Barbican and Townhouses

[Theomar Pius]

http://www.coolminiornot.com/204173

In my reading, I've discovered that it was a fairly common practice to build homes up against an outer wall of the city, in effort to save building materials, in that only three walls would need to be built. With that premise in mind, I built these townhouses, attached to the cities outer wall. As well as the wall, I decided to build a Barbican as well, to make a space for more details and a town watch. The buildings themselves are built as townhouses, each one having living space for 2 or 3 different families. I left the walkway on the wall open, so that the watch could still walk the walls. I also modified the design of the wall a bit, without changing it too drastically.

The walls and foundations of the building are carved from blue and pink foam. The upper levels of the buildings are made from foamcore. All of the woodwork is balsa.
As for details, the cart is from Mega Miniatures, the pumpkin is from Busch, and the coachlamps, jars, and stiens are all silver beads. The barrels are from Lemax. All of the folliage is from Woodland Scenics.
Horse poo and mushrooms are made from balls of dried glue. The town watch minis are from GW, the pigs are Gripping Beast, and the townsfolk is from Reaper.

Please comment, I read them all and take any suggestions to heart.

[Caerban]

G?! Wh...? Jwsdgg...? Flibble?
*speechless*
:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

[Hawkins]

 :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

agreed, 5 out of 5 claps! great job!
sorry great doesnt begin to cover it,, its a F'in amazing job!!!!

[Keeper]

Brilliant, just like your other buildings its the little details that make your works exceptional, Theomar!

[Bungle]

Overall effect is fantastic.

2 problems


1 why no WIP shots from you?



2 a couple of structural errors which will now be difficult to alter but anal people will mention.



Top of a stone arch is a "key stone" sometimes it is larger than the stones that make up an arch, some times it is the same size. It locks the construction of the arch and makes it stable.

The stone construction is wrong around the corners of some of the buildings too.





sometimes they are decorated




You have already had this one picked up



corner post are structural and solid, not as they are depicted here, overlap on the external corners, and add them to the internal corners, they form part of the frame that the infill is fixed to.

Floors supports will be thicker timbers too.

Similarly here



either the post supporting the overhang fixed to the wall would go straight up and be one piece, or the one on the otherside of the walkway would go straight up on the floor above, because the wall is straight up and not overhanging on this side.

a german kit



Real thing in York in shambles, huge picture
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_N4MDtqWfMTw/RmFx1M2ICOI/AAAAAAAAAXY/dwqzWVH6I0s/P5270148_edited-1.jpg



Winchester UK



how they are really made



http://flickr.com/photos/ulri/2277205922/

lots of good photos showing German construction, which does differ from UK, and I presume you are going for a german look.

http://www.herrenberg.de/en/tourism/sightseeings/the-half-timbered-house-path.html

if you have any questions.... ask.... I didn't spend 10 years doing real building for nothing  :icon_wink:


Edit: ah the pictures are all joined..... that makes it harder to point out what I am talking about

[Theomar Pius]

yeah, I joined them all so slow computer people only have to wait for one big pic to load.
Wow, lots of stuff pointed out, I'll have to go over it and see what I can do in the future. Honestly I've always just gone for style over accuracy, as it is a fantasy setting, but I also suppose accuracy would make it that much better. I'm at a distinct disadvantage in that the oldest buildings around here are from the American civil War era, and made all from brick.
Normally when doing an arch, I do put the keystone in. You can see it on arched doorways. I don't klnow why I didn't on these, except for that the arches are more decorative than functional. Still, I may add them in on the next wall section. I'm really getting to the point where if I want to see this thing completed, I need to lay everything out and plan what size I'm going to do, and how I'm going to lay it out. Otherwise it will never all fit together right.
As for no WIP shots, well, I did post them for this project, just not at this forum. THey can be found here:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=28050&page=1

Cheers guys, and thanks for the suggestions, I'll certainly look into them.

[Bungle]

I would make a few changes to the city walls if you are going to add to them.... Tell you in PM's if you want.

things change over time and  repairs so no problems with compatibility.

And yes I know they are fantasy.... but.... its like a dwarf holding a 12' long sword..... some things look better grounded in reality, and the structure of a building can be one of those. If you want help just ask.. I may be grumpy but I'll try to help.

Please post WIP here too..... some of the problems could have been caught early on.

The colours are perfect in my mind.

the sandy/dung/horse hair/straw mix infill for the panels were also sometimes coloured. Bulls blood was sometimes added to the mix and it creates an almost orange colour a bit brighter than this



lime wash gives the paler "whiter" finish.

Lime washed cob walls (earth straw and dung) are protected by lime wash to stop the cattle licking them they also have a little roof to protect from the rain. Near where I grew up this was thatch.


Medieval walls were often rendered and lime washed too.. especially when they were made out of cheap local stone, the window surrounds and corners were often nicely dressed (cut) stone, and old rubble and field stone fills the walls between which was then rendered to look posh.

Early castles were often wood rendered to look like stone.

[Theomar Pius]

I wasn't quite catching on with what you were saying concerning teh corner beams on the overhang, but I see what you mean now.
In this case, it would have to have been the beam coming straight from the ground, not from the overhang.
The overhang is slanted forwards, that is it leans out over the city wall. That and the upper parts of the building were built completely seperate from the lowest level and wall. Mostly because I needed to detail the base between the buildings before gluing them in place. In order to do the support beam from the top of the wall to the roof, since the building wasn't in place to put that beam in anyways.

These are great tips bungle, I'll be sure to put them to use on the next building.

I think I'm building some Elvish stuff next though, I need a break from this town. All I need is to find a 4" half sphere for a domed roof. Easier said than found.

[Bungle]

If the tips help thats all they are meant for.

Something you won't see over there, alot of old buildings were made from Green timber esp Oak.

this warps and bends as it settles especially along the roof ridgeline, so the roofs often sag between supports rather than dead straight and level.


Elvish stuff, that should be fun.

what theme or style you planning on.... Lord of the Rings? Japanese ? Frank Lloyd Wright?  Greene Brothers?

If you don't know Greene Brothers.... California Timber building... with lots of wedges which get hammered back in after quakes.  More "Wood Dwarf" style than elf really.

I'll dig out some references and links if you let me know what you are after.

[geronimo]

I think I'm building some Elvish stuff next though, I need a break from this town. All I need is to find a 4" half sphere for a domed roof. Easier said than found.

Great stuff as usual !

Domes: going to be adding assorted sizes and diameters of hemispherical and elliptical domes to the eBay shop soon. Fairly sure I have a 100mmish (4") dome ready to be moulded....

[Theomar Pius]

I kind of have my own idea/ concept for elvish stuff, high elf at least. Octagon shaped towers, rounded roofs, domes, arches, really overgrown with flowers, grasses and trees, scaled shingles. Kind of mediteranian but with an idealised bit of nature thrown in.
What I want to build is a self contained elvish haven, on a flying island. I don't know what I would do with it, how I would store it, even how I would pull it off, but I've wanted to for quite some time.



As for sagging roofs, I get that effect pretty easy buy not supportin the roof in the middle when building it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I guess that gives good variety.

[Keeper]

I think I'm building some Elvish stuff next though, I need a break from this town. All I need is to find a 4" half sphere for a domed roof. Easier said than found.

43p (c. 70c) for a 4" (100mm) sphere -  :pound: 27.12p for 65.  + P&P.
http://www.grahamsweet.com/balls/moulded-balls-price.php

I'm sure you could find something similar shipping from the US, Theomar :icon_smile: