The #71043 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle is a seriously impressive set with over 6,000 pieces, and an overall size of over 22” (58cm) high, 27” (69cm) wide and 16” (43cm) deep. This massive set features the Great Hall, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Chessboard Chamber, the Room of Requirement, the Chamber of Secrets, the hidden Devils Snare room, the Gryffindor common room, Professor Dolores Umbridge’s office, the library, and Professor Dumbledore’s office. Also included are the hut of Hagrid, the Whomping Willow tree, 5 little boats, 4 regular minifigs (Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw), and 27 microfigures to populate the castle. 🙂
While the #71043 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle is huge and very impressive, it does not include the entire Hogwarts Castle from the films. This inspired a number of Harry Potter fans to expand the original set and design the additional structures themselves. One such project was done by a German LEGO fan who goes by the name DERDOOR. His XXL Hogwarts Castle expands from the original set by adding additional buildings and rockwork around the entire structure. He even included lights!
Although not everyone may be able to invest such a significant amount of time and money in a LEGO project, it is still very inspirational to look through the pictures. I have included some of them above, and you can find more at DERDOOR’s flickr gallery. And below, I have added video footage, highlighting how beautiful the set looks at night with all those lights!
Another, somewhat smaller expansion of the #71043 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle was done by LEGO fan, ryankroboth. This version of the Hogwarts Castle is around 34″x54″ in size, and includes around 25,000 pieces in total. Ryankroboth purchased two sets, built the first one, and used the pieces from the second one for the extension. However, he still needed extra pieces to finish the project. Some nice features of this version is that the original set didn’t need much alteration, and that the additional structures are built in the same style, using similar decorations and other details to blend in with the original set.
This project is actually quite doable. If you are able to purchase two #71043 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle set (they are $399.99 each), you are already a good way there. For the rest of the needed pieces that you don’t have, you can use BrickLink.com. Although step-by-step building instructions are not available at the moment, ryankroboth freely shares the Stud.io digital file as well as the parts-list for the build. You can download them here: HARRY POTTER CASTLE DROPBOX FILE. To open the file, download Stud.io, BrickLink’s own digital design and rendering software for LEGO models. It is free to use, and it is tied together with the BrickLink shopping site, so you can easily order the extra parts you need.
The #71043 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle is a beautiful set in itself. It provides a satisfying building experience, looks great on display, and is full of references to the Harry Potter saga. If you want to expand the enjoyment of the set and make it even more special, you might consider building an extension for it. To learn more about the original set, go to the LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Review, and if you don’t have it already, you can find it at the LEGO Harry Potter section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? Do you have the #71043 LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle already? Have you thought about expanding it to make it a more complete Castle based on the films? And what do you think of the expansion ideas featured here? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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