BMK BMK The Bitmap Kid Presents ------------------------------ Paint 'ye Dragon ------------------ Part II - Landscapes and buildings TWO Planning. Okay, now we should be ready to start actually doing something! First you must decide what to build. You can, of course, build whatever you want, but try something like a corner of a castle with a tower. Look in books for ideas about how real buildings are put together and, if you want to, make a few sketches and/or basic, over-head plans. When you have decided what to do, mark out on the chipboard the outline(s) of your outer walls etc to scale. Also draw any other details you want, like roads or different land areas. Location. Next find a decent place to build your model. A well-lit, ventilated area with plenty of elbow room is ideal. Make sure it's about normal desk height, we don't want you do do your back in, do we? (I certainly have before, grumble, grumble...) Other than that it's just common sense where you decide to build your model. 3 - Construction begins! On the chipboard you should now have the outline of your model, you should be able to see where all the walls go, and from your sketches/plans/books how tall/high/thick each wall is (in scale to your miniature figure). Best thing for marking out walls is pencil, until you're 100% sure you know what you're doing when a permanent marker pen is better. Battlements. The first thing I recommend you do is build the main battlement- walls. For just under inch-high models, one-inch thickness or thicker is good. This can be made from four or five lengths of polystyrene sheets cut to size and basic shape and stuck together to form a solid depth to the wall at the required height, length and shape. (Remember to only use PVA glue on this material.) At this point it is best just to make the wall straight (apart from where your tower is going to be) other details like curved and angular parts of the wall can be added later. Once you've glued the bits together, being careful to align them properly you can glue the wall to the chipboard with the same PVA glue. Make sure it is level and straight and allow for it to dry. Once it has dried you'll find you'll have a very strong wall already, you may even be able to lift the whole chipboard by the wall! Now you know the basic process to basic walls you can continue the walling process on your building. Buildings and Towers. As for the buildings themselves, eg towers, the process is much the same. If you're using solid poly blocks, then your job is easy. Simply cut the block to the right size and shape of your building and stick it into position - keep all but the tiniest of off-cuts, they can be used for smaller details. For hollow towers you must measure out each wall and top out of the polysheet (with a great deal of accuracy and care) and pin it together to make sure it all fits nicely (again, make sure the building is level). Then it is a matter of more PVA gluing (put the pins back in the tower for support) and more waiting for it to dry. If your tower/building/keep is quite flimsy, then it is best to set it to the chipboard now, ideally it is best to just leave it in the place it will live so you can move it about freely to make additions before permanently sticking. Continue this whole process until your planned model is starting to take a basic shape. By now you should have a basic, white edge of castle and tower. What next? Well, you need to add the next stage of detail. On all castles you will see that the walls are never perfectly straight - they always have angular parts that stick out or rounded curves. Thease were built to deflect powerful attacks (like the V-shape of a knight's armour) and are essential to make long castle walls look realistic and interesting. They are built easily like the basic wall, except they are of a slightly lesser thickness, only a fraction of the length of the wall and join the main wall at an angle. For curving parts of the wall, it is best to use solid polyblocks cut into the curving shape, almost like a semi-circle, but some thin cardboard can be used to make the shape with a slice of polysheet to keep it in shape. This is a tricky method, but it works. It is best to build these directly against the main wall, it makes them more stable. Windows and DOS. Err, I mean doors. Okay, you now have a slightly less basic outline. Now what? Windows and doors. The basic way to do this is simply to cut holes in the polystyrene in the right places, or to simply stick painted doors/windows on paper or card on to the model. The better way is to use one of the brilliant Linka modelling kits. The models they have are not all that brilliant, but the tools and moulds included with them are excellent. I have a Terraced House Kit, and find it perfect for castlemaking. They give brilliant results, work out how to use the plaster moulds and it is easy to cut off the jagged edges and glue into holes in the polystyrene.... (and Bricks). The next thing you need to do is cut small, brick-like pieces of UNexpanded polystyrene sheets and glue them here and there on the walls. This adds a bit of texture and highlights the fact that you are actually looking at a stone wall later when the model is complete. You can also cover major joins with many of these 'bricks'. When that's done (and of course, dried) it's time for the REALLY messy bit to begin. Texture and Strength. If you paint your model at this