Set Review ➟ 71043 Hogwarts™ Castle
Today Diagon Alley™ set is available but we want to remember the great 71043 Hogwarts™ Castle.
Hogwarts Castle is a spectacular micro scale set. It consists of over 6000 pieces, making it the second largest LEGO set to date, only rivalled by the 75192 Millennium Falcon™ with 7541 pieces.
This is the fifth recreation of Hogwarts Castle LEGO brings to market in the Harry Potter theme. It is home to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where the protagonists of the series have most of their adventures.
The set is made up of 6020 pieces and contains 4 minifigs and 27 microfigs. Construction is divided into two parts which are later joined together to make up the castle.
The box is large and there are a total of 37 numbered bags as well as 4 unnumbered ones. There are 4 instruction booklets and in addition to the instructions for putting together the set, they contain some information about the most emblematic scenes of the movies as reproduced in the set, information about the 4 founders of the castle which are represented as minifigs and a presentation of the LEGO designer team that was in charge of this enormous set. In addition, there are 4 sticker sheets that add lots of detail.
Minifigs
Godric Gryffindor: he has a dark brown cape, a thick beard and dark orange hair. The hair piece for this figure is new in this colour for and appears for the first time in this set.
In addition to his wand he has the Gryffindor sword, an artefact that can destroy Horcruxes.
Helga Hufflepuff: also has a dark brown cape over a medium dark flesh robe over a brown dress and reddish-brown hair. She has a two face prints on her head. She also bears a cup that represents a Horcrux.
Salazar Slytherin: comes with a long white bear and a black cape that has a round collar. The dark green torso has a black necklace with silver stars, curved white lines and a silver medallion with a S pattern.
Rowena Ravenclaw: long brown wavy hair, a dark blue robe over a metallic blue dress. This is the only minifig that doesn’t have a cape. She has two faces printed on her head as well as a diadem that represents another one of the Horcrux.
Microfigures
27 microfigures represent different characters. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Professora Dolores Umbridge, Argus Filch, Lord Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, 3 students from each of the 4 houses, 2 chess pieces, the statue of the architect of Hogwarts and 5 Dementors, a well as figures representing the spider Aragog and the Basilisk.
As a curious detail, the microfigs for the Dementors appear in a couple of Star War sets (75055, 75190) representing a mini hologram of Emperor Palpatine.
Construction
Construction of the set is divided into two parts. I will start with the first part.
It all starts with the base for exhibiting the 4 minifigs with their respective emblems representing the houses of Hogwarts.
Next you build 5 boats to access the castle by crossing the Black Lake. In order to achieve the effect of a boat navigating the water a dark blue Wedge Plate 4x4 is used.
Then you build the shed where the boats are stored and where first-year students arrive at the castle. It is a small 4x6 building with a couple of torches at the entrance.
Then you move on to building the base of the Great Hall. In order to recreate a rocky cliff, different BURPs, Technic elements and slopes are used to create the right look. New in this set is the Rock Panel 8x8x6 Medium Symmetric (MURP) in tan—up to now it was only available in Dark Bluish Gray.
This part of the build also includes the round entry door to the Secret Chamber to the left of the build, which will be the bottom part of the Marble Staircase Tower.
On the right you recreate the chamber, with statues of serpents on either side and in the centre the large statue of Salazar Slytherin out of whose mouth comes the Basilisk. The Basilisk is a new element, a large snake with a raised head in Sand Green.
In the centre there is a black 1x1 tile representing the diary of Tom Riddle.
After finishing the base you build the Entrance Hall, which will have windows all around with Trans-Clear Glass panes decorated with a new pattern.
The only architectural or decorative element in the Hall are two stone banks with Round Plates 1x1 and 1x2 Tile in Tan.
At the entrance there is a “large” statue and to recreate the large wooden door that provides access to the Great Hall there is a sticker that covers two 2x4 tiles.
At the top of the entrance there is a clock and a small balcony.
The Great Hall contains the table for the professors and the long tables with seats for the students. These are built using Reddish Brown 1x6 tiles and plates.
The four large hourglasses (one for each house) that are located in one of the corners of the Great Hall, behind the table of the professors, are represented with a sticker.
On the walls of the Hall there are torches and four banners with the emblems of the houses.
The large long windows of the hall are built with different tans-clear plates (1x1 and 1x2) in various colours, creating the effect of stained-glass windows you can see in many cathedrals.
For the arches of these windows a new element is used, Brick Arch 2x2 Corner, Brick Arch 1x2 Jumper in tan and Brick Modified 1x1x1 2/3 with Studs on 1 Side in Tan.
You also build a small building that is attached to the Great Hall: Argus Filch’s room, the caretaker of Hogwarts.
After building the Great Hall, you start building the great tower and the Marble Staircase Tower. This is the place where hundreds of portraits cover the walls, some of which cover secret passage ways to other parts of the school. In order to allow the staircase to move the way it does when a student is walking on it, the stairs rest on a black 4x4 turntable with square base.
The next level of the tower holds the girl’s bathroom. This bathroom has been in disuse since a student named Myrtle was murdered there and since then Myrtle haunts the bathroom. To represent Myrtle and the doors to the bathroom there is another sticker.
Inside the bathroom is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and to enter it you need to speak Parseltongue. Then a Griffon with a serpent carved in its side lowers into the floor opening up a tunnel that leads to the chamber.
