Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: thejammedgatling on 13 October 2012, 04:14:10 PM
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I've been itching to have a go at some brick walls for ages as it's just one of those items that I could never seem to find out there to purchase, and SO many uses for them from black powder to moderns, though I plan to use them mostly for my WW1/ VSF/ WW2 games.
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9420B.jpg)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9435B.jpg)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9438B.jpg)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9430B.jpg)
I started out printing a brick sheet onto a freshly cast bit of plaster that still had a lot of water content. Then a combination of etching tools,ruler, sandpaper and scalpels to get the effect I wanted. After that I built the pillar in much the same way and attached it. Finally the finial and the brick detail top was made with green stuff. I made the long undamaged section first, then cast it in casting plaster (reinforced), using silicone. Once I had the plaster cast it was easy to cut down the original to make the second, shorter section, then the ruined ones. So in all, 5 moulds. A bit of an expense, but I planned on casting at least 50 sections for myself and I had 2 friends who'd asked me to cast and paint sets for them, so that kept the cost under control!
I made the decision to have one pillar integral to each section, which added stability to the wall, as did a few earth sections cast along the base line which were great for flocking with vegetation. I cast pillars separately, to allow for maximum flexibility in play. Then I drilled a few of the wall sections and placed magnets (3mmx2mm neodymium) to allow for the placement of street signs and posters I'd made up earlier and glued onto magnet sheet. Having interchangeable ones means I can be a bit anal about setting up the game 'in period'. A bit of fun really. I've made London and French street signs so far, but plan to do some Russian and German ones later on (if anyone can tell me accurate fonts for WW2 German street signs or Revolution era Russian ones, I'll send you free set when done!).
I cast the walls using a resin called 'procast', which has the advantage of being fairly flexible when it first comes out of the mould and helps trim excess resin away with ease.
I painted them using a combination of acrylics and oils in a 4 step process. Quite a lot of experimentation to get the colours I wanted right! But I'm pretty happy on the whole with how they turned out. The ruined sections presented something more of a problem as destroyed walls throw up a lot of dust from the mortar that holds them together. Initial paint-only tests were a little unsatisfying, so i used a combination of weathering powders and crushed limestone to get the effect I wanted, then re-touched some of the bricks. The original bricks I had used in the masters were cut from cork floor tiles..the most effective bricks I have seen yet and happy to share my little technique of making batches if anyone wants me to post it here!
So here they are..the 5 different sections:
medium damaged section
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9447B.jpg)
short damaged section
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9446B.jpg)
long damaged section
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9442B.jpg)
long undamaged section
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9443B.jpg)
medium undamaged section (with one of the signs)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9445B.jpg)
And the full set (obviously these would rarely if ever be used like this..but be linked between buildings, around roads etc):
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_9424B.jpg)
These sections were made to allow figures cover and field of fire, but are more suited really to villages and some small town sections. Next up will be tall wall sections for the growing town!
Thanks for looking..as always comments and advice appreciated!
TJG
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They look very nice Lev 8)
One suggestion I would make but I think it's too late is that the brick tops are a bit big as they were generally the size of a normal brick just with a round profile.
cheers
James
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cheers James
I had originally no coping stone, but it did not look right. The first coping I made was actually smaller, but again it did not quite match up to my original idea.
I also tinkered with this idea:
(http://www.cawardenreclaim.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/H/L/HLWC018_6.jpg)
or this:
(http://www.cawardenreclaim.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/H/L/HLWC005_10.jpg)
then eventually I went for this:
(http://watlingreclamation.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Half-round-red-brick-wall-coping-9-inch-wide.jpg)
they look to me about 2 bricks high, though mine ended up being a little more than this.
The next set I paint I want to look more like this:
(http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a06/0n/8r/cover-old-brick-vinyl-siding-800x800.jpg)
cheers
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Well done. You've put a great deal of work into this project and it shows. :)
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They look great!
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Nice work! Beats my lazy efforts.
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Nice work! Beats my lazy efforts.
nothing you've done on this forum looks lazy in the slightest!
thanks for the positive comments!
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These look very, very good mate. Good job!
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The next set I paint I want to look more like this:
(http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a06/0n/8r/cover-old-brick-vinyl-siding-800x800.jpg)
cheers
Have you thought about London stock for the brick colour?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=london+stock+brick&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=fqp6UKH1Bu_2mAWxooHQBQ&biw=1024&bih=672&sei=gqp6UMjnE4GKmQXg6YDoCQ (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=london+stock+brick&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=fqp6UKH1Bu_2mAWxooHQBQ&biw=1024&bih=672&sei=gqp6UMjnE4GKmQXg6YDoCQ)
cheers
James
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Have you thought about London stock for the brick colour?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=london+stock+brick&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=fqp6UKH1Bu_2mAWxooHQBQ&biw=1024&bih=672&sei=gqp6UMjnE4GKmQXg6YDoCQ (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=london+stock+brick&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=fqp6UKH1Bu_2mAWxooHQBQ&biw=1024&bih=672&sei=gqp6UMjnE4GKmQXg6YDoCQ)
cheers
James
Yes indeed..I will be painting some up like this as well. I had more of the ochre London clay on these buildings I did last year:
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6306b.jpg)
Le Cateau in 1918
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6307b.jpg)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6308b.jpg)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6309b.jpg)
a few of the range of signs (I've made about 120 now )
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6302b.jpg)
a spot of Victorian science fiction...
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6303b.jpg)
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/IMG_6304b.jpg)
I think I'll do both..but yes, for VSF especially the lighter colour would work very well. I plan to keep the mortar colour light on the next ones too.
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I remember those buildings 8)
They look great and the addition of the walls in a similar colour would go down a treat :-*
cheers
James
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absolutely love your work. those walls look well worth the effort. I particularly love the signs. its details like that that transform it from being a bunch of toy soldiers on a table to a real world. where did you get your signs/posters? or did you make them yourself?
also, on a more mercenary note, i'm trying to find a paint scheme for my own brick walls and wondered whether you could explain your 'four step method' in a bit of detail.
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Very nice brick work. I love your buildings as well. I don't remember seeing them before.
I love the posters too.
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absolutely love your work. those walls look well worth the effort. I particularly love the signs. its details like that that transform it from being a bunch of toy soldiers on a table to a real world. where did you get your signs/posters? or did you make them yourself?
also, on a more mercenary note, i'm trying to find a paint scheme for my own brick walls and wondered whether you could explain your 'four step method' in a bit of detail.
Thankyou. I shall do quick step by step with the paint shortly. The street signs I made myself. I found the correct fonts for the period and just made a template. The posters are either direct copies or ones I've done a little design work on in Photoshop/ Illustrator.
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nothing you've done on this forum looks lazy in the slightest!
thanks for the positive comments!
Too kind but all I do is stick embossed plastic to foamboard or depron. ;)
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not wanting to 'double post', but thought I'd share some shots of the walls in action to show how they scale up and go with the buildings:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=47094.0
I think for this sort of game the double height walls would look better. They would certainly add a lot more cover, which is what you need in these sorts of house to house fighting games where ranges are usually short, accurate and deadly!
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:o :o and bloody :o !
Theoe walls are bloody good!
The building are great too.
Well done, Sir!
:-* :-* :-*