Where to get tiles for Spanish houses

[Rob_bresnen]

While looking for inspirations to build my wargaming scenery I came across a nice blog called Adventures in Miniatures Gaming

( http://stepphenthomson.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Peninsular%20War )

and I found this building and was wondering if anyone knows where I can get some of the sheet plastic used in building the tiled roof of this Spanish style house-

I am in the UK.



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Thanks for the time.

[sukhe_bator]

Wills scenics pantiles - a blister pack of 4 A6(ish) sheets. Use 'em all the time. I see the guy like me has used a longitudinal strip as the ridge tile. They need some trimming but are relatively easy to work and can be scored and snapped.
See my posts
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=47267.0

[Svennn]

The ones in the picture look more like Plastruct sheets which are A4 vac form, which I have always had to order from the States.  The Wills ones are much thicker but just as nice and very easy to get from railway model shops.

[Belgian]

I have used the Will pantiles for some commissioned spanish buildings, I have added a picture, but more pictures can be found here if interested:  http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2012/07/scratchbuilding-service.html

[Rob_bresnen]

excellent- thanks guys. Some lovely looking buildings there too.

[Klingsor]

I blundered onto a very nice sheet in Craft World in Belfast, sadly I have no idea who made the thing as it only had a price sticker and nothing to identify the source. It was in the dolls house section so looking in the 'girlie' bits of a craft shop can be worthwhile. What makes it stand out when compared with the Wills sheets is that it is much larger, approximately A4 sized so you can do roofs as wide as, roughly, 210 mm with one sheet.

I have used it for a couple of the Sarissa Japanese houses and it looks great. I am not sure it is quite right for Span, though that is what I bought it for, as it may not have the right profile but it is worth looking out for. One sheet does about one and a half of their Japanese buildings (they do seem quite large) but with quite a lot left over for other projects. I was going to try making my own anyway so I can size them to use the offcuts.

It does not seem to be the usual styrene plastic but might be the same ABS that Plastruct use. I used old fashioned Humbrol liquid cement to stick it to styrne sheet (replacing the lasercut MDF roofs with styrene equivalents) and it seems to have stuck. I also tried Ambroids liquid cement as well and it was useless with it despite supposedly being quite a hot solvent cement. I found some Evergreen quarter round styrene strip that fitted into the join between the two roof halves to finish it perfectly, pure luck but it looks great.

[OSHIROmodels]

I blundered onto a very nice sheet in Craft World in Belfast, sadly I have no idea who made the thing as it only had a price sticker and nothing to identify the source. It was in the dolls house section so looking in the 'girlie' bits of a craft shop can be worthwhile. What makes it stand out when compared with the Wills sheets is that it is much larger, approximately A4 sized so you can do roofs as wide as, roughly, 210 mm with one sheet.

I have used it for a couple of the Sarissa Japanese houses and it looks great. I am not sure it is quite right for Span, though that is what I bought it for, as it may not have the right profile but it is worth looking out for. One sheet does about one and a half of their Japanese buildings (they do seem quite large) but with quite a lot left over for other projects. I was going to try making my own anyway so I can size them to use the offcuts.

It does not seem to be the usual styrene plastic but might be the same ABS that Plastruct use. I used old fashioned Humbrol liquid cement to stick it to styrne sheet (replacing the lasercut MDF roofs with styrene equivalents) and it seems to have stuck. I also tried Ambroids liquid cement as well and it was useless with it despite supposedly being quite a hot solvent cement. I found some Evergreen quarter round styrene strip that fitted into the join between the two roof halves to finish it perfectly, pure luck but it looks great.

Was it grey and of the same thickness as the Wills sheets?

The ones in the picture look more like Plastruct sheets which are A4 vac form, which I have always had to order from the States.  The Wills ones are much thicker but just as nice and very easy to get from railway model shops.

The vac sheets can be bought from Antics Online and EMA to name but a few 

cheers

James

[has.been]

Long time ago I bought a roll of ribbed rubber matting from a hardware store. The stuff used to be placed under typewriters and such to stop vibrations. I have used it many times for pantile roof sections. It has the advantage that, unlike plastic, it bends easily. This alows me to have 'sagging' old rooves on my mediteranean buildings.

I have also, on occassion, found useful embossed wallpaper which, when stuck to thin card, does a similar job.

[Klingsor]

The sheets I found were white and I think injection moulded rather than vac formed as they were flat backed without the characteristic 'negative' form of vac formed sheets. This incidentally makes them stronger and easier to glue.

Next time I am in Belfast I think I will buy any more of it I can find as it is useful stuff and have a more careful than usual cast around the dolls house section to see what else I can find.

[carlos marighela]

The Wills sheets are nice but they represent the more expensive and less flexible option. I personally think the vac formed sheets are the way to go, especially if you require curves. You can cut them with a craft knife or even scissors if you are so minded. The Wills sheets really need a saw to cut neatly and the sheets are smaller.

The other advantage to the vac formed sheets is they come in different sizes, typically 1/87 (HO) and 1/50 which is a handy architectural scale. The Wills sheets only seem to come in HO scale.

The downside is that they are rather thin. I recommend glueing some match stick battens to the underside, just like the real thing, to add rigidity. For edges of roofs where the tile edges are visible and will look too thin for scale it's easy enough to laminate strips of two or three sheets with glue.

I've seen two types of vac sheet. The square tile and the curved pan tile type. In Oz many of the model and model railway shops sell both or one of either the tile sheets. You can find them on ebay too.

Another handy source, that's not too expensive are the Italeri houses. The houses are fairly cheap and you get decent sized roofs. These are a real bugger to cut as they are like a heavy duty resin but they are very good detail wise and a great match with 28mm.

[Klingsor]

I was in Belfast today and discovered that The Modellers Nook in Winetavern street (AKA The Dungeon to some of us of a certain age) also has the nice plastic card tiles and I found out who makes them, I bought all they had and got the bag they came in. The label says:
Tasma Products, giving an address and telephone number (withheld only because I am too lazy to type it) and describes the contents as OO Gauge Tile.

They have a web page and the item is here:
http://www.tasmaproducts.co.uk/catalogue/browse.php?offset=10&product_Category_ID=66

[deflater mouse]

If you're not too stringent about exact replicas, you can use any old cardboard box you have lying around...  Rub a few drops of water onto one side until damp, and pull off the facing to expose the corrugated cardboard.  I cut them into 3/4 inch strips and overlap them...

For a peaked roof, you could cut single ridges for you cap tiles...

[Rob_bresnen]

That's a handy tip. Thank you.

[Dave C]

Tiles? Spanish? Now there was me thinking of those highly decorated ceramic wall tiles you see in Spain! They would be an attractive addition to your model buildings. 

[Doomsdave]

Both Plastruct and Evergreen brands do spanish tile.  I like the Plastruct sheets very much.

You can see some of the Plastruct sheet in use here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=20019.0