The roof - I would love to be able to say I made it painstakingly by hand, one tile at a time. But I would be lying if I did so.

It is made from a HirstArts mould.




I am so ashamed.

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Dagster

Lol! Although you're still credited for taking the time to cast the tiles, put them on the house, and paint them... or did a guys from Hirst Art do that too?

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Hirst Arts blocks are great, and surely a talented terrain maker such as yourself deserves a little break. And as Julian said, it still required some work.

Looking forward to more, Alan.

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" I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!"

Bilbo

It's an odd phenomenon, but the only part of the model that's not scratchbuilt is the part that gets the most amount of attention. Vaguely irritating as well, since the tiles are over-scale and not particularly accurate in their shape either.

I only used the HA moulds because I have to meet a deadline and these are quick and easy yet still look ok, otherwise I would have made the roof myself (I still might after the deadline has passed and I can spend a bit more time on the fine details).

And the REALLY irritating thing is that I only discivered yesterday that GW no longer sell Terracotta paint. It was scrapped when they stopped selling inks. Man that sucks as I have another two roofs to paint and have almost run out of that colour.

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Dagster

umm well ah er how about using maybe straws cut in half and short or live on the edge and use plastic tubing or metal tubing. if you make a section you coul make a mold of your own. Just suggestions and I think it all looks wonderful.

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www.spectrehobbies.com

Thats where it is at

Vallejo has it.

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Ole Blood'n'guts...

What Olle just said, plus I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the internet, or make some of your own

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Yes, Alan. What about Rob's guide (here, http://www.one-ring.co.uk/phpBB2/kb.php ... ticle&k=84 )? It has how to mix the paints to create Terracota.

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" I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!"

Bilbo

I have to laugh when I see that guide (sorry Rob), but has anyone actually tested those formulae?

I picked up some Valleho terracotta on the weekend and it's a 100% match with the GW one, there's more paint in the bottle, it covers better and it was cheaper. So it's a win, win, win, win situation.

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Dagster

I did try to get people to test it, before I submitted it years ago! But no-one was up to the challenge, if they did, they would have discovered that I actually just randomised the numbers and none of the mixes work

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your story is creepier than a bloody mexican soap opera (MacGothmog)

Lol, I tested out the Catachan Green formula.






It turned out poop color.

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Been busy wasting my time on Facebook and ignoring this project (and several other more important things). So I pulled my finger out and got back to work on the castle. After a some cutting, plastering and gluing, I have updated by blog (http://spodding.tabletopwargaming.com) with some shots of the castle as it stands today.

The front of the tower is partly undercoated, so it looks a bit incongruous with the stark white of the curtain wall, but I'll finish painting it eventually.

Here are the shots:



Click each thumbnail to biggify them.

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Dagster

Please please PLEASE don't say you've been playing farmville or any of those other affiliated type games Alan

On topic though, what materials did you use to create the curtain walls/battlement walls? I'm planning on making something like that during uni holidays and am interested in what I would have to gather together.

Cheers

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Available for commission painting, PM me if you're interested.

Will you be my neighbour? I only need 4 more for the red ribbon.

Um, the battlements are made from 5mm balsa wood, cut to shape and then glued to another piece of 5mm balsa. So they're 10mm thick (2 feet in scale). The walls themselves are made from 50mm thick blue styrofoam with the stone surfaces cast from sections of masonry I made out of scribed polyfilla.

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Dagster

Very nice, realistic castle, Alan. It's coming along great.



But is it just me, or is it turning into a Playmobil Castle?

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"Mustard the Rohirrim! We've got to ketchup with those Uruk-fries before they capture the Hornburger!"

Lol, Ingold

Glad you didn't forget us, Alan... the castle is growing very nicely by the looks of it, although I wouldn't be surprised if you were building it stone by stone!

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Keep the updates coming Alan, it's really good so far!

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TO9G - 2010 Isengard

Wow, has it really been that long since I updated this? How slack of me.

Here are some shots of the castle as it stands today (click to biggify):



And the camp for holding the dinosaurs (a Dinolager):



And finally, the farmhouse (where the peasants get pitchforks on their way to the castle):

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Dagster

Fantastic work Alan! The castle itself is just amazingly good. I love the texture and the color of the stones, they have a very natural look to them. Great stuff!

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" I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!"

Bilbo

Very nice Alan. You have been busy. (And I thought that was just a vicious rumour!)

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.