And I thought rivets were tedious!

     Many decades ago I cut my wargames models teeth following the writings of Grand Master Ian Weekly. His monthly missives in Wargames Illustrated (in its original iteration) were my foundational gospel and I have always aspired to match his production quality. One of the feats of patience that I had heretofore never dared replicate was the covering of a roof with individual shingles cut from the ubiquitous "cereal packet". Having decided that the top of the Hexagonal Tower looked far too much like a heli-pad I resolved to put a pitched roof on it. Having made that decision I steeled my nerves to follow in the footsteps of my Bodhisattva and expand my experience by shingling the roof using his methods. So, armed with a pair of scissors, a bottle of Titebond and a Cheerios box I descended into the Workshop.........

 

regular readers will be horrified to find that I actually made exacting measurements in the construction of this part (I excuse myself pleading the pressures of the deadline for the suspension of my official method of "winging -it")

 

six triangles to form the steep roof of the tower

 

I taped the sections together so that they would hold position as I glued them together

 

returning to my usual "try it and see" method I placed the roof on the vast flat surface on top of the tower, it left enough room around the top to maneuver figures, satisfied with this I broke out the wood glue

 

it occurred to me (after I had glued the roof to the top of the tower, of course) 

that the troops needed a way to get onto the parapet so I added a doorway,

the roof itself and the doorway are cut from standard matte board

I tend to get lavish with the glue

 

the shingles, on the other hand, are cut from a Cheerios box

this was a bit tedious and left my right hand wishing that I had some left-handed scissors

 

before taking the plunge I went to the Library and took down my copies of the Holy Writ and read some of Mr. Weekly's writings, sufficiently inspired I returned to my workshop and laid on with glue and card, the simplicity of the task was equaled by the tedium

 

but inside of twenty minutes I had finished one side

 

before dinner time I had the whole roof covered

 

it got a coat of the same chocolate brown house paint that the tower began with

 

as soon as the brown is dried I will start dry-brushing with deep reds and Terra-cotta to produce a roof tile effect, the strips along the edges of the roof panels were often lead on the original buildings so they will get a subdued gray color

 

for a first attempt it seems to have turned out rather well, I have a much deeper respect for the Grand Master Ian Weekly, he did this sort of thing on a monthly basis  back in the day

 

even thought the paint was still wet I couldn't resist the urge

 to put it all together to see what the overall effect would look like