Work in Progress

Epic/15mm English Civil War

Posted by steve_pickstock on 10 May 2023, 14:10

Hi all, me again.

So, Monday I finished up a load of hedges and left them to set, which they did, and today I went over them with diluted PVA and Isopropyl Alcohol to further solidify the foliage. And again they were set aside to dry.

Yesterday, the replacement parts for the church appeared. I had been getting a little anxious about this as the seller had promised them over 10 days ago.

I had these parts assembled.
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The parts I needed are marked 1 and 2 on the base.

But to my delight he sent a whole new church!!!
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The missing parts - the two gable ends on top of the kit - were there, and all the other parts.

Happy day!

I had already been having thoughts - as you do - and decided to move the chancel wall to the east wall of the church and use the original east wall to make an extension. So I cut a new part out of 2mm MDF to support the roof where the chancel wall had been and taped it all together.
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Next I cut the long walls - the north and south walls - to get the walls of the extension and cut down the east wall by 5mm all round to match, though I kept it the same height to the top of the walls.
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Finally I had it all cut, including a base extension, and I was ready to being to glue every thing together.
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Thanks for looking in Steve.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Peter on 10 May 2023, 15:20

Looking very good Steve! :thumbup:

And some good points for the seller! :thumbup:
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Posted by Rich W on 11 May 2023, 00:08

Great updates again Steve.
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 14 May 2023, 17:03

Afternoon all.

The church walls have been glued together!
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I added some extra braces to keep the walls parallel and also to support the rooves. The chancel/extension was added but I'm not convinced it's that secure so I may create a slightly bigger base and glue the whole thing down to that.

I ordered more trees this week and prepared some of the 40mm bases for those.

I also tackled the flock that had suffered from where the PVA glue had gone white, by giving it a wash of GW's Devlan Mud. And while I was at it I tried a little light dry-brushing of yellow ochre on the woodland bases to try and lighten them up a little (I just feel that they're too dark, looming, ominous dark).

All told a busy couple of hours although there doesn't appear to be much to show.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Peter on 19 May 2023, 21:24

Looking very good Steve! :thumbup:
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 21 May 2023, 14:35

Good afternoon all. today I have been mainly churching again.

Having fitted the roof, I added a top to the end wall, (I have no idea what the technical term for this is, but you see them a lot on churches), filled and sanded, undercoated, re-filled, and sanded again, noticed there was a piece of buttress missing, debated with myself whether to make the buttresses on the tower taller, decided no I wasn't going to, I had also made a slightly larger base to make the extension more secure so I landscaped that - so now I think it's ready for painting.

When I was cutting the rooves to size, some of the tiles de-laminated, leaving missing tiles about the place. I decided to pick out a couple of tiles on the main roof to simulate damage - those wascally woundheads weren't against taking potshots at churches, or perhaps they were just bad at aiming. :winky:

So, here we are, from the North.
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From the South
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From the West end
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From the East end looking at the scratch built chancel.
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And a shot trying to capture the churchiness of it.
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Thanks for looking in.
Steve
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Posted by Rich W on 21 May 2023, 22:43

Looking suitably churchy!
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Posted by Peter on 22 May 2023, 20:01

Looking very good Steve! :thumbup:
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Posted by Minuteman on 23 May 2023, 17:44

Looking good and definitely ecclesiastical, Steve. I couldn't help smiling incidentally when I read that you have been "...churching again", since this archaic phrase has another meaning entirely...not at all rude, but to do with celebrating births and/or adoptions of children... ;-)

This will look fine once painted up. I am wondering whether leaving the windows blank and open is the 'finished article', and whether you considered having these covered or close up some way...and indeed you might be intending to do this anyway?
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 23 May 2023, 20:38

Minuteman wrote:Looking good and definitely ecclesiastical, Steve. I couldn't help smiling incidentally when I read that you have been "...churching again", since this archaic phrase has another meaning entirely...not at all rude, but to do with celebrating births and/or adoptions of children... ;-)

Ah! You've got me there, I was not aware of that phrase - so you live and you learn.

Minuteman wrote:This will look fine once painted up. I am wondering whether leaving the windows blank and open is the 'finished article', and whether you considered having these covered or close up some way...and indeed you might be intending to do this anyway?

