TFTB & CF Sleepy Hollow & Tarrytown Buildings (Killian WIP)

[Captain Blood]

That looks great, Cat 

[Cacique Caribe]

Incredible detail!

Dan

[Cat]

Thanks for the kind comments, folks!

I've been hopping around doing various bits on several kits at once this past month.  Three smaller kits are pretty well along.  As these are on the more historical side of Tarrytown, they are much quicker straight forward builds: the Schoolhouse, the Martling House, and a Corn Crib.  (Well the Schoolhouse did get a bit of an improbable sag in its roof à la Rick Heinrichs' designs; but the Schoolhouse is soooo Sleepy Hollow, even if it wasn't in the movie.)  I'll post pictures of those once they're all scenicked.

Back on the movie lot, work has begun on the Notary Public.  The Sleepy Hollow Inn kit from Things From the Basement is an amalgamation of features from the two thatched-roof buildings in the movie.  I'm modding mine to be much closer to the Notary Public.  The footprint is a bit compressed, which is fine for budgeting table space and also gives some room for artistic interpretation.

The biggest change is reducing the length of the second floor to only cover the front half of the building.  Opened up two windows on the ground floor front wall.  Opened up a balcony doorway on the front upper floor, narrowed the window beside it, and cut down one of the window frames to fit the smaller opening.  Blocked in several other windows.  We never see a clear view of the back of the building, so I exercised creative license to add a Dutch back door; carved that in the wall, will add framing around it.

Putting in the balcony door necessitated moving the staircase to the other side of the room.  Used some of the excess floor boards from the cut away portion to make a filler piece to create a landing at the top of the stairs.  More of this extra floor board will be used for the outside balcony.

I had already got a head start on painting a few of the pieces while I was doing the spray painting for the other smaller buildings.  Now that I've decided to move the staircase, I had to fill in the peg holes for its original location.  And having shortened the back of the building to one floor, I had to carve some brick courses into what had been a blank part of the chimney that would have abutted the second floor.  Doing big mods on a kit is very much a wing it as you go along process!

There will be mods to the roof pieces as well, but that will happen after the main building and other creative additions are done so I can build the roof to fit.

[Cat]

Stepping off the movie set for a bit, the Corn Crib is now flocked and operational.  This kit is based on a historical crib.  The only mods I made were building the roof to be removable, added the fascia and rake boards to the roof with strips of basswood, and scribed the interior details.
 
It's always October in Sleepy Hollow — last year's store of corn has been consumed, and this year's is still out in the fields drying on the stalks.  This leaves the crib empty and a possible hiding place for characters or McGuffins.

[Cat]

Also just flocked up the School House.  This is also another historical kit, based on a reduced interpretation of the second Free School in Sleepy Hollow which was a little larger than the original (of which there are no illustrations).

Only made a couple of mods on this kit as well.  While it wasn't in the movie, the School House is worthy of receiving a Rick Heinrichs' style improbably sagging roof.  Also used strips of basswood to replace the mdf battens for the roof and to add corner boards for trim..  I also removed the slats from the bell tower window and fashioned a bell out of bits of styrene to add some depth.
 
The school is somewhat lost in the wilds of Sleepy Hollow, nestled in weeds and with moss encroaching on the roof:

[Cat]

The two recent buildings also have little brown rats in residence.

Throwing flaming jack o'lanterns at people in the night is a bit of an established sport in Sleepy Hollow.  The remains of one such prank is splattered by the School House, and a rat is enjoying the tasty treat.

Another rat who lives under the back of the Corn Crib is eagerly awaiting the all-you-can-eat buffet to re-open again shortly.

[marianas_gamer]

Very nice work  I particularly like your basing, very fall like.

[Captain Blood]

Another lovely, evocative creation 

[Cat]

When I run the full set-up at convention, it's a multi-board game with Sleepy Hollow and the Western Woods being the Gothic movie image, Tarrytown being the historical image, and Continental Road being a bit of both.

Moving over to the historical Tarrytown side now with progress on the Martling House.  This is a new house in town, built c.1758, and my games are primarily set in October of '58 to allow for the ghost of Colin Campbell of Inverawe, late of the 42nd Highlanders, to make an appearance after his fateful recent experience at Ticonderoga.  The Martling House is noted for being home to the first murder in Tarrytown during the Revolutionary War. 

The model kit is based on photographs (c.1906 iirc), and no need for gothicky modifications.  The kit comes with separate sheets of engraved shingle siding.  I coloured these with markers and pencil before assembly.  They have a very light weathering pattern for shingle siding, but befitting a newly built house.  I chose a red trim colour to foreshadow the future murder.

With the wall sub-assemblies done, I set up two walls at a time angled towards a light coming from the southeast corner.  Then painted over the light spots coming through the windows as they hit the floor and the walls.  Even though it is a new house, there are still muddy footprints all over the floor, because miniatures never pause to wipe their feet during a wargame!

Like with the School House, this one has a board and batten roof.  I cut 45º angles into the nooks of the roof boards for a tighter fit up against the chimneys.  Then had to shorten one of the pieces so that they both meet flush at the top peak.

Next steps are finishing battening down the roof, adding shutters, and flocking the base and the herb garden.  Will probably add a cellar bulkhead that is hinted at in one photo.

[Cat]

Very nice work  I particularly like your basing, very fall like.

Thanks!  I flinched a lot before investing in the model railroading scenic supplies; that was a hefty tab with Scenic Express, but I have not regretted it at all since.  It's quite delightful having a cache of big jars of Super Leaf in a variety of colours, goldenrod, cattails, and other bits all at hand.

[Cat]

Back in December or so, I pretty well completed all the work, weathering (very light, the house is newly built in 1758), and scenicking on the Martling House.  Once the herb garden was all planted, I realised it really needed a little visitor.  I had a pack of rabbits on hand, so I trimmed and primed those.  Then the whole bevy of bunnies went AWOL.  Finally found the little rascals; painted the New England Cottontails (cis-Hudson Cottontails really), and selected the one to enjoy nibbling on the dill weed.

There are marigolds planted out front, and some medicinal Joe Pye Weed growing outside the back fence.

[Chairface]

Beautifully done! Little touches like the rabbits make such an impact

[OSHIROmodels]

Lovely work 

[marianas_gamer]

Like the bunny

[majorsmith]

Excellent