Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: grubman on 22 August 2010, 03:03:44 PM
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This is a single excerpt from an ongoing thread about my role playing game campaign, so bits of the commentary might not make sense, but the core is about building the terrain piece, so I’m presenting it here for you guys.
Making a Viking Long House…for $4.00!
I know what you’re thinking: Grubman hasn’t posted for a long time; he’s lost interest and moved on to something else.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Fact of the matter is that I haven’t been posting, or on the forums because I’ve been so super busy preparing for this Tuesdays (24th) game that I haven’t been able to do anything in my free time besides paint and build stuff and write. I’ve painted no less than 29 new miniatures for the next game! But most of my time has gone into building this surprisingly time-consuming long house.
I don’t want to show the miniatures, and thus ruin my player’s surprise, but here is the long house in step-by-step, with usual commentary.
My Evil Plan!
While historical accuracy isn’t something I’m anal about, I did want my long house to look at least close to authentic. After researching both exterior and interior I found this picture of Trelleborg-hall, and decided to use it as my base for the model. I drew up some sketches of how I planed to proceed with the project, and started thinking about what materials I would need.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/trelleborg-hall.jpg) (http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020404.jpg)
Material
I did a lot of debating on how to proceed with this project. Should I whip it up out of cardboard and have a less impressive looking model, or should I use scrap hardwood and carve each board, or would I spend a fortune on Balsa wood? In the end I got a “brilliant” idea!
Remember all those things you used to build out of Popsicle sticks when you were a kid? I thought that skill would never amount to anything…who would have known? They carry these in the local $1 store (that’s right, everything is a dollar USA in that store). I decided to use foam board as my core, also available in the dollar store.
So I went and spent a whopping $3 and had almost everything I would need for the project (paint, glue, and patience not included in the price!).
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020405.jpg)
Getting Started
The first thing to do was cut out my core foam board pieces. I was going to need the basic structure, as well as the 2 tier long benches that line the interior of the house.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020406.jpg) (http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020407.jpg)
More Sticks Than I Can Shake a…er…Stick At!
This is where the patience comes in. I had to line each piece with the individual craft sticks, wait for them to dry completely, cut off the excess (with a saw), flip and repeat. The saw was unforgiving, tossing chips of sticks in all directions and refusing to cut straight. Sometimes things that frustrate you turn out to be a boon, as this ended up giving the whole structure a rustic look.
I decided that rather than base this on a piece of hardboard, I’d put it majestically on a hill, so I cut a piece of Styrofoam for the base from scraps from my other terrain. (This would come back to bite me in the ass later!)
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020408.jpg) (http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020409.jpg)
Dude, Ventilation is Important!
While every project I do turns into a big experiment, I decided to try something new…staining the sticks instead of painting them. I primed the outside of the structure (because I was going to paint that with a weathered look) but stained the inside. I didn’t open my garage door while doing this and had a nice headache by the time I was done. The stain took a full 24 hours to dry and be fumes-free enough to work on more.
When this was done, I could glue the whole thing together.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020412.jpg) (http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020413.jpg)
DOH!!
While this was drying I was going to start working on the porch that surrounds the long house using sticks from the woods for uprights. It was at this point that I realized that my base wasn’t cut big enough to support the porch structure (slap hand to forehead!).
I realized this was going to reduce the coolness of the model, but, oh well. I tried to rationalize it by telling myself it was only for one game session, and it has already taken way longer than I expected to build…but it still sucks!
Interior Design
I glued the benches in place, as well as a little “stage” for the Jarl to hang out on. I also build a fire in the center. This is actually pretty much how these houses were designed. I did plan on putting support columns in (like were found in real long houses) but I figured they would just get in the way, so decided to skip them. I wish I had a bit more time to fill the house with shields and weapons and bedding, ect. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020420.jpg) (http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020417.jpg)
The Roof (or how I spent my last dollar)
Well, can’t just have an open top! I now turned my attention to the roof. I was originally going to go with shingles, no small project considering the size of this building (I cut each shingle individually), but then I decided to try something I hadn’t done before…thatching! I got this idea while I was in bed the night before, and eagerly ran to the dollar store to pick up a small broom. I cut the bristles off and glued them to the foam board.
I cut some decorative edging out of hardboard scrap.
At this point I was getting worried, because, well, it looked like shit!
I ended up painting the thatching with some exterior paint (Ironic, huh?) that I had in the garage, and then stained it. The whole thing took 48 hours to dry (frustrating for a guy like me who likes to finish projects in a day!). Oh the emotional pain!
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020410.jpg)
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020411.jpg) (http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020415.jpg)
[/b]And There It Is![/b]
Finished up the base, assembled the roof and tadah! In the end I’m happy with the model. Yes, it could have been better. The porch awning (or whatever it’s called) would have looked really cool, and I can’t help but think I could have shaved some time and effort somewhere. But hey, experimenting and learning for next time is half the fun of this hobby.
