Has any of yous(the plural of you[}:)]) had a castle on the layout? If so, how did you make it interesting by so that it didn’t take over the whole scene? I’ve got a prefab model, made in segments which I am thinking of putting it on a hill in a corner arm of the layout, and partially obsure it with trees. The corner is not well lit, so you would have to look around to see it.
And what features could enhance the ‘atmosphere?’
any comments welcome, even if you think it’s funny(which it is to a degree[;)]
Thanks, danny[:p][:)][:D][8D]
I visited a layout a few years ago, and there were several castles. It was a very large layout depicting scenery in Europe, Germany I think. The owner was originally from Germany, so he was modeling his land of birth. Since the layout was so large, the castles did not overwhelm the scenes. Kind of neat. Not my cuppa tea for a North American layout, but it’s your layout and you can do anything.
Maybe model a part of Disneyland?
Bob Boudreau
Model Rail (a magazine over here) ran a series of articles on modelling Hogwarts castle (they built a small Harry Potter module for their office layout) - they even gave away a set of paper overlays with the magazine to enable the readers to build one. Rather neatly, they designed it so you could build Hogwarts or a generic small castle/country house structure just by changing a few details.
It needs a Frenchman on the battlemounts, screaming, “I blow my nose at you!”
From Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
My castle is in the planning stage. I’d like to have it surrounded by beautiful
grounds, to include a flower garden, and labyrinth made from hedges.
Also, I would like to make a long, winding elevated stone roadway, similiar
to the Great Wall of China climbing up to it. Some ultra-rich person is going
to live there, so they can afford the finest mansion / castle their money can
buy.
I like your choice of a corner for the location. I don’t want my scene to be
overpowering, but still want it to look nice. I’d like to have a small pond.
Not sure that can be squeezed in, though. A castle in the mountains of
Montana might seem strange, but they moved London Bridge to Arizona,
so what the hey ! [:)]
Hi all
I had a small layout I put a ruined watch tower tower on that layout.
sitting in the cannon ball hole is an owl and sitting on the battlements
is a crow.
Out side the tower was half a wight cavalry mans horse and a
beast man skull (looks pretty close to a sheep skull) hidden in the tower
is a nasty terrible beasty and it aint no giant rabbit.
not a very serious bit of modelling but I liked it.
If your modeling a US railway have a look at some of the stone
colonial fortifications from pre 1766 the could justifiably be put in.
regards John
Well, my daughters new layout has two castles. One, a ruin, sits atop the mountain with a dragon cave (good dragons a-la Cornelia Funke) whilst the newer one sits a little lower down with beautiful gardens. This is where Princess Brenda lives. Of course this castle is served by a spur line that climbs the mountain.
We have a river with a mill, a sawmill and a forestry operation. We are i nthe process of adapting the Heljan “Coal Yard” into a builders yard. Yes, she loves Bob The Builder too.
Faller from Germany has a good selection of castles in N and HO, Kibri has a rather nice one in HO. For a modern day castle you could look at kitbashing some of the “town gate” models from the Germans. I either buy my models on eBay or through http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/ they have pretty extensive online catalogues and their pricing is quite good.
John
Mister Beasley: the castle also needs a cow on a catapault.
Somewhat off topic but some of those European castle models could be the basis for certain older US railroad stations in big cities, since a certain castle effect seems to have been the intention
Dave Nelson.
One of the modules of the Pensacola (Fl) N scale club has a scratch-built castle that is a real beauty. The builder also enjoys whimsy and it has an animated dragon, giant bat, and various other touches that make it a big hit with kids.
Mike Tennent
I wouldn’t call it a castle per se, but I did have the Idea at one time puting an old time stone work US forest service Fire look out on a model mountain top. (For when I get a layout big eneugh to do that.) Its not a castle, but sort of looks like one. And having been lucky eneugh to visit a couple, (Courtesy of the Boy Scouts of America) I can report they have a castle like feel as well.
James
in a spanish mag that i get once in a while called maquetren they mention a lot of castles in their set ups. they had one that was a kitbashed faller kit into castle ruins whith some children playing in the courtyard in a corner behind a smallish forest it looks really neat to bad i can’t post the photos
Someone from the Empire State will have to aid me on this one. Someplace south of Beacon, NY, there is a small castle on an island on the east side of the Hudson river not too far from the old NYC tracks. Perhaps there are photos of it on the Web. Also, below Beacon there is a castle-like mansion on the brow of a cliff that I think was built as a Victorian era "folly.’
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Or a guy in chain male yelling at the castle "I am Arthur, King of the Brittins! (with coconut noise in the back ground)[;)]
If you want to see something castle-like with a small footprint do a google image search for Will Rogers Shrine. The shrine is halfway up a mountain and can be seen from the city below.
I plan on modeling it on a mountain on my outdoor layout. By using forced perspective, I can make it smaller than scale size.
Bill
Sure - just north of Constitution Island and West Point. That whole area is dotted with unusual Victorian architecture, to say nothing of West Point itself, which is gray and highly gothic. AND there are old NYC lines on either side of the river - the West Shore Route and the Water Level Route. One of the prettiest spots on the East Coast.
Well, if we are talking US castles, this site could be a good start:
http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/
Perhaps '***‘s Castle’ is the one mentioned above, (Garrison NY, near the USMA). Not all that medieval looking, which I guess is the look that the OP is after.
A decent number of ‘castles’ (well supplied with then current 'modern conviences) were built in the US during the Gilded Age (say 1870s-1880s), and during the Golden Age (1900-1920). While not completely medieval looking, they do have the general flavour of real middle-ages style castles of Europe/Middle East (which tended to fall out of favor after the widespread adoption of cannon and firearms, which made fortresses with sloped walls and bastions the preferred defensive installation).
I once had a small model ‘medieval’ gate tower, made in plasterboard. I placed it in a setting similar to those 19th century large urban parks (like Philly’s Fairmount or NYC’s Central Park), where such architecture can be found even today.
OK, since I mentioned fortresses before - bad joke time.
What’s the difference between a fort and a fortress?
Breastworks…[8]
No - although that was the place I had in mind when I remarked on the other buildings in the area. I recognize the white building: I saw it every morning for four years.
The place he referred to sits on an island in the Hudson, just north of Constitution Island. I think Bannerman Castle must be the place, because I remember it being semi-ruined, and it would be just abreast Breakneck and Storm King.
Thanks everyone! When I went to bed last night after starting the topic, no one had looked at it, so I was thinking that either everyone had the same idea as me(asleep), or thought I was totally loopy! It is a left over legacy of my old HO layout, Faller too, so I will have to reduce it in size, but I was wondering if a black stone castle would be better than a fawn color it is now? any ideas? I think I’ll have a french man starting a riot on the wall, would bring it into the modern times at bit ay? Crows would be too detailed, I model at 1/2 arms length, so a bit of detail, but N scale crows is tooooo much!!! Danny
Rob is correct. This link:
http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/bannerman/banold.html
will take you to one of several Bannerman’s Castle Web sites that were the results of a Google search. I remember when after WWII and we had gasoline again, we always had our parents blow the car horn while we were in the tunnel through Storm King.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
jrbarney, that one’s a bit big! Mine is going to be too high up to put details inside;-( no one would see them. Danny