Medieval bedtime/Sleeping Knights

These (the first Batch)  will end up as part of the  Teutonic order 1329 dio
After a bit of research on the sort of Sheets, blankets etc that would be on medieval beds I found contemporay pics showing beds with either very expensive richly coloured or cheap plain bedcovering. but  a lot, rich or poor had either off White or pure white Sheets and pillows.
Seeing as These are "middle class beds, I went for the off White Sheets and pillows and to add a bit of colour variety made the covers (or Cloaks ) a different colour.

There´s also some empty beds…

and together as a dormitory

Gaol and another Farmhouse

The Gaol will be part of the main town, the Farmhouse part of the (nearly completed) Village.

I decided to have to ground floor where the prisoners are held as a stonework construction , the cells being accessed  from the upper floor.

The final Building for the Village is being constructed and then  the basing can commence

A Sad note.
In August this year,  Hobby Enthusiast and, I must say, A really nice Guy, Sven Schmelzer died leaving behind a wife and daughter.
To help Support His family, his Collection of dioramas and Models are being sold and can be seen on the following links;
PART ONE
PART TWO

The Bull - Ambridge

Well..it doesn´t exist....Not the one run by Kenton and Jolene Archer*  but The Old Bull, in Inkberrow,  Worcestershire,  (on which the fictional Bull is based ) does.

No White framed Windows,  the rear and right Hand side walls are made up ( you´d think there would be some side and rear view pictures but I couldn´t find any) and removed the hatch to the beer cellar (in some pics it´s there..others it´s not. )

So..strap some bells around your ankles,  gather around the maypole, hankies Held in the air... ---2..3..4...
"Dumm - de -dumm-de dumm de dumm, dumm -de dum, de da da"

* For those who don´t know, Kenton and Jolene Archer, are characters in a Radio series called the Archers which  is set in the fictional village of Ambridge in the fictional county of Borsetshire (the Dumm - de -dumm...etc) 

There´s detailed maps etc of  how the fictional world of the Archers is laid out, biographies, Family historys, the whole lot..even down to including a fictional ECW Battle, the Skirmish at Ambridge September 1642

Scratchbuilt Windmill

After seeing Tony´s excellent scratchbuilt Windmill (HERE) I realised that "Card town" is  missing one..so...

"In Progress" pics.

Cardboard, toothpicks and a stick from  firework rockets for the base construction.(The Trestle)

The sails had always put me off making a windmill, getting them all the same size being the main concern, but after  a bit of thought a solution is found.

The small block will be the "poll end" (the hub holding the sail arms )  Why are they slightly traingular when virtually all windmill sails are rectangular? I simply liked the look. The Piece at the top is the "Tailpole" used for moving the the mill  to face into the wind ( called winding or luffing )

The Windmill in Situ in Bodstonia HERE

Ancient Roman Harvester (Vallus)

In Roman times a harvester, called the Gallic Vallus,  was developed
Described by the historian Pliny the Elder in 77 AD.   According to Pliny,
"on the vast estates in the provinces of Gaul very large frames fitted with teeth at the edge and carried on two wheels are driven through the corn by a donkey pushing from behind; the ears torn off fall into the frame."
There is another Version with an Ox pushing a similar looking device, and both types appear to have had either teeth or long prongs at the front to rip the corn heads off.

The conductor should be at the back of the frame and acts as a  counterweight and to guide the harvester to the right, to the left, up, down. A conpulsor works at the front,  pressing the ears of corn forward until they get stuck and ripped off  in the teeth of the  "comb".  

The Vallus is built from CD casing, the wheels are from the Airfix Waterloo French Artillery set.



 

The rake is scratchbuilt and the bod is from Linear-b´s Spartacus Uprising Defeat set.

 

A relief from Trier showing a gallic harvester. . How effective was it compared to a scythe? Tests with reconstructions Show that they do actually work and can clear a field faster than with  scythes with as much or as little wastage.

 

Ancient Roman Town

I´ve never put up any pics of the buildings as one town, and seeing as the Project won´t be going any further..here´s are all the buildings grouped together.

A couple of "over the Roof tops" pics

Links to previous Posts containing most  of the buildings shown in the top Picture
Forum Romanum
Houses  for "plebeians"
Insula
Forum Romanum Mk II
Roman Baths /Thermae
Upper class roman house
Roman Taverna - MKII
Admin building and row of Shops
Slave market and temple
Merchants house

Anyway..as the Project is closed and it seems a shame to just store it in the cellar, the whole lot is up for sale. Price? I´ve got something in mind*  but I prefer to be open to "suggestions" so if your interested, tell me what you think it´s worth.

*For the whole town, I could re-make individual buildings if anyone´s interested but I would like this lot to stay together.

EDIT. The whole town has now been sold .

Medieval marching monks

With accompanying kniggits.
The overfed Monk on the mule is from Strelets, Crusader Transport 1 set. The Monk with the staff is a conversion from the same set and Adolphus, (reading ) a conversion from the Strelets Norman Train set.

 

 

17th century farmsteads - Finished

With a new house, a Hay barrack and some other  bits and pieces (all scratchbuilt)  added.

First off, all grouped together as a small farming community.

