Ode to Classic Castle-The Glory days of Castle, the 1980s

[Heir of Black Falcon]

So there I was one day with the family, heavy rain outside, and several broken down castles worth of black, grey and other free Lego bricks calling my name. We free built for most of an hour when an idea struck us. We decided we'd see if we could build some old 1980s castles but with but switching colours and some small details. It ended up being so fun we built several off the old instructions: Black Falcons, King’s Castle and Knight’s Castle.

We had so much fun we decided a few weeks later to try and make some of our own castles but keep it with the 80s design.

I did end up using them for later factions for fun for the most part. The orc/troll castle likely one of my favourite ones.

So here they are. Nothing terribly special but wanted to put them up for view and comments.

The gallery-
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=380789

The Heir of Black Falcon

Yes for those wondering, that gent on the Black Falcon castle is the Heir of Black. I need a black helmet for him but he is more or less done.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

No comments? I guess not many views still so maybe I am just impatient.

The link works right?

Heir

[ThatPrimeGuy]

The links work fine. i like em! Might I suggest resizing your images so they are not so large in both image size and file size?

[kost_u_grlu]

I like it
I'm a big fan of old schoole LEGO castles and minifigs...your castle remakes are great!!
but..
WHY did you put those orcs in that black kings castle...they don't belong there in my opinion, personally think that the old minifigs was much more beautiful

[Heir of Black Falcon]

TPG,

I will try and shrink them down some. I am always torn as some like massive images to zoom in. I will go through and do that though. Maybe I will put up some smaller images in addition to those already there.

Kost,

I wanted to mix in some new minifig's into old style castles as a type of way of tying in the new lines with the old (besides my poor orcs needed a home ). I know what you mean though. The Black Falcon castle had originally had some newer minifigs in it but I decided I was not happy with the mix. Since I had some BF soldiers hanging around I merged their keep into the castle. I kind of liked the look of the orcs in the black/grey castle but I see your point. My custom faction of orcs will look better in it I promise! I will post them up as well when they are done. I agree the old castel minifigs do look best!



Thanks for the great feedback!

Heir

[Tedward]

Interesting, I would say that the black wall elements were the death of "Classic" castle. That and the really crazy "gladiator" style helms. The more they added the less likely I was to buy them. You have captured the style of building fine, I just don't like all the black.

[Chrislad77]

With the black castle the design is very good. Possible improve might be using grey plates for the "flooring". It would make it alot easier to see and also provide a nice contrast. Very interesting concept!

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Tedward and Chris,

I agree 100 percent. The pure black ones were earlier attempts. After a few goes I realized the contrast was needed or they just blurred together. Thanks for comments. I think they are ery good points. I may rebuild knights castle again black with grey plates and such to highlight the features some. I had wanted to redo Black flacons with dark red but lack enough of the pieces to do a black and red version. Maybe I will BL them?

Thanks again

Heir

[nanuck95]

They look great! I like how they open up too. I had the Knights Castle when I was a kid and I loved the fact that you could open it up and make it seem like a bigger castle. Great when you're a kid and don't have as many bricks to build bigger castles. I think you've captured the old style nicely, thanks for sharing!

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Thank you Nanuck!

I never had the King's Castle when I was a kid and only had Black Monarch's a short time but they were castles I always had wanted. (Last Christmas my wife bought both for me, sweet lady she is.) I did have a few others of the 80s and early 90s and really think the 80s in particular had a great style, design and look. The ability to combine castles and other fortifications has always been a huge plus for me. I loved the Knight's Stronghold. I got multiples and my brother had one so we made a massive castle by simply making towers at the corners that connected to the walls. Fun days!

Glad you liked it. I had a great time with them.

Heir

[burkey42]

Old skool castles displayed atop of an old skool buffet. Nice work HBF.

[gormadoc1]

I think there very good and have got there own special touch to each of them.