Loarre Castle (Spain) by King Derelict - Aedes Ars 1/200

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, king derelict said:

I've added the lights to the main tower and the smaller areas on the roof. Although I need some more leds I can progress with the main tower now. I tested the leds and all work. They are 3v 1.8mm leds in flickering warm white. 

I fixed the upper levels into place. I didn't rely totally on the card strips provided in the kit. I added some foam strips which gave a more substantial area to glue the top levels to.

As you can see there are plenty of interesting feature, doors, windows, curves which will stop this being an exercise in slapping down blocks. Thankfully the landscape [profile means the blockwork doesn't extend all the way to the ground. For this reason I decided to start at the level where a tier of tiles is built into the wall. That also gets me a level start to the blocks.  There is some fairly interesting work ahead.

The lighting has been checked as the evening came in. I used blocks of closed cell foam to mount and glue down the lights with the leads threaded out through the blocks. It seems to have worked well. You can see the ones still exposed on the tower roof

Light bleed looks like it won't be a problem

 

Thanks for looking in and all the support

 

Alan

That is  looking so cool Alan,   I think  you  are right  about the light  bleed, and with  all  the blocks  on  it shouldnt be a problem.

 

Love the  detail  in that  upper  level  as  said  with all the  different angles  it should not be  a tiresome  stone laying  job.

 

OC.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Old Collingwood

[AJohnson]

That will look so good with some lighting on!  I know you can get flickering LEDs, which would be cool.  One day I hope to build a large frigate so I can add such lighting to the stern cabins and lanterns.

[mtaylor]

Looking good from here.  I'd add a rheostat or variable resistor to the light chain so it can be toned down.  Maybe it's just all the reflective white but it looks a bit too bright.

[king derelict]

On 8/8/2023 at 9:00 PM, Louie da fly said:

Looks very good with the lights on, but perhaps there's too much of a good thing? Having lived by candle-light at times, I'd say you should probably go for rather less, and perhaps put some yellow/orange cellophane over your leds.

Thank you Steven and the cellophane is a good idea. I think the photo is much brighter than the final effort. There are still a number of exposed leds on the upper level which will be walled and roofed in. I think they are tending to dominate the lighting at present but will only be lighting small windows and maybe a door which may be posed part open. The main tower looked quite dim when I tested the lights there on their own and I was actually thinking I might need to add a few more. I should have access through to the end so I can adjust as I need, colour and quantity.

Thanks again

Alan

[king derelict]

On 8/8/2023 at 9:05 PM, Old Collingwood said:

That is  looking so cool Alan,   I think  you  are right  about the light  bleed, and with  all  the blocks  on  it shouldnt be a problem.

 

Love the  detail  in that  upper  level  as  said  with all the  different angles  it should not be  a tiresome  stone laying  job.

Thanks so much OC. 

I'm hoping the tower and the details will be quite fun. There is a curved tower with embedded columns and tiles that is going to be challenging but its not too big and thankfully doesn't need to be doubled.

Alan

[king derelict]

On 8/9/2023 at 2:13 AM, AJohnson said:

That will look so good with some lighting on!  I know you can get flickering LEDs, which would be cool.  One day I hope to build a large frigate so I can add such lighting to the stern cabins and lanterns.

Thank you Andrew

This is my first attempt to light a model and in some ways its an easy place to start. There is so much depth in the landscape that hiding the leads is not going to be a problem. A lit ship model would be beautiful.

I have used flickering leds and they do look nice. I ran out before getting to the outer walls and keep and I'm trying to decide whether to use the warm white constant leds I have on hand or buy more flickering ones. That would put the lighting costs pretty close to the close of the kit. I guess that's standard though. Rule 1 says you s[pend far more on aftermarket stuff than the basic kit.

Alan

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Looking good from here.  I'd add a rheostat or variable resistor to the light chain so it can be toned down.  Maybe it's just all the reflective white but it looks a bit too bright.

Thank you Mark

I'm hoping the lighting will tone down when I add the roofs to the towers and rooms on the upper deck. If necessary I can add some paint to the leds too

\Alan

[king derelict]

I am back with the blockwork. I gave myself an easy start. No windows and the blocks only run part way down the walls. The rest is covered by landscape. I finished the first bottle of glue provided with the kit. A full bottle of Weldbond has already been consumed too. 

Thanks for looking in and the comments and likes

 

Alan

[Waitoa]

Looking really good and the lights add an extra dimension.  Think you did a good job with the painting and look forward to seeing this build progress

[king derelict]

On 8/11/2023 at 1:36 PM, Waitoa said:

Looking really good and the lights add an extra dimension.  Think you did a good job with the painting and look forward to seeing this build progress

Thank you very much. I'm enjoying this much more than the Rochelle Towers. More variety I think.

