How to make a decorative lock from an iron pipe. A small castle with your own hands. Decorations for the site

Do you want to surprise your neighbors in the country? Do you dream of immersing yourself in the atmosphere of the Middle Ages? Then build a medieval castle on your site. You can, of course, purchase a prefabricated version at a children's toy store, but at a cost of several thousand rubles, it will look like a large plastic toy. A castle created with your own hands will look like a real one, and its dimensions and appearance limited only by your imagination.

Materials: stone or wood

For a building consisting of three walls with towers, you will need following materials:

Polystyrene foam – 5 sheets measuring 100 x 60 cm x 3 cm
Insulation for pipes “foamolin”, diameter 110 mm – 4 pcs x 1 m
Decorative plaster based on colored chips - 1-2 large jars
Small stone or marble chips- 1 kg
Acrylic paint to match the plaster – 1 can or jar
Dark acrylic paint (black or brown) – 1 spray can or jar
Plastic flower pots (for roofs) – 2 pcs.
Glue for foam plastic (for example, “Moment Installation”) – 2 large tubes
Long screws (for flagpoles) – 2 pcs.
Polyurethane foam + gun – 2 cans

Tools

Thin knife – 1 pc., screwdriver – 1 pc.
Meter ruler, short ruler, felt-tip pen or marker.
Narrow paint brushes – 4-5 pcs.
Spatula – 1 pc.
Large painting brushes for painting teeth – 2 pcs.
Electrical tape – 1 pc.
Modeling mass (black or brown) – 1 package

Stage 1. We draw a diagram of the future structure

First you need to determine the components of the future castle - the number of walls and towers. I offer schemes of three types of walls that can be combined in any quantity. I decided to start with three walls and six towers - three round and three square. You can start work from any wall.

Stage 2. How to make a wall model with your own hands

WALL-1. To make it, we need two sheets of foam plastic (better white) and two plastic flower pots.

This is what she looks like in finished form:

Drawing a diagram of the walls

On one sheet of foam plastic we draw a diagram of the wall with a felt-tip pen. She will be the carrier. The height of the towers is equal to the height of the sheet. The width of each tower is equal to the width of the flowerpot (roof) minus 1 cm. The distance between the teeth should be at least half the width of the tooth. The height of the walls and the middle part is approximately two-thirds of the height of the towers. Along the edges of the wall it is necessary to leave 5 cm of area free from teeth. You will then hide this part under the tower. Carefully cut everything out with a knife. In the middle part we cut out the gate. We do not cut out windows on the towers.

Drawing tower blanks

On the second sheet of foam plastic we draw blanks for the towers - 6 pieces, 3 for each tower. The size of the blanks is equal to the size of the towers. We cut out windows on four blanks. We don’t throw away the cut out pieces; they will come in handy later when painting. We glue the tower blanks on top of each other on the load-bearing wall in the place marked for the towers - we glue two blanks on the front side of the wall (we glue the blank with windows on top), we glue the second blank with windows on the end side load-bearing wall. Moment Montazh glue can be used as glue. If you intend to use a different glue, be sure to first check on scraps of foam to see if the glue is corroding the foam. The same goes for paints. The result is a wall with two towers, each of which is 4 sheets of foam thick. There are blind windows on the front and back walls of the towers. The windows need to be painted inside with dark paint. You also need to paint the inside of the gate arch and the gate itself. If the side walls of the towers turn out to have protrusions due to a discrepancy in the sizes of the blanks glued to each other, it is necessary to trim the towers on the sides, aligning the side walls.

We try on the “roof” on the towers. The flowerpot should fit freely onto the tower and extend onto it by 1-2 cm. Please note that after painting the dimensions of the tower will increase by 5-10 mm. Therefore, if the “roof” is difficult to put on, then the tower also needs to be trimmed.

After the dark paint has dried, you can make a “lattice” on the gate. To do this, using a ruler, a screwdriver or scissors, we make deep grooves in the form of a lattice on the painted gate so that unpainted light polystyrene foam can be seen through them.

Painting the castle walls

We start with the teeth. Painting the teeth with plaster is the most labor-intensive operation, so they must first be painted with paint to match the plaster, and the composition itself can only be applied to the front and back sides. You can generally not cover the teeth with plaster, but paint them with contrasting spray paint dark color, as we did on the third wall.

