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Cary Clark / FAQ / Castle / all | |
What is Castle World? From Tony Hafner: ! A great many of us have deep and creative fictional worlds linked to our Lego hobby. The castle folks, much more so than the other theme fans (such as space and town), tend to develop characters and storylines to go along with their creations. Check out the Castle World website: http://www.geocities.com/castle_world_temp/index.html And the related lugnet newsgroup: http://www.lugnet.com/castle/org/cw/
What posts belong in .castle, and what belongs in .castle.org.cw? From Shiri Dori: ! Posts that belong in .castle.org.cw can be: - Updates to Castle World related sites, stories, characters, creatures, structures or any other creations. This includes Isle of Mist-related creations. - Updates to the Castle World or the IOM site (made by the admins). - Questions or inquiries regarding the nature of Castle World or the IOM. - Any other posts that specifically relate to Castle World or the IOM. Posts that belong in .castle are simply - any castle related posts that should not go in .castle.org.cw! By the way, the only posts that belong in .castle.org are suggestions for new organizations, or questions about castle orgs in general. Right now, since Castle World is the only castle organization, there should be no posts in the group. In practice, some posts end there by accident (people leave off the .cw suffix).
What Castle themes has LEGO® released? From Richard Noeckel: !
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What are some good resources for Castle building? From Mark van ‘t Hooft: ! While digging around for sources for my modular yellow castle I ran across two great books. I found them in the juvenile section of the local public library. They are similar to MacAulay’s book: Castle: Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections (DK Publishing; ISBN 1-56458-467-4) A Medieval Castle (Inside Story) by Fiona MacDonald (Peter Bedrick Books; ISBN 0-87226-340-1) These are valuable resources for castle construction as well as village structures. From John P. Henderson: ! Here’s some links with pictures and info of medieval peasant cottages: http://www.wealddown.co.uk/poplar-cottage-construction-thatch-wattle-and-daub.htm http://loki.stockton.edu/~ken/wharram/peasant.htm This book also has a few black and white photos of an Anglo-Saxon settlement reconstruction from 500 AD: Life in a Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies (HarperPerennial, 1990; ISBN: 0-06092-046-7) From Chris Maddison: ! Give David MacAulay’s Castle (published by Scott Foresman; ISBN: 0-39532-920-5) a try. It focuses primarily on the construction of a castle, from meager beginnings to the glorious final result, through sketches. Awesome book. It has a lot of village information in it. Also, Eyewitness: Castle by Christopher Gravett (DK Publishing; ISBN: 0-78945-888-8) and other Eyewitness books have a lot of great medieval information. From Marc Nelson, Jr.: ! Timber-Framed Buildings of England (Sothebys Pubns; ISBN: 0-70906-092-0) by R.J. Brown is a great book. It is focused on the late medieval period. From Bruce Schlickbernd: ! The Medieval Fortress by J.E. Kaufmann & H.W. Kaufmann, illustrated by Robert M. Jurga (Combined Publishing; ISBN: 1-58097-062-1) has numerous examples of the details of castles: crenels, allures, hoardings, machicoulis, loopholes, gatehouses, drawbridges, bartizans, wells, cisterns, etc. with examples of how they work and were designed. It includes siege techniques, general history, Motte and Bailey, how castle design evolved, and has a great eye for detail in the photographs of castles that you generally don’t see elsewhere. A must-have.
What are Motte and Bailey castles? From John P. Henderson: ! According to the book Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph and Frances Gies (published by HarperCollins; ISBN: 006090674X): Most castles erected by the Normans shortly after their invasion of England, and most early castles of continental Europe as well, were made of timber and earthwork. These required unskilled labor, were cheap and quick to build, and could be constructed anywhere a fortification was needed, regardless of terrain. The “Motte” (or mound) was steep, sometimes natural, sometimes artificial formed partly from the earth dug from an encircling ditch. The top of the motte was flat and ringed with wooden palisades. The central keep within these walls was simply a house or tower, made of whatever material was available nearby (be it wood or even stone). This is where the lord or castellan would reside, and the top of the motte could hold a garrison for very brief times. But to house the daily living of a regular garrison, a larger area was cleared below the motte, given a ditch and a wooden palisade. This “Bailey” was connected to the higher motte by an inclined drawbridge. The bailey was often round or oval in shape, but might vary to follow contours of the land. Some of these early castles may have two or three such baileys. From Enrique Durand: ! Here are some links to images of historic motte-and-bailey castles: http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castlesa.htm http://www.castlewales.com/motte.html http://www.conisbroughcastle.org.uk/history.htm http://homepage.mac.com/mfeinberg/castles/types.html
What period in European history does Castle represent? From Lindsay Frederick Braun: ! The latest theme, “Knight’s Kingdom” appears to be closer to the 14th/15th/16th centuries. The hat and armour configuration, as well as the Queen’s hair, eyes, and dress style, strongly suggest French and Italian influence. From Bruce Schlickbernd: ! The “kettle helm” or “kettle hat”, introduced in “Knight’s Kingdom”, originated around the year 1200 AD. Kevin Hall: ! Some of the timeline can be deduced from the shape of the castles. The descendants of the Romans built round castles. The Normans built square castles. Later castles have had renovations upon renovations so the original shapes have changed somewhat. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook provides a lot of helpful background information.