[king derelict]

I'm making progress with the main walls. I've laid the lower sections of the blocks almost round the tower now. I have found one less complication on re-reading the guide sheet. From my initial read and looking over the contents of the kit I had formed the idea that a tier of tiles ran completely round the tower at the green line on the formers seen in some of the photos which also marks the main roof level. This is partly why I had started the block work there. The other reason being that it was a chance to get the blocks to run level.

The re-read showed that the tiles are only used on the curved section of the tower which will be a great simplification.

I've started on the first windows and I confess to a cheat. I have shortened the windows slightly so that they only cover whole tiers of blocks rather than end with a messy thin section to try to blend into the whole wall. I don't think we are dealing with precise scale accuracy on this kit so I went with ease and neatness,

This [part is going quite nicely. Not too much need to shape a lot of blocks and so far the windows have been straightforward. The curved section of tower should be interesting.

The build will be paused for (I hope) a few days. My house was built with Poly butyl water pipes which are now 35 years old and considered prone to leakage. Homeowners Insurance and Real Estate people are starting to get fussy about it so I have the plumbers showing up on Thursday to replace it all with Pex. This will entail bashing holes in the drywall, frightening the cats and covering everything in dust. Cupboards under the sinks have to be emptied, washing machine and drier moved and the work bench has to be cleared out of what is nominally the utility room. So the castle will be moved out of harms way for a while.

Hopefully normal activities will resume next week sometime.

Thanks for looking in and all teh likes and helpful comments.

Alan

 

 

 

[king derelict]

The great piping extravaganza finished today. It was a lot more extensive that I expected. I had thought about doing the drywalling myself but as it was less than 10% of the total cost I decided to be lazy. I was glad I made that decision after I saw the 9 foot by 2 foot holes in the wall that the plumbers cut. Right in the hallway where flaws would be obvious. They did a great job and I have already forgotten where some of the holes were. I spent the day putting stuff back in cupboards and setting up the workshop / utility room again.

I took the opportunity to organize the kits on the shelf. There are far more than I think I will ever build but heres hoping

I also need to confess that there are other stashes tucked away elsewhere.

 

I hope to be back with the castle tomorrow. One useful byproduct of moving everything around for the plumbers was finding the leftover extra Aedes Ars blocks I had to buy to finish the Towers of Rochelle off. 

 

And this little helper is teh reason that finished models end up in cases

I'm looking forward to escaping real life again

Alan

 

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, king derelict said:

The great piping extravaganza finished today. It was a lot more extensive that I expected. I had thought about doing the drywalling myself but as it was less than 10% of the total cost I decided to be lazy. I was glad I made that decision after I saw the 9 foot by 2 foot holes in the wall that the plumbers cut. Right in the hallway where flaws would be obvious. They did a great job and I have already forgotten where some of the holes were. I spent the day putting stuff back in cupboards and setting up the workshop / utility room again.

I took the opportunity to organize the kits on the shelf. There are far more than I think I will ever build but heres hoping

I also need to confess that there are other stashes tucked away elsewhere.

 

I hope to be back with the castle tomorrow. One useful byproduct of moving everything around for the plumbers was finding the leftover extra Aedes Ars blocks I had to buy to finish the Towers of Rochelle off. 

 

And this little helper is teh reason that finished models end up in cases

I'm looking forward to escaping real life again

Alan

 

So many model shop  owners  in here   😜

 

OC.

[CDW]

Makes one wonder how we got through all the prior hurricane seasons in the past without all the insurance hassles we have today. For one thing, the bulk of original Florida settlers knew better than to build where it's common to see homes built today...close to large bodies of water. Old timers did not do that and/or knew the risk they were taking when they did. Insurance companies are making homeowners do all kinds of renewal projects these days or face insurance cancellation. I've got friends who own homes on the Gulf Coast who don't even carry insurance because it's too expensive. Of course, they own their homes outright and are not forced to carry insurance due to mortgage requirements.

[king derelict]

21 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

So many model shop  owners  in here   😜

 

OC.

I keep telling myself its a harmless habit after all I could be spending the money on a crazed drug habit

[king derelict]

20 hours ago, CDW said:

I've got friends who own homes on the Gulf Coast who don't even carry insurance because it's too expensive.

This last two years I have seriously thought about it. Yearly premiums are running about $7000 and to keep it down I have dropped coverage on contents, increased deductibles so I get less and less for the money. And of course if you have the temerity to claim they will either drop you or hike the premium. Three years of premiums would just about pay for a whole new roof. I don't see any signs of the market improving any time soon

Alan

[king derelict]

Back at last with the pile of blocks and the sanding sticks. I completed the lower section of another wall of the tower and added the portal.