So, first we paint the teeth with paint to match the plaster. We use spray paint to paint each tooth on all sides. Let it dry. Then we cover the front surface of wall-1 decorative plaster. During this time, it is better to cover the window openings with pieces of foam plastic so that the plaster does not get inside. The brush should be quite hard and clean. After painting, if possible, it should be washed off the plaster and placed in water. It is better not to use one brush more than twice due to adhering plaster. We are not painting the side walls of the towers yet. We will paint them last resort. We leave the wall blank-1 to dry in the sun for two days. After two days, we turn the product over onto its back side and also cover it with decorative plaster. While it dries, you can work on the other walls.

WALL-2. To make it we need two sheets of foam.

This is what it looks like when finished (the outermost tooth on each side then had to be cut off):

This wall is a variation of the first wall. Only here the tower is in the middle, and the gate is on the side. In addition, the battlements, as well as the tower, are cut from another sheet, and the windows are made through. Windows on right side The walls are lined with inlays painted in a dark color. The windows on the left side are through. The height of the walls and tower is equal to the height of the sheet.

So, on the first sheet we mark the gates, windows and place for the tower. We cut out all the windows, incl. and on the tower, we paint the cut out pieces of windows a dark color. Then we paint the openings of the windows and gates, as well as the gates themselves, in a dark color. After applying the plaster, you will need to insert the dark pieces of windows on the right side of the wall back into the openings. We leave the remaining windows empty.

From the second sheet we cut out two blanks with windows. We make the windows at the same level as the windows located on the tower, on the load-bearing wall. Separately, we cut out two or four blanks for the teeth for the right and left parts of the main wall. We glue the tower blanks onto the front and back sides of the load-bearing wall, aligning the window openings. Then we also glue the teeth - on both sides of the load-bearing wall. I glued the teeth on only one side, using only two blanks, because... I originally planned to make an extension behind the second half of the wall. The tower was made of three layers. The thickness of the tower can be increased by adding an additional overhead wall glued to the face of the tower (as we did when making Wall-1).

Don’t forget to leave the edges on both sides 3-5 cm free from the teeth, which will then be hidden under the towers, and make rectangular cutouts for joints measuring 3 x 1.5 cm along the edges on the back side of the wall.

We paint the teeth with paint to match the plaster. After the paint has dried, we cover the front side of the wall with decorative plaster (the teeth do not need to be covered with plaster). Then we sprinkle the part of the wall around the gate with fine stone chips and, patting, press the crumbs into the plaster. You can also sprinkle the other half of the surface with crumbs. After that, we leave the entire structure to dry for a couple of days, while we ourselves start making the third wall.

WALL-3. To make it, we need one whole sheet of foam plastic and pieces of sheet left after making the second one.

This is what it looks like when finished (the outer teeth also had to be cut off to hide the edge in the round tower):

This type of wall is quite simple to make, but looks quite impressive. Three and teeth are glued to the main sheet. The teeth are painted with acrylic paint in a contrasting color. After painting with plaster, the wall is covered thin layer stone chips.

The teeth on this wall have a more complex structure - the upper row is formed of wide teeth (3x3 cm), and the bottom row is made of narrow ones (4x1.5 cm).

We cut out teeth from strips 10 cm high. To do this, the strip needs to be divided into 3 parts - 3 cm high, 3 cm and 4 cm high. On the first strip 3 cm high, we cut teeth measuring 3 x 3 cm, the distance between them is 1.5 cm. On the bottom strip 4 cm high, we make a triangular cut at an angle along the length of the entire strip, leaving a strip 1 cm thick at the bottom. After that, on the bottom strip we cut out long teeth measuring 1.5 x 4 cm. The distance between the lower teeth is no more than 1.5 cm Then we paint the teeth with paint using a spray can and a thin brush, carefully painting between them. The teeth can be painted either to match the plaster or in a contrasting color.

Then, from the remaining foam plastic, we cut out three retaining walls in the form of triangles or trapezoids, the height of which should be at least a third and no more than half the height of the wall. We glue the supports and teeth to the main wall. Do not forget to leave 3-5 cm free from the teeth on both sides, which will then be hidden under the towers, and make rectangular cutouts for joints measuring 3 x 1.5 cm along the edges on the back side of the wall.

Laying down the structure front side up and cover everything except the teeth with decorative plaster:

Then sprinkle the entire surface with small stones, gently pressing them into the plaster.

While the third wall dries, you can paint it with plaster reverse side the first two, if their front sides are already dry at this point. Lastly, we paint the sides of the towers, placing the walls at the end. Let each side dry for two days.

