I had a quick look on google at the area in which the first game in the 29 Let's Go campaign is set, La Cambe. I wanted to get a better idea of the buildings in the area, not to make exact replicas but to guide some ideas so they suit it a little bit better!
This little project is looking at the building (house) in the north of the map, surrounded my sandy looking ground and some walls. (Not sure if I'm allowed to screenshot from the PDF so to remain on the good side of Too Fat Lardies the description will have to suffice!)
I started with a small piece of hardboard, 10p from B&Q, my girlfriend asks for the price as they seem to give her much lower prices than they give me, this one was a very affordable 10p. I marked out a rough size and cut it up with a handsaw.
I cut the leftovers into two bits one of which act as an extension to the current piece, the second is the base to the house/building that will sit in the grounds. For areas that will be grassy I used acrylic caulk, for the rest I used PVA and fine sand. This will represent what I think is gravel or sandy coloured ground.
After some good hard thinking (Safety tip: I sat down so as not to injure myself) I decided the sand needs to run to the base edge so as to make it more flexible to future adaptations. So in subsequent pictures you will notice the change. Once the sand was dry I sprayed it with a PVA/water mix to get it properly sealed and set.
It is then coated in black emulsion for a base coat and once dry painted up according to the two varying shades. A sandy tone for the gravel area (I'm calling it gravel now); and standard brown dirt for the other bits.
Some flock and static grass is added to the non-gravel areas, and that is the base complete. On to the building.
I'm using foamboard or foamcore as I have it to hand. I've used the previously mentioned offcut of hardboard as a base and rounded off the front. I've made the house about 8x5in as a rough estimate from the map (Probe at La Cambe). After sticking the walls on I realised I hadn't cut any windows in the front. Oops. Managed to do it when it dried easily enough.
I've added some card at the corners to hide the joins and perhaps give a slight impression of stone work, and added what will be flower beds out at the front. Then coated it all in a plaster and PVA mix. I bodged in some internal walls, partially as support but also to break up the wide open space inside.
The base and structure of the roof is made out of foamboard but with card as the large flat panels of the roof itself. On these are glued plaster castings from Linka roof tile moulds. Never done this before but I wanted to give it a trial to see what kind of finish I can get, and see how much extra weight the plaster adds. I only have one roof mould but I just kept casting in between working on other things and they slowly add up. It isn't as time consuming as I thought it would be, although I'm sure cardboard would have been a lot quicker.
The whole building is base coated in black emulsion, then painted up in light browns, greys, sandy tones and a highlight of what is termed "Fresh Barley". The shutters are painted in red. Don't know how historically accurate that is but I haven't painted any red shutters so that is enough of a reason for me! Both shutters and doors are made from foamboard, with the paper removed and scored to give it some woody texture.
The roof is painted in shades of grey, with some tiles picked out in blue, red or green to try and vary the final shade. I've also just noticed that the base board is warping slightly which you can see at the corner in the picture above. Very annoying, I'm sure with a bit of care I could have avoided that. I'll try bend it the other way and maybe coat the back in PVA or paint to try assist the process. I'll also add some greenery probably some tufts into the front flower beds to add some more colour to the build, but largely that is it, ready for Game 2!
This little project is looking at the building (house) in the north of the map, surrounded my sandy looking ground and some walls. (Not sure if I'm allowed to screenshot from the PDF so to remain on the good side of Too Fat Lardies the description will have to suffice!)
I cut the leftovers into two bits one of which act as an extension to the current piece, the second is the base to the house/building that will sit in the grounds. For areas that will be grassy I used acrylic caulk, for the rest I used PVA and fine sand. This will represent what I think is gravel or sandy coloured ground.
After some good hard thinking (Safety tip: I sat down so as not to injure myself) I decided the sand needs to run to the base edge so as to make it more flexible to future adaptations. So in subsequent pictures you will notice the change. Once the sand was dry I sprayed it with a PVA/water mix to get it properly sealed and set.
It is then coated in black emulsion for a base coat and once dry painted up according to the two varying shades. A sandy tone for the gravel area (I'm calling it gravel now); and standard brown dirt for the other bits.
Some flock and static grass is added to the non-gravel areas, and that is the base complete. On to the building.
I'm using foamboard or foamcore as I have it to hand. I've used the previously mentioned offcut of hardboard as a base and rounded off the front. I've made the house about 8x5in as a rough estimate from the map (Probe at La Cambe). After sticking the walls on I realised I hadn't cut any windows in the front. Oops. Managed to do it when it dried easily enough.
I've added some card at the corners to hide the joins and perhaps give a slight impression of stone work, and added what will be flower beds out at the front. Then coated it all in a plaster and PVA mix. I bodged in some internal walls, partially as support but also to break up the wide open space inside.
The base and structure of the roof is made out of foamboard but with card as the large flat panels of the roof itself. On these are glued plaster castings from Linka roof tile moulds. Never done this before but I wanted to give it a trial to see what kind of finish I can get, and see how much extra weight the plaster adds. I only have one roof mould but I just kept casting in between working on other things and they slowly add up. It isn't as time consuming as I thought it would be, although I'm sure cardboard would have been a lot quicker.
The roof is painted in shades of grey, with some tiles picked out in blue, red or green to try and vary the final shade. I've also just noticed that the base board is warping slightly which you can see at the corner in the picture above. Very annoying, I'm sure with a bit of care I could have avoided that. I'll try bend it the other way and maybe coat the back in PVA or paint to try assist the process. I'll also add some greenery probably some tufts into the front flower beds to add some more colour to the build, but largely that is it, ready for Game 2!
Nice job. My vague memory of trips to Normandy is of white or pale blue shutters but the red ones look great.
ReplyDeleteApologies for being horrendously late in replying - didn't realise I had to authorise comments! Thank you for your kind words, I'll probably try use some more pale realistic colours in future!
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