11 March Update! - WIP - a display w/ Playmobil castle & customs (pic heavy)

[Alipes]

Hey there!  This is something I've been working on an off for a bit, and I thought I would share the progress I've made so far!  For Christmas I received a Playmobil castle (set 5142, the Princess Fantasy Castle).  I had discovered recently that Playmobil playsets are the perfect size to display G4 ponies, and I was enamored with this castle especially.  Over the 2+ hours it took me to build it (no joke!) I started coming up with lots of neat display ideas, as well as a whole story about the princesses that lived there.    As a result, I've been working on creating a palace garden party, as well as custom pose-modified princesses to go along with it.

This is pretty pic heavy, so I've gone ahead and divided it out into smaller sections!

Update 3 - 11 March:

Lots of new stuff has been happening as far as progress goes, but I haven't taken any pictures... until today!

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Detail Shots

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The paper lanterns are all finished and strung on the LED light string.  It's really starting to look like a party when the lights are turned on!
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There's lots of tiny tasty food for the ponies now -- tiny drinks, daisy crostinis, and orange tart (terrible picture, I apologize):
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Also tiny cake slices, fancy cookies half-dipped in chocolate, and chocolate-dipped strawberries with a dab of whipped cream:
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All of the food was made by me, as well as the drinks (the glasses and pitcher are Playmobil, but they've been filled with a colored resin).  The tiny plates were made as well, and feature teeny tiny rose designs with gold leaf borders.  Some of the ponies even have partially-eaten food on their plates!

There are a couple of new party guests -- Sky Rocket and Prismatic Heart (formerly Silver Prism) are two older customs of mine, and they still need dresses.  Hanging out with Rarity is a beautiful Princess Fizzy custom, thanks to the wonderful Tiella:

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And then of course I couldn't resist making a sparkly dress for her!

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Princess Fizzy is more than happy to chat, as long as she can eat her cake!

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The base also has a border added of "mulch" with border stones, as well as a couple of completed rose bushes:

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A closer shot of some of the roses -- my plan is to fill the mulch border with rose bushes, which is going to take a while

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The library is also coming along rather nicely.  I found a dollhouse-sized carpet that is just perfect!

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And a shot of the bookshelves so far.  Still on the to-do list is making more books:

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Update 2 - 17 Feb:

Unfortunately I have been feeling pretty crummy, so progress has been slow, but there is still progress!

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More Pictures

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First up, the Treasure Room is (mostly) done! (the walls are looking a little blank so I am considering what I want to do to make it look a little more finished in there):

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The dragon guardian is made of oven-bake clay, with hand-sculpted scales and spines.  He has a little bit of Red-Blue Duochrome Pearl Ex with a glossy topcoat so he sparkles a little bit.

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The giant treasure pile was made following this Youtube tutorial and modifying heavily due to the size.  The basic structure is made of Apoxie Sculpt for the framework, hot glue, and bits of the same foam sheeting that the base is made of.  The treasure is a few different types of round glitter and a bunch of different nail art gems and doodads for extra gem sparklies.

The treasure chest is handmade using another Youtube tutorial and is filled with a similar mix of doodads. 

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Rarity: "Hello, darling, do you know another dragon by the name of Spikey-Wikey?"
Dragon: "..."
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I also made and stained some little tables for the garden party -- there are two that will be for the food, and one at the moment for the earth/pegasus ponies that can't lift their plates in mid-air by magic. 

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The tables for food also have some little tablecloths that were drafted and then sewn as well:

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And finally, I finished the framework for the garden party paper lanterns.  There are ten of these that will be covered in tissue paper/cellophane and hung from an LED light strand.  They were handmade out of 20 gauge silver-colored jewelry wire and keyrings:

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And that's it for the time being!  The next big thing on my agenda is to start working on "garden" portion of the "garden party", but for that I'm going to have to move the whole castle off of the base.  Hopefully you've enjoyed the new update!

Update 1 - 6 Feb:

Lots of exciting stuff that's been in the works for the last couple of days!  The princesses are complete!