After spent a few more hours on it, I am questioning the decision to leave the windows open. Partly it's that thing where I question myself all the time. Is this right? could I do it better? But the other thing is that as it nears completion I think would it be better with the windows filled in.
I am inclined to actually fill them in.
I can do it, using 'ship-in-a-bottle type jiggery-pokery and superglue, though I won't do the tower windows (which are actually the easiest to do). I'm planning a few more hours to finish this at the weekend, I'll make the decision then.
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 25 May 2023, 14:58

So, I have managed to get in some time on the church this week, which was a good thing because the first of the second batch of trees arrived yesterday.

First let me remind you how the church began
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Basic, simple, and as it stands - okay.

Apart from the footpaths up to the doors, the doors themselves and a coat of matt varnish on the roof, I'm calling this done.

And I am quite pleased with it.

On Monday I hit the walls with several layers of dry-brushing - light grey, middle stone, off white, some british uniform, all by Vallejo.
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Tuesday night at the club (because I wasn't actually having a game) I went mad with the washes by GW, some Thraka Green, Devlan Mud, and Badab Black. all thinned and mixed with Vallejo matt varnish to keep the shine down. One of the things I did apart from water streaking, and the odd crack in the stone work (it's an English country church - those are virtually obligatory), was to give the windows a shadow outline.
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Oh! I also added strips of grass mat to the base.

Once the washes were on and dry then I gave the walls a final dry-brush of a craft off-white.
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Today I went over the roof tiles with neutral grey, then a lighter grey, then a second layer mixed with a light blue and light purple, wet blending them as I worked each side of the roof.
I picked out some tiles with Badab Black and some with Devlan Mud. Then went round the edges with a mix of Thraka Green and Devlan Mud to mark th edge of the roof where the mud and the moss accumulates (at least it does on our roof).
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Figure is by Steel Fist Miniatures.

there you have it - I'm not doing the windows, but overall very happy with it.

Thanks for looking in.

(Edit) I forgot - have to add some clumps, some tufts and some 'ivy' on the base and in the corner of the tower.
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Posted by k.b. on 25 May 2023, 15:55

Brilliant how your brushwork has brought this church to life. Love it Steve. Am sure the grass tufts and ivy will improve it even more.
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Posted by Peter on 25 May 2023, 16:22

Wonderfull church! :thumbup:
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 28 May 2023, 14:24

Good afternoon all!

In today's news ... the church is done!

Today has mostly been about tree bases, as the second new lot of trees arrived, but more about that later.

I added paving stones to the paths on the church, painted the doors in a dark umber/black mix I happened to have lying around, and added some clump foliage and turf to the model. Once the greens were glued in place, I fixed them by dripping superglue onto them. This really secures them and makes them less susceptible to damage during handling - just remember to do it somewhere with good ventilation, them fumes is nasty! :eh:

It's hard to imagine a country church today that has bushes growing up against it, due to the diligent efforts of the vergers and worshippers. But the ECW was a different time, churches weren't seen by some as places of reverential worship, more like places to keep the rain off you while you were listening to that day's endless sermon. (Plus there weren't any lawn mowers with edge trimming devices)
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Ivy has taken hold on the sunny south side of the tower and climbed up the corner wall and over the roof.
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The main part of today's work has been the tree bases.
A lot of tree bases.
In an effort to get the drop on the 60 models due to arrive in the post from China, I pre-drilled the wooden bases.
And that was the mistake that prompted a change in approach.
I had assumed that the larger models I ordered with have a peg in line with the previous batch of large trees I bought.
No. They were actually the same as the small ones I had bought. Putting the pegs into the holes I had drilled, was - to coin a phrase - like waving it about in a cathedral.
So rather than waste 33 discs, I started by buttering them with pre-mixed filler paste. And while they were drying they looked like nothing other than some form of biscuit. While they were still soft, I dabbed the surface with a sponge to even it out and add a touch of texture. Adding filler to the bases gives them a little more weight because otherwise you only have to look at them and they scatter all over the place. I won't go back and do the others, but this is the way to go from now on.

