Sarissa Mexican Church for the Peninsular - more interior detail added 11/02/21

[Warboss Nick]

Quite a while ago I bought Sarissa’s “Mexican Church” for my Peninsular games (and possibly other theatres, too). Now I finally got round to building it and thought some of you might be interested.

What you get is a solid kit in the usual Sarissa quality. If MDF is not for you, move along. Otherwise you get a well thought out construction kit that is quick and easy enough to put together and has lasered details. The front facade gets some extra depth with multiple layers of MDF. No cardboard as with some of their Japanese kits, which is a huge plus imho.

Drawbacks (no real flaws, but things that could be approved upon): The floor is the only thing in the interior that has a lasered structure. A missed opportunity imho with a lift off roof for playability. Nothing a bit of MDF, balsa wood and toothpicks couldn’t mend, but there would have been enough space on the “sprues” for this.

The spire is not to my taste. Tastes may differ and the kit is meant for Mexico, not the Peninsular. I still think more would have been possible here, even with MDF. I’m still searching for an alternative. Luckily enough, it should be possible to build a removable spire so I can swap.

Last gripe is the cross in top of the front facade. I just don’t trust it’s durability. As you can see in the pictures I already added some toothpick bits for stability. Hopefully the roof will leave enough room to add even more stability in the backside, too.

The first thing I added to the interior was an altar. It’s backside was leftover from the MDF “sprue”, but I quite like it as a simple yet effective solution. Next I added pillars with MDF and I’m thinking of adding bits to the windows, too. I didn’t add glas as the windows are just the right height to put a musket through. With the pews I might have gone a bit over board, but was too lazy to order some from 4ground.

What’s left is that I need roof tiles, bits for the church yard, and a good idea for the spire as well as an apsis. The latter isn’t really needed. The model has a nice compact size for the tabletop. I just fancy the look of it and the better overall proportions of the building.

[MaleGriffin]

Excellent review!
I'm appropriating some of your ideas into my Mexican/Peninsular War church.

[Warboss Nick]

It’s been a while, but I finally finished the apsis, the new roof for the bell tower and got tiling on the main roof, too. Next step will be painting, before I move on to a removable church yard.

One thing I noticed and will try to fix: there is a small gap between church and bell tower. Unfortunately that seems to make the base a bit unstable. So to prevent it from braking I will have to try to strengthen it or add an additional base underneath.

[Gangleri]

I'm not in a position to judge its accuracy, but it certainly looks great.  Any chance of an interior shot?  Pews look great.  Have you considered adding a few religious items inside as well?  Or would the Frenchies have made off with them already?

[tomrommel1]

very nice indeed. it could be used in Vietnam games as well I think

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Not very accurate for Peninsula, but if you are happy with it, why not?

[Warboss Nick]

@Gangleri There is an interior shot in the first post.

@Antonio I know it’s a quite generic „Mediterranean church“. That way I can put it to multiple uses, even in other parts of Western Europe. What could I do to make it look more „Peninsular“? Unfortunately I had only google pictures as reference for examples of Spanish churches.

[Warboss Nick]

Not much progress in the church itself, but the church yard is ready for painting. It is removable just like the fountain on the side. Roof tiles on the wall top will be added after painting.

[Warboss Nick]

Finally finished the church that was duly consecrated. Painting was much more work than I had anticipated. In retrospect I would spray paint the interior walls before assembly and add more structured paint to the outside, as the wall for the churchyard came out better than the outside walls of the church itself.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Looking good!

[Warboss Nick]

Not 100% content with the interior, but for now it will have to do. I might get some candles for the altar though.

[Warboss Nick]

The original has a different tower top which I made interchangeable. The churchyard is removable, so this is what the raw model would look like (minus apsis and roof tiles).

[Warboss Nick]

The interior looked a bit plain, so I added a tabernacle and some bits on the altar. Still not sure if I should add more details to the side walls like icons.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

That looks really good - well done

[gamer Mac]

Cracking looking church