Typo or convention?

Discussion of topics concerning life in the middle ages around the world, including architecture, history, and warfare.
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davee123
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Typo or convention?

Post by davee123 »

Ok. So long ago I had planned to build Bodiam castle. I got a floorplan, and started calculating. I quickly thought "Wow, I'll NEVER have enough grey for this." Why? According to the floorplan, it's like 167 "meters" square:

http://www.suave.net/~dave/images/bodiam/bodiam2.jpg

To give you an idea for minifig scale, that's roughly 500x500-- a bit more than a 15x15 of standard green baseplates (225 green baseplates! Yeah, like anyone but TLC has THAT much grey)

However, I happened upon another plan, which was closer to 167 *FEET*:
http://www.suave.net/~dave/images/bodiam/bodiam1.jpg

So, at first I figured hey, it's just a typo. Then, just this past weekend, I bought another book (THE best castle book I've ever seen for Lego Exploits, BTW) that showed Bodiam ALSO with a scale of "80m". What gives? Looking at random people's vacation photos online, it's roughly 150+ feet wide, so there's NO way the scale can be "80 meters". Is this some sort of odd convention to report "m" as "feet"? Did two completely different books make the same mistake?

Oh, and in case anyone's interested, the book is: The Medieval Fortress (they had it under the history section at Barnes & Noble, but is a bit cheaper on Amazon). The 1st half of the book shows illustrations and photographs of all sorts of different castle details. Various types of arrow slits, barbicans, portcullis and gate designs, and those dealies that hang out over the walls. It shows floorplans for various castles, has some cutaway views, and has all sorts of useful tidbits.

DaveE
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Blueandwhite
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Post by Blueandwhite »

I've never heard of using m (meters) in the place of ft (feet). I think that more than likely, this is a typo. After all, there is no way that Bodiam is 160 meters wide :shock: !! That is positively huge. I suspect that this should actually read 80 ft.

Later.
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Jacob C.
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Post by Jacob C. »

It's probably closer to 150 ft. wide.
160 meters is over 400 ft. and there's no way the width of Bodiam exceeds that!
Unless you include the large moat, bridges & outer gatehouse (no longer exists)!
Anyways, Bodiam is a beautiful Castle!
I hope you have fun building it! It doesn't look very complicated so the over-all design shouldn't be too hard to build.
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davee123
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Post by davee123 »

Jacob C. wrote:It's probably closer to 150 ft. wide.
Yep. That's what I'd go with if I ever get around to building it. Roughly 5x5 green baseplates.
Jacob C. wrote:160 meters is over 400 ft. and there's no way the width of Bodiam exceeds that! Unless you include the large moat, bridges & outer gatehouse (no longer exists)!
Yeah, by a quick guess, the moat is about 155 meters from north to south-- the longest POSSIBLE measurement (northeast moat corner to southwest moat corner) is 184 meters. And despite how cool it would be to have a castle that big, I ain't buyin' it.

Jacob C. wrote:Anyways, Bodiam is a beautiful Castle! I hope you have fun building it! It doesn't look very complicated so the over-all design shouldn't be too hard to build.
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd build Bodiam anymore, but the bug is still there in the back of my mind. (I was first planning it about 3 years ago) But it doesn't seem to have much for landscaping, and it's ... well... I dunno, somehow too boring or plain or something. It makes a fantastic castle in real life, but as a Lego model, I'm almost afraid it would appear too unrealistic. Something about "perfect" castles rendered in Lego that give it a bit too much of a fantasy twinge. Kinda like sci-fi movies before Star Wars, and how they looked so pristine and flawless. They didn't have that "realism" quality that comes with all the imperfections and whatnot.

Huh. I wonder-- does Bodiam actually have a cellar or basement or something? That'd be a potentially massive undertaking if it did, seeing as you'd have to raise the ground up sufficiently. I wonder how deep the moat is... That'd actually make a fantastic display piece-- fill the moat with real water, and let it be dug in around the castle. I suppose it probably *doesn't* have a basement, since there'd be a lot of risk of flooding, what with such a massive moat.

DaveE
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