Water Castle, Blatna, Czech Republic

**Philip** · #1 03-10-2023, 04:29 PM

The Water Castle is situated on a rock base surrounded by a small lake next to the town of Blatna in Southern Bohemia. Besides having a very long history it also boasts a renowned deer park. It's a bit of a mongrel in terms of architectural style but that is understandable when you consider it's age. The first historical record of it was in 1235 when serving as the seat of Vysemir, a lesser nobleman. Subsequent owners have added to it now and again according to their own taste. And that's how it is today.

The castle has featured here previously. There was Mike Stamper's 2014 version from ABC magazine and The--Mouse's 2017 speed trial attempt from an unidentified kit. This model is the same as the one that Thomas Pleiner made the subject of a 2014 build thread, namely "Blatna" by Richard Vyskovsky, Albatros, Prague, 1987. Now I don't normally like to replicate stuff that others have done but I've been itching to have a go at this kit for a long while because it looked too interesting to ignore any longer. Broke down eventually. Took about four months, on and off. So my apologies if you've seen it all before but... well... you know...

You can find out a lot more about the castle here: Castle Blatna - Stunning castle with English park in South Bohemia

**Michael Mash** · #2 03-10-2023, 04:55 PM

Lovely rendition of this Czech Water Castle.
The 4th image, crossing the bridge is my favorite.

**Vermin_King** · #3 03-10-2023, 05:20 PM

Outstanding little model there. You've done it proud

**SCEtoAUX** · #4 03-10-2023, 06:33 PM

Looks real good.

**Thumb Dog** · #5 03-10-2023, 07:26 PM

Hi All,

And hi, Philip. Beautiful work on your Water Castle. Built from a solid drawing with strong color throughout. You can always tell the “friendly castles” from their windows…the more windows, the friendlier the castle.

Looking at photograph number four that Michael Mash pointed out, I thought the tall, gothic windows on the five-sided bump-out might belong to a chapel. Sure enough, below is the chapel in question. The photo is from your recommended site.

Lovely kit and cleanly built.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

**Sakrison** · #6 03-10-2023, 07:33 PM

Very nice, Philip, and no apology needed.

**Tapcho** · #7 03-11-2023, 12:32 AM

I have memories about this kit. I built it years ago and gave it to my late father on his birtday. He hung it on the wall at our summerhouse and stood time there nearly 20 years. When we eventually sold the place and and emptied the premises we burnt some paper documents on the fireplace my Blatna met it's destiny there and then. Your build is much cleaner than my back in those days. So good to see these pictures. Thanks Philip.

Tappi

**Styrian Spitfire** · #8 03-11-2023, 12:40 AM

Hi Philip ,

a very nice building , it is so fine !!

Kind regards
Kurt

**Siwi** · #9 03-11-2023, 04:46 AM

It's a very tidy build and the flags are a great touch. The only thing I think would improve this would be to create a baseboard surrounding the front and bridge to depict what I assume is a moat - maybe using coloured pencils to keep in the hand-drawn style.

**Madbrit** · #10 03-11-2023, 10:53 AM

Phillip,

This is one very nice clean build. Congratulations on achieving such an enviable level of modeling expertise.

Derek