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Imperial Artisans ... The Painters, Crafters & Writers Guilds => Empire Crafts and Skills => Topic started by: elsmallo on August 25, 2020, 01:23:05 PM
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Hi folks, this is my first post to this excellent community.
As a longtime Empire and Fantasy fan, it's been one of my ambitions to build a set of scenery pieces to represent a small town or village in the Empire. I built some Mordheim scenery back in the day, and a few half-finished dioramas, but always enjoyed poring over the old White Dwarf dioramas and battle reports featuring the studio's Empire scenery, wishing I could put together my own collection, maybe with a unifing theme or identity behind it. My memory doesn't quite stretch as far back as the old cardboard Warhammer Townscape, but my aim was for a similar feel, more early Warhammer than the later, spikier Empire plastic kits released by GW.
Lockdown provided me with a perfect opportunity to finish some speculative buildings I started in 2019. As of today, I've finished these three (hardly a town but, I'm getting there)
(https://i.imgur.com/i5EJAuA.jpg)
Because it makes me feel good, a brief discussion of how these were built follows.
I've been accumulating cardboard boxes (mostly eBay warhammer buys, also things like food packaging) for ages, so selected appropriately sized ones to use as the base for each of the floors of each building. So the size is pretty random. I'd say they are slightly large for 28mm scale but pretty good. Sadly, I didn't take any photos of the initial stage, which looks like two cardboard boxes taped together. Because that's what it is.
(https://i.imgur.com/xdbqGbO.jpg)
This is the earliest picture I took of the first house I built, which actually ended up being a pretty complicated build. There's a lot of matchstick (I acquired a load of non-tipped matchsticks at some point) timber frames, and various wood offcut beams and the like. The chimney was I believe an old cardboard box for staples, and the pots the lids of mini superglues. Roof tiles are cereal box type cardboard cut up and laboriously glued on. I even put beams under the first floor and gables... the whole thing took an age even to get to this stage. The windows and doors are MDF by a company called Sally 4th.
The next stage is texturing. I use sand and glue to add texture and the stones were carved out of ordinary household filler using a dremel hobby tool. Very dusty.
(https://i.imgur.com/sLYzvW7.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/EQ2PUWj.jpg)
The second house I made was smaller and less complicated. I gave it a little porchway area propped up by a wooden pillar to give it a bit of interest. The stones on the ground were just carved out of the base board with the dremel.
(https://i.imgur.com/iYWVjJo.jpg)
For scale reference, a couple of my minis up against the buildings, almost fully painted.
(https://i.imgur.com/C6uone9.jpg)
My third building was more ambitious and based on a fantastic model I spotted in one of the old Warhammer Battle books.
(https://i.imgur.com/I3HrIYg.png)
The building with the corner circular tower, it has an inn sign in the picture but I fancied making more of a town hall style building.
(https://i.imgur.com/FjT3jiS.jpg)
This is the 'loo roll tower' building, which pretty much took up two months or so of lockdown, along with gardening when the sun was out, April-May time this year. I do most of my modelling in our conservatory room, which gets pretty hot in the sun, so actually with all the hot weather we had in the UK this project was an evenings and mornings job. This is pretty much complete in the picture. The most difficult thing to build was the tapering triangular roof. I have no maths so ended up making paper cones and pretty much guessing the size until I got one that fit OK with the loo roll. One of the nice things about using old cardboard boxes for this kind of modelling is that the boxes get squeezed a bit out of shape (or aren't in shape to begin with) and accumulate various dents and scrapes during the process, which is perfect for the half-timber assymetrical 'Empire' dark fantasy style (or so I like to tell myself).
(https://i.imgur.com/8Vbm1Kh.jpg)
I try to make most things myself but the steps leading up to the main door are from the Terraincrate town centre scenery box. When it came the plastic parts were actually quite warped. I hadn't intended to use the stocks and platform but thought it worked OK as steps for this building. Except, logically, opening the double doors would be quite hard with this set-up. The doors themselves I used an old GW gothic archway combined with cobbled bits partly sculpted myself, which I then cast in resin:
(https://i.imgur.com/CukMNbN.jpg)
This was my 'original' model.
The weathervane was put together using the Empire griffon accessory and various poles and arrows. Unfortunately the final part has sagged a bit so I may rebuild it at some point.
(https://i.imgur.com/kdPYoC3.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/FJp4SLw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/kPGJEmO.jpg)
The undercoat stage.
I've not taken any better pictures of the more fully painted models due to becoming perfectionist about my photo set-up after too much reddit browsing. I'd like to add more buildings and join-up terrain elements like walls or wells and the like, when I have time. I'd also like to decide on a provincial theme for the town, incorporating that into the paint scheme for the buildings somehow, and give the town a name. Also paint some villagers, perhaps build a local militia force for it and other time-consuming things. Atm I'm torn between Wissenland as a theme, or Ostermark.
Any suggestions, feedback, C&C etc most appreciated on this lengthy post - thanks for reading!
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Wow, great stuff, thanks so much for sharing! :icon_cool: :eusa_clap:
And welcome to W-E! :::cheers:::
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Thank you! :happy:
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Excellent - welcome aboard.
I too have been trying to do something similar - build a town - for a long while. :engel:
I tried some scratch built several years back, but they were very basic rectangles compared to your efforts.
More recently I have been using a variety of store bought models and trying to adapt them to suit by converting or adding bits - but I will still end up with a town with different 'districts' - townhouses in one, peasants in another, and then the nobles have their own area with protective towers.
I admire your patience and ingenuity - now can you see the project through. :biggriin:
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Thanks - appreciated. :smile2:
Well, it sounds like you got a fair bit done with your town anyhow. I currently have three houses! My aim is also to have a purpose in mind at least for each building - I probably won't get as far as different districts but I want to assign a few villager models to each house and so on.
I already suspect it'll be beyond me to complete as originally imagined but, part of the reason I wanted to post here was to keep some momentum in the project. So, cheers for the encouragement.
Which store bought models have you used and do you recommend any?
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I have a thread a few below yours in this board - you can see what I mean about the time frame if you look at the dates :biggriin:
Pages 4, 5 & 6 have the mix of styles I was talking about.
The GW Fortified Manor which I have used in different ways.
Some Tabletop Workshop buildings which are plastic clip together kits - bland but ok.
Link to one source - but I got mine a lot cheaper.
https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=291&page=1
The last set is from someone called TSS - Total System Scenic who made a group of resin kits.
I acquired about 5 buildings many years ago and several of the walls were bent and I had to straighten them out in hot water when I eventually built them.
I did enhance them a bit putting them on bases with card flagstones and the 'courtyard' as you can see in the pics.
So it was a lot easier than starting with cardboard boxes. :biggriin:
The 3 'styles' don't look too clever together, which is why I was talking about districts. The GW stuff could be the 'posh' area, the Tabletop Workshop for the upper middle classes, and then maybe the TSS stuff more for the lower classes and the like.
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very nice work!
