The re-birth of Drake's Branch, NM. (New warehouse complex, page 9!)

[Elbows]

Well, I mentioned it in another thread...but I have a desire to re-do my entire Old West town (Drake's Branch, NM).  I decided to start this thread because I don't want to get my Shoot N' Skedaddle thread mixed up with too much non-game material.  Don't hurt me!

GOAL: To replace my aging MDF buildings....with newer, better painted/prepped, more diverse buildings.

I had originally bought a couple of each Sarissa Precision Old West buildings when they first released them.  They had a couple different faces, and only three sizes.  My other laser-cut buildings were Tri-City Laser prototypes which I received for free from Lee over at TCL for selling some products for him at a convention (and he simply didn't need them as he himself does not game much).

My town is nice and large, but really really lacks diversity.  I had also rushed most of my early buildings (and admittedly didn't take enough time on my TCL buildings either...).  I had assumed (wrongly) when I began that I would be gaming Old West one or two weekends a year, and like most other hobby products - these Sarissa buildings would end up buried in a deep dark corner.  Boy was I wrong...

While attending Siege of Augusta a few months ago, a guy named Bryant from NashCon approached me and offered me a rather aged Flying Tricycle laser-cut building.  He asked me to pass the word around about NashCon and to try to attend.  Who was I to say no?  I got home and opened up the 15 year old kit.  Inside I found about 50 freakin' pieces!  Unfortunately I was missing several key pieces, and the aging wood strips for shingles were faded and semi-curled etc.  I did salvage a spare outhouse and MOST of the pieces.  I decided what better way to start my new Drake's Branch than with the Sheriff's office?

The kit was slightly warped...but a decent amount of gel super glue should do the trick.  I am not a master painter, but I found a nice colour scheme and used some spray paints for the interior/exteriors etc.  What you see in the pictures is all that I could salvage from the kit.




Inside you see a handful of my new "ugly) civilians and whores.  I made the mistake of painting them when I wasn't in a mood to paint - so I don't care for them, but they won't be key figures...lots of space though.  I will be adding a desk to the front - which only has a long bench.

I cut one of my spare Perry cabin's roofs into a shingled porch awning, and have cut a piece of wood to make the last interior wall between the cells.  I have a piece of MDF which will be cut into a roof, and ribbed with wooden spines.









I was extremely pleased that the rear hallway (to the cells) is large enough for a normal Black Scorpion model to stand.  Being 15 years old and with so much scale-creep I was afraid these wouldn't fit.


The Flying Tricycle kit fits in perfectly with the old Sarissa stuff and the old TCL prototypes --- a tiny bit shallower, but overall it fits well.



Overall, very pleased with the kit - and while I didn't get to use wallpaper (I don't have the patience!) etc...it's a much nicer finished product than any of my other buildings.  Hope it's the first in a long line of better buildings.  After all, isn't that was the people of Drake's Branch deserve?  This kit (while a bit warped and missing pieces) was a nice blast from the past!

[Heisler]

I did three four of the old Tricycle kits for Mordheim. Definitely ahead of their time! The kit looks like it fits right in with everything else, a good start for sure.

[Treebeard]

Looking good !

[Elbows]

Finished assembling the make-shift roof, roof slats, porch awning, prepped the Sheriff's sign, and finished the makeshift wall (separates the two jail cells).  Should have it together by Friday so I can use it at GnomeCon.

I also decided to try something unique on the roof, which I'll show off with pics in a bit.

[Treebeard]

I also decided to try something unique on the roof, which I'll show off with pics in a bit.

Unbearable Suspense :p

[pocoloco]

Good start with the re-birth, looks to be a nice good kit despite its age.

On with the more pics, I say!

[Heisler]

If you can still find some of Tricycle kits they are worth picking up. I have three or four of their half timber ruined buildings and they really were great kits. But they tended to be on the complex side with a lot of pieces. From a quality standpoint they were top notch. It would be interesting if someone could track them down and get the rights to produce some of their old kits.

[Elbows]

I agree with Heisler, I get the distinct feeling these are more MDF/wood models than they are "quick and easy" gaming pieces.  The roof section to this building would have been about a dozen or more pieces, with individual frames, etc.  I used a piece of MDF to cut a flat roof (I like being able to stand on roofs so I try to keep pitched roofs to a minimum).

I used a "make it stone' textured spray paint on the roof, hoping it would give it some nice chunky tar-paper texture.  It didn't really.  Front porch awning also didn't come out great and may be broken off and replaced in the future (the perry cabin is a pretty crap model, the roof tiles are vague and barely etched into the plastic).

Interior wall was added, just some wood cut up.  Overall, very happy with the kit.  It's a good start, even if the final touches leave something to be desired.  I may invest in some proper shingles for that porch.  We'll see.

[Poiter50]

I think your textured roof came out fine. Accentuates the rough nature of a tarmac surface which would normally disappear in a 28mm scale model. 

[Elbows]

I'm fine with it - but it didn't come out as I had envisaged.  The texture was not really enough to properly drybrush much, which I was hoping would give it a nice grey-black finish.  The porch awning bugs me a lot more! 

[NickNascati]

Maybe I'm just cheap, but I don't understand why gamers don't make their own buildings anymore.  I have been soundly bitten by Old West Fever, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay decent money for buildings.  I can see spending the money if it is a club project or a demo game for a show, but for a weekly get togehter, I'd rather spend the money on more figures.  Think of how many more figures you could have gotten for the cost of those buildings
Just my few cents for what they are worth.

[Elbows]

I disagree.

To me, time = money.  The buildings I've purchased have been very reasonable (considering half of them have been free).  The cost of good plasticard and wood to work with + the time = more "money" or at least equal with what I pay for buildings.

I have no time nor desire to spend 4-5 hours building then painting a building.  For instance this Flying Tricycle kit took me perhaps...one hour to complete.  It's well built, structurally sound..and looks the business.  I like building things I can't buy...or when I have spare bits just sitting around.  I have built almost everything in my town other than the buildings.

I would maybe agree with you if this was just an occasional weekend game for me.  But as something I game heavily, the money invested has been very well worth it (and I've still managed quite a few minis too!).

[Treebeard]

I really agree with Elbows. The Price and Quality of the MDF kits make them very competitive compare to scratch build and allow you too save a lot of time.
I doesn't prevent you from building some scratch build also but if you want to get quickly a good size playable Old West town it is probably the best way to go.

[NickNascati]

I suppose the fact that it is one of three projects makes me think differently.  Perhaps when I am really sucked in to gaming the Old West I will be looking to buy as well.

[Elbows]

I also think the biggest thing is something Nick mentioned in the other thread: whether or not you LIKE making terrain.  I do (certain types of terrain).  I enjoy building stuff like gallows, corrals, fences, the water tower etc.).

But, just like we have friends who never paint their miniatures (because they don't like to paint) - a lot of people would probably hate making terrain.  The nice little plastic cactii are something like $6 a box, etc.  So there are some really simple, cheap options available.  I don't think we're encouraging everyone to run out and buy the $180 Battleflag hotels etc.

I think if I could buy well painted miniatures for a reasonable cost I wouldn't even spend too much time painting minis (as it is now, I paint a figure in about 30-45 minutes...and then dip them in army painter shade...so it's relatively painless).  We all have different goals for the hobby.