Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria

This small LEGO part under normal circumstances probably would be classified as "mostly harmless": the white "tap". Nevertheless, it is the most used brick in the Neuschwanstein model and a very important one!

It's used more than 200 times! This corresponds to the big number of windows in the castle which are faithfully represented in the model. Most of the windows are double windows and the tap is used as ornamented pillar in the middle. There are also triple windows and balconies where the part is used as you can see below. 

I searched for away to represent the castle's windows in a good way for quite some time when designing the model. The tap is a simple and effective solution I'm pretty happy with.

Have fun!

Today's update gives a bit of an insight into the construction of the model. One might think that the square tower on the side of the main courtyard would be the easiest of the towers to build in LEGO. It's square, right? But the tower's design is intricate and the change of width between 4, 5 and 6 bricks width makes it more challenging than I expected. But it was definitely fun to build! 

The "explosion" images give an impression of the buildup of the tower's top.

Have fun!

Today's photos show a bit more of the roof of the Palas and its towers, chimneys and decorations.

Getting the angles of the roof right and building a round tower with a diameter of about 3 studs (also including some windows) was a nice challenge of the model. :-)

Today's update shows detail photos of the Palas (main building) facade with balconies, small turrets, attic windows and chimneys and (second pic) the stairs from the lower to the upper courtyard. Two micro figs are admiring the view! :-)

New adversities await Ludwig! Some small but important parts of the half built castle disappeared over night...

Bigger version: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6099773

After a long day of building, Ludwig is looking forward to enjoy a good meal. But something's hiding under the table...

Bigger version: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6093546

Todays picture shows a detailed view of the main building of the castle in the model.

A bit down and left of the middle you can see the winter garden of the castle.

It is connected to the living room and the "Grotto". This is an artificial little cave inside a room which had a small waterfall and could be lit up with colorful lights. It should remain of a scene in the Tannhäuser saga. A very creative idea for a castle room! :-)

To give you a little foretaste of the castle you can build your own micro model of king Ludwigs golden carriage now. All you need is 44 LEGO parts, including a display base. The little white parts are cow horns, by the way.

You can vary the colors of course and have a blue and silver carriage if you like :-)

Have fun!

Today's photo shows a view of the courtyard behind the gatehouse. You can see that the scale of the model is fitting to use the small LEGO trophy figures to populate the castle!

Ludwig's plans are not always as appreciated as he'd like them to be... And now he doesn't even get cake! 

Bigger version: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6196495