Klopstockhaus

My rendition of the Klopstockhaus, in Quedlingburg The birthplace of the Poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock(July 2, 1724– March 14, 1803)

The rear of the house I made up by adding  stables and a rear extension

Added to the two previous buildings

Slowly the town grows...and grows..............and work has started on a small village.

Medieval/18th century street - Forced perspective Experiment

Bit of a Long post this one.....so here goes;

After seeing THIS amazing  Medieval town terrain in forced perspective by Neldoreth I had to have a go...I thought it would be easy...but it isn´t.

First the final result

I haven´t got any medieval bods smaller than 1/72nd to put in the Back so I´ve used some of the good folk from Bodstonia.

A cavalryman from the risk game

The cavalryman takes a risk....... No? Not even a titter?

Some of the  residents posing

How I did it.
The easy bit
First the base. Large  bit of card..this one is 22cm´s Long and 11cm´s wide.
Draw a Middle line then 2 converging lines (which represent the row of houses converging)  4 cm´s from the centre at the bottom and 2 cm´s from the centre top. The base was then raised at the furthest end by 2cm´s. Why 2 cm´s? It´s purely random, ie; I didn´t think about it, it  had nothing to do with the 2cm´s at the top but thinking about it it probably has some relationship with the effect....or not?

The hard bit.
I held a Piece of Card alongside one of the sloped sides, drew a line which would be the street level. After creating the first house it became obvious this wasn´t going to work..I had no fixed reference Point for the "horizontal lines".  The Vertical lines were ok but the "horizontal lines" were totally wrong!!
Then I thought about things a bit.....and went for the disappearing Point method. This meant adding a bit to the end of the base, extending the lines until they met.

This gave me the Basis to create a template. For each individual house I added placed a Piece of Card over the template, then drew the lines over the Card.
The line in the middle acted as a base for  drawing the vertical lines.

The vertical lines are easy..to create the "horizontal" lines I used a Long ruler,  fixed to the "Dissapearing Point". For the end house, the one nearest the camera I used similar sizes as if I was building a house in scale..for the next two it was by eye

Test shots...the effect seems to work.

Pre-paint on the base..the horizontals and verticals work.

Painted, Windows and doors added,  and on a Level surface. Halfway through the tiling I realised the normal size of tiles (the house on the far right) would look way too big on the end house...so I had to make three different sizes.

Both sides and the end house finished...and they  are now on a wider Piece of card.
A couple more test shots.
Can you see the tiles!!? Nope!? Did they Need to be smaller? That was a ..kin waste of time!!

Bod in front ..

Bod at back.... The lines on the base were as an aid  for adding cobblestones but I gave up on that idea. (the tiles are base painted and pre-drybrush)

From above.

To create a similar optical depth as the "forced perspective" model (22 cm´s Long),  I had to line up 6 full sized buildings with a street length 60 cm´s plus.

Working out the angles proved the biggest headache but it was a fun Experiment. Exactly what I will do with it now I still don´t know..but I´ve learnt a lot about the technique so at some Point I´ll have another go but with a slightly different technique and subject period and try a more compressed Version.

And... a wee bit early but I´ll post about it as the time draws near.....

1. "Dioramica" 2016
Message from Wolfgang Meyer;

"Saying large dioramas is saying 1/72nd scale. Figures in that scale have become extremely popular with modellers over the last couple of decades, and they are produced by a growing number of small series manufacturers. These figures now cover a huge variety of historic subjects as they were formerly offered by flat figures only. Over the years, there have been created real works of art, ranging from the masterly vignette with just a few to superdioramas with tens of thousands of figures.
We, i.e. the members of the ‘History in Miniatures’ society, have been pondering for a long time how we could make our fellow hobbyists, who are dedicated to the building of historical dioramas just as we are, join us for an exposition to present their work.
This has been a big dream of ours which is now coming true.

For the first time ever, some of the best sculptors and painters of small scale figures, as well as some of the most ambitious diorama builders from all over Europe and nearly all the well-known vendors who provide for our hobby will meet at a single venue.

An exposition-plus-fair as we are planning requires painstaking preparation. First of all, we had to find a date that would be okay for all, and we think we succeeded.
The First Dioramica will take place on the weekend of November 19‒20, 2016. The venue will be our diorama museum ‘Geschichte in Miniaturen’ in Hann. Münden. In addition, we will be able to use the spacious premises of the hotel in which our museum is situated.
A large number of sculptors, figure painters, modellers, diorama builders and vendors from all over Europe share our enthusiasm and promised to join us. This will be a singular opportunity to get a life view of many of the dioramas which have been known from the internet or from diverse expositions and scale modelling fairs only.
The dioramas ‘Rome 170 A.D.’, ‘Cröbern 1813’, ‘Möckern 1813’, ‘Northern Italy 1813’ are centre pieces of our museum and ready for viewing. In addition, we are working frantically to finish our ongoing projects in time ‒ the large dioramas ‘Teutonic Order 1329’, ‘Rosenberg Fortress 1806’ and ‘Auenhain 1813’.

Furthermore, a great number of dioramas made by some of the most well-known modellers from all over Europe will be on exposition, covering all epochs from antiquity to World War One.

There will be a diorama competition and workshops on figure sculpting and painting, as well as on the making of model structures, terrain and water for dioramas. The hotel will provide catering and accomodation, and the town of Hann. Münden and its pleasant surroundings offer many attractions for the entire family.

For additional and up-to-date information see our Website;"

Geschichte in Miniaturen

 

 

Street extension

A small Addition to the previous house, another small house with an "access tunnel".

