Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part eight

More detail painting following the original plan and Kidderminster building inspiration. The doors have now been finished with metal bars and the main sign painted green, both doors and sign have been 'aged'. I have also added damp stains to the lower walls this was done with washes.

The roof has been painted as asbestos sheeting with earth coloured ageing and even some bird droppings on the very apex.

The next stage will be to add the windows and I would expect this to be done soon.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part seven

I have started the detail painting. The concrete plinths above the doors and windows have been painted in a muted grey/cream colour. I have tried to add some variation in the colour as seen on the original inspiration. The doors and large wooden support above them has been painted in a utilitarian green colour which was highlighted to show some worn woodwork.

For larger images, please click on the image.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part six

I have used a couple of techniques to paint the brickwork, first I 'sponged on' a pale orange to the whole surface, then drybrushed certain areas with a deeper orange/brown colour and then picked out individual bricks in a wide range of brick coloured acrylic paints. I have used orange, yellow, brown, black and white acrylic colours to add variety to the brickwork.

I have used  a number of different brushes to achieve this effect and a mucky grey wash (dirty water) helped to bring everything together.

The brickwork took most of the day to complete but far from being boring I found it therapeutic.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part five

The building was basecoated with a dark grey acrylic paint to which I have added some ModPodge matt medium.

 

I find that this helps with both sealing the foam and bringing all the various material together ready for painting.

The first real colour was a dull putty colour or dirty cream which will be the basis of the mortar, the gaps between the bricks as well as acting as a base for the orange/red brick colours.

The next step will be the painting the bricks. Please check back for further updates very soon.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part four

With the construction of the walls finished it was on to the roof. I had some railway wagon siding or contoured plastic card profiles in my collection and cut this to length before gluing the panels in place with superglue. Once in place I trimmed the panels to size and later added more 3mm thick plastic card to the apex. The large sign was also constructed from plastic card.

Any gaps or missing detail on the roof/sign joins were either filled with DAS modelling clay or the joins were trimmed with lengths of tape which was sealed with superglue. I cut small squares of plastic card to act as fasteners for the roof panels and these were glued in place with liquid cement.

The final image for this post shows the low relief warehouse in place on the layout (Note - not glued in place). My next posts will give details of how I painted the building, but for now you can start to see how the building will fit in or on to the layout.

Tony

Grand Manner Iberian Windmill - Miniature Wargames issue 520

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames (520 - August 2026) includes this article written by me showing how I painted a resin windmill for a friend. The model was available from Grand Manner (but is no longer in production).

The four part resin model was purchased on ebay and was very well cast in a putty coloured resin.

I re-based the windmill on to a piece of 3mm thick plastic card and built up the groundwork with ready mixed filler and DAS modelling clay which was then decorated with sieved stones and sand applied over PVA glue.

Painted followed my usual techniques but was a little more subdued than normal using washes and acrylic tints to produce the sun drenched effect.

The sails were painted in a Linen coloured acrylic paint and highlighted with white. When finished the whole model was varnished with a Galleria matt varnish and ModPodge mix then presented to my friend earlier this year.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part three

With the brickwork done (see earlier post) it was on to adding detail. I have used a number of different materials to decorate the warehouse such as plastic card and balsawood then watered-down ready mixed filler and acrylic paste to add additional texture and cover up any gaps particularly to the left where the insulation foam on the side meets the front.

Ideally I would have liked to have set the doors back a bit more but as this is a low relief building I can live with it.

As you can see I have tried to copy the design seen in earlier posts as closely as possible.

Tony