Models: various projects

One of the things I need to recreate the right ambience for Takshendal is traffic and pedestrians, so to that end I've finally gotten around to looking at making wagons and carriages. The above image shows the first vehicle I built. It is a farmers ox wagon with home made solid wheels. As shown above it is set up for a single animal, but I've since change the shafts to take two oxen.
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I bought two draught oxen and a selection of spoken wheels from Front Rank and they are very nice. Even better than I had hoped. The image below shows four of the largest wheels they sell, which I am using to build a coach and four. Don't be fooled by the oxen, they are just there to lend a sense of proportion to the carriage. The actual vehicle itself is a difficult one to build, because it has to be generic enough that we can use it in the middle ages and in the Rennaisance like setting of Takshendal. Coaches in medieval times were very simple affairs, without any suspension where as by the Rennaisance, some degree of comfort had been afforded the passengers, I've been trying to find a middle way between the two but not with any success. I've decided to go for a Rennaisance look though as it is more of a challenge. I'm thinking I shall paint it maroon with a black roof and black trim. Oleg wants me to build another one, with gilded cherubs and curvacious Valykries ad I have to admit, I'm very tempted! The coach will have four horses to draw it when it is finished.

I haven't neglected my building projects however. I had to put the Cthulhu House on pause until I had some more specialised wood for the interior of the upper story walls, but I've bought that now and work has resumed with the ground floors having some degree of colour applied (see bottom image). I still have a lot of work to do with the roof and upper levels and the ground floor interiors also need to be done. On the whole, I've gone for a generic look rather than make the house appear more grand that it might. This is to fit it in with my other buildings so it doesn't look out of place.

In the mean time I've more or less finished the village store. I still need to do the paving of the ground floor and to add the fire places, but then it will be finished. I'll do the floor in sculpted polyfilla at the same time as I do the last polyfilla additions to the Cthulhu House. As usual there are no doors. This is because the model is designed to be used in skirmish war games and doors just get in the way. For the same reason I don't put furniture in the models either. It just gets in the way.

After the Cthulhu House is finished, I'm going to start 'the commerical building' which will be a large three storey wooden bulding, the sort of structure one might find in a dockyards, painted black with tar to protect it from the weather.
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