Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

I have been working on two new catapults. They are the Goblin (Small one) and the Ogre (large one). The Ogre is two feet long with a three foot throwing arm and the Goblin is ten inches long.

I will be posting complete tutorials on these onto my website in the coming days and I am designing the goblin for mass production so eventually I will be selling goblins as a kit.

The Ogre is kind of interesting in that it only took me two hours to make and it uses 2×3’s and a bungee cord. It’s not something that should be used indoors.

The Goblin has some nice little features about it like an system for adjusting the tension so you can get various strength settings. Developing a project like this for use as a product has been a fun experience for me because there it takes a lot of work to develop a product that is functional, fun and yet cost effective.

Here is a closer look at the goblin catapult:

I do have several projects already posted to my catapult subsite including a really small popsicle stick catapult and a mid-sized catapult called The Table Top Troll. Catapult Crazy . And here is my youtube video showing the Goblin and the Ogre

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It has been a while since I wrote anything about my 300 diorama (The Scene is the Battle of Thermopylae). So here is an update.

 The Diorama is coming along great and is almost finished. I have done 95% of the landscaping, have painted the first series of Spartan Warrior Miniatures and have poured the water. I even built a paper long boat for the water. 

Coming up next is the wiring for sound and lighting. I have also been toying with the idea of using a parallel board coupled with a computer so I could make a show out of it. But I will give this some thought.

Also, I have no clue as to what I am going to do with this thing when I am done so I am thinking about putting it on display somewhere. Let me know if you have any ideas about where I might be able to display it. Can’t stay in my house! It’s two feet by three feet and well, I need the room for more projects.

I am thinking about doing a hobbit home or maybe even a complete shire.

 If you want to learn more about the diorama or are considering making your own fantasy diorama I have a complete tutorial that shows the steps I used to make this diorama here: How to Make a big Diorama

I have also created a tutorial on Painting Miniatures where I show you the steps I took with Painting the Spartan Warriors A Guide to Painting Miniatures

Ditto, My cat, seems to have taken a liking to the diorama. If you have an idea for a place where I can display this diorama sorry but Ditto doesn’t go with it

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I have a couple of medieval castle things I thought you might like to see. First off I have been getting a lot of requests to do some kind of project where you make your own medieval castle out of paper or cardboard. It’s been on my list for a while but I have completed it.

Here is a picture of the project. I posted a full tutorial with lots of pictures on my website. It shows you how to make this castle and it gives you all the required drawings so you can print them out and make the castle. All you need is some glue and cardboard from cereal boxes. It also has a nice fact sheet that points out the main aspects of a castle - you can use it to make this a learning project.

It’s the first of three castles I will be making. The project is located here: Make a Paper Medieval Castle

 My next castle will be larger and based on a real castle. And the third castle will be six to eight feet in size and the kind you make for the kids to play in.

I also have found a little bit about some real castles that I thought you might be interested in. Here is a link to a great essay about the 25 most beautiful castles in the world. Really magnificent castles here and they are spread across much of the world. Of course there will always be some debate about a list like this and there are a few more castles I think should go on this list but it’s a good selection with pictures and background information. Check it out here: The Top 25 Most Beautiful Castles in the World

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