Tuesday 25 August 2015

28mm European Farm conversion.

I have made quite a few farms for people over the years and they take a fair bit of time to do.  With these new kits it has become a little less time consuming so i thought it might be an idea to share how i did this one.

Two of the kits used in this farm, a cart shed and large house. These are the completed kits as they are made following the instructions provided. As can be seen they are the gray roof versions, brown roof versions were used for the farm.




The models are constructed as normal, however the white card outer pieces are left off and the details are added, These include the balcony, lean-to, door and window frames and the brick lintels.

The buildings were then laid out in the desired arrangement and a piece of MDF cut to size. The gaps between the buildings were measured and the walls and gate cut to size also.




The buildings are then rendered using wall filler which has had brown masonry paint added. This ensures that any chipping during use does not expose unsightly white plaster which would require repainting. For the time being the connecting walls are left as they are.

A close op of the render. This can be as rough or smooth as personal taste dictates. Note the exposed brick below the balcony. This is engraved onto the prepainted MDF. so work around that when applying the plaster.


The main building is then glued onto the base board.

Locate the first piece of wall and the next building which, in this case, is a stable.


The gateway is then located and the cartshed placed ready to be glued.

The final wall is positioned allowing the cart shed to be glued into position with no gaps between the wall and the gate.

I then added plaster to the base and inside the stable.  The area left will be grassed.

The connecting walls are also then plastered. 




After applying soil groundwork to the remaining areas of the base board (the area next to the lean to) the first dry brush is applied to the entire model. Again this is down to personal taste. I prefer my models to look a bit rough and ready so not too heavy with this layer.










The top layer of dry brushing is now applied to the whole model. 

I then added static grass to the areas with the soil effect of the baseboard. The gates are then glued into position as are the doors.

The cart shed and balcony.

Back of the large building. Note exposed brick on the gable end.

The stable block.


Completed model with Perry figures. The balcony figure is based in a 1p coin and fits in comfortably.

The next tutorial will feature ruined 6mm city building kits and how to customise them with rubble and smoke damage.

Thanks for looking.

Mick





Tuesday 28 July 2015

Arab Fort

 A work in progress shot of an Arab fort also a commission for Italian gamer Antonio.

The tower is fitted first then the wall supports are added. The inner walls are then fitted to these.












This update shows the model with the walls added and the internal buildings located. The client also asked for the fort to be located on rock so it has been mounted on insulation board hacked at the edges with a chisel. The model was then given a first coat of plaster.






  
More details added with doors and roofs in place. Also some rock scatter added on top of more plaster to the rock base.

A ramp has been sanded leading up to the gate.








 The finished fort. Its not quite as light as this in reality. The fort was whitewashed but the base wasn't and is darker than the fort as a result. Shown with some 28mm Artisan French Foreign Legion figures.




The guard shelter roof is simply teddy bear fur trimmed to size and stiffened with wood glue.














Due to the high cost of shipping this to Italy along with his 3 villa models Antonio elected to have one of these in kit form and the who;e lot were shipped today.

I've decided to keep this for use with my son Carls French Foreign Legion figures. Just need to get some Arabs for them to fight now.


Thanks for looking

Mick


Sunday 12 July 2015

Battle of Preston 1715


One of the guys at the Borders Reivers club is putting on a Battle of Preston game at a couple of shows later this year being the 300th anniversary of the siege. He asked me if i had any buildings that may be suitable and i came up with these. I have since modified the timber frame effect below the window levels to show more vertical sections. Pictures of those to follow. These will soon be available in kit form once i have prepared the instructions. Shown with optional card roof tiles.






































I am working on an angled version also which will be ready soon. Following that i will be doing a model based on a period print of Preston supplied by Rob. This has some challenging aspects to it in particular the roof. The little grey cells have already been chewing this one over and i may have the solution so look out for that.

Cheers

Mick