"Hmmm, No Affordable Castles on Etsy?" Topic

I was hoping that Etsy might have some affordable 15mm, or 28mm castles, or castle pieces – towers, keeps, gates, if not complete castles.

Sadly, there doesn't appear to be much of anything in either scale, especially for someone looking for reasonably, historically accurate designs.

I was hoping with the advent of more widespread, 3-D artwork and artists, as well as many having printers now, that would have changed.

I'm interested in walled cities, manors, and/or castles for the later medieval and early renaissance periods, for Italy and France mainly, though Germany and England would be of possible interest too.

I really wish Vatican Enterprises would have produced their large, French-style castle (the one with the round turrets) in 15mm scale. Alas, my pleas to them were in vain.

So, are there any other places to look for reasonably affordable, 3-D printed castles, other than Etsy?

I even tried checking the old Manor House website, but it looks like that is gone. Got redirected to page listings for Mikwaukee, which is really odd.

Looks like the guy from MH may be on Facebook though. Saw mention of a kickstarter there.

Hmmm, may have to break out the foam, and start from scratch. Wasn't really wanting to do that.

Hope some of you have other, affordable ideas.

Maybe this guy? link

He does sell "print and sell" licences so you could see if there were any customers near you who have a license?

Have you looked at Sally 4th?
link

They're laser-cut MDF rather than 3D prints, but they look great.
(I have the 10mm version and am very happy with them.)

Jens has some great castles here
3dprintterrain.myshopify.com

Again finding someone that may be able to print them for you

I have a couple of castles I'm trying to sell from a deceased friends collection. Each fills a tub or two (or 3) both saw action in castle siege games we played. One is out of hard foam and looks really nice and the other is made out of Plaster? and the pieces are sturdy and heavy.

I think the issue with "affordable" 3D print terrain is that although the STL files themselves can be pretty affordable the material, time, and asset depreciation add up.

I'm currently printing a large, call it roughly 30" x 36", castle for my brother and although I'm not close to finished it's cost $25 USD in files, roughly $110 USD in filament (it's right at 5kg so far) and 27 days of print time at an average of 74% utilization, i.e. I print almost 18 hours per day. It's not a lot in terms of asset depreciation but it has tied up a $1,000 USD printer for almost a month and there's probably another 3 weeks to go and that doesn't even count the main keep (or whatever it's called for a Japanese castle.)

Given all of the above I would imagine that what I've already printed would probably sell for $500 USD to $1,000 USD on the open market and the entire thing, once completed, would go for well over $1,000. USD

A cheap solution is to make your own from foam packing material. It is cheap (free if you can get it from a discard pile) fairly easy to carve, sturdy but light. You can spray paint it in grays or browns. A great solution!

A cheap solution is to make your own from foam packing material. It is cheap (free if you can get it from a discard pile) fairly easy to carve, sturdy but light. You can spray paint it in grays or browns. A great solution!

You're absolutely correct if all you are looking for is to create a castle. I've seen some great looking "foam" castles. I went the 3D route because a) I wanted to make a train load of buildings and b) it's another hobby to pick up in my retirement!

Thanks for the replies and info.

I appreciate the offer, MM, but doubt I can afford it, since the Defense Budget is very limited.

After seeing some videos on Youtube, and already having access to some of the extruded foam, I'm going to give making my own a try.

I hadn't really planned this, but it certainly looks to be possible, and is in my "price range".

I think I'll start out with a small castle, and/or some city walls and towers in 15mm to start, just to see how it goes.

If you're going styrofoam way, I recommend this Facebook group, it has a lot of interesting stuff on buildings/terrain, and they also have several youtube channels. The only thing I've ever bought from Amazon was Proxxon foam cutter, and I don't regret it…

link

Thanks for the tip and link, Barin1.

I appreciate it.

Yea, those Proxxons do look to be very useful tools for working with foam.

I posted this elsewhere, but this Kickstarter may be of interest: link Modular MDF buildings that are reasonably accurate (or can be made to be), and you can paint them up to be pretty realistic.

I have made some pretty decent walled cities and castles using the 2" pink foam insulation from Home Depot/Lowes. It is cheap considering how much you can make from one 4'x8' sheet. I cut it with bread knives and finish with a model railroad hot wire cutter. Then spray paint.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have seen some nice looking MDF buildinga and castles, but I really much prefer the more textured look of the foam, resin, or plastic castles.

MikeTJ, any photos of those you'd be willing to share with us of your walled cities, and/or castles?

I'd love to see some of those.

I've been doing some preliminary research, sketches, and measurements, and think foam really is the way forward for me, since I don't have the funds for even a miniature castle, but I do have some spare time.

Also, if I pick the correct size dimensions, and with a little creativity, I think it might just be possible to use one castle, or city walls for both 15mm scale figures, and 28mm ones (large, tall, city walls for the former, and small to average size for the latter). Many gates and doorways were over-sized back in the day, which just might work in my favor.

I really hope that works, since that would be a nice bonus, since I'd like to have the option to get double duty out of it/them.

It is astounding how much even a small castle runs today, in miniature. Some really need a real estate loan, from pricing I ran across during my searches, of a 28mm castle kickstarter. It did look very nice, but $2,000 USD – $4,000 USD is just crazy to me, unless I win the lotto.

I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos, and it looks like the XPS foam is not too difficult to work with. I just need to get some tools together, and to finalize my plan, in order to get started.