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Silver Swan

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Silver Swan was originally a Pinkie Pie that was pose modified -- the original pony was cut apart and resculpted using foil for the base armature and Apoxie Sculpt to finish it.  The wings were also created using brass rods, foil, and Apoxie Sculpt, then she was painted with acrylics with a dusting of silver Pearl Ex pigment and a glossy topcoat:

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She was rehaired with Dollhair Snowflake and Raincloud, and RDUS True Blue nylon:

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Her dress was made with lace, sheer light blue fabric, and faux white fur with blue tips.  It also has about a gajillion hand-sewn beads as well:

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Golden Rose

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Golden Rose was some leftovers parts from another custom -- Twilight's head and Applejack's body.  She is pose modified using her original legs, brass rods and Apoxie Sculpt for her front legs, and her back legs are completely sculpted from scratch, as I found I had to cut the pieces super duper tiny for the pose I wanted.  She is painted with acrylics, a dusting of rose gold Pearl Ex pigment, and a glossy coat to make the Pearl Ex really sparkle:

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She was rehaired with Dollyhair Blizzard, Venom, and Sunlight:

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Her dress was made with white knit/spandex material and lace, and has about 30 hand-embroidered ribbon roses adorning it:

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Other Doodads

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The Playmobil beds are about the right size for ponies, but I'm not a big fan of the basic plastic-ness of it, so I drafted patterns for a sheet, comforter, and pillows.  I also repainted the headboard of this bed (for Silver Swan's room) to resemble wood finish:

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"Somebody's been sleeping in my bed..."

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I also started planning the two tentative rooms a bit more, and decided definitely on a treasure room and a conservatory.   Here's an (incredibly rough) sketch of my plans for the conservatory:

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Original Post:

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The Castle Itself

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The interior/garden view of the castle is posted above.  The base for it is customized out of foam, with the stones hand carved and painted, then some basic grass put into place for the time being.

Front view of the castle, with the path leading up to the gate.  The front pond is actually part of the castle, but it looked weird to have solid green plastic on the turf, so I covered it as well:
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A close up of the stones:
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Interior Castle Furnishing

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So far most of the rooms are unfinished.  Most of the rooms are planned for, but two are completely empty at the moment.  There will be two bedrooms (one for each princess), a dining room, a library, a conservatory (tentative), and a treasure room (tentative). 

The only room finished so far is the dining room:
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The dining set is Playmobil, set 5145.  Most of the items are very detailed, but I may go back and paint or add more food, as that's a little lacking.  Everything is attached in a removable way using white Handi-Tak, which you can see in spots, but it keeps everything where it's supposed to be, and lets me move it if I want:
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The library still has some work left to do, but right now I am working on books for it.  These are all pony-sized books, made from card stock/fake leather for bindings:
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Some of them have been decorated a bit more so I can leave them out as though they are being read:
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The pages are all blank, but they all have individual pages that can be flipped through:
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The Guests, with Custom Dresses

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What's a party at a castle without guests wearing dresses?    I custom drafted a skirt/smaller dress and a dress/cape pattern which is the basis for all the dresses except for Pinkie's.  I had some lace and scraps of fabric on hand, and these little tiny dresses don't take very much!  They are all removable and are fastened with doll-sized Velcro.

Diamond Mint, Plumsweet, and Lemony Gem all set with their outfits and cute hairstyles!  As a side note, Plumsweet was in an auction I won recently featuring a haircut, but I think she's cute like that and I didn't have Plumsweet anyway! 
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Glitter Pinkie Pie and Rarity!  Pinkie's tutu has little Swarovski gem decorations.  Rarity's outfit is by far the most complicated, and features custom beading on the top of the skirt and a custom removable bracelet as well:
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Customs!

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Two princesses live in the castle, Silver Swan and Golden Rose.  I wanted to do something a little different with the customs, so they are both pose-modified, but with brushable hair and turnable heads still.  I am still painting the eyes for both and rehairing their manes, but here is a shot of the completed bodies -- Golden Rose is laying down, Silver Swan is sitting:
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I also made another custom for one of the party guests, named Estella.  I'm pretty sure she's an alien.    She started out as a Glitter Wysteria that was (painstakingly) de-glittered, and then I experimented with ways of changing her color without destroying the translucent effect.  She was dry-brushed with Pearl Ex Pigments in shades of blue, and I'm happy to say she is still nicely see-through!
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And of course since she's a party guest, she also received a custom dress:
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She was rehaired in two colors of yarn with sparkle bits, and has a few small star beads tied into her hair as well.  She has also been threaded through with LED lights!  The lights start at her tail, then go into the main body, thread through the neck plug, and wind through her mane as well:

