Chateau de Pierrefonds - France - / L´Instant Durable / 1:250 [Fertig]

I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to use a jig to align the corbel ring properly around the tower. Plans are changing on the fly. The idea was to make a stop collar to slip over the larger diamter of the tower and use it to seat the corbel ring down. But in light of the fact that there is a lot going on with the roof of this machicolation, I think it could become the stop ring and the corbel ring with its wall could be slipped up and against it later. That means that the roof would be glued in position first along with its chimneys, turret and dormers.

In this shot, you can see the roof ring below the tower (sample from another tower yet to be built) and a brown cardboard washer. The washer was added to the upper walls of the machicolation...

...as seen in this detail shot.

First order of business, then will be to build up the structures on the roof.

Things are not going as planned. The wrinkle in this construction is B14. It is an octagonal turret. You can see from the photo above, that it is glued to the flat roof of the tower, the face of the small tower, the sloping roof and the lower tower. It is controlling the fit of all the other parts. And because it's octagonal, it has eight sides to fiddle with as well. (A former inside settled that matter. )

I can see where these towers could be the stumbling block of this model. Hopefully the next post will produce a completed tower.

Getting close!
I'm convinced that the octagonal template shown here in this photo broke the back of this assembly. Without it, this turret would have wandered all over the place in attempting to glue it to four curved surfaces in three different planes.

( I must say, writing in real time like this is kind of fun.. that's what this hobby is all about!)

Off to finish up...
John

Success!
The idea of sliding the machicolation up under the roof worked. I had to put a filler strip around the circumferance of the upper tower at the upper roof line. You can see it.

Looking up...

A close-up...

And another.

Thanks Leif.
Now to assemble some walls. Here is a corner shot of King Arthur's Tower and two wall sections. The main gate can be seen on the right.

It's not pretty, but here's a look behind the scene.

In the center of the northwest wall stands Alexander's Tower. (Alexander the Great) It is quite different than Arthur's Tower. At first, I thought it could be a watch tower with the added height of the tower. Then I realized that with the flat crenellated top this could have been built to represent a fighting top. More members of the garrison could mass here to mount a defence.

A view of the back of this center tower. Note how realistic the embarsures appear. You can really see the depth of the splayed walls of the arrow loops.

Thank you Herbert and Leif.

I mentioned at the outset that Viollet-le Duc was commissioned to restore Pierrefonds castle. Napoleon III visited the ruins in 1850. The seed was sown, but by 1861, the initial plans were altered. Napoleon III had reached the height of his glory and Pierrefonds was to become the imperial residence. He was 53 years old. Today, I am one year younger than Napoleon III when he died. (1808 - 1873) I attach not significance to this fact whatsoever.

While on the topic of the sand of time, please indulge me as I slip into more history. This will be of interest to Jens, Ernst and others who have built two famous buildings in the Architectural Construction Reports or presented them in the Gallery.

The king of Prussia visited Pierrefonds. It is said that this visit may have influenced the restoration of Haut-Koenigsbourg castle in Alsace forty years later. Louis II of Bavaria aslo took inspiration from his visit to start the construction of Neuschwanstein castle in 1869.

So Pierrefonds seems to have been a catalyst for architectural restoration and construction in the 1800's.

The conical roof of the next tower is complex. It carries two dormers, a hexagonal turret and two four flue chimneys.

In this photo you can see two different styles of dormers. The two on the left go on the conical roof. The two on the right go on the machicolation roof. Notice the different methods of construction. The conical dormers have their side walls attached to the dormer. The two on the right have their side walls attached to the roofs. The two on the right also have overhangs on the leading edge of their eaves.

The conical roof is reinforced with a template in the same manner as tower bases. This really firms up the cone and allows it to sit independently on the cutting pad while parts are added to it.

Thanks Jan.

The dormer work setup in the above shots is for the third tower - Godefroy de Bouillon's tower. I did not know this person. After searching the Internet, I found that he was a leader in the First Crusade.

Here is the completed tower...

Detail shot one...

two...

...and three.

This third tower completes the northwest wall. Here it is shown being tested for fit with the courtyard. It really does pay to reinforce major parts with card. The fit is good.

While on this topic of reinforcement, French architectural models never mention reinforcing the courtyards with card. I can still recall the undulating couryard of my first French chateau - Chateau de Blois. The glue on the flimsy supports under the paper courtyard telegraphed through and rippled the surface. The surface itself was not flat at all and made attaching buildings butting up against its edges difficult. Only when bits of card were added underneath did things settle down. It's a pity, because the French models are superb. The next model was Neuschwanstein. What a difference! Reinforced card for the substructure and the courtyards. (Berlin Cathedral is another fine example of this platform building style.)

Hi Leif,
I appreciate the compliment about clean cuts and folds, but if you look again at the shot of me holding Bouillon's tower, you might fault me on the glue job! We talked about flush seams, but I must close this one at the top! I've mentioned before, that taking closeup photographs can be an eye opener. (and a humbling experience) The unforgiving, unblinking camera lens sees things our eyes miss.

I appreciate your view on card modelling. I think we both attempt to enhance the craft and share some useful ideas with our posts. It is encouraging to see others taking the time to photograph tips and processes on this forum as well as the build itself.

J.L.

It is here that we depart from the intended order of operations for this model. The parts are numbered in such a way that all the towers and joining exterior walls will be built around the courtyard before any interior work is done. This would, in my view, make working with interior parts more awkward.

Here is a shot of the roof deck of the garrison unifying and strengthening the northwest wall. The deck is sagging and is not fastened yet to the tower on the right, but it has tidied up the wall nicely.

With the other three sides of the castle absent, it wil be possible to get some of those close up shots as though one were standing on the courtyard and looking about at eye level. Jens mentioned this technique in his Burg Bruneck thread, "... there's the opportunity to make photos during building, when there are open gaps, so you can slide the camera into courtyards, which are later unaccessable."

We'll give it a try.

Here is the work site for the structure over the entrance tunnel and the guardhouse.

The buildings over and beside the entrance are a wonderful collection of elements - a terrace, an elevated arched walkway into an octagonal tower, a corbelled roof and chimney, a lovely dormer and even a blind arcade above the entrance. This is architectural cardmodelling at its best. Hats off to Pierre Guerin, graphic designer of this model.

Another view...

...and a third.

Here is a shot of the entrance and guardhouse structures in place. The entrance tunnel can clearly be seen here.

The front wall of the garrison has been added.

Something different...

Before...

...and after.

The roof of this wing of the castle has seven large dormers facing out over the courtyard. Here is a shot of one of them.