To the rack with you!!!!!

    When it comes to paint I'm a fan of Vallejo, Andrea, and Mig (some Testors & Tamiya as well).  The nipple top isn't too bad and a long pin keeps the small hole clean.  One issue is when the paint runs out there can be a good amount left in the bottom of the bottle, and with the price of paint that was money I'd rather not just toss out.  I used to construct make-shift paint holders out of other paint jars so I could leave the near empty bottle upside down and allow the paint to ooze to the top of the bottle.  After a while my desk was cluttered with these obstacles and something had to give.  Test tube holder to the rescue!!!  At the local American Science & Surplus (an awesome store for the modeller, gamer, and hobbyist), in the medical container section, they had plastic test tube holders for $5 US.  I probably would throw out more than that in paint if I didn't try to get it all out.  It fits bottles of Vallejo, Reaper, Andrea, and Mig well enough that they don't fall out and it lets you have a store of soon to be empty bottles within easy reach but out of the way.  Here's what it looks like:

In it's green glory!

It has 40 square openings and is lightweight, the color is a nice laboratory green.

view from the top

Here are some soon-to-be-empty bottles taking up residence.  The bottles do sit at a slight angle but that's as far as they move.

Side

 

Now a better view of the depth it has.  I've been using this and one other like it (only holds 6) for six months now and it works for me.  Every last bit of paint won't be captured but I'm able to cut down on wasted paint going in the garbage.

   

A church completed...

  With the rain staying away this summer it's been prime time for outdoor spray painting, especially priming.  My hobby room has a spray station but the volume of paint from a can is a bit too much to handle, so summer is the time of year to get big projects done.  The church from Gamecraft is complete now, based, and landscaped.  There was a minor setback, as you'll see, but it was overcome without tears and swearing.

A minor setback.

  Allen from Gamecraft shows how to trim the roof so it will sit evenly at both ends even with the tower attached.  It looks simple enough but like all my projects one thing gets messed up, and this time it was the roof.  I cut one side the proper distance down and 1/16" in and did the same for the other side, except this second side was cut on the wrong end!  Since it couldn't be put back together and I wasn't going to make a whole new roof I did the only thing I could, cover it up.  Plastruct to the rescue!  I happen to have one of their 1:48 shingle sets and they are big enough to cover each side of the roof and you get 2 sheets per pack. Saved!!  A bit of measuring and cutting (easy with scissors or x-acto) left me with a roof that was better than I was planning on.

overhead

Here is the roof from above.  It was primed black then a heavy drybrushing of dark, medium, and light gray.  It has a 90 degree strip from Plastruct as a roof cap to hide the seam and any gaps.  I notched this roof correctly so it has an overhang on each end.  

The final product.

Back 

The back of the church with the back door visible.  Not much happening here but it makes for a nice escape route.

Front

The front of the church in all its glory.  The hedge is a Noch hedge piece I had laying around.  Static grass, flock, tufts, and some other bits of foliage went on to give it a "not so neatly mowed" look.  The hedge extends to the end of the church.

right side

The right side (as you look at the front).  The hedge isn't too high, about 1/2" so it should make a nice linear obstruction but not a true defensive structure.

left side

The left side.  There wasn't as much base on the left side so I didn't do much with it.  The hedge does extend from the front door straight to the edge of the base.  The ivy on the tower sides is from a Hudson & Allen product I've been hanging onto for years.

play area

Finally a shot with the roof off.  I didn't do much to the floor beside paint it.  To me most buildings don't get much interest besides how many figures can fit inside.  I wanted to get the whole thing done but there''s a little voice saying "you should detail it".  I can ignore the voice and it's ready for the table.  

Just how big is it?

  I didn't think of taking pictures with a ruler alongside until now but I have some with minis and buildings next to it.  I base my minis on 1" fender washers.  The Teutonics are from Old Glory along with the crossbowmen, the archers are Foundry, and the other fighting knights are Black Tree Design.

The fight at the  front

Archers in the hedges! 

A nice little melee

Building comparison

This picture shows the church alongside two buildings from Amorcast.  As you can see the church is pretty mighty and makes a nice centerpiece for a good old fashioned baron brawl.

