28mm Village house ruin building

A year in review

Well I lined up all the display pieces I had done over the year in chronological order to give myself a nice snapshot.  Although the painting on the later figures is better my favourite piece is still the Anonymous bust by Banshee.  I'm struck at the difference between it and the earlier Viking bust.  Also in this last year (since Cancon 2017) I've painted more display figures than the last three years combined.  At least I'm getting quicker.

While I think about painting things I started on the 28mm "Village house ruin 2" that I purchased at Cancon from Battlefield Accessories.  For $14 it is a really quick way to get a nice basic structure of a building to add some details on.

When working on mdf buildings I've learnt a few things over the years.  First it to unwrap the building and let it air for at least a week in the shed.  That laser cut mdf is seriously smelly.

I use PVA glue to put together all my mdf buildings.  Previously I would try and slap together the entire piece in one sitting.  Then I would get annoyed as the whole building would dry all out of square.  Now with the wisdom of the ages I've slowed down a bit and try to do things a bit better.

Floor piece glued to the base

This building comes with a floor so I glued that to a base that I cut out of some scrap 3mm mdf.  I chamfered the edges of the mdf base as well.  Previously I would leave the edge straight for extra strength but it doesn't really make a difference I found.  Once the floor was glued down I flipped over the base and coated the underside with watered down PVA.  This adds a lot of strength to the base and seals it up nicely.  I usually do two coats and sand with 400 grit between coats to get a really smooth surface.

Clamp time

For the walls I used the old method of lego blocks to make right angle pieces to clamp the walls to.  This ensures you get straight walls every time.  Just make sure you wipe up any excess glue before clamped as the PVA will stick the lego to the mdf.

Love the 90 degree lego

Next up will be adding some ground texture (sand/rocks/etc) and then undercoating the entire piece.  I plan to add some extra rubble/wood too but will probably add that after I have painted the walls.  Otherwise I will be trying to paint the walls around the rubble.

All ready for the next step