While many LEGO castle builders use at least some shade of gray somewhere in their medieval fortifications, many try to push themselves outside this monochrome palette if possible. On the other hand, sometimes using self-imposed constraints can unlock new levels of creativity. In the case of this microscale village by Aaron Newman, complete with cathedral and an impressive keep, the inspiration came from the task of building a prize for a castle building contest where the use of gray is prohibited. So, whoever wins this prize will still get the benefit of a little gray in an otherwise colorful world.
One of my favorite details about this model are the many angled walls, which reflect a great many real-life castles and ruins around the world. One more missable detail is the sideways bricks that flank the entrance to the cathedral. For the round towers, Aaron borrowed a technique from a previous microscale castle of his featured here on TBB.
Love it!
Ah, so _that’s_ the idea behind all the grey. I recently commented on another site that, for all that the grief the famed Yellow Castle gets for being an “unrealistic” color for a castle, it turns out greyscale castles really aren’t all that common. It really comes down to what’s available to quarry locally, if you’re going for a fortified castle, since blowing the treasury on stone that has to be carted in from halfway around the world will leave you lacking in both defenses and defenders while you wait for construction to be completed. Besides that, many castles aren’t even fortifications, so there aren’t any freestanding walls surrounding the main structure.