What nationalities are represented by various Castle themes? From Bruce Schlickbernd: ! Forestmen/Dark Forest: English Royal Knights/Knights Kingdom: English Crusaders/Classic: French and Burgunds Black Knights: Teutonic Black Falcons: Austrian Dragon Masters: Hungarian Fright Knights: Wallachian Wolfpack: Black Forest (Germanic) From Kyle Peterson: !
Ed. note: Click on the ‘!’ link for this FAQ entry to learn more.
Where are web pages with LEGO Castles? From Leonard Hoffman: ! I’ve put together listing of castle sites here: http://www.lugnet.com/~1168/websites/ From Shiri Dori: ! Frank Filz has put together a comprehensive listing: http://www.mindspring.com/~ffilz/Lego/castle.html From Tony Hafner: ! The castle folks, much more so than the other theme fans (ie space and town), tend to develop characters and storylines to go along with their creations. Check out the Castle World website: http://www.geocities.com/castle_world_temp/index.html And the related lugnet newsgroup: http://www.lugnet.com/castle/org/cw/
What does ‘barding’ mean (and other Castle terms)? From Bianca Nebab: ! Any piece that is used as armor on a horse is a “bard” (“barding” collectively). However “barding” can also be applied to the ornamental drapings of a horse like what you see in a tournament. “Trapping” or “trappings” are pieces that are ornamental. So it depends on the purpose. If you have the horse in a tournament joust, they are either trappings or bardings. If you have the horse in a combat situation, it’s technically barding. From James Brown: ! The two places I look first when I run across something I don’t know are:
From Jeff Johnston: ! I’ve found http://www.dictionary.com to be fairly complete when I’ve used it. For instance, I used it for to sanity-check what a ‘gambeson’ is. (A ‘gambeson’ is a quilted and padded tunic, usually underneath other armor, like mail, to provide padding.)
Where can I find spare parts for Castle? From Richard Noeckel: ! Some of the most desirable parts for Castle have only appeared in a very small number of sets, all of which have been out of production for years. Popular parts, and the sets they appeared in, include:
I’m building a large castle. How can I provide access to the interior? From Stuart Curtis: !
If the castle’s occupants move around, I’d combine the first two options, and hinge the rear wall. If the castle is more for show, I’d stick with the third option. From Eric Kingsley: ! Technic beams and pins are useful to hold open sections of the castle together, forming a solid closed-wall structure. From Paul Davidson: ! If you go with a hinged structure, you end up with two castles: a 360-degree viewable castle for display (in unopened position), and a double-big cut-away castle to show off the interior. From Rick Kurtzuba: ! Instead of simply having the floor nestled between supports or held in place with Technic pins, I make the walls of the floor uneven on the bottom, with the ceiling of the floor below it (topped with tiles) shaped the same way. The removable floor fits onto the larger structure like a puzzle piece snapping into place. Since there’s no “peg to hole” construction, the room slips off on easily.
How are lights, pneumatics, or motors used in Castle creations? From James Brown: ! I use 9 volt lights and they work fairly well, although they are a bit dim. However, with a red cap they work well as ‘glow’ from a fireplace. I use them behind stoves, and underneath fires. I put the light brick right into the back wall of the fireplace, and piled the fireplace high with trans-red, trans-yellow and trans-orange 1x1 round plates. This makes a really cool-looking effect, especially with 1 or 2 flames sticking up. My kitchen has a bread oven, a stove and a kettle all side by side. In this case, I put several lights behind the wall, and just left holes in the backs of the stove et. al. to let the light through. It works, but it is very dim. (That might be because I’m running several lights off a single battery pack.) The model backs into a mountain, so all the wiring is hidden on the back side. I used 1x3 arch bricks to keep the wire runs neat. My wife hides the wire runs in her castle in the chimneys and under the floors. From Frank Filz: ! As you string more lights together, the individual lights will dim. Be careful; a battery under a heavy load can dump its energy quickly, and get very hot. From James Brown: ! Here’s an illuminated fireplace: http://www.lugnet.com/castle/~11/blankshields/mount2c From Stuart Curtis: ! I used a motor in a castle was for a working water-wheel jutting from the side of the castle into the river-area. By building a fairly large wheel out of bricks and Technic elements, and gearing the motor down slightly, I managed to make the wheel turn at a very slow, realistic pace. The motor was built into the the castle wall, the battery box had a couple of BURPs covering it. A technic rod activated the concealed battery box button. The same castle also utilised a pneumatic system for the drawbridge. From Eric Brok: ! I used pneumatics to make a castle tower extend as a telescope. 
