This is not an official Lego site.
These castles have all been built by Bob Carney using standard Lego bricks and other elements. Each castle is a scale model of a real European or Middle Eastern medieval castle. The first phase of each new project begins with in depth research, originally in libraries and now mostly on the internet, and then drawing the plans to "Lego scale", typically using 1/8" graph paper for plans, and elevations as well. Once I'm reasonably sure I've got enough of each kind of Lego brick needed to complete the project, I'm ready to build. The castles each take unique elements, so I'm often ordering some parts.
My current project, my 172nd castle, is the fortress/palace at Manzanares el Real near Madrid, Spain. I plan to drive the Castillo de los Mendoza to Brickworld Chicago over Father's Day weekend. I hope you'll be able to visit - it's quite a show! My 171st castle, is a lighted model of the Nehaj Fortress, located on a hill above the city of Senj on Croatia's Adriatic coast. I have just completed a rebuild of King Edward I's famous Harlech Castle [#170] on Wales' northwestern coast - an awesome castle in an awesome setting! The first half of 2018 was occupied by a more or less chronological progression of Scottish tower castles for a pair of exhibitions, first March 10-11, 2018 at the Decatur Home, Lawn and Garden Show at our Civic Center in Decatur, IL, and then at Brickworld 2018 in Schaumberg, near Chicago, over Father's Day weekend in June. The Scottish Castles Project, as I'm calling it, will feature 8 Scottish castles, from a simple tower to an elaborate Z-plan. The "progression" will be 1) a plain Scottish tower called Corgarff Castle [#166], famed now for its 18th century star-shaped barmkin; 2) a 15th century Scottish tower on Little Cumbrae [#164] Island in the middle of the Firth of Clyde, ruinous since the English Civil War; 3) a large tower with unusual parallel roofed garrets called Spedlins Tower [#165], restored on the west bank of the River Annan in Dumfriesshire; 4) an early L-plan called the Castle of Fiddes [#160], located about 4 miles SW of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire; 5) a very cute Scottish castle called Abbot's Tower [#163], located near the ruin of Sweetheart Abbey in Dumfriesshire; 6) an elaborate L-plan called Crathes Castle [#162], located near Aberdeen and one of the most visited and photographed in Scotland; 7) Castle Gogar [#168], a beautiful, white Y-plan tower just seven miles from Edinburgh Castle; and finally 8) an equally entrancing Z-plan on the Black Isle near Inverness called Kilcoy Castle [#167], restored in 1891 by famed architects, Ross and McBeth. I've added a 9th castle for Brickworld: Castle Tioram [#169], on a small tidal island in the Scottish Highlands.
I've also recently completed construction of the awesome fortress in Soncino, Italy, the Castillo di Rocca Sforzesca [#161]. Like La Mota in Spain, Soncino doesn't look too intimidating until you get up close and peer down into the 32' deep ditch, in this instance floodable on demand! It's my first southern European castle using dark orange Lego to mimic clay tile roofs -- and it took awhile to accumulate enough to finish the project! My 159th castle, the royal castle called Guimarães, is located in northern Portugal. The first castle on the site was built half a century before the millennium, and the current castle has survived almost 900 years, with a few repairs along the way. My 158th castle, the unique toll castle called Pfalzgrafenstein, which is nestled on a tiny island in the middle of the Rhine River in western Germany, was transported safely to Brickworld 2017 in Schaumburg, Illinois in mid-June. Otherwise, I've arranged the castles I've built by their country of origin. Just click on any of the castle names that interest you (or all of them if you like) and you'll be treated to several photographs and a plan of the real castle, a brief history (possibly with personal notes) and pictures of my Lego model. There's also a Build Your Own section with my working Lego plans (when not too large) and several URLs referring you to related castle sites on the World Wide Web.