You did a great job capturing that old white dwarf feel. A bit different from the more modern kits ('spikier' is a good description). I did some cereal box buildings myself but cut many more corners than you. Roofing shingles one by one? Madness! The sand/grit on the walls though looks great and I shall try that on my next build.
I am impressed by your resin pour of that big door. Finding the right doors/windows is a bit of a chore. I am pretty much through my stash of GW bldg leftover bits, so glad to see there are other options.
What's the plan for the streets and roadways?
Keep it up. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. :::cheers:::
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Great townscape in making! :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:
-Z
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I have a thread a few below yours in this board - you can see what I mean about the time frame if you look at the dates :biggriin:
I can see! You've got loads done over the years, looks brilliant. The kits don't look so off with each other, but I guess the GW manor kinda out militarises the others with all the battlements and the like. It looks great with the extended courtyard though.
I was out of touch with the hobby when GW released those kits but did manage to get some bits from the manor and chapel sets, mostly doors and some fence parts. So I hope to be able to build some kind of barracks building at some point and maybe a graveyard. I still need to consider how I'm actually going to situate the models in space somehow and how to make it into a gameable situation.
I've bought stuff from Northstar, a covered wagon and also some of the plastic tents you've got as well. I note with envy your Mordheim Stage Coach - this is one of the models I look back upon in old catalogues and wish I'd bought at the time.
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I am impressed by your resin pour of that big door. Finding the right doors/windows is a bit of a chore. I am pretty much through my stash of GW bldg leftover bits, so glad to see there are other options.
What's the plan for the streets and roadways?
Thanks very much! :smile2:
I always thought it was a shame GW didn't go harder in on the buildings accessories, they were nice quality especially the Mordheim ones. I may (cough) have discovered molds and resing casting in order to ensure I don't run out of certain vital OOP bits, but my aim moving forward is to sculpt more of my own windows and doors and the like and copy those.
I've not thought much about the streets and roadways. Seeing the work of others on here is instructive. I have already based the buildings I've made and have in the pipeline, so may have slightly limited myself there. I think some kind of board system with recessed insets for the house bases might work - if I make the bases a limited number of sizes then theoretically this way I could have different layouts etc. I should probably resolve this before I make too many more. Not that I'm exactly speeding ahead...
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It was my birthday a few days ago and I was able to persuade my brother to play a game of Fantasy with me, giving me an opportunity to use my scenery (and my painted miniatures) in battle for the first time in ages.
My other big Warhammer project over the years has been making an army based on the mercenary Grudgebringers from the Dark Omen/Shadow of the Horned Rat games from back in the 90s. Plus an orc and goblin army which I've been doing simultaneously. As it was my birthday I of course took command of Morgan Bernhardt's men and left my brother the greenskins. I also took a 100 or so points advantage due to the slight discrepancy in painted troops.
I have some Mordheim terrain which I set up in the O&G deployment zone to represent the buildings they'd already razed to the ground:
(https://i.imgur.com/9wcwn3V.jpg)
The p/v of the Tilean crossbowmen, who were to shoot up many goblins in the early turns:
(https://i.imgur.com/I0P0BFG.jpg)
I realised during the battle that the buildings I've built, especially the main tower building, are pretty big and actually use up quite a lot of battlefield space when all used together, creating channels that pretty much force engagement along them, as I set them up on the day on our fairly narrow table anyhow.
(https://i.imgur.com/YlPXLWr.jpg)
A top-down view:
(https://i.imgur.com/99l7Zxk.jpg)
The grudgebringers had the day, although it ended up being more bloody than necessary after I charitably allowed a unit of big 'uns who'd fled the table to reform, who then promptly obliterated my main infantry unit. Morgan Bernhardt himself also fell ignominiously having failed to score even a wound against the Orc warboss:
(https://i.imgur.com/HHlG4qX.jpg)
In the end though the cavalry and dwarves proved too much for the greenskins and routed them from the field at around about 11.30 UK time :-P
It was great fun and cool to be able to use the scenery in a game. I'd intended this more as a 'modelling' project but it's made me consider how I might make the scenery work better for gaming purposes. Chiefly, I think it needs to be more interactive. So possibly with a smaller footprint but more usable by miniatures. I'd like to have some flat-roofed buildings or balconies that could be stood on, as well as a town wall and gatehouse style building to be garrisoned.
I'm making a start on this next and have already started making a large double door for the gatehouse which I intend to cast in resin once it's finished. I'd like every building to have something I have designed myself in it that can be reused, rather than relying on cloned GW parts and other manufacturers. This is my effort so far:
(https://i.imgur.com/ueA3xjb.jpg)
C&C extremely welcome :smile2:
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I like your painted miniatures! :icon_biggrin: :::cheers:::
The door for the gate (?) looks like it is coming along masterfully! :icon_cool: :eusa_clap:
Happy Birthday!
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Nice report! Belated Happy birthday! :smile2:
The p/v of the Tilean crossbowmen, who were to shoot up many goblins in the early turns
Hurray for the Tileans!
BTW, do you think the movement trays you are using are OK (for friendly games)? They didn't intrude in any way in the movement, wheeling, and engagement of the models in the first row?
I realised during the battle that the buildings I've built, especially the main tower building, are pretty big and actually use up quite a lot of battlefield space when all used together, creating channels that pretty much force engagement along them, as I set them up on the day on our fairly narrow table anyhow.
Good point. Something I've been pondering myself too, after building a house from scratch, and trying to keep to the scale. I've read that most game buildings are actually significantly smaller than they would be in real life, although they can be quite tall still. If the models are 1/56, the buildings can be 1/64 or even 1/72 with bigger windows and doors. This also results in somewhat narrow and tall buildings for wargames, similar to some fantasy art.
It was great fun and cool to be able to use the scenery in a game. I'd intended this more as a 'modelling' project but it's made me consider how I might make the scenery work better for gaming purposes. Chiefly, I think it needs to be more interactive. So possibly with a smaller footprint but more usable by miniatures. I'd like to have some flat-roofed buildings or balconies that could be stood on, as well as a town wall and gatehouse style building to be garrisoned.
Good ideas. Be sure to search for Mordheim townscape projects in the web. Some great inspiration there. Here's one in Facebook I'm following with interest:
https://www.facebook.com/msterrainlab (https://www.facebook.com/msterrainlab)
Your gatehouse doors are coming up nicely. They look properly big & heavy! :-)
-Z
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BTW, do you think the movement trays you are using are OK (for friendly games)? They didn't intrude in any way in the movement, wheeling, and engagement of the models in the first row?
The movement trays are OKish but have some problems. Most of them are from a UK company called Sarissa Precision. I started my armies mainly from a painting/modelling angle rather than gaming, and as many of my units are quite customised, the models don't always fit together that well next to each other. So the trays with the little gaps in between help and they're useful also for display and storage. But even some old GW metals I've found won't actually always go next to each other, eg the old metal orc boyz. The champion from that unit has his big feet miles outside the base area, and won't fit with the rest of the command unit even with the little gap the trays I have provide! The trays can actually help as well to suggest how many the unit has lost with the empty spaces at the back.