point, it may look slightly more realistic, but in the end you don't really get brilliant results, all the tiny 'balls' of polystyrene show through and look very un-wall like. No, we need to add a more realistic texture, this is where my faithful friend Polyfiller or texture-paint comes in! Polyfiller also makes the the polystyrene a lot stronger. I find this works best using the best tool of all, your fingers. The idea is to make a slightly 'pebble-dashed' sort of look on a small scale. I don't use the texture-paint method, but you just paint it on directly. As for the filler, my way, this can be done by squirting a correct thickness of filler onto your finger and dabbing the exterior parts of wall, even over the 'bricks' of plastic. This should produce a nice, rough texture - although you must be careful not to go over the top with the effect, you don't want your castle wall looking like a cliff face! Too little and the polystyrene shows through, too much and you'll have invaders climbing the walls without the use of ladders. For other parts of the model, like walkways and inner-walls, a non-textured layer (just spread on like you were fixing a hair-line crack) is best. Using this filler method, you can also fill in any gaps between walls and hide the joins between different sections. Tip, remember what that the viewer won't see, and leave it rough and uncovered... Undercoat. You should now have a fairly good-looking model by now. - Arrh, but Bitmap, castles are not a bright white! Yep, you are correct, so an undercoat at this point is a good idea. Not only to see for the first time a fairly realistic castle, but also to 'seal' up the work you've done so far. Best paint to use is a fairly small pot of vinyl matt emulsion, of a light grey colour. This way the paint won't affect the polystyrene and a light colour will be a better undercoat for the final colour(s). Coat everything (stone) that will be visible, (don't bother with the chipboard base) and wait for it to dry. Your castle will again grow more realistic. Should be lookin' good by now! Buildings (more). In most castles, a line of terraced buildings normally lie against the main outer wall (on the inside of the castle, of course!). If your original plans/designs didn't include these, then I'd best build them now. One sheet of polystyrene should do for the thickness of the wall, and should be about three times the thickness of the main wall away from the main wall (or whatever looks natural). Make the wall shorter than the main wall, to allow for a sloping roof. Build and texture the wall like the main battlements, also adding doors and windows. (By the way, it may seem silly if you're not going to see them, but room-dividing walls along the depth of rooms is very good for supporting a sometimes heavy roof.) The Hills Are Alive, with the Sound of Music! Natural landscapes next, around the outside of your castle. If you've built the castle right, you should have about four inches to half a foot of plain chipboard to add a little landscape. Although around a castle you may expect a moat, I advise against it until you really get used to model-making. The best way to represent water is to use small, unframed make-up bag sized mirrors, these can be used to great effect, but I recommend to only use them when you are experienced with the art of landscaping. I must admit this is one of my fave parts of building a model (it's messy!). First think about land in general, remember that it is never perfect and how its shape was formed (ooo-err, geography!). First you need to create the basic shape of your land. Start of by gluing scraps of polysheets to the chipboard. The lower bits should be bigger, wider and higher bits should be progressively smaller. Stick things in a sort of random-order, getting the (very) basic shapes of hills. Build some right up halfway up the battlements, others quite low on the walls. Don't worry about the jagged drops this method causes, but don't build a step more than one sheet high without a small space. Once your glued layers have all set solid (and they MUST dry completely) you're ready for the messy bit! Mix up a fair amount of plaster to the proportions on the table to form, at first, a thick double-cream consistency. Slop this mixture, with your hands over the rough mounds you have made to shape them into more hill-looking shapes. Link the mounds and form gentle slopes, making even the flattest of ground slightly shaped. This should dry in no time, so you may like to keep adding layers. Each layer, once you have the basic shapes, should be a little thinner, the last being very wet. This you can simply pour and rub over the hills with your hands until it starts to dry. Clean up and wait a few minutes when you are happy with your work. When the plaster is completely dry comes the next stage, glue-sanding. Glue-sanding is mainly used to lessen wear on the modeler's turf we will be using later. Cover part (or all if you are working on a small model) of the landscape in PVA in a fairly thick layer, move it around with an old paintbrush. Next pour on a little of medium grained sand over the glue and allow it to dry. When it has dried, simply dust off the excess sand and put it back in its container. You should have a nicely textured and shaped landscaped. Continue in smallish areas until your landscape is completed. @~Out of space - to be continued next issue. BMK BMK - o -