Benan Watchtower

[Brandlin]

Work is progressing on the third of my Laser Cut styrene building kits, with the 3D model for the Benan Watchtower almost complete.

Like the other models, this is based on a household rubbish item to bulk out the base with laser cut styrene components used to build and detail the building. On previous models this has been a Pringles tube, this time its a Ben and Jerry's ice cream tub. (Ben and Jerry's... Benan Watchtower - see what i did there?)

Anyway there is a full description and discussion on >MY BLOG<

A couple of teaser pics, showing the model built as either a standalone tower or configured mid-wall.

These are designed to have a low tech stockade feel to them rather than a defensive fortress, best for defending against wild animals, bandits, and pre-gunpowder foes. Stockade walls will be released around the same time.

Finally an exploded view showing the 107 components in the build.

As always there is further discussion and more and bigger pictures on my blog and your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

[Lupus]

I like the look of that but not sure on the roof to be honest.

Most rooves would have been round if there was one at all.  Far easier for an archer to be stood back from the front and loft a pile of arrows into an oncoming horde if he wanted to.  Though i guess you could just forget the roof if you wanted too.

I'd still prefer the roof to be round and slate style like you've done with the Tower and stable.  But that might just be me

[YPU]

I have to say I love the look of this thing. At first glance I was somewhat sceptical but when I imagined it painted like your other products it suddenly came together, especially on the wall.

[Dewbakuk]

See, now this I really like! The others are nice but don't fit in with anything I do. I can see uses for this one when it's in the Stockade wall. What 'household item' makes the wall pieces?

[Brandlin]

Lupus - see i've been clever here, cos one of the roof's from the stables or ptower kit will fit on the watchtower as they are the same size. I wanted to do something different to break up the shapes as otherwise i'm just selling the same roof over and over.  I'm trying to make as many of the kits with interchangeable bits as possible, that way you get more modularity form buying a handful of kits.  I MAY sell small kits with just some parts in - like just a kit of a conical shingle roof, but i want to get some more kits in the overall range first.

YPU - Thank you. You know the best way to beat skepticism is to buy one

Dewbakuk - thank you. I'm not sure on the walls - at the moment they are code named "Phoamb-Or'd" Stockade walls

I'm toying with the idea of making the wall kit really cheap and simple and including the two laser cut ends, the planked top and the beams, hand rail and Palisading in as long lengths as I can and then providing templates for the customer to cut foam board rectangles to assemble it all to! That way the customer can decide how long they want each wall section and I'm not charging them for basically laser cutting largish rectangles of styrene and then shipping them.

[Lupus]

Lupus - see i've been clever here, cos one of the roof's from the stables or ptower kit will fit on the watchtower as they are the same size. I wanted to do something different to break up the shapes as otherwise i'm just selling the same roof over and over.  I'm trying to make as many of the kits with interchangeable bits as possible, that way you get more modularity form buying a handful of kits.  I MAY sell small kits with just some parts in - like just a kit of a conical shingle roof, but i want to get some more kits in the overall range first.

No can see the idea, i guess i'm someone who at times like's everything to run in the same theme..I might need to get out more

[Dewbakuk]

Dewbakuk - thank you. I'm not sure on the walls - at the moment they are code named "Phoamb-Or'd" Stockade walls

I'm toying with the idea of making the wall kit really cheap and simple and including the two laser cut ends, the planked top and the beams, hand rail and Palisading in as long lengths as I can and then providing templates for the customer to cut foam board rectangles to assemble it all to! That way the customer can decide how long they want each wall section and I'm not charging them for basically laser cutting largish rectangles of styrene and then shipping them.

Might be a silly question, but can't you laser cut the Foamboard rather than Styrene for the wall bits? Although that might make shipping awkward due to sizes.

[Brandlin]

Might be a silly question, but can't you laser cut the Foamboard rather than Styrene for the wall bits? Although that might make shipping awkward due to sizes.

to my knowledge you can't laser cut foam board, the card skin would cut, then the foam in the middle would melt/ignite or at least shrink away from the card edges.

Cutting odd shapes in styrene is worth the cost of the laser cutting time I think. I don't think the expense of laser cutting would be appreciated on large simple rectangles though.