The cavalry trays are problematic though - their footprint is massive and while still on the tray they are cumbersome to wield and do skew the movement. And with the big gap in between ranks and files it plays a bit loose with the range rules and templates for example.
In general though as long as you're aware of the slight placement alterations and use some imagination re. things like base to base contact, I think they're pretty playable. I always figured this as something GW could have put more time into developing themselves, given the fairly time-consuming nature of picking up every model, and the fairly uninspiring plastic trays they did develop. I also think many models just look better with a bit of space between them. If I ever get round to it I'd like to build some trays that allow for more haphazardous positioning of the models - especially the orcs - to suggest a more ragged bunch of warriors. Havoc though it may play with the game rules!
Good ideas. Be sure to search for Mordheim townscape projects in the web. Some great inspiration there. Here's one in Facebook I'm following with interest:
https://www.facebook.com/msterrainlab
This stuff is seriously impressive. Like someone seriously talented read the Mordheim book cover to cover at a pretty impressionable time and is realising that vision with skills. Inspiring modelling.
Thanks for your other comments. I intend to make a start on some more playable pieces this weekend and cast the door hopefully, although I have some new (old) goblins to paint too :)
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Ingenious use of ice cream sticks as door timber. Two thumbs up :eusa_clap:
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Thanks for the analysis on the Sarissa trays! :::cheers:::
-Z
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I stumbled across something the other day.
Pieces from discount store chess sets make great statues/shrines
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I stumbled across something the other day.
Pieces from discount store chess sets make great statues/shrines
Actually the first ever bit of Warhammer scenery I made was something like this, when I was about 10! I will find sometime and put it up here.
Thanks for the analysis on the Sarissa trays! :::cheers:::
No problem! I've started building different ones for my goblins which have smaller gaps and arrange the models a bit haphazardously, hopefully will work OK.
Ingenious use of ice cream sticks as door timber. Two thumbs up :eusa_clap:
Many thanks. I have a supply of these things from someone I know who works in a hotel!
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I wrote previously about intending to make some more 'interactive' terrain. True to my word (amazingly) I spent last weekend building a piece. I figured an obviously usable set of terrain related to an Empire town would be a town wall, with walkways, battlements, towers, all with lots of places to put missile troops on. I envision this as a set of pieces on rectangular bases that can be placed together in different configurations. Rather than build my gatehouse first I thought I'd start with a smaller section. I've always liked houses that are built onto walls or cliff sides, so decided to build a small section of wall with a walkway atop it and attached house.
I started with a base and some offcuts of wood for the wall and first storey, plus my usual cardboard box second storey. I textured the wood using a Dremel hobby tool sanding attachment to represent large stones. The door and shuttered windows are of my own creation, cast in resin.
(https://i.imgur.com/W743dqV.jpg)
The bit of wood I used had a screwhole in it so I figured I'd turn it into some kind of siege-created hole. This is Warhammer after all. I attacked it with the dremel to widen it and create hard edges.
(https://i.imgur.com/R1pjgub.jpg)
I built the piece up to incude a walkway, wide enough to fit two 20x20 bases, built with coffee stirrers atop a cardboard template, below:
(https://i.imgur.com/xxToQj8.jpg)
...onto which models can climb via a little tower built out of half a berocca box, which conceals an (imaginary) ladder. So they can get the BS+1 vitamins buff :-D. I put a trapdoor hatch (I think Citadel) on top of this and added a sort of battlemen bit around it. Everything is glued with UHU, occasionally masking tape or staples were also used to clamp things.
(https://i.imgur.com/PsfNW3J.jpg)
The outward facing side has a high wall in part textured with some plasticard brick. The house roof also has damage. I'm thinking a rock lobber although some Chaos or Skaven war machine could also fit.
(https://i.imgur.com/EKLHeOb.jpg)
I'd assume that any building hit by such a projectile would have more extensive damage and toyed with the idea of trying to make the roof open as a space to put minis in but decided this would be too complicated, so settled for another hole, wth debris inside.
(https://i.imgur.com/sfZ2kMW.jpg)
I added textures next with filler, sand textured paint and in places some new hobby clay I'm trying out - the flagstones on the tower flat top were created with this. Also added some debris next to the damaged parts, a little crate and some texture carved into the base. And of course roof tiles.
(https://i.imgur.com/XQgujVJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XdeTiGw.jpg)
After texturing I undercoated with grey and brown primer. I often think these models look best with the flat primer. it somehow brings out the 3D aspect.
(https://i.imgur.com/evaMsLk.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NivjETY.jpg)
I've so far only had time for a little bit of further painting of some basic colours on. I find the cardboard especially really absorbs paint so this stage takes longer than painting minis.
(https://i.imgur.com/FAhtiIy.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/SGZwrQM.jpg)
The whole build took pretty much a whole weekend, working hours, although much of this time was spent mulling the next stage or peeling glue off my fingers. Hopefully will get a chance to do a bit more painting this weekend, hope you guys like! :biggriin:
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You sir, are a terrain wizard. That is an awesome piece
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Excellent! And appreciate the photos of how this was built, thank you! :icon_biggrin: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
Also, what it caused me to imagine was having this as a piece that could be used as part of a large manor house complex. :icon_cool:
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You sir, are a terrain wizard. That is an awesome piece
Thank you kind sir. Much appreciated and encouraging.
Excellent! And appreciate the photos of how this was built, thank you! :icon_biggrin: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
Also, what it caused me to imagine was having this as a piece that could be used as part of a large manor house complex. :icon_cool:
Again, thanks. My idea is to have several pieces of similar size which can be put together, yes. As long as the walkway height is roughly similar and there isn't space to the sides of the pieces, so they can go right up against another, and some 'corner' pieces would also need to be built.
I had some time to paint yesterday so have pretty much finished this piece off I think. Here are the Grudgebringer crossbows defending the wall:
(https://i.imgur.com/Vv8lPrf.jpg)
And some different angles:
(https://i.imgur.com/TBJwaUG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/56CfS5m.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/j6YDkhL.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/JTZFAbk.jpg)
I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, although it's maybe looking a little grimy and weathered.
I will have a crack at a new section soon. I still need to decide on a theme or location for the town. I'm leaning towards Wissenheim atm as I think the buildings look pretty solid and also greyish in colour so far, suiting a more built-up and industrial province. Also I have loads of grey and crimson paint still so this'll enable me to paint up some town guard units.
Thanks for all the encouragment! :happy:
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Wow I have to admit that I am really impressed by what you guys have build. Do you use acrylic paint or any other kind of paint tools (https://www.einrichtungsradar.de/streichen-verputzen/)? This is a very interesting hobby and I am looking forward seeing new things you guys build.
Best wishes,
Sigmar90
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Wow I have to admit that I am really impressed by what you guys have build. Do you use acrylic paint or any other kind of paint tools (https://www.einrichtungsradar.de/streichen-verputzen/)? This is a very interesting hobby and I am looking forward seeing new things you guys build.
