Tutorial: Step by Step "Table Edge Terrace" Part 2 April 19, 2015 10:41

If you have just logged into the Charlie Foxtrot Models Blog, please read my "Tutorial part 1" to see how I reached this stage.

This picture shows the model with the roof complete and the walls textured. I bought a large aluminium turkey roasting dish (79p) and poured some in chinchilla dust; the deep sided dish will contain any spills. The chinchilla dust I bought from a local pet shop. A large 3kg bag was only a couple of pounds. I have textured many buildings yet the dish does not seem to be emptying. I use an old large paintbrush to coat one wall at a time in PVA. Draw out the glue so there are no runs or drips then press the building edge into the dust. The chinchilla dust is highly absorbent and sticks instantly with very little "drop off". Repeat for all walls. If you cannot press into the sand due to the roof overhang, sinply take a handful and pour it over. I carefully applied PVA with a smaller brush and then used the pour method to coat the dormers and chimneys. This now needs to be set aside to dry.

Note: If you miss a bit of wall, leave it to dry and patch in the gaps the next day. I learnt the hard way. If you try to touch up any gaps or areas of PVA that have dried too quickly, the chinchilla dust comes off and sticks to your brush. The more you dab, the worse it gets.

When fully dry, spray primer the model grey. For miniatures, I prefer a black undercoat yet for buildings a cheap grey car primer provides a good surface to paint on. I apply two coats, leaving it to fully dry between each.

I sprayed the inside of the building with primer. I have no plans to paint the inside of the building or to decorate in any way. If you see "Ruined House 1" in the shop, you can see the effects that can be achieved should you wish to go that way. I am under a time limit for this model and do not want to detract from the main part of the gaming table.

The focal point of the wargames table should be, I believe, where the action is. I want the village centre to be the "centre of attention" and the "Table Eedge Terrace" to be a back drop to this. While on this point, I see very limited value in painting the inside of buildings (unless they are ruined and open to view). For the brief few seconds it takes to place models inside and replace the roof, the time spent doing interior decorating has, in my opinion, little return. I prefer to spend the bulk of my time painting the rooftops. They are always in view and the closest part of the model to the gamer....more on this later!

I had toyed with doing Hollywood style scenery props front facade only yet this would look good but not add anything to the gameplay. This idea was dropped in favour of gameplay vs aesthetics balance.

Tutorial: Step by Step "Table Edge Terrace" Part 1 April 17, 2015 14:02

This is going to be a diary style how I complete a kit to the standard you see on my website.

I have just released the "Table Edge Terrace" and I need to have it painted for the Exeter Legionary show in two weeks. As I have a lot of other terrain items to complete, I will be getting the effects I want, in rapid time using as many time saving techniques as I can. I assembled the kit as per the instructions, leaving off the chimneys, dormers, doors, windows and shutters. This took 15 minutes.

I then trimmed the corners off the dormers and chimneys to get a close fit to the roof. I used a small Stanley knife and then sanded the edge with an emery board. I prefer these to sandpaper as being more rigid, I do not round the edges off when I want them to be square. 

Then I used quick drying polyfilla to cover the jonts and tag gaps. I also filled the chimneys and dormers at the same time. Approximate time to fill 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, I gave the filler a light 5 minute sanding to smooth the walls ready for priming. 

At this point I was going to spray and paint however I could not resist using my card tiles to texture the roof. I did this with the dormers off to save time "cutting in" gluing straight runs made for a quick job and the roof was complete in under an hour. There is very little waste when tiling the roof as any offcuts are used to start the next row.

Lining up the tiles was easy as I just followed the engraved lines. The card tiles are the same size as the engraved ones so you do not have to adjust the size. If you look to the left of the roof you will note I left a small overhang with the card. I plan on cutting this off when they are dry. This will save time on trying to line each strip up accurately.

When the roof was complete, I glued on the chimneys and dormers. I lined the dormers up using the tile edges as reference. I then placed a 12" ruler over the top to ensure all 3 dormers were even in height.

The dormer tiling was easy....if you follow these steps. Cut a straight edge with a full tile to your left. Cut the tile strip slightly over size after "offering it up". Place the tile edge on the outermost edge of the dormer roof then using a fingernail or pencil point crease the card into position. You will then pick up the correct slope to get a good fit to the roof. When you have this line, trim to size with scissors.

As you need 6 of this piece, DO NOT GLUE IT ON. Rather than make more work repeating the process, simply draw around the tile strip you already have. Glue in place and repeat for the next course of tiles. In the picture you will see my top rows of tiles. Once I cut the slope to fit the roof, I offered it up to the dormer and drew a pencil along the back to know where to cut. Again you do not need to be mega fussy here. Any gaps at the top will be covered by the plastic ridge tiles.

To complete the dormers and ridge tiles I took 60 minutes.