The Frost Castle is in the Buildings section of my web site.
How can I make minifig capes in different colors? From Carlo Catuogno: ! Buy a small amount of the desired colored fabric and place an already made-by-lego cape over it. Use a razor blade or X-Acto knife to cut around the edges and finally use a hole puncher to make neckholes. From John Carroll: ! Buy a pack of construction pape with the colors you need. Trace the original lego design onto it. Cut it out using an X-Acto knife (or sissors). The hard part is the holes (the paper often rips at the narrowest point). You might be able to find a hole punch that has the right diameter but I just winged it. The paper idea works really well, though you might want to make a few extra; they aren’t as durable as cloth.
What is Castle Wars, and where do I find the rules? From Mark Chittenden: ! Brikwars http://www.brikwars.com is a bit massive on detail, but it can be used to do LEGO wars from Castle to Space. From James Brown: ! If you want quick & easy rules, try http://www.lugnet.com/fun/gaming/~11/legowars. If you want something that’s more complex, try BrikWars as Mark suggested. From Aaron Dalan: ! Brikwars is better for small groups of men and vehicles, and Jame Brown’s rules works better for larger scale battles. Or you could just buy some 20-sided dice and make up your own rules. That is what my friends and I all did as kids. A roll of 11 or higher scored a hit, plus one for every additional piece of armor you are wearing or if you have protection from the terrain. From Magnus Lauglo: ! Making your own rules can be fun! In my experience, the more rules you have, the slower play will progresss, but the more realistic the game can become. If you will be using many figs each, it will be least cumbersome if you don’t have to keep track of each man’s health on paper. Another thing I learned playing Brickwars is that it can the most fun if the objective is something other than “eliminate all enemy troops.” If instead the objective is a variant of “capture the flag” or hold a bridge/ hilltop/castle for certain number of rounds, it may seem less realistic, but is far more playable. Otherwise you are likely to end up just pitting two forces against each other in a melee where the guy with the most troops will probably come out on top. Starting out with not that many troops may be a good idea. In my experience a battle with two sides of 50 men each, can easily take several hours. If one side is defending a castle, they will be at a great advantage and should be outnumbered significantly for it to be a fair battle. 100 men, two castles, plus a village should give you more than enough fun for a day. Have fun!
What sets have yellow tudor walls? From Heather Patey: ! The parts database at Peeron.com is a good way to find out.
What sets have female minifigs? From Shiri Dori: ! According to Peeron, these sets have Castle Maidens (with hats):
From Thomas Garrison: !
What are the different helmet designs that have been produced? From Cary Clark:
What are the different cannon designs that have been produced? From Jeff Stembel: ! The first year of production (1989), all the cannons fired. The next year (1990) saw the introduction of black-ended non-firing cannons. I’m not sure when they replaced those non-firing cannons with the single piece ones. This was only for the US market. In other markets, all cannons are the original shooting model. From Stephen A. Campbell: ! Firing cannons have a plunger that pulls way back and launch a 1x1 cylinder. Transition cannons (black plunger) pull a short way back, but do not fire. Solid cannons do not fire at all. The transition model can be modified with a small hobby spring (or a pen spring) but you have to disassemble it first.  Picture courtesy of Clark Stephens
Why did Dungeon Master’s Castle (6086) change its name? From Jeff Stembel: ! Trademark Issues. Dungeon Master is trademarked by TSR (now Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro, Inc.), the makers of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. I assume TSR asked Lego to change it.
Some Castle sets have pins and holes. How do they snap together? From David Eaton: ! The castle sets with technic pin connections are:
6081 is wierder. It’s only got 1 peg hole, and what’s more, the battlements where it connects is 2 bricks and 1 plate too short. Very odd. 6074 is unusual in that it has four holes for connection.
Why was the Yellow Castle yellow? From John Herre: ! Many of the medieval castles that I remember seeing in central Europe were brown/tan/red instead of gray, depending on the local stone supply. Yellow may have been closest to what they thought was the right color. Also, the yellow castle first came out in 1978, when gray was not common. The only medieval castle that I remember seeing at Legoland in the mid 70’s was yellow with gray trim. 
From Richie Dulin: ! Grey elements didn’t become generally available until Classic Space was introduced in 1978 and they didn’t become that common (not that they’ve ever really been common) for a while after that. (According to Peeron the first grey brick appeared in set 452 in 1979) 
From Cary Clark: Yellow castles, though not common, do exist in Europe. Hohenschwangau Castle in Southern Germany was built in the 12th century. It was destroyed by Napoleon and restored by Crown Prince Maximilian 1832-1837. (It’s unclear if the exterior color changed when it was restored.) 
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Queen Leonora)
Princess Storm)
Willa the Witch)
