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What is it and why did I build it?
This is, first and foremost, a playset for children. It's inspired by the last castle my little brother and I built decades ago (and which I kept as a keepsake when I moved out of the house). My daughter Isabel loves playing with the original castle, but with her brother being a toddler who likes to take things apart and with it being of great sentimental value to me, she can't really play with it the way Lego deserves to be played with. So, I designed this as something that I can one day build for her to play with as children should play with Lego.
This set features:
- A stable for a horse.
- An armorer.
- A well.
- A working drawbridge.
- A two storey keep on a mountain.
Since this is for her, I got her to help me design it, particularly, to tell me how she likes to play with it, which led to some surprising revelations (for example, she wants to play with it from the top down). As such, this is a bit different from many Lego castle sets:
- It has a large courtyard so that she can move minifigs and other toys around in it.
- There are ladders and stairs, with every area being accessible through one.
- While one base plate on the set is hinged to be able to swing out for access, it is made to be playable from the top down, not from opening up the side.
- The second floor of the keep is built to be removed by lifting it off, exposing the first floor, and the roof is hinged to swing open, exposing the second floor.
Inspiration for the design of the keep comes in part from the White Tower at the Tower of London, which my wife and I visited on our honeymoon. The drawbridge assembly is adapted from the instructions to the recent 3-in-1 castle set that came out a couple of years ago. The armour stand is based on a Lego set I had when I was a kid back in the late 1980s.
Why do I believe this would make a great LEGO set?
Put simply, this is a playset designed by the parent of two small children with the help of one of them. It is built around how she wants to play. The castle looks a bit on the simple side, and that's because it is - this design uses as many large plates and pieces as possible for two reasons:
- Affordability - this set has only 1,484 pieces. Every piece was looked up in Pick-a-Brick to ensure availability. This means that Lego can put it out using only the pieces they have on hand, without needing any new molds or colours. This will not be an expensive set for adults - it is designed to be an affordable set for parents that their kids will love playing with.
- Ease of repair - small children will break the Lego buildings they are playing with. Because this is mainly made of large pieces and as few as possible, it will also be easy for parents to put back together (and find pieces when they've been scattered)
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Note for Lego:
I have not included minifigs, but should this be put into production, I would suggest that there be at least ten, including a king and queen, a blacksmith, and at least one knight.
Help your fellow builder by leaving your feedback based on these three criteria:
- Originality: How original is this - never seen before?
- Building Techniques: How much skill do you think the creator of this MOC has, in terms of building technique?
- Details: Express how much you like the details of the build.
Your feedback is only shown to the creator as well as yourself. It is not available for other users to see. The creator won't see your user name.