Now you can start working on the corner round towers.

Stage 3. Round towers of the knight's fortress

To make round towers, you can use any thick pipes required diameter, amenable to processing with a knife, for example, “shells” for pipe insulation, made of foam plastic. If they are not available, then you can use foam insulation for pipes with a diameter of 110 mm, sold at any construction market.

To make three towers we will need four meter-long pieces of foam. From each of the four pieces we cut cylinders 8-10 cm long and cut teeth half the height of the workpiece. We cut the ring of teeth along the height and glue them on top of each of the three towers, wrapping them around the main part of the tower. We cut off the missing pieces with teeth from the fourth workpiece. While the glue dries, secure the seams with electrical tape for a better fit.

Next, on each tower we make longitudinal cuts along the length, equal in height to the height of the walls (60 cm) and in width - slightly more than twice the thickness of the walls. The width of the cuts can be increased after painting, when you insert walls into them.

For variety, one or more towers can be decorated with an additional cylinder with high narrow windows. The overlay is made from the remaining fourth piece of foam.

While the glue dries, we paint the windows on the tower with black paint, and only after that, in three or four steps, we cover the elements with plaster, turning them 90-120 degrees. Carefully paint the teeth.

While the towers are drying, you can start making small parts for them and walls, such as roofs, flags, coats of arms, cornices, small windows. The number of details depends only on your imagination and patience. You just need to keep the proportions.

Metal buttons and stripes can be used as a coat of arms. Flags can be made from colored self-adhesive paper, but it is better to use self-adhesive film. We glue the flag onto a long screw. The screws are screwed into plastic flower pots. We paint the pots red, painting some details with black paint. The coat of arms is attached above the gate using the same plaster or glue.

Masonry elements can be added to rectangular towers and walls. To do this, you can use black modeling compound, which is sold in children's stores and stationery departments. You can also use plasticine, but the advantage of the modeling mass is that, unlike plasticine, it hardens in air.

We made the roof for the middle tower from half paving slabs black color.

By the way, after the plaster on the round towers had dried, and the towers stood in the rain for several days, the plaster began to move away from the foam near the edges of the cut, like an orange peel, and we had to additionally glue this “peel” with Moment Montazh glue. It helped.

After drying, you can begin the most important stage - assembling the castle.

Stage 4. Assembling a medieval castle

Despite the fact that the design of the castle allows it to be moved to any place, it is still better to assemble the building on the site where it will stand.

The site for the castle must be prepared in advance. It should be level and, preferably, without a slope. We were making a castle to decorate a pond, so our site had a slight slope towards the pond, which added additional difficulties for us when installing it. In order for the castle to stand level, it was necessary to cut the walls from below at an angle; fortunately, foam plastic, even covered with massive plaster, is easy to cut.

Having installed and connected the walls to each other, it is necessary to tighten the entire structure around the perimeter with a rope or cable, and then “glue” the walls at the joints with polyurethane foam. After the foam on the joints has dried, remove the rope and begin installing the round towers. To do this, we put the towers on top of the corners of the castle, inserting the walls into the longitudinal cuts made in the towers. If the incision is small, enlarge it to the right size so that the turrets fit snugly against the walls from the outside. The missing part of the towers with inside the castle can then be formed using polyurethane foam. We press the edges of the cuts tightly against the walls of the castle, supporting each tower with stops if necessary, and fill the towers from the inside with polyurethane foam, making small protruding slides on top. In addition, you can use polyurethane foam to form the missing parts of the turrets on the inside of the building. To do this, we form a protrusion at the junction of the walls. the desired shape from foam, and after the foam hardens, we cut off the excess with a knife and plaster it. We limited ourselves to covering the internal joints of the walls with plaster.

After the foam has dried, we carefully cut off the slides protruding above the towers with a knife so that a flat platform is formed on top, which we also cover with plaster.

Then we remove all the remaining foam in the places where the towers adjoin the walls and paint over them with plaster. After this, the castle needs to be covered and allowed to dry for two to three days until completely dry plaster.

Now you can move on to last stage– backlighting.

The final stage. Building lighting

Undoubtedly, a castle built with your own hands will decorate your site at any time of the day. But it will look most impressive in the evening if you add special lighting.

