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By YRM - Dec. 31, 1969 BUILDING HISTORY:The underkeep of the Mines of Tethyamar fell to dark creatures centuries ago, but the dwarves were determined to reclaim their home. My adventuring party lead multiple assault teams against over 100 enemy forces in capturing this well defended terrain. ABOUT THE STRUCTURE: The base is 2 Feet Wide by 4 Feet Deep. From the base to the top of the castle is over 29 Inches tall and the castle by itself is over 19 inches tall. Hirst Art castings are used throughout the full structure from the initial wall to the bridge to the outer wall and castle itself. There were many design challenges to building this giant piece. 1 - Building the bridge and integrating it with the terrain and lava. 2 - Building the outer wall, bridge, and castle doors to all line up. 3 - Creating a multi-tiered, defensive, play area. 4 - Working lights into the lava and castle. 5 - Building the castle itself with blended 8", 4", Ruined tower and Turret molds to create multiple blended towers and still having it all line up. 6 - Having several reusable modular parts like the main castle, outer wall, or upper round tower. 7 - Making sure all of these designs work together over a 2x4 foot area. 8 - Making sure everywhere in the main castle is accessable by stairs or ladders. 9 - Crafting the actual lava (besides just integrating Hirst Arts with it) 10 - Making the full castle come apart easily enough to work as a useable interior gaming area. The lava was created by suspending clear plastic folder covers across a carved river of insulation foam. The plastic was secured and sealed, then supported by slabs of foam pushed under the plastic. Then, clear resin, mixed with dies and paints, was added in layers. Brush strokes and rough effects were added to "cool" areas of the lava to a dark crust. Prior to pouring the lava, holes were cut in the plastic and the fully painted bridge was glued into place and sealed. The overall design is meant to be highly defensive. I wanted to be able to create an environment where invading forces were funnelled through heavily dangerous situations. The castle is built for structural stability, inside and out. A battery operated light is hidden and suspended from the ceiling of the largest section of the castle. This lights up most of the middle level, as I take advantage of the rows of pillared openings holding up the outer wall. These openings are ideal for spellcasters, as they are protected by the outer wall but give full sight access to the courtyard area between the outer wall and castle. The castle itself was very tricky to pull off. Anyone who has build the round tower molds knows that integrating them all like they are here takes a bit of planning. The rock in the cavern itself is carved to resemble rock that had been intentionally carved out by dwarves with picks and other machinery. MOLDS USED: 041 - Gothic Dungeon Accessories 043 - Gothic Panel Accessories 044 - Gothic Additional Accessories 045 - Gothic Dungeon Builder 050 - Wizard's Tower 051 - Dragon's Inn 052 - Four Inch Circular Tower Mold 053 - Bridge Mold 054 - Gothic Church Mold 055 - Bell Tower Mold 056 - Tomb Mold 060 - Prison Tower Mold 061 - Turret Mold 064 - Eight Inch Round Tower Mold 065 - Ruined Tower Mold 080 - Dragon's Teeth Accessory Mold 201 - Floor Tile Mold 205 - Gothic Floor Tile Mold Thanks for reading. Most of the photos were taken in my dark garage with a few dim lights and the actual lights of the model. The glow of the lava is genuine... it's not added in photoshop or whatever. I took the shots with my camera's night setting. I didn't add any light or color to the model with Photoshop that wasn't there in the actual photos. The lava really does make everything look red like that. In other words, if you came to my house and we went into my garage at dusk and lit this bad boy up, it would look EXACTLY like it does in the photos. Enjoy.
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