Best wishes,
Sigmar90
Thank you!
I mostly use big bristle brushes, like for oil painting, for terrain painting, as well as standard GW-type miniature brushes. I just do loads of drybrushing and also make a lot of washes - for example making a beige/light grey wash out of paint thinned with water is the way I get the mortar in between the bricks done. Usually 2-3 washes to get it right. And yes tube acrylic paint like for art painting as well as citadel and other brand model paints.
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Love the Tudor windows :eusa_clap:
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I did a bit more building this weekend. I finally got round to making a mold of my gate door, although the first time I tried it the mix of silicone and mineral spirits (to create a shrinking mold) didn't set properly so I had to save the door and tidy it after it got a bit gunked up. I was able to clean it up however and make another mold out of straight silicone - I use Lego bricks to make the box mold and clay to seal the edges. The second mold worked OK and I've been able to make a cast in resin of the door although not photo'd it yet.
(https://i.imgur.com/vUCsv3s.jpg)
I also had a go at making some trees - never tried this before. I used wires of various thickness to create the trunk and branches, twisted around each other and then gunked a mix of polyfiller, pva and sand onto the wires, filling the cracks and creating texture. I coated this when dry with more pva and paint. I then painted, and when dry glued on some lichen and flock. The colours are a bit green, but I'm still quite happy with them.
(https://i.imgur.com/4VvEiT4.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NTH5fJl.jpg)
I also played around a bit with another building. A little while ago I built a little blacksmith building, using some Mantic forge parts. However, I figured a blacksmith's shed would be a good building to attach to a town wall piece, so decided to turn the building I'd made into something else: an inn. This was the original build:
(https://i.imgur.com/2d8zAa1.jpg)
I altered the existing model to fill in the open shed area and constructed a new ground floor out of cardboard so that the original could become the first floor.
(https://i.imgur.com/JbGGk2E.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2q2F6DI.jpg)
I only got as far as putting a few windows on to this one. I glued some old GW mordheim windows together and made a mold of them so I can reproduce on this building a few times. It can be quite a grand inn hopefully when finished.
(https://i.imgur.com/ICTSOJB.jpg)
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More awesomeness! :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
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inspirational stuff!
how you just whip up mold after mold for doors and windows continues to impress me. a lot!
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You really got the skills & energy! :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
-Z
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The winds of terrain magic are still blowing strong for you. Really top notch
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Just checking in on this section of the forum for the first time in ages and... :Ohmy: wow, what an awesome project! Great detail and painting in those buildings.
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Just checking in on this section of the forum for the first time in ages and... :Ohmy: wow, what an awesome project! Great detail and painting in those buildings.
Many thanks!
The winds of terrain magic are still blowing strong for you. Really top notch
You are too kind and these and other comments help to keep the motivation strong!
inspirational stuff!
how you just whip up mold after mold for doors and windows continues to impress me. a lot!
Mold making is something I got into this year during lockdown when contemplating this project and realising I'd need loads of doors and windows for all the buildings. Originally I'd just planned to duplicate OOP GW stuff but then watching other tutorials and also considering the potentially questionable legality I've gradually started to try my own designs as well.
There are heaps of mold making tutorials on YouTube and I'm sure explanations are not needed here as to the process. I buy my silicone for the mold making and the miniatures resin I use from an eBay store called DWRPlastics and use the soft rubber easy mold product they sell. I've graduated from making boxes out of cardboard to pour the liquid silicone into to using Lego which is much easier. The whole process requires patience but isn't difficult, and it is really gratifying to see things you've created duplicated (or frankly also old Mordheim stuff :icon_lol:). And the resin final product is really nice to paint too.
My big gate/castle door didn't enjoy being surrounded with rubber but I was able to get a good cast of it and create a resin version:
(https://i.imgur.com/nwBdZ4A.jpg)
Last few weeks I've mostly been making more of my own doors and windows. The windows use an MDF etched product from a hobby company called 4ground so I can't claim they are totally mine - I just built frames for them out of wood and card and some putty. I made some double windows and a basic door and also one of those sort of sticky out window things not sure what it's called. The pictures aren't great but you can see the original models on the left and then in their Lego boxes ready to have the silicone poured on them. I painted them grey and varnished them before doing this hoping it might help them survive the process better than the big door:
(https://i.imgur.com/E0c1tmV.jpg)
And here are the molds from that - I use a blue dye in the silicon, and on the right the number of resin casts I've made so far. I think they'll work really well on the inn building.
(https://i.imgur.com/JNNVeat.jpg)
I've also gotten distracted making loads more trees. The big one was made by drilling some holes in a cheap plastic paintbrush handle and then pushing little wires through for branches. The others were just wire wound round itself.
(https://i.imgur.com/pLQVgC4.jpg)
After this I glob on polyfilla and texture with sand and then paint:
(https://i.imgur.com/PjK4iOr.jpg)
I actually went to Hobbycraft and had to restrain myself from buying all the different flocks but did get some new stuff for doing tree foliage which I used some of here to finish off:
(https://i.imgur.com/4E997py.jpg)
And my intention is to build larger bases with circular cutouts so the trees can be arranged into small 'woods' and this could be slightly different each time. Here is the first one (I actually cut the holes a little tight so it might get scrapped, but it works OKish)
(https://i.imgur.com/cXRYEVN.jpg)
Due to coronavirus restrictions it looks like I'll be having more free time from now on so, along with searching for sellable scrap down at the dump and crawling around in the gutter for loose change this'll be one of the creative projects I'll be filling my time with; as ever comments and encouragement much appreciated! :biggriin:
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Those castings look really great!
I'm doing some smaller stuff with "blue stuff", but not the quality you have here.
That ramshackle gate looks really Warhammer/Mordheim :-) How some buildings in the old can keep straight up, nobody knows!
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wow, thats really a piece of art! I love the coloring and the details, wish i was this gifted with my crafting skills. :eusa_clap:
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Many thanks for the encouragement!
I've been busy with all sorts of shite recently but have managed to finish another building and also, at long last, my first painted minis as well!
"The Purple Wyrm Inn"
(https://i.imgur.com/NBBHQpH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/N0dnfRQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/t8mmEnX.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GGlQKjg.jpg)
I ended up going to town on this one and gave it a little creeper vine plant, an inn sign that I made out of an old Bretonnian Knight of the Realm helmet crest (hence the name) and other little details, probably the most time I've spent on a building yet. I also got round to painting the minis associated with the tavern, some old Marauder citizens and a halfling mini. I have about 20 or so citizen or appropriate stlye minis to go with the town buildings so the aim is to have some for each.
Hope you folks like!! Next efforts will be some revised bases for my trees and probably a new town wall section, maybe with blacksmith's shop attached. Takes some courage to build up to these projects due to the anticipation of effort ahead, so any and all encouragement is massively appreciated :icon_biggrin:
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Excellent, love seeing these! :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
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That is wonderful and has so much detail.
:eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:
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I will wait till I go to sleep and soak my pillow in tears knowing I cannot duplicate this wonderful tavern 😺
Great work!