As illumination, you can use diffused light lamps on solar powered, which need to be placed inside the castle. Then through the through windows and open gate located on the second wall of the castle, a faint light will flow at night, enlivening the castle and giving it mystery. A solar lamps directional light, built into the “stones” and installed outside, will illuminate the walls from all sides.

But to illuminate the front wall, it is better to use a stationary directional light fixture, into which a light bulb is screwed in and changes color. And then the effect will be extraordinary.

And in conclusion, here are some more practical tips.

There are a lot of beautiful and original crafts for the garden you can do it yourself. And it is not necessary to buy any materials for this; old lids, basins, plastic bottles, tires, barrels, boxes, etc. can be used. Today I want to show you very interesting master manufacturing class DIY castle from waste materials and polyurethane foam. The author of this master class is Nadezhda Gulak, she showed us and told us how you can make a very nice castle with your own hands for the garden from foam, cement and waste material. On the site you can also find many interesting and original garden crafts made from scrap, unnecessary materials. I think that each of you will definitely choose for yourself the right job. Now let's start making the castle and find out what we need for this.

To make a castle we will need:
* Self-tapping screws.
* Wire.
* Insulation.
* Rabitz.
* Cement mortar.
* Polyurethane foam.
* Unnecessary basins, barrels, etc.

Method of making a lock:
We collect everything that we don’t need to make the castle, various barrels, basins, boxes, etc. and let's start manufacturing.

And now the new residents have come to try out the fairytale palace)))

We take the wire and wrap it around our workpieces and tighten them with self-tapping screws for strength. We do this so that the concrete solution will hold up better later.

To make a castle, we will need everything, including buckets.

I think the cat is starting to like our castle)))

We don't take the right box and wrap it with insulation, then coat it concrete mortar and wrap it with chain-link mesh.

We pour cobblestones and clay into the boxes and put them in place. The work here is very hard. We also coat everything with concrete mortar and give it time to dry.

We draw bricks, windows, and basically everything your heart desires on the castle blank.

We take iron and cut a cylinder out of it, from which we will make a roof with a lock.

We take the chain-link mesh again and wrap it around the central tower.

Now we’ll make a balcony for the castle, otherwise what would a castle be like without a balcony)))

We sculpt the frame of the balcony in the place where it will be located.

We make a canopy as desired.

There are also railings on the balcony; we will make them from polyurethane foam.

We paint everything in the right color, we decorate, at the end of the work you can cover it with yacht varnish. Castle for the garden ready with your own hands.

The cats really liked the castle, so it can also be called a cat's house)))

All that remains is to improve the area around the castle. Add crushed stones.

The castle with your own hands is ready for the garden; you can place a princess in it.

I, like some of you, had a fix idea to do something pleasing to the eye against the backdrop of a country landscape. The choice fell on a mini-castle, since it is the easiest to fit anywhere on the site, taking into account its geological features. Moreover, you can build creatively, adding or changing its elements on the go.

The castle has a fairly decent volume, so it is unrealistic to build it all at once. To do this, I first make individual parts of the castle, so that I can then build it out of cubes in a couple of days. The last, third castle was assembled in two days. The neighbors thought he had fallen from the sky when they saw him.

So, let's look at the elements of a typical design.

Let's start with the turrets. A cylinder of the required radius is rolled up from a sheet of iron (mine is about 2-30 cm). The cylinder is fixed with wire or self-tapping screws so that it can be easily disassembled in the future. Anything can be placed inside the cylinder - bottles, cans - to reduce the consumption of the solution, but the thickness to the ballast must be at least 5 cm. Fill with a fairly thick solution. We give it several hours to set to such a state that when removing the formwork it does not crumble. You can choose the height of the cylindrical formwork yourself. It can be equal to the height of the tower, or less, but then the formwork will have to be dismantled and assembled above the already set lower part.

A simple cylinder is boring, this is where the flight of fancy begins. I make various grooves by wrapping a long strip of tin around the cylinder, using this strip as a guide, and using a screwdriver or chisel to select the annular recesses. Then at the bottom you can simulate masonry, destruction, chipped plaster, cracks - after all, the castle is ancient.

For me, aging is the most exciting part of the process. At the same time, we don’t bother making windows, loopholes, using a knife to pick out the required recess. If you want to make a turret at the top of the tower, then roll up a cylinder with a diameter a couple of centimeters larger and a height of 10-15 cm, insert it inside plastic bottle to save the solution (after complete setting it will be removed).

