Well here is what I've been working on for just a bit over a month: Kaldrfell Castle.

I took inspiration from many different castle builders, but here are some that inspired specific sections or details in the castle: Ecclesiastes, Kayne, Eklund, peggyjdb, Buurli Burri, Andhe, and legonardo.

There is a full interior in every building, and the keep lifts off and hinges open. Also every door/trapdoor, and the drawbridge and portcullis are all functional. Interior buildings inside the castle include: a smithy, servant's house, stable, and chicken coop.

And I think I came up with a new archer slit design, it can be seen on all the buildings except the rounded tower. Basically you center a 1x3 arch so that it has a half stud offset on each side and the use brick modified with stud to hold tiles to fill the gaps. You could make pretty much the same windows with going to the bother of centering them, but I like the texture you get when you do. The pictures should explain the design much better than this description.

Kaldrfell Castle looks out onto a small lake in the Heavenly Mountains and protects the city of Kaldrfell which is built around the lake. Lord Nordan and Lady Deonne, Glorfindel's parents, rule Kaldrfell. Here Glorfindel pays them a visit:

There are tons of details so be sure to check out more pics here: link

All C&C greatly appreciated

Edited January 12, 20169 yr by soccerkid6

Nice to finally see some pictures of the long expected castle! At a first glance I really like the overall layout and composition of the build, and I will look through and admire all the details later

Nice work. I don't have the patience to do those cylindrical tower builds. I was pleasantly surprised that there was an interior.

This is too nice not to leave a comment. Not only it has a very nice outlook, the interior is superb too. And you are willing to share it with so many photos, thanks a lot!

P/s. I have bookmark the link.

Wow, this is massive! There are so many great details, really impressive!

That castle has so many details that it is amazing! Keep up the good work! :-)

  On 11/11/2013 at 12:03 AM, Gideon said:

Nice to finally see some pictures of the long expected castle! At a first glance I really like the overall layout and composition of the build, and I will look through and admire all the details later

Thanks, Gideon! The layout of the castle was one of the things I thought about the most.

  On 11/11/2013 at 12:12 AM, Tacitus said:

Nice work. I don't have the patience to do those cylindrical tower builds. I was pleasantly surprised that there was an interior.

Thanks, I do my best to include interiors in all my builds

  On 11/11/2013 at 1:19 AM, songwm said:

This is too nice not to leave a comment. Not only it has a very nice outlook, the interior is superb too. And you are willing to share it with so many photos, thanks a lot!

P/s. I have bookmark the link.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it

  On 11/11/2013 at 2:34 AM, Torgar said:

Wow, this is massive! There are so many great details, really impressive!

Thanks, Torgar! I tried to include plenty of details.

  On 11/11/2013 at 2:43 AM, TheLazyChicken said:

That castle has so many details that it is amazing! Keep up the good work! :-)

Thanks!

I think my favorite details are the fish vendor and the small blue house within the castle yard, a bit of a shame that you can't see it in most of the photos. Your water/ice is also very well done, although it doesn't look like that boat is going anywhere any time soon. I also like the mix of building styles in the castle; it is busy, but it seems to come together here quite well. Overall there is a nice density to this build that makes it feel solid and imposing, very well done. Oh and thumbs up for the excellent snow work and inclusion of the white flowers still on their sprues.

Amazing work SK everything looking extremely well done and thought out! I really like that half timbered section on the one tower, as it reminds me of my cliff house. Well done, sir!

Impressive work! Do I see right, that Pythagoras helped you with the skewed wall (5,12,13)?

My favourite is the neat little blue cottage in the middle of the structure; it's a pity that it can barely be seen.

EDIT: I just read the Yeti's comment, but I won't change mine. More right for little blue houses!

I've been eagerly awaiting this, and it does not disappoint! There's so many bits of it I love, so I'll just say this; the whole thing is amazing!

Great work. So detailed with the snow effects.

Wonderful castle SK! You just continue to grow and impress

Great castle!

I still feel like a wooden house just fell from the sky on this castle

Chicken coop!

  On 11/11/2013 at 4:10 AM, The Yeti said:

I think my favorite details are the fish vendor and the small blue house within the castle yard, a bit of a shame that you can't see it in most of the photos. Your water/ice is also very well done, although it doesn't look like that boat is going anywhere any time soon. I also like the mix of building styles in the castle; it is busy, but it seems to come together here quite well. Overall there is a nice density to this build that makes it feel solid and imposing, very well done. Oh and thumbs up for the excellent snow work and inclusion of the white flowers still on their sprues.

Thank, glad you noticed the fish vendor and I too wish the house was a bit more visible, in real life it's pretty easy to see. I picture the water to be at the stage where its just forming into ice, so its still in the kind of slushy layering across the top of the lake. I was a bit worried at times that the layout was too crowded, its good to hear that you like the density of the build. I had a lot of fun with the snowscape (perhaps because it was one of the last things I had to do

  On 11/11/2013 at 6:54 AM, kabel said:

Amazing work SK everything looking extremely well done and thought out! I really like that half timbered section on the one tower, as it reminds me of my cliff house. Well done, sir!