 Now as individual Farmsteads (as originally planned)
House with vegetable / Herb garden

Cabbages made with green crepe paper
The "Woodcutters" house

Barn with Hay Barrack and Wagon

The "Bakers" House with bread oven

Buildings - Card with clay roofs
Fences/ladders/surrounds for the raised beds  - Coffee stirrers and lolly sticks
The Cabbages - green crepe paper
Bean Poles and Logs - Bits of birch twig
Wagon - Thin Card and strips of Wood.
Hay - Plumbers thread
Moss - Bits of rubber foam (that was left outside in the rain etc  to go green)
Bakers oven - Clay

Forgot...the buildings with their respective "Stedders" can be seen HERE

"O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!"

17th century Farmsteads

Along with  Bodston -  Main town  (the 50 buildings Project) Boddingham - the  farming community centre (10 buildings) and  Boddington - the  Fishing and farming Hamlet (6 buildings with a stockade) I´ve decided to create a couple of small farmsteads based on the ones at  the Plimoth plantation..

Ok...they are buildings from the early 17th Cent  and Bodstonia is  18th century based but it´s an Imagi-Nation so they fit.

 Farmhouses. 
The Window shutters are in a sort of Frame and can be slid shut.

I tried to recreate the Clapboard planking using  short pieces of Card as on the real buildings, but it ended up  looking complete mess so the  I used continous strips instead.  

Rear with storage shed. 

The woodclad chimneys. Wood cladding with a surrounding  thatch..slight fire hazard? This got me wondering.. so after a bit of looking around I found  a pic of one of the Plimoth houses showing the inside of the chimney (from the hearth  up to the top) and it Shows the insides are coated with something that Looks like clay.

Goat shed and  "community barn"

This film, a psychological Horror called ,The VVitch (the Witch) which is filmed partly  in the Plimoth Foundation.(the main street can be seen in the opening Scene)
Reckoned to be as historically accurate as a film can be.... and well scarey :-D
There´s evil in the Wood!!!!

Medieval Building with a covered walkway

Another generic building with an Experiment in creating a covered walkway.

The total so far...Picture taken before the above building had the tiles added, I wanted to see where it might fit into the General layout.
31 buildings so far.
I haven´t counted the Pigeon Loft as it may or may not be added and for a 18th Cent Bodstonian setting there´s the Fire station.
Only another 19 to go, (17 if the pigeon loft and fire Station are taken into consideration) like a couple more additions to the "industrial area" (top right)  but as I´ve said previously, the layout is temporary.
A Cathedral is being considered as a possible Addition which would Change the layout considerably as it would more than likely take up a central Position, pushing the "industrial" area (just above the church/Meeting house) out to the side.

Super Blood Moon eclipse tonight!
Link
I´m going to try and stay up and take pics..anyone else?

Medieval Hay Barrack

A structure with a movable roof for storing loose hay.

Easy to build, ram 4 Posts into the ground and attach a thatch or shingle Roof that can be moved up and down. Low maintenance, the Posts could last up to 40 years, the thatch would Need changing occasionally.

Widespread in northern Europe in medieval times but  not so common These days.
Thought to have originated in Holland, The oldest written source  is from 1022.
Although they are not common These days, they are coming back, especially in Holland where they are called Hooiberg (Hay mountains)  and a society  (the Hooiberg Museum) is promoting thier use.

 

 

Like all things that look simple..they aren´t. It´s not just a case of bunging loose hay under the Roof and Job done. There´s a lot of specialised knowledge needed to stack and care for the hay as told by the ;
Dutch Barn Preservation Society

 Hay barrack in the Velislai biblia picta (Velislaus Bible or Velislav's Bible )  1325–1349. 

Medieval Barn (2)

Village Building  number 5... halfway there.
The core design taken from one found on the web but I´ve made it a timberframed affair and added a stone wall support. The original was covered with planking. I´ve also added a set of stables to the rear.

The stables without the Roof...

..and the front and back roofing sections.
Adding and painting the planking is a bit on the Level of  painting the back of skirting boards before they are attached,  as they are barely visible now they are fixed in place but I know they are there and I can sleep soundly   :-D

Urchins!!!
Something not modelling related...a Family of hedgehogs.(Urchins is the "technical" Name for Young hedgehogs.my nickname for them is Spuggies, )
On my (at this time of year) regular garden patrol looking for signs of them, I found a lone, very small hedgehog so it was brought in to have a check up. It´s fine, no injuries etc.

It´s obviously a Young one, the large head in comparison to the Body, so seeing it´s nest  would be in the vacinity it got returned to the exact same spot in the garden.

I watched it for a while and then noticed another one had crept up beside me...and then another!!!!
A Family Group of   Spuggies!!!....
On the first night I saw 4, which got named   "Eeny", "Meenee", "Mynee" and "Moe" but on the second night, a fifth turned up.. now called "Mop"
From the pics it can be seen, comparing the leaves and grass around them how small they are..Possibly 2 months old.



"Eeny"

"Meenee"



"Mynee"



"Moe"

"Mop"

The Mother, who I think is one we rescued last year and has been around and about in the garden since, I haven´t seen yet but they do leave the Young after about 2 months.  I know exactly where the nest is, a huge pile of twigs and leaves at the bottom of our garden.
A short film featuring "Mynee" on a slug hunt.

Obviously, they´ve been Born a bit late in the year so their chances of reaching the 500gm´s plus to make it through the winter are slim, "Moe" and "Mop" are much smaller than the rest of thier siblings.
We´ve set up a feeding area near the nest, their Situation will be constantly (nightly) checked and seeing as underweight hedgehogs can  go into a permenant sleep the possibility that they might have to be overwintered indoors is  being prepared.