Hobbit Hole log pile

 A brief period in a quiet house. Little I can do as they'll all be back soon! Time to make a log pile though. Card cut to fit in the right hand corner and twigs mounted on it with PVA. 

I need a chopping block and an axe. One of Gimli's mates should have a spare.

Hobbit Hole - nearly there

 Nearly there!

Sandyman turned up and erected the fence in the morning. 

Then spent all afternoon leaning on it.

Amazingly, overnight, a couple of cauliflowers have popped up.

Same idea. Milliput round a pin head, then green painted silver foil leaves

wrapped around it. 

Finger prints make a good pattern on the cauli.

Tricky getting the size of the leaves right though. A hole punch would be handy.

I've made a start on the rough sandy path from the gate and will lead it

over a slight rise and away to the right.

At the rear, I've applied 'Brown Earth. Once it's dry, it will be grass covered.

I may glue the whole thing to a hardboard or ply base to provide more strength.

Medieval cottage

 

Meanwhile, I'm working on the medieval cottage from Perry Miniatures

but making rather a hash of it.

I decided to ignore the gaps at each corner and hope they'd fill with paint.

They didn't!

ALWAYS MAKE SURE THINGS ARE A GOOD FIT BEFORE GLUING!

Now I've set it aside with Milliput filling the gaps and will repaint. 

I've used Dawnstone for the wood and Ushabti bone for the plaster and lath.

A light grey spray and then painted plaster would have given a better result.

The wood could then have been dry brushed before painting the plaster.

More veg in Hobbit garden

 The pumpkins and marrows, previously in store because the weather looked rather threatening, are now out in the sun, ripening. As you can see, it's been a better year for cabbages than either.

Ted Sandyman is supposed to look in sometime to put up a new fence and gate. He's already put the hinges on but I don't like the look of them. He's not the most trustworthy sort anyway.

Cabbage theft

You won't believe this. No sooner had I planted out these cabbages,

when Merry and Pippin came swanning down the lane and pinched half of them.

The stumps are pared down matches painted green and cut off

to make the cabbage root left in the ground.

The cabbages themselves, after snipping off the pins about an eighth of an inch below the plant, were super glued into holes drilled in the dry 'Brown Earth'.

It would have been better to have simply stabbed the shortened pins into the 'Earth'

right after it's application, when it's soft and tacky.

Hobbit Grass and Veg

My stab at model cabbages for the Hobbit Hole garden were made, as per DeAgostini magazine number 90, using kitchen foil wrapped around dressmaker's pins. A lower set of leaves was cut out of the foil and slid up the pin into a dab of glue. Otherwise, during painting, the lower leaves would go sliding off down the pin again. 

In fact, I added a little glue to the paints as I discovered it failed to stay put on the foil. (Make sure you are painting the least shiny side). I'm not sure if they are at all convincing as I've not had a single Cabbage White sniff round them yet. The match is to give scale.

The plants shown in a previous shot were from Warpainter Scenics via Amazon. Tufts are from Greenstuffworld.com

The grass was planted using this marvellous new gadget of mine - the Pro Grass Micro Applicator from War World Scenics. It really does make a big difference to the look of the thing. Money well spent.

Turves arrived

Well, the grass arrived for both the Rohan House and for the Hobbit Hole.

The garden centre at Bywater, very kindly, included a dozen or so flowering plants

as an apology for the late delivery.

Apparently, Brexit is still causing problems.

Still the vegetables to start cropping.

I've made a start on the Perry Miniatures Medieval Cottage.

I hope the inhabitants of the Rohan village will accept the style.

If it's anything like our village they won't.

2nd Rohan House 1

 

The second of the Rohan Houses I've raised up slightly, atop two layers of

Pizza base (the poly part, not the dough)

As before, keeping it all in place using Dark Earth and sprinkling sand as paths,

all leading to centre points.

I'm not sure how to finish off a porch. Do these chaps have door mats?

Straw perhaps?

Rohan House 9

 

The wheelbarrow full of turves failed to arrive due to the mislaying of my expensive new toy,

the static grass planter.

It was eventually found beneath a pile of teddy bears.

Just thought you should know!

A couple of cunning plans. One was to use the centre of the rather grand door for the chicken shed. I cut above and below the fancy ironwork and used the centre part, suitably cut about and stained,

as a half door.

Of course, I could easily have made one from card and coffee stirrers

but you can't keep a good idea down.

The other might have originated from Blake. That error over the porch, leaving a window visible rather than an ornate piece of decoration, is much improved by removing a horses head from a pole and having it protrude from the window.

 Both buildings are now embedded in Dark Earth and a little sloping ground constructed. Then some flock sprinkled on and some turf and wild flowers are due to arrive by wheelbarrow tomorrow.

Rohan building 6

 I've cut a piece of hardboard, A4 sized, with three others cut and ready. My idea is to make their positions  interchangeable with paths coming off to meet those on all others.

Here, both buildings are joined by gravel paths, pressed into  'Dark Earth'. I think they'll need another layer and certainly areas of the grey earth will need to be thickened up before the grass goes on.

Rohan building 5

 

Shame there's such a difference in the thatching on the two buildings. The treatment was the same.

The dry brushing was built up from Khaki through Bubonic to Yriel Yellow.

Not sure if there are bars on these windows or if it should be wooden struts.

GW says iron bars.

The timber on both building types matches pretty well.

Dry brushing here was from Dawnstone through Administratum

to (Model Colour) Pale Grey Blue.

The door was painted with Orkhide Shade, then dry brushed with Administratum.

 The handle will be brass.

I've some washing with various colours on random planks, then 'just' the base to do.

However, I might insert some timber at the rear of the porch to stop that draft.

Rohan building 4

 

The roofs were spray painted with Flames of War 'German Armour'. Then I used a mix of US Olive Drab and Camo Beige. The result when properly mixed was, as near as darn it, Khaki but by having two paints, there was a patchy result. 

The same applied for the next phase which was an overall brown stain.

Here I used two different coloured brown washes that I had kicking around,

one very dark, the other more a ginger colour.

The brush picked up one, then the other, giving a similar patchy result.

Unfortunately, there's a big difference between the detail on the GW Rohan building and the two 'Outbuildings' from Renedra.

Rohan building 3

 It was nearly complete when a double disaster struck. Both concern the porch. Clearly, if you want a detachable roof, the porch roof must be glued to it. There is a small 'lip' on the rear of the porch which hooks under the roof thatch. If the porch roof is glued to the porch and the porch glued to the side of the house, the main roof cannot be removed. I have snipped off the top of this 'lip'. However, even with this mod, the porch leaves a gap at it's rear. A very draughty porch! My fault or GW's?

The other is clearly my mistake. The facia should have been put in place the

other way round in order to show a sun or star, not a slit window.

This porch is draughty enough.

The knock-kneed look can be fixed when it's based.