Marx Miniature Knights and Castle Playset - Pt 2

Marx's Miniature Knights and Castle playset castle really is a niceldesigned toy. The only big drawback - and one I seem to recall as a youngster - was that the walls, specifically the front wall next to the gate, was too long. That meant it didn't sit in the channel molded onto the base for it. However, once the castle is assembled you don't notice. 

It's not a very large castle to be sure and has a footprint similar to the tiny outpost castle which is close to my wife's old home in Germany. Burg Hartenfels sits on a hill on the edge of the town of Hartenfels and overlooks the road and valley from Maxsain to Hartenfels. It was a very small edifice and could only house a small garrison of soldiers who probably actually lived in the town itself. The Marx toy measures 11 1/2" (29.21cm) W x 8 1/4" (20.95cm) D x 9 3/4" (24.76cm) H to top of tallest tower.

The locals call this the Schmandippe (Butterchurn) and the tower could be seen from my wife's old house in Maxsain.

Courtesy: Von MyName (El tommo (talk)) - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12070831

Courtesy: Von Wolkenkratzer - Eigenes Werk, CC-BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62397853

Courtesy: Von MyName (El tommo (talk)) - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12070883.

The base of Marx's castle has a road leading up to the drawbridge. There is a small pond in front of the drawbridge. There are four crenelated walls plus the drawbridge wall. Only three of the five towers have cupola roofs and each roof has a yellow soft plastic flag or penant with a red cross painted on (although the crosses on mine are nearly all worn off), The towers are of two & three piece construction: round tower, crenelated tower top, roof (on three towers)

My sample has asmall chunk broken off one of the tower tops due to catapult bombardment I suspect! 

 There is a tiny chain attached to the drawbridge but mine is broken. However, the force fit of the drawbridge against the wall allows it to stay in any position I want for now

 Here's the winch the drawbridge chain would normally be attached to

Conte Viking Set No. 2 - Part 9 Playing With Vikings and Knights

Although I have precious little 'me' time - although you may not know it by the amount of posts I still manage to accomplish - what I do have is a system (sort of). During the hour or two a week the grand baby is out with her mother, I go in The Cave and take photos. It takes about 2 minutes to do a series of 12-18 shots/toy and I was able to do all the photos for this series in about forty minutes to include unboxing them, sorting them out, etc. Then, when the baby is home, us two will watch kiddie videos on Ya'All Tube and I'll have Microsoft Office Picture Manager opened up in a minimized screen to the right. I can edit all my photos and still watch the videos and interact with my Little Schatzie (of course sometimes she just wants to play outside, or play on the floor - then nuthin' gets done hahahaha). But that's okay. Then, there's the roughly 1/2-to-1 hour of time I might have before going to work. Unless of course she wakes up early :-). Can you tell we're kinda joined at the hip? That's okay, cuz I love the little stinker hahahahaha

Okay, this series of 'play' shots took about 45 mintes to do. I took out the display base built a couple of years back, grabbed the backdrop painting that was made for the ACW diorama, had to find and reassemble the Built-Rite cardboard fort, pulled out Britains Knights, the Tehnolog Vikings, and of course the Conte Vikings. After taking the photos it was a couple of days before they could be edited. In any case, all of this is just to emphasize that if you really want to pursue your hobby just go for it. Pressed for time? Null problemo. Work out some kind of system and I'm sure you'll be able to have a little fun no matter life's other priorities. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina 

As mentioned, and as you can see in the photos, there are a bunch of Britains Knights. Slowly-but-surely the Knights, Saracens, Turks, Vikings portion of the collection has been growing as has my selection of castles, none of which have been blogged yet. As I sell more stuff out in The Cave I hope to have room to display some of these. Also, there is a shelving system available at Lowe's (which happens to be real close to the house) that will allow me to install shelves up to perhaps 24" deep - but that's kinda like a major project right now and is sort of in the planning stages.

Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Not a very professional set-up perhaps but it manages to get the job done.

This scene can best be described as a skirmish because really, there's not enough warriors to warrant a full blown battle

The Built-Rite Fort resembles a small castle outpost and to be historically accurate one wouldn't have seen so many mounted Knights in armor at a puny little Burg like this - unless they happened to be there during their rounds of the territory. At one time in Europe, castles dominated the landscape and many of them were simply small walled enclosures housing a garrison of men who's job it was may have been to watch a road in-&-out of a region, or to collect taxes. Knights in armor would actually have been the noblemen in control of the region and they would be housed in their more stately castles or manor houses because only they could afford the horses and armor and support team necessary for upkeep of their gear and stables.

Burg Hartenfels

(Rheinland-Pfalz)

This very small castle ruin is what we used to see from Bettina's kitchen window!! (albeit from a different angle and a little farther away). The 23m high tower - dubbed in the local dialect "Schmanddeppen" (butter churn) - is situated on the Hohen Straße (High Road) and lay along the important Handelstraße (Trade Route) between Frankurt am Main and Köln (Cologne). First mentioned in 1249 and overlooking Hartenfels and Maxsain, like most castle's it was built on the high ground.

Courtesy Wikiwand

As you can see by this overhead shot the castle complex is tiny. The men were more than likely garrisoned in town and manned the castle during their shifts. Size-wise, the Built-Rite Fort probably would occupy a very similar foot print on the real estate.

An interesting note: Legend has it that there was a 4km long tunnel between Burg Hartenfels and the monestary at Marienheim in Herschbach. To-date no tunnel entrance has been found.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

If you look closely, the Knight on horseback is exiting the castle down a sloped ramp. The original Built-Rite Fort did not come with a ramp so I built one of carved Styrofoam and globs of thick brown housepaint :-)