A Recent Project. Late Saxon Church....

For several months now, i`ve been working on a SAGA Late-Saxon game board. I`ve created several buildings including a stable, various dwellings and the Hall of the local lord. However, a week or two ago, I decided that the Inch-High need a place of spiritual comfort and the unwashed from the North need somewhere to loot so I set about building a simple church.

Now, before I go into the details of the construction, it`s perhaps worth considering the nature of Late Saxon architecture.  Whilst they were competent enough working with wood and their steel was of a high quality, working in stone was not really their strong point. There is strong evidence that much of their construction was on top of existing structures (i.e. Roman). So, with this build I wanted to reflect this...

The Build.

I began by mapping out, on squared graph paper, the form and angles of the building. I marked in where the windows and door would be. I then tacked the plans onto high-quality mounting card and cut it out. Following on from my previous preamble about Late-Saxon building, I decided to go for a half-timbered structure. This would strengthen the building and make for more possibilities of an interesting paint finish. I made, from the interior of some foam board, a simple arch for the main door and scribed stones into it it using a biro. The windows were laser-cut MDF done by a friend of mine using 3mm MDF. Strips of Bass Wood were used for the timbering with a triangular section used in the middle. Now, I wanted a plaster effect on the walls so initially I considered PVA glue with fine sand sprinkled onto it. However, I use VALLEJO`s acrylic texture paste on many different projects, so decided that this would be ideal. So with a fine spatula I applied a good coat of it onto the wall sections - deliberately keeping it rough which not being exactly to scale, does serve to give it an interesting texture. 

The Roof.

Initially, I considered thatching but then decided on overlapping planks of balsa. this was stuck down onto the roof section using my glue gun. This, on reflection, was a pretty dumb idea as, can be seen from the photos, left blobs and strings of glue. However, if this happens, switch on your glue gun, let it heat up (without a glue stick) and use it in a horizontal motion to remove the excess. In future, i`ll be using PVA glue... The photos show the construction prior to painting and cleaning up:

Painting:

I undercoated in VALLEJO Matt Black followed by an overspray of Matt White. This gives a nice grey finish which is tough and protective. Prior to this, the foam portico was painted with Modge-Podge mixed with black acrylic. I began with Ochre craft paint and roughly painted in the wood beams with dark brown. When all this was dry, i began to use various tones of the ochre to lighten it using dry-brushing. When it arrived at the shade I wanted, I cleaned up the beams and dry-brushed these as well. Dark Brown was also used for the roof with again, lighter shades dry-brushed on. I plastered on some thinned-down Brown to give the plaster a dirty, worn effect. Some light grey was dry brushed onto the edges of the wood to give a more bleached effect. 

Not quite there yet. I`m going to edge the bottom part of the church with stone, build a step and a suitable door. Will update soon.

Finished...

Added some brickwork at the bottom. I now consider it finished. The last touch was to hotglue some plastic mesh inside the windows to stop the `gaping hole`look.