Heading Outdoors

 With the castle finally having reached it's full height it was time to start making the outside of the building look like a castle.  The first step in this process was to add a small gatehouse tower and a bridge in front of the castle.  This lifts the level of the entrance up one floor so that the lowest floor inside (the dungeon) becomes a basement rather than a ground floor.

After painting the entire outside of the castle black I then clad it in rectangular 'blocks' cut from a sheet of EVA foam.  I chose this method over clay or pollyfilla to create the stones because the moisture in these two products tends to make the foam board of the walls warp.  The foam is easier to cut than cardboard and is flexible so is very forgiving when applied to uneven walls (and yes, they are a little uneven).

Unfortunately, the foam doesn't come in grey or anything close to stone colour; the blocked walls started off in a deep blue so once all the walls were covered in blocks they had to be painted.  If you look closely, you can still see slivers of blue between the blocks so at least one more coat of grey is needed before I start to dry brush some lighter tones over the top to make the outside match the stonework you saw in the basement.  I would also like to know when the walls are black, blue and grey how flashes of white are showing between the blocks in these photos; you can't see them with the naked eye.

Originally, the plan was to have solid walls on all four sides of the castle, but I've decided instead to cover the sides with clear plastic so you will be able to see into the castle without the need to lift off the side panels.  This means no more time spent on the tedious task of 'blocking' the walls and it means that when finished the castle will look like a solid castle from the front, but the internal rooms will still be on display (I'm not a fan of spending hours creating the ultimate interior and then closing it off behind a wall where you'll never see it).