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28mm scale / German Robber Knight´s Castle, 16th century

Posted by T. Dürrschmidt on 28 Feb 2021, 20:46

Servus,

today it was perfect weather to take some pictures of my finished German robber-knight´s castle 1520….
The German word “Raubritter” (robber-knight) is a phrase used since the 19th century. The contemporary term in the 16th century was often “Placker” (perhaps to transcript with “flayer”) which is not very well known in modern German language.
By the beginning of the Renaissance era there were big changes in society, weaponry, warfare, culture, art, economy and so on. One of the loosers of these circumstances was the knight. Displaced by trained and disciplined mercenary infantry on the battlefields and left behind by wealthy and prospering towns many knights made use of their old “rights” by simply taking what they needed by force. Sitting in their old fashioned castles they became a famous and romantic symbol of that time, romanticised in later centurys (for example Goethe´s “Götz von Berlichingen”)

So it came to my mind to recreate an idea like one of those castles could have looked like with its inhabitants, keeping it as far as possible historically correct, but also with a touch of humor, romance and a kind of “Mafia-style-setting.”
Some German castles at that time were reinforced with new defences like ditches, obstacles, earth walls, cannon platforms etc. to compete with the improved siege artillery and the growing military power of the German cities. But very often this was in vain. The old castle walls and gates often were no match for the heavy cannon balls.
So this is the imaginary castle of “Hirschenfels” (deer´s rock), located somewhere in Franconia 1520.
A group of mercenaries is returning from a “shopping tour” nearby. Their lord, the bald headed “Herr Kuno von Hirschenfels” is waiting along with his “Zahlmeister” and Landsknechts to get his share from the loot. But most of the castle´s inhabitants are too busy to pay much attention. They have work to do, like gardening, house work or keeping the castle´s weapons in good shape. The city of Nuremberg wants revenge for Kunos raids and Nurembergs siege cannons “Eule” and “Singerin” are able to destroy wooden gates or even Stone walls with a few shots….and this would be the end of Kuno and his “merry men. “
So much for “History”.

The castle: This is a converted foam piece by Noch-Ziterdes, called “Wolvenstein”. (with a “V” to avoid problems with a computer game I think.) I choosed this one because it looked very “German” to me, with its timber frame buildings. I added numerous details and additions, like towers, roofs, portcullis, a wooden hoarding, new windows, drawbridge, fountain, cannons, vegetable garden and so on. I made a new “rock like” base to be able to show the moat and make the castle higher. I made it of styrofoam, shaped with knife and heat, coated with layers of glue and a whole roll of premium 4-layered toilet paper (which was very limited in Germany during the first Corona lockdown in Spring 2020). I spared no effort for this.

It took me about three years to finish the diorama (including longer breaks). This is my biggest and most time consuming diorama so far. I planned to finish this for the Dioramica exhibition in November 2020, but due to Corona unfortunately I had no hurry to complete it.

Figures and accessories are from various brands which I am collecting since 2005….Warlord Games, Games Workshop, Foundry, Assault Group, Artizan, Leopold Dietz, Mirliton, Thomarillion and others.
One of the problems with a closed building in dioramas is that it is hard to see some of the miniatures, but you can look into it from a bird´s view and discover 60 human beings, 3 horses, 1 dog, 2 cats, 3 hens, 1 cock, 1 goat, 8 pigs and one dead goose.

Have fun watching it.

Gott zum Grusse from Bavaria

Thomas

"Return to Castle Wolvenstein." ;-)

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Photo by thomarillion.de
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T. Dürrschmidt  Germany
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Posted by MABO on 28 Feb 2021, 21:19

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
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MABO  Europe
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Posted by C M Dodson on 28 Feb 2021, 21:26

The master of outdoor photography strikes again.

Very nice indeed Thomas.

