Rebrickable 1st Entry Rickety Ladders

 Good morning everyone, I haven't posted in a while.  I've found as I get older that my attentions are all over the place these days, In 2020 my part/set collecting patterns were a bit interrupted and I diverted back toward modern sets.  I haven't posted much about those here... if at all.  I'm making an exception this time for a modern remake of a classic from 1990.  If I'm doing instructions for my MOCs I'll likely continue to post those here, and maybe someday I'll review another classic Space theme if I have the required sets.

When I was a kid there was an amazing theme called Forestmen.  Basically Robin Hood, but even better... Lego Robin Hood!  My introduction to Lego and Forestmen, and Castle... was none other than 6071 Forestmen's Crossing.  This is one of my Holy Grails... but unlike the Space sets I never picked this one up, it's always been hyper pricey as long as I've had the means... and it's only gotten worse.

Image source via Bricklink: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6071-1#T=S&O={%22iconly%22:0}

Sadly, Forestmen was only a part of my childhood in my head... like Space, Castle was not really something my parents would get for me, and by the time I could write down my wish lists Forestmen were gone.  Most of this blog has been about Lego I wanted as a kid and wound up getting as an adult.  

Today I still don't have Forestmen's Crossing, or the other classic Forestmen bases; they're very expensive per piece even by my rather aggressive purchasing standards. I did pick up 40567 Forest Hideout gwp with a giant Elsa's Frozen Castle... I'm a big fan of the new satin light blue color in those Frozen sets.  I haven't built anything with the Satin light blue, I'm just hoarding my treasured new color; But that's not why we're here.  Forest Hideout is a true modern classic.  This is my favorite set of 2022, I like it even more than the next one I'll list.

Image source via Bricklink https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=40567-1&name=Forest%20Hideout&category=%5BCastle%5D%5BForestmen%5D#T=S&O={%22iconly%22:0}

I also picked up the Lion Knights' Castle and that was back in January 2022... that purchase killed all my Lego purchasing enthusiasm for the year... and hobby purchasing for most of the year... that is my monster... some people have the Millennium Falcon, or the Titanic... I've even seen photos of houses with all of the largest sets... woah! But for me if I'm picking a giant set it'll be this 90th Anniversary Castle set.  It's got... even more modern Forestmen!  3 more plus a blue peasant with a Forestmen hat in blue.  

I'm somewhat annoyed that all the forestmen in these modern sets all have the same shirt... but I'll live with it.  I decided to take this castle apart because it hit me that I'd have a few extra days off at the end of the year and I wanted to see what I can build with it.  Nothing too ambitious yet... I saw some cool instructions for it on Rebrickable, I might look at those later, I'm pretty new to rebrickable and haven't ever used it seriously.  And I don't think I'm ready to scale up a MOC the size of this Castle set all by myself yet.

I made my little Alternate project off these 2 sets and I liked what I had so I reacquainted myself with Studio 2.0 provided by Bricklink, I finally managed to finish a project on that software.  

For my first outing on the Castle teardown and Studio digital recreation project I made a modern Forestmen's Crossing which I call Rickety Ladders.

Here's all the photography I took of it.  

The new method I took for the Bridge,  caused some problems in Studio, and the official modern Tree limbs weren't fun either, I also had trouble installing the ladders going up the tree, because I put them on the trunk after the leaves so they kept attaching to the leaves and not the trunk in Studio, so I probably should have chosen a simpler model to start with.  I did finish the project and as a sort of belated Christmas greeting I'm able to provide the instructions.  I think if you have the Forest Hideout and a selection of pieces on hand you can get this model pretty darn close with your available parts so long as you have some gray bricks and green plates, but the Lion Knights' Castle was the basis for me trying to build this and you will find the necessary parts in the 2 named sets.

For your curiosity and use here's a Rebrickable link to the free instructions and I wish you all a pleasant 2024.  

Forestmen: Rickety Ladders