Fill the mold with the solution and after partial setting, carefully remove the formwork into a cylinder and make required quantity windows, battlements - as your imagination dictates. I cut out the teeth with a hacksaw blade for metal - I make cuts of the required depth and pick off the excess mortar between the cuts.

The roof can be made from tin cones, or you can use this tin cone as a mold for pouring mortar (that’s exactly what I do). After complete setting, carefully knock our roof out of the mold. Don't forget that we are still preparing individual elements of the castle. We'll put everything together later. So we sorted out the tower. We have all the elements ready and stacked somewhere in the corner.

Let's start building the walls. Our walls will be either fortress walls (1) or a building element (2).

There is no difference in their production. We assemble a rectangle of the required size from boards 5 cm wide. Place it on a flat surface (I have an old kitchen table) having previously placed either a film or a piece of roofing material so that the solution poured later is not absorbed. You can put it in this frame metal arch- this will be a door or gate. Pour the solution into the frame. Where no windows or doors are planned, you can add crushed stones or broken bricks to the bottom to save mortar. After the solution is poured to required height you can take nice crushed stones and stick them into the base of the foundation so that their flat edges protrude above the general plane of the solution by about 5 mm.

If there is no crushed stone, then after partial setting, you can imitate the foundation with a sharp knife or scalpel. You can also use pebbles to mark future windows. Thus, your task is to create such flat elements. To speed things up, I make 2-3 of these rectangles at a time. Having made such a wall once, you will understand that they are made easily and very quickly. As a rule, we are interested outer side castle, the inside does not represent anything because it is not visible.

So, after a few hours, the mortar of our future walls has set very (!) at this point, so that it is pliable, but does not collapse, and if it is left too long, it will be difficult to process. We carefully disassemble the frame and we are left with a flat rectangle on the table. If you are making a wall with teeth, then make the gaps between the teeth by gradually removing the mortar with a flat tool (I use a metal ruler for this). Then loopholes and windows are made. Draw everything your imagination tells you. To remove the remaining solution, I use a soft brush (you’ve probably seen how archaeologists work in the movies). In the end, you will be left with something like the following on your desk.

When the foundation is prepared, we begin assembly. First we install on cement mortar, previously applied to the foundation, for example tower No. 1. We attach wall No. 1 to the tower using mortar. Then we install tower No. 2.

The castle is already beginning to emerge. You are filled with excitement. Next, add wall No. 2 and finish by installing tower No. 3. My towers were heavy, so the men needed to tinker. Thus, at this stage we have this design (top view)

I have the inside of the castle hidden. But if you want her to have beautiful view- you need to make both wall No. 3 and fill the inside of the monolith with concrete mortar or fill it with construction waste.

When this structure sets, form it over the building gable roof. It takes me two or three bricks (spread the mortar with a spatula and level it into a cone).

This is how you can make a complex castle from the basic basic elements, changing them slightly depending on your imagination (for example, you’re tired of round towers - make rectangular formwork and the towers will be square, etc.).

In the garden plot, people often realize their fantasies or what they saw during their travels, ideas they saw on the Internet on various sites, and then build rock gardens, garden sculpture, original flower pots, wooden crafts, garden scarecrows and much more. This gives the dacha plot its uniqueness and makes it special. It is useful to involve children and grandchildren in such activities; they really like to take part in creativity and decorating the garden.

One of the types of such crafts on the site is the construction of mini castles from natural materials, most often from small stones, river pebbles, coarse gravel. This is a very exciting activity. You need to start building such a castle out of stone by choosing a suitable place on the site. It is convenient to place it near a children's playground, for example, or near a recreation area for the whole family. An area of 1-2 square meters is suitable for this. square meters depending on the intention.

It is advisable to draw a sketch of the future on paper to scale, determine how many towers it is planned to build, whether they will be connected by a fortress wall, an arch, and sometimes they make a small ditch around the castle through which a bridge is built. It is useful to look in books or on the Internet for photographs of real or miniature castles when developing your castle project.

Next you need to take care of building materials, prepare cement and sand or buy a ready-made cement-sand mixture for street work. Then bring sufficient quantity stones for construction, and you will need a lot of them, think about what to make the roof, windows and doors of the castle from. If there is a river or sea, then you can collect medium-sized round pebbles. Large gravel made from granite, limestone, and sandstone is suitable. The main thing is that the stones are of the same type and approximately the same size.

