Kasteel Nijenrode/Breukelen 1:100[ FERTIG]

Renovations to a laundry room have kept me off line. Plumbing, wiring, cabinets and counters are now all completed tasks. It is good to now get back to some work with paper instead of 49" x 97"malamine panels.

The next project takes us to The Netherlands. Gert has given me some interesting background for this model. It was a private castle at one time, but now is converted to a business school. It is one of Léon Schuijt's large scaled models (1:100).

Here is a rendering of the model.

The angular orientation of this model made it an immediate candidate for permanent placement in my living room on top of a china cabinet. You will see from these two photos of the cabinet, that it is a corner unit with a 45 degree face frame.

However, parts of the castle will hang over the edges of the top of the cabinet. Here is the footprint of the cabinet top.

I have attempted to plan out the layout of the model on the green pattern of the cabinet. The left photo shows the baseplate of the model on the pattern. Part of the castle hangs over the left side and a significant part hangs over the angled front of the cabinet. Two pencil line on the base show this overhang.

The right photo shows the courtyard sitting on the baseplate. I plan to rotate the walls of the courtyard to follow the cabinet's front edge.

Rotating the front wall of the courtyard and the pedimented arbour entrance should work. It will not interfere with the location of the well.

Now the issue of the square building to the left. I have set its roof on the layout here. You will note that the roof is laid out for the placement of two rectangular hip roofs on top . If I reduce the size of this building in depth, I can make a clean cut and bisect the building just past one roof segment.

The model will then fit the top of the cabinet. At least that's the theory...

Now to see if this venture works.

Hello fellows. Thanks for the nice comments. I have always enjoyed renovation work. You never quite know what you are going to get into when you open a wall. I am so pleased that I could give my wife a nice room to work in. She deserves it.

Ricardo, the scale is large. I've been sitting on this model for a couple of years. In fact, I kind of wrote it off as being a practical build. But then the idea of actually using it as a room decor high up on the top of a display cabinet came to mind. The high tower with the onion shaped dome will rise high above the cabinet when viewed from a sitting position in the living room.

Now to the task of altering the base.

Before...

No turning back...

... and after.

Hello David,
Thank you for the encouraging words.

Christian, this is Léon Schuijt's publisher's 50th jubilee. There is a 50% offer now for some of Léon's models. Gert, (eskatee) has kindly offered to act as an intermediate in ordering. You can contact Gert at:
eskatee@hotmail.com

Sizing the courtyard was a little more difficult. I used a technique known to artisans who do marquetry. You lay the printed part you want to cut in on top of the layer below and cut through both pieces of paper. the lower piece is removed and the top one drops down flush in place.

The resulting courtyard looks as though it was printed as is.

You can see the alterations in these two photos.

The altered base and courtyard together ready for construction.

So here is the setup so far.

It looks as though everything will fit on top of the cabinet. (green footprint pattern). You will note that the courtyard is elevated. It actually will be much higher than seen here. Parts of it are surrounded by a 3.7 meter high brick wall.

Three dimensional work begins with the construction of the substructure for the courtyard. It is quite coincidental that the grey card used for the strips came from a package sent to me from Gert in Holland. A Dutch model with Dutch card shipped across the ocean!

It was quite thick and was cut on a table saw with a fine toothed saw blade. This made the fold up reinforcement parts printed wit the model unnecessary.

The vertical supports radiate outward from the centre.

Hi Gert.
Tell me more. I am not sure what terms to use in your country. Is 'The Netherlands' a larger term to use like 'Great Britain'? You mention provinces. Utrecht is in Holland, which is in the Netherlands - right?

Wanting to learn more,
John

Thank you Gert for your explanation. I appreciate it very much.
Forgive me for using the wrong terminology.

Now you must tell me how to pronounce 'Koninkrijk'.

Greetings from a country of ten provinces and three territories.

John

Hi Tom,
Thanks. Yes, I do have the the project rather backwards. But I wanted to see if this big 1:100 model could be adapted to fit. Have you found a place to display Carcassonne?

Cheers...John

The keep of the castle has been modified in depth to fit the base. It is the only building that will be altered.

The cut through the building was made just behind the side chimney. The back of the keep will be closed later.

Hi Fred. Yes, these earlier models before the move to photo rendering with computers were works of art. Léon Schuijt's work is wonderful.

Hello Papercaptain,

You have taught me a new term - pepperboxes. Thank you.

The cut in the keep is called a cross section. It would be tempting, as you suggest, to take elements further back and stick them on the back of the cut, but that would destroy the integrity and accuracy of the model. They would not belong there. A third tower is attached to the back wall of the keep as well as the stair tower. Bringing them forward might give the impression that the keep was rectangular and built with them in this position.

Cross sections are used often in model constructions for different reasons. Here is how a cross section is used on ID's Institute de Paris. The designer, Jean-Marie Lemaire, chose to contain the size of the model by not including the wing of the Institute that runs back along the Rue Mazarine. He drew on the panel at the cross section, floor elevations, staircases and other details. I will simply close the back of the keep at the cut line with a white panel.

Institut de France, Paris, L'Instant Durable, 1:250[FERTIG]

Thanks for your interest.

John

I was quite pleased with the level of detail on stairs leading down from the courtyard at the corner of the keep. Two flights of stairs are modelled with risers and treads. They turn 180 degrees at a landing. I think the scale of 1:100 made this level of detail possible.

These next four pictures are not very pretty. They show the stairs and the dividing wall in the raw. They look rather rough. The paper used in this model was very thick. It was being asked to do a lot as it folded accordion style back and forth - vertically at the risers and horizontally at the treads. All in close quarters.

This thicker card meant that the stairs were growing longer as the run continued up the flight of stairs in these photos. Something had to be done. The stairs would not fit the stairwell. The flight was intended to be continual. However, you will see a piece of it lying by itself on the table. I cut it off at a riser and shortened a tread before continuing on up. A man on a galloping horse will never know the difference, but if you went down these stairs, you could break your neck!

These pictures look a little better. It's amazing what a little bit of paint can do to improve overall appearance.

Edit: Did you notice the top tread in the left picture? It is glued by itself on the top of the courtyard with its riser extending downward to meet the rest of the staircase coming up. Another attempt at creating a control joint.

Thanks Wolfgang.

The keep stairs are now protected from the weather. Of course, all these stair details will never be seen by anyone sitting in the living room looking up at the model. But we'll know they're there.

Now the courtyard will be walled. Because the footprint of the model has been altered, all the walls will have to be custom cut and fitted. Most of the angles have been changed.

The semicircular patch of white will be the location of a grassy knoll anchoring the corner of the keep, the open stairwell and the courtyard wall.

The first section of the courtyard wall is in place.

The walls of the Nijenrode are very large. I don't think I've worked with walls as large as these since building Burg Eltz.

Here's a novelty shot of a wall being compared to the entire castle of Haut Koeningsbourg in Alsace, France.

Hans,
I wish to thank you profusely for posting the sketches of Kasteel Nijenrode in this thread. You are very thoughtful.

As you know, I relish the historical background of the models. These are lovely sketches. How did you find them?

You have made this build mean so much more to not only me, but all viewing this thread.

Thank you Hajo!

Cheers...John