Random Postage

Quick random one. Was in the range (a rather useful hobby/stuff shop) the other day and bought a little case for all my hirst arts casts. Works really well, much better than having them kicking around in a box lid like before.

Watch Tower

Working on the railings for the top of the watch tower. I think it should look pretty good when done. Ideally want to do diagonal cross pieces as well, but I think I'll probably get frustrated trying to cut the angles and give up. hah.

The roof is done now, just needs edging strips to tidy the corners. I've also cut the door, which just needs hinges and bolts adding.

Not photo'd it, but got most of the courtyard done too. The street needs cobbling (found some great wallpaper at the diy shop which looks like cobbles), and lots of gaps need detailing, but should look ok I hope. Want to get this board painted up before I have to go back to work a week on monday.

Watch Tower

The watch tower is coming along nicely. Started the peaked roof. It should look a little more coherent once the walkway has a wall and support posts in place.

Fairly simple construction, just foam board base and supports, then thin card for the triangles. Finally long strips of card with snips in for cheap and easy tiles. I'll then trim the corners with edging strips to make the whole thing neat and tidy.

Hoping to get something painted next week, which'll be nice.

Church back thingy

Definitely need to learn some church terminology. Started a little lean-to affair at the back of the church. It's going to be clad in wood, then tiled in the same way as the main church roof. Adds a little interest and detail to the shape, and saves me casting a lot of bricks ;)

As you can see still lots to do, but it's progress. Also working on the rear wall above this part. As soon as I have a few more blocks cast I'll be able to finish the main body and start working on the roof.

Halflings

Minor random diversion. GWpertinent is running a compo for the oldest 40k model in your collection, but it got me thinking about my old fantasy models. I dug out these guys:

Proper old school lord of the rings action. A mixture of LotR, including Frodo, two Sam's, Bill the horse, and of course Strider, along with quite a few standard halflings. My favourite has to be Screaming Lord Titch (at the back with the green hat and the club).

Awesome models that so deserve a better paint job and bases. In my defence I was 6 when most of them were released, but still. My town is going to need inhabitants, a halfling warband seems almost a necessity, especially as the LotR movies are helping with the inspiration for Stadtheim.

Watch House Board

The watch house now has a board sorted out. It's going to be very simple, no other buildings on it. Just a very small square outside the watch house yard itself.

Started building the floor of the yard using the new terrascenic cobbles mould. The mould itself isn't bad, because it's so much more shallow than the hirst arts moulds it does tend to warp a little in the middle of the large pieces, giving each big cobble brick a slight hump back. For this set it doesn't matter, since the cobbles are uneven anyway, but if I was casting smooth blocks it would be a tad annoying. Could just be my cheap plaster of course.

Before bed I plan to have a go at the doors for the watch tower. Other things are drying so I can't really do much more on the yard itself. I need to go set the cobbles casting again though. Did that the other night and completely forgot to go scrape the mould. Hah, now I've got two sets of pieces that need several mm of overflow scraping off before use. Still, live n learn. I hope.

Watch House Update

Started the walk way for the watch tower over the weekend. I've cut in and fitted the joists, as well as sorted out the wooden boards. I now need to tidy up the joists to fit better, then detail the boards a little.

After that it needs a hand rail and four corner supports and a roof.

I have also started the watch house part which will be linked to the tower via a bridge (to the open arch way half way up). The ground floor will be solid stone with no entrance, then up the front will rise a stairway. Behind will be stables underneath the overhanging first floor.

I really need to sort out some sketches, but it all kind of makes sense in my head, so I guess that's what counts for now!