Building a fantasy village (It's finished. For now)

[The Voivod]

Much obliged.

’m working on the interior detailing and I am not having a good time.
Not sure yet how it will turn out. Some looks pretty good, some might look good put together and painted, but at this stage I might wait for my 3d printer to arrive and just print it out. Not sure yet.

In the meantime I decided I might as well slap some paint on the buildings themselves as I can finish the rest of the detailing later, but still have some joy in my work. Hoping that seeing it all come together motivates me to finish the job. I bit of a bit more than was wise: making a set instead of just a building creates something great when you get there, but man, does it take a while and is it hard to stay motivated.

I covered all the models in a mix of white primer, pva and water. Make the mixute nice and watery and  don’t overdo it on the pva. We just need a thin coat of the pva to protect the foam from spray can gas and a little bit of strength. The model is bigger, but as always: 2 thin coats.

To protect the models as they dried I put some pint in the bottom. This allows the excess fluid to drip of, without creating pools sticking it to the surface it’s drying on. This will not end up looking good when drie so it’s best to avoid.

After this I used some cheap craft paints and mixed the colour I wanted in a empty pickle jar. Make enough of this, so you won’t run out and end up with two different badges on the same model. Thin the paint as it is pretty gloopy and again. Thin coats. I added some grean to the mixture and spread this on random places. Don’t over do this. I then created a wash of a darker mixture and applied this liberally. Again with the models resting on pins. I also added a small glob of black on some random places before washing. The wash would spread this around, creating some colour variation and weathering.

After this I made a new mixture looking like a lighter version of the base coat and used this as dry brush. I use a new batch because I don’t want my drybrusch paint to runny.

I also managed to put 2 coats on the wood after this. This still need washes and drybrushes and then I can get to the stonework. Making sure I get some colour variation in the model.
While painting the wood, I paid special attention on not getting any paint gattering in corners and details. Don’t want that ruiined.

[Malamute]

Looking great so far, can’t wait to see the finished  article.

[Elk101]

This is looking really good.

[The Voivod]

Thanks as always.
I've been pre-occupied with my new 3d printer for a bit. And now with it breaking and correspondence with the supplier.
Fun times.

I just decided to finish the outside. Have somthing to show. On the forum, but mostly to myself.

The woodwork was washed with a a brown and drubrushed with a brown/grey mix.
Afterthis I used a brush/pencil thing I got in an art store to exagerate the planks on the doors and windows.
I mixed a light brown, with a hint of green and loads of white and did all the plaster. Adding more and more white to the mix, I then stippled it in, having the darkest towards the wood and the lightest in the middle.

The stonework took the most effort. First is was all coated in grey with a hint of a warm brown. Then individual stones where picked out with a mix of grey and either a yellowish brown or a reddish brown. For this stage I used actual mini-paints as it requires a tad more precision and wouldn't cover that much.

I made a wash, water, matt medium, some flow-aid and mostly black ink, with some burned umber. I use quality inks for this. I made way to much, but put it in a container and it's sure to be usefull later. This stuff is at least as good as GW washes, but 4 euro's of matt medium and a few drops of ink gives me about 30 euro's worth of GW wash.

I ended putting the models on their sides and letting it dry before doing the next side. I tried the entire model at first but I just dripped of way to much. Glad the models where staning on pins so they didn't stick to the plastic covering I put them on.

When this was done: drybrush the entire stonework with some grey/bone mix.
Then I did some weathering with a brown/green ink mix, followed by some brown/black. I might do some more, but I like how it looks. I also started some work on the metal. Still need to highligh and shade most of that.
After that: some greenery and plants/moss. Hoping the 3d printer gets sorted out s I can start printing furniture.
May need to do another little project in the mean time. It's februari and I haven't got one mini finished yet this year.

[Daeothar]

Having seen and handled these yesterday evening, I can attest to their playability and build quality.

Colour transitions are smoother than in the pictures (especially the washes), and they complement each other very well.

Just this batch will already fill up a board nicely, and with some specialist buildings, such as a smithy, temple or mill, you'll have quite the village on hand!

Keep it up; almost there now

[Borderguy190]

Fantastic stuff. While I am general a foam core and wood guy, I need to make more use of my foam cutter. These are really, really nice.

[Cacique Caribe]

Oh my … those look incredible!

Dan

[War Monkey]

Those building came out looking Great!

[tomrommel1]

That looks fantastic!

[Fabien]

Very nice stuff! 

[Garanhir]

They're truly beautiful, I love the colouring on the daub.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Ooh, proper model making. Excellent. Most of all - they look proper organic. Like something that actually exists.

[ced1106]

> ’m working on the interior detailing and I am not having a good time.

Nice job. I'm too lazy to do that much work, myself!

I have some resin buildings, and, while they have interiors, the interiors are too small for play. My modular buildings, if I put in enough room for furniture or for miniature skirmishing, are on the large size for miniature skirmish play. My Reaper mausoleum is supposed to have a removable top, but either the paint has glued it shut, or removing the top will ruin the paint job. So I can only really use interior decor for dioramas, or any areas that won't see play.

Let me know what you think of your 3D printer! Plastic feed or resin?

[SotF]

> ’m working on the interior detailing and I am not having a good time.

Nice job. I'm too lazy to do that much work, myself!

I have some resin buildings, and, while they have interiors, the interiors are too small for play. My modular buildings, if I put in enough room for furniture or for miniature skirmishing, are on the large size for miniature skirmish play. My Reaper mausoleum is supposed to have a removable top, but either the paint has glued it shut, or removing the top will ruin the paint job. So I can only really use interior decor for dioramas, or any areas that won't see play.

Let me know what you think of your 3D printer! Plastic feed or resin?

The Reaper mausoleum tends to work best for internal access by not attaching the walls to the base there. The roof doesn't work that well as removable and the door hinge never worked with mine.

[The Voivod]

The project is on a small hiatus as I've had some quality problem with the printer. There where some internal issues with the hardware and I've had a bit of a annoying back and forth with the webshop.

I ended up having to send it back to china, but luckily I was refunded eventually. In a few weeks time I'll be ordering a new one with a domestic shop.
While it worked, it was pretty easy. I followed some tutorials on youtube and was playing around with some fun prints and making some stuff for the kids to paint. It kind went %&^'s up at the point where I was considering printing some stuff I actually needed.
I have the feeling I just got a less then honest suplier. The printer arrived with a broken foot and some accesories missing. Nothing I couldn't work around, but costumer support was iffy at that point too.

While it worked it was almost plug and play. Make sure everything is level and calibrated. Chitubox is easy to use for the supports and there's plenty of wisdom to find on the web.
I got an Elegoo mars 2 pro resin printer. I don't know how low the resolution on a filamemt printer can go, but I'm not to impressed with what I've seen so far. Not for this hobby anyway. I've understood that you can file and fill between the layers, but I somehow don't think that's an option with the details we work with.

There's a lot of stuff available for free and some fantastic stuff for sale.
I'll be ordering a new one beginning nect month and than I'll be ressurecting this project.

Thanks for all the kind words and interest.