Highclere Castle

**Mike Stamper** · #1 02-01-2024, 05:22 PM

I saw Jleslie's comments and Dons note about the French forum. and decided to download the kit.

I must admit that the TV series "Downton Abby" does nothing for me which may be a bit shortsighted because I have not seen any of the programmes.

Highclere is a different place and interests me as a "proper" country house with a long and interesting history. The best bit is that many years ago it was the home of Lord Carnarvon, who had a close friend in Howard Carter.
His Lordship financed Carters excavations in Egypt where they discovered "wonderful things" in the form of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Anyway - back to the model. The first thing was to print off the parts using the 2 pdfs printed on one A4 page system. The first problem was the front wall didn't fit on the base. Not a problem because I covered the base in card with a print of "gravel". I decided to build each part and then to place it on the base. I found that the build had a very unusual system. Each building had two boxes to be connected. There are a few pictures below. It was a clever idea because it supported the roof very well. I completed the buildings and added the balustrades and the embellishments to the towers afterwards.

So, I now have a neat model to remind me of its past and can forget its present ;-))

Cheers
Mike

**Petestein** · #2 02-02-2024, 04:01 PM

I am watching with my daughter the absolutely best TV series ever made: Downton Abbey. I also downloaded the model and as you very correctly say, the base does not correspond so, as you did, I am also building the model on another base. I am having some trouble trying to find the location of the top parts. There is no clear indication so I am basing my work on the photos of the real Downton Abbey together and some guesswork. The model is very nice and accurate but it could use a nice building instructions. The model, as you say, is unconventional although clever by using the sections to assemble the main building. I'll post some photos when I finish mine.

**Petestein** · #3 02-02-2024, 04:03 PM

"I hope His Lordship Robert Crawly and her Ladyship Cora approve my model and Mr. Carter orders Mrs. Patmore to serve us some nice afternoon tea with original Downton biscuits and cake."

**Mike Stamper** · #4 02-03-2024, 12:22 PM

Thanks for the comments.

The kit has a sheet showing the layout which left a few questions, So I made all the sections of the building blocks, towers and the two buildings then added them to my base

Cheers
Mike

**Petestein** · #5 02-03-2024, 07:23 PM

I also made mine the same way. No problem with the building blocks. The difficulty I'm having is the location of all top ornaments decorating the ceiling and towers model. No specific drawings or at least some identification which would simplify matters a lot. But as stated before, I am using now your phoyos plus those of the original castle to sort out how to glue these parts. I am eventually planing to build another one but a bit larger using some beautiful old car models that I have including the Renault of that time. Thanks Mike