One From The Archive - The Water Mill

This was actually one of the earlier models I made, having built the coaching inn and the medieval town house based on the "White Dwarf" articles, I turned my attention to photos taken on holiday and pictures in magazines for inspiration. If I could get the frame work right then the rest would follow.

 

This was some time ago, so I don't remember exactly how long it took me to work out from the picture all the foam board pieces that were needed to build the frame - but I'm sure some got scrapped, I expect these pieces then became the thatched cottages later.

This photo was taken last year outside in the garden, with the model placed on a table in front of a small bush. With the focus on the building the background foliage looks quite effective.

This is more of a display piece, being built up on a board; the buildings I tend to make now for the game table are without bases so that they can be placed down where ever they are needed, often on grid maps to mark out game movement.

The water is basically painted - I do want to try using the water effect material “Realistic Water” made by “Woodland Scenics” to add the effect of water running off the wheel, but before I go back and make these amendments to this model I'll have a trial run on another piece first. However, having watched the short 'how to' video on their website this is something I am eager to try out. (Watch this space).

The exterior of the building is constructed from balsa wood for the wood frame work, back then I would have bought sticks of balsa from the model shop - now I find other sources for recycled material, although I do still buy some if I don’t find what I’m looking for. The 'brick work' was modelling clay with a brick effect carved in, and the other walls were wall filler. The roof tiles like before were cut from cereal packets.

 

There was some element of recycled material even back then; the wheel on the side of the Watermill was the lid from an old coffee jar. It was covered in strips of balsa wood on the top and around the side then fixed to the model with a screw worked through the centre.

The garden area in the front also contains wedges of oasis, the deep green thick foamy material used for flower arranging. I think mum had received an arrangement for a special occasion and once the flowers had died I acquired the oasis and cut it up to stick it on to the board. I plastered it in and covered the whole area with flocking. In those days I also had a model railway, and the trees sold for the railway had wire trunks which you poked into the baseboard. Using the oasis in front of the watermill allowed me to decorate the model using these trees as and when I wanted, and to remove them again when I did not want the trees as part of the display. As you can see from the photo, the presence of the trees does make quite a change in character for the model.