 

During a search for ideas for other builds I came across a Blog by Emma J with some incredible conversions of Playmobil bods and buildings, ranging from medieval to steampunk..Playmobil Steampunk? :-D Interested? Click HERE

 



Battle of Stamford bridge 1066

Was there a Bridge and if there was one, was it a nice Stone one as in some depictions or a well constructed wooden one as in others?
If there was one it was probably a bit "rough and ready"..so that´s what I´ve made.

Here´s the Viking hero working his way through anyone who attempts to force him off the Bridge, Clip from 1066 - The Battle of Middle Earth..."stop pushing at the back!!!"

Timberframed house - "How to"

Buiding permission granted, the next lot of building can begin. First up..an "out of the head" build.

Materials needed;
Card..Pizza boxes are great..but any heavy Card will do..even old LP covers.
Pen . Black is best.
Sharp modelling knife and scissors
PVA glue
Some flyscreen netting (or similar) and sellotape for the Windows.
Acrylic wall paint, White, dark Brown, bit of yellow...and a bit of talcumpowder to thicken the paint.
A bit of fine sandpaper.
Some polystyrene foam.

The plan of the house with all four walls. The side walls haven´t had the beam pattern added entirely as the house will be attached to another house on one side (and possibly both sides)
Roof isn´t included.
For 1/72nd it´s best to Keep the height of the floors between 3 -4 cm´s. It doesn´t matter if the bottom floor is say 3 cm´s and the one above is 4 cm´s, any combination of heights Looks normal.
Doors Maximum 2.5cm´s high and 1.5 wide. Windows?...if they Look ok sizewise.. then they probably are. Aesthetically,  it looks better if the window ledge starts at around 1.5cm´s above ground Level

This house will have two 0.5cm jetties (the floors that stick out over the floor below) and they will be constructed by simply leaving a gap (the strips with the arrows) between each floor. When it´s cut out I simply score along the lines and bend each into an "S".
The biggest I´ve made the jetties so far is 1cm deep, roughly 3 feet (1m) in reality..any bigger Looks a bit overbalanced.
Important to remember the jetties Need to be taken into account when drawing the side walls, and to take off the 0.5cm´s per jettie (1cm) when calculating the height of the side walls.
Example, front has three floors @ 3 cm´s + 2 jetties @1cm = 10cm´s. The side walls (if they aren´t to have jetties as well) will be only 9 cm´s high in total
The "T´s" represent the Tabs for glueing the walls together or to provide a surface for attaching the Roof .
The "squiggles" are where the doors and Windows will be cut out.

The front cut out, scored and bent into the "S" shapes to create the jetties

The Tabs folded and glued. The shiny side of the Card glues easier after a quick rub with fine sandpaper.

The side walls attached. I don´t attach the back wall as it makes adding the Windows difficult.

Painted. First I paint the Areas between the beams, then the beams. The Paint is normal acrylic based wall paint with a tiny pinch of talcum powder to slightly thicken the paint

Next..Windows. Bit of flyscreen cut to size and sellotape over the back. For Windows with a "Frame" in the middle (top left of pic) I add a smear of PVA to the middle.

Back wall can now be added. Now the Rooftiles/shingles. 1 cm wide strips marked off every 1/2 cm and then the Corners snipped out between each tile. A Mind nummingly boring Task.
The tops tiles are made with a 1cm wide Strip marked off every cm, then scored down the middle.

Before I paint the Roof I add the Dragon post Ends and the Dragon beams. All made from Strips of styrofoam.

The chimney. As the houses sometimes get joined together it means the roofing can´t always be finished until the next house is ready and attaching the chimney isn´t always possible so I create a handfull of chimneys at the same time.
Materials, high density polystyrene, the brickwork scored with a pen.

The doors. Scored Card, dark Brown base, dry brush with light Brown. I make up the doors in strips and cut off  sections as needed as it´s easier than scoring and painting each door individually.

That´s about it really. With drying times for the glue and paint, the whole Thing (except snipping the tiles) takes about three hours tops.

Fishing boat (scratchbuilt)

Another Little scratchbuild for Bodstonia, a fishing boat which will see Service on the great lake and be anchored  at Boddington.
Again, all scratchbuilt, mast an old Paintbrush, anchor chain from old jewellry chain, Tiller a toothpick, deck hatch flyscreen material etc etc.
It was going to be the Basis for the Ship mill but it didn´t look right, too oval shaped but the hull was already finished so why waste it, and my Daughter insisted on it being finished  so we can take it to the local Pond and float it.

The fishing net is made from some old flyscreen material with  some broken tackle blocks from a 1/100th scale ship kit as floats.

I saw a way of shaping sails over at Vol´s Blog A miniatures Hobbyroom on his post  Scratch Built 1/1200 Third Rate 80 Gun Ship of the Line ,look at the link,  you´ll be amazed  how small and beautifull the finished ship is.
Vol´s sails turned out looking lovely  so I thought I´d give it a go.
Stupidly, I used  material, a Piece of old Cotton sheet. Even after the PVA had dried it didn´t hold it´s shape which meant I had to Hand sew a length of thin wire into the bottom to create the curved effect.

Still, I know know why it went wrong...The relative size. Vol used Card and his sails are tiny..so next time  I´ll use the same  method to shape them but the materials I used fo the Pirate Cutter, a Sandwich of paper between two layers of micromesh net curtain.

The Fishing boat as the "Tomplot Blenny" at work in Bodstonia HERE

The "Tomplot Blenny",  on the local Pond.