Yellow lego castle shop display.

galacticmonkey · Post by **galacticmonkey** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:20 pm

Hi there just wondering if any of you castle fans can help me with information on my latest castle purchase.
The castle is aprox 80-90 cm high around about 3 feet tall and aprox 45cm(1.5 feet) wide.
It comprises of a large yellow castle with a deep entrance hall running through it which is lined with 6 mini-figure knights. The castle has a tall yellow tower and a tudor style house (in the style of the buildings used in the old town square and carnival scene sets).
The castle sits on a blue mountain which in turn is lined at the base by houses and what appears to be a church.
This castle most likly came from a british toy shop possibly as a promotional model for the 375/6075 castle as the mini-figs and castle brick elements are of the same style.
If anybody has any information on this item i would be glad to hear from them as i would like to find out the history of the item and also attempt to restore it to complete condition as there appear to be one or two areas where damage has occured for example missing mini-figs and some parapet bricks missing from top of tall tower.
I have had no luck from LGC as they seem to be unintrested in looking it up in their archives.
Thanks for reading.[/quote]

Lord_Of_The_LEGO · Post by **Lord_Of_The_LEGO** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:29 pm

Do you have pictures? I think this would help a lot.

It sounds to me that this is something probably built by an employee of the LEGO Company, like a LEGO Master Builder, and then donated to or bought by this toy store. Are the bricks glued together?

Also, I see this is your first post. Welcome to Classic-Castle!

Post by **architect** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:12 pm

Welcome to CC.

As far as I know, we are not aware of any images of 375 Yellow Castle displays. I have seen some earlier store displays of castles built with generic bricks. I agree with Nathan that this was likely built by a master model builder and is a "one of a kind" creation. If you do not mind, we would like to see photographs whenever you can take them.

Ben E.

ottoatm · Post by **ottoatm** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:54 am

Never heard of this... but I'd love to see it - sounds really cool.

Infyrana · Post by **Infyrana** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:36 am

Me too! I would also very much like to see this. It sounds fascinating.

galacticmonkey · Post by **galacticmonkey** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 4:30 pm

Thanks for the feedback and the welcome to the site.
Just spent a quiet afternoon trying to clean the castle up a little (had a couple of decades worth of ingrained dirt on it)
Hope to have some pictures to post in the next couple of days.
By the way the item is glued together, so i think you are right that it was created by a Master Builder, however can any-one tell me how to find out more about these guys.

galacticmonkey · Post by **galacticmonkey** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:35 pm

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=127069

Hi, this should give you a link to check out the castle.
This is before the clean up.
Thanks for looking.

Post by **Bruce N H** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:51 pm

Hey GM,

Welcome aboard, btw! I've seen things akin to this before on e-bay or whatever. They tend to be store displays built by LEGO employees. They still do these--for instance, my local Toys R Us had for a long time a 4 foot tall lego sculpture of Harry Potter in the window. Sometimes these things filter out into the public--e.g. the store will give one away as part of a drawing, TLC will auction something off, or a store employee will end up with one in their own collection.

So my guess is that this is either one-of-a-kind, created by TLC for that specific store, or one-of-a-small-number, created by TLC for a chain of stores. Either way it is a great collector's item. Hard to date it. Peeron says that those shuttered windows on the timber-frame portion were first available in sets in 1985, but the 1x1x2 white windows on the upper towers were last available in 1980 in red, but 1975 in white. Of course, the LEGO master builders would have drawers full of old parts, so I'd guess this is mid-to-late-'80s vintage.

Any idea where this came from originally (country, store, time period)?

Last thought - this is one of those creations that shows how cool your MOCs can be with basic bricks/plates/slopes. The only speciallized pieces I see are the aforementioned windows.

Bruce

galacticmonkey · Post by **galacticmonkey** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:25 pm

The person I got the castle from didn't have a lot of information on it, I doubt that they had it originally but rather bought it from someone else. Who knows where it has been? All I say that it is (most likely) from a toy shop here in Britain.

I originally thought that it must be a promotional model for 375 as it is built in the general style with major 375 only parts, notably around 50 of the wide yellow slopes and many of the double convex pieces too. The little red square (1x1) windows also feature heavily. There are seven knights/men at arms with the castle but lots of tiny fragments of red suggesting that at least 10 more minifigures were glued on at one point. All the figures have grey vests and light grey helmets. There are also stickers, really quite bleached by the light and age, applied. One with a crown motiff on a knight and one above each entry to the great hall. All these are the same that you would get with the 375 castle.

The only shame is although I have been carefully cleaning it and replacing a few damaged bits where I can, it is impossible to know what has disappeared, especially from the top of the tallest tower. I'd love to find another to compare, or if I was exceptionally lucky a copy of the original blueprints. I did contact the Lego Group but they were considerably less than helpful. I don't even think they had a record of 375! A set they actually produced and sold hundreds/thousands of worldwide!

ottoatm · Post by **ottoatm** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:28 pm

Last thought - this is one of those creations that shows how cool your MOCs can be with basic bricks/plates/slopes. The only speciallized pieces I see are the aforementioned windows.

I agree completely... as someone just beginning (and therefore struggling) in the world of moc-making, it's encouraging to see such a cool moc made out fo such basic parts... I think it just takes a healthy imagination and a knowledge of how to use the bricks well for your work.

I've seen things akin to this before on e-bay or whatever

that said... if you ever feel the urge to.. eh... unload... feel free to PM me

Post by **architect** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:43 am

I did contact the Lego Group but they were considerably less than helpful. I don't even think they had a record of 375! A set they actually produced and sold hundreds/thousands of worldwide!

They do have five mint in sealed box copies of this set in their archive. But do not expect that current employees know much about past sets. Old products tend to be forgotten unless needed for legal reasons or making a Legend. Also the Yellow Castle was on Lego's survey for potential Legends, so I am sure they have not forgotten it. One of a kind displays are not recorded well. Ideally all master builder items should be photographed and kept in an archive.

Ben E.

Infyrana · Post by **Infyrana** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:27 am

Very lovely castle. In particular I find the base inspiring. I would be 99% certain this is a 375 promoptional model also because much of the building style seems to be pre minifig.