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What's Left To Do

At this point, quite a lot!    Here's a partial list of what's in store:

• finish Silver Swan and Golden Rose
• make dresses for them
• create dresses for Sky Rocket and Prismatic Heart
• decorate the garden party, including flowers, LED lights and tiny lanterns
• finish the library and library books
• finish the bedrooms, including custom blankets and pillows
• furnish the treasury
• furnish the conservatory

[HelloGoodbye]

Wow!  That is amazing!  You are doing a really great job.  Everything looks so perfect!

[Galactica]

Great job! That is a fabulous castle- your customs are super fun too!

[mopthebunny]

This looks absolutely fantastic! I love the whole thing, and those customs look like they're coming on a treat!    Diamond Mint's hair looks fab, too 

[kaoskat]

That is so cute! It's suits them perfectly!

[amazonarabian]

Wow!  What a great set-up for them!

[Aitsuki]

SO much fun!! 8D I love it, Alipes! I do that with my pony and castles too.... fill it with set up areas, decorate things, and put the ponies all over in different rooms doing stuff! We can be Castle Buddies!!

[Whippycorn]

That's a pretty epic project! The re-poses are looking awesome so far, look forward to seeing them completed.

[Alipes]

SO much fun!! 8D I love it, Alipes! I do that with my pony and castles too.... fill it with set up areas, decorate things, and put the ponies all over in different rooms doing stuff! We can be Castle Buddies!!

Haha, yay, Castle Buddies!    Do you have pictures anywhere of your ponies displayed?  I'd love to see it!

Just a small update on progress: yesterday I got some good work done on the eyes for both princesses, and drafted patterns plus made a prototype for a sheet, bedspread, and pillows for the princess beds.  I also figured out how to attach everything to keep tiny pillows from running away (yay doll velcro, seriously).  I also did some research and started planning for the treasure room and conservatory, so I'm hoping to get supplies ordered for those today.

[NoPonySpecial]

Amazing, amazing work! That's exactly the kind of thing I want to do someday. Displays and dioramas are the bomb!

[Aitsuki]

Sure I do! They're fun!

Spoiler

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[aintnobuffalo]

This looks great, and I love your OCs! Can't wait to see more when the princesses are complete!

[flyawayraven]

Oh my goodness I love Playmobil! One of these days I'll have to see if I can't get my old playsets from my parents.

Anywho! This is awesome! It really is the perfect scale for G4s and it displays beautifully. The pony customs are lovely too, especially Estella! I commend anyone with the patience and willpower to cram lights into a pony because the results really pay off.

[Alipes]

Oh my goodness I love Playmobil! One of these days I'll have to see if I can't get my old playsets from my parents.

Anywho! This is awesome! It really is the perfect scale for G4s and it displays beautifully. The pony customs are lovely too, especially Estella! I commend anyone with the patience and willpower to cram lights into a pony because the results really pay off.

Haha, the lights were actually not too bad, for the most part.  The ones I found were very slimline LED's, (these ones from Amazon), so there wasn't really a separate bulb to struggle with, just a slightly bigger blob than the wire.  The trickiest part was drilling the hole through the neck plug big enough that I could slip the light string through without compromising the plug itself.  I go to a lot of effort sometimes to keep those pony heads able to turn! 

Aitsuki, thanks so much for sharing your pictures!  Your setup is super cute!  And do I spy a rehaired Shining Armor?  He looks so much better with real hair than troll hair! 

Still making some good progress on doodads -- yesterday I made Silver Swan's dress, which took a little bit since there was hand sewing beading involved.  I'm hoping to sit down today and rehair at least ONE of the princesses, because they are both ready now.  And hopefully later this week I'll have another picture update ready for you guys!

[Aitsuki]

Yup! I had someone here on the arena do it for me.. her name escapes me at the moment! Curse my bad memory! But I do love him; the rehair job was GORGEOUS, his hair is so thick and beautiful! Looks real handsome next to Cadence!