Chateaux Du Montpilloy
The project to recreate Old Montépilloy, a ruined cylindrical castle, was a laborious but rewarding journey. After extensive online research and drone footage analysis, the design was translated into CAD and laser-cut templates for XPS (extruded polystyrene). The main challenges included crafting spiral staircases and carving the tower’s brickwork, along with adding texture for a realistic, ruined effect. The detailing, including custom-sculpted bricks and debris, was painstaking but fulfilling. The final product, inspired by the historical Château de Montépilloy, included references to Joan of Arc and the Hundred Years' War. The result? A beautifully recreated, weathered castle, showcasing an impressive blend of creativity and precision.
Held captive in Montépilloy before Joan of Arc’s death the Château was built by Adam de Chambly, blending medieval military architecture with Gothic finesse. A difficult part of this project was two the spiral staircases and diving up the project due to the height of the hotwire cutter.
Steps and Process
Old Montépilloy: A Journey into Castley Mayhem
Old Montépilloy was a heck of a research project. After days of scouring the internet for “old castle ruins” and countless variations, I finally stumbled across the beast. It had these incredible shapes—a ruined cylindrical tower that seemed to dissolve more and more as it climbed into the sky. Internal buttresses and arches (presumably for floors), spiral staircases (two of them, no less), windows, and doorways all combined to create peak epicness.
My research led me to YouTube, where I spent hours dissecting drone footage—pausing, screenshotting, and studying the best angles. This was key to recreating it in CAD and understanding how it all fit together. Eight hours of CAD work later, I’d nailed the basic shape, interpreting its quirks and refining the design into 2D drawings. Cylindrical towers aren’t exactly 2D-friendly, but I got there. A quick transition to LightBurn, a laser cut or two, and voilà—I had a pile of templates ready for XPS (extruded polystyrene).
XPSing: An Art of Precision
Jesus, XPSing is an art. I started by using double-sided tape to align my laser-cut templates flush against the 90° edges of XPS blocks—a solid technique to maintain accuracy. Eventually, I found a better trick: applying full sheets of double-sided tape to templates before laser cutting. This saved me the hassle of manually taping every perimeter. Having two of every template was also a lifesaver, ensuring the “give” of the hotwire couldn’t ruin the cut. (Nothing worse than a mangled curvy line on the other side of your block.)
I began with the general shape and height of the tower. “But Earthy, surely your Proxxon doesn’t allow for that height?” Shut up, you mongoose—I did it in layers!
The hardest part? The internal spiral staircases. I had to cut thin slices from the inside of the tower, just wide enough for the stairs. Then came painstaking blade work to carve the actual stairs, all while keeping the cuts hidden. Honestly, why do I do this to myself?
From Blank Tower to Bricky Beauty
After days of work and mistakes, I had a blank, freestanding tower—with plenty of excess to trim. Tea and coffee became my best mates as I chipped away with a handheld hotwire device, shaping it in line with photo references. This part was oddly satisfying, deciding where the brickwork would take over.
Next, I grabbed my pro kit of pencils and blades, fired up YouTube, and settled in for a brick-drawing marathon. It started slow, but soon the project began popping into reality. I made a conscious effort to go bottom-up, keeping uniform brick spacing. Toward the top, I shrank the bricks slightly for a touch of illusionary scale. Totally planned that...
The castle was now fully bricked up, but then came the next challenge: scalping. Cutting brick lines with a scalpel adds depth and helps when texturing later. I also used the blade to roughen the edges, creating ruins and pulling out a few bricks for added effect.
The Bloody Texturing
Texturing was a two-part process: first, using a stone to texture the XPS; second, sculpting the bricks to push them out of their original alignment. If you’ve got a quarry and some explosives handy, you could speed this up dramatically, but I went the subtle route—stone, tea, and YouTube on repeat.
The finishing touch? Shoving tiny stones into the crumbled edges for extra realism and securing them with Sculptamold. By the end, I’d recreated Château de Montépilloy in all its ruined glory.
Historical Nuggets
Once the structure was finished, I dug into its history and found some cheeky facts. This castle once held Joan of Arc prisoner before she was, well… fireballed. It also played a role in the Hundred Years’ War, enduring several sieges during the chaos between France and England. Come on, England!
The Grand Finale
I’m genuinely over the moon with how this turned out. I’m no painter, so I bodged the paint job and filled it with a bunch of my own laser-cut plants. But still, it’s a beauty. Up to my knees in castley mayhem, and I couldn’t be happier.
Chateaux Du Montpilloy
Montépilloy - France
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