When I was a little boy, there was almost nothing that made me happier than getting together my LEGO stones and building things with them. Since my interests always have been mainly about historical themes, especially around the Middle Ages, the knights theme was by far my most favorite.
I also enjoyed reading about that topic, stories about King Lionheart were my favorite here. Of course my parents were well aware about that. And then, once Christmas Eve, I got the coolest LEGO set ever:
The 6090 Royal Knight's Castle!!!
Years and years this was the toy I had the most fun with. But then, puberty hit me and my interests shifted - Now, the thing I needed the most was an iPod Classic. So I sold a lot of my LEGO on a flee market to get money. And unfortunaly, the castle was one of the things that got sold. Im not regreting the sell, even though it was a awful deal from today's perspective.
A little bit over a weak ago, I saw a post by where he was talking about his favourite LEGO pieces. I commented what my favourite set was and I looked on "Willhaben" (a German selling site, willhaben means "wanttohave") how much it was. And as if destiny wanted me to get it, 15 miles away from my home a woman was selling it for a more than fair price. So I didn't hestitate and got that masterpiece again! So now, let me walk you through my Royal Knight's Castle:
Front view:
The beautiful castle is built on an unique baseplate and is mainly built out of grey and black stones, the blue rooftops add a noble touch. As you can see, there is a main entrance with wooden doors and a portcullis that you are able to lift up when King Lionheart and his knights are coming home, as well as a second entrance protected with a drawbridge. One of the highlights in my childhood was that little ghost outside the castle, as he really is glowing in the dark.
A view at the sides:
While the left side (when viewed from the front) is rather unspectacular, a lot of stuff is happening at the right side. On the one hand, we have the drawbridge of the side entrance (more details below), on the other side we have the keep with the royal throne. One of the details I loved most was the trapdoor in front of that throne - many enemies of my beloved King Lionheart left there lives there ;)
The drawbridge
Built up with a crank mechanism piece and some cords, the drawbridge was exactly as open as you wanted it to be. That's one of those things I love about the older LEGO sets: The mechanics were way cooler and more detailed!
The back:
In the back you can see the mechanism opening the trapdoors mentioned above, it's that little LEGO Technic part directly behind the throne. Draw it out and your king is save. Right on the left of it is the crank drive needed for the drawbrigde. The little cord hanging outside on the bottom right can awaken the skeleton inside the castle an scare enemies away - check the next picture to see what I mean!
I definitely had tons of fun building that castle and reliving those childhood hours. One of most interesting things is the fact that kids were expected to be way more exact and detailed back in 1995 when the set was originally released. One year ago, I had the instructions from a current LEGO model for age 14+ in my hands - Compared to the castle from above, the instructions are way easier nowadays. While children back then had to look what changed from one step to the next, today everything is written in great detail. The other great difference can be found in the quality of the parts. While the parts in above set are printed with the graphics, nowadays stickers are used even in the sets for hundreds of dollars. Textile flags also are plastic flags nowadays. Sad development if you ask me :/
Now let's check if you have that detailed look kids in the 90's were supposed to have! One part is missing in the above pictures - Can you find which one? The first one to comment the right part will receive a 100% upvote
And if you played or play LEGO: What's your favorite set?
Greets,
Martin