New Buildings from old scraps and unfinished projects...

French farmhouse and barn:  Rescued from an unfinished and languishing project.

A long hiatus:  Grad School semester over, move completed, and a new job-not much time for Liliputia.  I have had a huge structure on the table for about a year now.  It was supposed to be a Presidial barracks or cells for friars at Mission Concepcion for the Bexar Campaign.  The problem was, it was just too large.  With 28mm, I guess some things can't be to scale-they just don't fit on a dining room table.  So I proceeded to rip off the top story, balcony, colonnade, etc. and was left with the structure below.

The barracks sans balcony, colonnade and second floor.

 The structure was made of foamboard covered in sand, the columns from closed cell insulation foam.  The details around the door transoms and windows was some epoxy I had on m boat that was beginning to dry out-a lot harder to work than blue/yellow, but it did the trick.

Finished barracks and farm house (r). 



 The finished products, sanded, painted and weathered.  The one story house on the right is the old 2d floor of the barracks, now a Mexican farm house.  They were painted in leftover latex primer from our living room, and then coats of acrylic terra cotta, linen dry brush, and a brown wash.

French medieval barn on the stocks.

 I still had the balcony, colonnade and some additional scraps left over.  These became a barn and farm house.  I intend to use them on an island in our late-medieval Cog Wars campaigns, but they would be just as good for Lace Wars, Napoleonics, or even the Great War.  Again, the foam board walls on a foundation of closed cell foam insulation.

The foundations were the remains of the balcony and colonnade from the old
Presidial barracks project.

 Again, I used the last of the boat epoxy to craft the stone accents around the doors and windows.  The buildings were sanded from kids' sandbox in the back yard.  Painted with the old latex base and then a coat of linen with brown wash.  The roof shingles are card stock painted, drybrush, and stained with the brown wash.

Completed French farm, awaiting a well, fields, etc.

 The end product turned out to my liking...and to my daughter's liking as well.  She would like a set larger enough for her Disney Princess dolls.  (My sons rolls their eyes, because the odds are I will be doing that in the near future).

As always, the roofs are removable to allow the buildings o be occupied.
The barn has a hayloft...for an archer...or archer and wench.



With the structures completed, on to the Battle of Gonzales, 1835.

Progress on the Centralista Army of Operations: Fusileros, Dragoons, Perry Carlists, Buildings and Conquest Sauk y Fox



Mexican Regular Dragoons (Regimental Honours)



      Finally making some progress on the Centralista Army of Operations...and some other distractions.  The Cavalry (Batalion Tampico) is done, except for flocking and a squadron base.  I had to repaint the shabraques to the correct green bound in white (that I found to be appropriate after further research-which as it turns out these dragoons should be in French-made Dragoon helmets, probably not bear-crested Tarletons...oh well)




Jimenez, Matamoros, Toluca, and Tres Villas Bns (Converted Austrians)



      These soldados still require flocking, but are the Fusileros of what will be the Jimenez, Matamoros, Toluca, and Tres Villas Battalions.   I converted some for the command (the Color Sergeant and Drummer)...but need more, so I have been waiting on an order from The War Store...which arrived last week.

Perry Bros Carlist Wars Royalist Command and British Riflemen...excellente!

      What I ordered were Perry Bros Carlist Wars Loyalist Command and British Riflemen, which you may wonder what these have to do with the Army of Operations.  Well, the Perry figures are amazingly detailed and well cast-little cleanup required.  With the exception of two figures, the poses are very dynamic and will fit well with the Fusileros advancing.  The Royalists, with a little blade and putty work, look very similar to the Mexican Permanente and Activo uniforms of 1835-36. The same goes for the Riflemen, who with additional work are very close to their Baker wielding counterparts, the Mexican Cazadores (Flank Companies).  So all I really need to purchase to complete the Army is Artillery and a Command/Staff unit.

Adobe building, primed and ready for painting

      This building I started to add to the current adobes I've built either for the battle of Bexar or another unnamed action south of the Colorado River. The walls are foam board covered with sand and the columns, stairs and balcony are blue styrofoam insulation.  Floors are flagstone (mat board) It still needs paint and interior accents (I've made shutters, paintings, etc.)

What have the Sauk to do with Santa Anna...absolutely nothing. 
Mission Creep!

      While waiting for the sand and priming to dry on the Royalists-Come-Centralistas, I started working on some Sauk by Conquest.  Why?  A.  They're incredible.  Highly recommend their figures, which makes me want to build up a warband now.  Mission creep!  B.  My six-year-old is painting a section of Roger's Rangers.  So much for staying in the 1830's...

On the Painting Table...

The garage workbench...its been below 20 deg F out there...

      So right now on the bench I have the remainder of my Mexican Infantry (converted from Austrian Infantry).  I shaved off the tall hackle plume and replaced with a small lead projectile from a dove shot load-perfect pom-pom.  There are also mounted Texas Rangers, the rest of the Mexican Lancers (Regulars), and a mule train that I bought at a small shop in Honolulu while on a business trip last spring.

Texas Rangers and Mexican Infantry

Texas Rangers

       I am also trying to complete the mule train (back) and the Mexican Light Cavalry Lancers (Front).
Slowly, but surely.

The Unfinished Tavern

        This building has been on the bench for a while now.  I'm going to use Plastic Wood for the chinking between the logs, as I have for the other log structures I've made (cabin, dogtrot, blockhouse). I plan on modeling some other details for this as well (barrels, food, etc).  The stone is just styrofoam insulation panels-the blue sheets from the hardware store.  Floor stones are just painted matboard.  This one will have a second level, just a loft with some beds.  The finished tavern is going to be the terrain for a "Barfight" scenario between James Bowie's Volunteers and a rival gang.

What I'm working on...

Batallion Matamoros and Light Cavalry charge the 1st Battalion,
Republic of Texas Regulars and a Six Pounder.

    Unfortunately, not much painting over the holidays.  In-laws in town for two weeks.  I did manage to complete my Texian artillery battery...well they still need flocking too.

The Two Sisters

    The figures are 28mm (hence the blog title) Old Glory and the cannon I picked up loose at the 2012 Historicon.  I've been focusing on modeling and playing the Texas Revolution (1835-6).  It fits my likes for small tactical gaming.

     I've completed the skirmish and battalion rules for the game my sons and I play (Savage Frontier: 1835), but still need to complete the scenario diagrams and photographs.
     My projects in varying states of completion are:

                  1) Parker's Fort:  Gate house (Dogtrot Cabin-See photos above), Cabin, Blockhouse, Palisades, Blacksmith shop (incomplete).
                  2) Presidio La Bahia:  East gate house is the only thing complete.  Still need to complete barracks, chapel, officer's quarters, walls and two bastions.
                  3) Tres Villas Battalion:  Mexican Reserve Unit-Needs command.  Foot soldiers are a mixture of Old Glory and converted Regimental Honours Austrians (a little putty, knife work and filing).
                  4) Mexican Light Cavalry:  Need to complete officer, standard bearer and bugler. (Old Glory)
                  5) War of 1812 Sailors (New Line Napoleonics)
                  6) Texas Rangers Mounted (Converted from some Ohio Mounted Rifles from the flea market at Historicon.
                  7) Sauk y Fox Indians (I put some Conquest minis in my stocking)
                  8) 2x Boxes of Saxon Warbands: Perry Plastic.  Bought these while on a business trip to Honolulu last year...still not painted.  This is dangerous because this is a different time period...This is one of the symptoms of "Lead Poisoning".