28mm Wealden House - finished

Here are some images of the painted 28mm Wealden House by Grand Manner. The first two with thatched roofs, the second two with tiled. All were painted by Dave (Grand Manner) or his daughter Kate.

The original master for this building was built by me some time ago and cast in resin by GM earlier this year. These are the first painted examples of this large signature building I have seen. The building has a fully detailed interior, including first floor panels to both the pantry and the Solar as well as two sets of stairs.

Tony

28mm European Barn from Grand Manner

Here is an example of a painted European Barn from Grand Manner - the original master was built by me, then cast by Dave at Grand Manner The painting was done by Kate (Dave's daughter).

The building is based on two barns from the German Open Air Museum at Hessen Park.

Tony

The Merchant's House in 28mm

These are just some of the images showing the finished and painted Merchant's House from Grand Manner - the model was painted by Dave Bodley and his daughter Kate.

These two images show the reconstructed Merchants House at Avoncroft Museum, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Tony

Jason's Argo in 28mm

Here you can follow work-in-progress on one of my favourite 28mm pieces - Jason's ARGO, which is now available as a resin casting from Grand Manner

The photos show some of the construction work and the illustration that was the inspiration for this piece. The construction took over a month from start to finish and used wood, plastic and resin components.

I believe that this is one of the very best 'masters' I have so far produced, and as my Father was a very keen model ship builder, I believe he would have liked this model. I now look forward to seeing a painted example.

The model comes as a five part resin casting - the hull, the tail, the steering oar, the mast and the furled sail.

Tony

The Wealden House

The second 'Museum Quality' 28mm building is this 'Wealden House', this time based on Bayleaf from the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum. The master is now with Dave and once again in the process of being moulded and cast in resin. I would expect the resin model to be on sale very soon.

The first photo shows the finished master (with thatch roof).

The next five images show work-in-progress and internal detailing.

Here you can see the alternative tiled roof master.

And finally - the finished model.

Since visiting the Weald and Downlands Museum, see; link I have had the opportunity to study the actual building and I have modelled the master model with many of the damaged and problem areas in an attempt to include the imperfections as close to the original as possible.

The alternative thatch/tile roof options will add to the variety. In addition I have also modelled the toilet extension that is evident on the museum building, this may be included in the finished resin model!

Once again, modelling to this higher detail has seen my modelling skills improve and I would hope that I can maintain this improvement throughout the total range.

Tony

The Merchant's House

This is the first of a range of 'Museum Quality' 28mm buildings designed by me and cast in resin by Grand Manner.

In an attempt to improve my modelling skills I have firstly, added a full and accurate interior and secondly, attempted to model the Merchant's House, Avoncroft Museum, Bromsgrove as accurately as possible, including repairs, damage and all the unique features of the original building.

The next four images show work-in-progress, from bare plastic frame to completed model.

In building this 'master' I have called upon a number of reference sources, including a visit and day of sketching at the open air museum. for anyone interested the building which originally stood in Bromsgrove town centre was moved and re-built at the museum in 1967. Full details can be found at; link

This was one of the most satisfying master models I have ever produced, taking a great deal of time to attempt as near as possible a 100% accurate reproduction. I hope you agree.

Details of the 28mm model can be found at; link - at this time there is no quoted price.

Tony

Update August 2010

Over the last couple of months I have been busy building masters for Dave at Grand Manner, they are all planned for release at the Newbury Show in early September and so I have held off posting comments or pictures here.

I will be uploading a load of images in early September to link with the show and the official launch.

Tony

Ancient Greece in 28mm

No pictures with this post.

Yesterday afternoon, I was dropping off the latest Ancient Greek terrain pieces, some more ruins when Dave showed me the very first resin casting of the Greek Temple. I know I should be a little more humble, but these castings are truly fantastic, the detail is astounding and having worked for the last month on either the actual masters or plaster of Paris copies, I was really very pleased and proud of the finished resin model and cannot wait to see one painted up.

At the same time, I picked up a 28mm model of the Tudor Style Dovecote, a three piece casting - main body, roof and top of the dove or pigeon entrance. I will try to get one painted and photographed soon.

Tony

Ancient Greece in 28mm

Here are images of the latest additions to the Ancient Greek themed terrain pieces.

Photo One - A sacred Olive tree.

Photo Two - A Greek Statue.

Photos Three, Four and Five - Ruined walls, the inspiration came from the film Jason and the Argonauts, where the animated skeletons are fighting Jason on ruined wall sections.

Photo Five - The finished Potters House, using a new tiled roof casting that was also produced by me and the novel feature of a stone well.

Photo Six - A small display of finished pots or market stall.

Tony

Ancient Greece in 28mm

Two more Greek models, the first is an early Greek Kiln, taken from a number of illustration on the Internet and featured in children's Greek History books. The un-cooked pottery is placed in the upper section with a charcoal fire in the lower. Once the fire is burning, both the furnace entrance and smoke chimney are sealed off and a chemical reaction bakes the pottery and turns it black.

The pots are either sculpted by me or modified beads, which have in turn been cast in resin (green resin in this case).

The second photo is a small decorative piece, based on The Oracle at Delpi. The story goes that sacrifices were made to a priestess who sat on a tripod over a volcanic vent and would answer questions posed to her. It is believed that the toxic fumes would place the priestess in a trance. Other stories talk of the priestess chewing laurel leaves to induce a trance.

The model uses a number of materials - stones, foam, plaster and resin castings. (I must apologise for the poor quality of this photo).

Both models are now with Dave at Grand Manner. Finished castings should be available very soon.

Tony

Ancient Greece in 28mm

These images show the latest set of models I have produced for Grand Manner. In addition to these there is an alternative temple base which features on my Dampf's Modelling Page site it was originally produced for me as a personal or custom feature piece but - which has now been modified and is with Dave awaiting mold making and casting in resin.

In both of these photos of the temple, the miniature is a 40mm Spartan Miniatures Argonaut.

Tony

Ancient Olive Press

The latest in my Ancient Greek project is this stone olive press. The first image shows a donkey-worked stone press from the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

I was looking to produce a terrain piece that would add atmosphere to a Greek/Spartan game, while still being generic enough to have other uses - for example the same style of press was used in Portugal/Spain during the Napoleonic Wars and similar presses were used on the island of Cyprus during WWII.

Photo One - The raw material is a sheet of 1inch Pink Foam, which was cut with a snap-off blade knife and sanded to shape.

Photo Two - The central beams are Balsawood, which has been distressed with a knife and a wire brush. In addition the mill stone and trough have been coated with watered-down filler and some DAS modelling clay.

Photo Three - I have based the trough on to a piece of 6mm MDF, adding small sticks of Balsawood to the base to act as steps to aid the workers. In addition I have carved a small step (again from Pink Foam which has been blended in to the trough with some DAS).

Photo Four - The finished Olive Press with ground clutter and some resin pots.

The whole project took less than three days - and this while working on other models. I am pleased with the outcome and am now waiting to see if it will be cast in resin. If not I will paint it up for use with my Flintloque miniatures and part of the Ancient Greek Project.

Tony