Once they were dry I used a smaller bit to drill out holes for the tree models and began the painting.
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I used a mix of craft paint Dark Umber, Vallejo Black and some Vallejo Matt Varnish (I have noticed that the craft paint has a habit of drying with a satin sheen)
The matt varnish, plus the porous surface of the filler meant that the paint dried quite quickly - long enough for me to finish the church off.
Once I had been over the bases and touched up the dark coloured paint - tiny spots of white showing through, I used Vallejo Green-Brown, and Olive Green to add some tone to the bases, before giving them a very light dry-brush of Yellow Ochre.
Last of all - for now - I sprinkled finely chopped, dried basil and mint, as leaf scatter on to tacky glue, and once that had set up, I sealed that with matt varnish.

I left it there and will go back and add some clump foliage, tufts, turf scatter, bits of twig and get everything set up before I add the trees. Doing it this way allows me to process everything more easily.

Thanks for looking in, hope you all have a lovely day.
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Posted by Rich W on 29 May 2023, 22:13

Looks great Steve! Worth all the effort I'd say!
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Posted by Kekso on 30 May 2023, 06:44

Nice church. Keep it coming.
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Posted by Minuteman on 30 May 2023, 08:28

The church has turned out very well, Steve. The paint effects, with layers of dry-brushing etc works very well to create an 'old-and-well-used' look to the building itself. The base with its planting of a few bushes and ivy works well, bearing in mind also that this is a building for wargaming purposes ie: so we don't want units becoming lost in thickets of ancient yew trees, tripping over numerous grave-stones etc.

Fine work. I look forward to seeing the forest that you are creating. :yeah: :-D

PS: It is pleasing (to me anyway) to see the 'clutter' of a busy work space in the background behind your church pictures. A scene of boxes of figures (some opened, some not), glue tubes, various pieces of card, plastic sprue etc etc etc is very much a characteristic of my work-space too. Whole units have been known to go 'missing' for hours, even days on end in this disorder. Shameful, but true! ;-)
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 30 May 2023, 09:40

Minuteman wrote:The church has turned out very well, Steve. The paint effects, with layers of dry-brushing etc works very well to create an 'old-and-well-used' look to the building itself. The base with its planting of a few bushes and ivy works well, bearing in mind also that this is a building for wargaming purposes ie: so we don't want units becoming lost in thickets of ancient yew trees, tripping over numerous grave-stones etc.

Thank you - that was precisely what I was trying to achieve - that balance between a model and wargames piece.

Minuteman wrote:Fine work. I look forward to seeing the forest that you are creating. :yeah: :-D

I shall try not to disappoint

Minuteman wrote:PS: It is pleasing (to me anyway) to see the 'clutter' of a busy work space in the background behind your church pictures. A scene of boxes of figures (some opened, some not), glue tubes, various pieces of card, plastic sprue etc etc etc is very much a characteristic of my work-space too. Whole units have been known to go 'missing' for hours, even days on end in this disorder. Shameful, but true! ;-)

I look at other people's work spaces, and they are all well organised, and starkly simple, with maybe a clean cutting mat and a couple of tools. Part of me wishes I could do that and the other part says "Nah! it would last ten minutes."
My whole life is a constant battle to keep things sufficiently in order to get things done. On a positive note - I did get all of my paints organised into a couple of drawers, but I've mislaid a 6 in steel ruler - which is very useful and a pair of Engineers Dividers which is even more useful.
They're turn up.

Thank you to every one else that has commented.
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 31 May 2023, 15:11

Good afternoon all,

Mrs P has managed to get all sorts of things set up for me this week, however I put my foot down with a firm hand for today to get some more stuff done.

Last time I posted about the actual build -
steve_pickstock wrote:Image


Well, today, that became -
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All of the new batch of tree based, and I am quite happy.

These are the different sizes of tree.
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From the left - small, 80 of these, mounted in singles (6 of), twos (7 of these) and threes (18 of these)
second from the left the middle size - 20 of these, mounted in singles.
The two types on the right - 5 of each of these, mounted singly.
All told 110 models, and all for about £20 ish, about the same price as 5 of the larger types from a local model shop or Hobbycraft.

Sorry about the quality of the next two pictures, but they show the trees in use. The figures is 15mm in size.
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This second picture shows the woodland base with a mix of sizes of tree on it, how I intended it to work, and I think it does now.

Lastly for today - I started the next batch of cottages/village houses. Aiming for something like the semi finished one on the right, but I haven't decided on how I am going to do the rooves.
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That's all for today, thanks for looking in. Take care.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Peter on 02 Jun 2023, 21:18

And that is a fine looking forest Mr Pickstock! It sure does! :thumbup:
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