Best wishes,

Chris
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Posted by Emperor on 28 Feb 2021, 22:08

Great dio... Also I like name ,,Return to castle Wolfenstein,, since I played that game in 2004 and I played it again after two decades few weeks ago...
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Posted by Kostis Ornerakis on 28 Feb 2021, 22:08

Wow!! :shock: :notworthy: :-D
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Kostis Ornerakis  Greece

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Posted by Santi Pérez on 28 Feb 2021, 22:31

Wonderful dio, T. Dürrschmidt, with great paintwork and amazing attention to details. Fantastic photo report too. :love: :love: :love:

My best compliments. :thumbup:

Santi.
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Posted by Ben90 on 28 Feb 2021, 23:16

:drool: :drool: :drool: Brilliant!
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Ben90  Germany
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Posted by Graeme on 01 Mar 2021, 13:10

Absolutely wonderful diorama and very busy, a real slice of life. Actually it's a lot of slices of a lot of lives.

Top Quality work.
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Graeme  Australia
 
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Posted by Peter on 01 Mar 2021, 13:56

Excellent work again Thomas! I like every part of it! :thumbup:

I love that guy who "found" a women on his "shopping tour"! :mrgreen:

And the Bavarian woods in Franconia of course! :-D
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Susofrick on 01 Mar 2021, 14:32

Been drooling over the buildings at Thomarillion, but found them not entirely comparable with my wallet. Great to see in "real" life. And very good use of it.
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Posted by Konrad on 01 Mar 2021, 16:12

What can i say more?
Great!
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Posted by Minuteman on 01 Mar 2021, 16:18

Fantastic castle, wonderful figures, and amazing weather: All quite excellent! The extra details are great, clearly a very well designed and created diorama which also 'tells a story'.
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Posted by Beano Boy on 01 Mar 2021, 17:03

i sure love your castle with all its little folk doing what they constantly do. BB
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Posted by wilberforcefrog on 01 Mar 2021, 18:03

That is just plain stunning! So many little details to explore...
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Posted by Iceman1964 on 01 Mar 2021, 18:14

Simply unbelievable !!! so big and so many small details .... super top, top level diorama
Best compliments
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Posted by T. Dürrschmidt on 05 Mar 2021, 21:44

A big thank you for all the comments guys!

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T. Dürrschmidt  Germany
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Posted by Wiking on 06 Mar 2021, 06:25

Wolvenstein look indeed in some segments like the one in Nuermberg.
Nice are the "wooden boxes" to the wall.
A lot of figures ,details, animales.
Two boys on the wall. :thumbup:
The cov 19 poitive tested is outsourced, and get some fresh air.
And the one with his female trophy!
Make love not war.

And there is a CAT!
Good man, good Dio.
:yeah:
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 06 Mar 2021, 06:29

1) I am very glad you found a better use for toilet paper (they label it in our stores "bathroom tissue") than the usual one;

2) The young man in the cage hanging down from the tower looks quite sad. What was his offense?

3) The costumes, bursting with color, contrast nicely to the drab and underdone tones of the doomed structure;

4) There was actually an earlier Castle Wolfenstein game. I had one from around 1985 for the Atari 2600, one of the earlier available pcs. The german guards yelled at you and said "Schweinhundt" and you needed grenades to kill the SS men because they had body armor.
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Posted by Michael Robert on 07 Mar 2021, 17:35

Hi Thomas,
good things take a while... Great castle, great modelling and great topic.
As a child I was always impressed by old ruins and often - in Germany - there was a story linked to it of its last inhabitants - knights plundering their neibourhood.
I love nearly everything. Just a tiny squibble with the 2 "stone guardians" at the entry of the big hall. They look too heroic to me and spoil a bit the atmosphere (?) or ambiance.
Otherwise hugely inspiring. Thank you for showing
Cheers
Michael
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Michael Robert  France

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Posted by T. Dürrschmidt on 07 Mar 2021, 20:19

@Michael Robert: Yes, the two stone guardians....I agree. I used them as lantern holders, to give them something usefull…...perhaps I should have removed them….
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T. Dürrschmidt  Germany
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