This part also has a reference to the Prefects Bathroom, placing a sticker that represents a stained-glass window with a mermaid.
Finally, there is the Headmaster’s Tower with its three smaller attached towers.
The headmaster’s office is located in this tower and in order to enter it you have to say the right password to a stone gargoyle that guards the entrance. After saying the password, the gargoyle gets up and reveals a spiral staircase that materialises as you climb up.
Once again, the decoration of this office is done with stickers. There’s the Sorting Hat, a portrait and the sword of the founder Godric Gryffindor, a bookcase that holds a collection of books, a cupboard and Fawkes, the pet Phenix and defender of Albus Dumbledore.
Finally, you build the cone shaped spire of the tower and the three smaller turrets. This a rather complicated step since you need to combine wedge plates to give the spire its conical shape.
To finish this stage, you build the Hungarian Horntail dragon which Harry faces during his first triwizard tournament in 1994.
It’s time to start the second part of the build and we do so by building Hagrid’s Hut. In order to get the round shape of the hut you will use a Plate Modified 2x2 with Bar Frame Octagonal to which you connect several Plate Modified 1x2 with Clip Horizontal on End to recreate doors, windows and walls.
Of course, there is also a small field of pumpkins and the spider Aragog, in Medium Dark Flesh.
Now it’s time for the second part of the castle. You start in a similar fashion to the first part, using different Technic elements to create a base and adding several BURP pieces and slopes in order to create the shape of the cliffs.
Adding trees is as simple as using a Bar 3L Reddish Brown and 3 green plant stems and the result is quite good.
Up next is the potion room, with shelves full of flasks. Once again there are stickers to recreate the shelves and you finish off the room with trans round plates in different colours as well as Neck Brackets with Back Stud to represent tables and chairs.
We move on to the Room of Requirement with several accessories, like the Goblet of Fire and the Vanishing Cabinet.
In this part we recreate part of the chambers that exist in the castle and that the main characters pass through in The Philosopher’s Stone.
We start with the hidden room of the Devil’s Snare, a plant that looks like a Venomous Tentacula or a climbing plant. We use Technic Bionicle Barraki Spines for this kind of plant.
The next chamber holds the magical flying keys. Again, we use stickers for the keys and a new element, the Utensil Paint Brush in Reddish Brown by way of a broom which the young wizards need to use to catch the keys.
Next is the chamber with the chess board. We use elements that represent chess pieces, like microfigures, Cone 1x1, Round Plate and Slope 30 1x1x2/3.
Finally, we build the chamber that holds the mirror of Erised, designed by Aldus Dumbledore, surrounded by flames and we use a sticker on a Tile 1x2 to represent the mirror.
On top of the chamber that hold the chessboard and the flying keys we recreate the hall of the first floor where the message “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir… Beware” appears written on the wall.
The next step is building the classroom where Defence Against the Dark Arts is taught, with potions, tables, a gramophone and a cupboard with a Boggard.
Next to this classroom is the Professor Dolores Umbridge’s room, with a desk, chair and furniture in characteristic pink. The cat pictures she has on the wall are represented with white Round Plate 1x1.
We turn to building the Whomping Willow, with wavy branches that trap the famous blue Ford Anglia. I must say that with just four pieces the car has been represented in a convincing way.
Next we start building the entrance to the Viaduct. The entrance has long tall windows, similar to the ones in the Great Hall, and two lateral towers, with the new windows and conical spires, and two rear towers.
The entrance door opens on the common room of Gryffindor, which holds a fireplace and red seats. Behind the fireplace you place the portrait of the Fat Lady, which serves to hide the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.
There is also the Library, with a bookcase, tables and scattered books.
Finally, it is time to build the Stone Bridge that connects the corridor on the first floor to the entrance of the Viaduct, which requires the use of a large number of Tan Window 1x2x2 Castle.
Now all we need to do is to connect the two halves with some Technic pins and we get the impressive Hogwarts Castle, with an approximate height of 58 cm, width of 69 cm and depth of 43 cm.
Conclusions
Without a doubt, this is a great set for Harry Potter fans. As you build it you remember details and scenes of the movies, thanks to the great level of detail and realism i the set. I would like to highlight the Ford Anglia, the Whomping Willow, Hagrid’s Hut and the small field of pumpkins, the Chessboard and the stained-glass windows in the Great Hall. On the other hand, in order to recreate the details in the movies there are a lot of stickers; comprehensible, since it would be impossible to get them in otherwise. The Great Hall also lacks some details, like the flying candles that illuminate it.
As for the building experience, there are simple and interesting building techniques that are worth copying in towers, bridges, castles or similar constructions.
It is also great to see such a large number of new elements, either completely new or recolours. The Brick Arch 1x2 Jumper and Brick Arch 2x2 Corner will be very useful for making windows and bridges and so is the window with the new pattern.
Some interesting parts of the castle are missing, like the greenhouses, the Room of Requirement, the Clock Tower, the Dark Tower, the Quidditch Pitch, the Wooden Bridge or the White Tomb, but who knows, maybe there is a surprise at some time in the future and we get an expansion to the castle…bad news to our pockets.
We want to thank LEGO for providing this set for review. However, LEGO neither approves nor endorses the opinions we publish about their products.
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