The
keep was a mammoth project. The original plan was to make a castle
worthy of the Iron Warriors fierce reputation for brutal fortifications.
It all started with two plastic Battlemasters towers. I cut one short
by about 2 inches, and spliced the top part into the upper corner of the
other tower. I used the bottom part to form the floor of the ruined
section at the very bottom. I still have a hard time understanding
how it all fits together myself!
The topmost lookout tower is made from part of a motor casing, mounted on a 4 barreled gatling gun toy I cut off an action figure. This is then mounted on a castle-style candle holder, which is mounted on the corner of the upper Battlemasters tower. The lookout is detailed with plastic skulls from novelty keychains, Ork Battlewagon track sections, and spikes from the chaos Rhino sprue.
The upper tower is detailed with more spikes from the Chaos Rhino sprue, plus parts of the archways from Warhammer Quest. The gaps in the plastic tower were filled in with auto glazing putty. The wooden planks and the Gargoyle on the corner came from a Phantom of the Opera toy set (Thanks again go to the MacFarlaine line of toys). The reinforced metal boxes are made from special plastic Step pieces used on wedding cakes.
The lower tower is more of the same. The doorway that opens onto the ruins is from an old board game (I forget the name), and fits nicely inside the Warhammer Quest arch.
The rest of the ruins are made from wall sections from various toys,
and the 40K gothic ruins sprue. The torture rack is from the Milton Bradley
Heroquest game. The floorboards are also from the Phantom of the
Opera toy, but could easily be made with coffee stir sticks or popsicle
sticks. I deliberately left a big hole in the floorboards so miniatures
could go underneath in the catacombs. The pillar in the catacombs
is made from a cork stopper. Cork is an excellent material- light,
strong, sticks well with super glue, and paints up nicely.