When everything you need is prepared, you can begin building a mini castle. The easiest way to build a castle is from three rounded towers. For this they use old metal pipes with a diameter of 10-15 cm, which are dug into the ground and filled with cement for stability. You can take sections of asbestos-cement pipes; they are also suitable for constructing towers. Better make towers different heights. Then, starting from the bottom of the pipes, they make a masonry of stones based on cement mortar, attaching them sequentially one after another.

At the height at which the windows in the tower are planned, the laying of stones is stopped, they take plastic bottles of brown or green color, cut out a cylinder of a suitable size from them, paint a window with a frame on it, cut the cylinder vertically on the side opposite to the window, put it on pipe, continue laying stones to the very top of the pipe. It turns out to be a window in the castle tower.

Then you need to make a roof for the tower. For these purposes you can use various materials, which will be at hand. It is convenient to make it from thin tin, bending it in the shape of a cone, painting it oil paint. You can cut out “tiles” from linoleum and nail them to wooden frame. Another option for making a roof is to cover a cone of cement mortar with rectangular pieces ceramic tiles, it also looks like tiles.

When the castle towers are ready, they begin to build walls that will connect them, or make a fortress wall around the towers. An arch of stones is often built in front of the entrance. All internal territory The castle is carefully covered with fine gravel, after laying non-woven material under it to prevent the growth of weeds. If desired, you can increase the territory of the castle by building new towers, walls, arches, bridges. To make the castle more authentic, they add figures of gnomes, knights, princesses, decorate the walls with images of dragons, and hang flags and pennants.

It is important to harmoniously fit such a lock into garden plot. If the castle acts as an independent ensemble, then low flowers or ornamental grasses are planted next to it, which will give it more naturalness. And such flower arrangements You can change it every year, then the mini lock will look different all the time. Low but spectacular annual flowers are suitable for this purpose, for example, pansies(violas), thin-leaved and rejected marigolds, small petals, daisies, primroses. Among the perennials used are dwarf hostas, alpine aster, and Carpathian bellflower.

Sometimes a mini castle made of stones simply serves as a frame for a small flower bed, inside of which annual flowers are planted. This original flower bed in the form of a castle will decorate the lawn or the front area of the garden. Flowers are planted inside the fortress wall of the castle, selecting not too tall compact forms of low-growing annuals.

I had an idea to do a fix under the tree for garden pleasing to the eye, with your own hands. The choice fell on mini lock , since it is the easiest to fit at any point of the site, taking into account its geological features. Moreover, you can build creatively, adding or changing its elements on the go.

The main material is sand and cement for the longevity of the composition. After experimenting, I settled on a 2 to 1 composition (i.e. 2 parts sand and 1 part cement). It is better to dry the sand in the sun, then it is easier to mix it with cement, and also to sift it for use in elements with fine detail, since debris can ruin the part.
Lock has a fairly decent volume, so building it all at once is unrealistic. To do this, I first make individual parts of the castle, so that I can then build it out of cubes in a couple of days. Last, third lock was assembled in two days. The neighbors thought he had fallen from the sky when they saw him.
So, let's look at the elements of a typical design.

Let's start with the turrets. A cylinder of the required radius is rolled up from a sheet of iron (mine is about 2-30 cm). The cylinder is fixed with wire or self-tapping screws so that it can be easily disassembled in the future. Anything can be placed inside the cylinder - bottles, cans - to reduce the consumption of the solution, but the thickness to the ballast should be at least 5 cm. Fill with a fairly thick solution. We give it several hours to set to such a state that when removing the formwork it does not crumble. You can choose the height of the cylindrical formwork yourself. It can be equal to the height of the tower, or less, but then the formwork will have to be dismantled and assembled above the already set lower part.

We immediately begin to cut the damp, slightly set solution. The cutting technology is the same as that of sandboxes. For cutting I use a set of tools available to everyone. I use screwdrivers, chisels, a medical scalpel, a hacksaw blade for metal and various strips of tin for forming various architectural elements.
A simple cylinder is boring, this is where the flight of fancy begins. I make various grooves by wrapping a long strip of tin around the cylinder, using this strip as a guide, and using a screwdriver or chisel to select the annular recesses. Then in the lower part you can imitate stonework, destruction, chipped plaster, cracks - after all, the castle is ancient.

For me, aging is the most exciting part of the process. At the same time, we don’t bother making windows, loopholes, using a knife to pick out the required recess. If you want to make a turret at the top of the tower, then roll up a cylinder with a diameter a couple of centimeters larger and a height of 10-15 cm, insert a plastic bottle inside to save the solution (after it has completely set, it will be removed).

