Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Old West => Topic started by: Elbows on December 08, 2014, 10:38:37 PM
-
So...while I was hemming and hawing over what 4Ground buildings to pick up for my SnS games (now I have a little bit of expendable income so I'm treating myself) I remembered an old plan I had.
So...I ordered this:
http://www.4ground.co.uk/Default.aspx?page=268&pid=119
100 pounds shipped to me in the U.S.
Now, while not maybe 100% accurate I think it fits incredibly well and...painted up, will give me a very reasonable barn/livery and a nice ranch house/bunk house. I'd like to do some games on smaller settings, so a big ranch would be a cool idea. Also, I get some more out buildings and some wagons and some walls...win win win. I'm not overly keen on the teddy bear fur so I'm looking for good quality shingles. Particularly scaled for 28mm.
What are my best options?
PS: I had heard some internet rumor mill talk that the Rorkes Drift set may be re-released painted etc. (more up to 4Ground modern stuff --- this is a bit old) but at 100 pounds shipped for the set it's a good deal and I'm sure a fully painted set would be a LOT tougher on the wallet. I'll be painting these myself.
-
Warbases do a range of laser cut thin card tiles
http://war-bases.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=107_119&product_id=119
These come in a long strip, so you don't have to stick individual tiles on the roof.
-
UM - 4Ground... http://www.4ground.co.uk/Default.aspx?page=268&pid=412
-
I'd second the Warbases ones too.
There are several different styles, they come pre-cut as an A4 sheet, just a bit of border (acts a bit like sprue) easy to cut with scissors.
Mine were sort of cream-coloured, but I used a simple ink & varnish to match them in with the building underneath.
-
I debated ordering the 4Ground ones...but for two large buildings I'd have ended up paying half the cost of the buildings in shingles. Was looking for a simpler, cheap but reasonable U.S. friendly alternative.
-
What about Oshiro card tiles...?
http://www.oshiromodelterrain.co.uk/victorianbuildings.html
Not strictly shingles, but they would look great.
;)
-
Here is a post in my blog for a couple of different options. In general the O scale shingles look good.
http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2012/11/battle-flag-saloon-adding-some-detail.html (http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2012/11/battle-flag-saloon-adding-some-detail.html)
http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/03/building-calamity-sarissa-precision_7.html (http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/03/building-calamity-sarissa-precision_7.html)
-
At a tangent may be, if you go to a large craft store and see if they have - or know of anyone with a silhouette cameo - its used for cutting cards and vinyl. You can cut your own size and on colour card up to 210gsm. I use 1 for shingles and stuff - in the UK. The machine is expensive but if someone is willing.
-
You don't want to make them yourself?
Quite frankly I think self-made cardboard shingles fit old west buildings better than ready made ones -- they were quite likely locally produced and not quite uniform anyway.
-
Actually, unless there is a lumber mill in the area almost everything had to be shipped into the old west. It wasn't unusual for town to be completely broken down and moved if the anticipated railroad connection didn't come to the town. It certainly depending on what area of the west you were in though,
-
It certainly depending on what area of the west you were in though,
Definitely. I'd find it odd to ship in lumber if you're building next to a forest...
But anyway my point was that commercially produced tiles are more or less uniform while wooden shingles probably not so much.
I find the modelling roof products a bit too clean and uniform if you're trying to represent wooden shingles. Especially in not so upscale frontier buildings.
Perhaps Ironically, these days you can buy roof tar paper that looks like individual shingles once installed but it's actually the same sort of strips we do in modelling.
-
Remember guys, this is me we're talking about here... lol I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy and I prefer minimum effort for maximum result (hence my love for pre-painted 4Ground stuff...).
So I'm just looking for a reasonable cost effective simple shingle solution. I'm not opposed to doing them myself, so just looking around. Hell I won't be building these things for a few months. :(
-
A while back, inspired by Sangennaru, I made a small sample 2"x4" roof with individual shingles and then made a quicky latex mold and cast. Someone more ambitious than I who could see a project through could whip up quite a bit of roofing that way.
-
So I'm just looking for a reasonable cost effective simple shingle solution. I'm not opposed to doing them myself, so just looking around. Hell I won't be building these things for a few months. :(
Making them yourself is free and simple, but you can ofcourse buy them if you prefer.
It's dead simple to do roofs like this:
(http://www.swob.kvy.fi/photo-archive/20060929/small/14.jpg)
Here's an article I wrote:
http://www.smallcuts.net/photo/?pict=house_factory.jsp
It's not quite the same method, but you should get the idea.
Hmmm... interesting, strip shingles seems so old hat to me I thought everyone knew about them but now I can't find a sensible article on the subject that doesn't involve buying pre-made strips. Maybe I should write another tutorial...
-
Try wood veneer - you can pick up quite large sheets from e-bay;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pick-Your-Own-Wood-Veneer-Marquetry-Sheets-Can-Choose-Iron-on-or-Unglued-/290934693119?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&var=&hash=item43bd0f1cff
Cut into strips and then tiled the finish looks great.
Tony
-
One last commercial link:
http://wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html (http://wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html)
-
On a relatively unrelated note...can I get away with this for a late 1800's "factory" alongside some railroad tracks...?
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NFj3F-Ko3Kk/Ux6jmLORz2I/AAAAAAAADJ8/oetLuGzohho/s1600/28s2web.JPG)
-
The curved doors give it a European look, but that isn't unreasonable for the time
-
I picked up a couple of packs of shingles from Litko:
http://www.litko.net/products/Roof-Shingle-Strips%2C-set-of-10.html#.VItPl8arc20
Haven't had a chance to get them attached to my buildings yet, though. And that's over here in the US, so may not work well for you.
