what to do with the Ertl

[mraaker]

I have painted a few handfuls of old west miniatures over the years but never had any terrain to play a decent game with mostly on account of hating terrain building/painting.  I picked up the Ertl cow town and had a couple questions if any of yall had worked with it before. 

1) Did you glue the pieces together?
2) Did you paint the pieces separately if not?
3) Other than the buildings themselves, what else from the set have you used/painted up? The stagecoach looks OK, but the fencing and the windmill are sort of bleh.

I've never painted anything as large as these buildings before, so any tips you may have would be most welcome as well.

Thanks!

[Aaron]

I primed and painted a saloon for a friend who has a couple of sets. The buildings work pretty well for 28mm stuff. IIRC (it was a long time ago) I painted the interior, then assembled, and then painted the exterior.

[Tom Reed]

I did glue most of the buildings together, and then painted them. I chucked most everything else. I did use the windmill, but made a larger platform on top so a figure could stand up there. The only ERTL building I didn't paint was the big barn from the farm set, so I could take it apart, which made it easier to store.

[Hawkeye]

I've remodelled and painted a few of the ERTL cow town buildings for western games. I decided to base them on plasticard that was flush with the walls, so that I could sit them right beside my other buildings, with no gap in between. I also modelled the interiors - craft sticks for the floor, internal beams to cover the corner joins. Definitely glue them together - it makes them much stronger - but leave the roof free to lift off.

They take paint very well, except for the soft plastic doors, which the paint can rub off from if you're too rough with them. Prime the body of the building, though, and the paint takes with no problems, and with drybrushing the detail comes out in a very pleasing way. I'll take some photos of what I've done, and post them up, if you're interested.

[mraaker]

Absolutely, would love to see them.  I figured I would start simple with the outhouse and work up to the shed, then to the others.

[Hawkeye]

I'm in Kansas City for a few days (that infamous hive of scum and villainy...actually, a really nice city), but when I get back, I'll take some photos and post them here. I had planned on doing it today, but it's been a madhouse here.