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Beautiful!
-Z
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Amazing, absolutely love it :eusa_clap:
The timber framing and windows look fantastic, as do all the little details you've added. I need to read through all of your thread.
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Great job
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Wow this looks amazing! :eusa_clap: I wish I would have such talent and skills!
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The winds of terrain magic are still blowing strong for you. Really top notch
I believe the name of that wind is ho'use. Or something like that.
Jokes aside, these buildings are awesome!
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Very nice buildings! Great job! :::cheers:::
One point of constructive criticism: Your buildings are quite detailed, except for the roof shingles - currently, they give the building a bit of a toy-house look. If those were smaller, the buildings would look even better in my opinion.
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Oh man, I just now noticed the bat in the sign. That's from an old Bretonnian helmet, right?
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Oh man, I just now noticed the bat in the sign. That's from an old Bretonnian helmet, right?
It is!! I guess it shows there's a point to keeping loads of bits!
Very nice buildings! Great job! :::cheers:::
One point of constructive criticism: Your buildings are quite detailed, except for the roof shingles - currently, they give the building a bit of a toy-house look. If those were smaller, the buildings would look even better in my opinion.
Tbh, the roofs are the most boring bit of the projects for me. I think part of the reason I keep the tiles big is so I just have fewer to put on and paint. Equally, I find sometimes if the tiles are too small, the models look wrong in a different way, like on certain commercially available kits I've seen. I could probably reduce the size a bit for a better look though, without going completely mad
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That is so pretty.
I am returning back to WFB after many many years away and this modelling is the kind of thing that showcases what a great game it is.
I'm pleased if it serves that purpose - thank you :-)
Thanks for the encouraging comments everyone! Not posted here since last year although I've been painting minis and building as usual, the time just seems to have gone somehow. Apologies for the lengthy post following; it gives me satisfaction to write these chronicles and serves as a memory aid too :wink:
I've completed a new wall section for the town and am thinking ahead to how I might resolve the project, in a realistic time frame.
I intend to build more wall sections to enclose the town buildings I already have, and want to make each of these unique, with buildings constructed against the wall in places. This will hopefully enable it to serve as a backdrop for photos and as a siegeable town to defend or attack in games.
Since I repurposed my original blacksmith's forge for my inn building, I decided I'd build a new one as the feature of my second such wall piece. I had various ideas as to how the building might 'back onto' the wall, so did some drawing for this one first. I looked at various photo reference and commercially available fantasy blacksmith models - there are some fantastic models available as 3D prints or resin sculpts. I already have the Mantic Terraincrate blacksmith bits though so wasn't going to buy one. My drawings ruled out some of my more ambitious ideas as impractical, if nothing else:
(https://i.imgur.com/62JmMcv.jpg)
I decided to go with a simple one-storey forge with the roof slanting down from the wall, with a wooden pallisade style walkway going behind the roof, so that the whole battlement would be walkable by miniatures. Also, the forge would be open and roof removable so that the interior could be seen and interacted with. I already had the wall dimensions from the previous section that I'd need to match so the two pieces would be continuous, so cut down some small bits of MDF, wood etc that I hoard for modelling to scale and started glueing things together:
(https://i.imgur.com/FvgcdNi.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/9m4cW0N.jpg)
I carved into the wood to add texture. I know a lot of people build terrain using polystyrene or foam these days - especially for stone walls which look great - but I'm trying to use stuff I mostly already hoard. I didn't buy anything new for this project as I had everything already, including some brick sections in resin which I cobbled together onto the outward-facing wall, and later partially covered with clay and plaster:
(https://i.imgur.com/AQ2Hxxf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/0evjzE1.jpg)
The interior of the forge got some grouted flagstones made of card and filller:
(https://i.imgur.com/Gu9up8g.jpg)
The finished interior side, with added storage shed and mordheim ladder, plus removable roof I constructed with wood placers to keep it secure when in place, before and after priming:
(https://i.imgur.com/0QtOHJw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gcEYzLN.jpg)
.........and after a week or two's worth of painting sessions, plus converting a blacksmith model, I'm done!
(https://i.imgur.com/slTScG1.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pH6hGpC.jpg)
With the whole thing painted, I realised that with the roof of the forge on, the interior was very dark. So I decided to go all-in and bought a little flickering orange LED and battery holder off eBay. I took apart the chimney, drilled a hole into the forge and wired up the light so that it was hidden behind the metal hood of the forge, casting an orange glow inside. This took a little while. However, I was pleased with the results, although it doesn't really illuminate the interior much, it just glows and flickers a bit:
(https://i.imgur.com/PEyE3PR.mp4)
(idk if GIFs will work here. If not there's a small GIF here: https://i.imgur.com/PEyE3PR.mp4)
Some more views of the forge interior with the Mantic props, which I cut up to construct a workbench as well:
(https://i.imgur.com/Kz8eXDV.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/tbMtlj2.jpg)
The blacksmith himself is obviously a dwarf, he must have sought work in the Empire or been offered a good deal by the local burgomeister or count. I converted him out of the old dwarf swabber from the 90s Flame Cannon:
(https://i.imgur.com/KxWs0Fx.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/n97ExXc.jpg)
Turned around, here is the section put next to my first wall section, and with my other town buildings behind. And with my Tilean crossbowmen atop it in the second pic:
(https://i.imgur.com/TNldVaS.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/N5Vs8N1.jpg)
I couldn't resist adding a saturation filter to this overall pic, brings out the 90s Oldhammer:
(https://i.imgur.com/aAD7LnT.jpg)
My paint scheme has been quite desaturated so far and this makes me regret I haven't used more colour. Anyway, I'm overall smug and pleased with my efforts so far. It's starting to feel like the edge of a town :happy:
My next project will probably be a gatehouse to join these two pieces better. And then two corner pieces which I hope will mean I can enclose the buildings in a sort of semicircle to fit onto a gaming table. That's the plan anyway. Thanks very much for reading!
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Great job on the blacksmith :eusa_clap:
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Quote elsmallo: smug and pleased with my efforts so far.
I would feel this plus cartwheels around the property perimeter and a 10k run as well. (All completely impossible for me to do btw - much like the ability to pull off terrain like this 😺)
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Outstanding! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
Keep bringing back more. :icon_mrgreen:
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Excellent, excellent!
Love the atmosphere of the smithy - and the whole town.
-Z
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That blacksmith shop is awesome! Looks really good.
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That blacksmith shop is awesome! Looks really good.
Excellent, excellent!
Love the atmosphere of the smithy - and the whole town.
-Z
Outstanding! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
Keep bringing back more. :icon_mrgreen:
Great job on the blacksmith :eusa_clap:
Thanks very much all. It's been most enjoyable documenting this project here and without it and such encouragement I'd almost certainly have given up by now :::cheers:::
Quote elsmallo: smug and pleased with my efforts so far.