-
On a relatively unrelated note...can I get away with this for a late 1800's "factory" alongside some railroad tracks...?
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NFj3F-Ko3Kk/Ux6jmLORz2I/AAAAAAAADJ8/oetLuGzohho/s1600/28s2web.JPG)
Definitely could be used along the tracks in late 1800's American.
-
I picked up a couple of packs of shingles from Litko:
http://www.litko.net/products/Roof-Shingle-Strips%2C-set-of-10.html#.VItPl8arc20
Haven't had a chance to get them attached to my buildings yet, though. And that's over here in the US, so may not work well for you.
Elbows is in the US, so no problem with that.
-
The only problem with Litko is their Litko-price...which is usually rather absurd. I love their tokens and own several sets but gosh damn they charge a hefty amount... lol
PS: Heisler, good - I ordered the set from Crescent Root - I've wanted it since I saw it released, and figured it's a good multi-purpose looking warehouse/factory. I think I'll definitely slot it next to a railroad and use it for the occasional Old West game.
-
Well, received some of the Rorkes Drift kit...sitting at home while I'm away. A little discouraged because half of the stuff in the kit didn't show up. I've emailed 4Ground --- hoping to hear back from them. As a huge fan I have faith they'll make it right. Will keep you guys updated when I get around to starting the stuff (I'm still on the road for another 3-4 weeks).
-
One last commercial link:
http://wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html (http://wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html)
I have these bookmarked from a while ago and am quite tempted, but they're fairly pricey. Has anyone used these? Do you have any close-up shots?
I'll pay for quality, but at these prices they better really look like wood shakes and not printed card. If you can tell it's not wood pretty easily, better for me to just keep buying thin basswood strips and gluing them down by hand (it's monotonous and time consuming, but produces excellent results).
-
I have these bookmarked from a while ago and am quite tempted, but they're fairly pricey. Has anyone used these? Do you have any close-up shots?
I'll pay for quality, but at these prices they better really look like wood shakes and not printed card. If you can tell it's not wood pretty easily, better for me to just keep buying thin basswood strips and gluing them down by hand (it's monotonous and time consuming, but produces excellent results).
I finished the Marshal's office with those shingles.http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/02/building-calamity-marshals-office.html (http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2013/02/building-calamity-marshals-office.html)
And the Newspaper Office: http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2014/01/calamity-newspaper-office-finishedfor.html (http://wargamesandrailroads.blogspot.com/2014/01/calamity-newspaper-office-finishedfor.html)
-
I make shingle strips to cover the roofs of model buildings I construct. I use cardboard, veneer, tree wrap material (my favorite for modeling textured shingles), plastic and thin strips of wood (cut on a band saw) for shingles. I paint, charcoal, dust, stain or streak (weather) and color the material first depending on the application being modeled. I cut the material into .5 to 1 inch wide strips 4-8 inches long, depending on the roof size and scale of the building. Then I placed a stack of 10-15 of these strips into a jig made of Masonite.
The stack of strips slides into the jig. The jig consists of two pieces of Masonite with slits cut into them for the shingle widths desired, attached to a wooden spacer. The material strips are clamped, placed between the Masonite strips with 3 screws and wing nuts located along the back of the Masonite strips that pass through the wooden spacer.
Then the jig holding the material strips (cardboard, veneer, plastic) is placed on the scroll saw. The scroll saw is used to cut into the slits along the length of the jig (being carefully to not widen or lengthen the slits). Once the scroll saw blade cuts into all the slits, the wing nuts are loosened and the material strips are removed from the jig.
These strips are then glued to a building roof, offsetting the slits, much like actual shingles are installed on residential houses. Using this system, I can cut a large number of shingle strips in a relatively short time.
I have used this method for many different buildings for quite some time, so I have knocked together several of the little jigs to produce various width and length strips of shingles. Once cut, the shingle strips are fairly uniform but can be varied by mixing cutting groups of strips or manually snipping individual shingles on each of the strips. Once the strips are installed as shingles they can be further weathered and colored, and then coated with a protective layer of flat or semi gloss as needed.
Happy roofing and watch your step on the ladder!
This does take some time to build the jig and cut the material to be used into strips, but the process is very inexpensive and can be customized to produce strips of most any roofing material from slate to wooden shingles, depending on the scale of the finished building, the material thickness and the painted color of the material used. Producing strips of rounded shingles is more difficult and would require cutting strips of shingle material with a repeating rounded edge.
Once built, the jig can be reused many time before the Masonite strips need to be replaced as the guide slits are inevitably enlarged as repeated cuttings are completed. Of course there is also the expense for a scroll saw and the need to have a place to use it. I suppose the slits could be cut by hand using one of the thin "Japanese" woodworking saws with very careful cutting.
-
Could you snap a picture or two of your jigs?
-
I just use cardboard and scissors...
-
It just comes down to how you want to spend your time. I don't watch TV a lot and my time is pretty precious so I prefer to use a commercial product because why should I spend my time cutting shingles when I can be doing the fun stuff like building or painting.
-
One last commercial link:
http://wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html (http://wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html)
I have used these and they are excellent.
-
I have used these and they are excellent.
They do look really nice. Having shingled one building with the Litko shingles (which was not horrible, but I now still need to paint them) I might be inclined to try these out.
-
You're still cutting them with a jig...
I find cutting the shingles to be no less part of building the model than, say, cutting the wall pieces.
It's simple, it's easy, doesn't require special tools and it uses free materials (old cereal boxes and the like). And I don't even find it takes all that much time either.
If you prefer to buy pre-made, that's fine. I was just saying this because it seemed to me there was lack of knowledge about the free and easy choice.
-
I'd use either card or coffee stirrers, but then I'd quite happily spend an evening cutting them.