WIP - Medieval Castle 1:6 project

To the Glorious Guardians of Historical Accuracy, may I suggest bracing yourselves and having a strong cup of medicinal tea/stiff drink on hand.

My mission is to make a castle for general medieval, a bit of Tudor, Witcher/Kaer Morhen, Game of Thrones etc styling & backdrop (aka a bit of a mish-mash).  Of course, then a castle needs a floor, and then furniture, and a fire…..

Foolishly, I thought this would take me a couple of weeks during the Christmas holidays……

I’ve focussed on making use of craft materials I already had, to keep costs down.  Main ingredients are 10mm Foamboard, wood veneers and glues; including for the table and benches which I attempted in a Tudor style.  Walls are deeply scored foamboard, so not at the heights of Valiarde’s individually carved stone blocks!  Paints and matt varnish were the main purchase so far; my first use of Vallejo which have been a revelation, amazing stuff and the teeny model colour bottles really cover a lot.



Painted the exterior of the castle, the windows are privacy film (made to cling on glass but used here on its own), then decided to add some moss.  I’ve put some white paint as an undercoat to add some snow effects soon, and now thinking I might as well make a whole exterior diorama snow base.  Interior will need some furnishing & details too.  So there goes the “don’t spend $” intentions and it will take a whole lot longer yet…..  Lots of fun though!

Only when you start building something in 1/6 you realize that in order to be accurate it would need to be huge.

Nice, I love work in progress pics especially like your medieval theme here

Yeah these things always get bigger than you expect. I like the floor and windows you put in.
The whole thing will make a nice backdrop for scenes of your figures.

Snowy outdoor and warm indoor is also a great idea for different setups

You're doing both the interior and the exterior? That's ambitious!
I like the moss in the crevices between the stones.
The gothic arch windows look great!

how cool does that look!

Pretty cool. I like the idea of the privacy film as windows. Nice table.

I agree, very well done. Love the privacy film for the windows, the mossy exterior, and that table steals the show.

I love seeing the diorama process. Never realized the thought and work put into one.

Niiice! I can echo everything that has been said. I'm looking forward to seeing this progress!

m76 wrote:Only when you start building something in 1/6 you realize that in order to be accurate it would need to be huge.

Yes…. The castle wall (and floor) is 30 x 50cm or so; I’m keeping it modular to help with storage options!

Valiarde wrote:Nice, I love work in progress pics especially like your medieval theme here

Yeah these things always get bigger than you expect. I like the floor and windows you put in.
The whole thing will make a nice backdrop for scenes of your figures.

Snowy outdoor and warm indoor is also a great idea for different setups

Thank you, I will try and keep up some progress pictures along the way. The floor was a pain, very curly veneer which has taken a lot of wrangling

davidd wrote:You're doing both the interior and the exterior? That's ambitious!
I like the moss in the crevices between the stones.
The gothic arch windows look great!

Thanks - um, yes. I do have a tendency to get a bit carried away with projects but determined to keep working on this one til it’s done!

BAMComix wrote:how cool does that look!

Thank you!

Stryker2011 wrote:Pretty cool. I like the idea of the privacy film as windows. Nice table.

Thanks - as I’d already cut the windows I had to find something that would fit the gap and this seemed to do a decent job.

GubernatorFan wrote:I agree, very well done. Love the privacy film for the windows, the mossy exterior, and that table steals the show.

Thank you - ah the table took a lot of patience. My partner pointed out that I could have just made it from wood in half the time….

Melancholic wrote:I love seeing the diorama process.  Never realized the thought and work put into one.

Yes it started as a couple of backdrop walls, but seems to have ballooned……. It’s taken me years to have enough patience for layers and waiting for things to dry, that definitely helps!

Diana wrote:Niiice! I can echo everything that has been said. I'm looking forward to seeing this progress!

Thank you, that helps to keep my momentum and patience going!

This looks great. I'd love to make a 1:6 castle myself but don't have the space. I'm thinking about making a Western frontier log fort. If I make it from solid wood, I can store this outside.

I like the castle and the furniture!  I agree with all the folks above and the table looks really great!  Can't wait to see your progress.

I've come to the realization that doing anything in 1/6 is quite a project.  I'm planning a shoot house diorama inspired by the set I just missed out on, so I pulled up a bunch of pics on the internet and drew my own plans.  The first two plans I had drawn up were 22" wide x 20" deep and 18" wide x 24" deep - pretty good-sized dioramas until I realized the dimensions were for 1/12 scale not 1/6 scale.

Geez - 44" wide and 40" deep plus a skirt around the outside, not to mention 16" to 20" tall per floor!  Where am I going to put something that big?

Well, I guess a couple of the shooting rooms are going to become closets (or imaginary).

Good luck with your project!

Sounds big enough for you to just sell you house and move into the diorama. Problem solved!

Melancholic wrote:Sounds big enough for you to just sell you house and move into the diorama.  Problem solved!

This made me chuckle. It does sound like a reasonable plan.

shazzdan wrote:This looks great. I'd love to make a 1:6 castle myself but don't have the space. I'm thinking about making a Western frontier log fort. If I make it from solid wood, I can store this outside.

Spartan06 wrote:I like the castle and the furniture!  I agree with all the folks above and the table looks really great!  Can't wait to see your progress.

I've come to the realization that doing anything in 1/6 is quite a project.  I'm planning a shoot house diorama inspired by the set I just missed out on, so I pulled up a bunch of pics on the internet and drew my own plans.  The first two plans I had drawn up were 22" wide x 20" deep and 18" wide x 24" deep - pretty good-sized dioramas until I realized the dimensions were for 1/12 scale not 1/6 scale.

Geez - 44" wide and 40" deep plus a skirt around the outside, not to mention 16" to 20" tall per floor!  Where am I going to put something that big?

Well, I guess a couple of the shooting rooms are going to become closets (or imaginary).

Good luck with your project!

Melancholic wrote:Sounds big enough for you to just sell you house and move into the diorama.  Problem solved!

Stryker2011 wrote:

Melancholic wrote:Sounds big enough for you to just sell you house and move into the diorama.  Problem solved!

This made me chuckle. It does sound like a reasonable plan.

Now I’m waiting to see pictures of these real estate gems!

Determined to keep some castle progress going: making icicles with the water effects turned out pretty good. I’ve added them on the external windows with snow over the top. Meanwhile furnishing efforts with a wall tapestry. It came as a flat piece of canvas but I wanted to mount it for hanging so it’s sewn on to silk, made some tassels and edged it a bit. Trusty bamboo skewers to the rescue for the hanger, and I had some old dollhouse wall hooks which make a perfect mount on the wall.

Excellent work! The icicles looks superb, as does the canvas hanging. Really impressive stuff. thanks for sharing.

Wow! The snow effect, and the ice-coated window, is giving me chills just looking at it! Impressive work!

Wow! That snow effect is really cool. The tapestry looks nice, and your efforts to “hang” it paid off. Nice progress.

I agree with earlier comments -- both the icicles and the tapestry turned out beautifully.

Another "wow" from me! Those icicles are particularly impressive!