 I cut the plastic angle pieces to approximately 10mm using a razor saw and a bench hook I designed with measurements on. The roof is just a matter of straight cuts while the dormer needs more work. I glued on the outer one so I did not have any fiddly small bits on the edge. I then trimmed a tile with a Stanley knife to fit the roof end. I infilled the last one by either adjusting the gaps between the tiles or trimming to fit. A tiny amount of quick drying polyfilla on the tip of an old paintbrush was used to fill any minute gaps. I used the same wet paintbrush to smooth any raised polyfilla lumps.

This now needs to be set aside to dry.

More on this project will follow .......

New Release: "Table Edge Terrace" French Version April 17, 2015 11:52

Having laid out my table for the rapidly approaching Exeter Legionary show, I thought there was something missing. All placed buildings were neatly away fron the table edge. To add an illusion of a larger built up area I took "The Terrace" and with a few adjstments came up with this. I saw this as a good "game play" piece with models placed inside during deployment. I will be doing a step by step how I complete this kit "as I go along" please revisit and check my progress.

New Release: "The Terrace" April 12, 2015 16:46

This week sees the release of a building I have had in the pipeline for some time. I wanted to release two versions of this building together with front & back yards. The French version has a steeply pitched roof with dormers and the windows have shutters. The British version was designed for alternative history games with Dad's Army types fighting German Paras or "A Very British Civil War". The British version has a lower pitched roof and dormers and shutters have been removed. For more pictures of all 4 models, please visit the shop. The moss patches are Mini Natur self adhesive moss. Peel & stick on to break up that grey expanse. Expensive yet you only use a few, I am sure one pack would be enough for a complete village so good value for money in the long run.

New Release "Ruined House 3" 28mm Laser cut building April 8, 2015 14:28

Packaging and instructions are now complete and this model is now available in the shop. I have added a set of planked "Z" bar doors to cover a wider time frame.

On the workbench April 3, 2015 12:28

It has been a busy week, this website was launched and within 24 hours I had my first online order. Thanks Barrie from Tazmania,  I have posted your models and put in a small freebie for you!

I had a large acrylic order arrive from my supplier so look out for new templates and tokens soon. First up are a set of 10 black acrylic "Skull Tokens". These can be used over a number of gaming systems. Considering they are very light in weight they are unlikely to inflate your postal charges.

When proof reading my descriptions etc, November Foxtrot (the wife Nik) asked if I had left off "Ruined House 3" as I had not listed it. The reason for this is that I had produced the model over a year ago and was not happy, there was something missing; it just didn't look right.  A few people asked to buy the original at the Plymouth PAW show in February but I had not gone into production with it. This week I reviewed the computer files again and thought a quick fix was in order.

This did not turn out to be the case and a major revamp took place until I was happy with the result. The following pictures are Mark 2 "Ruined House 3". Before this can be listed in the shop, I need to draw a packaging header and an instruction sheet. I also plan to move the hole in the wall at the raised gable end. All was fine on the positioning until I got the bright idea of having more exposed brickwork. This made the hole lower and only kneeling models can fire out.

Any other improvements are gratefully recieved......for example, I envisiged the building hit from a tank HE round or two. I did the stairwell slightly higher so the trajectory looks right. Have I over thought this? Does it need to be lower to see the staircase better or is having some total block of line of sight a better payoff? Looking forward to comments and suggestions...

For the coming week I will be finishing the painting of a large model with a footprint of almost a square foot. Watch this space...

Happy Easter,

cheers Colin

First Charlie Foxtrot Models Blog Post March 30, 2015 08:57

Hi and welcome to the first ever Charlie Foxtrot Blog.

I have finally pressed the "go live" button on the website after many hours wrestling with my keyboard. I feel much more comfortable with a mouse drawing with my Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, the learning curve has been very steep.

Thanks must go to all of my E bay customers and friends who have supported me by buying my products, giving me excellent feedback and encouragement. Thanks to the many people who have passed on suggestions which I have used to improve my product range and ideas for new projects.

I hope the products I have launched today meet many of your needs. I do have a full sketch book and uncountable research photographs for future additions to the ranges.

I fully intend to produce product ranges or collections rather than the odd "one off" as I know from experience that matching style, scale and utility of wargaming products can at times be difficult. With that said, I on occasion, get (according to friends) OCD and just "HAVE TO"  do a particular model. The ideas will go through my head, preventing sleep,  until I complete the CAD drawings and can revisit the range I was previously working on.

With a full sketch book and a wealth of photographs, I have plenty of inspirational material to continue producing models for about 24 months. I would however still like to hear from anyone with an idea for a new project, building or range or products. There may be a scale or period you play and have difficulty sourcing tokens, templates or scenery. If that sounds like you.......PLEASE  drop me a line on this Blog so ideas can be bounced around.

I just "HAVE TO" go and photograph a building that is screaming out to be made in 28mm 1:56 scale.

I will post again soon, in the meantime please trawl the site and pass on any feedback comments....I will be glad to hear them..

I am still working on the format for the customer gallery, please check back at a later date to view some of the fantastic painting!

cheers.