Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Plastic Kit Buildings for ACW/Wild West

I've collected several of the Pegasus box sets of log/wooden buildings. Technically they're 1:72 scale, but they really do actually work quite well for 28mm. And they're quite cheap -- a few quid each given that you get two in each box.

The come with thatched roofs, which is OK if you're doing Russia in WW2 (or earlier, obviously) but it wasn't common in the US in the American Civil War or Wild West time-frame. The solution to this arrived in the form of 4Ground's laser-cut roof tiles. They come in strips which makes it easy to cover the moulded thatch roof with weathered wood shingles. (Although I'll caution that a pack doesn't cover as much as you think it will!).

The cowboy is (I think) a Foundry figure and even though he's
technically out of scale that building looks perfectly habitable.
I base them on 3mm plastic card, leave the roof off, spray them black and drybrush with Howard Hues colours (greenish-brown "Canvas", ochre "Wood" and light grey "Old Wood") and pick out the log ends with a finer brush. The base gets B&Q wood filler (conveniently a light brown colour, and what I use on figure bases these days) and then Woodland Scenics scatter, bushes &c.

I then hand-paint the visible roof parts black, drybrush them and then add the tiles before gluing the roof on.

One of the sets comes with small extensions which can be used to add variety - you can just see one peeking out of the back of the house in the picture.

Two of each of the two twin-house sets and one of the larger buildings makes a pretty good small town of nine buildings.

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