So I’m almost ready for Tuesday’s session…then I can turn around and start working on the NEXT sessions stuff! $4 well spent!
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020422.jpg)
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Nice build! And I love the step by step instructions for it. It's always great when someone shows each step of the process.
How thick did you do the roofing? I mean, how many layers of psuedo-thatch did you do?
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How thick did you do the roofing? I mean, how many layers of psuedo-thatch did you do?
Just one (well, 1 and 1/2). The length of the bristles wasn't long enough to cover the entier roof so I did one layer, then went back did another overlapping layer (you can see it in the pic).
It looked really thin untill I painted and stained it. I was rather surprised at the results when finished.
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Awesome! Thanks for the photo tutorial and the brilliant idea (I also have 400 sticks somewhere around lol)
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Well done!! The final result looks great. I enjoyed the step-by-step instructions as well as the "commentary"...which gave it a personal note!! lol
Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
8)
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Well done. This is a great step by step post. How did you do the benches?
Rob
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Fantastic post - thanks!
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How did you do the benches?
The benches were done the same as the walls, except I only put sticks on one side. Then I simply glued the 1" one on top of the 2" one.
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Awesome as always, sir. Love to see the scratch building with an eye for finance.
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Awesome as always, sir. Love to see the scratch building with an eye for finance.
Yeah, when you're dropping hundreds on lead, you have to cut corners somewhere! ;)
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Very nice. I particularly like the wodd stain idea. Might have to try that myself. In a properly ventilated area of course.
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I particularly like the wodd stain idea.
Yeah, those sticks really stained in an intersting pattern. At first I thought the inconsistancy would look bad, but in the end it looked pretty neat.
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Brilliant use of four bucks.
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Very well done.
Hmmm... from now on I'll take plenty of pictures of architechture for reference, when I visit places like this:
http://ribevc.net.dynamicweb.dk/Default.aspx?ID=269
And other sites with a historical scope.....
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One question (and I'm no student of Nordic architecture) but where does the smoke go? Shouldn't there be a flu somewhere?
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lol silly Carlos, you just lift the roof off if it gets too stuffy.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/grubman/P1020420.jpg)
Of course there really should be an escape route for the smoke but for $4 you probably can't have everything.
Good work Dave, it's good to see you keeping up to your usual inspiring standard. Which PRG forum do you frequent?
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http://ribevc.net.dynamicweb.dk/Default.aspx?ID=269
And other sites with a historical scope.....
:o You know, I love my country (USA) but, when it comes to my areas of interest, and especially my hobby, I was really born on the wrong continent!
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One question (and I'm no student of Nordic architecture) but where does the smoke go? Shouldn't there be a flu somewhere?
From what I read, some of the larger long houses had holes in the roof...but a lot of the others didn't, and the buildings were literally filled with smoke.
Of course, I’m assuming that was a question about real long houses? As far as the model, there are a lot of historical inaccuracies. For example, the walls of great houses were often bowed like ships (and some 4 feet thick!), there were huge support beams in the middle of the floor, ect.
Needless to say, I tried my best to give the concept and feel of a Viking longhouse while making the model practical and simple.
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I would say you got a wonderful investment on your $4. Imagine, a Viking longhouse for the Lord, all for the Princely sum of $4.
Nice job.
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A longhouse typically have a roofed hole just above the hearth. Basically a square hole with a very narrow gap between the roof and the smoke-hole roof.
Additionally a large wet hide is stretched out above the hearth (about 2 meters above) to prevent cinders to fly up and ignite the thatched roof (a very real danger). From time to time, water was poured onto the hide to keep it from drying out.
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Of course, I’m assuming that was a question about real long houses?
It was. Oh well, I suspect the smoked smell was better than their usual body odour.
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Additionally a large wet hide is stretched out above the hearth (about 2 meters above) to prevent cinders to fly up and ignite the thatched roof (a very real danger). From time to time, water was poured onto the hide to keep it from drying out.
I've never done a serious study of Viking culture, but this was new to me. Thanks for the info.
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I've never done a serious study of Viking culture, but this was new to me. Thanks for the info.
Also the smaller houses of the Germanic Iron Age had such a contraption - I would think it necessary for most pre-fireplace/chimney houses with a thatched roof, actually.
We have this place only 30 km from my home:
http://www.jernalderlandsbyen.dk/
It's an Iron Age village, but at the annual Iron Age market, a lot of Viking reenactors/traders are also present. There's only a tiny bit of info in English, but I can heartily recommend the place to anyone visiting Denmark (anyone with a sound interest in history/ancient cultures, that is ;) )
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That is a very nice building, any info about your roleplaying campaign you can share?
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That is a very nice building, any info about your roleplaying campaign you can share?
You can read all about it here. Background information, planning, terrain building, miniature painting (and reviews) and actual play reports...and a ton if pictures: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=528957