We fill the mold with the solution and after partial setting, carefully remove the cylinder formwork and make the required number of windows, teeth - as your imagination dictates. I cut out the teeth with a hacksaw blade for metal - I make cuts of the required depth and pick off the excess mortar between the cuts.

Let's start building the walls. Our walls will be either fortress walls (1) or a building element (2).

There is no difference in their production. We assemble a rectangle of the required size from boards 5 cm wide. We place it on a flat surface (I have an old kitchen table), first placing either a film or a piece of roofing felt so that the solution poured later is not absorbed. You can place a metal arch in this frame - this will be a door or gate. Pour the solution into the frame. Where no windows or doors are planned, you can add crushed stones or broken bricks to the bottom to save mortar. After the solution is poured to the desired height, you can take nice crushed stones and stick them into the base of the foundation so that their flat edges protrude above the general plane of the solution by about 5 mm.
If there is no crushed stone, then after partial setting, you can imitate the foundation with a sharp knife or scalpel. You can also use pebbles to mark future windows. Thus, your task is to create such flat elements. To speed things up, I make 2-3 of these rectangles at a time. Having made such a wall once, you will understand that they are made easily and very quickly. As a rule, we are interested in the outside of the castle; the inside does not represent anything because it is not visible.

Leave the finished walls on the table for about a day. Then they can be safely removed from the table and also placed in a corner. When the required number of elements have already been made, we choose a sunny day for installation on the summer cottage. This point is still important here. The castle looks more beautiful on some hill, on a pile of stones. Therefore, prepare the foundation for it. If you use stones, always place the stones on a small layer of mortar first. If you don't do this, the stones will move over time and destroy your beauty.
When the foundation is prepared, we begin assembly. First, we install it on a cement mortar previously applied to the foundation, for example tower No. 1. We attach wall No. 1 to the tower using mortar. Then we install tower No. 2.

But wall No. 2 will be part of the building, so I take some bricks and form a rectangle of this building. To prevent the solution from getting into the windows or doors from the inside, I close them from the inside with something flat (I use pieces of flat slate or fragments of flat tiles).
I have the inside of the castle hidden. But if you want it to have a beautiful appearance, you need to make both wall No. 3 and fill the inside of the monolith with concrete mortar or fill it with construction waste.

Once this structure has set, form a gable roof over the building. It takes me two or three bricks (spread the mortar with a spatula and level it into a cone).
This is how you can make a complex castle from the basic basic elements, changing them slightly depending on your imagination (for example, you’re tired of round towers - make rectangular formwork and the towers will be square, etc.).

A castle made simply of concrete is not very beautiful. We need to decorate it.

About imitation. Boulders at the base of the foundation are made very easily since they are of arbitrary shape. Imitating brick requires more patience. I scratch a row under the ruler horizontal lines and then I make vertical notches at characteristic intervals. Use a brush to brush away the debris. Where the surface is very rough, it can be smoothed by moistening it with water from a spray and ironing it with a soft brush. When the assembled castle is completely dry, you can tint it a little. Give the roof the appearance of tiles. I use acrylic paint with the required color, to paint the imitation brick, I purchased the following colors for acrylic - black, red, brown, yellow. Green can be used to imitate moss. Using a soft brush, lightly touching the masonry different colors colors I paint the surface. In this case, only the convex surface is painted, and the recessed part remains gray. The effect is amazing. From half a meter it seems that everything is made of small bricks. In one place of the castle I even imitated a destroyed brick wall. I didn't expect such an effect myself. The castle has already survived the winter for a year and the paints are like new.

Is it possible to make parts of the house? I work in a garage. But in principle, you can do it at home if you don’t litter too much. In this case, the details can be broken down into even smaller ones. Those. for example, make a wall of two parts - the upper one where the battlements are and the lower one where the gates are. Similarly, make a tower from two or three cylinders or cubes. Then it’s easier to transport. This allows you to prepare the castle even in winter and spring, and assemble it in a couple of days in the summer. This is how I prepare the dry mixture. I fill half a bucket with dry sand, add cement and it mixes very easily with a small children's spatula. I pour all this into a small bucket and make the next batch until I fill it. Thus, there is always enough dry solution available.

I wish you all success in your creativity. And be sure to share your results.