Terrain pt8 – Hamlet
Continuing yet again with medieval dwelings, this is a Hamlet set from a Kickstarter by Ral Partha Europe. It’s 3mm Plywood, the buildings are based, and also have cardstock details. The set included 3 Medium Buildings (a brick and two half timber), a large Cruck house, a Blacksmith’s, a Small Church, and as an Early Bird it also had a Hovel.
First of all I’d like to say, I was just amazed at the amount of detail these had. They’re so detailed that at times I wished there were instructions, as despite my careful planning, I made some minor errors (one side of the roof of the Cruck house, I didn’t alternate the roof tiles the correct way, and at top the last row isn’t alternated).
Also Plywood behaves a lot different than MDF, but I hadn’t tried it before. With MDF you had to Glue -> Prime -> Paint. Because it soaks paint (and primer) like crazy and you usually can’t assemble and glue them after paint. With plywood, while it soaks, it doesn’t expand the same way, and it really helped painting the pieces on the sprues before assembly and finishing the paint. This way some hard to reach spots could have been painted better and more easily. I hadn’t realized it from the very beginning so my work was harder at start (and some corners on the interior are not so well painted).
This ties to my previous point. The details. These buildings have been meticulously planned, and the roofs have got even a plywood beam set to glue the cardstock roof tiles on top. The half timber houses and the Cruck house have cardstock to provide depth for the half timber, and the brick house uses cardstock brick faces to avoid the rough plywood texture or perhaps the over burning of all these tiny etched bricks.
All the Houses (Brick, Half Timber, Cruck) have removable roofs, and the Cruck house has even got cardstock to show details on the interior. It took me around a week or more to complete the set because as soon as I realized the detail and the proper steps, I slowed down to do it properly and not a rush job.
So for the Hovel, I went with a simple stone gray and slate tiles. I messed up a tiny bit the washes because I wanted the etched tiles to pop more, so I got some weird effect that I kinda covered it up with drybrushing.
For the Brick House, I went with red brick and slate tiles. Due to the 15mm scale, the brick mortar doesn’t pop as much as I’d like, but still, I think it gives the effect.
The blacksmith took me a while to paint as there were a lot of tiny spots in the (quite flimsly if I may add) wooden beams that support it. Blue wooden shingles and gray stone masonry for the furnace.
Going forward with the half timber Houses, I slowed down a bit and painted the (assembled and glued unfortunately) plywood first before applying the (painted) cardstock. I went with white walls, aged wood (as per my previous posts) and sienna for the ceramic tiles.
On the Cruck House, I painted everything on the sprues before assembly and gluing. Of course I also painted the sides after removing them from the sprues. White walls, aged wood, and yellow wood shingles.
Finally, the Small Church. Here I gave it my all. This one had instructions, which really helped, as it also included some points and ideas like adding LED lighting and stained glass. Paul from RPE suggested using coloured acetate sheets, which I don’t have, but I have some hard transparent plastic (acrylic perhaps) which I cut to rectangular shapes, and freehand painted with transparent acrylic inks (red, yellow, blue) with black outlines, and sealed in gloss varnish.
From my DIY raspberry days I have a set of like 100 cheap LEDs, and after fumbling a bit with resistors and 12V A23 batteries, I found the easy way, described here https://makezine.com/projects/extreme-led-throwies/. However my design is even simpler. I glued a magnet on the wall under each window of the church. The CR2032 battery is magnetic, so I just sheathed it with the correct polarity in the LED, and put it on the magnet inside the church. I have some example photos with the LED lights to show.
As for the painting part, stone gray with drybrushing, and blue wooden shingles. The door wasn’t etched, and I wanted the wood lines, so I used my hobby knife to do it. Damping the plywood first made it less likely to crack during this process.
Having gone all this extra way, I couldn’t stop here. I added brick rubbles to the base, dirt, used Sarissa Stencils for some stone floor tiles, and of course rocks, static grass and grass tufts. Washes here and there to give this weathered feel.
Before closing and continuing with the photos, there’s a couple things more I’d like to share. One is that RPE shared their plans to include them in their standard shop once the kickstarter items are done, so I guess there’s going to be availability.
Two is my impression and tips with working with Plywood. I loved it way more than MDF. First and foremost it doesn’t have that toxic burning smell that sits in your throat when opening the package and when doing the first coats. Secondly as I said, it behaves better and you can paint on the sprue. Some extra care when removing from the sprue is needed perhaps. Plywood though does have a slight texture, which can be good in some cases, but not desired in others, depending on the purpose of the build. Also washes tend to apply better to MDF, as Plywood will soak them faster due to the more porous and rough nature of the surface. As I paint with brushes and not spray, I found it hard to get the paint into the laser etched parts. What worked was pass the piece quickly with a wet brush, and before it dries, but after it soaks the water in, do the pass with the paint. This helps the paint flow into the nooks and crannies of the etching.
Now with the photos.
Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice 
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