ECW scenery

[white knight]

The trouble with those is that it's all a bit flat. To make these really work, all the timber framework and such should be cut separately from a sheet of thin wood so you can glue it on and get some relief.

[anevilgiraffe]

you can get the basic structure and stick balsa strips on for the framing...

[white knight]

I was actually thinking that too. The hard part for me is building a sturdy basic box anyway. The rest is just detailing.

[anevilgiraffe]

well I've ordered one... seem to be in a building mood anyway...

[Captain Blood]

They look rather nice, but yes, a wee bit 'flat'. Should be possible to add some texture though, and they are certainly cheap compared to resin... Be interested to see how you get on with it Anevilgiraffe 

[charla51]

If you want authentic buildings for this period have a look at the respresentation of Naseby village at the foot of Streeter's illustrated plan of the armies' dispositions for that battle. The houses of ordinary folk seem to have been far simpler constructions than those shown by the above manufacturers. And Darnell's so-called ECW buildings appear based on Victorian delusions of the ideal rustic life.

It's also worth looking at the hedged enclosures around Naseby village.  None of your twee Home-Counties-suburban-hedges  -they look more like Bocage.

[Steve F]

Here's the relevant bit of the Streeter picture.



I'd say that could be represented quite well using the PMC and TSS ranges.

[anevilgiraffe]

well it arrived today... very nice little kit on 3 A5 sheets of mdf or whatever, has popped out very nicely and is a good snug dry fit...

now, the basic kit I ordered does not have the floorboards on the floors or the ladder hatch on the first floor, so before I glue I need to score some detail there and cut the hatch... this is a pain, however on the plus side it does mean the hatch will be where I want and not too far into the middle of the room... also there is no footprint to slip the first floor section into the ground floor walls - it sits loose, however, I think that extended beams in the detail kit I ordered will fill this function.... however I need to consider the thickness of the balsa I dress the thing with when this comes into play so I may need to make my own...

the detail kit is very nice and I would recommend that alone to people doing their own buildings, the door and frame should look nice and the windows will look very effective in place...

on the major downside I have a landlord inspection tomorrow and my room now stinks of burnt wood... 

[anevilgiraffe]

The trouble with those is that it's all a bit flat. To make these really work, all the timber framework and such should be cut separately from a sheet of thin wood so you can glue it on and get some relief.

ok... silly question... how much relief? 

what thickness of timberframe would you guys have? the interiors are all sorted and tarted and looking to start on the frames, but don't want to got too thick... or thin for that matter...

[white knight]

Depends on whether you're going to texture the walls with something and if so, how thick that layer will be.

I'd go with wood coffee stirrers though (and probably will when I get around to trying it).

[anevilgiraffe]

how thick are they? 

must admit, am wondering if I need something a bit stronger than balsa... have some matchsticks kicking about...

[white knight]

Don't have them here, but I'd guess they're about 0.5mm

Anyway, I'd use them because it would be convenient, not because I know them to be ideal. 

[anevilgiraffe]

the grisly details... and some bad news... here

EDIT: no bad news... they just moved the catalogue about... buggers...

[Mitch K]

Coffee stirrers I've acquired from various places are all about 1mm thick, so roughly 2" in scale. Some of the timber framed buildings in York (including those dating back to the Civil War period) have this amount of "relief" between the exposed timber face and the infill. Some have quite a bit more!

[Volleyfire!]

Here's the relevant bit of the Streeter picture.



I'd say that could be represented quite well using the PMC and TSS ranges.

No hedging flails in them there days, just billhooks and slashing knives. I don't know how much hedge laying went on but where you were growing croops rather than keeping in livestock I'd think that hedges were just allowed to grow pretty much out of hand and so would be 10 to even 20 ft wide in places and of similar height. Given the general lack of coal, and timber as the principle source of heating/cooking material for houses I suppose there must have been some coppicing done, but you would think they would mostly go for timber felling in woods and forests rather than grubbing about in hedgerows. So the idea that it would be similar to bocage would appear to be not far wrong, especially in areas of Devon and others where banks form part of field boundaries too.