Thanks kabel Interestingly enough that tower was originally not going to have the half-timbered top, but because of its rounded design I couldn't get stone battlements to work the way I wanted. Then I thought of doing a half timbered section and it worked perfectly! Also it helps to break up all the bley of the castle.

  On 11/11/2013 at 9:08 AM, Yooha said:

Impressive work! Do I see right, that Pythagoras helped you with the skewed wall (5,12,13)? My favourite is the neat little blue cottage in the middle of the structure; it's a pity that it can barely be seen. EDIT: I just read the Yeti's comment, but I won't change mine. More right for little blue houses!

Thanks Yooha, all of the angled sections (both the tower with wall, and the single wall sections) were accomplished via hinge bricks. Great to hear all this love for the cottage, I really liked the way it turned out. When nearing the end of the build I almost wished I had built it in sections like Ecc's Ondylion city. That way I could have shown off each building by itself. Because of the castle's location on a mountain it wasn't really feasible though.

  On 11/11/2013 at 9:40 AM, Lord Vladivus said:

I've been eagerly awaiting this, and it does not disappoint! There's so many bits of it I love, so I'll just say this; the whole thing is amazing!

Thanks! Glad it wasn't disappointing after all the promoting I did

  On 11/11/2013 at 10:54 AM, kermit said:

Great work. So detailed with the snow effects.

Thank you

  On 11/11/2013 at 11:14 AM, Kayne said:

Wonderful castle SK! You just continue to grow and impress

Thanks Kayne That's my goal.

  On 11/11/2013 at 11:38 AM, Bob De Quatre said:

Great castle! I still feel like a wooden house just fell from the sky on this castle

Thank you, and it does almost look like that

  On 11/11/2013 at 12:51 PM, Yooha said:

Chicken coop!

Someone noticed it That and the blacksmith shop are two of my favorite details

Yesterday I forgot to ask for UoP DoH certification, so I'd like to receive credit for round walls and towers (Architecture), snow and ice (Landscape Design), sideways rocks (Landscape Design), and interior design (General Building) = 4 credits

Edited November 11, 201311 yr by soccerkid6

UoP DoH +1 for all credits

Truly spectacular. Bravo.

  On 11/11/2013 at 1:56 PM, gedren_y said:

UoP DoH +1 for all credits

Thanks

  On 11/11/2013 at 2:42 PM, Niku said:

Truly spectacular. Bravo.

Thank you

Amazing work, shape of those towers is realy spectacular and ofcourse interior and all those details - windows, roofs covered with snow, rocks ... - are great.

That's great SK :thumbup: I love this , my only thought is that: the first line of loopholes from the groud, shouldn't be higher to prevent the enemies enter?

  On 11/11/2013 at 3:40 PM, SlimShady said:

Amazing work, shape of those towers is realy spectacular and ofcourse interior and all those details - windows, roofs covered with snow, rocks ... - are great.

Thank you, I really like the look of rounded towers myself

  On 11/11/2013 at 4:28 PM, Wedge09 said:

That's great SK :thumbup: I love this , my only thought is that: the first line of loopholes from the groud, shouldn't be higher to prevent the enemies enter?

Thanks Wedge! And I actually was thinking of leaving the ground floor archer slits out, but when I was looking at some Castle books it seemed that first floor arrow slits were quite common. They're a bit too small for anyone to fit through

  On 11/11/2013 at 1:20 PM, soccerkid6 said:

Yesterday I forgot to ask for UoP DoH certification, so I'd like to receive credit for round walls and towers (Architecture), snow and ice (Landscape Design), sideways rocks (Landscape Design), and interior design (General Building) = 4 credits

When someone asks for this many certifications in one single build, I think the standards should be set quite high. You have used more than one technique for rounded towers, a multitude of snow techniques creating a very believable snowy environment, done a splendid job with sideways rocks AND managed to build a nice interior in the keep. Therefore I cannot do anything else than write +1 and great work on all those subjects!

  On 11/11/2013 at 5:04 PM, soccerkid6 said:

*snip*

I actually was thinking of leaving the ground floor archer slits out, but when I was looking at some Castle books it seemed that first floor arrow slits were quite common. They're a bit too small for anyone to fit through

In most castles, they're a few centimetres wider than the width of a bow (not tip to tip length, side to side when held vertically). Pretty hard to fit through, you'd have to be unarmoured, and pretty thin, not ideal for a soldier attacking a castle. Especially if there's an archer in there to dissuade you. Hell, a mere spearman or swordsman could defend that gap for hours.

Wooo! Finally! I have been looking forward to this build for a while now. Awesome work! I love the detailed interiors, and the chicken coop looked perfect.

  On 11/11/2013 at 5:04 PM, soccerkid6 said:

Thanks Wedge! And I actually was thinking of leaving the ground floor archer slits out, but when I was looking at some Castle books it seemed that first floor arrow slits were quite common. They're a bit too small for anyone to fit through

Nice research! I had the same concern as Wedge, I thought it be silly to have arrow slits and windows at lower levels, as I guess if they are small enough, it can't really do any harm.