The first windows are being worked around. There will be some cleaning up when I start sanding the walls down. 

The curved section of the wall with the pillars and tiles is going to be a slow process with lots of fiddly little pieces to file down.

Its good to be back making a lot of dust again.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for looking in and the likes

Alan

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Thats  some  complex  work  there Alan   with  all  those  profiles  and  tight  curves   -  excellent work  my friend.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

I agree with OC.  I'm just in awe of someone doing this.

[king derelict]

On 8/25/2023 at 7:51 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Thats  some  complex  work  there Alan   with  all  those  profiles  and  tight  curves   -  excellent work  my friend.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. The reentrants are definitely fiddly but I'm still enjoying it.

Alan

[king derelict]

On 8/26/2023 at 4:56 PM, mtaylor said:

I agree with OC.  I'm just in awe of someone doing this.

Thank you Mark. I'm thinking it might be getting a bit obsessional. Thousands of tiny blocks

Alan

[king derelict]

I summoned up some extra patience this morning and decided to tackle that complicated round tower. Lots of shaping and cutting blocks needed but I wanted to get a start on it. In the end I made more progress than I expected and got all the tiles and columns completed. I suspect filling in with the standard blocks is going to be another day or more of fiddling.

I found the Exacto saw blade was ideal for part cutting the blocks to size and then cracking them along the saw line.

This should all look a lot better when sanded to final shape but I want to let the glue really get a hold before that and also if I fill in the gaps it will stabilise the whole thing.

I'm slowly closing in on completion of the lower section of the tower 

Thanks for looking in and for the likes and comments

Alan

[Old Collingwood]

Keep up  the  momentum  mate  -   it will  be  well worth  it  as  it  comes  together.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

On 8/27/2023 at 9:16 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Keep up  the  momentum  mate  -   it will  be  well worth  it  as  it  comes  together.

 

OC.

Thank you OC. Seeing visible progress is sustaining me but I'm starting to want to do something different as a break.

Alan

[king derelict]

Still plugging along and reached a bit of a milestone today. All the outer walls of the main toers are complete - well apart from filling in the intricate little bits on the round tower - but it still feels like I'm making progress. The windows and archway look a bit rough but they will be opened out as part of the general sanding and clean up. There is some serious sanding ahead. The bag of blocks still looks pretty healthy so I might make it with what was provided.

The details of the upper section are going to be interesting. Some areas are going to be difficult to get in to sand down and shape and there are a few bits that I am not really sure how they are supposed to look. The instruction sheet ducks this stuff and the photos don't really show what is going on. I'm hoping it will become more obvious as the blocks pile up. It may have been easier to have added the cardboard templates a bit at a time and blocked up each section but I wanted to know where the lights needed to be placed and setting out the templates was the only sure way to get it right. I think its still doable but it may increase the cuss factor. Thankfully most of the courtyards do not need tiling. 

I'm thinking about taking a break to do something quick but different after the tower walls are completely finished and cleaned up but at the same time I am still enjoying weeing this come together. A compromise might be to paint some more figures which will be needed later on.

Thanks for looking in and I hope everyone has a great weekend and Labor Day holiday in the US

Alan

[Haliburton]

Looking great!

[Old Collingwood]

Excellent work Alan,   I do understand  how you feel about  all  the  work in those  stone works  -  its  looking  so  organic as  it becomes  more than just an MDF  or  plastic  construction  -  truly nice  work.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

Thank you very much OC. I started cleaning up the walls and it has rekindled my enthusiasm. I finished the round tower and even laid a few blocks on the roof details. I've found I made a mistake with setting up the template in one spot but I think it's going to be unnoticeable unless the governors of Loarre castle show up with dividers and plans

Alan

[Landlubber Mike]

This is a really cool project KD - very interesting and you're doing a wonderful job!

 

By the way, did you sneak into my basement and take a picture of my stash??  I recognize a lot of those models

[king derelict]

6 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

This is a really cool project KD - very interesting and you're doing a wonderful job!

 

By the way, did you sneak into my basement and take a picture of my stash??  I recognize a lot of those models

Hi Mike

Thank you very much. Its taking longer than I expected. I need frequent breaks to keep up the enthusiasm for sanding, fitting gluing and repeat but its coming together. Luckily the final sanding and the use of the sanding dust in the gaps cleans up the final result very well.

 

I keep saying I need to stop buying the kits - and then someone has a sale

Alan