Boxer Rebellion project re-emerges, page 11, tiny update

[War In 15MM]

I began work on the pre-siege walls for the legations.  I’m starting with the French legation walls, and decided that I would start by building the rear gatehouse for that legation. In building that gatehouse, my aim was not to build the identical structure but rather  to build a structure that is close in size and look.  It is built around a core of Duplos with some Legos used to support the roof.  The brick outer covering is by JTT Plastic, the doors and trim are made from Evergreen Plastic and the tile roof is by Plastruct Plastic.  Once the rear gatehouse was complete I built the corner posts for the rear wall.  I’m not doing the front wall or its corner posts because they are attached to the entrance gate and I will use the original walls for that covered with Milliput shrubs to hide the firing steps.  I made the rear corner posts with Evergreen Plastic covering an inner core of square Legos.  I took some time off from my wall building today to join my wife in a visit with our baby granddaughter… always fun.   Once back at the workbench I took on my first section of the French legation wall.  Though my wall sections will not be quite as detailed as the originals, I am copying the design and size of each of the sections in the original wall.  I am building those wall sections (interior core and exterior) out of JTT Plastic (the brick), Evergreen Plastic (the trim and inner core), and Plastruct Plastic (the roof tile.)  I still have to add the Milliput (groundcover) trim to the base of each piece to add finish and support, but that will probably be done to all sections when the wall is complete.
IMG_1816 by Richard Garretson, on FlickrIMG_1817 by Richard Garretson, on Flickr

[War In 15MM]

In building the pre-siege walls for the French legation I noticed that Blue Moon made a very Ian Weekley style design error.  The old Ian Weekley castle walls were crenelated which would come as no surprise.  The design error was that walls ended exactly the same on each end which meant that you had a double opening wherever two walls came together.  The 5" side walls on the French legation make a similar design error in that both of those walls end with the same vertical design feature as they meet on the adjoining walls thus giving the wall a doubling of that design where walls meet.  My decision is whether to copy the walls as made by Blue Moon or shorten the side walls by half an inch by removing the unnecessary vertical design feature at each end.  I'm leaning toward shorting the side walls.

[War In 15MM]

I finished work on the pre-siege scratch-built portion of the French legations walls.  I will be using the French legation walls attached to the legation’s entrance gate for both the pre-siege and siege look of the legation.  In order to do this I have hidden the firing steps under removable Lego-covered Milliput shrubs on the portion of the Blue Moon walls that I will use for both versions of the wall.  All that now remains to be completed with regard to the scratch-built wall is to put a Milliput groundcover base on each of the wall sections.  I will probably hold off the painting of the legation until I complete all of the scratch building for my Boxer Rebellion project.
IMG_1819 by Richard Garretson, on Flickr

[FifteensAway]

Probably last comment from me for a bit due to travels.  Looking forward to seeing the pre-siege setup one day, rather curious how it will look.

My 'non-violent' figures will all be included into my siege game - and then other games that might seem inspired by pulp-like events but not pulp in the proper sense.  I expect we will be treated to quite a spectacle.  And then get it all over again in down and dirty fire-fight version.

Keep going!

[War In 15MM]

FifteensAway, if all goes well with my plan, the pre-siege version will offer up a vision of a sunny day in Peking town... I like that sort of stuff.  Frankly, I look forward to seeing how you go about incorporating the Chinese "passive" civilians in your active battle layout... always looking for ideas.

Tomorrow I will be starting the pre-siege walls of the Russian legation... that's a lot of wall to make so it will probably take me well into next week to complete.

Travel safely.  Richard

[FifteensAway]

And safely returned home.  My setup, being so large, it will be easy to add in Chinese civilians going about there day outside of the besieged area - or trying to survive within the besieged area. 

[FifteensAway]

Just to give a sense of scale of the wall I will be building.  One more photo on the blog:

http://steeplechasingzebras.blogspot.com/p/boxer-rebellion.html

[War In 15MM]

I'm watching.  Looking forward to seeing your Tartar Wall develop.  Tomorrow I hope to have the last section of my pre-siege Russian legation wall complete.  When that is done I will start work on the pre-siege Japanese legation wall.  Lot of work but pretty happy with the way these pre-siege walls are coming out.