I would feel this plus cartwheels around the property perimeter and a 10k run as well. (All completely impossible for me to do btw - much like the ability to pull off terrain like this 😺)
Haha! :biggriin: In 'peacetime' as it were I'm an art teacher and do odd DIY jobs so, this scenery project has been something to get my creative teeth into, as well as being a lockdown time sponge. In fact, since I've started building the scenery in earnest it's been more fulfilling than the painting minis side of the hobby, although, having spent a few weeks on the forge I will probably give my fingers time to recover from the stabbing and glue etc and do a bit of mini painting now.
Also. I lost touch with the hobby for a few years and missed the whole end times/AoS debacle, but in a funny way the fact that the original WFB has kinda passed out of fashion, so to speak, I feel frees it up a bit and allows proper time to be taken, at one's own pace, to realise the childhood dreams. It doesn't need to keep up with the edition changes, new miniature lines, etc, or be driven by whatever pace GW is setting.
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What miniatures are you planning to paint :icon_question:
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I've not posted here in a few months - I've been warhammer-ing as usual amongst the other hobbies but I've got the mordheim bug again and also been finishing and painting up some regiments in the backlog, both of which have involved spending too much money on eBay. I also find the terrain pieces require more and more courage to start now. But with some time off I've made a start on a new piece for the town, detailed below.
When I started building my own doors and windows one of the earlier things I made was a big round-topped gate, so I thought I'd finally get round to using it and build the gatehouse. This was the gate:
(https://i.imgur.com/nwBdZ4A.jpg)
This would mean I could join the two wall sections I have already, maybe making it usable in a siege battle (if I can understand the rules). I wanted the door to be openable, however, and as it was originally made as a one-part mold, it has no reverse side. So I sanded down the reverse of two of my doors to make them slimmer, glued them together, cut in two and tidied up, and I had my two-sided (and still thick) door. Attached to cocktail sticks I figured I could find a way of making it move. I didn't photo this so you'll have to take my word for it.
I originally also wanted a portcullis. I've been reading the Gotrek and Felix books and increasingly feel I'd be unsafe in the warhammer world without a portcullis. Or with one, frankly. However, I couldn't figure out a way of making that openable/liftable easily as well, so in the end shelved this idea. Some of my original ideas were quite ambitious, they got shelved too:
(https://i.imgur.com/ZoQJVw7.jpg)
I ended up settling for something a little less ambitious:
(https://i.imgur.com/euL6JnR.jpg)
To begin, then, I simply cut down my base, two small bits of pinewood for the two wall sections, and went about constructing the main wall of the gatehouse out of card:
(https://i.imgur.com/yrbWGlX.jpg)
To make it open, I needed to cut away parts of the wall surrounding the door to allow the cocktail stick hinges and the door to swing fully open. This required some shivving with the craft knife after the door had gone in, since I wasn't clever enough to figure it out beforehand.
Anyway it worked OK and here you can see the door open and closed, also with some plasticard brick texture onto the walls.
(https://i.imgur.com/jPYNTD2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2PEgON3.jpg)
This was my first afternoon of building, and when I returned the next day I added some of the walkways, wooden construction of the floor above the gate, etc. This was all coffee stirrers, some polystyrene, bits of discarded DIY softwood etc. I have a big bag of the stuff, although I'm nearly through the really useful 'beam' sized bits now. The metal post is I think from an 80s bretonnian siege engine, off eBay, of course.
(https://i.imgur.com/yyHbFIh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/BFZzyIi.jpg)
One one side there's a stair going up from the wall and the other there's a ladder. There is a little door hidden behind the main gate, which I've since realised is a really stupid place for it as you'd never be able to get in or out with the main gate open, but, there we are.
I decided to make the roof separate to make it easier to fit models in and out of there. The little crow/raven/magpie with the key is from one of the new Broken Realms boxes (I just bought some bits separately on eBay)
(https://i.imgur.com/BLD41Oh.jpg)
The next stage is filling any cracks, adding texture. I used too much sand in my filler/glue/sand mix this time so the plaster texture is a little claggy. I hope it'll look OK when painted. It's a messy stage and I rushed it a bit.
(https://i.imgur.com/Oojpc19.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gp91HXw.jpg)
I also used the Mantic wagon I'd got in the terraincrate set and added some GW wheels to it as the originals (like many of the mantic pieces I got) were badly warped and bendy. I added some bottles from I guess an Empire kit; someone has evidently been or intends to have a drink there.
(https://i.imgur.com/8zwnCpv.jpg)
The next day I undercoated. I'm almost out of ArmyPainter brown so mostly grey went on.
(https://i.imgur.com/zZrrGGW.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/DnOV1m2.jpg)
That's where I am atm. I probably won't be able to paint for a few days but I shall of course post here when I'm done :smile2:
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Good to see another one of your scenery projects, thank you, and congrats! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
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Good to see another one of your scenery projects, thank you, and congrats! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
Many thanks, sir! :-P
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Great job on the wagon
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Completely and totally awesome on every level. Looking forward to be braindazed by the painting 😺
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Great job on the wagon
Completely and totally awesome on every level. Looking forward to be braindazed by the painting 😺
Many thanks both :smile2:
Here are some painted shots of the gate; I actually had it painted by the end of June but have been slow in going through my camera and phone stuff. I do my painting and modelling in the conservatory at my home and when it's hot, as it has been to extreme levels occasionally this summer, it's a no-go zone as it's unbearable in there. So next year I will look to find another spot to do modelling in maybe.
Here is the painted gate section, with the door closed...
(https://i.imgur.com/4BiRIJ6.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Zq1EyAL.jpg)
And open!
(https://i.imgur.com/JS5wX62.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gQHG9Q0.jpg)
It's really quite satisfying to open and close - I'm genuinely pleased that I've managed to introduce interactive elements into the buildings as I've gone on with the project. Although, I suspect that one day the cocktail sticks will break and I'll have to bodge it with glue somehow.
What doesn't work quite so well is the removable roof - it fits fine but I keep forgetting that it's not fixed on, and it has therefore been dropped several times and the little bird keeps getting knocked off :oops: so has already been pinned and glued back on more than once.
(https://i.imgur.com/CLHzC76.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/WkS3ZdA.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GCNIymf.jpg)
Anyway, I hope it'll pay off in terms of being able to reposition models inside the roof section. There's a little wheel thing in there which I think is from an old dwarf or orc siege engine of some sort. I gues it opens the door.
Finally, some shots of all the buildings together. The wall now spans the width of my dining table.
(https://i.imgur.com/roJ4NAw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GPpTs7n.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/CzurT8F.jpg)
Most excitingly of all, the wall sections fit perfectly into some plastic storage boxes I bought in B&Q, pleasing the perfectionist in me no end! Also, I will be able to transport and store it all neatly, which is good.
(https://i.imgur.com/A0ntGOb.jpg)
I've already started building some more wall sections to fill the box! These will be angled, so the wall can be turned to more of a semi-circle. They're actually nearly done so I'll post them soon hopefully. Once again, thanks for reading and all the encouragement. :biggriin:
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This way more greatness comes! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap:
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Time passes alarmingly fast: I posted here in August saying I'd put new things up 'soon' and lo and behold it is February... nice though it possibly is that we are heading out of restrictions etc, I do quite miss the first, sunny lockdown of 2020 when I had time and more time to build scenery and paint models.