I'm not sure on shipping foam board yet, its fairly ubiquitous in the hobby world so it seems daft to supply it.

[Dewbakuk]

I'm not sure on shipping foam board yet, its fairly ubiquitous in the hobby world so it seems daft to supply it.

True, I have 3 A1 sheets that I've not used yet. However it's a bitch on blades and I know a few people who can't cut a straight line in the stuff even with a sharp blade and a straight edge (they aren't allowed to help with that bit anymore ). May not be worth it, not sure as I know there are plenty of people out there that would be happy to be able to just assemble straight away. I suppose at the end of the day, like most things, it comes down to cost.

Just thought of a couple of companies out there (can't think of their names though) that offer building 'blanks' from laser cut foam board so it must be possible. Probably depends on laser strength though.

As another question (sorry), the long stretches of planks, are they individual pieces? I didn't think you could do partial cuts with a laser cutter?

[Brandlin]

Just thought of a couple of companies out there (can't think of their names though) that offer building 'blanks' from laser cut foam board so it must be possible. Probably depends on laser strength though.

Oh? who - links? Not seen them and would be interested in what they do!

As another question (sorry), the long stretches of planks, are they individual pieces? I didn't think you could do partial cuts with a laser cutter?

Do you mean the planks forming the pallisades along the tops of the stockade wall? They are a single piece with the plank edges engraved on them.

It is possible to engrave styrene simply by reducing the laser cutting power (or increasing the speed of the cutter head) as long as you are engraving lines and arcs and such. If you try to do too much cutting or engraving in one place then the styrene cannot dissipate the heat and will emlt into a small puddle. This means it's not practical to try and engrave a texture like wood grain onto a surface.

Have a look here... all the grey lines in the pictures are surface engraved and all the black lines are cut through.

[Brandlin]

Well what do you know. you CAN laser cut foam board!

Sorry I doubted you - i just found a lot of site through google!

[Brandlin]

I've spent a half hour or so making a mock-up of the base of the Benan Wtachtower. I dont normally do this on the models - the first time there is a phsical assembly is when i put together the test cut from the laser cutter, but in this instance i wanted to check the access for fitting figures onto the watchtower platform. This mock-up is made from hand cut pieces.

From the CAD geometry I knew that this would be tight but that the figures would fit on the platform, what was less clear was if the figures could be placed between the pillars.

30mm round lipped display bases

   

The answer is - YES THEY WILL!  You have to tip the figure to get it between the pillars and it is a little fiddly but I think worth the effort to keep the overall design of the tower.

The roof shown is the prototype for the stables kit - the watchtower will have the canopy shown in the CAD images, but it shows the versatility of being able to swap roofs should you wish.

Lupus I think that is the look you were after?

Standard 25mm bases

   

Figures here are Hasslefree Grymn (space dwarfs) on 25mm bases. They are just what I had available and based.  No tipping required here.

The final picture shows further options with this kit. As the upper surface of the watchtower is the same diameter as a Pringles tube (in fact it incorporates some sections of Pringles tube to extend the height slightly) a section of tube and therefore parts from the tower or stables kit too can be added to the watchtower to create another unique design.

I don't seem to be able to get away from Pringles tubes do I?

It would also be possible to mount the watchtower platform on the top of such a tube extension and then the canopy on top of that.  (I meant to take a picture of that but I have glued the platform down ... doh!)

Bigger pictures are available on my blog.

As always comments, suggestions and your money are greatly appreciated!

[YPU]

The tower looks awesome, I do feel I need to warn you on the wall idea tough. The availability of foam is quite different from place to place, with sometimes no option but import to get a thickness common in other parts of the world.

[Brandlin]

The tower looks awesome, I do feel I need to warn you on the wall idea tough. The availability of foam is quite different from place to place, with sometimes no option but import to get a thickness common in other parts of the world.

Thanks YPU... i'm currently investigating whether I can laser cut the wall pieces and sjip them as part of the kit - that makes everything a little easier.

[Dewbakuk]

Excellent stuff, I look forward to seeing this come into production, particularly the walls.