.

These pieces are 28mm, but you will see the round tubes John mentions…. The walls are all white foam core.

Also a Quaker oats tube makes a great "great tower"…

The bricks are just randomly cut pieces of cardboard (usually from spent notepads) glue them on to make an impression of brick work, and use them on the corners to cover the foam edges. I also like to frame the windows and doors.

The surface texture comes from a mixture of Gesso and dry powder wall patch material like you get from the hardware in a milk carton style container. You paint this paste mix on to give a "stone" effect combined with the cardboard the overall effect is not too bad.

Then paint it with grey or brown and wash to get the desired look.

These are very low cost, mostly labor…

For walls, I've used blue foam. Use a pencil to inscribe the stones. A layer of white glue for a little extra strength, then paint.

The foam can be found at your local hardware store. You should be able to get a large sheet for under $20. USD

Here's a ruined corner in progress (glue layer is drying) using this method:

And finished:

Very carefully by making little tiny bricks and glue them together.

Don't know how you are with a saw, but how about starting with wood? 1"x6" or 1"x8" pine would make a good wall. Dentil molding would work great for the crenelations.

Make Your Own Forts by Richard Cummings is a fun book. It's from 1977 and the ones on Amazon are usually old library copies for a couple bucks.

Is this playset really for you?
The last grumpy picture you posted does not look like she is old enough to have a real preference for 54mm kniggets.

Small parts, swallowing danger, etc.

Need something durable?

Go with MDF and a Dremmel:

link

Dan

Pink, or blue foam, cut to shape, roughened up a bit on the outside, to represent random stone blocks, and then applying the stone detailing with the point of a pencil, or other blunt tool makes the finish look best.

There have been some articles here, and on Lead Adventure, that show how.

It really doesn't appear to be that difficult, but is a bit time consuming.

Having visited a shedload of actual medieval castles I believe there are a couple of details that models often get wrong.

Walls tend to be made from irregular stone blocks, not neat brick shapes. Also, castle walls are huge and stone blocks are quite small so you don't really need to show individual blocks. Dervel's method above is very effective.

During the medieval period when these buildings were in use there was often a lot of wooden superstructure which does not survive today. Roofs on towers and that kind of thing.

The walls were often limewashed. This would have made the appearance of castles even more impressive to everyone else who lived in wooden huts! Think of a massive shiny white thing on a hill……..

Further to all the previous answers and as Cerdic stated the vast majority of castles would have been covered in lime render and whitewashed. You can still see this on some castles such as Conway. There were a few notable exceptions such as Dover and Caernarfon castles but these would have been rare.

Dervel's technique is ideal for the effect but you might want to paint the walls an off white colour.

I've recently completed a model based on the great round tower as Skenfrith using large carboard tube (as also mentioned above). I don't have any photos of the finished model but here are a few of the WIP.

Regards,
Matt
ubique-matt.blogspot.co.uk

Matt, you do nice work! Richard

Lots of great ideas for model/terrain castle building here, but I don't see them as being sturdy enough for a child's playset. The priority should be strength rather than detail or accuracy. Plus, if you build it well enogh it will be a treasured keepsake that she might one day pass on to her children

I think you're best bet is good thick plywood. If you want to add some detail, superglue some card outlines of rocks on the side (as in the pictures that Dervel gave above) to show windows and where the stones have broken through the stucco. prime well and cover the whole thing in textured house paint (I recommend oil based enamel rather than the less sturdy latex), drybrush lightly and then clearcoat.

A friend of mine's Dad built him a wooden castle when he was a kid. It was big and heavy and not terribly accurate, but it was a favorite and it stood up to over a decade of hard use by a half dozen kids. I don't think any of the previous suggestions (as beautiful as they are) would have lasted a fraction as long.

I made a very simple toy castle once. Pictures here aren't painted, but I eventually spray painted it gray and did a bit of drybrushing.

link

Not as pretty as some above. And being just a cardboard box, it wouldn't stand up to years. It is still around, but the now-14 year old isn't playing with it.

andy

Ordinary, depends on the kid… the foam core ones are surprisingly tough.

I actually built one for my daughter years ago using the same technique with plywood (it works well, just costs more and weighs more).

If this is really for a little kid, I agree with Andy. Use a cardboard box. Paint it.

If this is for a slightly "older child"…. then.. well :P

Good lord, Matt, that is some impressive work on your blog.

