chim chimney, Loft of not so Shameful (part 4)

So last time I delved into the Loft of shame I had great news as I'd actually been able to progress on a building and had quite a good result, Today after the break I'm going to revisit the Inn shared in part 2 as while my wife was away I manage to get a big step done on that.

Here is how it looked as I moved it from the loft to temporary storage in the garage, Like the large building from part 3 I then brought it inside while my wife and kids where away.
I had always intended to look at these two buildings but on the first weekend the family was away I took a trip to Nottingham to visiting Gav. While there we were chatting about building a labrinth of Tzeentch for AOS and on the spur of the moment I ordered some of these.
Pegasus Hobbies 28mm Scale Small Bricks Grey 
Pegasus Hobbies 28mm Scale Large Bricks Grey
Pegasus Hobbies 28mm Scale Sandbags Loose Unpainted
When they arrived I eagerly opened up the package to see what I had brought, as I couldn't find what material the Bricks where made of before they arrived on any site selling them. The Sandbags are resin and for use with my Desert Rats, they'll do the job perfectly.

The bricks on the other hand are intended for use on these buildings, now the first thing to understand is that they appear to made from clay, and they have a similar texture to the grey modelling clay you can get.
This has a number of issues, firstly the material is fairly soft and can be crushed between your fingers, this means that on it's own your not going to get robust terrain and it should be supported if possible, don't go building walls single brick thick and expect it to live up to prolonged table use, cabinet display will be fine. 

the second problem is an extension of the first, the powdery texture means you need to consider how your going to glue these things together, thick glues will simply bond to the outer layer and then come away easily. you need to seal the surface as you assemble your project. Fortunately they are porous so a well watered down PVA will soak in and give an ok bond, constant washes of glue as you build and if using these in conjunction with other more robust materials should give something acceptable for terrain. Just don;t expect to be building more than a few layers at a time as it will take a while to fully dry inside and out meaning your beautiful wall will shift and break as you try to place the next layer.
The ideal solution is to use the really thin super glue, this will soak in nicely and make the bricks themselves much stronger. Expect the bricks to warm up a little and it could well get very messy not to mention they will drink the glue up so cost a lot more.
Since my plan was to use the bricks to make a detail attached to a wall I didn't worry to much and went with the PVA Option. and built this.
 
The Building was used as a guide for the construction, and in places it did stick a little. You can see that around the roof and it leaves behind a portion of the brick which was softened while the glue was wet.

Once fully assembled however the building should provide enough structural support so it cant break to easily and if that wasn't enough while building I used wooden guides inside to help with the shifting of complete layers.
This allowed me to work on more than just one layer at a time and even as many as 10 layers between letting it dry, I've evn built the internal fireplace's which will be visible inside the building.

Now you may have noticed in the original Inn picture that I don;t have a base, the Inn is glued in a top down fashion in three layers with each floor's walls glued to that floors ceiling. 
While this was handy back in the day for transporting the Inn it's not going to make it easy to properly detail the interior and attach the chimney. With that in mind I gently set about with my clippers to separate the walls from the ceilings, as well as to dismantle my newly finished chimney so I could work on finishing the building floor by floor.
This will allow me to make a proper floor and internal details which I intend to include a bar and broken benches, I hope to place them is such a way as to allow sensible access for figures but block the deeper corners where models could be difficult to reach. I also need to build the front wall and door yet have a large enough hole to fit hands inside.

Likewise I've begun the same process on the first floor, though less of the wall were built so there is more to do here before it's ready for painting.
Right now I've glued the ground floor chimney in place and am looking for sutable floor tiles, I might make some or look at getting some rough stone mosaic tiles. I'm also considering options for future brick walls and textures as I don't think I'll be buying these clay ones again. I know Greg from Feed Your Nerd has picked up a bunch of the mini brick and I can't wait to see how his Dread Tober entry is coming along as a Kan smashing through a wall.

Next time round I'll be taking another look at the Knight and Might even fit an extra post in this week for Dread Tober. Until then TTFN 

Comments

  1. That looks amazing dude, great work, I take my hat off to your imagination (and patience) looking forward to continuing to see it come together ! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks I'll keep posts comming when I have them.
      There's a bit of a hold on this while I finish Dread Tober. I need to sort flooring out next so looking at options. The I might make some furniture once the walls are done.

      Delete

Post a Comment