JR Miniatures Outhouse

In my recent Sarissa Precision order I received a free sample of their Terrain Tile System. As I had a 28mm JR Miniatures outhouse I needed a base for I decided to combine the two products.

I really like the irregular edge of the base; I beveled it to aid the base in blending into the table surface.

The base is treated in my standard manner: 2mm Woodland Scenics static grass, followed by a 4 mm - 6 mm blend of brighter green grass finished with a mix of home made and Super Turf shrubs.

The tree is Woodland Scenics with 3M stripping pad material and SuperLeaf for the canopy.

Although the casting on the building was much better than the 15 mm buildings I had painted previously, you can see some of the detail obscuring, stray resin on this close up shot of the door; not really noticeable from arms length though.

A Start on More Hedging

We need a few extra hedges (several more feet actually...)  for our next ECW game. As the hedges I have already are a little too tidy and manicured for the period I have made a couple of sections that are more indicative of what would have been called a hedge back in the 17th century.

  They started off as 3M Stripping Pads cut and teased apart with pliers and a couple Woodland Scenics tree armatures glued onto wood salvaged from paint stirrers.

After spray priming of grey the bases were flocked with a little Scenic Express SuperLeaf brown foliage under the shrubbery followed by a layer of 2mm Woodland Scenics static grass and another layer of Peco Scene 4mm and 6mm static grass. 

 Some Army Painter grass tufts, a little bit of lichen and home made shrubs were also added before sprinkling the 3M pad material with SuperLeaf green foliage. I usually use a blend of medium green, light (or olive) green and a smattering of moss.

 These would probably line lane ways and ditches. Our lonely 28mm drover and his oxen to provide a sense of scale:

15mm ACW Buildings From JR Miniatures

With an eye to another Fire and Fury game (possibly Corinth) sometime in the future I picked up some JR Miniatures 15mm ACW buildings from Meeplmart in Toronto.

The first building I tackled was Winter Quarters (JRM1630).

The detail in the windows was shallow but actually came out OK.  The shingles and the siding was rife with small bubbles. Something that was to become a bit of an issue with these buildings was the casting; poorly mixed resin is my guess. As it is a plain structure it has a lot of uses and would not be out of place for a century afterwards.

The nicest of the three buildings both in sculpting and in casting is Victorian House (JRM1608). Only a few bubbles here and there but the texture of the stone and the shingles is excellent.

 The black pitting in the window frames are air bubbles; they made painting the recessed windows a bit of a challenge.

The worst offender for casting issues was the 1859 Factory (JRM1611). The stonework was completely pockmarked. In the pictures below you can see the bubbles in the window frames and the roofing and the massive piece missing from the eave.

 The building itself is a little twisted as shown by the cockeyed windows.

Judging from the faded printing on the boxes these buildings had sat for quite some time at Meeplemart. I hope whoever is making these buildings now (if they are still in production) pays a little more attention to quality control as when they come out right they are nice buildings and fun to paint.