Weekly Set Review: Weetabix Castle

[architect]

Hello!
As a matter of fact I just found a pic of the W-castle in my own Images folder on 1000steine. It's not very edit-friendly, though...




Bye
Jojo

Hi Jojo,

This picture will work well to give me the flag image to be added by photoshop. If I have time I may edit your image as well so we can have 2 images of the castle.

Ben

[Shadow]

I'm not a fan of any Castles without figs, this one especially. Although ancient and valuable, its just a pile of bricks.

[Sir Zeppelin]

I never knew of this sets existence until just now. I always thought Yellow Castle was the first LEGO castle set. Anyways, I think it's a good set for it's time. If they were to release it now, folks would probably laugh. Is the LEGO flag on the upper right-hand corner in any other sets?

[Bruce N H]

According to Peeron, that's not the flag from the original set as you can see in the original instructions, though it may be that there were different variants of this set with slight changes (you saw that more in the older sets). The flag that Peeron indicates was originally in this set was only in this and one other set. The flag in the photo is either this one or this one - the difference seems to be whether the logo was a sticker or printed on.

Bruce

[Ye Olde Republic]

I'd never heard of this set until just now and other than it's historical value I'm not too interested in owning it. It's a nice design for a 1970 set though with what looks to be a few nice old/rare windows and slopes.
I'd like to take this chance to get on my soapbox to say this would be a nice scale for them to do a Creator castle in. Greys, black, brown and green in this scale at maybe ith $70/1100pc range. Mmmmmmm.

[Mörs]

Nothing special here, really. This set doesn't bear much other than its historical value.

...Actually... WOW!! I wasn't aware there was a castle set before the 375 Yellow Castle!! Thank you for letting me know. And now, for my review...

I really like the overall look of this castle (the shape! Not the colour scheme which I find disgusting!). If you overlook the fact it's not minifig-fit (minifigs weren't around back then, so I think we can forgive), it just looks pretty realistic: a keep, enclosed in a wall with towers. Something you could put on a shelf and gaze so it can just sit there and look nice, I guess. It's also obviously a good thing how it's made of regular bricks, and does not include large pre-molded pieces. Other than that... nothing special...

[Mr. Shiny & New]

I think the castle is reasonably well designed for its day but I agree with the others that it doesn't really compare to modern creations. Nowadays the building techniques are more advanced and the piece selection is much better. It's like watching an old movie, which may have been groundbreaking when it was released, but now it's hard to get over the way the actors' dialogue is completely unlike anything a human would ever say.

One thing I do like is that the instructions add lots of pieces in each step. While building the Stegosaurus kit recently I was annoyed at how much page turning there was to add a couple bricks to the model.

[DaleDVM]

I also did not know this set existed until today. Is there anything Ben doesn't know about lego sets?

Like the Yellow castle this set has a great design and an aweful color. Or in this case colors...

I really like the old windows with the narrow opening. They look like an easy way to make great arrow loops. Too bad they dont make them any more.

I would have thought this set would go for more than $100 dollars with the original instructions. More or less it can be made from any bricks but the flag, windows, and the instructions are obviously very rare indeed.

[CodeGeorge]

Well it's ugly. I don't know what else to say.

I wouldn't buy that for $5 (though I actually would to sell it at a profit).

[kost_u_grlu]

I think it's quite well designed and It has historical value...

I would love to see the MOC based on this castle, in minifig scale, and offcourse, light bley...


I would give this set 7.5/10

[quaraga]

what do you guys mean its not minifig scale? the ramparts are at least wide enough and it looks tall enough.
please to explain
-T.R.

[Balamorgineas]

I like how the colors go together and I think they work well. It has a nice design as well.

[Karzon989]

this castle looks very good. It has very realistic features. Just for the Minifigs its maybe not so good.

[DaleDVM]

what do you guys mean its not minifig scale? the ramparts are at least wide enough and it looks tall enough.
please to explain
-T.R.

Well the walls are only six bricks high. One of which is the thick baseplate. Most minifig scale castles are atleast 8 bricks high. The entrance to the castle is only 4 studs wide vs the normal 6. Also there seems to be a door to the keep that is only 2 studs wide vs the normal 4. I would guess an increase in dimensions of about 50% would do the trick.

[quaraga]

what do you guys mean its not minifig scale? the ramparts are at least wide enough and it looks tall enough.
please to explain
-T.R.

Well the walls are only six bricks high. One of which is the thick baseplate. Most minifig scale castles are atleast 8 bricks high. The entrance to the castle is only 4 studs wide vs the normal 6. Also there seems to be a door to the keep that is only 2 studs wide vs the normal 4. I would guess an increase in dimensions of about 50% would do the trick.

thanks, though it seems to me that if you widened the keep door it would work just fine.
T.R.