Welcome Home

Over the summer I spent some time experimenting with different materials, tools, techniques and ideas and after some slow work at scratchbuilding I created this little hobbit hole. The main hill is made from rigid extruded polystyrene (rigid insulation foam). The front façade was built on a piece of cardstock/chipboard so I could do it separately and then assemble once it looked good. The woodwork is made from balsa wood, with a plastic bead painted brass for the door handle, black construction paper painted metallic for the hinges, clear plastic from some packaging for the window, the stone path in front from egg carton cardboard, and thin card from a food package for the shingles on the little overhang. I sculpted the chimney from polymer clay. The filling between the timbers is Woodland Scenics foam putty. Once everything was assembled and painted I glued some fine sand in the front, added assorted grass tufts and flowers, and then flocked with some static grass and some coarse turf, trying to keep it from being all too uniform.

Stepping Stones

After much experimentation, watching video tutorials, etc., I have finally figured out one way to do stonework that I find works well for me. I glued pieces of "dollar store" foamcore (the advantage it has is the paper on either side of the foam is easy to peel off) to some of my basic building structures. Then I cut in the stonework with a sharp hobby knife. Then I traced over all of the cut lines with a ballpoint pen to deepen them and to separate the individual stones more. I used the scrunched up ball of aluminum foil trick to imprint some texture on the stones. Then painted the stonework with gray gesso, followed by a light wash of black ink mixed with water. Then painted some of the stones in various shades of gray. And finished off by sponging on a light gray.

I made 2 low stone staircases, and small archway, a building "riser"/foundation, and a full stone building.

More Construction

I finished some more building pieces - I did some with wood paneling on the lower portions, a couple of stair pieces, a "riser" to lift the ground floor off the ground a little (one of the stair pieces can be placed next to this to give access to the building), a sort of lean-to addition (can be a market stall, too), and some longer upper story pieces that overhang the standard buildings, as well as making it so I can use a couple of narrow pieces with a wider piece on top to create a sort of opening or pass-thru.

Here is an overview of the completed pieces along with the ones I did previously:

And a closer shot of most of the new pieces, with a better look at the wood paneled sections and the stair pieces:

You can see how the riser lifts the one building a bit higher than its neighbor.

As far as construction goes, I am making them starting with a shell made from foamcore; with balsa wood added for the timbers and wood panels and doors; leaded glass windows made from cross-stitching plastic grating cut at a 45 degree angle; roofs made from chipboard/cardboard with cereal box cardboard shingles and various bits of wood and cardboard for the chimneys and chimney pots. The plastering between the timbers is foam putty/hobbilite filler (basically the same lightweight filler/putty from different manufacturers - it's made for working with foam and sets up lightweight but sturdy enough).

Next on the building plan, I hope to add some stonework pieces.

Under Construction

I have been working on some buildings to use with my dwarf musketeers and other figures. They are still under construction, and more are planned, but I wanted to show what I've done so far. I have made them in pieces so they can be arranged in various ways. Here are the pieces that are nearly finished:

And here is a street scene with a dwarf musketeer dueling with a Foundry Casting Room fancy orc.

And a wider shot showing more of the buildings.

I have more of the "fancy orcs" in progress on the painting table. They are fun to paint and I'm going wild with the colors, making them as bright and clashing as I can. More buildings are planned as well, including some with stonework (once I work out how I want to do that), and some with more wood siding and/or a mix of wood siding and half-timbering.