The designer and Harry Potter fan Joshua Neil Arthur was able to create a replica of the Hogwarts castle using only a 3D printer. With images from the films, the book Harry Potter: From pages to Screen and the model from Warner Bros. Studio Tour, in London, Neil was able to reproduce all the castle architecture.
The work took weeks to be finished and the castle needed to be divided into 70 pieces, as 3D printers have a limit of print sizes. The designer said that each piece took about 20 hours to be printed, due to the number of details.
Deducing the base height, the higher tower is 23-centimeters-tall. The entire castle, in turn, takes an area of 45 square centimeters.
Constructing the Hogwarts castle
After printed, the pieces were polished and got several layers of paint, starting with a white base, applied by airbrush. The stones of the base were painted with shades of grey, while the buildings got shades of sand, also applied by airbrush.
The designer revealed to Hypertext portal that the trees were made using pipe cleaners. The lake was created with paint: the designer applied grey-blue on the wood where the structure of the piece was built and, after, added grey details with an airbrush to simulate depth. To produce a ripple effect, gloss mod pod was applied. In turn, roofs and windows were painted with a fine brush, to grant the precision of the work.
Do it yourself
All the necessary files to make the project were freely made available by the designer on the website My Mini Factory, dedicated to sharing files for 3D impression. He also published detailed instructions for the assembly.
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Translated into English by Caroline Dorigon
Edited by Aline Michel
