Castell de Montsoriu

[Tapcho]

This is a model of a Catalan castle/fortress located on top of Montsoriu hill 40 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. It originates from the 10th century when the main watch tower was erected and was centuries home and place of business for a prominent House of Cabrera, viscounts of that corner of the world. All together 21 viscounts over the years 1002-1526. That's why I chose the House of Cabrera coat of arms to decorate the model. Or should we call it a 'goat of arms' in this case.

The castle lost its importance gradually during the 17th and 18th centuries and slowly deteriorated to ruins. Hikers and novelists aroused a new interest in the history of the location during the 19th century and in the early 1900 and archeological cataloguing of the area was done. Restoration works started in the late 1900's and the landmark was opened to the public in 2011 and the restoration is still ongoing. A nature reserve has been formed around it.

The model is designed by a catalan graphic designer Nestor Pellicer. The model can be found here. And in a French forum is a build thread of it too (original colors and size)

The model is quite colorful at least compared to the palette of the ruins. I toned the color intensity a bit down when printing it. I also scaled down to 50% to get it somewhere near *Micromodels scale' (it's now about 1/700 if my estimation is correct. The finished model sits on a 11x12 cm base.

This is not an easy model to build in my chosen scale and printed on a 170g paper. The model itself has some minor design issues (more of that here) but for the most part my challenges were due to scale and paper weight. But it was an enjoyable adventure and I quite like the outcome.

I did some modifications along the build. I wanted to open the covered walkway surrounding the courtyard (that resulted I had to do the lower parts of the houses too with doors and windows). I also wanted a proper belltower (though a narrower one could have been more accurate for the period). And some other minor tweaks here and there. A lot of crenels to cut too.

Take a look at the model, it's worth it. Maybe even build it. Enjoy.

Tappi

[Styrian Spitfire]

Hi Tappi ,

this is a realy wonderfull model , I never see that bevor

Kind regards Kurt

[rockpaperscissor]

Bravo! I attempted to build this model several years ago at 100% and it defeated me before I got too far along so I can appreciate what you've accomplished, especially in the reduced scale. The hand drawn and water colored appearance is very beautiful. I really like how you presented it with the raised "goat of arms". Thank you for the step-by-step build link. I may have another go at this one. Great work!

[Michael Mash]

Beautiful Tappi.
It has the appearance of a painting by a Spanish Master.
Mike

[Vermin_King]

That is a truly wonderful build you have there.

[Tim Crowe]

Lovely - not too big either

Tim

[Tapcho]

Thank you my friends, I'm glad you like it. Really appreciated.

@Mike - one could imagine the castke been painted in the yellow light of the Mediterrenean sunrise gildening the walls as blue night withdraws.

@Don - I can understand why you didn't finnish the model. I studied the part printouts for several days trying to figure out how to do it. The part identification and positioning marks didn't make it easy. But it's doable when you get the hang of it. Now that I know how it might be fun to do it all over again. Maybe.

@Kurt - glad I could present something new here. Today I found out that this model was mentioned in an earlier conversation here few years back, Philip brought it up then.

@Tim - small is the best. Saves the space in the cabinet of curiosities.

@Vermin - what pleases you pleases me too.

Tappi

[Philip]

You're just full of extraordinary surprises, Tappi.

[Tapcho]

Thanks Philip, but I'm just tiptoeing around where you've already wondered (Església de Santa Càndia D'Orpi). Got to admit these catalan models are quite nice.

Tappi

[Nontico]

Very nice build in that scale! Love the textures on it... Kind of dreamy...