My Lego Hogwarts model was to be built in mini-scale. That way I'll have enough light gray bricks and sand green roof slopes. Hahaha!!! The first version of the combined Great Hall and Entry Hall almost fit into the palm of my hand. Almost!
About six versions were eventually built till I got it right, more or less. It only got slightly larger with each rebuilding so I was off to a good start, or so I thought.
It didn't help that details sometimes changed from photo to photo. I didn't use the five Rowling books hardly at all, but instead have relied on the Warner Brothers' film versions of what it all looks like.
Only having found a half dozen Hogwarts film Posters and fewer photos from online at that point, it was easy enough to create a small enough 'fortress' building complex with its grass patio to sit adjacent to the Great Halls complex.
My enthusiasm to build Hogwarts with Lego exceeded my desire to surf the net for more Hogwarts photos, and I knew that later on I would pay a price for this with constant rebuilds. But, there is always something that needs correcting anyway.
The fortress unit was minus the great arch, as I had mistakenly flipped one photo to add a wet moat - of all my crazy errors. The fortress unit included the tallest tower, where Dumbledor had his office, and the Gryffindor tower at the opposite corner, even though I didn't know this at that time.
The 'church' unit across the long causeway, which also had a grass patio, was begun equally small.
But the two traveling 'aerial' shots from the CoS DVD looking down at the fortress and church units implied that these were much larger buildings than the Halls unit, assuming that the aerial cameras stayed horizontal to ground level until their final dives.
So both units ended up being rebuilt again, and then again, and then a third time, bigger, and lower, each time. It was still a mini-scale model of part of Hogwarts with Harry and his friends roughly 1/16th of an inch tall as best as I can estimate.
These aerial passes over the big exterior model Warner Brothers built (or was it all computer generated) appear in CoS about 31 minutes in and again about 1 hour and 33 minutes into the film. One ends above the greenhouse open ceiling window where Professor Sprout is teaching, and the other ends above the 'church' complex grassy patio where the Trio whisper about Hagrid's possible guilt, at least until he joins their converstaion.
Finally finding the Hogwarts illustration commissioned for the Sunday Times Magazine confirmed for me at least the large size of the fortress and church buildings. I didn't even know such an illustration even existed until I found it.
Have seen the third film very recently, am eagerly await the release of its the DVD on November? 23rd? 2004? to continue construction of Hogwarts. All I have built so far is the Halls and church units that face Black Lake. The large version of the fortress unit is up one floor so far, and yes, I'm including the huge archway entry into the grassy patio this time.
The third film (PoA) concentrates its aerials (and 'still' shots) on the opposite side of the castle from the lake, so there is at least hope that I can build the rest of the buildings in the huge complex. But the third film appears to move some of the land around beneath these buildings to some extent, unless I am confused yet again as to what is where.
The third causeway with the suspension cables may be the rickety bridge featured in the third film. The tower adjacent to the church unit grass patio may be the clock tower. Am referring to the Times illustration here in both cases and tyring to relate what it shows to the PoA film.
On and on it goes a little at a time until maybe someday it will all get built if zi don't run out of light gray bricks, of course.
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