Anyhow. I did in fact build more scenery for my town project last year but since my work has picked up again I've only recently - during a bout of bronchitis - had the chance to actually finish painting it!
I built some 'corner' pieces for my town wall - so that the wall can begin to curve, constructed so as various configurations can be made with them. I started by cutting down two bits of thin base board with angled sides. One would be a simple single storey wall piece with some little market stalls on the inside, and the other a more involved watch tower of some kind.
(https://i.imgur.com/FLVMB6q.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/qsaon5p.jpg)
The market uses bits from the Mantic terraincrate and the watchtower a door section from I think the Empire manor kit, as well as my usual combo of cardboard, coffee stirrers and wood offcuts.
(https://i.imgur.com/tCDDcUc.jpg)
The watchtower has a wooden roof section for the look-outs - unfortunately when I put the roof on it becomes more difficult to squeeze the minis in they have to go in sideways :-D - anyway it can be done - and after that the usual combo of filler, sand, and also some modelling clay to model the walls and texture everything.
(https://i.imgur.com/HEPiO5y.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/6m6ofHv.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/o0T2VxV.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/CxtB9pZ.jpg)
By September last year I'd gotten as far as a base coat of paint and then nothing for four+ months, aside from a bit of miniature painting.
(https://i.imgur.com/ieFDdkK.jpg)
Only a weekend or so ago while I was suffering I got them out of their box again and finished the job:
(https://i.imgur.com/1jgr9Au.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/DETiVNN.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/px1ViES.jpg)
Which I am pleased to have done. On their own they are good, there are some details like the bell and pulley and the creeper vine which I like; the market stall needs its stalls and produce painted when I can work out which bits box they're in, but when these pieces are placed with the other bits of the wall that's when it starts to get more fun...
(https://i.imgur.com/YCVGgKe.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ojkPX5n.jpg)
Either side of the gate section you start to get a curve inward, which can be expanded with the other two straight sections, or:
(https://i.imgur.com/aSlk8Fv.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Cgf7XeA.jpg)
Placed together you get a turn almost 90 degrees, with the potential to corner off part of the battlefield, and fit some buildings in the enclosed space. Which I will do when I can be bothered to get them all out of the box. And when I get round to painting the villagers minis I've been collecting for years, and the town guard regiments I have planned, there will be some potential for scenes and general fun inside the walls themselves:
(https://i.imgur.com/pUbSQkQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/g7aWzey.jpg)
Hopefully I won't have to wait months before doing this. I'd really like to play a siege game using what I've got now. One day I hope to have a few more pieces done, some scatter terrain for the town, and the villager minis all done so some kind of massive game could be put together. It'd be great to have the scenery used by others as well. All hopefully to look forward to and expect an update at some point, thanks again for reading!
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wow, so good!
There is a certain charm to handmade from scratch that 3d printing just can't reach.
What's the plan for the 'inside' in terms of ground cover? Each building or piece of scatter would sit on it's own base with a bit of pavement? but then since the shape of the base along the wall is quite irregular, won't there be unsightly gaps to the table below?
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This is quite good! I love how you even took pains to stain the white walls to make them look like they've been up for a while.
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Spectacular! I like the alarm bell, and the outhouse put along side the tower, too. Those final pictures look super!
Hand made is such a special way to do these things, thank you for sharing!
:icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :icon_lol: :eusa_clap:
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wow, so good!
There is a certain charm to handmade from scratch that 3d printing just can't reach.
What's the plan for the 'inside' in terms of ground cover? Each building or piece of scatter would sit on it's own base with a bit of pavement? but then since the shape of the base along the wall is quite irregular, won't there be unsightly gaps to the table below?
Thanks very much!
Re. the inside, or ground cover, this is the part of the project I'm least certain about. When I started building it was pretty much 'can I build houses out of cardboard boxes' and as it grew bigger I was not thinking much about the floor areas or building the bases with any future plan in mind. So, as you say, I have these different shaped bases and, as I'd like the terrain to be flexible in how it is posed, and I've also pretty randomly added flagstones and debris into the bases, I can't really picture a seamless way of integrating a floor into it all. Atm I just play battles on a tabletop with a few coloured sheets on it; I guess I'd like eventually to have some textured boards to make a larger playing surface, so I guess I could sculpt flagstones on one of those and colour it similarly to my bases as a 'town' board - although since the shape of the town wall is supposed to be variable, it'd never be totally perfect.
I've seen things like rolled up battlemats and printed sheets which can look quite good in photos, but as I've never seen them with my own eyes I'm not certain. This is the part of the project I'm least sure of as I say, so any suggestions are appreciated! I'd like to get to a stage where I could have a set of nice photos with the floor not being jarring visually at least.
Spectacular! I like the alarm bell, and the outhouse put along side the tower, too. Those final pictures look super!
Hand made is such a special way to do these things, thank you for sharing!
:icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :icon_lol: :eusa_clap:
Thank you very much! The bell was bodged with various bits, I think from the plastic giant model mainly. Maybe I'll make a little guardsman heading to the outhouse at some point too!
This is quite good! I love how you even took pains to stain the white walls to make them look like they've been up for a while.
Cheers - yes the idea here is a town which is not particularly grand or wealthy, it's a bit grubby and probably ripe for sacking, tbh. They haven't even repaired the damage to the walls yet..!
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yes, it is always a tough compromise between looks and modularity. I think you could make enough cobblestone base (be it flat prints or mats or rolled-out milliput sculpting work) to cover the ground for most of the city (and just place your buildings on top) and then strategically place fences, hedges and other miscellaneous scatter to cover the most unsightly spots.
We decided to do buildings on 8x8" squares (and have a few 'loose' building without any base as well as plain squares to break things up). Like so (very WIP):
(https://i.imgur.com/57rzeLV.jpg)
This is the town first, walls latter approach. The plan for the walls is to put them on 8x4 strips (and towers on 4x4). but it means there is much less creative space and no margin for wonky angles and much of the charming ramshackle-ness that your built has.
Shameless plug:
http://eefl.freeforums.net/thread/951/volganof-burning-city-siege (http://eefl.freeforums.net/thread/951/volganof-burning-city-siege)
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yes, it is always a tough compromise between looks and modularity. I think you could make enough cobblestone base (be it flat prints or mats or rolled-out milliput sculpting work) to cover the ground for most of the city (and just place your buildings on top) and then strategically place fences, hedges and other miscellaneous scatter to cover the most unsightly spots.
We decided to do buildings on 8x8" squares (and have a few 'loose' building without any base as well as plain squares to break things up). Like so (very WIP):
(https://i.imgur.com/57rzeLV.jpg)
This is the town first, walls latter approach. The plan for the walls is to put them on 8x4 strips (and towers on 4x4). but it means there is much less creative space and no margin for wonky angles and much of the charming ramshackle-ness that your built has.
