Sleeping Beauty Castle by Stephle59

[Bruce N H]

Hey all,

Stephle59 made this great Sleeping Beauty Castle. It is part of a Disney-themed collaborative display called Once Upon a Time built with fellow French AFOLs Kloou, Sweetsha and N3rik68 recently on display at Fana'briques 2015.



Bruce

[Stephle59]

Hey, many thanks Bruce, for having blogged this castle on Classic-Castle

In advance, sorry for my english...

For the 10th edition of Fana'briques exhibition which took place near Strasbourg - France, 26 to 28 June 2015, my friends Jerome (Kloou), Sweetsha (Florian), Eric (N3rik68) and myself, had the idea of a collaborative display presenting different ©Disney worlds and iconic characters.

In this project, we wanted at least one piece attracts the visitor's eye ,from a distance. And I had this "wonderful" idea to propose the building of this castle, almost 1 m high and 90 cm wide and 55 cm deep, and more than 8,600 pieces, for a little more than 450 hours work.

If you have not noticed, or if you don't know, it closely resembles that found in Disneyland Paris. It is unfortunately still in WIP and will be presented complete in the coming weeks. It lacks even two towers and the roof of the ballroom.

The approach of this kind of project must meet minimum targets to be usable on exhibition, including the main criteria: modularity and size retention. We didn't want to exceed a depth of one meter, so you can chat with visitors . The castle has necessarily been "compressed", ie shallower than the true. But I wanted a maximum of items are present: almost every round towers - it definitely miss one, the ballroom , the various buildings, ...
It is built in two modules of 48 x 48,to be more easily carried. He must be as light as possible : hollow structure, technic beams and various BURPs bear most of the buildings.

It must then take into account all the constraints and there is one that I had forgotten when I launched the idea : color. Yes Yes! the castle is pink! And when I started to see the catalog of this color on Bricklink , there I somewhat disillusioned. There is extremely limited, and round parts are almost nonexistent. Argh, the castle has got many rounded towers !
Especially the parts are expensive ... To limit weight and costs to a minimum, I went on a strong operation of SNOT. Because the bright pink tile 1 x 2, for example, is very affordable.

Another constraint : roofs. After some tests, the classic blue was not a nice rendering . So I turned to the dark blue. And you know what? Although this time the rounded parts exist, they are expensive too... And given the number of roofs to build...
At the top, of course, there are decorations in pearl gold color. A beautiful selection of parts, including minifigs accessories that allow the NPU very easily, but few plates and expensive cost.
In short, you'll understand that this creation has exploded the budget I had set myself.

Fortunately in these cases, the service "Bricks & Pieces" from Lego is a great help for significantly cheaper than what you can find on BrickLink on many references of rare colors. And it also gives access to all parts of the new year, as the new golden gates of the range Elves.

I worked on documenting myself on the Internet. There are many pictures of the castle, but which often represent the front and left side of the castle - when you're facing him. Nothing for the right side. Closer research work took me on the blog of a railway modeler who integrated the castle in his diorama. So I went to his pictures - the representation is more simplistic - to assemble the missing side pictures "official", with which I have taken some liberties like to remove the bottom of the tower and incorporate a small balcony worked to make it a little more airy visually.

How did we build rounded towers when we haven't got adapted round parts ?
Many thanks to the cheese slopes ! This is the part that allows for a round with the most "facilities" possible. So I imposed this constraint with light bluish gray towers, to keep some overall harmony.

I deliberately kept the simplistic style of the rocky parts to respect the style of the amusement park. Reliefs kept to a minimum, without major frills. From the front, I tried to respect the style . Few SNOT, except at the top - to save bricks, worked a little kick - and some angles formed by the wedges. But I am allowed total freedom with the small water fall and vegetation as it allows to highlight other skits in a different setting.

In terms of adjustments between buildings, there will be some pieces to pick up. Just having finished for the exhibition has not helped to refine, and while working on half stud is like something easier, working on third or fourth stud, that's another story... But the castle had to be presentable for exhibition.

Ultimately, what makes me most proud of in this project, is not so much having to present it in time for Fana'briques exhibition, and celebrate as it should be 10 years with friends - it was a pleasure - that have is a tribute to my daughters. Just seeing the look of my great daughter, every day watching the build changes, and see his eyes shining, to tell me that, that's it the more present I could have back. And if you ask yourself the question, the answer is yes, it will stand and above this is my gift to them.