Fire from the tower

Overall impression

   Now that it's completed and ready for the table I have to say this is a nice piece of terrain.  It goes together easily and the fit is precise.  Even if you decide not to mount it on a base it's still sturdy.  Outside detail is a little sparse, like most mdf structures, but the engraved areas are neatly done (the crosses on each side of the tower are nice).  This does leave room for personal embellishments and  even minor additions will make it unique.  My wife has informed me that I now have a complete village so it's time to get playing!  I just need to get working on the pile of knights I have.  Next up, the joy of plastic.

So this guy decides to build a church...

After many years of being online I'm finally getting to blogging.  Most of what is posted will be about miniature gaming and modelling (plastic models, not photo model), but there may be a music, movie, or book post every now and then.  Why start now and not two months from now?  The short answer is I finished a terrain piece that I was putting off and others may find something useful in what I did.  I seem to have a lot of stuff on shelves and get the occasional "how'd you do that" question.  I managed to get some projects done and they actually turned out ok and maybe my posts may help someone with a project they've been lingering on.  Now, on to the church!

Where'd you get it?
One of my favorite historical periods is the middle ages.  Why?  There's too much to list (the web loves lists) but it comes down to big bucket helmets and nasty weapons.  Maybe too much Holy Grail as a kid but there it is.  I've collected a good amount of Amorcast resin buildings during my GenCon trips and have added a castle and keep but I was missing a big church to defend.  Since my interest drops off as Gothic architecture starts up I needed something a bit plain.  For this I picked up the 28mm church from  GameCraft Miniatures.  If you're unfamiliar with GCminis, he (Allen) makes buildings and other items in both MDF and foamcore in various scales and periods.  I've found his products to be really well engineered (I believe he's an old CAD master), reasonably priced, and broad in his catalog.  Along with the church I picked up the stained glass sheets for it, a very cool product.  This terrain kit has been sitting on my shelves for too long so I bit down, broke out the wood glue, and started constructing.  I won't go through a step-by-step account but suffice it to say the church went together well and is sturdy.  Allen has a youtube video that gives an overview of construction.  Let's get to some pics so we all know what is being discussed.

The Church at 70% done:

Here are some work-in-progress shots after it was entering the painting stage. The church is assembled, the interior parts are left out except for the end which you can see on the right (the tan colored piece).  The interior is made up of 4 pieces that will fit inside the main structure.  It's mounted on a piece of mdf big enough for the church and a bit on the side. A thrown together statue is also attached to the base.  I primed it all black then drybrushed, heavily, with a light tan housepaint.  I tried some shading with pastel chalk but I think I hit it too heavy in some spots; at least it's not a big, clean, tan building.  The tower is closed up if built as directed but you could put an interior in it, but reaching minis would be hard.  I think it's fine with the top as it is. 

The statue comes from an old mini, a piece of plastic sheet, and a display base from a long ignored gothic armor model kit.  You can also see one of the sconces I cast up along with the plastic strip that replaced the engraved lines, I didn't want to loose the lines with the painting so I went over them with the plastic.

statue

 The front of the church  shows the stained glass, door, and open window.  The door is engraved so it doesn't open; you could change that easy enough.  The tower and church/mdf were primed separately because the inner pieces for the tower need to go in before it was glued to the church front and I didn't want overspray ruining the stained glass.

front

Here's the side of the main part of the church with stained glass windows inserted.  The plastic windows were cut from the sheet (4 to a sheet) and glued lightly to the inner wall pieces, so the windws are sandwiched between the inside and outside walls.  These were left out until the painting was done to avoid ruining them. 

side

 This is an overhead shot of the whole thing, and you can see the interior is sparse.  I've found that if I start putting a lot of furniture and detail inside it just gets in the way of the minis and large gamer hands.  Some other projects can be seen scattered around.

overview

All that's left is to finish the roof and do some landscaping.  So far it's an impressive piece that really makes an impact on the table.  Besides hard cover it takes up room and breaks up lines of sight.  I plan on using it for some dark age games even though it's probably not 100% accurate for the period.  I know it will be in some WWII games!