Stone Barn - A 28mm Terrain Article

Written by Tony Harwood Tuesday, 03 January 2012 08:00

Architecture of Valon

Modelling Materclass: A 28mm Scale Building

"Stone Barn"

As usual, I started with a simple sketch and decided on a ‘foot-print’ of 100mm x 100mm.

The basic structure is built from a discarded cardboard case – actually a box that once held Whisky bottles that was picked up from Aldi’s – the discount store to carry groceries back to the car.  The cardboard was cut with a large ‘snap-off’ bladed knife into simple walls, roof and base before being glued with a hot glue gun. I also added a couple of internal strengtheners and corner supports to give some rigidity.

Once the basic structure was completed, I covered the whole cardboard box with strips of torn newspaper and uPVA glue.  A couple of additional layers will turn the rather flimsy cardboard into quite a sturdy lump.

The first layer of DAS modelling clay is applied quite freely, knowing that subsequent layers will define the shape and texture better.

A second layer helped to add some substance and form to the simple box shape.  I have also added some large inter-locking corner stones to the barn.  To do this I first paint on some uPVA glue and then add a strip of DAS.  I press the DAS home and then trim the shape with either a modelling tool or a knife.  Further texture can be added to these stones with a modelling tool.

It was at this stage that I became unhappy with the shape and size of the small annex and built up the height of the roof with some additional strips of cardboard, filled in the gap and re-defined the extension with DAS and some ‘lollypop stick’ eaves.  Eagle eyed readers will see that I have used both Milliput and DAS to help define the area around the top of the eaves.

This photo shows how the cornerstones and frame to the door and windows have been modelled, again with a mixture of DAS and Milliput.

When the DAS and Milliput had fully cured, I sanded the roof with some coarse sandpaper before beginning the tiling, or more accurately roofing with stones.

I had recently read a book on French Farmhouses in which the author wrote about the practice of roofing barns with large flat stones.  In fact huge flat stones to the edges and smaller stones as the tiling rose up the roof. On a recent visit to Cheltenham we saw such a roof on an old church and I wanted to see if I could model this novel feature.  I used thick card (backing card to a sketch pad) at the base of the roof and thinner mounting card higher up, finally having two layers of thin cereal packaging card at the ridge.  This also meant that the number of tiles (stones) increased the further up the roof I went.  I think the photos show this better than words.

Of note is the fact that every stone from the large and heavy ones at the base to the tiny and thin ones at the top are first cut , then carved and finally sanded prior to attaching them with uPVA glue – quite a chore.

This series of images shows how the roof developed.

Finally the ridge tiles were cut, carved and sanded before attaching them.  I know that cutting strips of cornflakes boxes into rectangles would have been sufficient – I just fancied the challenge of modelling this more rustic style roof.

You can also see how I have modelled the roof with ridges and sags – a very prominent feature of such roofs as the weight of these stones was considerable.

Once I was happy with the roof – it was on to the next major feature – the doors. These were built from carved and distressed lollipop sticks as seen and described in previous Modelling Masterclasses.

The door furniture was cut from Plastic card and applied with superglue.

At this stage I wanted to see how these features would look under a coat of paint and so taking a spare bottle of bright yellow acrylic paint I proceeded to paint the whole barn yellow.  The yellow was a random colour – I have a couple of bottles of cheap paint which have laid undisturbed in my paints box for some years and I felt this was a good use of a colour I rarely use.

My next job was to mount the model on to a base of 3mm thick plastic card (actually the last of my ‘For Sale’ sign that I picked up some time ago and which has been a regular modelling resource for these articles).  The card was cut into a rough oval, the edges chamfered and the building glued down with my trusty hot glue gun.

The groundwork has been built up with DAS modelling clay laid over a thin layer of uPVA glue and built up the sides of the building to give the impression that the barn has actually grown out of the ground rather than just placed on top of it.

A second layer of DAS reinforced this and once fully dry I added some sieved stones and fine sand to further texture the base.

My final piece of modelling was to add some more bolts and rivets to the doors, build a simple door latch and superglue a spare resin barrel to the front of the barn.

I am pleased that I have been able to model a stone barn that so closely resembles the one at the Warmachine tournament and experiment with the novel roofing style.

With the construction finished it was on to painting.  I first spray painted the whole model with a can of cheap matt black paint and touched up any bits that I had missed with some acrylic black and a large paint brush. I then spray painted the upper surfaces with Tamiya Brown spray paint.  I find that this gives a better base to start painting on than a plain black undercoat.

The first layer was very dark brown, applied with a large stiff brush in a ‘scrubbing’ action. This is really only a base layer and very little will show through in the final colour scheme, but I still like to be thorough and attempt to cover the whole structure.

To give some variety to the base colour scheme I have picked out the cornerstones in variations of mid grey or stone colour paint. Once again very little will be seen on the final building, but I find that it adds some warmth and variety to the single colour walls.

The next layer was a mix of Beastial Brown and Snakebite Leather which is applied with lighter tones further up the building and allowing the Black/Brown basecoat scheme to be more prominent towards the base.

Another layer of Snakebite Leather – this time lightened with Skull White and once again concentrating on the upper wall sections.

The roof is painted over a very dark grey and drybrushed with grey and white.  I have also highlighted a couple of the roofing stones in lighter grey and even dark brown to give some variation and interest to the roof.

A final highlight and light drybrush of pure white further defines the stones.

At this stage I was still uncertain of what colour to paint the woodwork; the doors and the eaves. I went back to my book on French Farmhouses and found a colour illustration showing a similar building with standard utilitarian green woodwork, slightly worn and weathered. I decided that this was the right way to go and mixed up a very dark green, using Foundry Forest Green and GW Chaos Black, which I applied in a rough and watered down coat.  Once dry I went over the woodwork with just Forest Green and finally a drybrush of Vomit Brown/Forest Green to highlight the grain.

The groundwork was painted in my usual scheme – Snakebite Leather from Games Workshop – two thin coats rather than one thick one and then highlighted with a couple of layers of Snakebite and Skull White drybrushed over the high points.  I picked out some of the larger stones with a mix of Chaos Black and Skull White. It must be a bit boring by now as ALL of my Flintloque figures and terrain bases are painted in the same colours, a technique that I believe helps to ‘unify’ my collection.

The single wooden barrel was painted with Charred Brown from Vallejo and highlighted with Charred Brown/Snakebite.  The metal bands were first painted with Chaos Black and then highlighted with Brown, before I added some bright Orange rust.

To finish off, I have added Brown and Orange to the metal work and railway modelling dyed sawdust to the base.

This Stone Barn is one of my favourite Flintloque themed models, giving me a great deal of satisfaction in the modelling and the painting.  It is a ‘generic’ model that will suit various theatres from the sun-parched soil of Al Garvey through the Ferach heartland, right up to the border with the dreaded and snow covered Witchlands.

Coming Soon

"Well, Spring and Trough" - Tony puts together another cracking piece of terrain, this time suitable for anywhere in Valon.

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