Shameless plug:
http://eefl.freeforums.net/thread/951/volganof-burning-city-siege (http://eefl.freeforums.net/thread/951/volganof-burning-city-siege)
Not shameless at all, I love your project! Really enjoyed reading, interesting to see how we've chosen slightly different but sometimes overlapping approaches to a similar type of project.
Your hirst arts 'ruined tower' piece is particularly impressive - looks great, especially the damaged parts and also the concept of it and the decisions you've made about the architecture of the building, works really well and looks very convincing. If I may say so, I think it is actually way ahead of the 3D printed buildings you've also used - but I can see how building a lot of pieces like it would be extremely time-consuming.
I don't have the space for a 3D printer, but it's been interesting for me whilst making my buildings and researching methods online to watch the gradual expansion of 3D printed terrain and hobby stuff in general. My reservation is largely that so far I think most of the stuff I've seen does have a 'cartoony' look about it, as I think you say in your blog. I can see however how it can work really well for people with different approaches to the hobby, also as a way of sharing the skill of the original creators. I've ended up using methods like making rubber molds and carving things out of clay and filler, which are starting to feel a little dated. A thing I enjoyed reading your blog was the number of different methods you've used, I would certainly have stolen many of them had I seen it earlier.
How far have you gotten with the project since your last post?
Looking just at the top-down picture you shared here, I can see what you mean re. my project and how for my town maybe a number of smallish boards with a texture on them could work placed underneath the buildings. That way I can store them all away in a box and maybe have some with an angled edge or something to match the contour of my walls. That's probably my best option. Thanks for sharing your project and suggestions :smile2:
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hey, thanks for the interest.
We've made a little progress. all the buildings in that picture are now painted, and we got the nine cobblestone tiles done to cover 24x24". This project is now largely on hold as we are trying to figure how/where to store all this stuff. Need to build a real shed to store the toy sheds :icon_confused:
We'll get back to it eventually. In the meantime I shall watch this space for more goodness.
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hey, thanks for the interest.
We've made a little progress. all the buildings in that picture are now painted, and we got the nine cobblestone tiles done to cover 24x24". This project is now largely on hold as we are trying to figure how/where to store all this stuff. Need to build a real shed to store the toy sheds :icon_confused:
We'll get back to it eventually. In the meantime I shall watch this space for more goodness.
Ah yes, storage does become an issue when attempting to construct an entire medieval town even at 28/32mm scale!
I managed to strike a kind of gold by accidentally making all my wall sections fit lengthways into a plastic storage box I bought in B&Q. The houses don't fit quite as well however, especially the very big ones I built at the start of the project. The very first house I built, when I used it in a game of Warhammer, is especially large, taking up a lot of tabletop space and blocking the gamers eyeling a bit much; it's also unweildy to store. So with great regret I decided to rebuild it, partly.
Here is the house originally. Kinda like it but the first storey up is/was essentially a big box with a roof:
(https://i.imgur.com/PIpj6b6.jpg)
So I hacked it off ::heretic:::
(https://i.imgur.com/QX74Vm3.jpg)
And rebuilt it with a smaller first floor, including a balcony on which a 20mm base will fit OK:
(https://i.imgur.com/8iebZbA.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/FJo1PBS.jpg)
It's a bit Romeo and Juliet maybe and, were the ground floor smaller I'd have preffered to have the balcony jutting out over street level but that would not really have reduced the size of the building from the orginal. I didn't want to rebuild the ground floor as I went to great lengths sculpting stonework out of polyfilla, I remember. The chimney pots are, incidentally, cut from the little card tubes in the middle of dog poo bag rolls.
I've painted this up but not yet photo'd; I'm building a final house currently which will fit into the final space in my other large storage box. I'll post about that soonish. :dry:
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Juliet's father went to a lot of trouble to improve his home with the balcony. Suspect his neighbors were saying, "What is Lord Capulet doing?" :icon_eek: :icon_wink: :icon_lol:
Seriously, it looks good! :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
By the way, the real question ... what is B&P?
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That's a great scratchbuild!
-Z
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Juliet's father went to a lot of trouble to improve his home with the balcony. Suspect his neighbors were saying, "What is Lord Capulet doing?" :icon_eek: :icon_wink: :icon_lol:
Seriously, it looks good! :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
By the way, the real question ... what is B&P?
Hehe - I have the old GW Merchant and scribe blister, so perhaps when I eventually paint them he can live here and be called Capulet, although it's not very Germanic sounding :-P
B&Q is the major UK DIY/Home Improvements store. National institution, fairly ugly orange signage.
That's a great scratchbuild!
-Z
Thank you!
Here are some painted photos. The wood is possibly a bit black in comparison to my other buildings, I may tone it down. Since doing this I've built another building entirely, getting my stock up to 5 standalone buildings plus the ones attached to the walls. I need to paint that but then I'll put it up here.
(https://i.imgur.com/EKdqFi0.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YgeyySH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/EKMt0CG.jpg)
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My final house for this stage of the project: a merchants building/corn exchange type thing, with an overhanging first floor and a small trading area underneath. Also painted up some old artillery crew members as merchants.
(https://i.imgur.com/FmsAKrG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NBoyXEe.jpg)
I swapped out the telescope from the main guy's hand and replaced it with a scroll of contracts - and puttied over his chainmail. I envision these guys as a moderately wealthy trading family:
(https://i.imgur.com/g8GhzQy.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KrXzgFl.jpg)
I wanted to do a building with usable space for gaming/posing models, hence the idea. In order to be able to paint the ground floor under the overhang I had to make the first floor removable, and it slots into the wooden border around the top of the support beams:
(https://i.imgur.com/y4D04Wk.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XpK5Uv9.jpg)
As it's almost perfectly square this means the top part can be rotated to face different ways:
(https://i.imgur.com/GhWfVO1.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/PXnrNqn.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/02kyQr8.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/v0pJKPG.jpg)
Which I guess gives it a degree of flexibility! It's also marginally easier to move models under when you remove the top.
This may well be the last building I do for a little while due to work and other summer stuff, although I do want to do a few scatter terrain pieces soon, and paint up some of the 30 or so more civilian minis I've been hoarding. I mean to alter some of my older buildings as well to match the newer ones somewhat, small things I've learned over the course of doing them. I hope to find a good gaming mat with cobbles or flagstones to use as a base and then I'll put them together for some photos and hopefully a game or two.
I'll carry on posting here but perhaps look for a few other places to share the stuff as well, atm reddit is the only other place I post. It's been very enjoyable writing these accounts - thanks for reading :::cheers:::
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Great job
I'm in the process of dissolving sprues with acetone to make scenery with. I've already made half of Stalingrad
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This wonderful project might be over, at least for the moment, although looking forward to seeing your next, congrats! :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
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Agreed. Fantastic work!
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Really really nice! Very impressive! :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:
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You have a great feel for making believable little architecture. You put in just the appropriate amount of detail (like the little patch of multicolored bricks amidst the larger slabs of pavement in your latest build). Really cool!