A Little Side Project...UPDATED, YET AGAIN !!

     I was growing tired of painting minis so I began to think of starting a little side project, you know, just a little something to stay busy until painting seemed interesting once more. I had seen a video on how to cut circles using the Proxxon Hot Wire cutter so I figured "What the heck, I'll give it a try". An hour or so later I had it down to the point where I could make decent circles.  But what to do with them, I asked myself.........then this happened.

 

I really have to start making a plan before I get the tools out

     It evolved like this; once I had circles I then cut smaller circles out of them, just for practice. Then I had a bunch of rings, each smaller than the other. So I did it all over again, just for practice....eventually I had a bunch of stubby cylinders. Just to be tidy I stacked them up in like-sized groups. I was instantly struck by how much they looked like medieval towers.

 

a stack of cylinders looking suspiciously "keepish "

 

of course, keeps have floors, easy enough, just a bit of cardboard

 

I set the Proxxon at an angle and cut the lower disc into a base with a talus

 

of course, keeps aren't built of blue board, they are built of blocks of stone, 

or in this case, blocks of blue board! 

 

and they have nifty spiral staircase, so I cut  a hole in the floor for one

 

I started on the inside so that my early mistakes would be hidden from view, 

it was very therapeutic, almost like putting rivets on one of the boat models

 

a couple of hours and I was about half done

 

then I built that nifty spiral staircase, it wasn't until I was finished 

that I realized that I should have built it the other way around

 

I was happy enough with it 

no, I won't be building a different one,

they are supposed to ascend clockwise

 

after I had finished the brickwork I realized I needed a base

so I whipped one up

 

can't have people falling down the stairwell so I added a railing

 

then I added crenelations to the top wall

all that is left is windows, and finishing the base, and painting it all

when will I ever learn?

 

a 28mm Old Glory knight for scale

 

he seems more enthusiastic than I am right now

     There you have it an evening and an afternoon spent playing with toys. 

      Suddenly that paintbrush looks inviting!

     And now with paint, I mixed a bottle of Americana Lamp Black with some wallboard putty then painted it on with a wide stiff brush

 

the putty between the bricks looks like mortar and helps bind them to the model

this is the first time that I've tried this on a whole model

 

I think that it worked pretty well

 

painting inside the tower was a bit of a trick!

       Not content with the color, or the total lack of windows (this is what I mean when I say I REALLY have to start working to a plan) I went ahead and made a pile of windows and then set about sticking them all over to tower. After this was done I then painted the windows and laid on several layers of weathering.

 

to make the windows I cut strips to match the section of the head, sides and lintel , 

then I sliced off dozens of thin strips so that I had loads of matching parts

 

I stuck them all over walls of both floors and up (and under) the stairwell

 

then I realized I needed to build a drawbridge

 

it didn't need to be terribly long, just a few inches

 

I kept adding more white to each layer of drybrushing but the gray kept eating it up, 

finally I used almost pure white, that seemed to do the trick

 

of course , when you have a drawbridge, 

you need lifting apparatus, 

so I built one

 

and being a giant nine-year-old, it had to work

 

nothing says "No Solicitors" like a lifted drawbridge 

(note to our British friends, in the USA a solicitor is a door-to-door salesman, not a lawyer)

but I'm not a fan of lawyers either

 

a 25mm Old Glory footman for scale

 

I can almost hearing him thinking 

"well isn't this a jolly sight, there is no way I'm jumping down that" 

     You needn't worry, the baby-barf brown that is on the base is only a primer coat. I will be painting and texturing the surface tomorrow (or the day after, retirement has wrecked my sense of urgency) and thyen painting it and flocking the whole thing.