Castle progress

I'm acutely aware that it has been quite some time since there was any update about 'our' castle.

Michael has been doing a sterling job of detailing many of the little elements which contribute to the whole, but progress with the castle itself has been somewhat out-of-sight.

There's been good reason for this but let's get going with a teaser.....

Publicly, we last saw our Tyrolean tower in December.  At which point it was a crude MDF box, with loads of potential, but very little actual progress.  When Michael and I split for the Christmas break, I took the castle with me on the promise that I would return it when the boards were complete for Michael to work his magic on the finishing touches and paintwork, etc.

The castle as it was at Christmas.  Taken from my Instagram @jameswalters160.

The Christmas period through to the end of January saw me make very little progress, a change in jobs and loss of access (at the time) to laser cutting facilities meant that I had little time to progress the job, and limited facilities also.  Once things had settled I was able to make encouraging progress, spurred on by the fantastic progress Mr Awdry had been making himself with the remaining boards.

One of the fun elements to make was the little tower.

This began with a spiral staircase inner structure...

Around which a sheet of perforated MDF was bent.

The battlements were added, and the end result was encouraging.  This would later be rendered using Vallejo earth effects paste and painted.

We have several fun elements planned for the castle interior and so each room is reasonably well detailed with window frames and wall panelling which will provide the 'studio' for our various photographic set-ups.

I am no photographer, but have developed an enthusiasm for pointing and shooting my iPhone thanks to some top tips from the boss.  The key thing Michael has shown me is that lighting can greatly affect the photographic opportunity.  With this in mind, several roof lights have been added to the structure.  These don't exist on the real castle, but will allow us to experiment with different lighting set-ups and maybe allow us to introduce a little drama with things such as elongated shadows, billowing smoke, etc.

I am so looking forward to photographing the whole Schloss Itter scene.  For me this will be the highlight of the project.

This is the same castle element, from the outside.  The roof panel under the roof lights is attached with magnets and is removable allowing the interior to be played.  In this picture the railings and final paint job are yet to be applied.

The structure above was one of my favourite parts to put together.  I've made shameful compromises from the original to suit our available playing area, however the essence of it has been captured.  I've deliberately left the staircase risers off, so that the base of a miniature can be tucked under the lip to enable them to climb the stairs.  I found a photograph of the real castle with all the staff lined up on this staircase and thought we ought to do the same with all of the delightful characters Michael has been beavering away on over at 28mmvictorialwarfare.

I have been debating  with myself whether or not to include this photo.  Clearly, the job is very unfinished at this stage, but I did want to hint at the acres of space we have to play with inside.  The view from my desk across to the beach isn't bad either!! 😎

And so, there it is. Just a quick WIP post to keep things up-to-date (sort of) and to answer the question no-one asked which was 'Have we forgotten the castle?'.

I must add that these photographs are about 6weeks old and that the castle has moved on significantly since these were taken. However, I'm hoping to keep the rest of the powder dry a little longer and will save the finished product for some future date when hopefully there can be a big reveal.  The reveal was planned for Salute, maybe another opportunity will present itself before the 2021 show.

As Michael posted recently, the full Schloss Itter is now separated across two counties and with the current lock-down cannot be reunited just yet.  

Finally, I have uploaded a couple of videos to YouTube of the build process.

Part one was the state of play in December 2019, and Part two late January.

I am not a video expert, in fact 'beginner' status would be overselling the offerings, however should you be interested do please take a look.

Part one: Schloss Itter in miniature

Part two: Schloss Itter in miniature Part 2

Until next time,

James