I've built two (one for each of my boys) for their Schleich and Papo knights. I used 3/4 MDF on mine. The first has certainly stood the test of time…heavy play for the past five years.
The first one I covered with stone printed scrapbook paper…not the best for durability. The second one I built this Christmas and just gave it a painted textured look…I sponged dark gray over a flat black. Very durable and still looks good for the kids.

I used cork tile for mine and carved the stones into it with a modelling knife.
link
Robert

A hot knife like the ones that HotWire Foam Factory make can be used to inscribe stones into foam. Takes forever.

Great stuff guys!

I have lots of Plastruct brick and stone sheets, but they are kinda small (N scale, 15mm, etc).

But between the Michaels cobblestone strips (yes, I loaded up as well during Halloween) and cutting out cardboard bricks, and lots of stucco, I can pull it off.

Y'all gave me another idea. I'm gonna use 1/2" foamboard for the walls (looks better with 54mm figures), peel off the poster board in sections, and carve stomework like I do in 15mm with 3/32" foamboard.

This is great stuff, guys. Really, thanks!

OFM, thanks a lot, I already have 3 and 4" heavy cardboard tubing (they come with fishing rods I order online)

Andy Skinner, very nice work. With a few extra touches, that could be quite nice for 'serious' gaming. It reminds me of DM Scotty's work. Nothing to be embarrassed about -- very fine work. Thanks for sharing -- many of us just need to see an idea, and how easy it can be made to work, to set us off on our own crafting adventures… Thanks for the ideas. Cheers!

Gonna use Smokey's system of multiple coats of PVA glue, water and a drop of ochre paint to coat each section after it is painted and spackled.

Makes it hard to destroy.

What is up with plastic 54mm knights? A LOT of them are Chinese clones of classics (TIMPO, Marx, etc) but they are so small, like 40-45mm!

Expensive to fill a battlefield nowadays. I have a good supply of Timpos and Marx, but these "bucket" sets are all tiny :(

Looks like Revell, Svzeda and Accurate Boxes of French and British knights to fill it out (they are the best sculpts anyways)

Another inexpensive option for creating texture for castle walls/towers, can be found on DM Scotty's Short Tip on how to make brick texture sheets: press Kleenex Tissues into a cake mold of brick shapes, apply PVA Glue, and make three layers this way; let dry, peel from mold, paint, and attach to surfaces in need of the texture. Here is the link to his video: Short Tip on Brick Texture (jump to 4:28 to see the finished product being pulled from the mold). Cheers!

Ooh! Sgt, that is great! I actually have some molds (actually the inner side of some plastic toy walls that have a negative stone pattern on the inside).

That would work! I'm gonna try it today (it's a cold, terrain making day!)

I'm going with the Dervel method, with regular foamboard and not 1/2" (it's a real bitch to cut with a no. 11 Exacto blade, and I don't have enough longer blades.

Using cardstock bricks, in groups, just enough to give it some life.

It is a playset after all, not a gaming piece. It will undoubtedly be more detailed and weathered than neccessary, though.

Also making an Afghan/Sudanese hill fort (it will incorporate features of both diverse fort styles,) in 15mm for TSATF, as my girl and her freinds have really taken a liking to TSATF, which is VERY cool! Plus, I always win :)

I'm making realtively low walls (5 and 1/2" from ground to top of crenalation). Because: I have a very cool 4 thick inch "rock" base of styrofoam for added elevation, AND, it is the right height (9" total) for my awesome Fencibles Seige Tower I got at Toy Soldier Co. years ago,.

Well, mine sucks. The two wall section I made look great, as with the port side tower, but my gatehouse is just too square looking, looks great for a Roman/Middle East, ancient gatehouse, but not making the cut for medieval.

Fixed! I went with a straight, 18" front wall with gate built in. Much better!

Gatehouses, while cool for desert forts and such, are hard to make well unless you use conical construction.

This is better.

One square tower on front left, straight wall across, and a circular tower on front right (cutting through fishing rod shipping grade cardboard tubing SUCKS, BTW)

I'm back in business.

Anyone want a free, excellent, square gate structure that would be museum quality for Hadrian's wall or Byzantium?

Late to this party but if you have a Michael's in your neighborhood – they sell bags of large scale foam blocks that would should work great as long as you coat them with something to sturdy them up – I'd go with a glue and paint mix, maybe add a modest amount of sand. Love to see photos of your finished project.