[War In 15MM]

With the construction of the pre-siege walls for the French legation complete, I began work on the pre-siege walls for the Russian legation.  Once again I started with the rear gatehouse.  Like the French legation rear gatehouse, this was built around an inner core of Duplos and then covered with Evergreen, JTT, and Plastruct plastics.  Once the gatehouse was built I turned my attention to the corner posts and the adjoining walls which are now done except for the Milliput base on the right side center wall (the one done with red-brown plastic).  I’ll put the Milliput base on later today, and it will be hard before I go to bed tonight.  I still am not completely decided on what building I will use to serve as the Hotel de Peking, but rather than narrowing my selection I actually added two more candidates to the list.  Both of these buildings are cardstock structures I purchased several years ago at the swap meet for a dollar or two each.  I carefully cut the bottom out of both buildings and with that done covered the window and door openings from the inside so that when they were painted they would look more like the other resin buildings I will be using.  I textured the exterior with Squadron Green Putty and then sanded it before painting.  I like both buildings.  In terms of their footprints on the board they may take up too much space (the figures in each picture are Old Glory 15s Boxers).  While it is not as attractive a structure, I am probably still leaning toward the square Ian Weekley building because of the space it will use on the board.  I’ve added a little Milliput shrub effect to its base to soften the blunt look of its square architecture.  It’s always nice to have some options. IMG_1822 by Richard Garretson, on FlickrIMG_1822a by Richard Garretson, on Flickr[url=https://flic.kr/p/J5fUST]IMG_1822b by Richard Garretson, on Flickr[/url]IMG_1822c by Richard Garretson, on FlickrIMG_1823 by Richard Garretson, on FlickrIMG_1824 by Richard Garretson, on Flickr[url=https://flic.kr/p/J5fV5X]IMG_1824b by Richard Garretson, on Flickr

[FifteensAway]

Richard, any thoughts on you doing a tutorial on your process of building things?  I'll bet it will be well received.

On the hotel - why aren't you just scratch building something?  You clearly have the skills to get what you want in the footprint you prefer.  (Yes, that's a hint!)   

[War In 15MM]

FifteensAway, a tutorial on my building process would be to pretend that what I do is far more complex than what it is.  People who scratch build in wood and cardstock are working at a more sophisticated level than I am which is why I like plastic.  All that is needed for my buildings is Legos and Duplos to construct the inner core which offer both strength and shape to the building.  With that done it's just a matter of collecting the right plastics, cutting them to size with scissors and using liquid glue to attach the exterior plastic to the interior Duplo/Lego core... plastic, Duplos, Legos, scissors, a ruler, Plastruct liquid glue, maybe some Milliput and Squadron putty (I always have them at hand) plus time and patience.  That's about it. 
As for the hotel, I'm not sure.  I may try to scratch building a pre siege version of the British legation building and use the Austrian legation building by Blue Moon as the hotel.  Right now it's just good to have some options to consider while I work on the pre siege legation walls.  With the pre siege French and Russian walls complete, I just started on the Japanese rear gatehouse and rear walls today.  Lots of posts to do with this one but the walls are much easier than those of the Russian legation.

[War In 15MM]

The pre-siege walls for the Japanese legation are now built.  All that remains to do to them is to add their Milliput bases.  Hope to have that done today.  I now have built pre-siege walls for the French, Russian and Japanese legations.  I’ll be starting work on the pre-siege walls for the US legation compound tomorrow.IMG_1833 by Richard Garretson, on Flickr

[FifteensAway]

Looking good, Richard. 

I managed - in 97 degree heat at the end! - to cut out all the pieces needed for building the 12' of the Tartar Wall.  I decided to 'cheat' a bit on the geometry by using square columns at the outer corners of the bastions and similar on the two corner pieces (which will double as bastions depending on how they are set up).  It may be a cheat but it will save a ton of work.  Also cut out 42 'siege ladders' for the Boxers in the vein of the Staines' Wargamers WI article of yesteryear.

Would be posting some photos but a bit of an issue getting them to load from phone to computer, perhaps later in the day. 

[War In 15MM]

Nothing wrong with a little cheating on one of these projects to save on the work load.  That is exactly what I did when I created the Milliput tree/shrub areas next to the legation entrances.  I probably could have built those entrances and those additional walls, but given the fact that I saw nothing to say that there were no trees and shrubs next to the entrances, I decided to go with an approach that would allow me to use the entrances I have and save myself a lot of time that can be devoted to other aspects of the project. 
Late this afternoon I got the Milliput bases on my Japanese legation walls so tomorrow with be dedicate to starting work on the US legation's pre siege walls. 
Looking forward to pictures of your Tartar Wall as work progresses.  Richard

[FifteensAway]

And the link to the blog: https://steeplechasingzebras.blogspot.com/p/boxer-rebellion.html

Substantial progress this past weekend and a bit of challenge with getting the photos from phone to computer now resolved.  Three more new photos on the blog of the wall.

This one shows an unfinished gate section with a Blue Moon building on top (it won't actually go on top of the gate section).

Oh, yes, those are actual Blue Moon PAINTED! Boxer figures courtesy of Gary B. who is along for this rather wild ride.