A change of pace

After a couple of weeks where I have been painting Viking Age figues I wanted a bit of a change.  I had some Leven 6mm buildings I had bought last year which for various reasons had either not made it to the painting table or hadn't been finished so I turned to these for a bit of light relief.  Or so I thought, I quickly realised that I had forgotten what techniques I had decided on using to paint buildings and my system for 6mm figures doesn't translate to buildings.  The problem is that they have large areas of flat, often textureless, space and making sure to get a good even cover is difficult.  This easier for the buildings cast in the cream resin than it is for those cast in the grey resin but in both cases I am coming to the conclusion that an undercoat is vital.

I have a mixture of Timecast and Leven buildings.  I prefer the Leven stuff myself but the Timecast Anglo Saxon buildings are still top notch castings and I have no hesitation in mixing the two together, I just prefer the proportions of the Leven ones.

Leven Norman Chapel with the large Anglo Saxon Cottage and the Great Hall behind 

Over the last couple of days I have tidied up the Anglo Saxon Great Hall and started on the two Anglo Saxon Cottages.  Those were fairly simple paint jobs as they are wattle and daub with a thatched roof which don't provide that many options for colour schemes, darker thatch for older roofs white wash v natural cow dung and straw coloured walls and you are about there!  However, lurking at the back of the queue was a Norman Chapel with stone walls and a slate tiled roof.  There are a couple of examples of this style of church locally so I have a decent handle on the colours for the materials but getting them right on the model was another thing entirely!  The variance in tone from block to block of the sandstone is really causing me some heartache as I just can't get it to look right.  It probably doesn't help that I studied Geology in my youth and I know that a rock isn't just a rock.  Sandstone colours vary based on the individual grains of sediment which up the rock, those in turn vary based upon the rocks that were eroded to create the sand that is the basis of the sandstone.  Sandy Limestones look different to Gritstones and so it goes.  I'm two far into the red sandstone end of the spectrum which is fine if i'm recreating Buildings that use Old Red Sandstone or New Red Sandstone but isn't right for south and central England where the stone is a more, well, sandy coloured.  I agonised over that paint scheme until I realised that no matter how hard I try my painting will never rival the detail nature puts into real building stone and probably nobody will care anyway.

I have just order some of 2D6's new Anglo Saxon buildings which should arrive in a few days time so once those arrive I will provide a review of this new manufacturer's products.  The photos on the website look good and reviews of their WW2 stuff have been universally positive so I have high hopes.